bermier’s voyage to the east indies.

13 s

infantry, in which we fhall confider the mufqueteers, and all thofe men on foot thatattend the ordnance ; where fomething will occar to be faid of their artillery.

It is not to be thought, that the Omrahs or lords of the Mogul’s court are fons ofgreat families as in France : all the lands of that empire being the Mogul’s property, itfollows that there are neither duchies, nor marquifats, nor any family rich in land, andfubfifting of its own income and patrimony. And often enough they are not fo muchas Omrah’s fons, becaufe the king being heir of all their eflates, it is confequent thatthe houfes cannot fubfift long in their greatnefs ; on the contrary they often fall, andthat on a fudden, infomuch that the fons, or at leafl thegrandfons of a potent Omrah,are frequently, after the death of their father, reduced in a manner to beggary, andobliged to lift themfelves under fome Omrah for Ample horfemen. It is true, that ordi-narily the Mogul leaves fome fmall penfion to the widow, and often alfo to the children;or if the father liveth too long, he may, by particular favour, advance them fooner, ef-pecially if they be proper men, white of face, having as yet not too much of the Indiancomplexion and temper, and fo palling yet for true Moguls, though this advancementby favour do always proceed in a How pace, it being ahnoft a general cuftom that aman muft pafs from fmall pays and fmall places to great ones. Thefe Omrahs then arecommonly but adventurers and ftrangers of all forts of nations, fuch as I have faid,which draw one another to this court; men of a mean defceniy fome of them Haves ;moft of them without inftru&ion, which the Mogul thus raifeth to dignities as he thinksgood, and degrades them again as he pleafeth.

Amongft thefe Omrahs, fome are Hazary, others Don Hazary, others Penge , Hecht,and Deh Hazary, and even (fuch as was the king’s eldeft fon), Dovazdeh Hazary,that is to fay, lord of a thoufand horfe, of two thoufand, five thoufand, feven, ten, andtwelve thoufand ; their pay being Iefs or more in proportion to the number of horfes jI fay of horfes, becaufe they are not paid in refpefl: of the horfemen, but of the horfe jthe Omrahs having power to entertain horfemen of two horfes a man, to be the betterable to ferve in the hot countries, where it is a common faying, that the horfeman thathath but one horfe, is more than half a footman. Yet we muft not think that they areobliged to entertain, or that the king effectively pays fo many horfe, as thefe great namesof Dovazdeh, or Hech Hazary do import, that is, 12,000 or 8,000 horfe. Thefe arefpecious names to amufe and attract ftrangers ; the king determines the number ofhorfes,in aCtual fervice, which they are bound to entertain, pays them according to thisnumber, and befides that, he pays them a certain number which they are not boundto entertain, and this is that which makes the principal part of their petitions, not tofpeak of what they finger out of the pay of every horfeman, and the number of thehorfes, which certainly amounts to very confiderable penfions, efpecially if they canobtain good Jah-ghirs, that is, good lands for their penfion. For I faw that the Lord,under whom I was, that was a Penge -hazary, or one of five thoufand horfe, and whowas only obliged to entertain five hundred in effeH, had, after all his cavalry was paid,remaining for his penfion near five thoufand crowns a month, though he was Nagdy,that is, paid in money drawn out of the treafury, as all thofe that have not lands.Yet notwithftanding all thefe great penfions, I fee none, but very few, that are rich,but many that are uneafy and indebted, not that they are ruined by keeping too plen-tiful tables, as elfewhere great Lords frequently are ; but that which exhaufteth them,are the great prefents which they are obliged to make to the king at certain fefiivalsofthe year, every one after the rate of his pay : next, the vaft expences they muft be atfor entertaining their wives, fervants, camels, and many horfes of great value, whichthey keep in their particular ftables.

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