e to speak to him about our debts. But on the 25th,
though very weak, I went again to court to make trial of the king about
our debts. _Muckshud_, one of our debtors, having pled in excuse for not
paying that he had missed receiving his _prigany_, and knew not how to
pay unless he sold his house. I delivered the merchants petition to the
king, which he caused to be read aloud by Asaph Khan; all the names of
the debtors, with the sums they owed, and their respective sureties,
being distinctly enumerated. The king then sent for Arad Khan, the chief
officer of his household, and the cutwall, and gave them some orders
which I did not understand. Then reading over the names, and finding
some of them dead, and some strangers, he made enquiry as to their
abilities and qualities, and what goods they had received. Concerning
Rulph,[213] Asaph Khan undertook to speak to the prince on the subject,
and to get that affair concluded when he came.

[Footnote 213: In the edition by Churchill, this person is named Sulph,
but no elucidation is given.--E.]

My interpreter was now called in, and the king, turning to me, said that
our merchants had trusted people according to their own fancies, and to
whom they pleased, not coming to him with an inventory of their goods,
and therefore, if their debtors were insufficient, it was their own
faults, and they had no reason to expect payment of their money from
him. This I supposed to allude to his servant _Hergonen_, lately dead,
whose goods had been seized to the king's use. He added, however, as
this was the first time, he would now assist me, and cause our money to
be paid: but, if the English should hereafter deliver their goods to his
servants without money, they must stand to the hazard themselves. But if
when they brought their commodities to court, they would bring the
inventory of the whole to him, he would first serve himself, and then
distribute the rest among such as were willing to buy them; and then, if
any failed in payments, he would pay the money himself.

This indeed is the custom of the Persian merchants, who bring all to the
king, as I have often seen. He first takes his own choice, and delivers
the rest among his nobles, his scribes writing down the names of all to
whom they are delivered, and the sums, another officer settling the
prices. After which a copy is given to the merchant, who goes to their
houses for his money; and if they do not pay, there is a particular
offi