The Emperor, informed of the asylum he had afforded his son, and fatigued, besides, with the continual complaints sent by the Governors of Decan against the inroads and violences of those free-booters, resolved to undertake an expedition against them, with the double view of recovering his son, and of punish­ing the Gentoo Prince. He called this a sacred war, undertaken against intractable infidels; and setting out in the twenty-first year of his reign, which answers to the year one thousand and ninety-two of the Hedjra, he arrived in Decan, from whence he detached Yticad-qhan, son to his Vezir, Assed-qhan, with a numerous army of veterans and an immense artillery. His orders were to subdue Simba, and to bring Ecber; for such were his proper words. The Prince, become now fearful for his safety and life, found means with about two hundred men that remained Quits the Marhatta Court, and flies beyond the sea. to him to make his way good to the sea-side; where having pro­cured a ship, he embarked with all his followers, and fled towards the country of Iran. In his navigation thither he met with a storm that disabled his ship, put his life in great danger, and after exposing him to an infinity of hardships, forced him to take shelter in the Harbour of Mascat. The Imam, or Prince of Mascat, at first received him with honour and kindness; but in the sequel he seized on his person, and put him under a guard. He at the same time wrote to the Emperor to inform him that he Is shame­fully used by the King of Mascat. had such a person in his hands, and that he might be prevailed upon to surrender it on several conditions, which he specified; two of which were, the sending of a sum of five lacs of rupees as a present, and the granting a general exemption of duties for ever to all the Mascatian vessels that frequented the ports of India. The Musulman Emperor, that Prince jealous of the honour of the law, that Champion of religion, was not ashamed to enter into that shameful treaty with that apostate here­tic*, and to grant him all his demands. He sent an order to the Governor of Surat, informing him of the general exemp­tion granted to the Mascatian vessels, and commanding him to send a ship to Mascat, commanded by an able seaman, for the purpose of bringing up the Prince prisoner. The Governor cast his eyes upon one Hadji-fazul, a man who enjoyed the command of an Imperial ship by hereditary right, and who having made many voyages in Arabia, was thoroughly acquainted with those parts. The man departed; but hearing abroad, that Shah-sultan-soleïman, the Sefian, Emperor of Iran (whose tomb may for ever be illuminated by the rays of Divine mercy!), had granted an asylum to the fugitive Prince, and had used him with the most Princely kindness, he thought proper to come back. The detail of this surprising revolution is as follows:—

The Iranian Emperor was informed that a Prince of the Babrian blood having fled from his father’s resentment, had resolved to take shelter in Iran; but that being forced into the Harbour of Mascat by a tempest that had put his life in imminent danger, he had met with the most unworthy usage. The Imam or Sovereign of that country, having had the inhumanity to cast him in prison, and then the baseness to enter into a treaty for selling the unfortunate youth to his incensed father, the Sefian Emperor no sooner was informed of all the circumstances relative to this strange adventure, than he thought his honour concerned in rescuing a Prince that had been seeking an asylum in his dominions. His anger, that anger capable to set the universe in a flame, kindled at the baseness and treacherous conduct of the Mascatian Prince; and he sent him a letter and message to this purport: “That he had a numerous army ready to chastise him for his infamous conduct; and that if he delayed a moment to send to his Court a Prince who was under the safeguard of his name, or neglected to do it with the utmost honor and attention, he might rest assured that the army of Iran would cross over, put to fire and sword every part of his country, without distinction of age or sex, and destroy his own person, with his whole family.” The Mascatian King, on receiving such a threatening letter, was frightened beyond his wits. He altered his behaviour to the Prince, treated him with the utmost respect and honor, and having got him embarked in a ship of his own, with many presents, and every necessary piece of furniture for so great a Prince, he sent him over to Benderi-abbass*. There the Prince landed; and he immediately dispatched to Isfahan, the Capital of Iran, one of his followers, called Mahmed-hibrahim, who was a very sensible well-behaved