as ruby and other
rarities which were promised to the king.

Sec. 3. _The Inconstancy of the King, and the Departure of Captain Hawkins
with Sir Henry Middleton to the Red Sea, and thence to Bantam, and
afterwards for England_.

All my going and sending to Mucrob Khan for my money and cloth were in
vain, and seeing myself so grossly abused by him, I was forced to demand
justice of the king, who commanded that the money should be brought
before him; yet for all the king's commands, Mucrob did as he liked, and
in spite of every thing I could do or say, he finally cheated me of
12,500 mahmudies which he owed me, besides interest.[193] The greatest
man in the whole country was his friend, who with many others took his
part, and were continually murmuring to the king about suffering the
English to come into the country, saying, that _if our nation once got
footing in the country we would dispossess him of it_.[194] The king,
upon this, called me before him to make answer to these charges. I said,
if any such matters were done or attempted, I was ready to answer with
my life, for the English were in no respect that base nation that our
enemies represented; and that all these things were laid to our charge
merely because I demanded my due and could not get it. At this time I
used to visit daily the king's chief favourites and nearest relatives,
who spoke to him in my favour, so that he commanded no more such
injuries to be offered me. So, thinking to use my best endeavour to
recover my loss, I spoke to the chief vizier, that he might aid me; but
he answered me in a threatening manner, that if I opened my mouth again
on this subject, he would oblige me to pay 100,000 _mahmudies_, which
the king had lost in his customs at Surat, to which no persons durst
now trade for fear of the Portuguese, who were displeased because the
king entertained me, and granted licence for the English to trade. Owing
to this I was constrained to be silent, for I knew that my money had
been swallowed up by these dogs.

[Footnote 193: On some other occasions in these voyages, the mahmudy is
said to be worth about a shilling.--E.]

[Footnote 194: This may appear somewhat in the spirit of prophecy, as
the English are now masters of a very large portion of the Mogul empire
in Hindostan. This unwieldy empire broke in pieces by its own weight,
and the original vices of its constitution; after which its fragments
have gradually been conquered by the India