one of them and had almost spoiled him When they found us to be in earnest they took something to drink of us and let us alone So we must before we arrived at the old destroyed and ruinated Jerusalem where there is no Joy nor Hopes to get any thing as is in the Heavenly One soon one after another pay them just like Boys that have lost their Game and run the Gauntlet After we had endured all these Brushes we went on and came to the middle of the way of the Mountains where it was very rough and stony into a small Village called Anatoth lying on a heigth where we rested a little and watered our Beasts at a very rich Spring that runs through it by an ancient little Church down the Hill this is situated as Josephus writes in his Tenth Book and Tenth Chapter of his Antiquities or ancient History within Twenty Furlongs of Jerusalem There was born the holy Prophet Jeremias as you may see in his First Chapter and it is also called by Esaias a pitiful Village which together with the Town Rama did formerly belong to the Inheritance of the Children of Benjamin Thither went also Abiathar when King Solomon did depose or exclude him from his Priesthood to live on his own Ground A little before it they shewed us at the top of the heigth or Silo of Mount Ephraim some Relicts of the Grave of the holy Prophet Samuel where we could look about for several Leagues round which was of Ramaâ—ha or Arimathea as also Joseph the Just whom helped to take Christ down from the Cross and did put him into his own new Grave The Town was underneath the Mountain where the Prophet Samuel was buried at first but carried up to Silo after the Town was taken Just when you come to Jerusalem Nicopolis lieth on the Left Hand upon the Heighth formerly called Emmaus from Jerusalem Threescore Furlongs distant as the Scripture telleth us whither Christ did accompany the two Disciples and explained the Scriptures to them and at last made himself known to them We left it and went up to Jerusalem which is now called Gotz by the Arabians and Turks The Road is very rough and rocky so that we saw very little but on each side in the Valleys many delicate large Olive Trees and some few Vineyards The City lieth on the heighth of the Mountains as the 125th Psalm testifieth It is not to be seen until you come over the bare and rough Mountains intercepting the Prospect of it on this side Just before it without on the top of Mount Gihon are to be seen still some Antiquities of the Town Helia which Adrian the Emperor built after the Desolation of Jerusalem and called it after his own Name Helia This was first taken by Cosröe King of Persia in the time of the Emperor Heraclius who did overcome him again and afterwards by Homar the Third King of the Saracens who demolished it afterwards it was more contracted and somewhat built again in its old place In these days it is as well as all that Country under the Dominion of the Turkish Emperor Before it we dismounted for no outlandish Man hath permission to ride into their Towns and went under the Gate Hebron to stay there for the Father Guardian to whom we had by one of our Carriers given notice of our Arrival and also desired him to get us License from the Sangiach to come in In the mean time some Mendicant Friars came out of the Monastery and received us very kindly Soon after the Ermin came also riding with his Clerk and asked us from whence we came how many there were of us and what our Names were And after they had written it down and every one had paid him his due to have safe conduct to see the holy Places the Ermin promised it us and put his Right Hand upon his Head which is the fashion in these Countries and bended forwards to let us know that we might confide in his Promise Then they let us pass and the Friars conducted us in towards the Left Hand through some small Streets or Lanes into the Monastery which is behind on the Town-Wall towards the West This although it is not large and spacious yet is it very handsom and strong-built we went into lodge there as all Pilgrims do that come there where Father Jeremy of Brixen a Brother of the Order of the Minorites of St. Francis a Guardian of the holy Mount Zion which had been President of this Monastery of Jerusalem and of the other of Bethlehem for Eighteen Years together received us very kindly There are but very few Monks in it and they are of all sorts of Nations as Italians Spaniards French and Germans yet of the last named I found not one when I arrived there These lead the Pilgrims about together with an Interpreter or Truschemant that understands the Arabian and Turkish Language and shew them the holy Places as well within as without the City But before we went out the Father Guardian admonished us that we must have a care and not go to the Graves of the Heathens which are almost throughout Turkey without the Towns near to the Highways for if one or more should before he was aware of it which may easily happen go to them the Turks would be very much offended at it partly because they take any one that is not circumcised to be unclean and so they fear that they might make them also unclean partly because they are very jealous of their Wives wherefore they permit them not easily to walk or appear in the open Street except they have a mind to go into the Bath or Pagnio or to visit the Graves of their deceased Parents or Relations and where Women are present every one had best to come away to avoid Danger After he had said this he went on saying That if any should be among us that were come over the Sea hither that could not bring very good proof that they did appear before his Holiness the Pope at Rome and were there absolved by him that such were in his Holinesses Excommunication and therefore could not be admitted to see those holy Places much less obtain the Indulgences which in former Ages had been left with them out of great kindness of the Popes to be distributed among the Pilgrims wherefore he desired that every one might shew him their Certificates All these Points he used to propound to every one that cometh there in course as I had heard before of several that had been there formerly that they were very glad to see Pilgrims arrive and that they used to shew the holy Places to them also that bring no Recommendation from his Holiness the Pope hoping that they will recompense them at their Departure Wherefore I did not much mind this Excommunication but let that remain in its ancient Credit but my Comrades two whereof were Priests that used to say Mass were very much astonish'd
King Solomon did begin to build a House for the Lord at Jerusalem many years afterwards This was formerly very high surrounded with deep Ditches and Cliffs so that it would make a Man giddy to look down from the top into the depth Wherefore Pompey and Titus took a great deal of pains before they could get upon it to take and destroy that glorious and well-built Temple which was in the last Desolation as well as before in the first burnt by Nabuhcodonosor demolished and razed to the Foundations as Christ foretold them Mark xiii That there should not be left one stone upon another that should not be thrown down because they did not acknowledge the gracious time of their visitation And that all hopes might be taken away from the Jews to return and to build the Temple again to re-establish their Worship Hadrian the Emperor to prevent all ordered in the year of Christ 134 all to be broken down that was left and to root it up to demolish all heighths to fill up all Ditches to level Cliffs and to make the Ground even all over he did also alter the Name and Religion of the Inhabitants and instead thereof introduced the Heathenish Idolatry In the place of the Grave of Christ he built a Temple for the Idol Jupiter on Mount Calvaria another for the Idol Venus and another at Bethlehem to the Idol Adonis and at last in the place where formerly in the Temple of Solomon did stand the Sanctum Sanctorum he erected his own Image on a high Column for his memory which was still standing in Hieronymus's time The heighth of this Mount cannot be observed any where else now then without by the Fountain Siloah and in the Valley of Benhinnon and so it did remain desolate to the times of the great Emperor Constantine After that when the Jews undertook to rebuild the Temple at the Charge of Julian the Apostate who would make Christ a liar the Lord having said that their House should be left unbuilt a great Earthquake when they had opened the Ground to lay the Foundation did move and shake the whole place to that degree that every thing was turned upside down and abundance of Jews did perish in it But when the Jews did not matter this but endeavoured to go on with the Work in hand the next day Flames of Fire broke out of the Ground and fiery Beams struck down from Heaven which destroyed more than the Earthquake and burnt all their Tools viz. Saws Axes Shovels Hammers c. When the Jews would not leave their Error for all this the night following some small glittering Crosses like Stars fell down upon their Cloaths which they could not wash off the next Morning nor get out by any means and an Earthquake and such a violent Hurricane came upon it that it dissipated all tâ— Mortar and other Materials into the Air so that frightened and full of fear they were forced to confess that Christ whom their Ancestors Crucified was the true and only Lord and God Seeing that the Temple together with the Mount it stood upon are razed and desolated so that one can hardly now discern what they have been anciently every one that goeth by because the Lord did not favour his own House where his Name was sanctified hath reason to be astonished at it and to call to mind the strange anger of God against those that leave the Lord their God and adhere to other gods serve and adore them Now adays the Turks have taken possession of this Mount and all the Ground whereon Solomon's Temple did stand and have built a Mahumetan Mosche on it which Homar the Third after the great Impostor Mahomet built when he had taken the holy Land and the City of Jerusalem This is not very large nor high but fine and covered with Lead hath a great Court Yard about it paved with white Marble and here and there Orange and Date Trees are planted in it which is very pleasant about the sides thereof are some high Towers and Gates one whereof is vastly bigger than any of the rest which is near to their Batzar or Exchange which is very old high and hath very good Workmanship in it wherefore the Franciscan Monks shew it instead of the Gate of Solomon's Temple before which lay the Man that was lame from his Mother's Womb that begged Alms from Peter and John to whom Peter said Silver and gold I have none but such as I have give I thee In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk At the end of the Gate of this Yard as commonly in all their Church Porches hung some Lamps I could have willingly gone in before them to see the Rock and Fountain whereof Ezek. in his Forty seventh Chapter maketh mention together with the inward Building but because according to their Mahumetan Laws all those that are not circumcised are accounted to be unclean therefore going into their Churches is forbid to Christians if any one is catch'd â—ithin he is in danger of his life or else he must deny his Faith and be made a Mamaluck or Renegado In this Court-Yard is still another Gate called the Golden Gate by the Franciscans but because it stands just over against the Mount of Olives therefore it is to be taken to be the Gate Sur or rather as Nehemias ch iii. Ezek. xlvii and 2 Chron. xxxi say For the Gate of the Stairs which Semaia the Son of Sahamia the Keeper of them did build through which our Lord Christ did go into the Temple on Palm-Day to drive out the Buyers and Sellers Now altho this is walled up in the New Town Wall so that you cannot go either out or in yet considering its ancient Arches it looketh rather like a Church than a Town-Gate In the middle of the Yard stands a Turkish Mosche or Temple called the Rock this is esteemed very much by the Turks and next to those of Mecha and Medina reputed to be the most holy Because God Almighty hath wrought many great Miracles there and that there Mahomet as they falsly write of him in their Books called by God to be the last and greatest Prophet did ride from Mecha to that of the holy Rock of the Temple of Jerusalem which is Forty Days Journey on a very swift Beast called Elmparae conducted thither by the Angel Gabriel who at his arrival did help him off of his Beast tied it up and then led him by the Hand into the Temple where he found many Prophets standing together in a Circle which God had resuscitated for his Honor and to receive him and to acquaint him with new good Tidings and what God had prepared for him I suppose ever burning Flames of Fire among the rest he did also find Abraham Moses and Jesus the Son of Mary each of them presenting him first Moses with a Fatt of Wine Abraham with a Fatt full of Milk and Jesus with a Fatt of Water Then
Bethlehem there are some Valleys very well tilled with Corn and Wine and among the rest a very pleasant and fruitful one that beginneth immediately by the Church and Fountain and runs down towards Jericho and Jordan This is below pretty wide full of Olive and Fig-trees it also bringeth forth some comfortable Herbs viz. some strange Origanums Tragoriganum Roman Serpillum which the Arabians call Sathar Absintium Santonicum which groweth every where in the holy Land this hath small ash-coloured Leaves very like unto them of ours and many small Stalks full of small yellowish Seeds it is of an unpleasant Smell very bitter with a saltish sharpness wherefore it is reputed to be the Scheha of the Arabians from whence our Worm-seed cometh In this Valley were the Shepherds to whom the Angels of the Lord did appear and declared to them the saving Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ saying Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord c. and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will towards men In that place which is about half a League below Bethlehem is still a Church which also Queen Helena did build as Nicephorus testifieth in the Thirtieth Chapter of his Eighth Book this is for the greatest part fallen in so that nothing more but a small Arch is to be seen of it Hard by it did stand the Tower Ader as St. Jerom writes whereby Israel did erect a Tent as you may read in Genesis and looked after the Sheep with his Twelve Sons This is in our time so demolished that it lieth quite in Ruins Beyond it in another Valley not far from Bethlehem they shew still to this day a large Orchard full of Citron Lemon Orange Pomegranate and Fig-trees and many others which King Solomon did plant in his Days with Ponds Canals and other Water-Works very pleasantly prepared as he saith himself in the Second Chapter of Ecclesiastes Verse 5. I made me gardens and orchards and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits I made me pools of water to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees This is still in our time full of good and fruitful Trees wherefore it is worthy to be seen for their sakes and also for the Ditches sake that are still there Wherefore I really believe it to be that same whereof Josephus maketh mention in his Eighth Book of the Jewish Antiquities and the Seventh Chapter saying And the King rode in a Chariot cloathed in white and it was his Custom to ride early in the morning to a place called Hetten a hundred Furlongs from Jerusalem where he had a Garden with Water-pools and Works very pleasant and rich Thither went the King for his pleasure and did always use great diligence and consideration in all things and took delight to see every thing neat and handsom c. After we had seen the chiefest places within and without near and a far off of Bethlehem we returned to Jerusalem again by another way that was near as far again about and went over the Mountains of Judea which have first as you come from thence very good and fruitful Valleys full of Vines and Corn but the nearer you come to Jerusalem the higher and rougher are the Mountains In this way half a League from Nebeleschol the Friars shewed us a Well very rich of Water just by the Road that goeth down to Gaza this runneth into a small Rivulet wherein the holy Apostle Philip did baptize Candaces Chamberlain to the Queen of Aethiopia by it is nothing else to be seen but a small Church and a Fish-pond From thence we came over high rough and steep Hills into the Deserts where St John the Baptist did lead his life in his young Age there is nothing to be seen but a very ancient Chapel and hard by it a delicate Spring on the top of the Hill where we went up to refresh our selves a little with eating and drinking of what we had taken along with us About the Roads grow many Trees by the Inhabitants called Charnubi the Fruit whereof is called St. John's Bread in our Country and is brought to us in great plenty From thence we had still a very rough and hilly way to the Church and Habitation of Zachary whither the Virgin Mary did come climbing over the Hills to give Elizabeth a Visit c. before it a League distance nearer to the Town at the end of the Valley Raphaim whereof the holy Scripture maketh often mention viz. in the Fifteenth and Eighteenth Chapters of Joshua and in the First of the Chronicles and the 12th Chapter stands in a very pleasant and fruitful place the Church of St. John the Baptist and by it before you come quite to it falleth down the Spring of Nephthaah that is very rich of Water This Church is very ancient but yet pretty well built and hath on the Left Hand as you go in a deep and hidden Cave wherein Elizabeth did hide her self with John her Child that it might not be slain with the Children of Bethlehem by the Servants of Herod whereof you may read more in the Proto-Evangelium of St. Jacob where it is thus written When Elizabeth did hear that among the rest of the Innocents which Herod had commanded to be killed her Son John was also searched for she did climb up the Hills and looked about her where she might hide him but when she saw no place there where she could do him she sighed and cried out with a loud voice saying O ye hills of Gad take both the Mother and the Child for she could not ascend them the Hill did open it self instantly and took them into it c. But how afterwards Herod did search for John and how he did threaten and exhort his Father Zachary to tell him where his Son was and also how his Servants did kill Zachary not being satisfied with his Answer for it in the Porch of the Temple is at length related in the Books of the Martyrs of the Learned and Reverend Ludowich Rabus As you come from the before-mentioned Church nearer to the Town of Jerusalem there is still seen a large Pillar that is of great Antiquity and lieth very high between the Mountains on a high Hill five Furlongs off of Jerusalem wherefore some take it to be Ruines of the Fortification of Betzura but as far as one can understand by the Books of Maccabees that is situated more towards the East behind Mount Olivet Just before it within stands in the Valley that is full of pleasant Olive Trees a very old yet well built Church called the Holy Cross whereof some Greek Friars are possessed they pretend that in that place the Tree did stand that was made use of for the
