other: the
whole distance being 209 cosses,[193] which I judge to be 418 English
miles; the cosses here being longer than near the sea.[194] On my
arrival at Ajimere I was so ill as to keep my bed; but on the 10th
January, 1616, at four in the afternoon, I went to the _Durbar_, which
is the place where the Mogul sits in public daily to entertain
strangers, to receive petitions and presents, to issue commands, and to
see and be seen. Before proceeding to give an account of my reception,
it may be proper to digress a little, that I may give some account of
the customs of the court.

[Footnote 193: The particulars in the text only amount to 200 cosses;
but the extent of one day's journey is omitted, which may explain the
difference.--E.]

[Footnote 194: The coss at Surat is repeatedly explained, in Purchas and
Churchill, to be 1-1/2 English mile, while that of Hindoostan Proper is
rated at two miles.--E.]

No men, except eunuchs, are permitted to come within the private
lodgings or retiring rooms of the royal palace, within which his women
keep guard with warlike weapons, and there likewise they execute justice
upon each other for offences. Every morning, the Mogul comes to a
window, called the _jarneo_,[195] which looks into the plain or open
space before the palace-gate, where he shews himself to the common
people. At noon he returns to the same place, where he sits some hours,
amusing himself with seeing fights of elephants and other wild beasts,
the men of rank then at court attending below within a railed space. He
then retires to sleep within the female apartments. In the afternoon he
comes to the before-mentioned Durbar. At eight in the evening, after
supper, he comes down to a fair court, called the _guzalcan_, in the
midst of which is a throne of freestone, on which he sits, yet
sometimes below in a chair of state, at which time only men of high
quality are admitted into the presence, and even of these only a few
have that privilege, unless by special leave. He here discourses very
affably on all subjects with those around him. No business is transacted
with him, concerning affairs of state and government, or respecting war
and peace, but at one or other of these two last-mentioned places,
where, after being publicly propounded and resolved upon, it is
registered by attendant secretaries, and any one, who has the curiosity,
may see the register for two shillings; insomuch that the common people
know as much of