'Collections of travels through Turky into Persia, and the East Indies. Giving an account of the present state of those countries, as also a full relation of the five years wars, between Aureng-Zebe and his brothers in their father's life time, about the succession. And a voyage made by the Great Mogul (Aureng-Zebe) with his Army from Dehli to Lahor, from Lahor to Bember, and from thence to the Kingdom of Kachemire, by the Mogols, call'd, the Paradise of the Indies. Together with a relation of the Kingdom of Japan and Tunkin, and of their particular manners and trade. To which is added a new description of the Grand Seignior's Seraglio, and also of all the Kingdoms that encompass the Euxine and Caspian Seas, being the travels of Monsieur TavernierBernier, and other great men.' [‎92] (763/1024)

and Agra capital
enough built, all the reft for the moft part, is nothing but a number of little Streets,
ftreitiht without proportion, and nothing but windings and turnings i which caufes
fttange confufions P when the Court is there. I fee no other difference between and
Debit then that l have been juft now fpeaking of 5 except it be that Agra hath more
of a Country Town then Debit, efpecially when we look upon it from an higher placet
But hts not fpcha Country-afped as difgraceth it, but a very agreeable and divertifing
one, for there being betwixt the Houfes otOmrahs, Rajas and others, ftoreofbig
oreen Tr’es mixt, every one having been curious to plant of them in his Garden and in
his Court for (hade i and beiides, thofe high Houfes of the Banian Merchant of Indian extraction. ^ or Heathen Merch
ants, appearing here and there between thofe Trees, as Reliquesot old Cafdes of For-
refts i all that caufeth within the Town very pleafing fights and perfpedives, efpecully
in a dry and hot Country, where Peoples eyes feem to defire nothing but verdure and
OsiScic •
Mean time you need not go out of Paris, to find the moft pleafing and the moft gal
lant fight in the World* Take onely a walk upon the Pontneufi attentively beholding m
the day-time all things furrounding you, together with that incredible and ftrange con-
fiufion of People : and at night the infinite number of lights m the windows, of thofe
high buildings that are round about youi and the fame confufion which continues till
after mid-night •, the good Citizen, and (which you fhall not fee in any part
of Afia ) the fair She-Citizen walking without fear of Robbers, and without the
inconvenience of dirt ': and then the long files of Stars that brave the wind, the rain
darknefs- Take only, I fay, fuch a walk upon that Bridge, obfetving all thole things
together, and then (iipontnf word) you may boldly maintain it, that you are upon tk
Spot of the fakeft, braveft and moft magnificent artificial view ol the Barth, unlcisit
be fomepartof China ox Japan, where I have not been. What will it be then when
the Loxvre, that work which was once thought would never be feen but in deligu and
upon paper, fhall be finilht ? I have purpofely added the word Artificial, becaufe fpealc-
ing of the beft Perfpedives that are, we muft always except when one is
in a Boat in the midft of that great Channel,over againft the point of the Seraglio: tot
there you [hall find your feif altogether furprized, as 5 twere in the midfi of iome great
and vaft inchanted Amphitheater •, but in this Perfpecftive the Workmanihip ot Natm
is moft confiderable, whereas in that of Pam ^rt and Dexterity is moft conlpicuous,
which doubtlefs renders it more eminent, forafmuch as thereby it looks more.I ikc the
Seat of a great King, the Capital of a great Empire, and is really, without^ fiattenng
our felves, and all thofe beauties of Debli, Agra, and Conftantinople, well coniidered aiM
compared, the faireft, the ficheft, and the chiefeftCity of the\/ond. ^ w
In Agra the Reverend Fathers the Jefuits have a Church and a Colledge,where in pri
vate they teach the Children of feme twenty five or thirty Chriftian families, that have
(I know not how) gathered and fettled themfelves there by the charity of thole fathers
the Chriftian Dodrine. It was Etyar who (in the time of the great power of the i<r-
tugwzes in the Indies) called them, and gave them a penfion for their ( ubl f ten ^ 5
mTtting them to build Churches in the capital Cities of Agra and Labor. And ms
Jehm-Guire favoured them yet more. But Chah-Jehan, Son of jeban-Gmre, a |P “
fher of Aureng-Zebe now reigning, took from them their penfion, caufal tnmr^ t
at Labor to be pulled down, and the greateft part of that in Agra, overthrowing a o
the Steeple of the Church, wherein that Bell was that could be heard over a
Town. .
Thefe Fathers the Jefuits entertained great hopes of theprogrefs of Chriftianity m
the time of King Jeban-Guire, becaufe of his contempt of the Mabutnetan Law, an^
the efteem he profelfed to the Cbrijlian, even giving way to two of his Ne P bews ^° j 0 ?*
brace the Chriftian Religion, and to a certain Mirza-Zul-Karmin (that had been ok 1
the Seraglio, and, was drcumcifed) to turn Chriftian too, under the pretence t ^
born of Chriftian Parents,and Son of the Wife of a rich Armeniangtvhkh Jehan-Gwre 1 *
caufed to be brought to him into the Seraglio. - * „
The fame Fathers fay, that this King, to begin in good earneft to countenanc «-
Chriftian Religion, detigned to put the whole Court into the habit of the Franqui, *
that after he had prepared all things for it, and even dreffed himfelf in that falmon>_
called to him one of the chief Omrahs, asking his opinion of this drefs i but that ^ ^
Omrah altogether furprhed at it, having anfwered himwery ferioufly , that it ^ ^
very dangerous thing, he thought himfelf obliged to change his mind, and tuxn ^j ie f e
Into raillery . • ‘