have been and not without cause esteemed as mad-men in foretelling things which they could not know and much less bring to pass And therefore I have heard a great Master in and a publick Professor of Astronomy who could see as far into Constellations and observe as much from them as any other often say that he would go by the very self same rules that others did to predict things to come and would write that which was quite contrary to what they observed yet what he wrote should as often fall to be as true as what they foretold Yet notwithstanding the truth of these premises the great Mogol puts so much confidence in his Astrologers that he will not undertake a journey nor yet resolve to do any thing besides of the least consequence unless his Wizards tell him it is a good and a prosperous hour to begin and set upon such an undertaking and at the very instant he hath his directions from them he sets upon the thing he undertakes and not before SECTION XIII Of their Physitians Diseases Cures When they begin their year How they measure their time c. HEre are those which pretend unto much skill in Physick though for ought I could ever there observe the people make but little use of them they fearing more Medicum quam Morbum and therefore do believe the Physitian to be the more dangerous disease The common Diseases of that Countrey are Bloody-Fluxes with others that come not to blood Hot-Fevers Calentures which seize on and fire the head and brain more than other parts These many times put our men at Sea into very high distempers especially while they are under the Torrid Zone which makes the poor creatures visited with them sometimes to conceit the spacious Sea and Waves therein to be great Fields full of Haycocks and if they were not sometimes happily prevented would leap over-board to tumble in them For ordinary Agues such as are so common among us and for those two torments rather than diseases when they are felt in extremity the Gout and the Stone they have the happiness to be ignorant of them But sometimes they are visited with an inflammation or an extreme Burning such as is spoken of Deut. 28.22 or rather with a most grievous Pestilence which on a sudden sweeps away many thousands when it comes into great populous Cities This Pestilence makes the bodies of Men there which are visited with it like an House which on a sudden is covered all over with fire at once The City Amadavar at our being there with the King was visited with this Pestilence in the moneth of May and our Family was not exempted from that most uncomfortable visitation for within the space of nine dayes seven persons that were English of our Family were taken away by it and none of those which dyed lay sick above twenty hours and the major part well and sick and dead in twelve hours As our Surgeon who was there all the Physician we had and he led the way falling sick at mid-day and the following mid-night dead And there were three more that followed him one immediately after the other who made as much haste to the Grave as he had done and the rest went after them within that space of time I named before And as before I observed all those that dyed in our Family of this Pestilence had their Bodies set all on fire by it so soon as they were first visited and when they were dying and dead broad spots of a black and blew colour appeared on their Breasts and their flesh was made so extreme hot by their most high distemper that we who survived could scarce endure to keep our hands upon it It was a most sad time a fiery Tryal indeed But such is the goodness of Almighty God that he makes the miseries of Men here Aut tolerabiles aut breves either sufferable or short so that if the thing imposed be extreme heavy to be born it continues not long as this most grievous visitation most violent for the time like a mighty storm and then blown away For here the mercy of God suddenly stept in betwixt the living and the dead so that not onely in our Family but also in that great City the Plague was stayed All our Family my Lord Ambassadour onely excepted were visited with this sickness and we all who through Gods help and goodness out-lived it had many great blisters fill'd with a thick yellow watery substance that arose upon many parts of our bodies which when they brake did even burn and corrode our skins as it ran down upon them For my part I had a Calenture before at Mandoa which brought me even into the very Jaws of Death from whence it pleased God then to rescue and deliver me which amongst thousands and millions of mercies more received from him hath and shall for ever give me cause to speak good of his Name There are very few English which come thither but have some violent sickness which if they escape and live temperately they usually enjoy very much health afterward But Death made many breaches unto my Lord Ambassador's Family for of four and twenty Waiters besides his Secretary and my self there was not above the fourth Man returned home And he himself by violent Fluxes was twice brought even to the very brink of the Grave The Natives of East-India in all their violent hot diseases make very little use of Physicians unless it be to breathe a Vein sometimes after which they use much fasting as their most hopeful remedy The foul Disease is too common in those hot Climates where the people that have it are much more affected with the trouble it brings than with the sin or shame thereof The people