NOTES TO VOLUME II.

Page 9.

Jehangire has left behind a very curious auto-biographical fragment, which has been translated by Major David Price, and published by the Oriental Translation Committee—a body of distinguished persons, to whom the country is much indebted for many publications of great interest and value. In these “Memoirs” the emperor thus speaks of Indragui:—

“Among my brother’s elephants devolved to me on the occasion was one of which I could not but express the greatest admiration, and to which I gave the name of Indraguj (the elephant of India). It was of a size I never before beheld: such as to get upon its back required a ladder of fourteen steps. It was of a disposition so gentle and tractable, that under its most furious excitements, if an infant unwarily threw itself in its way, it would lay hold of it with its trunk, and place it out of danger with the utmost care and tenderness. The animal was, at the same time, of such unparalleled speed and activity, that the fleetest horse was not able to keep up with it; and such was its courage, that it would attack, with perfect readiness, an hundred of the fiercest of its kind. Such, in other respects, although it may appear in some degree tedious to dwell upon the subject, were indeed the qualities of this noble and intelligent quadruped, that I assigned a band of music to attend upon it, and it was always preceded by a company of forty spearmen.”—Memoirs, &c., p. 62.

Page 39.

Bernier, in his amusing account of the Mogul Empire, mentions the fountain of Send Brare. In the month of May, he says, when the melting of the snows on the mountains of Cashmere has taken place, the fountain flows and ebbs three times a-day—at the dawn, at noon, and at night. After the lapse of fifteen days the fountain becomes dry, and so remains until the same month in the following year. During the period of its ebbing and flowing, pilgrims, he says, flocked from all parts to purify themselves in the sacred spring, and to perform their devotions in the temple that stood near it. The general belief in the efficacy of the fountain to distribute the flowery messengers cast into it, is stated by Abul Fazeel in his account of Cashmere. See the Ayeen Akberry, vol. ii. p. 127. London. 1800.

Page 41.

Bernier states, that on the summit of Pees-Punchal (from which a view of Cashmere is first obtained by travellers from India) there lived in the time of Jehangire a hermit, who was reputed to be a great worker of miracles. He was said to have the power of raising all sorts of storms. His white uncombed beard, extremely long and bushy, gave him a remarkably savage aspect. He imposed a species of toll on all persons passing the top of the mountain. He forbade them to make the least noise during their progress, threatening them with tempest if they dared to violate his mandate. Jehangire, according to Bernier, when passing the mountain, in defiance of the hermit’s injunction, ordered the kettle-drums to beat, and the trumpets to be sounded, the consequence of which was, a furious tempest that menaced destruction to his whole army. The phenomenon is, in fact, consistent with the meteorological history of the Alps, where the concussions caused in the atmosphere, by the discharge even of a pistol, are known to have been attended with considerable danger.

Page 62.

The fate of Sodom and Gomorrah was not limited to those two cities. It is very well known, that in several parts of the east, towns have been inhumed, either by the agency of the tempest or the earthquake. It is not improbable that excavations, rightly directed in that region, would bring to light more than one Herculaneum.

Page 83.

In the memoirs of Jehangire, already alluded to, the operations of the Bauzigurs are related at considerable length. The imperial author prefaces his account of them in these words:—

“At the period of which I am about to speak there were to be found, in the province of Bengal, performers in slight-of-hand, or jugglers, of such unrivalled skill in their art, that I have thought a few instances of their extraordinary dexterity not unworthy of a place in these memorials. On one occasion, in particular, there came to my court seven of these men, who confidently boasted that they were capable of producing effects so strange as far to surpass the scope of the human understanding: and most certainly, when they proceeded to their operations, they exhibited in their performances things of so extraordinary a nature, as without the actual demonstration the world would not have conceived possible; such, indeed, as cannot but be considered among the most surprising circumstances of the age in which we live.”—Memoirs, &c. p. 96.

The imperial author, after enumerating the performances of the Bengalese, concludes with the following observations:—

“In very truth, however we may have bestowed upon these performances the character of trick or juggle, they very evidently partake of the nature of something beyond the exertion of human energy; at all events, such performances were executed with inimitable skill, and if there were in the execution any thing of facility, what should prevent their accomplishment by a man of ordinary capacity? I have heard it stated, that the art has been called the Semnanian (perhaps asmaunian, ‘celestial’), and I am informed that it is also known and practised to a considerable extent among the nations of Europe. It may be said, indeed, that there exists in some men a peculiar and essential faculty, which enables them to accomplish things far beyond the ordinary scope of human exertion, such as frequently to baffle the utmost subtilty of the understanding to penetrate.”—Memoirs, &c. p. 104.

