L E T T E R
TO MONSEIGNEUR
COLBERT
Concerning the Extent of Hindoustan, the Currency towards,
and final absorption of gold and .silver in that country ;
its Resources, Armies, the administration of Justice, and
the principal Cause of the Decline of the States of Asia.
Y Lord,
In Asia, the great are never approached empty-handed.
When I had the honour to kiss the garment of the great
Mogol Aureng-Zebe (Ornament of the Throne), I presented
him witli eight roupies} as a mark of respect; and I offered
a knife-case, a fork and a pen-knife mounted in amber to
the illustrious Fazel-Kan (The Accomplished Knight), a
Minister charged with the weightiest concerns of the
empire, on whose decision depended the amount of
my salary as physician. Though I presume not. My Lord,
to introduce new customs into France, yet I cannot be
expected, so soon after my return from Hindoustan, to
lose all remembrance of the practice just mentioned,
and hope I shall be pardoned for hesitating to appear
^ One roupie is worth about thirty sols.—Bernier. [Taking the sol
as equal to 0.9 of a penny English, in 1670, one ' roupie ' equalled
2s. 3d., which agrees with Tavernier's value.]
200
|