in East-India live up to our greatest Ages but without all question they have more old people than we a thing not to be wondered at if we consider the great Temperance of that people in general in their eating and drinking But to proceed The Hindooes or Heathens there begin their year the first day of March The Mahometans begin theirs the tenth at the very instant as the Astrologers there ghess that the Sun enters into Aries their year as ours is divided into twelve Moneths or rather into thirteen Moons for according to them they make many payments They distinguish their time in a much different manner from us dividing the day into four and the night into as many parts which they call Pores which again they subdivide each of them into eight parts which they call Grees measured according to the ancient custom by water dropping out of one vessel into another by which there alwayes stands a Man appointed for that service to turn that vessel up again when it is all dropped out and then to strike with an hammer upon the brim of a concave piece of Metal like the inner part of a large Platter hanging by the brim on a wire the number of those
Naieka therewith who being still so afflicted for the death of his Wife that he went not forth in publick nor suffer'd himself to be seen when they tâ—ld him of this matter he stood a while without answering and at length said onely that they might come when they please Whereupon his Courtiers seeing him in this mood would not reply further to him concerning provisions of the journey to be sent to the Ambassador persons to convey his Goods and other such things wherefore Vitulà Sinay said that Sig Gio Fernandez might consider what to do whether to put himself upon the way towards the Court without further waiting or to have him write again and stay for an Answer for he would do which he pleas'd Sig Gio Fernandez as well for the credit of his Embassie as to avoid charges was desirous to have provisions for the journey Men to carry his Goods and other greater conveniences although in publick and with us of his company he did not testifie so much being willing to have it thought that Vitulà Sinay did this Office for him at the Court upon his own motion and not at his request yet I know that in secret he us'd great instance with Vitulà Sinay both by Writing and by Speech by the mediation of an Interpreter that he would write again to the Court and set forth to Venk-tapà how that he was the Ambassador of so great a King the first Monarch of Christians for so I heard him tell the Interpreter though he spoke with a low voice and that it was not seemly for him to go in that manner but that people should be sent to him for his journey and persons to receive him and commands given to Venk-tapà 's Ministers that he might pass through his Territories with that conveniency and decency which was requisite that since he was now within two or three days journey of the Court he would stay another week at Onòr and longer if need were till a better Answer came and that if he thought it expedient Vitulà Sinai himself might go before to do this Office as he that might do it best and who ought to arrive at the Court before him the Ambassador who afterwards might come thither alone by easie journeys after he had sent him an Answer The same night the Interpreter return'd with this message to Vitulà Sinay who was lodg'd on the other side of the River in his own King's jurisdiction October the nine and twentieth After we had heard Mass in Saint Antonie's Aegypt Sig Gio Fernandez was minded to go in person to visit Vitulà Sinay and speak to him about the above-mention'd matter wherefore entring with us into one of those boats which they call Mancive going with twenty or four and twenty Oars onely differing from the Almadies in that the Mancive have a large cover'd room in the poop sever'd from the banks of rowers and are greater then the Almadies which have no such room we pass'd out of the Port and thence from the mouth of the River Southward went to land upon the continent where Vitulà Sinay having been advertis'd of our coming expected us under the shade of certain little Hills and Trees of which all this Country is full This was the first time that I set foot in any place of the Gentiles where they bear sway themselves Sig Gio Fernandez spoke a long while and alone with Vitulà Sinay both of them sitting upon a Carpet spread upon the grass and at length the discourse being ended the Ambassador took boat again and return'd to Onòr Upon the way he told us that Vitulà Sinay said that in either case of his writing again or going in person to the Court and waiting for a new Answer many dayes would be lost therefore it seem'd best to him that we should all put our selves upon the way without further waiting and that to carry his the Ambassador's Goods they had appointed ten Men according to his King's Order wherefore Sig Fernandez told us he was resolv'd to go by all means and seeing the ten men allow'd him to carry his Goods were not sufficient they alone requiring twenty five besides those of the rest of his company he would hire the rest at his own charge and rid himself of this perplexity By this change of opinion after this interview I understod that Vitulà Sinay had spoken in such sort that Sig Fernandez perceiv'd that this coldness of sending him greater accommodations for his journey was not so much through the King 's melancholy for his Wife's