therefore is also this Worldly Mount Zion together with its strong Building and Fortification which was rather a Type of the true Rock in Zion Christ our Lord and his Heavenly Kingdom and Holy Church that was built thereon so ruined and desolated that the greatest and highest part thereof before the Town except a Turkish Mosche some Tile Houses and a few Acres of it lieth quite like a Desart covered with Rocks and Stones So it is come to pass what Micah in his Third Chapter and the Twelfth Verse predicted Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest And Jeremiah in his Lamentations Cap. 5. Verse 18. saith The mountain of Zion which is desolate the foxes walk upon it And Isaiah in his Thirty second Chapter Verse 14. The Palaces shall be forsaken the multitude of the City shall be left the forts and towers shall be dens for ever a joy of wild asses a pasture of flocks The great Castle of the Turks is situated at the top of the inward part of the Mount towards the West Side near the Fishgate which is also newly built and very well surrounded with Walls and Ditches under the Gate are several great Guns to frighten the Christians that come thither in great Flocks chiefly against great Feasts from all Nations Armenians Georgians Abyssins Latinists c. for they fear that else the Town might be taken from them again Within the Fort near the Fishgate is still a strong high Tower built up with great Free-stone which is quite black through Age wherefore some say that it did anciently belong to the Fort and was built by one of the Kings of Juda. So much I thought convenient to mention of Mount Zion concerning other famous places that are to be seen upon and about it I will only mention the chiefest thereof First as you go out of the New Gate of Mount Zion there is a long Street wherein on the Left Hand is an ancient Church of the holy Apostle James the Greater Brother of John which Helena the Mother of Constantine the Emperor as also many more did build on the Market Place of the upper City where he was beheaded The Armenians that have possession thereof did conduct us into it shewed us the Building and the place where the holy Apostle was beheaded with the Sword as you read in the Acts of the Apostles the 12th Chapter by Order of Herod Agrippa to whom he was delivered out of spite as a seditious person by the High Priest Abiathar Then we came to the place of the Habitation of Hannas whereto Christ our Lord was first of all brought a prisoner and bound or fetter'd wherein was nothing observable only a large Court and in it an old Chapel called the Angels which we soon left and went out of the Gate of Mount Zion to the Habitation of Cayaphas where we saw an Orange-tree planted in the place where the holy Apostle Peter did warm himself when he denied our Saviour the third time further within a Chapel called St. Salvators where in former Ages was the Place of the High Priest where Christ was severely accused by Cayaphas and by his Servants mocked spit upon and beaten wherein is an Altar whereon the great Stone of the Grave still lieth that stopped the Door of the Sepulchre which is very like unto the Rock of the Grave in its breaking That the Habitation of the High Priest was in the upper City Josephus does testifie in the Seventeenth Chapter of his Second Book of the Desolation of Jerusalem where he saith thus When the rebellious Jews that had the lower Town in possession with the Temple did undertake to possess themselves also of the upper Town they did assault it with all might and power and at last take it then they drove out the Soldiers which had the Chief Priests and Men in power with them out of the upper Town set the Habitation of Ananias the High Priest on fire and burnt it Before this on the top of the Mount stands on the Plain a large Church which the Franciscan Monks had not long ago in possession and lived in it wherefore their Father did call himself a Guardian of the holy Mount Zion But after that the Turks did about Twenty years agon possess themselves of it and kept it to themselves and made a Mahumetan Mosche of it the Monks were forced to flie and take the Habitation where they now live instead thereof Of this Church or Mosche we saw only the outside of the Habitation of Caiaphas for no Christian is allowed to go into it It was built many years agon by Helena Mother of Constantin the Emperor as Nicephorus testifieth in the Thirtieth Chapter of his Eighth Book wherein is also included the Habitation the Disciples were locked up in for fear of the Jews and also the paved Dining-Room or Hall wherein Christ with his Disciples did eat the Passover where he also washed their Feet and sent the Holy Ghost after his Ascension to them where also James the Lesser was Elected Overseer and first Bishop of Jerusalem In this Temple which is above a thousand paces distant from Golgotha or the place of a Scull was for some time kept the Stone-Pillar whereto Christ our Lord and Saviour was tied and whipped Near unto this in the place of the Palace of Caiaphas the same Queen Helena ordered a Church to be built for the Holy Apostle Peter and many more whereof mention is made at large in the above quoted place This Mount extendeth its self towards the South out before the City and hath on the other side where it is highest other higher ones about it distinguished with Ditches and Valleys viz. towards the West Mount Gihon at the bottom whereof Solomon was anointed King by the Priest Zadock and the Prophet Nathan as we read in the First Chapter of thr First Book of Kings upon this at the top towards the Road of Bethlehem lieth the Field of Blood in their Language called Hakeldemas that was bought for 30 Silver Pieces to bury the Pilgrims there where you see still to this day here and there large and deep holes and one among the rest very big one wherein are still to be seen several whole Bodies lying by one another A deep Valley separates this Mount from Mount Zion which beginneth at the Fish-gate and goeth down to the Brook Cedron in it is a Conduit by the upper Pool called Asuia in the Third Chapter of Nehemiah which is pretty large yet without any Water which receiveth its Water from the high Spring of Gihon this was covered by King Hezekias and laid down to the Town of David as we read in the Second Book of Chronicles Chap. 32. The holy Prophet Isaiah Chap. 7. Verse 3. mentioneth it when she Lord said to him Go forth now to meet Ahaz thou and Shear-jashub
Cod-pieces which they do not suffer others to wear that they may wash themselves without hinderance their Private parts Feet Arms Necks or any other parts to cleanse themselves as often as their Laws shall direct them These Drawers they tie about their middle with some Strings or Bands about their naked Body and let their Shirts hang down over them When they have occasion to make Water they untie their Drawers again sit down and cast their Cloaths round about them like Women turn themselves from the South to which they turn when they are going to pray If they see a Man make his water standing they immediately conclude him to be a Christian and none of their Faith They commonly sit with their Legs laid one over the other which they do every where in the East wherefore they have neither Chair nor Table but instead thereof they have a paved place two or three steps high which is arched over head which they keep very clean and cover it with Tapestry or Serge or Mats finely twisted with several colours according to their Ability wherefore to save them the Turks pull of their Shoes and leave them at the Chamber-door Their Shoes are like unto those our Lacques use to wear and like Slippers easie to be put on and off they commonly are of a white or blew colour painted before underneath defended with Nails before and with Horse-shoes behind these are worn by young and old Men and Women rich and poor Besides these they also wear sometimes wooden Shoes which are to be sold every where they are about three Inches high and in the middle underneath carved out to distinguish the Soals from the Heels painted with several colours the same wear the Women which have almost the same Garments with the Men and have also Drawers which sometimes are so long that they hang out before their Coats they are commonly made of fine Cotton of several colours and laced at the sides You very seldom see any Turkish Women either in the Streets or in the Markets to buy Provision or in their Churches where only the chiefest of them come and that but seldom where they have a peculiar place separated from the Men. They have also in their Houses secret places and corners where they hide themselves immediately if any body should come to see their Housholds When they go abroad which is very seldom you see three or four of them together with their Children which are all one Man's for according to their Law they are allowed to take as many as they can maintain Their Faces are all covered with black Vails whereof some are of fine Silk and some of Horse-hair which the poorer sort wear and over their Head they put some white Scarfs made of Cotton which are so broad that they cover not only their Heads but their Arms and Shoulders they look in them almost like our Maids when to keep themselves from the Wet they put a Table-cloth or Sheets over their Heads But because the Turks are very Jealous therefore their Wives seldom meet in the Streets or Markets but only in the Hot-houses or when they go to visit the Tombs of their deceased Parents or Relations which generally are out of the Town near the High-ways When they go thither they take along with them Bread Cheese Eggs and the like to eat there which was called Parentalia by the Latins just as the Heathens used to do in former Ages and sometimes they leave some of their Chear behind them that the Beasts and Birds may eat it after they are gone for they believe that such good bestowed upon the Beasts is as acceptable to God as if it were bestowed on Men. Their Graves are commonly hollow covered at the top with great Stones which are like unto Childrens Bed-steads in our Country which are high at the head and feet but hollowed in the middle they fill them up with Earth wherein they commonly plant fine Herbs but chiefly Flags they also put some green Myrtles in little Air-holes that are round the Tombs and they are of opinion that their Relations are the happier the longer these remain green and retain their colour And for the sake of this Superstition there are in several places of the Town Myrtles to be sold that stand in Water that they may remain fresh which the Women buy to stick up at the Graves of their Relations Their Burying-places are always out of Town near the High-ways that any body that goeth by may be put in mind of them and pray to God for them which is the reason that so many Chappels are built about their Burying-places that People that go by chiefly the Relations of the deceased may go into them to pray to God on their behalf When any of them dieth they wash him and put on his best Cloaths then they lay him on a Bar or Board and strow him with Sweet-smelling Herbs and Flowers leaving only his Face bare that every body may look upon him that knoweth him as he is carried out If it be a Tschelebii that is a Noble Person they put his Helmet and his other Ornaments at his Head his Friends and Acquaintance which go before and follow the Corps keep no order but hang upon one another as if they were fudled and go merrily and shouting along to the Grave as also do the Women who come behind and hollow so loud that you may hear them a great way off CHAP. IV. A Description of the Plants I gathered at Tripoli COnsidering that I undertook this Journey into the Eastern Countries not only to see these People and to observe their Manners c. but also and that principally diligently to enquire and to search out the Plants that were growing there I cannot but shortly describe those I found about Tripoli during my stay there and will begin with such as grew on the Sea-shores which were Medica marina Gnaphalium marinum Leucoium marinum Juncus maritimus Peplis Scammonium Monspeliense which the Natives call Meudheuds but Rhasis in his Book ad Almans calleth it Coriziala Brassica marina which spreads its Roots above the Sand for some Cubits round and has instead of round Leaves rather square ones A kind of wild white Lillies by the Latins and Greeks called Hemerocallis which did not only grow on the Sea-shore but also in Islands thereabout in great plenty with a great many others which I forbear to mention here being common Behind the Custom-house near the Harbour I found in the Ruines of the old Wall that are left of that City Hyoscyamus and hard by it in the Sand an Herb not unlike unto Cantabrica secunda Caroli Clusii saving only the Stalks and Leaves which are woolly But the Ricinus groweth there above all in so great plenty that you can hardly make your way through it the Inhabitants call it still by its old Arabian Name Kerva If you turn from thence to the High-way towards your Right-hand you see the
Tythimalus Paralius and also a kind of Conyza Diosc out of one Root there spring up several Stalks whereof some grow upright but the greater part of them lie down upon the ground and so shoot new Roots which afterwards sprout out into new Stalks it beareth long Olive-leaves which are thick fattish and somewhat woolly and have a strong and equally sweet smell for the rest as the Flowers it is very like unto the great one You find there also the lesser and greater Medica which the Moors to this day still call Fasa Likewise so great and many Squills that the Inhabitants weed them up chiefly those that grow near their Gardens and fling them up in high heaps like Stones There also groweth Securidaca minor Tribulus terrestris by the Inhabitants called Haseck and a kind of Echium which groweth by the way as you go to St. Jame's Church which from thence is situated upon an ascent at a Mile's distance Hereabout and in other adjacent places groweth a great quantity of Sugar-canes so that there is yearly sold a great many Sugar-loaves that are made thereof These are as high and big as our Canes and not much differing from them but within and down towards the Root where they are best they are full of this pleasant Juice wherefore the Turks and Moors buy a great many of them being very pleasant to them to chew and eat for they are mightily pleased with Sweet-meats whereof they have variety Before they begin to eat or chew them they stript off the long Leaves and cut away what is tasteless so that only the juicy and good remaineth which is hardly two Foot Of the thus prepared Canes they carry many along with them through the Streets and cut off one piece after another skale them and so chew and eat them openly every where in the Street without shame for they are principally near the Root very tender and feel as mellow between your Teeth as if it were Sugar it self So the Turks use themselves to Gluttony and are no more so free and couragious to go against their Enemies to fight as they have been in former Ages The Sugar Canes do not grow there from Seeds neither are they propagated by the Root but by the Canes themselves whereof they lay into the Ground some green pieces of two or three Joints long and that they may grow the sooner they bore prety large holes in between the Joints when they begin to grow they sprout out in the Joints and grow up into great Canes and so bring in good profit There also by the Rivers are found Anthillis marina Visnaga the first Apocymum and Oleander with Purple Flowers by the Inhabitants called Defle and a delicate kind of Scabiosa Melisra Maluca and if you go to the Gardens you see Heliotropium majus Convolvulus folio acuto Vitis nigra Phaseolus Turcicus with yellow Flowers which still retain the ancient Name of Lubie Lysimachia lutea and wild Vines called Labruscae whereon nothing groweth but only the Flowers called Ocnanthe and also a Shrub like unto the Polygonus of Carol Clusius which climbs up into high Trees and hang down again from the Twigs and I very believe they are the same with Ephedra whereof Pliny maketh mention in the 7 th Chapter of his 26 th Book When I went farther with an intention to consider the Plants that grew in the Country first came before me some Sycomors whereof chiefly Dioscorides and Theophrastus make mention and tell us of two sorts and when I called these things to mind I light of one of the second sort of Sycomors whereof abundance grow in Cyprus wherefore these wild Figg-Trees might be called the one the Cyprish Sycomore-Tree and the other the Aegyptian Sycomore-Tree according to the places where they are most frequent and fruitful I found a great many of them the Moors and Arabians call them Mumeitz they are as great and as high as the white Mulberry-Trees and have almost the same Leaves but they are only somewhat rounder and are also whole at or about the sides they bear Fruit not unlike to our Figg-Trees only they are sweeter and have no little Seeds within and are not so good wherefore they are not esteemed and are commonly sold only to the poorer sort of People they grow in all Fields and Grounds as you may see by the Words of the second Book of the Chronicles in the 9 th Chap. Vers 27 th And the King made Silver in Jerusalem as Stones and Cedar-Trees made he as the Sycomore-Trees that are in the low Plains in abundance Zacheus did climb upon such a one when he had a great mind to see our Saviour Essaias also maketh mention of them in his 9 th Chap. Vers 10. and Amos in his 7 th Chap. Vers 14. where he saith of himself I was a Herds-man and a Gatherer of Sycomore-Fruit These two sorts are very like one another in Stem Leaves and Fruit only as the Fruit of the one comes more out of the great Stem and great Twigs so that of the other does the same but not out of the Stems and Twigs immediately but out of Twigs or Sprouts without Leaves of the length of five or six Inches whereon they grow sometimes very thick and in a bunch together These Trees bear Fruit three or four times yearly which are small of an Ash colour oblong round like Prunes and are found upon the Trees almost all the Year long Hereabout also grow many Thorns whereof is made mention in the Scriptures by the Inhabitants called Hauseit and by the Arabians Hausegi but the Latins call them Ahamnus and also white Poplars still to this day called Haur by the Arabians There also groweth a great and high Tree which beareth delicate Leaves and Flowers pleasant to look upon by the Inhabitants called Zensetacht but by Rhazes and Avicenna Astirgar Astergir and Azadaracht whereof you see here and there several planted in the Streets to make a pleasant Shade in the Summer the Fruit thereof remaineth upon them all the Year long until they put out again a new for they are hurtful and kill the Dogs if they eat thereof Near the Town upon the Highlands where you see abundance of Corn-fields and abundance of pleasant Olive-Trees that reach quite up to Mount Libanus are found Polium montanum Pecten veneris ferrum equinum Chamaeleon niger with its sharp pointed and black Roots and Leaves very like unto the Leaves of Carlina whereof the Stalks are of a reddish colour a Span long and of the thickness of a Finger whereon are small prickly Heads of a blewish colour not unlike to these of the little Eryngium Another fine Plant grows thereabout called Sathar in their Language but when I consider its beautiful Purple-coloured Flowers and its small Leaves which are something long withall I rather judge it to be the Hasce of the Arabians or the true Thyme of Diosc which we call Serpillum Romanum It
