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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63439	The six voyages of John Baptista Tavernier, Baron of Aubonne through Turky, into Persia and the East-Indies, for the space of forty years : giving an account of the present state of those countries, viz. of the religion, government, customs, and commerce of every country, and the figures, weight, and value of the money currant all over Asia : to which is added A new description of the Seraglio / made English by J.P. ; added likewise, A voyage into the Indies, &c. by an English traveller, never before printed ; publish'd by Dr. Daniel Cox; Six voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier. English	Tavernier, Jean-Baptiste, 1605-1689.; Phillips, John, 1631-1706.; Cox, Daniel, Dr.	1677 (1677)	Wing T255; ESTC R38194	848,815	637

to the Parents House to feast If any tax their Baptism for insufficient in regard the Three Persons of the Divinity are not nam'd therein they can make no rational defence for themselves Nor have they any knowledge of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity only they say that Christ is the Spirit and Word of the Eternal Father They are so blind as to believe the Angel Gabriel to be the Son of God begotten upon Light yet will not believe the Eternal Generation of Christ as God Yet they confess he became Man to free us from the Punishment of Sin and that he was conceiv'd in the womb of a Virgin without the knowledge of Man by means of the Water of a certain Fountain which she drank of They believe he was crucifi'd by the Jews that he rose the third day and that his Soul ascending up to Heaven his Body remain'd on Earth But like the Mahometans they corrupt their Faith by saying that Christ vanish'd when the Jews came to take him and that he deluded their cruelty with his Shadow In the Eucharist they make use of Meal or Flow'r kneaded up with Wine and Oyl For say they the Body of Christ being compos'd of the two principal parts Flesh and Blood the Flowr and the Wine do most perfectly represent them besides that Christ at his Supper made use of Wine only and not of Water They add Oyl to signifie the benefit we receive by his favour of the Sacrament and to put us in mind of our Love and Charity towards God and our Neighbour To make this Wine they take Grapes dry'd in the Sun which they call in their Language Zebibes and casting Water upon them let them steep for so long a time The same Wine they use for the Consecration of the Cup. They make use of Raisins in regard they are more easie to be had than Wine the Persians especially the Arabians under whose Government they live not permitting nor indeed allowing them the use of it Of all people that follow the Law of Mahomet there are none so opposite to other Religions as these Persians and Arabians about Balsara The words of their Consecration are no other than certain long Prayers which they make to praise and thank God at the same time blessing the Bread and Wine never making mention of his Body and Blood which they say is not at all necessary because God knows their intentions After all the Ceremonies are ended the Priest takes the Bread and having eaten some of it distributes the rest to the People As to their Bishops and Priests when any one dyes who has a Son they choose him in his place and if he have no Son they take the next a-kin that is most capable and best instructed in their Religion They that make the Election say several Prayers over him that is elected If he be a Bishop after he is receiv'd and that he go about to Ordain others he ought to fast six days during which time he continually repeats certain Prayers over him that is to be ordain'd Priest who also for his part fasts and prays all the said time And whereas I say the Father succeeds the Son it is to be observ'd that among the Christians in those Parts both Bishops and Priests marry as do the rest of the people only if their first Wife dye they cannot marry another unless she be a Virgin Moreover they that are admitted to Ecclesiastical Functions must be of the race of Bishops or Priests and their Mothers must have been always Virgins when they were marry'd All their Bishops and Priests wear their Hair long and a little Cross wrought with a Needle When there is any Wedding to be the kindred and persons invited go together with the Bridegroom to the House where the Bride lives Thither comes the Bishop also and approaching the Bride who is sitting under a Canopy he asks her if she be a Virgin If she answer that she is so he makes her confirm it by an Oath After which he returns to the Guests and sends his Wife with some other skilful Women to make an inspection If they find her to be a Virgin the Bishop's Wife returns and makes Oath of it and then they all go to the River where the Bishop re-baptizes the Couple to be marry'd Then they return toward the House and making a stop before they come quite near it the Bridegroom takes the Bride by the Hand and leads her seven times from the Company to the House the Bishop following them every time and reading certain Prayers After that they go into the House and the Bride and Bridegroom place themselves under the Canopy where they set their Shoulders one against another and the Bishop reads again causing them to lay their Heads together three times Then op'ning a Book of Divination and looking for the most fortunate day to consummate the Marriage he tells them of it But if the Bishop's Wife do not find the Bride to be a Virgin the Bishop can proceed no farther so that if the young Man have still a mind he must go to some meaner Priest to perform the Ceremony Which is the reason that the people take it for a great dishonour to be marry'd by any other than the Bishops for when a Priest marries 't is an infallible sign that the Bride was no Virgin The Priests also in regard they take it to be a great Sin for a Woman to marry not being a Virgin they never marry any such but by constraint and to avoid ensuing inconveniencies for sometimes in despite they will turn Mahometans The reason of the Inspection is that the Husbands may not be deceiv'd and to keep the young Girls in awe As to what they believe touching the Creation of the World they say that the Angel Gabriel undertrking to create the World according to the command which God gave him took along with him three hundred thirty-six thousand Demons and made the earth so fertile that it was but to Sow in the Morning and Reap at Night That the same Angel taught Adam to Plant and Sow and all other necessary Sciences Moreover that the same Angel made the seven lower Spheres the least whereof reaches to the Center of the World in the same manner as the Heavens do all contriv'd one within another That all these Spheres are of different Metals the first next the Center is of Iron the second of Lead the third of Brass the fourth of Laten the fifth of Silver the sixth of Gold and the seventh of Earth The seventh is that which contains all the rest and is the chiefest of all as being the most fruitful and profitable to Man and the most proper to preserve Mankind whereas the rest seem rather to be fram'd for its destruction They believe that over every Heaven there is Water whence they conclude that the Sun swims in a Ship upon that Water and that the Mast of his Ship is a Cross and that there