death and the present confusion of the Court as for some other cause and the alledging loss of time in waiting for a new Answer was but an excuse of Vitulà but in fine the truth could be no other then that they would not give him any greater Provisions or because Venk-tà pà was not well pleas'd with this Embassie c. And to confirm this I know that before Sig Fernandez departed from Goa Venk-tapà Naieka writ thither to his Ambassador Vitulà Sinay that if they sent this Embassie to urge the restitution of the State and Fortress of Banghel which he had lately taken from a certain small Indian-Prince neighbour to Mangalòr who liv'd under the Portugal's protection for whose defence two or three years before the Portugals had made warr with Venk-tapà Naieka and receiv'd a notable defeat by him it was in vain and that Sig Gio Fernandez now first known to him might forbear to undertake this journey for that he was fully resolv'd not to restore it nor yet to give seven thousand Pagods yearly to that Prince as he had promis'd upon agreement if he went not to live out of those Territories taken from him either in Goa or in Magalòr or elsewhere he pretending at least a purpose to return to live with that annuity in the lands once his own privately in hopes perhaps to raise some new commotion one day So that Venk-tapà Naieka knowing that one of the principal businesses of this Embassie was that of the Prince of Banghel which little pleas'd him and seeing also that this year the Ships from Portugal were not yet arriv'd which every year fetch Pepper out of his Dominions and bring him in a great sum of mony by agreement made by the Portugals who every year were either to take it or pay for it and neither the Ships nor the money coming this year they could not easily pay him for the Pepper this year nor yet for a great part of that of the last for which by reason of the loss of their Ships they still ow'd him And lastly observing the Portugals weakned and low so that they not onely stood in need of him but now in some sort began to submit themselves to him with this Embassie which they sent to him and the disgrace of their pass'd defeat 't was no strange thing that being become insolent thereupon as 't is the manner of the Barbarians and designing to carry it high
attain'd to and then he is call'd a spiritual Man and accounted of a nature above humane with promise of a thousand strange things which for brevities sake I pass over Thus doth the Devil abuse this miserable people As for any thing more concerning these Gioghi I refer you to what I have formerly written of them and the Samì who are another sort of Religious Indians who wear Clothes as I saw them in Bender of Combrù And of the Sciences of the Gioghi and their spiritual exercises especially of a curious way rather superstitious then natural of Divining by the breathing of a Man wherein they have indeed many curious and subtle observations which I upon tryal have found true If any would know more I refer him to the Book above mention'd which I intend to carry with me for a Rarity into Italy and if I shall find convenience I shall one day gratifie the Curious with a sight of it in a Translation On the fourth of March I went out of Cambaia to a Town two miles off call'd Hagrà to see a famous Temple built of old by the Race of the Banions and belongs to them but yet the Brachmans possess it and have care of it as if it were descended to them This Temple is dedicated to Brahmà who as I said before they hold to be the same with Pythagoras although of the origine of Bramà and how he was produc'd of the first Cause or else of the first Matter and how they take this for one of the Elements and a thousand other extravagances they tell long Fables which do not agree to Pythagoras a meer man but for all this they confound the two Names and 't is no great matter to reconcile them herein after the same manner that our ancient Gentiles agreed in their Jupiter taken sometimes for one of the Elements and sometimes historically for an ancient King one of Saturn's Sons and in divers other like names in reference to History and Philsophy they had double allegorical and mysterious significations Concerning the Genealogy of Bramà and the other fabulous Indian Gods and what belongs to their vain Theology I refer the Reader to the Books of Father Francesco Negrone or Negraore as the Portugals call him who writes fully thereof in his Chronicles of the things done by those of his Order in India written in the Portugal Language and I think he is the first and perhaps the onely Modern Writer who hath given account of this matter in Europe The said Father having been assisted therein for information by most fit and sufficient Interpreters namely the Fathers of his own Religion good Divines skill'd in the Indian Tongue and perfectly intelligent of these matters who also read and interpreted the very Books of the Indians to him and were likewise his interpreters in the discourses which he had often with the learned Indians concerning their Religion as himself frequently told me Besides which he wanted not other helps because being appointed Historiographer to his Order he was abundantly supply'd with what was needful to that Office he convers'd long in the Kingdom of Bisnaga where the Religion and Sciences of the Indians have their Principal Seat as also in the Island of Zeilan which many take to be the ancient Tabrobana and in other