are abut three Farthings apiece more or less according as their Places are which are paid them daily as well in Peace as in War-time If they can get any thing else by Excursions and Fighting from their Enemies it is well for them The Souldiers commonly wear white Turbants on their Heads and so do all Turks and put painted Paper underneath them chiefly when they go into the War believing if they wear them they cannot be hurt nor wounded On their Turbants they commonly wear Cranes Feathers that others may believe them to be Valiant Souldiers and that by their Number People may guess that either they have been in so many Campagnes or else killed so many Christians Besides these Turbants the Janisaries have also Hats with high Crowns called Zarcellas made of white Felt which they wear instead of Helmets when they are in waiting or go out to the War these have before on the fore-head a gilded Sheath set without with Granats Rubies Turkey-stones and other Jewels yet of no great value wherein they put their Feathers They and also other Turks and Moors let no Hair grow upon their Heads but as soon as it grows they shave it again only behind they keep a lock which hangs down a pretty way They let their Beards grow now which they used formerly to cut off so that now for some Years they have worn huge great Mustachies In War time they carry Musquets and in Peace chiefly when they are in waiting their long Poles They are also allowed to Marry and besides their Wives to keep any they take Prisoners in the War or else to sell them to any body When they are at home they are great lovers of Wine and when they can come at it that no body sees them they will drink more without mixture than any other Nation But in time of War when they are in Expedition they can live very sparingly and will March all day long before they will Refresh themselves Yet to speak the truth these and almost all Souldiers because they are as well paid in Peace as in War are no more so ready to take the Field and to change a quiet Life for a troublesome one or a secure one for a dangerous as they they have been in former Ages being used to Laziness for a great while together Besides the Power and Strength of the Turks is reckoned much inferiour to that of the Christians for we are better armed with Musquets and Pikes to keep them off at a distance that they may not be able to come in with us to Club-Law and so over-power us for if their Enemy doth not give way at the first On-set they turn their backs and run away But that notwithstanding all this we gain nothing from the Turks but they rather from us the reason is not to mention our manifold Transgressions rather our great Divisions and Contentions which hinder us from going out with such an Army as is necessary and we might otherways do Wherefore the Turks come out the bolder to frighten and to plague us and make use of all sorts of Stratagems to amuse us or to draw us into an Ambush by pursuing them and when they think we are almost tired they fall upon us with a multitude of fresh Men to surround and to beat us Nor do they value it if they lose one Regiment or another because there is enough of them and they know how to have in the room of the Slain others again that will be very glad because of their Pay that they receive daily of their Prince out of his Provinces to accept of it It being then so that he doth not only maintain his own Provinces but rather gains others and enlarges his Dominions daily we ought to be very careful for the more he increaseth the more we are in danger Thus he taketh one Town Country or Kingdom after another with his Sword as we have seen hitherto in Europe not to mention any thing of Asia not without great detriment and damage to all Christians So he cometh daily the longer the nearer to us that at length we must expect no better Success than Greece Thracia Servia Bosnia Hungary and Wallachia c. which are brought into Slavery under which some Persons of Quality still groan to this day So I found at Aleppo an Ancient Queen of Wallachia with her Sons whereof the Youngest was born after the King his Father's Death who is maintained by a very small Allowance from the Turkish Emperour She is a very discreet Woman and well skill'd in the Turkish and Arabian Languages Her Subjects still hope for her that God Almighty will restore her to them again that so their Slavery may have an end After the Turks have obtained a great Victory they lift up their Hands thank and praise God and the Prophet Mahomet God Almighty's dearly beloved Messenger and pray further that God may send Differences and Quarrels among us that are against the Book Jugilis as they call it that is the Book of the Gospel that the Magistrates may quarrel with the Subjects and the Clergy with the Seculars that from thence may arise such Disorders that we may go on to transgress the Laws of God still more and more that our Belief in Messias may be extinguished and that all good Orders and Policies may be dissolved So that God may take from thence occasion to make them further our Punishers to afflict us And when they see that the Rich Men Oppress the Poor that the Magistrates do not Protect the Just and Innocent but that the Chief and Heads do strive to ruin one another then they rejoyce at our Misfortune and Misery and do not fear us in the least to do them any Mischief which might easily be done if we were unanimous but rather threaten what Mischief they will do us When the Turks have taken a strong Town or a whole Country by the Sword that they may keep them the easier in Subjection without a great Garrison Pains or Danger they Demolish the places that are not very strong and send away the Nobility and Chief Persons which otherwise might do them a great deal of Mischief and in the room of these they bring in Sangiacks with their Souldiers to keep the strong places and to take care of the Emperour's Revenue So that in these places there is no Nobility that come from any Ancient Races and have their own Estates Hereditary and Descending from Heir to Heir Which one may also suppose when he considereth that the Law of Mahomet alloweth to those that adhere to it to have four Wives at a time besides Concubines or Slaves as many as they please I will say nothing of the Liberty they have to Divorce them upon any small Occasion and to take others in their room from whence flow such Disorders and Uncertainties that very few Children know who are their Parents and so there is but little Love shewn between them as one may easily
it up into little Barrels to send into other Countries the latter they use themselves mix it sometimes with Water and give it to drink instead of a Julep to their Servants sometimes they put it into little Cups to dip their Bread in it as if it were Honey and so eat it Besides these they have other sweet Drinks which they prepare out of red Berries called Jujubes or of Cibebs which when boiled in Water with a little Honey the Inhabitants call Hassap and others called still by the old name of Berberis of which they bring great quantities down from Mount Libanus Among other Liquors they have a special one called Tscherbeth which boiled of Honey tasteth like unto our Mead they have another made of Barley or Wheat by the Ancients called Zychus and Curmi these two last make the Turks so merry and elevated that as our Clowns do when they drink Beer they sing and play on their Hautboys Cornets and Kettle Drums which their Musicians make use of every Morning when the Guards are relieved All these Liquors are sold in their great Batzars where they have Baskets full of Ice and Snow all the Summer long whereof they put so much into the Drink that it maketh their Teeth chatter and quake again Thus much I thought convenient to mention of their Liquors or Drinks Concerning their Food their Bread is nourishing and good and so white chiefly at Halepo that none is like it in all Turkey so they have several sorts of it of several shapes and mixtures whereof some are done with Yolks of Eggs some mixt with several sorts of Seeds as of Sesamum Romish Coriander and wild Garden Saffron which is also strowed upon it Meat is cheap with them and very good by reason of the precious Herbs that grow thereabout chiefly upon Mount Tauri which extendeth itself very far Eastwards from whence they have abundance of Cattel as Rams Weathers and Sheep with broad and fat Tails whereof one weigheth several Pounds They have also great store of Goats which they drive daily in great Numbers through that City to sell their Milk which every one that hath a mind to it drinks warm in the open Streets among them there are some that are not very big but have Ears two foot long so that they hang down to the Ground and hinder them from feeding when one of them is cut off which is commonly done they turn themselves always upon that side that the other Ear may not hinder them from feeding They have no want of Beefes and Bufles for they are very common there and the Butchers kill the Beasts in the Fields without Town where they have their Slaughter-houses thereabout are a great many Dogs that live of the Offels and have their young ones in Holes and Cliffs where they bring them up and these become so Ravenous and Wild that they run about in the Night after their Prey as I am informed like Wolffs in our Country And this may very well be for the Turks do not only not kill any Dogs but rather carry them home when they are young and there feed them till they are grown up and able to shift for themselves and they believe that they do a deed of Charity that is very acceptable to God Almighty like unto the Divines in the Indies called Banians which serve the Birds in the same manner as these do the Dogs and Cats These Wolves are more like to our Dogs both in Shape and Bigness and so says Pliny that the Wolves in Aegypt are less and lasier then these towards the North being there are no Inns in Turkey where as with us Travellers may Lodge and have their Diet therefore there is a great many Cake-shops kept in the Batzars where all manner of Victuals are cleanly dressed viz. Butchers Meat Fouls and all sorts of Sauces and Broths and Soups where every body buys what he hath a mind to according to the capacity of his Purse Among the rest nothing is so common as Rice which they boyl up to such a stiffness that it crumbleth A great many other sorts you shall see in Copper Basons upon their Shop-boards prepared after the same way amongst the rest peculiarly a very common one called Bnuhourt made of Barley and Wheat which were first broke on a Mill and perhaps dryed and so boyled with or without Milk into a thick Pap. Dioscorides in the 83d Chapter of his Second Book maketh mention of this by the name of Crimnon and also Avicen and Rhasas ad Almans in Synonymis calleth it Sanguick and Savick The Turks provide themselves with good store of this chiefly in War-time by Water and by Land that when they want Provision they may make use of it instead of Bread Besides these they have more Dishes amongst them I remember one called Trachan when it is dressed it is so tough that you may draw it out like Glue this they make up into little pieces which being dryed will keep good a great while and is very good and pleasant Food after it is boyled wherefore they lay up great Stores of this in their strong Fortifications as we do of Corn that in case of necessity they may eat it instead of Bisquets or other Food That such sorts of Foods by the Latinists called Pùls have been very well known to the Ancients and that in case of necessity they use to make a shift with it Pliny testifieth in his Eighteenth Book and the Eighth Chapter They have also all manner of Poultry in great plenty viz. Pullen Snipes Partridges with red Bills Woodcocks c. but very few Fishes because they have only a small Rivolet which is full of Turtles so that at Halepo they are very scarce Neither do they esteem them much because most of them drink Water instead of Wine which is prohibited by their Law wherefore there are but very few brought thither from foreign places as Antiochia and the great River Euphrates c. distant from thence two or three miles Besides this they have little By-dishes as Kal Colliflowers Carrots Turneps French-Beans Besides Trees and Codded Fruits and many more but yet they are not so well skilled in the dressing of them as we are in our Country Lastly They put also up with their Cheese Cibebs Almonds dryed Cicers Pistachio's and crack'd Hasel-nuts which although they are carried thither from our Country are better tasted and pleasanter than ours They have many sorts of Preserves very well done with Sugar and Hony very artificially chiefly those they carry about to sell upon Plates very well garnish'd made up and set out with several Colours and Shapes very beautiful to behold For the rest they live very sparingly and bring the Year round with small and little Expences for they do not make so great Feasts nor have so many Dishes nor bestow so great Cost as we do in our Country In these Eastern Countries they eat upon the plain Ground and when it is Dinner-time
they spread a round piece of Leather and lay about it Tapestry and sometimes Cushions whereupon they sit cross-leg'd Before they begin to eat they say Grace first then they eat and drink hastily and every one taketh what he has a mind to and do not talk much The Rich have fine Cotton-Linnen about their Necks hanging downwards or else hanging at their Silk-girdles which they use instead of Napkins Their Wives or Women do not eat with them but keep themselves in their peculiar Apartments After they have done they rise altogether with a Jerk swinging themselves about which our Countrymen cannot easily imitate till after they have been there a long while for the Limbs are numbed in sitting cross-legg'd so that one hath a great deal to do to bring them to themselves again At last they take up the Leathern Table with Bread and all which therefore serveth them also instead of a Table-Cloth and Bread-basket they draw it together with a String like a Purse and hang it up in the next corner CHAP. IX A Short and Plain Relation of Plants which I gathered during my stay at Halepo in and round about it not without great danger and trouble which I glued upon Paper very carefully BEing I undertook this long Journey chiefly on purpose to see my self those fine Outlandish Plants whereof Authors so often make mention growing in their native Soil and so gain a more clear and perfect Knowledge of them I was very glad to have an opportunity to stay longer than I intended that I might the oftner go out with my Friends and Comrades into the Fields among the Turks and Moors not without great pain and danger of being knock'd on the Head to fetch in more and greater variety of Plants Wherein my Comrade Hans Ulrich Krafft who came into these parts along with me very often hath faithfully and honestly assisted me But having heretofore made mention of the Garden-Herbs and Fruits I will only in this place write of them which grow abroad without the Gardens and that with all possible shortness and begin with the Poplar-Tree as the commonest of all which the Inhabitants still call by the ancient Arabian Name Haur they grow very high in these Countries and abundance of them grow about the Rivolet near Halepo which make very shady Walks underneath in the heat of Summer There is also a peculiar sort of Willow-Trees called Safcaf c. these are not all alike in bigness and heighth and in their Stems and Twigs they are not very unlike unto Birch-Trees which are long thin weak and of a pale-yellow colour they have soft Ash-colour'd Leaves or rather like unto the Leaves of the Poplar-Tree and on their Twigs here and there are Shoots of a span long like unto those of the Cypriotish wild Fig-trees which put forth in the Spring tender and woolly Flowers like unto the Blossoms of the Poplar-Tree only they are of a more drying quality of a pale colour and a fragrant smell The Inhabitants pull of these because they bear no Fruits great quantities and distil a very precious and sweet Water out of them very comfortable and corroborating to the Heart The Arabians call these Trees Zacneb and Zacnabum Rhases in 353 d and Avicenna in his 749 th Chapt. And after the same manner maketh Serapio mention of them in his 261 st Chapt. by the common Name of Zucumbeth and Theophrastus in his Fourth Book and Eleventh Chapter where he treats of Elae-agnus which this is very like unto and may be taken for the same although they differ in bigness which often and easily happens according to the soyl and place where they grow Hereabout are other small Trees which I rather take to be thorny Shrubs they are very like in leaves unto the others and are called by the Moors Scisesun They love to grow in moist places and in Hedges from the Root shoot several Stems cloathed with a smooth brown-colour'd Bark they bear at top pretty long and strong Twigs which here and there are beset with a few Prickles whereon grow small Flowers white without and yellow within whereof three and three sprout out between the Leaves I did not see any of their Fruit but yet I do believe that they are like unto the Olives of the Bohemian Olive-Tree to which this Plant is very like which is very naturally delineated in the Herbal of the learned Matthiolus These Trees cast forth such an odour in the Spring that any body that goes by must needs be sensible of it presently Wherefore the Turks and Moors cut many of their Branches and stick them up in their Shops On the Banks of the above-mentioned Rivolet chiefly about the Stone-Bridge as you travel to Tripoly grow many Agnus Castus's of the lesser sort and on the other side in the Fields many Pistachia Nut-trees Within and without the City grow also many sorts of Trees viz. that which Avicen calleth Azedarack but Rhases Astergio white Mulberry-Trees Date-Trees and Cypresses by the Natives called Sacub which hereabout grow very big and high Turpentine-Trees c. About the Fences and Hedges you will find wild Pomgranate-Trees with fine double Flowers wild Almond-Trees the Fruit whereof the Moors carry about in great plenty to sell to the Poor and near it in old decay'd Brick-walls and Stony places you shall see Caper-bushes Among the rest there groweth a very strange Bush by the Inhabitants called Morgsani which is very green and thick hath a long Woody Coat whereout sprout several Stalks with round Leaves like unto Caper-leaves only with this difference that four of them stand together all opposite to one another like unto our Beans between them there appear small Flowers red within and white without whereout grow long Pods like unto these of the Sesamum This Plant hath a very unpleasant scent wherefore the Inhabitants use it frequently to destroy Worms But what the Ancients formerly called it I know not but really am of this opinion it must be according to the description the Ardifrigi of Avicen and Aadician of Rhasis he that pleaseth may read more thereof in the quoted places In these places is also found the thorny Acacia by the Inhabitants called Shack and by the Arabians Schamuth which are very small and low chiefly these that stand in the Fields which give as much trouble to the Plowmen as the Ferns and Rest-harrow do here the Twigs are of an Ashen-colour crooked full of Prickles like unto those of a Rose-bush and have very small-feather'd Leaves like unto Tragacantha which are almost divided like unto our female Fern the Flowers of them I have not seen but the Cods that grow out of them are without brownish in their shape thicker and rounder than our Beans spongy within and containing two or three reddish Seeds I have besides these seen in Shops Pods of a Chestnut-brown colour sold under the name of Cardem which have two or three little distinct Cells or Baggs in each whereof is