and compound it with a Water which they cause them to drink who have committed any Sin after they have been at Confession for it They call that Water the Cazi's Water which Urin ought to be preserv'd forty days with an infusion of Willow-Bark and certain Herbs When any person is confess'd of his Sin if it be a crying Sin the party is bound to stay ten days in the Cazi's House and not to eat or drink but what the Priest gives them And in order to Absolution the Priest strips him naked and tyes a little Dog to his right great Toe which he leads with him about the Cazi's House wherever he goes sometimes a whole day sometimes longer according to the hainousness of the crime In that posture he desires the Cazi to purifie him telling him that for his part he believes himself to be purify'd The Priest makes answer that it is the Dog that must purifie him and not he After that he powrs the compounded water seven times upon his head then gives him a draught to drink and so he is absolv'd This penitence costs the criminal Sawce who is afterwards bound to feast all his friends at the Cazi's House Being surpriz'd at this superstition I ask'd whether the women were shrifted thus by the Cazi but I found that the Cazi's Wives confess and absolve the women and maids One more strange custom they have that when a man is upon the point of death they take a little Dog and set it upon the expiring parties brest When he is just breathing his last they put the mouth of the Dog to the mouth of the person dying and cause him to bark twice in that posture that the Soul of the deceas'd may enter into the Dog who they say will deliver it into the hands of the Angel appointed to receive it Moreover when any Dog happ'ns to dye they carry him out of the City and pray to God for the Carrion as if the Beast receiv'd any kindness after death by their Prayers Of the Beasts which they love or hate THere are some Beasts which the Gaurs do mightily respect and to which they give a great deal of Honour There are others which they as much abhor and which they endeavour'd to destroy as much as in them lies believing that they were not created by God but that they came out of the body of the Devil whose ill nature they retain The Beasts which they principally admire are the Cow the Oxe and the Dog They are expresly forbid to eat of the flesh of a Cow or an Oxe or to kill them The reason why they so esteem these Creatures is because the Oxe labours for man and Ploughs the Ground that produces his food As for the Cow they more dearly affect her for the Milk she gives but especially for the purifying quality of her Urine The Creatures which they abhor are Adders Serpents Lizards Toads Frogs Creyfish Rats Mice but above all the rest Cats which they say are the resemblance of the Devil who gave them so much strength that a man can hardly kill them so that they rather suffer the inconveniency of Rats and Mice than ever to keep a Cat in their Houses As for the other Animals before-mention'd if any of the Gaurs fall sick they hire poor people to go and find those Creatures out and kill them which they reck'n in the number of those good works that comfort the Souls of the deceas'd The reason why they hate them so is because they believe the Devils make use of them to torment the Damn'd and therefore they do a work of charity that destroy them whereby they mitigate the pains and torments of Souls in Hell The last King of these Gaurs was Sha-Iesherd who was driv'n out of his Country by Omar the second successor to Mahomet Of the RELIGION of the ARMENIANS and of their Principal CEREMONIES CHAP. IX How the Armenians Consecrate and Administer the Sacrament SInce the Armenians Traded into Europe and began to be Travellers their Churches are better set out then they were heretofore They spare no cost to adorn the Choir and the Altar you tread upon rich Carpets and for the structure and embellishments of it they employ the best Workmen and the choicest Materials they can meet with From the body of the Church to the Choir there is usually an ascent of five or six Steps Nor is there above one Altar in any Church upon which they set the Consecrated Bread before they set the Chalice where the Wine is When the Mass for the Ceremony is said by an Arch-bishop at the reading of the Gospel they light an abundance of Wax Tapers which Tapers are like Torches After the Gospel is read several of the Noviciates take sticks in their Hands about five foot long at the end whereof are Latten Plates with little Bells hanging about them which when they are shak'd imitate the sound of Cymbals Other Noviciates there are which hold a Copper Plate in their Hands hung about with Bells which they strike one against another and at the same time the Ecclesiasticks and Laity sing together indifferent Harmoniously All this while the Archbishop has two Bishops of each side of him who are in the room of a Dean and a Sub-dean and when it is time he goes and unlocks a Window in the Wall on the Gospel side and takes out the Chalice where the Wine is Then with all his Musick he takes a turn about the Altar upon which he at length sets down the Chalice saying certain Prayers After that with the Chalice in his hand and the Bread upon the Chalice he turns toward the people who presently prostrate themselves upon the Ground beat their Brests and kiss the Earth while the Arch-bishop pronounces these words This is the Lord who gave his Body and Blood for you Then he turns toward the Altar and eats the Bread dip'd in the Wine for they never drink the Wine but only dip the Bread in it That done the Arch-bishop turns once more toward the people with the Bread and Chalice in his hand and they that will receive come one after another to the bottom of the Choir whither it is not lawful for any Lay-person whatsoever to ascend to whom the Arch-bishop gives the Bread dip'd in Wine that is in the Chalice which Bread is without leven flat and round about as thick as a Crown and as big as the Host of the Mass being Consecrated the day before by the Priest whose Office it is They never put Water in their Communion-Wine affirming that Water is for Baptism and that Christ when he instituted the Holy Supper drank it pure without any mixture of Water When the Armenians come to the Communion the Arch-bishop or the Priest says these words I confess and believe that this is the Rody and Blood of the Son of God who takes away the sins of the World who is not only ours but the Salvation of all Mankind The

