Page 81 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

IIOW THE ENGLISH WENT TO INDIA 81

arrival in his capital. Before Hawkins could even select
a place of residence the imperial messengers were scouring
the capital with orders to bring him to the palace for an
immediate audience. When, owing to the rapidity of the
Englishman’s movements, they failed to discover his where­
abouts, detachments of horse and foot were sent into every
quarter of the city with imperative instructions to find
the stranger. By this means Hawkins was ultimately
run to earth. He was perplexed rather than flattered by
the eagerness of the Emperor to see him. He wanted to
make his appearance at the Mogul Court with fitting
dignity, and the imperial marshal was so exigent that he
would scarcely allow him time to don his best attire.
He was mollified, however, by the elaborate preparations
for his reception which, as he proudly comments in his
diary, were all that a king’s ambassador was entitled to
expect.
With some trepidation Hawkins appeared in the im­
perial presence. He had got to know that presents were
an indispensable adjunct of an ambassador’s outfit and
that the cloth, which was all that he had to offer, was not
at all likely to be to Jehangir’s taste. All passed off well,
however. The Emperor smiled benignantly on him as he
made his obeisance, and when he had listened to the trans­
lated version of James’ letter read by a Portuguese priest
at his Court, he graciously intimated that he would with
all his heart grant everything that his Majesty requested.
Some chance remarks made by Hawkins led to the dis­
covery that Jehangir and he had a common medium of
conversation in Arabic, which the latter had acquired in
his earlier career. A lively interchange of sentiments
took place, with the result that the Emperor became so
F