respect are very like unto the Polycnemon of Dioscorides but whether it be the same or no I leave the learned to decide Besides those before as we came down the River I saw a great many large Tamarisk Trees and abundance of a certain kind of Agnus Castus almost like unto the other only a great deal less and it had no more but three strong claver Leaves but above all the Galega called Goats-Rue in our Language which in these Parts groweth very high and in so great plenty that on the River side I could see nothing but this for several Miles together CHAP. IV. Of the Inhabitants of the Mountains and the great Wilderness we came through to Deer Of their ancient Origination and miserable and laborious Livelihood UPon this good and severe Command of the Bashaw Son of Mahomet Bashaw we were acquitted of our long Arrest and went away about Noon on the 27th of September we went again from thence through such great Desarts that for some Days we saw nothing worth relating but here and there little Huts made of some erected Boughs and covered with some Bushes wherein the Moors with their Families live to secure themselves from the great Heat Rain and Dews that are in these Parts most violent so that I admired how these miserable People could maintain themselves and so many Children in these dry and sandy Places where nothing was to be had Wherefore these poor People are very naked and so hungry that many of them if they saw us afar off would fling themselves into the great River and swim to us to fetch a piece of Bread And when we flung at them whole handfulls they would snap at it just like hungry Fish or Ducks and eat it Others did gather it and put it into the Crown which they make neatly of their Sheets on the top of their Heads and so swim away with it After these sandy Desarts had continued a great while we came at length out of them between high rough and bare Hills which were so barren that there was to be seen neither Plough-Lands nor Meadows neither House nor Stick neither High-way nor Foot-path wherefore those People that live there have no Houses but Caves and Tents as they have in the great Desarts where because of the great Heat and Driness the Soil is so barren that they cannot subsist in a place for any considerable time nor have Villages or certain Habitations Wherefore they wander up and down fall upon the Caravans and plunder them and make what shift they can to get a livelihood These Mountains as I am informed reach to the River Jordan the Dead and the Red-Seas c. wherein are situated Mount Sinai Horeb c. and the Town Petra which by the Prophet Isaiah is called Petra of the Desarts The Arabians that live in these Desarts and round about them are extraordinary Marks-men for Bows and Arrows and to fling Darts which are made of Canes They are a very numerous People and go out in great Parties every where almost they are a very ancient Nation and come from the Sons of Ishmael but chiefly from his Eldest Son Nebajoth and were anciently called the War-like Nabathees and their Country the Land or Province of the Nabathees which Josephus testifieth in Book I. Chap. 21. where he says that the Twelve Sons of Ishmael which he had by an Egyptian Wife his Mother Agar from whom they were called Agarens as you may see in the first of the Chronicles and the sixth Verse being also of the same Country were possessed of all the Country between the Euphrates and the Red-Seas and called it the Province of the Nabathees The Midianites that bought Joseph of his Brethren and carried him into Egypt may also be reckoned among these This same Country is also chiefly by Pliny because thereabout are no other Habitations but Tents wherein the Inhabitants live called Scenitis From this we may conclude that the Prophet Isaiah in his 60th Chapter and David in his 120th Psalm did speak of them when chiefly the latter maketh mention of the Tents of Kedar whereby he understands a Country that is inhabited by such a Nation as liveth in Tents and is derived from Kedar the Son of Ishmael whom his Father Abraham as a strange Child born by his Maid Agar did thrust out together with his Mother into the Desarts his words are these Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesheck that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar In our times these and other Nations are called the Saracens which have very much encreased under Mahomet which by his Mother was an Ishmaelite and did spread very much and so they were in David's time a very strong Nation wherefore he prayeth very earnestly in his 83 Psalm that God would punish and slay and disperse them as Enemies of his Holy Church But that I may come to our former Intention again here the Arabians asked us very often again where their King was at that time so that our Master had business enough to answer them whereby you may observe what great Respect and Love they have for their King But that they might not altogether look upon us as Outlandish Men nor presently discern us to be Strangers we did sometimes when there was occasion for it change our Turbants and let one end thereof according to their Fashion hang down which they do to make themselves a Shade against the Heat that is very cruel in these Countries But yet if any body be he who he will doth enquire after their King and wants to come before him to present him with a Suit of Cloaths c. or to desire a Pass from him or if one should go about to hire one of them to shew him the way to a certain place or through their Country which he may do for a very small price he would soon find one or other that would be ready to do it but among the Turks there is no such Obedience for if you should desire any thing of them to do in the Name of their Sultan they are not willing to do it except it would redound to their great Profit Wherefore a Turkish Guide to conduct you would cost you a great deal more than one of them Besides they also remember their Master daily and hardly speak of any thing but of him his great riches c. but with such Pride and Greatness chiefly when they speak of his powerfulness and enlarging of his Kingdom as if some share of these were belonging to them and that they must be respected for it In this Navigation through the great Desarts we two did not spend much because the Towns were at so great a distance from one another that we could not reach them to provide our selves daily with Necessaries as we do in our Country on the Danube and Rhine or Lodgings We were necessitated to be contented with some slight Food or other and make a shift with Curds Cheese Fruits
and chuse them for their Servants being in their Business very faithful diligent and careful as I have known many of them These and many more Nations as Turks Moors Armenians Curters Medians c. which every one of them have their peculiar Language are at Bagdet in great Numbers but chiefly the Persians so when I was there there arrived a Caravan of Three Hundred with Camels and Horses c. with an Intention to go to Mecha to give Mahomet a Visit which they think after Hali and Omar who were his Companions and did live in that City to be a very great Man These Persians have a peculiar Language so much differing That neither Turks nor Arabians nor other Oriental Nations can understand them and so they are forced to make them understand their meaning by Signs or an Interpreter as well as I and other Strangers They also have their peculiar Characters They sit well on Horse-back and have on long and wide Drawers which serve them also for Boots and are very well furnished with Scymeters Bows and Darts instead of Spurs they have as it is the Fashion in those Parts pointed Irons which are about an Inch and a half long and are sowed to the hind part of their Shooes They are also called Red Turks which I believe is because they have behind on their Turbants Red Marks as Cotton-Ribbands c. with Red Brims whereby they are sooner discerned from other Nations They may also be distinguished by their grey woollen Coats which have commonly Three Plaits behind and come hardly down to their Knees They are a strong and valiant People of a noble Countenance and Mind very Civil and in their Dealings upright They are very wary in their Undertakings which you may see by this that before they conclude a Bargain they take up more time to consider than others to two or three which I have several times observed Among other Merchandices they have delicate Tapestry of several colours and several sorts of Cotton-Work in which they are great Artists and well skilled but as for others as Gold and Silver working c. they understand little and a great deal less of Gilding wherefore they take any thing that is glossy for Gold They love the Christians that are Artists and Ingenious in these sorts of Works and shew them all Civilities But as for the Turks because great and bloody Wars arise often between them they hate them very much and call them Hereticks 1. Because they will not esteem nor receive Hali and Omar which they denominate Caliphi as the greatest and highest Prophets or Legates of God that have after Mahomet given more certain and better Laws Wherefore they esteem them a great deal higher nay worship them like Gods 2. Because that they as circumcised Men esteem their Women to be unclean and reckon them to be Members that are not to be saved and therefore exclude them out of their Churches so that they may not appear there publickly which by the Persians according to their Laws and Ordinances after they have spoke some Words after them are received as blessed Ones and admitted to come to their Churches From whence arise between these two Nations great Quarrels and Differences sometimes but yet they do not fall upon one another nor make Incursions in time of Peace so violently on the Frontiers as they do in Hungary probably that one may because Negotiation goeth further into Persia and bringeth in great Custom to the Grand Signior trade the safer into these Parts It is cheap and very good travelling through these Countries into the Indies and the Customs and Duties are very easy Further I understood from others that here and there in Persia live several Christians and that most of them are of the perswasion of Prester-John whom they call Amma and which way they are brought to it I am thus informed That formerly about Twelve Years agone it did happen that the King of Persia made a League with Prester-John against the Turks which came then very hard upon him and gave him his hands so full that he was forced to seek for help by Strangers Now when Prester-John thought it very inconvenient for him to make a League with a King that was not of his Religion he sent him a Message again that he could make no League with him except the chiefest of the Articles were that he and his Subjects would receive his Religion then he would not only do him all Friendship that in him lay but also assist him with all his Might and Power which at length was agreed upon Whereupon he did send him one of his Patriarchs and some of his Priests which in process of time had this Effect that now even at this Day there are above twenty Towns in Persia where the most of the Inhabitants are addicted to the Religion of Prester-John They have also as I was told several Books of the Holy Scripture and chiefly among the rest some of the Epistles of St. Thomas which they call Aertisch And besides that their Patriarch hath brought it to that pass that they are no more so zealous in their Superstitions and are of Opinion that Circumcision is not necessary and that so much the rather because their Enemies the Turks and Jews have it And for the same reason they do not abhorr the forbidden Beasts but eat Pork c. nor refuse to drink Wine and that as before said because their Adversaries are forbid it by their Law So that the Christian Faith doth in Persia encrease daily more and more and they begin to be Christened with Fire according to their Fashion and in the Name of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost whom they notwithstanding according to their Opinion rather believe to be a Creature than the Third Person of the Trinity and that he doth only proceed from the Father and not from the Son But that those that are Christians may be discerned they wear a blue Cross on the inside of their left Leg a little above the Knee They also administer the Sacrament of the Holy Supper or Communion and give it as well to the Young as to the Old ones in both kinds but before they go to it they must have their Feet washed wherefore there are little Rivolets led through the Churches where they sit down and some of the chiefest of the Town come to them and wash their Feet and when that is done they give unto one another a Kiss of Love then they read the Words of Christ's Institution and so go to receive it they do not come to Confession before And they endure no Images in their Churches but instead of them they make use of Harps Pipes and other Instruments wherewith they make Musick but chiefly at the King's Court at Samarcand where his best Musicians are which Town as they say was built by Sem the Son of Noah and called after his Name What else is to be said concerning the Points of their
of the Country brought under the subjection of the Turkish Emperour Orpha is a Town of very good Trade they deal in Tapestry of several sorts some whereof are made there and sent out to us there is also a great Deposition of Merchandices which are brought thither from Aleppo Damascus Constantinople and other places to go to Carahemit Five Days Journey distant from hence and so to be carried further into Media Persia the Indies c. yet all these Goods are brought thither in Caravans by Land because there is no Navigable River belonging to it Some say that this Town was anciently called Haran and Charras from whence the Patriarch Abraham departed with his Wife Sarah and his Brother's Son Lot according to the Command of God Gen. Chap. 12. and went forth to go into the Land of Canaan which the Lord had promised to give him and there is a plentiful Well still to this Day called Abraham's Well where the Servant of Abraham whom he sent into Mesopotamia to the Town of Nahor to fetch a Wife for his Son Isaac from his own Kindred did first see Rebecca when she gave him and his Camels some Water to drink out of this Well And so did afterwards the Patriarch Jacob when he fled from his Brother Esau at this same Well make himself known to Rachel the Daughter of Laban his Mother's Brother when he removed the Stone from the head of the Well and so let her Sheep drink The Water of this Fountain hath a more whitish troubledness than others I have drunk of it several times out of the Conduit that runs from thence into the middle of the great Camp and it hath a peculiar Pleasantness and a pleasant Sweetness in its taste To the same did also come the Son of the Pious Tobias conducted by the Angel Raphael whom his Father sent to Rages now called Edessa as is above-mentioned to call in a Debt from Gabel as you may read in the 11th Chapter of his Book when they returned by the way of Haran which is half way to Nineve After the Jews had done their Business there with good Success we went on in our Travels again and came again into the high and rough Mountains where we spent also the next Day with great trouble and hardship until we came again to the great River Euphrates into the Town Bi r whereof I have made mention before And although we had no more but two half Days Journey to Aleppo yet the Jews my Fellow-travellers had Business in the Famous Town Nisib which is situated on this side the River on the borders of the lesser Armenia so that we were bound to go thither so we put out again on the 6th of February after their Sabbath and went through very fruitful and well cultivated Corn-Fields to Andeb towards Evening It is a pretty big Town but not very strong It lieth on two small Hills very pleasantly so that you may see it plainly and distinctly as soon as you come from out of the Valley by the Lake into the Fields Yet notwithstanding that it is so pleasantly situated and looketh so stately at a distance it is but pitifully built when you come within it In former Ages this Town hath been several times besieged by the Kings of Persia by whom it was taken at last and kept so long until the Roman Emperour Galienus Odenatus Palmyrenus took it from King Sapor together with the Town Orpha and laid it to the Roman Empire again But in these our Times to our grief it is brought again together with all the Country under the Ottoman Slavery The Inhabitants have very little Trade they live for the most part upon their Estates by cultivating their Grounds and chiefly from the Fruits of Vineyards and Orchards which are planted with Pomgranates and Figs c. so thick that from the great quantity of Trees they may have the more Fruit that you would at a distance rather take them to be Woods of wild Trees than of fruitful ones So they send Yearly many sorts of Fruits but chiefly Cibebs into the Eastern Countries by great Caravans whereof I have met many After we had staid here and I had lost a whole Day for their Business sake we broke up again directly for Aleppo and having passed for several Miles through rough bad hilly ways we came at length into a plain delicate and fruitful Country so fruitful of Wine and Corn that on all my Journey I have seen none like unto it This did almost extend it self to Aleppo where we arrived early with the help of the Almighty God in very good health on the 10th Day of February At my arrival because my Comrade Hans Vlrich Krafft with the rest were not there then present presently some French Merchants which I had cured of several Distempers before my departure came to me and carried me home with them desiring me to live with them untill my Business which caused me to come back were done wherein really they did me a very great Kindness For I having very well torn my Cloaths which never came from my Back in half a Years time I had there an Opportunity to rest my self and to procure my self some new ones I thank the Almighty God for his many Mercies and Favours bestowed on me and the Assistance he graciously afforded me in this Voyage returning him Praise Honour and Glory c. CHAP. XI Of the Turkish Physicians and Apothecaries Of my Comrade Hans Ulrich Krafft of Ulm 's hard Imprisonment Of the great Danger that I was in in the two Towns of Aleppo and Tripoli Of the murdering of some Merchants and what else did happen when I was there AT my return to Aleppo where my Business obliged me to stay a while I came to understand that during my absence several Italians and French-men were in their Sickness but very slightly served by the Jews their Physicians wherefore I did not only soon recover my former Acquaintance and Practice by them but might have also stept into great Business with the Turks for I was presently so well known that I had much to do to excuse my self with Discretion to get off of them that I might escape their Anger and Displeasure which I must have got if I had served them never so faithfully which I knew several had before me found by experience Wherefore at the instance of several good Friends I only cured two great Persons whereof one was a Georgian and at that time Sangiack of Jerusalem which were very well pleased with me and requited me accordingly The Physicians generally in these Parts agree before hand for the Cure with their Patients for a certainty according to the Condition of the Patient and his Distemper and have security for their Money but yet it is not paid to them before the Patient is cured They have a great many Physicians but they are very unskilful chiefly the Turks which know none but their own Language and so cannot
