"I should say en passant that the peasants have for their sole garment a scrap of cloth to cover those parts which natural modesty requires should be concealed; and that they are reduced to great poverty, because if the Governors become aware that they possess any property they seize it straightway by right or by force. You may see in India whole provinces like deserts from whence the peasants have fled on account of the oppression of the Governors. Under cover of the fact that they are themselves Musalmans, they persecute these poor idolaters to the utmost…"