Page 111.

May I confess that the portrait of Purveis, painted in the text, was literally copied from a child of my own,—the delight of my heart,—my only boy, who was standing at my knee while I wrote that page? He was then little more than five years old, a model of meekness, beauty, and affection. His intellect already gave promises of superiority, which I dare not enumerate. The sheet containing that passage had scarcely passed through the press, when a sudden blight—one of those awful dispensations of Providence, into which we cannot presume to enquire—descended upon my flower, and withered it almost in an instant. On the Wednesday, our beloved Edward was the joy of his home—all life and loveliness;—on the Monday, he was in his shroud.

Page 115.

Jehangire’s decrees against drinking wine, are thus mentioned in his “Memoirs:”—

“No person was permitted either to make or sell either wine or any other kind of intoxicating liquor. I undertook to institute this regulation, although it is sufficiently notorious that I have myself the strongest inclination for wine, in which from the age of sixteen I have liberally indulged. And in very truth, encompassed as I was with youthful associates of congenial minds, breathing the air of a delicious climate—ranging through lofty and splendid saloons, every part of which decorated with all the graces of painting and sculpture, and the floors bespread with the richest carpets of silk and gold, would it not have been a species of folly to have rejected the aid of an exhilarating cordial—and what cordial can surpass the juice of the grape?”—Memoirs, &c. p. 6.

The imperial author is very frank upon the subject of his own excesses; but promises to give them up some time or another.

“For myself, I cannot but acknowledge that such was the excess to which I had carried my indulgence, that my usual daily allowance extended to twenty, and sometimes to more than twenty cups, each cup containing half a seir (about six ounces), and eight cups being equal to a maunn of Irak. So far, indeed, was this baneful propensity carried, that if I were but an hour without my beverage, my hands began to shake, and I was unable to sit at rest. Convinced by these symptoms, that if the habit gained upon me in this proportion my situation must soon become one of the utmost peril, I felt it full time to devise some expedient to abate the evil: and in six months I accordingly succeeded in reducing my quantity gradually from twenty to five cups a day. At entertainments I continued, however, to indulge in a cup or two more: and on most occasions I made it a rule never to commence my indulgence until about two hours before the close of the day. But now that the affairs of the empire demand my utmost vigilance and attention, my potations do not commence until after the hour of evening prayer, my quantity never exceeding five cups on any occasion; neither would more than that quantity suit the state of my stomach. Once a day I take my regular meal, and once a day seems quite sufficient to assuage my appetite for wine; but as drink seems not less necessary than meat for the sustenance of man, it appears very difficult, if not impossible, for me to discontinue altogether the use of wine. Nevertheless, I bear in mind, and I trust in heaven that, like my grandfather Homayun, who succeeded in divesting himself of the habit before he attained to the age of forty-five, I also may be supported in my resolution, some time or other to abandon the pernicious practice altogether. ‘In a point wherein God has pronounced his sure displeasure, let the creature exert himself ever so little towards amendment, and it may prove, in no small degree, the means of eternal salvation.’” Memoirs, &c. p. 6, 7.

Page 118.

Captain Hawkins (in “Purchas,” vol. i. p. 222,) gives the following quaint sketch of the routine of the emperor’s life, from his own observation:—