are a great number of Boys and Servants to guide the Ships of the Sun and Moon Besides they have the Picture of a Barque which they say belong'd to the Angel Becan whom God sends to visit the Sun and Moon to see whither they move right or no and keep close to their duty In reference to the other World and life to come they believe there is no other World but where Angels and Devils the Souls of good and bad reside That in that World there are Cities Houses and Churches and that the Evil Spirits have also Churches where they pray singing and rejoycing upon Instruments and Feasting as in this World That when any one lies at the point of death three hundred and sixty Demons come and carry his Soul to a place full of Serpents Dogs Lyons Tygres and Devils who if it be the Soul of a wicked man tear it in pieces but being the Soul of a just man it creeps under the bellies of those Creatures into the presence of God who sits in his seat of Majesty to judge the World That there are Angels also that weigh the Souls of Men in a Ballance who being thought worthy are admitted immediately into Glory That the Angels and Devils are Male and Female and beget Children That the Angel Gabriel is the Son of God engender'd upon Light and that he has a Daughter call'd Souret who has two Sons That the Angel Gabriel has several Legions of Demons under him who are instead of Souldiers and others that are his Officers of justice whom he sends from Town to Town and from City to City to punish the wicked In reference to Saints they hold that Christ left twelve Apostles to Preach to the Nations That the Virgin Mary is not dead but that she lives somewhere in the World though there be no person that can tell where she is That next to her St. John is the chiefest Saint in Heaven and next to them Zacharias and Elizabeth of whom they recompt several miracles and Apocryphal tales For they believe that they two begat St. John only by embracing that when he came to be of age they Marry'd him and that he had four Sons which he begat upon the waters of Jordan That when St. John desir'd a Son he pray'd to God who drew him one out of the water so that St. John had no more to do with his Wife but only to give her the Child to bring up That he dy'd a natural death but that he commanded his Disciples to Crucifie him after his death that he might be like Christ. Lastly that he dy'd in the City of Fuster and that he was bury'd in a Chrystal Tomb brought by miracle to the City and that this Sepulchre was in a certain House near the River Jordan They highly honour the Cross and sign themselves with it but they are very careful of letting the Turks observe them and during their Ceremonies they set a Watch at their Church doors for fear the Turks should enter and lay some unjust Fine upon them When they have ador'd the Cross they take it in two pieces which they never put together again 'till their Service rebegins The reason why they so adore the Cross is drawn out of a Book which they have Entitul'd The Divan Where it is written that every day early in the Morning the Angels take the Cross and put it in the middle of the Sun which receives his light from it as the Moon also doth hers They add that in the same Book are Pictur'd two Ships one of which is nam'd the Sun the other the Moon and tha● in every one of these Ships there is a Cross full of Bells And moreover that if there were not a Cross in those two Ships the Sun and Moon would be depriv'd of Light and the Ships would suffer Shipwrack Their chief Festivals are three The one in Winter that lasts three days in memory of our first Parent and the Creation of the World The other in the Month of August that also lasts three days which is call'd the Feast of St. John The third which lasts five days in June during which time they are all re-baptiz'd They observe Sunday doing no work upon that day They neither Fast nor do any penance They have no Canonical Books but a great number of others that treat of nothing but Witchcraft in which they believe their Priests to be very crafty and that the Devils are at their beck They hold all Women to be unclean and that it is not at all available for them to come to the Church They have one Ceremony which they call the Ceremony of the Hen of which they make great Accompt which is not lawful for any to perform but a Priest Born of a Virgin at the time of her Marriage When a hen is to be kill'd the Priest puts off his ordinary habit and puts on a Linnen Cloth girding his waste with a second and throwing a third about his shoulders like a Stole Then he takes the Fowl and plunges it in the water to make it clean after which he turns toward the East and cuts off the head holding the Body in his hand 'till it has bled out all the blood While the Hen bleeds with his Eyes lifted up to Heaven as if he were in an extasie he repeats in his own Language these words following In the name of God may this flesh be profitable to all that eat of it They observe the same ceremony when they kill Sheep For first they cleanse the place very carefully where the Sheep is to be kill'd washing it with water and strewing it with boughs nor is the number of people small that assists at this Ceremony as if it were at some solemn Sacrifice If you ask them why it is not lawful for the Laity to kill Fowls They answer that it is no more lawful for them to kill than to consecrate them and that is all the reason which they bring They eat of nothing drest by the Turks and if a Turk ask them for drink so soon as he has drank they break the Cup. And to make the Turks more hateful they Picture Mahomet like a great Gyant shut up in Prison in Hell with four more of his Parents and they say that all the Turks are carry'd into the same place full of wild Beasts to be there devour'd They pretend all to Salvation For say they after the Angel Gabriel had fram'd the World by the command of God he thus discours'd him Lord God said he behold I have built the World as thou didst command me It has put me to a great deal of trouble and my Brethren also to raise such high Mountains that seem to sustain Heaven And who indeed was able to make way for Rivers through Mountains without vast labour and to give every thing its proper place Moreover great God by the aid of thy powerfull Arm we have brought the World to so much perfection that