Maronites that have lived long before in these Mountains with whom he hath lately renewed the old Confederacy again as I know very well and their Patriarch himself was with him before I was called to cure him of his Distemper He also leaveth no Stone unturned to get in with others and to make them his Confederates so he hath already secured to himself the Syrians which are also Christians yet not without gross Errors by paying to them a yearly Pension These speak also Arabick and are very like unto them in Shape Manners Fashion and Cloaths and I sound two of them among our Seamen that confirmed this to me After we had gone on a great while and were passed by the Point of the Promontory of Baruti which extendeth it self far into the Sea our Ship-Master who was a Turk and understood the Arabian Language shewed me a Village lying beyond it called Burgi and told me that that was also inhabited altogether by Harani Quibir that is great Robbers and Murtherers as they always call these People But I being better informed before-hand I prayed by my self that God would be pleased to let the poor Slaves that live in hard Servitude under the Turks who were these they call Harani and I do not at all question but they would soon take their Refuge to them to make themselves free of their Servitude as those might easily do that live about these Countries in Syria We saw also upon the Shoar some ancient Towers and among them chiefly two which are renewed again wherein the Trusci keep Watches to observe the Pirates but the others whereof there are a great many not above a League distant from one another are for the greatest part by Age decayed Some say that they were formerly built by the potent Emperors that if any Nation should rise up in Rebellion they might immediately give notice thereof to Constantinople These gave notice before Guns were invented in the Night by a flaming Fire and by Day-time by a great Smoak And they still keep to this in many places altho Guns are now invented In the Afternoon we were becalmed and so our Journey went on but slowly we saw late at Night a small Village called Carniola upon the height and soon after at the Foot of the high Mount of Libanus Southward of the City of Sidon by the Inhabitants still called Scida which is not very great but as far as I could see very well built and defended by two Castles one whereof is situated towards the North on a high Rock the other on a little Hill Those that are going to Saphet which is a Days Journey distant from it land there Before we could reach it Night befel us and brought contrary Winds which hindered us so much that we could hardly reach the glorious and rich Town of Tyrus now by the Inhabitants called Sur which lieth in a manner close to it until the next Morning This is still pretty large and lieth on a Rock in the Sea about Five hundred Paces distant from the Shoar of Phenicia In former Ages Alexander the Great did besiege it for Seven Months and during the Siege he filled up the Streight of the Sea and did join it to the Continent and after he had taken it he laid it into Ashes so that Punishment was inflicted on the Inhabitants which the Prophet Esaias denounced against them Four hundred years before On the Confines of Tirus and Sidon that Cananean Woman came to Christ on behalf of her Daughter that was possessed of an unclean Spirit whereof the Lord seeing her Faith did deliver her immediately Just before it we heard a great noise of large running Springs which rise within the Country with so great a vehemency that they drive several Mills Within a large distance from thence we saw a very fine new House called Nacora Two Miles farther near Mount Saron within Southward we saw a large Village called Sib without it in the Sea round about were several Banks and Rocks behind which we hid our selves the Wind being contrary and staid for a more favourable one in the mean while some of our Men got out among the Rocks to catch Fish and to find Oisters where they also gathered so much Sea-salt that they filled up a great Sack with it Between this and Mount Carmelo which are Eight Leagues distant and run out a great way into the Seas lieth almost in the middle thereof as it were in a Half Moon the famous Town of Acon anciently called Ptolemais on a high Rocky Shoar which some years ago when Baldewin the Brother of Gotefrid first and Guidon after him did possess themselves of the Holy Land was not without great Loss of many Men taken by them from Saladine King of the Saracens in Aegypt which had after some obtained Victories surrendered it self again a second time after a long Siege This Town hath very good Fields of a fertil Soil about it and is at this time together with the Land of Promise and others to the great grief of the Christians subjected under the Yoak and Slavery of the Turkish Emperor The next Day the Wind favouring us we hoisted up our Sails and got out at Sea with less danger to get before the Point of the Mountain but our Design was frustrated for about Noon a contrary Wind arose which did not only hinder us in our Course but violently drove us back again so that we were forced to have recourse to our old Shelter behind the Rocks again After Midnight when it began to be calm and another Wind arose we put out two hours before Break of Day and went all along the Shoar towards the Town Hayphe formerly called Caypha or Porphyria Four Leagues beyond Acon lying just within Mount Carmel where on the Evening when we came very near it several Frigats came out of all sides to surround us As soon as the Master of our Ship perceived them he did not like it wherefore he let fall his Sails and exhorted his Men to ply their Oars warmly to get clear of them When they saw they could not reach us they left their Design and went back but we landed without on that Mount Carmelo to put out again in the Night This Mountain is very high and famous in Scripture for we read in the Third Book of the Kings and the Eighteenth Chapter that the holy Prophet Elias called before him upon the Hill the People of Israel the Four hundred and Fifty of Baal's Priests and and the Four hundred of Hayns to chide them for their Idolatry where also God heard him and consumed his Sacrifice by Fire that came down from Heaven but the Priests of Baal were not only not heard by their Idols but kill'd as Idolaters near the River Kison and also in the Fifth of the Epistle of James that after the Heavens had been lock'd up for the space of three years and a half Elias did pray to God on this same Mount and the
Lord heard him and let Rain fall down upon the dry and barren Earth From this Mountain the presumed holy Order of the Carmelites taketh its Name which was first there endu'd with several Priviledges by Pope Innocent the Third and Albert the Patriarch of Jerusalem in the Year 1205 and afterwards when they were encreased to a great number under pretence of greater Holiness confirmed by the Name of the Brothers of our Lady by Pope Honorius the Third in the Year 1226. These pretend to be Followers of the Doctrine of Cyrillus wear daily black girded Coats and over it when they say Mass white Monks Habit. Some years ago without doubt have a great many of this Order lived here about as still to this day doth appear by their Cloisters and Churches which by Age are so mightily decay'd that they are left deserted and uninhabited This Mountain is also round about towards the Sea Coast very bare and rough that we may very well say with the holy Prophet Amos That the Pastures of the Herdsmen shall look miserably and the top of the Mountain dry up The Town Hayphe lieth at the bottom of the Mount Carmelo is pretty large but very ill Built and the Houses are so decay'd that half of it is not fit to be Inhabited Salidinus King of the Saracens who in his time carried on long and heavy Wars against the Christians and was almost hardly able to resist them caused the Walls of it and also that of Caesarea in Palestina and others of less strength to be pull'd down that his Enemies might not find any place of Reception against him Out of this Port as we are afterwards informed was a little time before taken away a pretty large and richly Loaden Ship by some Pirates which vexed the Inhabitants very much and being that the Christians chiefly were suspected by them they had a great desire to revenge it upon them again so that we had not our Master been very honest should have suffer'd for the loss they had sustained After we had lain there at Anchor till after Midnight not without danger as you must imagine our Master made haste to get out to Sea although it was very calm in hopes to get good Weather After they had wrought very hard a good Wind arose behind us towards the Morning and drove us along so that we got soon about and passed the Point of the Mountain and saw the Country of the other side which was above on the height so Pleasant Green and Shady that there in a Village resides a Turkish Sangiach for Pleasure sake Not far from thence lieth the Castle of the Pilgrims in the Sea by the Inhabitants call'd Altlit where most of them touch that take their way through Galilaea and Nazareth to Jerusalem This hath been in former Ages so well Fortify'd with Walls and Bastions that it was thought to be Impregnable but now it is on two sides towards the Sea so demolish'd and destroy'd that one may very reasonably guess that it hath been formerly taken by Storm The Wind still increasing more and more we went on with such a swiftness that although two little Ships persued us towards Morning yet they were forced to leave us and so we soon passed the Castle and came towards Dor three Leagues distance from thence it lieth near Mount Carmel in the Country of Phoenicia as Josephus testifieth and it is so decay'd that there is nothing more extant than a large and high Tower which the Inhabitants still call Dortaite In this Country when the Jews took Canaan the Land of Promise they let the Inhabitants remain as you may read in the first Chapter of the Judges At a League distance from thence you see the Ancient and Famous Town Caesarea of Palestine situated on the Sea on a high Bank which King Herod did renew and call'd it after the Emperor Caesarea which still to this day among the Turks and Moors retaineth its ancient Name Kaesarie In this Town did live the Pious Centurion Cornelius who was Baptiz'd there with his whole Family by Peter the Apostle who was called thither from the Town Joppe There did also live Philip the Evangelist one of the seven Deacons into whose House the Holy Apostle Paul did go and staid there some days where also the Prophet Agabus did foretel him That he was to be made a Prisoner at Jerusalem Now although this Town in those days was very well built as one may still see by the important and stately Antiquities that are still remaining there yet now in our times it is in Walls and Buildings so mightily decay'd that it is hardly fit to be Inhabited much less to be Defended or to make any Resistance And for all that it is still pretty large but so lonesom and depopulated that we could hardly see any body in the large and broad Streets thereof as we passed by For some Leagues before or about it I saw nothing remarkable only a Turkish Mosque or Church in the height upon a hilly shore where tbey meet to Worship their Mahumet When the Evening broke in we had still 10 Leagues to Sail to the Port or Harbor of Joppe where the Pilgrims use to go ashore to Travel by Land to Jerusalem yet the Wind drove us on with such a force that we got into it two hours after Sun-set CHAP. II. A short Relation of my Travels by Land from the Harbor of Joppe to the City of Jerusalem IN the Morning early as soon as the day did appear which was the 13th day of September 1575 we got on shore and dispatched immediately some to the Town of Rama two Leagues distant from thence to get us a safe Conduct or Pass from the Sangiach and to bring along with them some Mockeri or Ass-driving Carriers to provide us Carriage to Jerusalem In the mean while we stay'd upon the high Rocky shore where the Town Joppe did stand formerly which at this time was so Demolish'd that there was not one House to be found where the Pilgrims at their arrival could shelter themselves save only three large Vaults which went very deep into the Hill and extended themselves towards the Sea Into these are sometimes the Pilgrims let in but being that at that time a great deal of Corn was laid up there whereunto they still daily added on purpose to supply Constantinople during the scarcity it was forbidden that any Body should be let in The Town Joppe by the Inhabitants call'd Japha is by its old Name very well known to us by the Books of the Prophets and Apostles c. where we Read That the Prophet Jonas when the Lord bid him to Preach to the Ninevites Desolation and Destruction for fear did retire thither and there took Ship where he was thrown out into the Seas in the great Storm and Tempest and swallow'd up by a great Fish and after he had been there for three Days and Nights he was vomited out again And we
hours walking distant from it 2. The Old-Gate 3. The Prison Gate whereof Nehemiah maketh mention in his 12th Chapter through which our Saviour Christ carried his Cross 4. Rayn-Gate 5. The Gate of Ephraim before which St. Stephen was Stoned to Death as you may read in the 2d Book of the Ecclesiastical History in the 1st Chapter 6. The Gate of Benjamin where the holy Prophet Jeremiah was taken and Imprisoned as he saith himself in the 37th Chapter 7. Corner Gate 8. Horse-Gate 9. Valley-Gate through which they went into the Valley of Josaphat 10. Dung Gate through which the Water carried out all the Soil into the Valley of Josaphat and about this River is still to this day a great stink 11. Sheep-Gate 12. Fountain-Gate which is now Walled up The Prophet Nehemiah maketh mention of them in his 3d 8th and 12th Chapter so that it is not needful to say any more These Gates are so mightily decayed that there is not to be seen the least of the old Buildings The Turks have instead of them built others in the New raised Wall but yet not half so many in number whereof some according as the Town is enlarged in some places and contracted in others are displaced others are erected again in the same places according to the Old Streets viz. 1. The Fish-Gate which is still standing towards the West behind Mount Sion and over against Mount Gihon as you may conclude out of the words of the 2d Book of Chronicles in the 33d Chapter and 14th Verse Manasses built a Wall without the City of David on the West-side of Gihon in the Valley even to the entring in at the Fish-Gate This Gate hath its Name because they brought many Fishes from the Sea-side through this Gate into the City So is also still standing on the outside of the Valley Tiropaeon which distinguished the two Mounts Sion and the Temple Mount called Moriah the Gate of the Fountain which hath its Name because it leadeth towards the Fountain of Siloha which Nehemiah in his 2d Chapter Verse 14 calleth the Kings Pool Through this was our dear Lord Christ the true promised Siloha brought a Prisoner bound from the Mount of Olives over the Brook Kidron into the House of Hannas and Caiphas in the upper Town as we read in the 12th Chapter Verse 37. that by the Fountain-Gate they went up to the City of David The same way also the two Disciples Peter and John were sent to bespeak the Paschal Lamb by Christ where they met the Man with the Pitcher of Water The Sheep or Beast-Gate is also still standing by Moriah the Mountain of the Temple which the Turks have taken to themselves and have built on it a Turkish Mosque or Temple because that God Almighty hath done many and great Miracles on this Mount and besides Mahumet did find himself again on this Mount after he had been carried up as his lying Writings tell us through the Heavens before God by the Angel Gabriel Wherefore they take this Mount to be Holy so that none that is not Circumcised and so Unclean dare approach or come near it nor take the nearest way without over the height of the Mount as Nehemiah did as you may see in the before quoted place so that the Christians must take a further way about and from the Gate Siloha go below through the Valley of the Brook Cedron between this and the Mount of Olives to the Beast-Gate which hath its Name because the Beasts that were to be offer'd in the Temple were driven through it Near the Gate you see still the Sheep-pond which is large and deep yet hath but little Water in it wherein the Nathineens used to wash the Beasts and then to give them to the Priests And also immediately within towards the North a Conduit which was the Pool by St. John the Evangelist in the 2d Verse of his 5th Chapter called Bathesda erected by King Ezechia that had five Porches wherein lay a great multitude of impotent folk that waited for the moving of the Water Through this Gate is the straight way over the Brook Cedron by the Mount of Olives toward Bethania down to Jericho on the River Jordan into the Valley of Josaphat wherefore this also being nearer now in these days is called the Valley-gate There is also still the Corner-gate in its old place where the North and East Walls meet on large and high Rocks and 〈◊〉 called still by some the Gate of Naphthali This I thougâ— convenient to say of the City of Jerusalem in the gâ—nerâ— of its Buildings Fruitfulness and adjacent Countries what Famous and Holy Places are within and without the City thereof I intend to treat in particular CHAP. IV. Of Mount Sion and its Holy Places MOunt Sion very famous in holy Scripture hath round about it steep sides high Rocks deep Ditches and Valleys so that it is not easie to climb up to it only on one side towards the North where it buts upon the lower Town so that the Castle and Town of David situated on it was very strong and almost Invincible as you may read in the 48 Psalm vers 2. The joy of the whole earth is Mount Sion on the sides of the north the City of the great King God is known in her places for a refuge for the Kings were assembled c. Seeing then that the Castle and the upper Town Millo vvas so vvell fortified vvith Tovvers and Walls that it vvas not easily to be taken the Jebusites after that Canaan the vvhole Land of Promise together vvith the Tovvn of Jerusalem vvas taken did defend themselves in it against the vvhole force of Israel for a long time although they often attempted to take it and called the Tovvn of Jerusalem after their Name Jebus until the Kingly Prophet David came vvho took it by force and after he had rebuilt the upper Tovvn and joined the Castle vvith it into one Building and surrounded it vvith Walls he called it after his ovvn Name The City of David and kept his Court there and gave also Lodgings to his Hero's and Officers vvhereof Vriah vvas one vvho had his Lodgings near to the Kings Palace vvherein the King vvalking on the Roof of his House savv the fair Bathsheba his Wife and committed Adultery vvith her These their Habitations as they are still built in these Days have instead of Thatch or Tiles plaister'd Roofs so that one may walk on them as you may see here that King David walked on it And also in the Second Chapter of the Book of Joshua where is said That when the Two Spies sent into the Land of Promise to Jericho came into Rahab's House and the King sent to search after them they went at her request up to the Roof of the House where she hid them with the Stalks of Flax which she had laid in order upon the Roof But seeing there is nothing so strong in in this World that is not transitory
thy son at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the path of the fullers field c. And in the Fourth Book of Kings in the Eighteenth Chapter Verse Seventeen The King of Assyria sent a great host against Jerusalem and when they were come up they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool which is in the high way of the fullers field Before Mount Zion towards the South at the other side of the Rivulet Kidron lieth the Mount of Transgression in the Fourth Book of Kings Chap. 23. called Mashith between this and Mount Olivet is a Valley through which goeth down the Road by Bethania to Jericho c. This is higher and steeper than any hereabout There you see still some old Walls of the Habitation wherein the Concubines of Solomon did live after whom the King ran in his old Age and they did so possess him that they turned his Heart from God Almighty after their Gods and so he did that that did not please the Lord God as you may read in the First Book of Kings Chap. 11. Verse 4. Underneath the Mount was the Valley Benhinnem wherein the Kings of Jerusalem did build a Temple to the Idol Moloch and did worship him viz. Solomon Achaz Manasseh c. whereof we read in several places in the Holy Scripture Levit. xviii 21. Thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Moloch And also Jerem. vii 30. And they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name to pollute it And they have built the high places of Tophet which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire which I commanded them not neither came it into my heart therefore behold the days come saith the Lord that it shall no more be called Tophet nor the valley of the son of Hinnom but the valley of slaughter for they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place And also 2 Chron. xxviii 2. Ahaz made molten images for Baalim and burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnon and burnt his children in the fire after the abominations of the Heathen The holy Prophet Amos doth also make mention of these abominable Idolatries in his Fifth Chapter which Luke in the Seventh Chapter Verse Forty third of the Acts doth thus explain Ye took up the Tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Remphan c. which the holy Prophet calleth Sicchuth and Chiun But the Heathen called them Jupiter and Saturn the Devourer of Children and so he is also painted This Statue was hollow within of cast Brass whereinto they did put the Children and burnt them alive and did believe they served God in it as Abraham when he would sacrifice his Son Isaac they had also Kettle Drums and other Musical Instruments which they played on that the Parents might not hear their Children cry wherefore Christ gave unto Hell it self and its perpetual flames the Name of the Valley Benhinnon calling it Gehenna to give us warning and exhortation that we hate false and abominable Idolatries introduced contrary to his Command worse than the Devil himself Besides this there is little else seen hereabout only above on the steepness and highest part of the Mount many little Tents and Habitations as if they hung at it which in these times are not inhabited either by Turks nor Moors in the Valley you see the Rivulet Kidron where over they brought our Lord Christ bound as a Prisoner from Mount Olivet this proceedeth only from Rain Water near to the place Gethsemane and runs without by the Town from South to West Beside this Brook did King Asa burn the Images of Priapus as Josias and Hezekiah the Idols of Baal all Incenses and Uncleannesses that are found in the Temple of the Lord. Further towards the East you see from the top of Mount Zion the Fountain and Pool of Siloah below in the Valley called by Josephus Tiropaean which divideth this and the Temple Mount and becometh to be very narrow between them and extendeth it self from the Rivulet Kidron towards the North to the place of Skulls where it groweth so large again that the lower Town of Jerusalem by Isaiah in his Tenth and Zacharias in his Ninth Chapter called The daughter of Zion and Jerusalem was situated therein Out of which near to the Gate of the Fountain of Siloha which is now walled up the way goeth up to the Gate of Zion into the upper Town through which two our Lord Christ was brought a Prisoner to the Houses of Hannas and Caiaphas This Valley hath been since the Desolation so filled up that no depth at all appeareth in our Days but only without the Fountain Gate by the Fountain Siloah that is very rich of water where is still the Pool wherein the Blind Man washed his Eyes that were anointed with Clay and Spittle St. John ix 6. according to the Command of our Lord and did see Just by it are still the two Hills whereof Josephus maketh mention with a very steep Cliff very rocky on both sides one whereof towards the East called the Rock of the Pidgeons hath a great Cave out of which the Fountain springs and runs off immediately below through a Channel that goeth so strait and smooth through the Rock as if it had been made on purpose Near to this Fountain and Gate of Siloha stood the Tower of Siloha that killed Eighteen Men as we read in St. Luke Chap. xiii Without between the Fountain and Stream of Kidron they shew a great Mulberry-Tree fenced in below this stands in the place where the holy Prophet Isaias was buried whom the King Manasse ordered to be cut in pieces with a wooden Saw as being an Heretick This may suffice of Mount Zion its situation and some adjacent places As we went about and came to one of the places the Monks did shew the Pilgrims in each of them the Number of the Years for the Pardon 's laid there by his Holiness as in some Seven Years and Seven Indulgences but in some others as in the place where the Holy Ghost was sent where Christ did eat the Passover with his Disciples and washed their Feet and where he at several times appeared when the Doors were shut and where also as Nicephorus saith the Virgin Mary after the Resurrection of Christ her dear Child did dwell for Fourteeen Years c. full Absolution and Indulgences from all Sins and Facts for ever Now that all those that come there may receive it more worthily the Monks exhort them to kneel down before every of such places and to pray the Lord's Prayer and Ave Maria with Devotion and that when they have done so they need not to doubt but that they have fully received the Absolution that was given for that place by his Holiness After they had thus prayed in several places some of our Company rejoiced mightily
