the dog in a palankeen, to which it was chained, while the other two were told off to keep the flies from the animal with a whisk. In this lordly fashion the canine representatives of Old England upheld the dignity of a noble line; and even the great Jehangir did not consider it beneath him to feed them with his own hands, using for the purpose a pair of silver tongs which had been specially made for that purpose.
It was during his sojourn at Mandu that Roe first had the opportunity of witnessing the curious ceremony of weighing the Emperor against gold and other precious materials, which was a characteristic part of the celebration of the Mogul's birthday. On the previous occasion an invitation to attend had missed him, owing to the stupidity of the messenger, but in this instance Jehangir took especial pains to see that the English ambassador was present. Roe found the spectacle as picturesque as imagination could paint it. He saw the Emperor, glittering from head to foot with diamonds and other precious stones used to embellish his person, step into the golden scales, to be weighed six times, first against gold, next against silver and so on. When the last weighing was finished Jehangir ascended his throne and distributed silver almonds, nuts and spices, after the manner previously described. Once more the great men "scrambled prostrate upon their bellies" for the imperial largesse; once more Roe's dignity forbade him to follow their example. The Emperor, seeing that the ambassador did not join in the scrimmage, took a basin and poured the contents into Roe's cloak. Some of the nobles, observing what was happening, held out their hands to intercept the bounteous stream and they would have diverted a good part of it had not Roe