Countries for this very purpose He made many peregrinations expresly to see places and things conducing thereunto and was assisted by the Vice-Roys themselves and Governours of Provinces subject to the Portugals who sent him into all places accompany'd oftentimes with whole bands of Souldiers where the wayes were not secure in brief without sparing cost pains or diligence he professedly intended this business for many years together with all kind of convenience and authority Lastly he was some years since sent by his Order into Europe in Order to print his Works and in the year 1619 as I came through Persia I saw him at Sphahà n and during his short abode there by means of a Friend got a sight of his Papers but had not time to read them as I desir'd He went thence directly to Rome whither I gave him some Letters to certain Friends and Relations of mine to be civil to him there as I know they were and after some years sojourning at Rome whilst I was at Bender of Combrù I heard that he was coming from Rome towards Turkie in order to return to India where I hope to see him again and if he bring his Books printed with him I shall read them and what I find remarkable therein which may be serviceable to these writings of mine I shall make mention of the same in its proper place Father Joam de Lucena a Jesuit in his History of the Life of San Francesco Xavier written in the Portugal Tongue makes mention likewise of the Religion and Customs of the Indian-Gentiles and seems to speak thereof with good grounds although in some few particulars if I mistake not he is capable of a little correction Yet that which troubles me most is that it clearly appears by his Book that he knew much more of the Customs of the Indians then he hath written which perhaps he would not write either because they were obscene and impious or pertain'd not to his purpose I saw Father Negrone since at Goa but he brought not his Book printed either because his Fathers as some say would not have it printed or Yet he saith he hath sent it to be printed in Portugal in that Language and expects it by the next Ship if it comes I shall see it But having in Goa discours'd with him more largely then I did in Persia I find him very little vers'd in matters of ancient History and Geography as generally the Fryars of Spain and especially Portugal are not addicting themselves little to other Studies besides what serves to Preaching wherefore without good skill in ancient History Geography and other Humane Learning I know not how 't is possible to write Histories well particularly concerning the Customs of the Indians of which also he hath had no other information but by interpreters in which way I have by experience found that many errors are frequently committed Nevertheless we shall see what light may be had from Lucena's Book although it be short concerning the Religion of the Indians In the mean time returning to my purpose I shall tell you that in the Temple dedicated to Brahmà in the Town of Naghrà which is little considerable for building but in great Veneration for ancient Religion there are many Idols of white Marble The biggest is the Chief and hath the worthiest place In the middle is the Statue of Brahma or Pythagoras with many Arms and Faces as they ordinarily pourtray him namely three Faces for I could not see whether there were a fourth or more behind 't is naked with a long picked Beard but ill cut as well as the rest of the figure which for its bigness hath a very great Belly I
Colledge in Daman and to the Father Rector of their Colledge of Bassaim desiring them that since I could not imbarque at Cambaia in the Cafila of the Portugals because I was to return to Surà t where I had left my goods in the Ships they would favour me and assist me to get convenient passage for Goa in the said Cafila either at Daman or Bassaim where I intended to meet it as it return'd I on the other side gave this Father a Letter to their Fathers Resident at Agrà to whom I had written formerly from Persia desiring them to send me some correct Copy of the Persian Books written by their Fathers in that Court in order to get the same printed at Rome and by Sig Alberto Scilling I had understood that my first Letter was receiv'd there and that the said Fathers of Agrà knew me by report and the relation of divers who had seen me in Persia particularly of this Sig Alberto In this other Letter from Cambaia I acquainted them with my Voyage to Goa and desiring them to write to me there and remember to favour me with those Books Having dispatch'd the Father Jesuit we return'd to the Dutch House to have a Collation and here we were entertain'd a good while with good Musick by an Indian who sung tolerably well and play'd upon a certain odd instrument us'd in India which pleas'd me well enough because it was not so obstreperous Musick as the ordinary of the vulgar Indians but rather low and very sweet and the Musician was skilful according to the mode of the Country having liv'd at the Court of Tisapor in the service of Adilsiah His Instrument was made of two round Gourds dy'd black and vernish'd with a hole bor'd in one of them to reverberate the sound Between the one Gourd and the other about the distance of three spans was fastned a piece of wood upon which they both hung and the strings which were many partly of brass and partly of steel were extended passing over many little pieces of wood like so many bridges and these were