man. His orders were to repair in all speed to the foot of that second Solomon’s throne, and to return to the Sefian Emperor his cordial thanks for his having so strongly concerned himself in restoring a forlorn Prince to liberty and safety. Shah-sultan-suleïman having heard Mahmed-hibrahim with the utmost benignity, dismissed him to his master, and got him accompanied by Mahmed Hashem-qhan, the Tabrizian, a Lord of his Court, with orders to bring the Prince with the utmost honor and deference, without sparing, in the journey, anything that might conduce to his ease, con­venience, or pleasure. His orders were to treat him in all respects as his Imperial guest; and as he came to hear that the territory of Benderi-abbass produced certain fruits extremely agreeable to Hindians, such as Ambas* and Anannases, and likewise a certain leaf called Paan, without the use of which those people became uneasy, an Imperial order was dispatched to the Governor of Benderi-abbass to take care, not only to furnish the Prince with those productions during his stay in that port, but likewise to send daily a sufficiency for his house­hold, during his voyage to Court, and during his sojourn at the Capital. His Majesty had the attention to send secretly with the envoy a painter so admirable in his art of drawing like­nesses, that he seemed to work by some magical power, that exceeded the extent of human capacity. He had orders to examine the Prince with as much attention as secrecy, and to send his picture to Court; the Iranian Monarch wishing to guess at the real character of his mind by the gait of his body, and the features of his face; after which only he intended to give him audience.

After a long voyage the introductor Mahmed Hashem-qhan, the Tabrizian, arrived at Benderi-abbass, where he invited the Prince to Court, as he had taken every care imaginable to ren­der the voyage, not only less irksome, but even pleasing. Being arrived at three cosses from Isfahan, he landed the Prince in a Royal garden and seat. This was no sooner known to Shah-Soleïman, than to show his high regard for his guest, he repaired Who receives him with the utmost hospi­tality. thither to make him a visit. The Prince went out of the garden and park to see him alight, and he presented him with three pieces of jewel; one of diamonds, the other of rubies, and the third of emeralds, all of exquisite beauty, and of an immense value. These he presented in compliance with the custom of travellers, who, at their return home, make small presents to their friends. The Monarch, to oblige his guest, accepted the present, and to do him honor, he stuck the three pieces of jewel into his turbant; after which he embraced him with the utmost kindness, and then seating himself, he asked him about his health, and about his voyage. After the visit, he invited the Prince to the Palace prepared for him in the city; and here also he displayed his magnificence as well as his hospitality. The road between had been covered with brocade, velvet, and Machlibunder-chintz*, which in those countries bear a high price, and are in high esteem; and it was upon this kind of pavement that the Monarch and the Prince proceeded on horseback. The Monarch’s horse went on quietly and at an easy pace, but the Prince’s horse proved extremely mettlesome, and at last turned so unruly as to trouble the whole cavalcade. This being observed by the grand equerry, he brought him another horse, and the Prince vaulting with agility from the one to the other, excited the admiration of the by-standers, and the applause of the Monarch. Shah-soleïman, being by this time arrived at a forked street, stopped short, and went to his Royal seat, after having requested the Prince to accept of the lodgings that had been fitted up for him, and which proved to be a Palace filled with every necessary and every conveniency for himself and for his retinue. The next day the Monarch took again the trouble of making the Prince a visit in his new lodgings; from whence, after a short pause, he brought him to the Royal Palace, where he made him sit on a Mesned apart, shewed him every mark of honor and regard, and entertained him the whole day; at the end of which he dismissed him to his own lodgings, assigning for his subsistence a plentiful pension. After a certain time the Prince expressed a desire of returning to Hindia, and a hope that he would be assisted with a body of troops. The Monarch answered: “Expect nothing of that kind from me, so long as your father shall be alive. After his death, when the matter shall come to be debated between your brothers, I shall not think myself exempted from obliging and assisting you.”