DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5829#0051
DELHI.
37
to procure even the bare necessaries of life; and when
reduced to the last extremity, Khaja Aias determined
upon seeking a change of lot in the western provinces
of India, where the army of the Mogul Emperor was
an usual resource for all needy Tartars.
All the worldly goods of Khaja Aias consisted of
one sorry horse, a well-proved blade, and a very small
sum of money, which he had gathered from the sale
of his other poor effects. Placing his wife upon the
horse, he walked by her side ; for she was at that
time expecting ere long to present him with their
first-born, and could ill endure the fatigue of so
arduous a journey. Their scanty pittance of money
was very soon exhausted, and they had been reduced
to subsist for many days upon the slender gleanings
of charity, when they arrived on the borders of the
Great Desert, separating Tartary from the dominions
of the family of Taimour, in India. No house was
there to shelter them from the smiting power of the
sun, no hand to relieve their increasing wants. To
return w-as certain misery, destitution, and shame; to
proceed, apparent destruction.
They had advanced two or three days' journey into
the desert, having kept a long and bitter fast, when, to
complete their misfortunes, the poor woman became
so ill that she was unable to proceed. She began
to reproach her husband for his folly in persuading
her, at such a time, to leave her native country,
for exchanging a quiet, though poor life, for the ideal
E
37
to procure even the bare necessaries of life; and when
reduced to the last extremity, Khaja Aias determined
upon seeking a change of lot in the western provinces
of India, where the army of the Mogul Emperor was
an usual resource for all needy Tartars.
All the worldly goods of Khaja Aias consisted of
one sorry horse, a well-proved blade, and a very small
sum of money, which he had gathered from the sale
of his other poor effects. Placing his wife upon the
horse, he walked by her side ; for she was at that
time expecting ere long to present him with their
first-born, and could ill endure the fatigue of so
arduous a journey. Their scanty pittance of money
was very soon exhausted, and they had been reduced
to subsist for many days upon the slender gleanings
of charity, when they arrived on the borders of the
Great Desert, separating Tartary from the dominions
of the family of Taimour, in India. No house was
there to shelter them from the smiting power of the
sun, no hand to relieve their increasing wants. To
return w-as certain misery, destitution, and shame; to
proceed, apparent destruction.
They had advanced two or three days' journey into
the desert, having kept a long and bitter fast, when, to
complete their misfortunes, the poor woman became
so ill that she was unable to proceed. She began
to reproach her husband for his folly in persuading
her, at such a time, to leave her native country,
for exchanging a quiet, though poor life, for the ideal
E