Page 79 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

IIOW THE ENGLISH WENT TO INDIA 79

It is at present. Its extensive bazaars teemed with the
life and movement of a great Oriental capital. From the
four quarters of the compass passed in and out in unending
succession caravans bringing merchandise from all parts
of India and even from the remote confines of Asia. The
most magnificent court that the gorgeous East has known
brought to the scene an indescribable wealth of glittering
pageantry. Long trains of richly caparisoned elephants,
escorted by troops of mounted men equipped with buck­
lers and spears and wearing the splendid uniform of the
imperial guard, went in stately procession through the
streets, while from the lofty altitude of the gold and silver
howdalis upon the backs of the great animals looked down
with supercilious indifference the princes of the Imperial
House decked out with precious stones and “ the barbaric
pearl and gold ” which an exuberant Oriental fancy decreed
as the fitting adornments of royal personages.
On the judgment seat of the celebrated Akbar in the
Fort sat his degenerate son Jehangir, “ the Conqueror of
the World.” A man in the prime of life, he had reigned
only five years at the period with which we are dealing.
As the narrative wall show he was a strange compound of
qualities mostly bad. An Oriental despot of the most
pronounced type, his life was stained with a thousand
•crimes. He became so hardened to cruelty that out of
mere wantonness he would perpetrate the most horrible
barbarities ;~yet he could be generous when the fit seized
him, and even at times showed a certain magnanimity
in his dealings with those about him. A strong sense of
humour occasionally characterized his actions, while his
•demeanour towards those whom he liked assumed oft-
times a bluff heartiness curiously contrasted with the

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