All through the country which separates the two capitals of the empire, Dehli and Deogír, the Sultan has had drums placed at every post-station. When any event occurs in a city, or when the gate of one is opened or closed, the drum is instantly beaten. The next nearest drum is then beaten, and in this manner the Sultán is daily and exactly informed at what time the gates of the most distant cities are opened or closed. * * *

I will now speak about the money, and afterwards about the price of provisions, seeing that these are regulated and calculated upon the value of money. Shaikh Mubárak informed me that the red lac consists of 100,000 tankas (of gold), and the white lac of 100,000 tankas (of silver). The gold tanka, called the red tanka, is equal to three miskáls and the silver tanka comprises eight dirhams hashtkání.* The dirham hashtkání has the same weight as the silver dirham current in Egypt and Syria. The value of both is the same, with scarcely the slightest difference. The dirham hashtkání answers to four dirhams sultánís, otherwise called dukánís. A dirham sultání is worth the third of a dirham shashkání, which is a third kind of silver coin current in India, and which is worth three-fourths of the dirham hashtkání. A piece, which is the half of the dirham sultání, is called yakání (piece of one), and is worth one jítal. Another dirham, called dwázdahkání (piece of twelve), passes for a hashtkání and a half. Another coin, called shánzdahkání, corresponds to two dirhams. So the silver coins current in India are six, i.e. the dirham shánzdahkání, the dwázdahkání, the hashtkání, the shashkání, the sultání, and the yakání. The least of these pieces is the dirham sultání. These three kinds of dirhams are employed in commerce, and are taken universally, but there is no one of more general use than the dirham sultání, which is worth a quarter of the dirham of Egypt and of Syria. The dirham sultání is equal to eight fals [or fulús]; the jítal to four fals; and the dirham hashtkání, which corresponds exactly to the silver dirham of Egypt and Syria, is worth thirty-two fals.

The ritl of India, which is called sír, weighs seventy miskáls, which, estimated in dirhams of Egypt, is worth 102 2/3. Forty sírs make one man. They do not know the way of measuring grain in India.

As to the price of provisions, wheat, which is the dearest article, sells for a dirham hashtkání and a half the man. Barley costs one dirham the man. Rice, one dirham three-quarters the man; but some sorts of this grain are higher in price. Two mans of peas cost a dirham hashtkání. Beef and goats' flesh are of the same price, and are sold at the rate of six sírs for a dirham sultání, which is the quarter of a dirham hashtkání. Mutton sells at four sírs the dirham sultání. A goose costs two dirhams hashtkánís, and four fowls can be bought for one hashtkání. Sugar sells at five sírs the hashtkání, and sugar-candy at four sírs the dirham. A well-fatted sheep of the first quality sells for a tanka, which represents eight dirhams hashtkánís. A good ox sells for two tankas, and sometimes for less. Buffaloes at the same price. The general food of the Indians is beef and goats' flesh. I asked Shaikh Mubárak if this usage arose from the scarcity of sheep, and he replied that it was a mere matter of habit, for in all the villages of India there are sheep in thousands. For a dirham of the money of Egypt four fowls can be bought of the best quality. Pigeons, sparrows, and other birds are sold very cheap. All kinds of game, birds, and quadrupeds, are extremely plentiful. There are elephants and rhinoceroses, but the elephants of the country of the Zinjes are the most remarkable. * * *

Our shaikh, the marvel of the age, Shamsu-d dín Isfahání, gave me the following details. Kutbu-d dín Shirází maintained that alchemy was a positive science. One day I argued with him, and endeavoured to prove the falsity of the art. He replied, “You know very well the quantity of gold that is annually consumed in the fabrication of various articles and objects of many kinds. The mines are far from producing a quantity equal to that which is thus withdrawn. As regards India, I have calculated that for the last three thousand years that country has not exported gold into other countries, and whatever has entered it has never come out again. Merchants of all countries never cease to carry pure gold into India, and to bring back in exchange commodities of herbs and gums. If gold were not produced in an artificial way, it would altogether have disappeared.” Our shaikh, Shahábu-d dín, observed upon this that what this author asserted of gold going into India, and never coming out again, was perfectly true; but the conclusion which he drew from this fact, as to alchemy being a real science, was false and illusory.

He adds the following statement: “I have heard say that one of the predecessors of the Sultán, after making great conquests, carried off from the countries he had subdued as much gold as required 13,000 oxen to carry.”

I must add, that the inhabitants of India have the character of liking to make money and hoard it. It one of them is asked how much property he has, he replies, “I don't know, but I am the second or third of my family who has laboured to increase the treasure which an ancestor deposited in a certain cavern, or in certain holes, and I do not know how much it amounts to.” The Indians are ac­customed to dig pits for the reception of their hoards. Some form an excavation in their houses like a cistern, which they close with care, leaving only the opening necessary for introducing the gold pieces. Thus they accumulate their riches. They will not take worked gold, either broken or in ingots, but in their fear of fraud refuse all but coined money.

The following information I derived from the Shaikh Burhánu-d dín Abú Bakr bin Khallah Muhammad Bazzí, the Sufí. The Sultán [Muhammad Tughlik] sent an army against a country bordering upon Deogír, at the extremity of that province. It is inhabited by infidels, and all its princes bear the title of rá [ráí]. The reigning prince, finding himself pressed by the troops of the Sultán, made this communication: “Tell your master that if he will leave us at peace, I am ready to send him all the riches he can desire; all he has to do is to send me sufficient beasts to carry the sum he requires.” The general sent this proposition to his master, and was ordered to cease hostilities, and to give the ráí a safe conduct. When the ráí appeared before the Sultán, the latter heaped honours upon him, and said: “I have never heard the like of what you have proposed. What is the amount, then, of those treasures that you undertake to load with gold as many beasts of burden as we like to send?” The ráí replied: “Seven princes have preceded me in the government of my kingdom. Each of them amassed a treasure amounting to seventy babíns, and all these treasures are still at my disposal.” The word babín* signifies a very large cistern, into which there is a descent by a ladder on each of the four sides. The Sultán, delighted by this statement, ordered his seal to be put on these treasures, which was done. Then he ordered the ráí to appoint viceroys in his dominions, and to reside at Dehli. He also invited him to turn Musulmán, but on his refusal he allowed him to adhere to his own religion. The ráí dwelt at the court of the Sultán, and appointed viceroys to govern his territories. The Sultán assigned him a suit­able income, and sent considerable sums into his territories to be distributed as alms among the inhabitants, seeing they were now subjects of the empire. Lastly, he did not touch the babíns, but left them as they were, under seal.