“The preceding night, at the Guzalcan, the jewels of Shaikh Faríd, governor of Lahore, who was lately deceased, were presented to him.”*

“This I supposed to allude to his servant Hergonen, lately dead, whose goods had been seized to the King's use.”*

“No subject of this empire holds any lands by inheritance, neither have they any titles but such as depend on the will of the King. Owing to this, many of the grandees live up fully to the extent of their means. Merchants also, and others, are very careful to conceal their wealth, lest they be made spunges. Some small means of living are allowed by the King to the sons of his great men, which they can never make better, unless they succeed to the favour enjoyed by their fathers.”*

“The seaports and the customs were full of gross abuses, the governor seizing on goods at arbitrary prices. Even Roe, though otherwise treated with hospitality and respect, had his baggage searched and some articles taken by the governor.”* His own words are: “We continued there to the 30th October, suffering much vexation from the governor, who forcibly caused search many of our chests and trunks, taking away what he thought fit.”*

“The Prince had intercepted the presents and goods on their way up, to satisfy his own base and greedy inclinations. ^{* *} It is the custom in this country, for the great men to see all merchant goods before even the King, that they may choose first.”*

“During this interval the King had caused the chests to be privately brought to him, and had opened them.”* “He opened the cabinet, and sent for the padre to read the letter, and to see every­thing contained in the boxes; but finding nothing to his liking, he returned all.”*

“I said, that if our goods continued to be taken from us by force, so that we could neither get back our goods, nor yet their value in money, it would be impossible for us to subsist. This was delivered with some heat, and the King, catching at the word force, repeated it to his son, whom he sharply reprehended. The Prince promised to see me paid for all that had been taken. He said likewise that he had taken nothing, having only caused the presents to be sealed; and, as his officers had received no customs on these, he desired to have them opened in his presence.”*

“This humiliating personal search was a system favoured by the local authorities, along with an unscrupulous examination into luggage, by means of which they obtained valuable articles at in­different prices; and their subordinates did not allow such oppor­tunities to escape without the appearance of gold, or what was deemed by them equally substantial. Choice, and taste, and cupidity, were at work on these occasions, and all the older travellers com­plain of this unhappy means of extortion.”*

“In one case he seized on a convoy coming to the ambassador from Surat, and consisting of presents intended for himself and his court, together with the property of some merchants who took advantage of the escort: he rummaged the packages himself with childish curiosity; and had recourse to the meanest apologies to appease and cajole Roe, who was much provoked at this disregard of common honesty.”*

“The collection of jehat, which brought in an annual revenue of several krors of dams, had before been remitted throughout the empire in confirmation of a regulation made by the late Emperor. Jahángír now abolished the sayerjehat in Kabul, which produced annually one krore and twenty-three lacs of dams. When the jehat was collected, it fell very heavy in Kabul and Kandahar, and the abolition of that tax with the annual remission of the sayerjehat were great encouragements for the merchants of Iran and Turan to carry on a trade in those parts that was very advantageous to Hindustan.”*