第131章

And after these nine days are finished the Rao[609]rides out and goes to hold a review of the troops of his captains,and he goes a length of two leagues between the armed men.At the end he dismounts and takes a bow in his hand and shoots three arrows,namely one for the Ydallcao,and another for the King of Cotamuloco,[610]and yet another for the Portuguese;it was his custom to make war on the kingdom lying in the direction where the arrow reached furthest.After this is done the King returns home,and on that day he fasts and with him all the people of the land;and on the next day he goes to the river to bathe with all his people.Within these nine days the King is paid all the rents that he receives from his kingdom;for,as already said,all the land belongs to the King,and from his hand the captains hold it.They make it over to the husbandmen who pay nine-tenths to their lord;and they have no land of their own,for the kingdom belongs entirely to the King;[611]only the captains are put to charges on account of the troops for whom the King makes them responsible,and whom they are obliged to provide in the way of service.Every Saturday the dancing-girls are obliged to go to the palace to dance and posture before the King's idol,which is in the interior of his palace.The people of this country always fast on Saturdays and do not eat all day nor even at night,nor do they drink water,only they may chew a few cloves to sweeten the breath.The King always gives large sums in charity;in the palace there are always two or three thousand Brahmans who are his priests,and to whom the King commands to give alms.These Brahman priests are very despicable men;they always have much money,and are so insolent that even by using blows the guards of the door cannot hold them in check.

The captains and principal people use[612]at night torches of oil,from four to twelve torches (according to rank),those of highest rank having twelve at most.The King,however,must have a hundred or a hundred and fifty torches.There is much wax in the country,but they do not know how to work it.Every merchant who brings merchandise in horses and other things which he may have brought to sell to the King,if he desires an audience,has to offer him a present of a piece of goods or a horse of the best that he has brought,in order that he may obtain an audience and transact his business.And this not only to the King.You must perforce pay bribes to all the several officers with whom you have to deal.They will do nothing without some profit to themselves When any one suffers wrong and wishes to represent his case to the King he shows how great is his suffering by lying flat on his face on the ground till they ask him what it is he wants.If,perchance,he wishes to speak to the King while he is riding,he takes the shaft of a spear and ties a branch to it and thus goes along calling out.Then they make room for him,and he makes his complaint to the King;and it is there and then settled without more ado,and the King orders a captain,one of those who go with him,to do at once what the supplicant asks.If he complains that he was robbed in such and such a province and in such and such a road,the King sends immediately for the captain of that province,even though he be at court,and the captain may be seized and his property taken if he does not catch the thief.In the same way the chief bailiff[613]is obliged to give an account of the robberies in the capital,and in consequence very few thefts take place;and even if some are committed,you give some little present and a deion of the man who stole from you,and they will soon know by the agency of the wizards whether the thief be in the city or not;for there are very powerful wizards in this country.Thus there are very few thieves in the land.

This King has continually fifty thousand paid soldiers,amongst whom are six thousand horsemen who belong to the palace guard,to which six thousand belong the two hundred who are obliged to ride with him.He has also twenty thousand spearmen and shield-bearers,and three thousand men to look after the elephants in the stables;he has sixteen hundred grooms[614]who attend to the horses,and has also three hundred horse trainers[615]and two thousand artificers,namely blacksmiths,masons,and carpenters,and washermen who wash clothes.These are the people he has and pays every day;he gives them their allowance at the gate of the palace.To the six thousand horsemen the King gives horses free and gives provision for them every month,and all these horses are marked with the King's mark;when they die they are obliged to take the piece of skin containing the mark to Madanarque,the chief master of the horse,so that he may give them another,and these horses which he gives are mostly country-breds which the King buys,twelve or fifteen for a thousand PARDAOS.[616]The King every year buys thirteen thousand horses of Ormuz,and country-breds,of which he chooses the best for his own stables,and he gives the rest to his captains,and gains much money by them;because after taking out the good Persian horses,he sells those which are country-bred,and gives five for a thousand PARDAOS,and they are obliged to pay him the money for them within the month of September;and with the money so obtained he pays for the Arabs that he buys of the Portuguese,in such a way that his captains pay the cost of the whole without anything going out of the Treasury.