bury that person honourably believing him to be a Saint Besides that they send over all the Countrey for a white Goat which they breed up and keep in the Village where it happen'd to thunder having it in great veneration till thundring in another place the people send for it thither also If the Thunder fall upon any of their Houses though it kill neither Man Woman Child nor Beast all that Family shall be kept upon the publick stock all that year without being ty'd to any Labour but of Singing and Dancing These people during that time go from Village to Village Dancing and Singing at peoples Doors but never going into their Houses for which the Inhabitants are bound to bring them out something to eat There is a day in the Spring when all that have been struck'n with Thunder meet together in the Village where the white Goat is kept who has always a Cheese hanging about his Neck as big as a Parma-Cheese This Goat they take and carry to the Village of the chief Lord of the Countrey They never go in but the Lord with all the rest of the Village coming out they all together prostrate themselves before the Goat Having said some Prayers they take away his Cheese and immediately put another in its place The Cheese which was taken away is at the same time cut into little pieces and distributed among the people After that they give the Strangers to eat and bestow their Alms upon them so that by this wandring from Village to Village they get good store of Money They have among them but only one Book and it is as big as one of our largest Folio's and it lies in the hands of an old man who has only the priviledge to touch it When that old man is dead they choose another old man to keep the Book whose Duty it is to go from Village to Village where he hears of any sick people He carries the Book with him and after he has lighted up a Wax-Candle and put the people out of the Room he lays the Book upon the Stomach of the sick person opens it and reads in it then blows over it sev'ral times so that the Breath passes toward the mouth of the Party Then he causes the party diseas'd to kiss the Book several times and as often lays it upon his head which is a Ceremony of half an hour When the old man goes away one gives him a Beef or a Heifer another gives him a Goat every one according to their Quality and Estate They have also Old Women that take upon them to cure the Sick These Women feel the body of the sick party all over but more particularly they handle and grope that part where the distemper lies during which time they let go several belches out of their mouthes and the more sick the party is the louder and thicker they fetch their belches The standers by hearing them belch in that manner and fetch such vilanous sighs from their stomacks believe their friend to be dangerously ill and that the louder the Women belch the more ease and comfort they receive but whether they do or no the women are well payd for their pains When any one feels a pain in the Head they send for the Barber who gives two cutts upon the Head across with the rasor and then poures Oyl into the wound For they believe the Head-ache proceeds only from a wind beeween the flesh and the bone for which the Incision opens a paslage to let it out At their Funerals they that are the near Relations or Friends of the dead some cut their faces and other parts of their Bodies with sharp flints others prostrate themselves upon the ground and tear their hair so that when they return from the Burial they are all of a gore blood However notwithstanding all this affliction they never pray for the Dead As to their Marriages When a young man has seen a Virgin which he has a liking to he sends one of his friends to agree with her Parents or her Tutor what he will give for her Commonly the guist consists in Horses Cows or some other sort of Cattel When the agreement is made the Parents and Kindred of the party thereby contracted together with the Lord of the place go to the House where the Virgin lives and bring her to the Bridegrooms House where there is a Feast ready prepar'd and after they have made merry and sung and danc'd for a while the Bridegroom and Bride go and lye together without any other Ceremony If the Man and Maid are of two Parishes the Lord of the Village where the Man lives accompany him and his Kindred to the next Village altogether to fetch the Bride from thence If a Man and the Wife have no Children he is permitted to take several Wives one after another till he have Issue If a marri'd Woman have a Gallant and that the Husband should come and find his Wise a bed with him he goes away again without saying a word and never takes any further notice of it The Woman also in the same case does the like by the man Nay the more Gallants a Woman has the more she is respected And it is a common custom when they fall out to taunt one another that if they were not ugly or ill natur'd or diseas'd they would have more Admirers than they have The People are of an excellent Complexion especially the Women who are extreamly fair and finely shap'd and keep their beauty till five and forty or fifty years They are very laborious and work themselves in the Iron Mines which they melt afterwards and forge into several Tooles and Implements They make abundance of Embroidery of Gold and Silver for their Saddles their Quivers and their Pumps as also upon the Calicut of which they make their Handkerchiefs If the man and the woman happen to quarrel often together so that they cannot be reconcil'd the Husband complaining first to the Lord of the Place He sends for the Woman and having giv'n order to sell her gives the Man another But if the Woman complain first the Man is serv'd the same sawce If a Man or Woman be a disturber of their Neighbours if the Neighbours complain to the Lord he presently causes the party to be apprehended and sold to the Merchants that buy Slaves for they are resolv'd they will live in quiet They that take upon them the quality of Gentlemen sit still do nothing and speak very little In an evening they ride out and meet some twenty or thirty together to go a stealing Nor do they rob only their Enemies but their Neighbours from whom the chief prey which they take are Cattle and Slaves All the Country-people are Slaves to the Lord of the Village where they live whom he imploys to till his Land and cut Wood for him upon occasion of which they spend vast quantities For not being very warm clad they keep fire all night

