Bernier, François, Travels in the Mogul Empire A.D. 1656-1668

(Westminster, Eng. :  Constable,  1891.)

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OF THE GREAT MOGOL                    113

the Kings of Golkonda and Visapour engaged to support
his cause with all their forces. It was confidently said.
at another period, that he had passed within sight of
Sourate, with two ships flying red colours, with which he
had been presented either by the King of Pegu or of
Siam. Again, we were told that the Prince was in Persia;
that he had been seen in Schiras, and soon afterwards in
Kandahar, ready to invade the kingdom of Caboul.
Aureng-Zebe once observed, perhaps by way of joke, that
Sultan Sujah was become at last an Agy! or pilgrim;
insinuating that he had visited Meca ; and even at this
day, there are a great many persons fully persuaded that
he is returned to Persia from Constantinople, having ob¬
tained large supplies of money in that city. But in my
opinion there never existed ground for any of these reports.
I attach great importance to the letter from the Dutch
gentleman, which states that the Prince was killed in his
attempt to escape; and one of Sultan Sujah's eunuchs,
with whom I travelled from Bengale to Massipalam, and
his former commandant of artillery, now in the service
of the King of Golkonda, both assured me that their master
was dead, although they were reluctant to communicate
any further information. The French merchants whom I
saw at Dehli,^ and who came direct from Ispahan, had never
heard a syllable of Sultan Sujah's being in Persia.    It seems

husband Mr. Daniel Draper was stationed in the service of the Honour¬
able East India Company, and ' Eliza's Tree' was to be seen there,
until it was unfortunately washed away in the cyclone of 1864. See
Round about Bombay, by James Douglas, and Sir George Birdwood's
article, illustrated, in The Journal oj Indian Art, for January 1891,
entitled 'Eliza Draper's Letter.'

! For Hajji, the incorrect form used by Turks and Persians of the
Arabic word Hdjj, a pilgrim to Mecca.

^ Although Bernier does not mention his name, I believe one of
the French merchants to have been Tavernier, who had left Ispahan
on the 24th February 1665, and travelling via Bandar Abbas reached
Surat on the 5th May. He remained in Surat for some time, and
travelling most probably by Burhanpur, Gwalior, and Agra, reached
Jahanabad (Delhi) in September, where he halted for a few weeks.   On

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