Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/159

CHAP. VII.] Herat, or his dominion is unsafe. In an age when Kabul was a part of the Delhi Empire, Qandahar was our indispensable first line of defence.

In the seventeenth century Qandahar was even more important as a gateway of commerce than as an outpost of the empire. The Portuguese navy then dominated the Indian Ocean, and their quarrels with Persia often stopped the sea-borne trade by way of the Persian Gulf. All merchandise from India and even the Spice Islands had to follow the land route through Multan, Chotiali, Pishin and Qandahar. In spite of the length and hardships of the road, in spite of the toll levied by every petty chieftain and local officer whose jurisdiction had to be crossed, in spite of the total cost of transport being as high as Rs. 125 for every camel's load,-the traders had practically a monopoly of the Persian market, and their profits were large enough to attract numbers to the traffic. In 1615, the English traveller Richard Steel noted that fourteen thousand laden camels annually passed into Persia by this route. Many merchants of India, Persia and Turkey met at Qandahar and often concluded their exchange of commodities there, and so great was the con-