nt to me in future must be better chosen, in order to
preserve and increase the amity which I have for your princes. At the hunt,
I mounted the horse which you presented me; but he is so vicious, and I am
so old, that he threw me, by which I was wounded, and have received a
contusion on my head, which gave me great anguish; but by laying much gold
on the place, the pain is assuaged." Upon this, Shadi Khoja said, that it
was the horse on which the great Amir Timid Karkan[5] used to ride; and
that Shah Rokh, who kept him as a rarity, had sent him to the emperor, as
the most valuable horse in all his dominion. Being satisfied with this
apology, the emperor called for a shaker, which he let fly at a crane; but
on the bird returning, without seizing his prey, the emperor gave it three
strokes on the head. He then alighted from his horse, and sat down in a
chair, resting his feet on another, and gave a shaker to Soltan Shah, and
another to Soltan Ahmed, but none to Shadi Khoja. After this he mounted his
horse, and as he approached towards the city, was received by vast crowds
of people with a thousand acclamations.

On the fourth of the before named month, the ambassadors were brought to
court to receive their presents from the emperor; who was seated on his
throne, and caused tables to be set before him, on which the presents were
displayed. These were much of the same nature with those already mentioned,
which were given to Soltan Shah, and Bakshi Malek. Sometime afterwards, the
most beloved of the emperor's wives died, and her death was made public on
the eighth day of the month Jomada-al-awake, the next day being appointed
for her interment. The ladies belonging to the imperial family are buried,
on a certain mountain, on which all the horses that belonged to them are
turned out to graze at liberty for the rest of their lives. At the same
time, several maidens and Khojas of the palace, who had belonged to the
retinue of the deceased, are placed in attendance on the grave, having
provisions allowed them to subsist upon for live years, perhaps more; and
when their victuals are expended, they are permitted to die of famine. But
on the ensuing night, the new palace took fire, not without suspicion of
the astrologers haying a hand in it. By this misfortune, the principal
apartment, which was eighty cubits long, and thirty cubits broad, adorned
with pillars, painted blue, and richly varnished, so large that three men
could hardly