On The 30th Of April The Persian Ambassador Sent To Excuse Himself For
Going Away Without Paying His Respects To
Me, alleging illness, but his
messenger said he was not so sick as he pretended; but, finding no
success in
His negociations with the king, he had taken his leave, and
made a present of thirty-five horses at his departure. In return, the
king gave him 3000 rupees, which he took in great scorn. Upon which, to
justify himself, the king caused two lists to be drawn up, in one of
which all the presents made by the ambassador were enumerated, with
their values, meanly rated, much lower than their real worth; and, in
the other, all the gifts the king had presented to him since his
arrival, - as slaves, melons, pine-apples, plantains, hawks, plumes of
feathers, the elephant, and not even forgetting the drink he had
received, all charged at extremely high prices, much above their value.
These two lists were laid before the ambassador, with their amounts
summed up, offering him the rest of the money to make up the balance.
Owing to this bad usage, the Persian feigned himself sick of a fever, as
an excuse for not waiting upon Asaph Khan and Etemon Dowlet, for which
reason he could not come through the town to visit me, without
discovering the counterfeit, but desired his messenger to acquaint me
with the truth, which Aganor as freely delivered, and with no small
bitterness against the king, and to which I seemed unwilling to listen.
The ambassador also desired him to assure me that he was ready to serve
my nation in his country, to the utmost of his power. I presented him
with some Alicant wine, and a few knives, to be taken to his master, and
so we parted. The 12th May I received news of a great blow given by the
Turkish army to the Persians, the former having taken and utterly
destroyed Tauris; and that Shah Abbas was unable to keep the field.
On the night of the 25th, a lion and a wolf[211] broke into my quarters,
and gave us great alarm, carrying off some sheep and goats that were in
my court-yard, and leaping with them over a high wall. I sent to ask
leave to kill them, as in that country no person may meddle with lions
except the king. Receiving permission, and the animals returning next
night, I ran out into the court upon the alarm, and the beast missing
his prey, seized upon a little dog before me, and escaped; but my
servants killed the wolf, which I sent to the king.
[Footnote 211: More likely to have been a tyger and hyena. - E.]
The 14th of June, a cabinet belonging to the jesuits was sent up from
Cambay, containing medicines and other necessaries, and a letter, which
were betrayed by the bringer, and delivered to the king. He opened the
cabinet, and sent for the padre to read the letter, and to see every
thing contained in the boxes; but, finding nothing to his liking, he
returned all.
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