not quite so nearly related to the boy as he pretended, his paternity being in all probability feigned, for the purpose of enhancing the price of his little slave. From Mokha it was Bernier’s intention to have crossed the Red Sea to the island of Mesowa and Arkiko, from whence he expected an easy passage might be obtained into the country of Habesh or Abyssinia. To dissuade him from his purpose, however, Murad and others, who might, perhaps, have had some sinister motives for their conduct, assured him, that since the expulsion of the Jesuits, effected by the intrigues of the queen-mother, no Roman Catholic was secure in the country, where a poor Capuchin friar, who attempted to enter it by way of Snakin, had recently lost his head. These and other considerations turned the current of his ideas. He abandoned Africa, and, embarking on board of an Indian ship bound for Surat, sought the shores of Hindostan. On the arrival of our traveller in India, those fratricidal wars between the sons of Shah Johan, which terminated with the dethronement of the aged emperor and the accession of Aurungzebe to the throne of Delhi, had already commenced, and confusion, terror, and anarchy prevailed throughout the empire. Nevertheless Bernier hastened to the capital, where, finding that partly by robbery, partly by the ordinary expenses of travelling, his finances had been reduced to a very low ebb, he contrived to be appointed one of the physicians to the Great Mogul. About twelve months before Bernier’s appointment to this office, the emperor, who, though upwards of seventy, was immoderately addicted to the excesses of the harem, had become grievously ill from that disorder, it is supposed, which cut off untimely the chivalrous rival of the Emperor Charles V. His four sons imagining, and all, indeed, excepting the eldest, ardently desiring, that he might be drawing near his end, had at once rushed to arms, and with powerful armaments collected in their various subahs, or governments, had advanced towards the capital, each animated by the hope of opening himself a way to _musnud_ through the hearts of his brethren. Their battles, negotiations, intrigues, and mutual treachery, though related in a vivid and energetic manner by Bernier, can find no place in this narrative. Aurungzebe, having defeated and put to flight the Rajah Jesswunt Singh, was now advancing towards the capital, when his eldest brother, Dara, incensed at his audacity, and naturally impatient of delay, advanced with the imperial army towards the Chumbul and that range of mountain passes which extends between the Jumna and Guzerat. Here a battle was fought, in which Aurungzebe was victor. Dara, with the wretched remnant of his forces, fled towards Ahmedabad, the ancient Mohammedan capital of Guzerat. In this miserable plight he was met by Bernier, whom the prince, who had known him at Delhi, and had now no medical attendant, compelled to follow in his train. In the East