and confessed that after it they were holy and so innocent that if they should die then they were secure that their Soul should go immediately out of their Mouth into Heaven and eternal life To this I answered them That I expected Remission of Sin no other ways but only in the Name and for the Merits of our Lord Jesus Christ and that I had not undertaken this Pilgrimage as they did to get any thing by it as by a good Work nor to visit Stone and Wood to obtain Indulgence or with opinion to come here nearer to Christ because all these things are directly contrary to Scripture As the Lord himself saith Time will come that you shall neither on this Mount nor at Jerusalem worship the Father And he also forewarneth us of these that say Lo Christ is here Christ is there lo he is in the desarts he is in the Chamber that we should not believe them nor go out but rather confide on his promise that he will be with us to the end of the World and where two or three are met together in his Name that he will be in the middle of them Wherefore our dear Lord Christ hath no need because he is himself present with them that believe in him of any Vicegerent that should on Earth usurp such Power and take such Honor and Glory to himself as to give Indulgence at his pleasure because all these things belong only to God When I saw that they did not much mind this my Discourse I let them alone in their Opinions but yet I saw here and there all these places and considered by my self what our Lord Christ had by his bitter Sufferings and Death by his Glorious Resurrection and Ascension procured us from his Heavenly Father When the Pilgrims came to one of the above-mentioned places of Mount Zion and had said their Prayers they went into it and contemplated it fell down again before it and kissed it with great Submission and Devotion pulled out several pieces viz. Beads and Rosaries turned of the Wood of the Trees of the Mount of Olives some wrought Points Laces c. tied together in Bundles to touch the holy place with it they also knocked off in some places where they might some small Pieces to take them along with them as consecrated Sanctuaries to distribute them amongst their Friends at their Return All the while that they were thus busie I considered rather standing behind what our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ had suffered for us in these places how he had humbled himself and came down to us miserable Sinners to help us and to extol us that were fallen and to make us free of the heavy Burthen of our Sins how he was led before the Seat of Judicature of Caiaphas that we might not be led before the severe Judgment Seat of the Almighty God that he suffered himself to be led captive and bound to deliver us from the Bands of the Devil and Death and to save us from the Jaws of Hell and as Esaias saith in his 53d Chapter Verse 5. He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed But that our dear Lord Christ was delivered to the High Priest and Scribes c. for our sakes and that he was obedient to his Heavenly Father unto Death even the Death of the Cross to deliver us from the Curse of God and eternal Death And to make us certain that he had procured these his unspeakable Benefits and Heavenly Treasures for us and that we really should be partakers thereof before his passion he did institute his holy Supper upon the Mount in the large upper Room wherein he doth not only communicate them to us but giveth us also if we receive the holy broken Bread and the blessed Cup with true Faith according to the Institution his real Body and Blood to feed us to eternal Life where we then shall sit with our Lord Christ and all the elected ones after this life as Coheirs in the high upper Room of his Heavenly Father at his Table to eat and drink it with him anew And that we might heartily comfort our selves with these his unspeakable Benefits he also after his Ascension sent us on the Day of Pentecost his Holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth to incline our Hearts to believe stedfastly all that he hath promised us in his holy Word and Sacraments So the sending of the Holy Ghost which was long before predicted by the holy Prophets was fullfilled on this Mount whereof we read in several places of the holy Scripture viz. Joel ii 28. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh c. For on mount Zion and in Jerusalem must be a Deliverance according to the promise of the Lord. And Isaiah ii 3. Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord c. for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem So that the Preaching of Christ's holy Gospel and his Kingdom did begin from Zion and Jerusalem and was afterwards spread abroad by his holy Apostles throughout the whole World Grant then O our dear Lord Christ unto us thy Holy Ghost that he may keep us in the Knowledge of thy holy Word and that he may so strengthen and comfort us in it that we may freely and without any fear confess it before the Face of our Enemies and Adversaries and if they offend and prosecute us that we may overcome our Crosses and Persecutions with patience that thy Honor may be advanced and our Constancy appear Grant us also that he may plant these thy Graces in our Hearts that we may comfort our selves with the hope and expectation of those Treasures which thou hast by thy Death and Passion merited and purchased for us So that we may abide in thy Tabernacle and dwell in thy holy Hill for ever Amen Psalm xv 1. CHAP. V. Of the Mount Moria and the Glorious Temple of Solomon WIthin the City near to Mount Zion lieth another called Moria divided from it by the Valley of Tiropaeon which is now filled up and made even with the top as I have said before that hereabout is hardly any Depth or Unevenness to be seen This as well as the other meets with the Rivulet or Brook of Kidron towards the North and on both of them the Town lieth on the sides or descent This is very famous in the Holy Scripture as you read Genesis xxii That the pious Patriarch Abraham was ready to offer his Son Isaac on this Hill for a Burnt-Offering to the Lord whereon Melchisedec the first Founder and King of the Town Salem and Priest of the Almighty God did first build a Temple and therefore named the City Jerusalem So we read in the Second Book of Chronicles Chap. iii. That on the same holy Mount
the Brothers of St. Jacob are known by the Scallopshells The same is also with their Camels for on the lower part of one of their Forefeet you may see as many small Chains hung as they have been times there in Caravans so that you also may soon discern them And that I may return to my purpose again near to the Turkish Moschèe of the Holy Rock is also an other Church which by the Christians when they were in possession of Jerusalem was called the Virgin Mary's Church which is very well built rather bigger then the Turkish and stands without towards the South on the place of the great Porch of the Israelites which is several times mentioned in the Scriptures Viz. Joh. 10. Math. 21. where it is called the Temple and Porch of Solomon where Christ did Preach and drove out the Buyers and Sellers c. Underneath it is a great Cave so wide that some hundred Horse may with ease be drawn up in Battalia therein This is also in the Possession of the Turks and the Christians dare no more come in here then in the other By this Prohibition Viz. That the Mahumetans shall admit into their Churches or Porches thereof no Strangers which according to their Laws are not Cleansed and Washed you may easily see that the Turks have taken many Ceremonies and Laws from the Jews and according to their depraved understanding and mind Transcribed them into their Alcoran So we see that anciently they have their Circumcision Offerings Washings Fasts at certain times of the year marrying more then one Wife not Eating any thing that is Unclean or Pork or what is suffocated not having Bells not drinking Wine as the Levitical Priest must not do derived from the Jews But this last Law concerning not drinking of Wine is not only not kept for they drink thereof without mixture let it be as strong as it can more than ony other Nation It being then true that they choose the Fatt with Wine presented them by Moses as is before said to their own Ruin and Destruction wherefore I pray that God may fulfil their Prophecy Amen CHAP. VI. Of the Saracens and Turkish Religion Ceremonies and Hypocritical Life with a short hint how long time their Reign shall last after Mahomet 's Decease SEing I have here above made mention amongst the rest of the Places and Churches of Jerusalem of the Turkish Moschèes and also of Mahomet their Prophet I cannot but also Relate something of theit Hypocritical and Superstitious Life and belief as I have observed in my Travels and during my stay among them chiefly something of their outward Ceremonies good Works wherewith they think to fulfil the Laws to cleanse themselves from their manifold Sins and Transgressions and to obtain Gods Mercy and Love Wherefore they strive that they may be found always busie in these good Works whereof they reckon the chiefest to be Alms Pilgrimage Fastings to make Offerings to abstain from certain Food or Drinks frequent Washing Praying upon which two last they look most of all as the true means by which if they keep them diligently they may be freed and absolved from their Sins according to the Promises of their dear Prophet Mahomet Such and the like have also the Jews had in the Old Testament where without doubt their Prophet being by his Mother an Ishmaelite had them also But seeing that he also Attributeth to these Absolution and Satisfaction for our Sins and also consequently Salvation and everlasting Life Therefore all those that follow and believe his Doctrine miss the only Mediator and Saviour Jesus Christ of whom as well as of his Holy Word they else have a good Opinion as appeareth by their Alcoran in whom God the Father Almighty will only be known Invoked and Adored As St. John saith in his 5th Chap. 23. He that Honoureth not the Son Honoureth not the Father that hath sent him And Chap. 14. vers 9. where Jesus saith He that hath seen me hath seen the Father and in the 4th Chapt. of the Acts it is said verse 12. There is no Salvation in any other for there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved wherefore although Mahomet doth greatly Command and Teach that we must Adore the only God yet they do not know the true God that will only be Adored and Honoured in his Beloved Son and besides Mahomet will not allow that God hath a Son and much less That Christ is the true God in whom we shall believe For in his Diabolical and Blasphemous mind and thoughts he hath this precaution that if God should have a Son he might come to be Disobedient unto him as happeneth sometimes chiefly amongst them to worldly Princes which would expose all Creatures in Heaven as well as on Earth unto great Danger So he denieth the Deity of Christ and Esteemeth him to be no more as Arius doth then a great Saint and meer Man So he hath the same Opinion with Macedonius of the Holy Ghost whom and Christ he sometimes maketh but one person And so the Turks know no more by the Instruction of their Cursed Prophet of the true living God that is one in his Essence and three in Persons then when they Adored the Fire water and other Elements nay Heaven and Earth as also the Persians have done before they come over to the Saracens and adhered to the Doctrine of their Mahomet And besides they have no more comfort in our Lord Christ then the Jews because they do not believe that Jesus the Son of the Virgin Mary and Messenger of God was Crucified Dead and Buried but that another that was very like him suffered instead of him because he was Seated in Heaven where into God received him and that he was to return again at the End of the World a great deal higher then that he could be so shamefully killed by the Jews that impious people wherefore the Turks admire it very much that so many Pilgrims of all Nations come to see the Grave of Christ with so great a Devotion which is not his And although the Turks prefer their Mahomet before Christ and also do not believe right neither of his Essence nor of his person so that therefore all their Worship with what Devotion soever performed is null and in vain because it is not in Christ Yet for all that they Praise and Esteem Christ very high and Extol him far beyond any Man as one that was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary and that hath here on Earth carried on his Doctrine and confirmed it with powerful Miracles Wherefore they Esteem the Books of Moses and the other Writings of the Prophets but chiefly the Four Evangelists which they call the Book Jugilis and the Books of Moses Thresit as true and Godly And sometimes they pretend so fairly that an ordinary Man that is not well instructed in the Chief Articles of Christianity although there is so
Pastime chiefly the Janizaries which in great places erect Gibbets three Fathoms high to the top whereof they tye strong Ropes almost like as the Children do in our Country where they Swing others for a small recompence when any body sits in it two stand ready with a broad String one on each side which they fling before him and fling him backwards with it and so set him a Swinging Others run before the People that are walking and sprinkle them with sweet smelling Water to get a little spell of Money out of them chiefly the Christians which they will not easily leave before they have satisfied them wherefore they are necessitated to stay at home on these days Not long after they keep another peculiar Feast called Chairbairam where they also use all sorts of Gesticulations which were too long to relate here they do not Fast on those days but they Sacrifice young Steers and Wethers c. cut them into small pieces to distribute them among the People for the Honor of Abraham because he did obey God and would have Sacrified his Son Isaac to him At this abundance of Heathens congregate themselves in certain places before the Towns to go in Pilgrimage to Medina-Talnabi Mecha and Jerusalem for love to Mahomet Amongst them many are found that are recovered again from dangerous Distempers or delivered from great Dangers and then did make a Vow either to go on Pilgrimage to one of these places or else to kill such a number of Beasts to distribute among the Poor as an Alms. According to what I have said before that they compute their Months more by the Moon-light and so accompt Twelve of them to a Year they observe mightily the Change of the Moon chiefly the New Moon to see it again Wherefore at that time they go often in great Numbers out unto the next Hill to observe it the better after Sun set He that seeth it first sheweth it with great rejoycing to his Companions In their Prognostications they also mind the Moons Light and according to that they make their Accompt to know then if any thing shall happen They have also as some of them have told me a peculiar Book which they keep very close to themselves wherein is briefly Written what shall happen to them every year whether it be good or bad This beginneth in the same Year with their Prophet Mahomet and continueth for 1000 Year when this is at an End they have nothing more of that Nature worth any thing And being they go no further some will deduce or conclude from thence that their Reign will soon have an end when those years are passed Wherefore they fear the Christians very much and confess themselves that they expect to suffer a great blow from the Christians And this one may see or conclude from hence for on their Holidays in the Morning about 9 of the Clock they shut up the Gates of their Towns great Champs and other publick Habitations as I found at Aleppo so that many times I could not get either out or in until they opened them again for they fear at that time to be Assassinated by the Christians Being then that their Term of Years is near expired for when I lived in these Places in the year 1575. they Writ 982 of this same Term so that there was not quite 18 Years more to come Now if we compare these 1000 Years with those whereof John the Evangelist and Apostle maketh mention in the 20th Chapt. and 7th Verse of his Revelation saying When the 1000 Years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his Prison And shall go out to deceive theÌ„ Nations which are in the Four Quarters of the Earth Gog and Magog to gather them together to Battle as also is written in this same Book of Revelation in the 9th Chapter and by the Holy Prophet Ezekiel in his 38th and 39th Chapters the Number of whom is as the Sand of the Sea c. We find not only that they may also be interpreted and applied to the Turks and their Adherents but also that they have begun their Reign almost at the same time when Mahomet and the Antichrist should appear about the year 666 as we Read in the 13th Chapter and the last Verse of St. John in his Revelation And besides it looketh in these miserable times when it seems as if every thing would turn topsie turvy that these Years are passed and that Satan is loosed as if our dear Lord God would make an End of this malicious World Add that some Learned Mathematicians do Prognosticate that at these times but chiefly in the year 1588. great Alterations will be in all the parts of the World When we add to this Date the 42 Months or 1260 days or the 3½ years whereof the Prophet Daniel and also the Holy Evangelist and Apostle John in his Revelation make mention the Eighteen Years that are still wanting of the 1000 Years of their Mahomet as is above said will be compleated so that these two years Numbers do very well again agree together God the Almighty preserve us in all Adversities that we may persevere in the acknowledged Truth of his Holy Gospel and send us Penitent Hearts that we may be sensible of his merciful Visitations and also overcome the two last Wees that are not quite over with Patience Amen CHAP. VII Of Mount Bethzetha and the two Houses of Pilat and Herod FRom the Temple Mount towards the North you come presently towards the House of Judicature where Pontius Pilat did Live and condemn Innocent Lord Christ to that Heinous Death of the Cross But because the House hath been since surrounded with â—igh Walls we saw in the Court where the Soldiers 〈◊〉 cloath ouâ— Lord Christ with the Purple Cloke and 〈◊〉 â—pon his Head the Crown of Thorns and afterwards did spit upon him and Mock Beat and Whip him nothing Remarkable but only without a very Old and High Arch like unto an Arched Bridge This is almost black with Age and so Artificially Erected that one can hardly find any juncture where the Stones are put together This was the High Place as it is said before the Judgment Hall whereon the Condemned Men use to be exposed to the sight of the People because the Jews durst not go into the House of Judicature at their High Feasts as Easter and Whitsunday as you may Read in the 18th Chap. of St. John that they might not make themselves Unclean but Eat of the Paschal Lamb Wherefore Pilat did several times go out to the People to shew them our Lord Christ and sit down in the Judgment Seat in a place that is called the Pavement but in the Hebrew Gabbatha as you Read in the 19th Chap. of St. John Vers 13. This Arch is open at the Top in the Middle and hath two other small Arches about the widness of an ordinary door one by the other supported by a Marble Column in one of them
