e rest. The 22d,
having no accounts of the presents I expected from Surat, I went at
night to visit the king, to observe how he might receive me. I found him
seated in an unusual manner, so that I knew not what place to occupy,
and not willing to mix among the great men, as was offered me, and
doubting whether I might go into the apartment where the king was, which
was cut down in the bank of a river, I went to the brink and stood
alone. There were none near the king, except _Etiman Dowlet_ his
father-in-law, Asaph Khan, and three or four others. The king observed
me, and having allowed me to stay a while, he called me in with a
gracious smile, and pointed with his hand for me to stand beside him, a
favour so unusual, that it pleased and honoured me, and of which I soon
experienced the good effects, in the behaviour of the great men of the
court. He led me to talk with him, and when I called for an interpreter,
he refused it, pressing me to use such Persian words as I had learnt.
Our discourse, in consequence, had not much sense or coherence, yet he
was pleased with it, and shewed his approbation in a very courteous
manner.

On the 24th of January, news came to court, that the Deccaners were not
to be frightened out of their dominions, as had been pretended by Asaph
Khan and Noormahal, on purpose to persuade the king into this
expedition. For they had sent off all their baggage and other
impediments into the interior of their country, and lay upon the
frontiers with 50,000 horse, resolved to fight in defence of their
dominions; while Sultan Churrum had hitherto advanced no farther than
Mundu, afraid both of the enemy and Khan Khana. The king's councellors
now changed their advice, declaring that they expected the Deccaners
would have been so alarmed by his majesty's passage over the last hills,
as to have submitted at the terror of his approach; and as they now
found the contrary, they advised the king to convert his journey into a
hunting excursion, and to turn his course towards Agra, as the Deccaners
were not worthy of exposing his sacred person. He answered, that this
consideration came now too late, as his honour was engaged by having
advanced so far, and he was resolved to prosecute their former advice
and his own purpose, whatever might be the hazard. He now daily
dispatched fresh troops to reinforce the army of his son Churrum, partly
from his own followers, and the rest commanded from different
governments. Th