and be acquainted among the Nobility their Weddings are very pompous and expensive The Bridegroom is mounted upon an Elephant and the Bride rides in a Chariot the whole Company carrying Torches in their hands They also borrow of the Governour and the Nobility of the place as many Elephants and prancing Horses as they can get And they walk some part of the night with Fire-works which they throw about the Streets and Piazza's But the greatest expence to those that live three or four hundred Leagues from it is to get the water of Ganges for in regard they account that water sacred and drink it out of devotion it must be brought them by the Bramins and in Earthen Vessels glaz'd within side which the chief Bramin of Ingrenate fills himself with the purest Water of the River and then seals up with his own Seal They never drink this water till the end of the Feast and then they give their guests three or more glasses apiece This water coming so far and the chief Bramin demanding a Tribute for every pot which contains a Pail-full sometimes a wedding comes to two or three thousand Roupies The eighth of April being in a City of Bengala call'd Malde the Idolaters made a great Feast according to the particular Custom of that place they all go out of the City and fasten Iron hooks to the boughs of several Trees then come a great number of poor people and hang themselves some by the sides some by the brawn of their backs upon those hooks till the weight of their body tearing away the flesh they fall of themselves 'T is a wonderful thing to see that not so much as one drop of blood should issue from the wounded flesh nor that any of the flesh should be left upon the hook besides that in two days they are perfectly cur'd by such Plaisters as their Bramins give them There are others who at that Feast will lye upon a bed of nails with the points upward the nails entring a good way into the flesh however while these people are under this Pennance their Friends come and present them with Money and Linnen When they have undergone their Penance they take the presents and distribute them to the poor without making any farther advantage of them I ask'd one why they made that Feast and suffer'd those severe Penances who answer'd me that it was in remembrance of the first man whom they call'd Adam as we do In the year 1666 I saw another sort of Penance as I cross'd the Ganges upon the Bank of which River they had prepar'd a clean place where one of the poor Idolaters was condemn'd to rest upon the ground touching it only with his hands and feet which he was to do several times a day and every time to kiss the earth three times before he rose up again He was to rise up upon his left foot never touching the ground with his right all the while And every day for a month together before he either eat or drank he was oblig'd to this posture for fifty times together and consequently to kiss the ground a hundred and fifty times He told me that the Bramins had enjoin'd him that Penance because he had suffer'd a Cow to dye in his House and had not lead her to the water to be wash'd before she dy'd When an Idolater has lost any piece of Gold or Silver or summ of Money either by negligence or as being stoln from him he is oblig'd to carry as much as he lost to the great Bramin for if he does not and that the other should come to know of it he is ignominiously cast out of his Tribe to make him more careful another time On the other side the Ganges Northward toward the Mountains of Naugrocot there are two or three Raja's who neither believe God nor the Devil Their Bramins have a book containing their Belief full of ridiculous absurdities whereof the Author whose name is Baudou gives no reason These Raja's are the Great Moguls Vassals and pay him Tribute To conclude the Malavares carefully preserve the nails of their left hands and let their hair grow like women's These nails which are half a finger long serve them instead of Combs and it is with their left hand that they do all their drudgery never touching their faces nor what they eat but with their right hands CHAP. XV. Of the Kingdom of Boutan whence comes the Musk the good Rhubarb and some Furs THE Kingdom of Boutan is of a large extent but I could never yet come to a perfect knowledg thereof I have set down all that I could learn at Patna whither the Merchants of Boutan come to sell their Musk. The most excellent Rhubarb comes also from the Kingdom of Boutan From hence is brought also that Seed which is good against the worms therefore call'd Wormseed and good store of Furs As for the Rhubarb the Merchants run a great hazard which way soever they bring it for if they take the Northern Road toward Caboul the wet spoils it if the Southern Road in regard the journey is long if the Rains happen to fall there is as much danger that way so that there is no Commodity requires more care then that As for the Musk during the heats the Merchant loses by it because it dries and loses its weight Now in regard this Commodity pays twenty-five in the hundred Custom at Gorrochepour the last Town belonging to the Great Mogul next to the Kingdom of Boutan when the Indian Merchants come to that City they go to the Officer of the Custom-House and tell him that they are going to Boutan to buy Musk or Rhubarb and how much they intend to lay out all which the Officer Registers with the name of the Merchant Then the Merchants instead of twenty-five agree with him for seven or eight in the hundred and take a Certificate from the Officer or Cadi that he may not demand any more at their return If the Officer refuses a handsom composition then they go another way over Desarts and Mountains cover'd with Snow tedious and troublesome till they come to Caboul where the Caravans part some for great Tartary others for Balch Here it is that the Merchants coming from Boutan barter their Commodities for Horses Mules and Camels for there is little Money in that Country Then those Tartars transport their Commodities into Persia as far as Ardevile and Tauris which is the reason that some Europeans have thought that Rhubarb and Wormseed came out of Tartary True it is that some Rhubarb comes from thence but not so good as that of Boutan being sooner corrupted for Rhubarb will eat out its own heart The Tartars carry back out of Persia Silks of small value which are made in Tauris and Ardevile and some English Cloth brought by the Armenians from Constantinople and Smyrna Some of the Merchants that come from Caboul and Boutan go to Candahar and thence to Ispahan whether they