them all the Holy Places and keep them so long until they have seen every thing to their satisfaction and are willing to depart They are but very meanly Clothed like unto Poor Mendicants they live very privately and keep their concerns very close because of the Arabian Horse-men or Beduins that fall upon them daily and Ravage these Countries continually wherefore they are in great danger When they come you must at least give them Meat and Drink if not other Booty as I saw my own self at Bethlehem when I first arrived there that twelve Horse-men with Guns Arrows and Darts very well Armed came to the Gates of the Temple and they were forced to satisfie them before they would leave them and to give them good words besides So that they are not only sufficiently plagued by them but also by the Sangiachs and Cadis the Turkish Magistrates at Jerusalem who have continually their Eyes over them that are well to pass for Covetousness is so great with them that if they can but hear of one that hath Money they study Night and Day how if possible they can they may right or wrong make him punishable So they lately accused the Eastern Christians falsely and punished them in some hundred Ducats whereat the Bassaw of Damascus under whose Command Jerusalem is did wink in hopes to have a great snack out of it CHAP. XX. Of the Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem the Order of the Johannites HAving made mention of these I remember still an other Order that is The Johannites or Knights Templars of Jerusalem which did first begin in the Reign of Baldewin de Burgo the second of that Name and the third King of Jerusalem This Order is more Secular than Divine and therefore quite differing from all the rest for they need not to say Mass nor perform any other Devotion but when they have heard Mass and said so many Pater-Nosters and Ave-Maries they have sufficiently discharged their Office This Order was first Invented by His Holiness the Pope to that end and indued with many Priviledges that they might resist and oppose the Turks and that all Infidels and Hereticks might by them and their Adherents by force of Arms be driven and routed out of the Roman Empire And that he might promote this design of his more earnestly he took in those chiefly that were well Born and had great Revenues as Princes Counts and other Noblemen So it hath often happened formerly chiefly when Popery was in a flourishing condition that along with the Pilgrims that had a mind to see the Holy Places and to go to the Land of Promise many Persons of Quality came moved thereunto out of great Zeal together with them to see them also and to take upon them the Order of that Knighthood in the Sepulchre of our Lord Christ as the proper place for that purpose And besides that other considerations there were which moved them to it viz. The high Title and the Authority of the Place and great Priviledges whereby they hoped to be still preferred to greater Dignities Now as every one of them had laid before them to consider these Points and Articles which every one must promise and take an Oath to keep them strictly some great and potent Men found it so severe and hard as you may see by that that followeth that they were not only astonished at it but refused openly to take it upon them But what is laid before them that are made Knights and also what Ceremonies are used in it I thought convenient to mention here briefly If there be one or more of them ready for it that have at the instance of the Guardian according to the Ancient Custom been at Confession and also received the Sacrament sub una Specie under one Species on Mount Calvaria they are with great Ceremonies conducted from thence into the holy Sepulchre whither are also conveyed some other things that belong thereunto viz. A fine Book a Sword richly tipped with Gold with a red Velvet Girdle a Chain weighing about a hundred Hungarian Ducats whereon hangeth a Golden Cross of this Form and Shape a pair of Spurs with red Velvet Straps which are laid down one by another upon the Altar of the Sepulchre As soon as the Gentleman cometh into it they begin immedidiately to say Mass and after that they Sing without some Latin Psalms In the mean while the Gentleman lyeth down upon his Knees in the Sepulchre before the Guardian until the Friers have done Singing Then the Guardian bids all that stand about to say Our Father and an Ave-Mary on behalf of the Gentleman that is to be Knighted When this is done he admonisheth the Gentleman before he taketh the Oath to consider upon what condition he is admitted there When this is done he bids the standers by Pray for him once more and then admonisheth the Gentleman again and telleth him also That hereafter he must be in all things subject and obedient to the Roman Church That he must fight and resist the Turks and Lutherans as Enemies and Hereticks so long as his Blood and Heart is warm Then the Guardian asketh him further whether he doth receive all these Points as they are written word by word in that Book and ordered by his Holiness the Pope and subscribed by his own Hand and whether he will Swear by the holy Sepulchre to keep them Whereupon he consents to it presently and promiseth with great eagerness and joy to keep it with all his Heart and thanketh God that he hath made him worthy of this Blessing and for having made him capable of it After this the Monks begin again a long Song and then the Guardian taketh up the three Pieces the Chain Sword and Spurs and puts them on upon him and so adorneth him as beginning Knight At last he taketh also the Book and puts it before him and telleth him once more what he is about and what he is going to Swear When he hath understood it he kneeleth down again and puts out his two Fingers which the Guardian puts upon the red Cross in the Book and readeth to him the Oath the Contents whereof are these First That upon his Conscience he do Swear there to these following Words Not with a false Heart but that he doth confess out of Zeal with great eagerness and with a clean Heart and also Swear by Gods Omnipotence the See of Rome and his Holiness the Pope that he is a good Catholick Educated in that Religion from his Infancy to that present hour and that he never will go from it so long as he liveth but will always Defend and Protect the Roman Church against the Lutheran and their Adherents with Words and Deeds so long as his Heart is warm and that he will never be in a place where any evil is taught or spoke of his Holiness the Pope Secondly That he doth Swear by Gods Omnipotence and the Pope at Rome and the Cross
strange Origanum Tragoriganum Roman Mother of Time Spicanardi and a peculiar sort of Coniza c. At the foot of the Mount they shew us first a great Church between the Rivolet Cedron and the Valley of Josaphat which was so covered with Earth that you could see nothing of it but the Entry and before it without a large place three steps deep This Church was built by Helena Mother of Constantine the Emperor and called the Sepulchre of our Lady the Mother of God to go into it you must go down 44 steps Within it toward the right there is a small Chapel where they say our Lady was Buried and therefore by the Benevolence of the Pope there is distributed and given to the Pilgrims full forgiveness of all Transgressions and Punishments for ever Some are of Opinion That this Church did formerly stand even with the Ground and that after the Devastation of Jerusalem when part of the Valley of Josaphat was filled up it was covered thus over This Church stands as Nicephorus saith in his 8th Book and the 30th Chapter on that place where the Village Gethsemane stood whereby the Garden was whither our dear Lord Christ did just before his Passion go with his Eleven Disciples after he had Eaten the Paschal Lamb with them and given Thanks according to his usual Custom over the Rivolet of Cedron to regain us that which was formerly lost by our Ancestors in the Garden There he left his Eight Disciples while he went to Pray as the Scripture telleth us when he took with him Peter James and John the two Sons of Zebedeus and began to mourn to quake and to tremble and said to them My soul is sorrowful unto death stay here watch with me and pray that you enter not into temptation and he withdrew from them about a Stones cast where he kneeled down fell three times on his face and prayed to his Heavenly Father where he wrestled with Death and Sweat a bloody Sweat so that an Angel must come down from Heaven at last to Comfort him This place is underneath a great Rock that hangeth over a great Cave just at the Entry of the Valley of Josaphat This Valley is still where it cometh down from the Mount of Olives pretty deep and is called by the holy Prophet Joel the Valley of Judgment as you may read in his 3d Chapter 14 Verse which words of Joel give us to understand that the Lord as he was when he came first upon Earth in this Valley taken Prisoner Bound and carried away to the place of his bitter Suffering Crucifixion and Dying so he shall in his second and glorious coming appear in this Valley of Judgment again to Judge all people of the whole Earth c. that then the Impious shall see whom they have pierced Zacharias speaks also of it in the above-mentioned place As you go from thence to the Mount of Olives you see below towards your left hand near unto the Bridge of the River Cedron an old square Building like unto a Steeple This altho it is believed to this day not only by Christians but also by the Turks and Moors to be the Grave of Absalom as you shall see them fling Stones into it as they go by to revenge his Undutifulness shewn to his Father King David yet notwithstanding he was not Buried there as we read in the 2d Book of Samuel the 18th Chapter Vers 17. And they took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the wood and laid a very great heap of stones upon him Yet for all this when Absalom was alive as you may farther read in the before-mention'd Chapter he erected a Column in the Kings Dale for he said I have no Son therefore this shall be for a remembrance of my Name and called this Pillar after his Name and it is still called to this day Absaloms Place Of this Pillar writes also Josephus in the 7th Book of his Antiquities and the 10th Chapter saying And Absalom did erect a Kingly Column of Marble in the Valley Genes chap. 14. it is called the Kings Valley that is two Furlongs from Jerusalem Just by this Pillar beginneth a very steep Foot-Path which parts a little above it into two one whereof goeth Southward at the bottom of the Mount of Olives towards Bethania and Jericho c. down through the Valley that is made by this and the other part of the Hill called Mashit in the 4th of the Kings Chap. 23. but the other goeth over the height of the Mount of Olives out by Bethania to the House of Mary and Martha A little higher on this Hill did our Saviour sit over against the Temple when he foretold his Disciples that shewed him the glorious Buildings thereof That not one Stone should remain upon another that should not be thrown down And did also tell them at length the terrible and prodigious Signs that should come to pass before the Desolation of Jerusalem and the end of the World To this day we still see into the Turkish Mosque with its large Paved Court-yard over the Walls thereof so perfectly that you may distinguish almost the Persons that walk there From thence when you go up to the Hill which is very steep and rough there is a large Plain from whence our dear Lord Jesus Christ was taken up and ascended into Heaven as you may see by the words of the Holy Evangelist St. Luke in his first Chapter of the Acts Verse 9. where he saith And he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight And Verse 12. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath-days journey On this place as Nicephorus mentioneth did Queen Helena also afterward Build a stately Church which now is so decayed that there is no more to be seen of it but a New built Chapel in a large Yard surrounded with a Wall Just by it on a Hill of the Mount towards the North and Galilea there is an old decayed Building which was formerly as my Guide informed me an Inn for the Galileans where commonly did take up those that went to Jerusalem from Galilea Wherefore they are of opinion that some of them were there in the time of Christ that also were Spectators of his Glorious Ascension as it doth appear by the Words of the two Angels that spoke to them and said You men of Galilea why stand you here gazing up into Heaven c. But if you duly consider these words you will find as you read it in the Second Chapter of the Acts Verse 7. that the Apostles themselves were these Galileans where it is written Behold are not all those which speak Galileans and how hear we every man in our own tongue c. So did also the holy Angels speak to the Apostles after the same manner and called them Galileans rather to bring them as Elders of the Christian Church off their worldly thoughts
Cross of Christ this we did soon leave and went over a small height through the Gate of Hebron again into Jerusalem and made our selves ready to return the next day again to Joppe towards our Ship And so we rewarded the Father Guardian their Interpreter and others that had conducted us for their Faithfulness and Services done us according to our Ability to their full content and satisfaction wherefore the Father Guardian did freely give to each of us a Certificate under his usual Seal that we had seen all the holy places which were named in it This done we went away and came the next day to Rama towards Joppe By the way I found some Lentiscus's from whence the Mastich cometh Arbutus Ilex and a strange sort of Willows by the Inhabitants called Sassaf but by Theophrastus Elaeagnus some Olive-Trees Palm-Trees White Mulberry-Trees Sumach-Trees and Styrax from which cometh a fweet smelling Gum called by the same Name that is brought from thence into our Country Spartium Lycium which is a strange Shrub and the Juice thereof retaineth the same Name and is found sometimes in our Apothecaries Shops the King and Prophet David maketh mention thereof under the Hebrew Name Hadhadd by which also the Arabians call it their Speech running much upon the Hebrew Hereabout grow also very many Fruits called Siliquae by the Latines and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Greeks but by the Inhabitants Charnubi whereof many are brought out to us and are very well known by the Name of St. John's Bread These are so common in these Countries that they esteem them less than we do the worst Fruit we have wherefore they give them to the Cattle to eat Wherefore it is probable that the prodigal Son desired to fill his Belly with these Fruits which as it appeareth by the Greek Text the Hogs did eat and yet could not have enough of them to satisfie his Hunger Besides these I found also by the way many Turpentine-Trees by the Inhabitants called Botin and Albotin which are very common in France chiefly about Montpelier they have small green Kernels that are of a reddish Colour and hollow within and are oftentimes basely sold and used by the Apothecaries for the true Carpabalsamum for these and others above-mentioned as we read in the Eighth Chapter of Nehem. the Israelites did take Bows and made themselves Tents of them to live in during their great Feast of Tabernacles I saw also chiefly between Rama and Joppa some white Barbery Trees which I took first for Paliurus the third kind of Rhamnus unto which they are very like except the Fruits whereby I did discern them first and besides they are much higher and their Branches covered with a white Bark Now although they are not to be taken for the same yet they are very like unto the second Paliurus whereof Theoprastus maketh mention in the Fourth Chapter and the Fourth Verse Among the Corn I did find a strange Origanum Serpillum Smilax aspera Triones of Theophrastus whereof I have made mention above After we had made our selves quite ready to sail for Tripolis whither we had about Forty German Miles we went aboard the Ship and set Sail with a fair Wind. But this did not last long for as soon as we were out at Sea there arose one that was so contrary to us that we hardly reached the Confines of Tirus and Sidon the Fourth Day where we arrived in our former Voyage at night as I have said before I saw nothing of any Buildings on the Shoar but some small Houses in the place where formerly the Town Sarepta did stand which as you may read in the Fourth Chapter of St. Luke and in the Third Book of Kings Chap. 17. was situated near unto Sidon or as Josephus writes in his Eighth Book of the Jewish Antiquities Chap. 13. between Tyrus and Sidon in the Country of Phaenicia wherein the holy Prophet Elias during the great scarcity did live a great while with a Widow and did restore her dead Son to life again Departing thence the night befel us before we gat over against Sidon but we went so near the Town that we could see the Houses and some Rocks butting upon them by Moon-light From thence the nearer we came to Tripolis the more the wind was for us so that we arrived there on the First of October in the year 1575 in very good health and condition Wherefore I give eternal Thanks Glory and Praise unto the Almighty God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Amen CHAP. XXIII How I took ship at Tripolis in Syria and sailed back from thence to Venice and travelled home again to my own Relations at Augspurg AT my Arrival at Tripolis when I hoped that something might have been done for the Good of Hans Vlrich Krafft whom I left in Prison behind as is above-mentioned towards his Deliverance that we seeing we came out together might have remained together a while longer and have ended our Journey to our content I found there was not only nothing done to the purpose but his Cause came to be worse and worse so that it was even or odd whether I should not have been cast into Prison also and beaten severely to boot When thus he was detained in Prison I received a Letter and Command as well from his Adversary as from my own Friends desiring me to take the Cause in hand earnestly to bring them both to an Accommodation and that if I would do so I should do him greater service than if I should stay a whole year longer at Tripoli expecting his Deliverance Now although many means were used after my Departure for his Liberty yet they proved all fruitless unsuccessful and vain so that he was forced to spend three intire years miserably in this severe Turkish Imprisonment untill at length he was miraculously delivered Wherefore I got every thing ready for my Departure and went aboard the Ship called the St. Matthew on the Day of St. Leonhard being the Sixth Day of November in the year 75 having first taken my leave of the above-mentioned my dear Friend Hans Vlrich Krafft whom I loved as my own Brother and the next day we put out having a very good wind So our Navigation proceeded in the beginning very successfully and we discovered on the Third Day early the great Island of Cyprus But when we approached unto it a Hurricane arose suddenly and blew so fiercely upon us that it wound our great Sail round about our main Mast so that it was a wonder to me that it did not bring it by the Board or as it would if the Seamen had not struck it down immediately turn the Ship over and sink her These Winds arise from a Wind that is called by the Greeks Typhon and Pliny calleth it Vertex and Vortex but as dangerous as they are as they arise suddenly so quickly they are laid again also The Seamen pretend that one shall
