self wrapping it up in paper to preserve it from injury in transit. As he handed the gift over he observed—
"You see we are not so unskilfull as you esteem us."
On another occasion Jehangir sent an urgent message summoning Roe to his presence. The ambassador, who had retired for the night, dressed and repaired to the palace, to find that Jehangir wished to satisfy his curiosity in regard to a miniature which the ambassador had incautiously shown to one of the imperial artists. It is not stated in Roe's journal who the picture represented, but the probability is that it was a portrait of the lady to whom he had been wedded prior to his embarkation. Roe, on repairing to the palace, found the Emperor "sitting crosslegged on a little throne, all clad in diamonds, pearls and rubies, before him a table of gold on which were about fifty pieces of gold plate, set all with stones, some very great and extremely rich, some of less value, but all of them almost covered with small stones." About him were his nobility "in their best equipage, whom he commanded to drink froliquely several wines standing by in great flagons."
Immediately the ambassador entered Jehangir asked for the miniature. Roe showed him two pictures, probably hoping that the one he cherished most might be overlooked; but the Emperor pounced upon it and asked whose portrait it was. Roe replied that it represented a friend of his who was dead. Would he part with it? Jehangir demanded. The ambassador answered diplomatically that he valued it more than anything he possessed because it was the image of one that he loved dearly and he could never replace it, but that if his Majesty would pardon him his fancy he would give it him. Jehangir