Seed can be gather'd but the mischief is that before the Seed is ripe the wind scatters the greatest part which makes it so scarce When they gather the Seed they take two little Hampers and as they go along the Fields they move their Hampers from the right to the left and from the left to the right as if they were mowing the Herb bowing it at the top and so all the Seed falls into the Hampers Rhubarb is a Root which they cut in pieces and stringing them by ten or twelve together hang them up a drying Had the Natives of Boutan as much art in killing the Martin as the Muscovite they might vend great store of those rich Furs considering what a number of those Beasts there are in that Countrey No sooner does that creature peep out of his hole but the Muscovites who lye upon the watch have e'm presently either in the nose or in the eyes for should they hit e'm in the body the blood would quite spoyl the skin The King of Boutan has constantly seven or eight thousand Men for his Guard Their Weapons are for the most part Bows and Arrows Some of them carry Battel-axes and Bucklers 'T is a long time ago since they had the first use of Muskets and Cannons their Gun-powder being long but of an extraordinary force They assur'd me that some of their Cannons had Letters and Figures upon them that were above five-hunder'd years old They dare not stir out of the Kingdom without the Governor 's particular leave nor dare they carry a Musket along with them unless their next Kindred will undertake for them that they shall bring it back Otherwise I had brought one along with me for by the characters upon the Barrel it appear'd to have been made above 180 years It was very thick the mouth of the bore being like a Tulip polish'd within as bright as a Looking-glass Two thirds of the Barrel were garnish'd with emboss'd Wires with certain Flowers of Gold and Silver inlaid between and it carri'd a Bullet that weigh'd an ounce But I could not prevail with the Merchant to sell it me nor to give me any of his powder There are always fifty Elephants kept about the King's House and twenty five Camels with each a Piece of Artillery mounted upon his back that carries half a pound Ball. Behind the Gun sits a Cannoneer that manages and levels the Guns as he pleases There is no King in the World more fear'd and more respected by his Subjects then the King of Boutan being in a manner ador'd by them When he sits to do Justice or give Audience all that appear in his presence hold their hands close together above their forheads and at a distance from the Throne prostrate themselves upon the ground not daring to lift up their heads In this humble posture they make their Petitions to the King and when they retire they go backwards till they are quite out of his sight One thing they told me for truth that when the King has done the deeds of nature they diligently preserve the ordore dry it and powder it like sneezing-powder and then putting it into Boxes they go every Market-day and present it to the chief Merchants and rich Farmers who recompence them for their kindness that those people also carry it home as a great rarity and when they feast their Friends strew it upon their meat Two Boutan Merchants shew'd me their Boxes and the Powder that was in them The Natives of Boutan are strong and well proportion'd but their noses and faces are somewhat flat Their women are said to be bigger and more vigorous than the men but that they are much more troubled with swellings in the throat then the men few escaping that disease They know not what war is having no enemy to fear but the Mogul But from him they are fenc'd with high steep craggy and snowey Mountains Northward there are nothing but vast Forrests and Snow East and West nothing but bitter water And as for the Raja's near them they are Princes of little force There is certainly some Silver Mine in the Kingdom of Boutan for the King coins much Silver in pieces that are of the value of a Roupy The pieces are already describ'd However the Boutan Merchants could not tell me where the Mine lay And as for their Gold that little they have is brought them from the East by the Merchants of those Countries In the year 1659 the Duke of Muscovy's Embassadors pass'd through this Country to the King of China They were three of the greatest Noblemen in Muscovy and were at first very well receiv'd but when they were brought to kiss the Kings hands the custom being to prostrate themselves three times to the ground they refus'd to do it saying that they would complement the King after their manner and as they approach'd their own Emperor who was as great and as potent as the Emperor of China Thereupon and for that they continu'd in their resolution they were dismiss'd with their presents not being admitted to see the King But had those Embassadors conform'd to the custom of China without doubt we might have had a beaten rode through Muscovy and the North part of Great Tartary and much more commerce and knowledge of the Country than now we have This mentioning the Muscovites puts me in mind of a story that several Muscovy Merchants averr'd to be true upon the rode between Tauris and Ispahan where I overtook them of a woman of fourscore and two years of age who at those years was brought to bed in one of the Cities of Muscovy of a Male Child which was carry'd to the Duke and by him brought up at the Court. CHAP. XVI Of the Kingdom of Tipra MOst people have been of opinion till now that the Kingdom of Pegu lies upon the Frontiers of China and I thought so my self till the Merchants of Tipra undeceiv'd me I met with three one at Daca and two others at Patna They were men of very few words whether it were their own particular disposition or the general habit of the Country They cast up their accounts with small Stones likes Agats as big as a mans nail upon every one of which was a Cypher They had every one their weights like a Stelleer though the Beam were not of Iron but of a certain Wood as hard as Brazile nor was the Ring that holds the weight and is put thorough the Beam to mark the weight of Iron but a strong Silk Rope And thus they weigh'd from a Dram to ten of our Pounds If all the Natives of the Kingdom of Tipra were like the two Merchants which I met at Patna I dare affirm them to be notable topers for they never refus'd whatever strong Liquor I gave them and never left till all was out and when I told them by my Interpreter that all my Wine was gone they clapt their hands upon their stomachs and sigh'd These Merchants travell'd