the frets which he touch'd with the left Hand to diversify the sounds and the strings with the right not with his Fingers or Nails but with certain iron wires fastned to his Fingers by certain rings like thimbles wherewith he did not strike the strings strongly but lightly touch'd them from the top downwards so that they render'd a sound sufficiently pleasant When he play'd he held the Instrument at his breast by a string that went round his neck and one of the Gourds hung over his left shoulder and the other under his right arm so that it was a prety sight Collation and Musick ended we were conducted about two Cos out of the City by the Dutch Merchants and took the same way by which we came We pass'd over the five Cos of wet ground with the four Currents of Water of which the second was the deepest having waited a while for a fit hour in company of a numerous Cafila of Coaches Carts Horse-men and Foot-men in the same manner and circumstances as I writ before onely the Water was now much higher then we had found it at our coming so that it came into all the Coaches and we were fain to stand upright and hold fast by the roof of the Coaches bare leg'd too because the Water came above the bottom of the Coaches to the middle of the leg The Oxen and Horses could scarce keep their Heads above Water and the Coaches being light if Men hir'd purposely had not gone along in the Water to hold them steady and break the course thereof by holding great stumps of wood on that side the Tide came furiously in without doubt the Water would have swept them away In this place on the left hand towards the land in the moist ground we beheld at a distance many Fowls as big or bigger then Turkies go up and down rather running then flying They told us they were the same which the Portugals call Paxaros Flamencos from their bright colour and I think they are those of whose beaks Mir Mahhammed in Spahà n makes bow-rings for the King although he erroneously takes it for the beak of the Cocnos or Phoenix which good Authors describe not a water Fowl but rather an inhabitant of high Mountains Having at length pass'd this dangerous foard and following our way we came at night to lodge at Giambuser the same Town where we had lodg'd formerly March the eighth We put our selves upon the way again and foarded the little salt-water Dilavel and at night arriv'd at Barocci and were as formerly entertain'd in the House of the Dutch But upon the way before we enter'd the City we saw a handsome structure standing upon a famous Sepulchre of I know not well who but seems to be some great person's and is worship'd by the Moors as a sacred thing This Fabrick is pleasantly seated amongst Trees something elevated upon the side of a little Lake or Great Cistern In the chief part of it besides the principal Sepulchre which stands apart in the most worthy place are many other Sepulchres of white Marble of an oblong form with many carvings and works tolerable enough 't is likely they are the Tombs either of the Wives and Children or of the other kindred of the Principal because they seem all of the same work and time Round this greater structure stand other less with Sepulchres of Moors in them who cause themselves to be buried there out of devotion to the place whence I gather that the principal Sepulchre is not onely of some great person or Prince as it intimates but also of one that dy'd with some opinion among the Moors of Sanctity I know not who told me that it was the Sepulchre of a famous Tartarian King who came to have dominion in those parts but I credit not the Relation because I had it not from a good hand March the ninth We departed from Barocci ferrying over the River and at night lodg'd at Periab where we had quarter'd before as we went March the tenth Having gone the short way which remain'd and pass'd the River of Surat by boat we came to that City about Noon where I repair'd to the House before assign'd me by the Dutch Commendator and there found the Daughter of one of the Armenian or Syrian Merchants seen by us at Ahmedabà d who was come thither with a Brother of hers in order to be marry'd shortly to one Sig Guilielmo a Hollander to whom she had been promis'd in Marriage at Ahmedabà d and who also was in the same House which was capable of him and more I understood at Surà t that Sultan Chorròm had taken and sackt the City of Agrà except the Castle and that his Army and himself had committed very great Cruelties there in spoiling and discovering the Goods and Mony of the Citizens particularly that he had tortur'd and undecently mangled many Women of quality and
for no other cause but for that himself foolishly or rather cunningly as appear'd afterwards out of a pretended vain fear as he said when we came first to Surà t lest he should be known what he was by some of the Persians who are there in the service of the Great Moghòl and not knowing that in India there is Liberty of Conscience and that a Man may hold or change what Faith he pleases not the least trouble being given to any person touching Religion in the Dominions of the Moghòl not knowing these things I say and fearing to confess himself a Christian before any that might know him in Persia for a Moor had declar'd in the Dogana when he was examin'd thereupon that he was a Musliman which they interpret a Moor although the word properly signifies safe or saved that is of the right Faith and therefore by Christians understanding