第91章

There went in front of the king many elephants with their coverings and ornaments,as I have said;the king had before him some twenty horses fully caparisoned and saddled,with embroideries of gold and precious stones,that showed off well the grandeur and state of their lord.Close to the king went a cage such as is seen at Lisbon on the day of the Corpo de Dios festival,and it was gilded and very large;it seemed to me to be made of copper or silver;it was carried by sixteen men,eight on each side,besides others who took their turns,and in it is carried the idol of which I have already spoken.Thus accompanied the king passed along gazing at his soldiers,who gave great shouts and cries and struck their shields;the horses neighed,the elephants screamed,so that it seemed as it the city would be overturned,the hills and valleys and all the ground trembled with the discharges of arms and musquets;and to see the bombs and fire-missiles over the plains,this was indeed wonderful.Truly it seemed as if the whole world were collected there.

In this way it went on till the king arrived at the place where the tent was that I have already mentioned,and he entered his and performed his usual ceremonies and prayers.You must not think that when the king passed the troops moved from their positions,on the contrary they stood motionless in their places till the king returned.As soon as the king had finished his ceremonies he again took horse and returned to the city in the same way as he had come,the troops never wearying of their shouting;as soon as he passed by them they began to march.Then to see those who were on the hills and slopes,and the descent of them with their shouts and beating of shields and shaking of arrows and bows that were without count.Truly,I was so carried out with myself that it seemed as if what I saw was a vision,and that I was in a dream.Then the troops began to march to their tents and pavilions in the plains,which were in great number;and all the captains accompanied the king as far as the palace,and thence departed to rest themselves from their labour.

Now I desire you to know that this king has continually a million fighting troops,[453]in which are included 35,000cavalry in armour;all these are in his pay,and he has these troops always together and ready to be despatched to any quarter whenever such may be necessary.Isaw,being in this city of Bisnaga,the king despatch a force against a place,one of those which he has by the sea-coast;and he sent fifty captains with 150,000soldiers,amongst whom were many cavalry.He has many elephants,and when the king wishes to show the strength of his power to any of his adversaries amongst the three kings bordering on his kingdom,they say that he puts into the field two million soldiers;in consequence of which he is the most feared king of any in these parts.And although he takes away so many men from his kingdom,it must not be thought that the kingdom remains devoid of men;it is so full that it would seem to you as if he had never taken away a man,and this by reason of the many and great merchants that are in it.There are working people and all other kinds of men who are employed in business,besides those who are obliged to go into the field;there are also a great number of Brahmans.In all the land of the heathen there are these Brahmans;they are men who do not eat anything that suffers death;they have little stomach for the use of arms.

Should any one ask what revenues this king possesses,and what his treasure is that enables him to pay so many troops,since he has so many and such great lords in his kingdom,who,the greater part of them,have themselves revenues,I answer thus:These captains whom he has over these troops of his are the nobles of his kingdom;they are lords,and they hold the city,and the towns and villages of the kingdom;there are captains amongst them who have a revenue of a million and a million a half of PARDAOS,others a hundred thousand PARDAOS,others two hundred,three hundred or five hundred thousand PARDAOS,and as each one has revenue so the king fixes for him the number of troops he must maintain,in foot,horse,and elephants.[454]

These troops are always ready for duty,whenever they may be called out and wherever they may have to go;and in this way he has this million of fighting men always ready.Each of these captains labours to turn out the best troops he can get because he pays them their salaries;and in this review there were the finest young men possible to be seen or that ever could be seen,for in all this array I did not see a man that would act the coward.Besides maintaining these troops,each captain has to make his annual payments to the king,and the king has his own salaried troops to whom he gives pay.He has eight hundred elephants attached to his person,and five hundred horses always in his stables,and for the expenses of these horses and elephants he has devoted the revenues that he receives from this city of Bisnaga.You may well imagine how great these expenses may be,and besides these that of the servants who have the care of the horses and elephants;and by this you will be able to judge what will be the revenue of this city.

This king of Bisnaga has five kings his subjects and vassals,[455]besides other captains and lords having large territories and great revenues;whenever a son happens to be born to this king,or a daughter,all the nobles of the kingdom offer him great presents of money and jewels of price,and so they do to him every year on the day of his birth.