above the Town up the River But no person must enter into this Pagod unless it be the King and his Priests As for the people so soon as they see the Door op'n they must presently fall upon their faces to the Earth Then the King appears upon the River with two hundred Gallies of a prodigious length four hundred Rowers belonging to every one of the Gallies most of them being guilded and carv'd very richly Now in regard this second appearance of the King is in the month of November when the waters begin to abate the Priests make the people believe that none but the King can stop the course of the waters by his Prayers and by his Offerings to this Pagod And they are so vain as to think that the King cuts the waters with his Sabra or Skain thereby commanding it to retire back into the Sea The King also goes but incognito to a Pagod in an Island where the Hollanders have a Factory There is at the entry thereof an Idol sitting cross-leg'd with one hand upon his knee and the other arm akimbo It is above sixty foot high and round about this Idol are about three hundred others of several sorts and sizes All these Idols are guilt And indeed there are a prodigious number of Pagods in this Countrey for every rich Siamer causes one to be built in memory of himself Those Pagods have Steeples and Bells and the Walls within are painted and guilded but the Windows are so narrow that they give but a very dim light The two Pagods to which the King goes publickly are adorn'd with several tall Pyramids well guilded And to that in the Hollanders Island there belongs a Cloyster which is a very neat Structure In the middle of the Pagod is a fair Chappel all guilded within side where they find a Lamb and three Wax Candles continually burning before the Altar which is all over cover'd with Idols some of massie Gold others of Copper guilt In the Pagod in the midst of the Town and one in of those to which the King goes once a year there are above four thousand Idols and for that which is six Leagues from Siam it is surrounded with Pyramids whose beauty makes the industry of that Nation to be admir'd When the King appears all the Doors and Windows of the Houses must be shut and all the people prostrate themselves upon the ground not daring to lift up their eyes And because no person is to be in a higher place than the King they that are within doors are bound to keep their lowest Rooms When he cuts his hair one of his Wives performs that office for he will not suffer a Barber to come near him This Prince has a passionate kindness for his Elephants which he looks upon as his Favourites and the Ornaments of his Kingdom If there be any of them that fall sick the Lords of the Court are mighty careful to please their Soveraign and if they happ'n to dye they are buried with the same Funeral Pomp as the Nobles of the Kingdom which are thus performed They set up a kind of Mausoleum or Tomb of Reeds cover'd with Paper in the midst whereof they lay as much sweet wood as the body weighs and after the Priests have mumbl'd certain Orisons they set it a-fire and burn it to ashes which the rich preserve in Gold or Silver Urns but the poor scatter in the wind As for offenders they never burn but bury them 'T is thought that in this Kingdom there are above two hundred Priests which they call Bonzes which are highly reverenc'd as well at Court as among the people The King himself has such a value for some of them as to humble himself before them This extraordinary respect makes them so proud that some of them have aspir'd to the Throne But when the King discovers any such design he puts them to death And one of them had his head lately struck off for his Ambition These Bonzes wear yellow with a little red Cloth about their Wasts like a Girdle Outwardly they are very modest and are never seen to be angry About four in the morning upon the tolling of their Bells they rise to their prayers which they repeat again toward evening There are some days in the year when they retire from all converse with men Some of them live by Alms others have Houses with good Revenues While they wear the Habit of Bonzes they must not marry for if they do they must lay their Habit aside They are generally very ignorant not knowing what they believe Yet they hold the transmigration of Souls into several Bodies They are forbidd to kill any Creature yet they will make no scruple to eat what others kill or that which dies of it self They say that the God of the Christians and theirs were Brothers but that theirs was the eldest If you ask them where their God is they say he vanish'd away and they know not where he is The chief strength of the Kingdom is their Infantry which is indifferent good the Soldiers are us'd to hardship going all quite naked except their private parts all the rest of their body looking as if it had been cupt is carv'd into several shapes of beasts and flowers When they have cut their skins and stanch'd the blood they rub the cut-work with such colours as they think most proper So that afar off you would think they were clad in some kind of flower'd Satin or other for the colours never rub out Their weapons are Bows and Arrows Pike and Musket and an Azagaya or Staff between five and six foot long with a long Iron Spike at the end which they very dextrously dart at the Enemy In the year 1665 there was at Siam a Neapolitan Jesuite who was call'd Father Thomas he caus'd the Town and the Kings Palace to be fortifi'd with very good Bulwarks according to Art for which reason the King gave him leave to live in the City where he has a House and a little Church CHAP. XIX Of the Kingdom of Macassar and the Embassadors which the Hollanders sent into China THE Kingdom of Macassar otherwise call'd the Isle of Celebes begins at the fifteenth Degree of Southern Latitude The heats are excessive all the day but the nights are temperate enough And for the Soil it is very fertile but the people have not the art of building The Capital City bears the name of the Kingdom and is situated upon the Sea The Port is free for the Vessels that bring great quantities of goods from the adjacent Islands pay no Customs The Islanders have a custom to poyson their Arrows and the most dangerous poyson which they use is the juice of certain Trees in the Island of Borneo which they will temper so as to work swift or slow as they please They hold that the King has only the secret Receit to take away the force of it who boasts that he has the most effectual poyson in