it in their own sense when considerable respects oblige them to conceal themselves perhaps is not unlawful to be assum'd Now Cacciatùr being hereupon taken for a Moor and not daring to deny it or discover himself more clearly but as I believe intending to be a Moor really and to do what afterwards he did they would not suffer that he should go along with me into the jurisdiction of Christians where they conceiv'd he would be in danger of being perverted And although innumerable Moors go daily into the neighbouring Territories of the Portugals nor are they wont to be forbidden yet my Cacciatùr I know not upon what account they prohibited very strictly I believe by his own procurement When I had read this prohibition in my Pass I sent him out of the City before-hand with order to cross the River at another place a good way off and meet me at the Sea-side where being among the English he would be out of all all danger but through the negligence of a Man of the Country whom he took to direct him either by his own will as 't is most likely because he knew not the way or else not having found Boats to pass the River elsewhere as he said he was directed to cross it at the same place near the Custom-house where we did whereupon being seen by the Officers he was seiz'd upon and they would not suffer him to come by any means I us'd much instance and try'd divers wayes alledging by a writing that he was bound to serve me longer and was to go to Goa to be paid his wages there according to agreement But all to no purpose they still answering though with great courtesie indeed that the accord was good and that Cacciatùr did not break it being for his part ready to go but that they made him stay by force as in zeal for Religon 't was reasonable for them to do that had I been going into some Territory of Moors as I was of Christians they should not have kept him from me and therefore in short I must be contented to leave him behind and pay him for his service done in Surà t otherwise they could not give a Pass to my self Perceiving there was no remedy I return'd to the Dutch-House and having consulted with the Commendator what to do I agreed with Cacciatùr who was willing not to be left at Surà t after I had threatned to cause him to be slain there in case he stay'd to turn Moor that he should shew himself desirous to stay at Surà t and in the Governour 's own House too if he pleas'd assuring him under his Hand that I had fully satisfi'd him that so my journey might not be stopt and after I was gone without him the Dutch Commendator who took this care upon him should procure his escape and send him by another way to the Sea-side where I took Boat or if he could not be sent timely enough to find me there then he should come to Daman by Land where he should certainly find me Upon this agreement we went before the Governour with the discharges of his Arrears in writing and the Governour was contented to let me go after he had narrowly examin'd whether it was true that he was pay'd by me and that his agreeing to stay in Surà t was not a fiction But we had laid all things so together that he did not discover the truth or perhaps did not care much to find it out Wherefore leaving Cacciatùr in the Governours House where he caus'd him to stay with sundry promises about night I departed the City and cross'd the River with Sebastian Luis in my company who having sent his Vessel down the River went along with me by Land On the other side of the River we waited some hours for Coaches to carry us to the Sea-side which we were fain to hire at a Town some distance off and were slow in coming But as soon as they came we got into them and travell'd the rest of the night to the Sea-side March the four and twentieth At Day-break we got to the shore side where we found the English President attended with all the Merchants of his Nations who were giving order for dispatching their Ships which were ready to set sail to Muchà or Muchà r in the Red Sea namely the two Ships the Whale and Dolphin wherewith I came into India for of the other three which I left in Bender of Kombrù they had sold the little Frigat which was in ill plight to the Persians who design'd to make use of her in the enterprize of Arabia whither they had determin'd to pass alone now the English plainly refus'd to joyn with them in the War and the other two great Ships having put in likewise at Surà t were soon after sent out again with Master Thompson who came with them from Persia it not being known in Surà t whither I was receiv'd by the President in his Tent together with my Mary Tinatìm and soon after came Cacciatùr my Servant and two Moors of Surà t by the favour of the Commendator of the Dutch but I know not whether it were with his own good liking though to us he pretended that it was After my departure the Commendator went to visit the Governour and since I was gone and as he said could not carry Cacciatùr out of Surà t he desir'd that he would give him to him to the end he might live in his House with other Friends which the Governour readily granting the same night by the help of certain persons purposely disguis'd in Indian Habit he sent him by a secure way to the Sea-side where he found me in the Tent of the English President The same Morning I went aboard the Ship call the Whale wherein I came to visit the Captain and take leave of my Friends with whom also I din'd afterwards I went aboard the Dolphin to visit not onely the Captain who was my Friend but especially my good Companion Sig Alberto Schilling who was aboard there in order to go to the Red Sea intending to pass from thence into Aethiopia to