its quarter in the Heavens And the Roof is made of little Planks of Marble broad at bottom and which meet all in a point at top and make an obtuse Pyramid of some 32 or 36 sides There is a delicate Temple of the Conique Order in the Castle whether of Pandrosos or whom I cannot tell but the Work was most fine and all the Ornaments most accurately engraven The Length of this Temple was 67 Feet The Breadth 38 Feet These Pillars which remain of a Portico of the Emperor Adrian are very stately and noble They are of the Corinthian Order and above 52 feet in height and 19½ in circumference They are canellate and there are now standing seventeen of them with part of their Cornice on the top The Building to which they belonged I measur'd the Area of as near as I could conjecture and found it near a thousand feet in length and about six hundred and eighty in breadth Without the Town the Bridge over the Elissus hath three Arches of solid Stone-work the middlemost is near 20 feet broad There is the stadium yet to be seen whose length I measured and found it 630 feet near to what the precise measure of a stadium ought to be viz. 625. Towards the Southern Wall of the Castle there are the Remains of the Theatre of Bacchus with the Portico of Eumenes which is near it the semi-diameter which is the right Sine of the demi-circle which makes the Theatre is about 150 feet the whole Body of the Scene 256. Monsieur de la Guilliotiere in that Book he hath written of Athens hath made a Cut of a Theatre which he calls that of Bacchus which is a meer fancy and invention of his own nothing like the Natural one which by the Plan he has drawn of the Town I judge he did not know I give you this one hint that you may not be deceived by that Book which is wide from truth as will appear to any body who sees the reality though to one who hath not seen it it seems plausibly written I have dwelt long on Athens but yet have said nothing This town alone deserves a whole Book to discourse of it well which now I have neither time nor room to do but I have Memorials by me of all I saw which one day if it please God I may shew you Thebes is a large Town but I found few Antiquities in it excepting some Inscriptions and Fragments of the Old Wall and one Gate which they say was left by Alexander when he demolish'd the rest It is about some fifty miles distant from Athens as I judge Corinth is two days Journey distant the Castle or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is standing which is very large The main of the Town is demolish'd and the Houses which now are scatter'd and a great distance from one another So is Argos which to go round would be some four or five miles as the Houses now stand but if they stood together they would scarce exceed a good Village Napolo della Rumilia is a large town and full of Inhabitants and the Basâ—a of the Morea resides there It is but very few leagues distant from Argos Sparta is quite forsaken and Mestra is the Town which is inhabited four miles distant from it But one sees great Ruines thereabout almost all the Walls several Towers and Foundations of Temples with Pillars and Chapiters demolish'd A Theatre pretty entire It might have been anciently some five miles in compass and about a quarter of a mile distant from the River Eurotus The Plain of Sparta and of Laconia is very fruitful and long and well watered It will be about eighty miles in length as I judge The Mountains on the West side of it very high the highest I have yet seen in Greece the Maniotes inhabit them But the Plain of Calamatta which anciently was that of Messene seems rather richer Corone is very abundant in Olives Navarrino which is esteemed the ancient Pylos hath a very strong Castle fortified by the Turks and is the best Port in all the Morea Alpheus is much the best River and the deepest and with great reason extolled by all the ancient Poets and chosen for the Seat of the Olympick Games for it 's very pleasant The Plains of Elis are very goodly and large fit to breathe Horses in and for hunting but not so fruitful as that of Argos and Messene which are all Riches The best Woods I saw in Peloponnesus are those of Achaia abounding with Pines and wild Pear the Ilex and Esculus-trees and where there runs Water with Plane-trees Arcadia is a very goodly Champain and full of Cattel but is all encompass'd with Hills which are very rough and unhewn Lepanto is very pleasantly seated on the Gulf which runs up as far as Corinth and without the Town is one of the finest Fountains I saw in Greece very rich in Veins of Water and shaded with huge Plane-trees not inferiour in any thing to the Spring of Castalia on Mount Parnassus which runs through Delphos except in this that one was chosen by the Muses and the other not and Poetical Fancies have given Immortality to the one and never mentioned the other Delphos it self is very strangely situated on a rugged Hill to which you have an ascent of some two or three leagues and yet that is not a quarter of the way to come up to the Pique of Parnassus on the side of which Hill it stands It seems very barren to the Eye but the Fruits are very good where there are any The Wines are excellent and the Plants and Simples which are found there very fragrant and of great efficacy About Lebadia and all through Baeotia the Plains are very fertile and make amends for the barrenness of the Hills which encompass them But in Winter they are apt to be overflown for that reason and to be turn'd into Lakes which renders the Baeotian Air very thick and so were their Sculls too if the Ancients may be believed concerning them though Pindar who was one that sublimated Poetry to its highest exaltation and is much fancied and imitated in our Age as he was admired in his own was born there And Amphion who was said to be so divine in his Musick that he ravish'd the very Stones had skill enough to entice them to make up the Walls of Thebes So that not every thing that is born in a dull Air is dull These Vales I found much planted with Cotton and Sesamum and Cummin of which they make great profit and a great Trade at Thebes and Lebadia I went from Thebes into the Island of Eubaea or Negropont and saw the Euripus which ebbs and flows much after the nature of our Tides only the Moon and sometimes Winds make it irregular The Channel which runs between the Town and a Castle which stands in an Island over against it is some fifty feet broad and there are three Mills on it which shew
was almost like unto the Sea so that at Night pretty late we arrived at Juppe a pleasant and well built Town belonging to the Turks and it is also divided into two Parts whereof one lieth in the middle of the River on a high Ground at the Top whereof is a Fortress so the Town is pretty well defended The other which is rather bigger lieth on the lest in Mesopotamia wherein are many fine Orchards belonging to the Houses full of high Date-Trees c. wherefore the Merchants spent half a Day there to buy Dates Almonds and Figs to carry with them into the Inns the same they did at Idt another great Town of the Turks on the Right-hand of the Euphrates situate on a high Ground where we arrived on the 20th of October at Night in very good Time and gave them instead thereof Soap-balls Knives and Paper c. After which goods they have often enquired of us and we have given them sometimes some Sheets of white Paper which they received with great Joy and returned us many thanks for them After our Merchants had sufficiently stored themselves with these Goods and our Master had pay'd the Duty for his two Ships he put off about Noon on the 21st of October and went away About the Evening we saw at this Side of the River a Mill and also the next Day another whereby were several old Walls Doors and Arches c. Whereby I conjecture that formerly there stood a Town These two Mills as I was informed were two Powder-Mills that make Gun-powder for the Turkish Emperour and send it to him in Caravans together with other Merchandizes through the Dominions of the King of Arabia wherefore he must as well as other Merchants pay Duty for that Liberty and Toll or Custom The Gun-powder is not made from Salt-Peter as ours is but out of another Juice which they take from a Tree that is reckon'd to be a kind of Willow known to the Persians by the Name of Fer and to the Arabians by Garb as I have mentioned above Besides this they take the small Twigs of these Trees together with the Leaves and burn them to Powder which they put into Water to separate the Salt from it and so make Gun-powder thereof yet this is nothing near so strong as ours Pliny chiefly testifieth this in his 31st Book and 10th Chapter where he saith that in former Days they have made Niter of Oak-Trees which certainly he hath taken these to be for they are pretty like Oaks but that it hath been given over long before now Which is very probable chiefly because the Consumption thereof was not so great before they found out Guns as it is now since they have been found out Further on the Water-side on the high Banks I saw an innumerable many Coloquints grow and hang down which at a distance I could not well know until they called them by their ancient Arabick Name Handbel whereby they still to this Day are known to the Inhabitants After we had navigated a great way several Days one after another through even Grounds and in a good Road we arrived at length on the 24th Day of October at Night near to Felugo or Elugo a little Village called so and with it the whole Province CHAP. VII Of Old Babylon the Metropolis of Chaldee and its Situation and how it is still to this Day after its terrible Desolation to be seen with the Tower or Turret and the old ruined Walls lying in the Dust THE Village Elugo lyeth on the place where formerly Old Babylon the Metropolis of Chaldee did stand the Harbour lyeth a quarter of a League off whereinto those use to go that intend to travel by Land to the Famous trading City of Bagdet which is situated further to the East on the River Tigris at a Day and a half 's distance At this Harbour is the place where the Old Town of Babylon did stand but at this time there is not a House to be seen whereinto we could go with our Goods and stay till our departure We were also forced to unload our Merchandises into an open Place as if we had been in the midst of the Desarts and to pay Toll under the open Sky which belongeth to the Turks This Country is so dry and barren that it cannot be tilled and so bare that I should have doubted very much whether this Potent and Powerful City which once was the most Stately and Famous one of the World situated in the pleasant and fruitful Country of Sinar did stand there if I should not have known it by its Situation and several ancient and Delicate Antiquities that still are standing hereabout in great Desolation First by the Old Bridge which was laid over the Euphrates which also is called Sud by the Prophet Baruch in his first Chapter whereof there are some Pieces and Arches still remaining and to be seen at this very Day a little above where we landed These Arches are built of burnt Brick and so strong that it is admirable and that so much the more because all along the River as we came from Bi r where the River is a great deal smaller we saw never a Bridge wherefore I say it is admirable which way they could build a Bridge here where the River is at least half a League broad and very deep besides Near the Bridge are several heaps of Babylonian Pitch to pitch Ships withal which is in some places grown so hard that you may walk over it but in others that which hath been lately brought thither is so soft that you may see every step you make in it Something farther just before the Village Elugo is the Hill whereon the Castle did stand in a Plain whereon you may still see some Ruines of the Fortification which is quite demolished and uninhabited behind it pretty near to it did stand the Tower of Babylon which the Children of Noah who first inhabited these Countries after the Deluge began to build up unto Heaven this we see still and it is half a League in Diameter but it is so mightily ruined and low and so full of Vermin that have bored holes through it that one may not come near it within half a Mile but only in two Months in the Winter when they come not out of their holes Among these Insects there are chiefly some in the Persian Language called Eglo by the Inhabitants that are very poysonous they are as others told me bigger than our Lizards and have three Heads and on their Back several Spots of several Colours which have not only taken Possession of the Tower but also of the Castle which is not very high and the Spring-well that is just underneath it so that they cannot live upon the Hill nor dare not drink of the Water which is wholesome for the Lambs This is Romance From this Tower at two Leagues distance Eastward lieth the strong Town Traxt which was formerly called Apamia mentioned
by Pliny in Book VI. 26 and 27 Chap. between the Tigris and Euphrates those two great Rivers of Paradise whereof is made mention in the Second Chapter of Genesis which two Rivers not far below it meet together and are there united The Town Traxt is surrounded with Ditches and very well defended by two strong Citadels that lie on each side thereof so that it is as it were a Key and Door-way into the Kingdom of Persia to which it doth also belong as others not far from thence viz Orthox Laigen which lie on the Road toward Media and also Goa which lieth a League and a half at the other side of the Tigris and Axt two Leagues further still in the way to Persia The next Day the 25th of October we spent in bespeaking of Camels and Asses to load our Goods upon and after we were quite ready we broke up the Day following early in the Morning with the whole Caravan to travel to Bagdet In the beginning the ways were very rough of the Stones and Ruines that lie still from thence dispersed But after we were passed the Castle and also the Town of Daniel the dry Desarts began again where nothing was to be seen but Thorns neither Men nor Beasts neither Caves nor Tents so that a Man that knoweth the ways never so well hath enough to do to find them through it which I did often observe in our Guide or Caliphi who did several times because there was neither way nor mark neither of Men nor Beasts to be found very much doubt which way to turn himself and so he did more than once turn sometimes towards one then toward the other side the whole Caravan By the way we saw in the Plain many large ancient high and stately Buildings Arches and Turrets standing in the Sand which is very fine and lieth close together as you find it in the Vallies here and there whereof many were decayed and lay like Ruines some to look upon were pretty entire very strong adorned with Artificial Works so that they were very well worth to have been narrowlier looked into Thus they stand solitary and desolated save only the Steeple of Daniel which is entire built of black Stones and is inhabited still unto this Day this is in height and building something like unto our Steeple of the Holy-Cross Church or of St. Maurice in Augsburg on which as it stands by it self you may see all the Ruines of the Old Babylonian Tower the Castle-Hill together with the stately Buildings and the whole Situation of the Old Town very exactly After we had travelled for Twelve Hours through desolate places very hard so that our Camels and Asses began to be tired under their heavy Burdens we rested and lodged our selves near to an ascent we and our Beasts to refresh our selves and so to stay there till Night and to break up again in the middle thereof that we might come to Bagdet before Sun rising The mean while when we were lodged there I considered and viewed this ascent and found that there was two behind one another distinguished by a Ditch and extending themselves like unto two parallel Walls a great way about and that they were open in some Places where one might go through like Gates wherefore I believe that they were the Wall of the Old Town whereof Pliny says that they were 200 Foot high and 50 broad that went about there and that the places where they were open have been anciently the Gates whereof there were a Hundred Iron ones of that Town and this the rather because I saw in some places under the Sand wherewith the two ascents were almost covered the Old Wall plainly appear So we found our selves to be just lodged without the Walls of that formerly so Famous Kingly City which now with its Magnificent and Glorious Buildings is quite desolated and lieth in the Dust so that every one that passeth through it in regard of them hath great reason to admire with astonishment when he considers that this which hath been so Glorious an one and in which the Greatest Monarchs and Kings that ever were Nimrod Belus and after him King Merodach and his Posterity to Balthasar the last have had their Seats and Habitations is now reduced to such a Desolation and Wilderness that the very Shepherds cannot abide to fix their Tents there to inhabit it So that here is a most terrible Example to all impious and haughty Tyrants shewn in Babylon which may be sure that if they do not give over in time and leave their Tyranny ceasing to persecute the Innocents with War Sword Prison and all other cruel and inhumane Plagues as these did the People of God the Israelites that God the Almighty will also come upon them and for their Transgressions punish them in his Anger for God is a jealous God that at long run will not endure the Pride of Tyrants nor leave unpunished the Potentates that afflict his People wherefore be sure he will also in them verifie the Prophecies which he hath uttered by the Prophet Isaiah in his 12th Chapter and Jeremiah in the 51st against those insolent and haughty Babylonians As I passed by I found some Thorns growing in the Sand viz. the Acacia called Agul whereon chiefly in Persia the Manna falls whereof I have made mention before above all I found in great Plenty some strange kinds of Cali of Serap of Coloquints and when Evening fell in and the Night did approach our Mockeries that drove the Asses made themselves ready again for our Journey which kept every thing together in good Order and were so quick in loading and unloading that they were ready in less than a quarter of an Hour By the way I saw again several Antiquities but the Night falling in I lost them so we went on a-pace in darkness so that we did arrive at Bagdet by some called Baldac two Hours before Day In the Morning which was the 27th of October I and one of my Comrades took our Lodging at an Eminent Merchant's House that belonged to Aleppo and was lately come from the Indies he received us kindly and very readily and kept us for four Days when we took a Shop in the great Camp of the Turkish Bashaw in the other Town on the other side of the Tigris which we went into CHAP. VIII Of the Famous City of Bagdet called Baldac of its Situation strange Plants great Traffick and Merchants of several Nations that live there together with several other things I saw and did learn at my departing THE Town Bagdet belonging to the Turkish Emperour is situated on the most Easterly part of his Dominions on the rapid River Tigris and the Confines of Persia in a large Plain almost like unto Basle on the Rhine it is divided into Two Parts which are rather bigger than Basle but nothing near so pleasant nor so well built for the Streets thereof are pretty narrow and many Houses so miserably built