opens it reads it and finds that the Prince demands his head He makes no other answer to that Order then what he does in these few words Let the Will sayes he of my Emperour be done only give me leave to say my Prayers which is granted him His Prayers being ended the Capigis seize him by the Arms and the chief of them presently takes off his Girdle or Sasche and casts it about his Neck That Girdle consists of several small strings of Silk with knots at both ends which two of the company immediately catch hold of and one drawing one way and the other t'other-way they dispatch him in an instant If they are unwilling to make use of their Girdle they take a handkerchief and with the Ring which they use in the bending of their Bowes and which they ordinarily wear on the right-hand Thumb they thrust the hand between the handkerchief which is ty'd very close and the Throat and so break the very Throat-Bone Thus they make a shift to strangle a man in an instant suffering him not to languish in pain that he may dye a faithful Mahumetan and not have the time to enter into despair the Turks thinking our way of hanging Criminals who are so long in torment upon the Gibbet a strange kind of Execution Though I have often us'd this expression That the Grand Seignor sends to demand When and how they strike of the Head in Turkey the Head of any person whom he would rid out of the way yet they never cut it off but when he expresly declares his desire to see it and then it is brought to him If it be from some place at a great distance they take out the Bruins and fill the empty place with Hay and it was my fortune to see two Heads so order'd at the same time which they carried in a Bag. They were the Heads of the Bassa's of Kars and Erzerom It is further to be observ'd That when the Sentence of death is pass'd by the Prince against any one what quality soever he may be of the Turks make no further account of him and when they speak of him treat him no otherwise than they would do a Dog The Bostangi who had been commissionated to bring those two Heads to the Grand Seignor finding himself weary and indispos'd at a Village in Armenia where it was my chance to be at that time and having understood that there was a French-man in the Inne ask'd one of my Servants whether I had any Wine and would be content to let him have any to cheer up his spirits I immediately sent him some in a large Flaggon whereupon having intreated me to come and take a Glass with him which I thought it not fit to deny he would needs shew me whether I would or no the Heads of those two Bassa's a sight I had no great curiosity to see When there is no order given for the bringing of the Head they bury the Body about Mid-night without any ceremony and the memory of the Bassa who had made so much noise before is soon extinguish'd and laid in the dust But it is moreover to be A Prohibition against shedding the blood of the Mahumetans who are condemn'd to death noted That it is the Custome in Turkey not to cut off the Head of any one till after they have strangled him and that the blood is quite cold it being against their Law That the blood of a Mussulman that is one of the Faithful should be spilt upon any occasion but in Warr. The execution being over he who brought the Order for it makes an immediate Seizure of all that belong'd to the deceas'd Bassa and after he has set aside what he The Inventories of the Goods of Bassa's deceas'd not faithfully taken liked best for his own use whether in Gold or Jewels he brings the same persons who had been at the precedent Councel to proceed to the Inventory of his Goods which are afterwards as I have said elsewhere transmitted to the Chambers of the Treasury They who are assistant at the taking of that Inventory know well enough that many things which belong'd to the deceas'd are embezill'd but they are so far from repining or murmuring at it that they sign and attest that there was not any more found They are afraid if they demean'd themselves otherwise lest that Officer of the Seraglio whom the Grand Seignor has sent and who possibly is in favour should do them ill offices at the Court and spread some false report of them whence according to the example they have then before their eyes might happen in like manner the loss of their Charges and Lives They therefore think it prudence to connive at what ever is done by that Envoy as being otherwise perswaded that he will not be disown'd by the Grand Seignor who is not ignorant of what 's done upon those occasions Nay on the contrary whatever he may have dextrously secur'd to himself of the Bassa's Goods they make him some additional Presents of their own at his departure from them engaging him thereby to speak well of them to the Grand Seignor and to the Grand Vizir at his return to the Port. And then also not accounting what he had taken before-hand and what Custome tolerates he receives new marks of the Liberality of his Prince who is satisfy'd that he has so faithfully executed his Orders and so he participates of what is set down in the Inventory when the Bassa's Goods are brought into the Seraglio Some possibly will be apt to imagine that this Sentence of Death pass'd in the Grand Seignor's Letter should raise some disturbance and astonishment in the Soul of The Causes inducing the Turks to defie Diath with so much constancy him who reads it and who reading therein his own Condemnation knowes that it must be immediately executed Yet is it not apparent in his Countenance that he is much startled at it he is not surpriz'd therewith he sees that few of his Companions escape the same sate and he has dispos'd himself for such an end assoon as he first took possession of his Charge Besides the Turks have a strong perswasion That the Decrees of Predestination are irrevocable and that it is impossible to avoid them which makes them look Death in the face with such a degree of constancy and intrepidity as renders them in a manner insensible To which reflection we may adde this That that ready and implicite obedience and submission of the Turks to the Orders of their Soveraign is rather a principle of Religion than of State which has been instill'd into them by a most subtle piece of Politicks and they believe That if they dye by the Command of their Prince they go streight into Paradise As for the opportunity of making an escape out of Turkey by any one who might The Difficulties of making an Escape out of Turkey have some presentiment of his destruction it