“First in the morning, about the break of day, he is at his beads, with his face turned to the westward. The manner of his praying, when he is at Agra, is in a private fair room, upon a goodly jet stone, having only a Persian lamb-skin under him: having also some eight chains of beads, every one of them containing four hundred. The beads are of rich pearl, ballace rubies, diamonds, emeralds, lignum aloes, Eshem, and coral. At the upper end of this jet stone, the pictures of Our Lady and Christ are placed, graven in stone: so he turneth over his beads, and saith three thousand two hundred words, according to the number of his beads, and then his prayer is ended. After he hath done, he sheweth himself to the people, receiving their salaams—unto him multitudes do resort every morning for this purpose. This done, he sleepeth two hours more, and then dineth and passeth his time with his women, and at noon he sheweth himself to the people again, sitting till three of the clock, viewing and seeing his pastimes and sports made by men, and fighting of many sorts of beasts—every day sundry kinds of pastime. Then at three o’clock all the nobles in general (that be in Agra, and are well) resort unto the court, the king coming forth in open audience, sitting in his seat royal, and every man standing in his degree before him; his chiefest sort of nobles standing within a red rail, and the rest without. They are all placed by his lieutenant-general. This red rail is three steps higher than the place where the rest stand, and within this red rail I was placed among the chiefest of all. The rest are placed by officers, and they likewise be within an outer very spacious place, railed; and without that rail stand all sorts of horsemen and soldiers, that belong unto his captains, and all other comers. At these rails there are many porters, who have white rods to keep men in order. In the midst of the place, right before the king, standeth one of his sheriffes, together with his master-hangman, who is accompanied with forty hangmen, wearing on their heads a certain quilted cap, different from all others, with an hatchet on their shoulders; and others, with all sorts of whips, being there ready to do what the king commandeth. The king heareth all causes in this place, and stayeth some two hours every day. (These kings sit daily in justice, and on the Tuesdays do their devotions.) Then he departeth towards his private place of prayer. His prayer being ended, four or five sorts of very well dressed and roasted meats are brought him, of which, as he pleaseth he eateth a little to stay his stomach, drinking once of his strong drink. Then he cometh forth into a private room, where none can come but such as himself nominateth. (For two years together I was one of his attendants here.) In this place he drinketh other five cupfulls, which is the portion that the physicians allot him. This done, he eateth opium, and then he ariseth; and being in the height of his drink, he layeth him down to sleep, every man departing to his own home. And after he hath slept two hours, they awake him, and bring his supper to him, at which time he is not able to feed himself; but it is thrust into his mouth by others, and this is about one of the clock, and then he sleepeth the rest of the night.”

Page 119.

Jehangire gives a similar account of the visit of Oustad Nâë, in his “Memoirs.”

Page 138.

The emperor’s visit to this hermit, is mentioned in his “Memoirs.”

Page 146.

The wealth of the collector, and his acts of tyranny, as well as his punishment, are recorded by Jehangire in his “Memoirs.”

Page 149.

The emperor thus speaks of this Mogul merchant in his “Memoirs:”—

“A certain Moghûl had resided for some time in the place, employed, as was supposed, in the pursuit of some commercial concern; and he was, it seems, in the habit of inviting such females as he observed to be addicted to liquor, to meet him in some of the gardens in the vicinity, where he told them they would find and experience from him such a reception as would surpass their most luxurious expectations.

“The women thus invited, usually arrayed themselves in their richest ornaments, and thus repaired to the place of appointment; where, as it afterwards appeared, it was the practice of the villain first to reduce them to a state of intoxication, and then to murder and strip them of their ornaments, with which he returned to his own residence. This he was permitted to continue for many a week, until he had, by these nefarious means, contrived to amass treasure to the amount of five-and-forty thousand tomauns.”[1]—Memoirs, &c. p. 118.

Page 287.

We find the following curious passage in the “Memoirs of Jehangire.”

“While I remained in the precincts of Delhy, at the period to which I shall now return, they described to me a species of feathered game, with tails of a particular description, and the flesh of which was of a flavour in the highest degree delicious. But what more particularly attracted my curiosity was, that they spoke a language known to none but to the natives of Kashmeir, who, by using a sort of note or call, took from them the power of flight; and who were thus able to catch them by thousands at a time. On a plain in the neighbourhood, frequented by thousands of these birds in a flock, by way of experiment, I employed about a thousand of the Kashmeirians accustomed to the business, to give me a proof of their skill, and I attended in person to view the sport. As had been represented to me, about twenty of the Kashmeirians collected together, and produced a sort of murmuring sound, which, attracting the attention of these birds, they were drawn by degrees within such a distance of the men, that they were taken in entire flocks. My pity was greatly moved by the reflection that these harmless birds should have fallen victims to this sort of treachery; that they should have been betrayed into the hands of the destroyer by their irresistible love of harmonious sounds, and that I should be found capable of consigning them to slaughter from a mere idle and vicious curiosity; the next day, therefore, I caused the whole, to the number of twenty thousand birds which had been taken on the occasion, to be set at liberty. My object was obtained in witnessing the fact; but to have seen them slaughtered would have bespoken a want of compassion foreign to my nature.”—Memoirs, &c. p. 132.

Page 290.

The Rawil, Kuhy, or Laughing crows, assemble in numbers of from twenty to fifty in the forests, and make a noise closely resembling many persons laughing together. The plumage of the back, wings, and sides, is of an olive brown; the tail of umber brown. The head is ornamented with an elevated crest of rounded feathers. A black line passes from the base of the beak, through the eyes, and occupies the ear coverts. Excepting this black mark the whole of the head, throat, and breast, are white. The feathers of the crest, as they approach the occiput, appear as if slightly washed with Indian ink. The whole of this white space is bounded by a band of rufous, which loses itself in the olive brown of the rest of the body.