the latter the Cane upon which they carry is strait as it is likewise in the Nets but in the Palanchini for greater ease of the person carry'd that he may have more room to carry his head upright the said Cane is crooked upward in this form ☊ and they bend Canes for this purpose when they are small and tender and these are the most convenient and honourable carriages and because there are not found many good Canes and fit to bear such a weight therefore they are sold dear at a hundred or six score Pardini a piece which amount to about sixty of our Crowns Besides as well the Palanchini as the Andòr and the Nets are cover'd for avoiding the Rain with dry Coverlets made of Palm leaves to wit those of the Indian Nut and other such Trees sufficiently handsome which being cast over the Cane hang down on each side having two windows with little shutters They keep out the water very well and the Coverlets may be taken off when one is minded to go uncover'd and carry'd by a servant Yet I never saw any go uncover'd in Goa either in Andòr or Nets but out of the City in the Country many I have spoken more at length of these Carriages because they are unknown in our Countries although I remember to have seen in Italy the Effigies of a Net or Rete engraven in certain Maps of the World and if I mistake not amongst the ways of travelling in Brasil where I believe they are us'd and indeed this mode of Carriage is very usual in India not onely in Cities but also in journeys and those of sufficient length wherefore to make experience of it I was minded to have my self carry'd this day after the manner which I have describ'd nor must I omit that the Men who bear such Carriages are satisfi'd with a very small reward Going in Palanchino in the Territories of the Portugals in India is prohibited to Men because indeed 't is a thing too effeminate nevertheless as the Portugals are very little observers of their own Laws they began at first to be tolerated upon occasion of the Rain and for favours or presents and afterwards become so common that they are us'd almost by every body throughout the whole year On the tenth of August I believe the Sun was in the Zenith of Goa returning from the Northern signes and passing to the Southern yet for the day and precise hour I refer my self to a better Calculation according to the good Books which I have not here with me On the eleventh of the same Moneth I saw at Goa a Carnero or Weather without horns which they told me was of the Race of Balagà t not great but of strong limbs harness'd with a velvet saddle crupper head-stall bridle stirrups and all the accoutrements of a Horse and it was ridden upon by a Portugal Youth of about twelve years old as he went and came from his own House to the School of Giesù which low School of Reading and Writing the said Fathers keep for more convenience of Children not at the Colledge which stands in the edge of the City where the higher Schools are but at the Church of Giesù which is the Profess'd House and stands in the middle of the City whither the abovesaid Youth rode daily upon his Martin and I observ'd that the beast being us'd to the place knew the way so well that he went alone at night from the House to the School to fetch the Youth without any body holding or guiding him before the servant which drove him as they do many Horses I took the more notice of this trifle because it seem'd a new thing to ride upon such creatures for although in our Countries Dogs and Goats are sometimes seen with saddles and Horse furniture running leaping and capring yet 't is onely for sport and with puppets upon the saddle but this Martin was ridden upon by such a boy as I have mention'd although the beast was but of a very ordinary bigness On the sevententh of August the Gentile-Indians kept a kind of Festival to which a great number of them came to a place in Goa which they call Narvè or as the vulgar corruptly speak Narvà as it were for pardon or absolution and many came in pilgrimage from far Countries to wash their bodies here plunging themselves into the Arm of the Sea Men and Women together all naked without any respect at all even persons of quality and casting Fruits Perfumes and other things into the water as it were in Oblation to the Deity of the water of this place with other Ceremonies Devotions and the like which I relate not more particularly because I was not present at them because the great Rain kept me from going to see them as it also was the cause that the concourse of the Gentiles was not very great Nevertheless I could not but speak thus much in general of it as being a considerable thing amongst them This Feast and their Devotion lasts two days but the first is most remarkable August the one and thirtieth A Galeon coming from Mascà t being the first Ship that came to Goa this year since the Rain and the shutting up of the mouth of the Port brought News how Ruy Freyra having been a few Moneths before at Mascà t with the little Fleet which he had of sixteen Ships was gone to attempt Sohèr which place being formerly abandon'd by the Portugals was now fortifi'd by the Persians with a strong Garrison and that after he had landed he assaulted the Fort but could not take it though many Moors were slain in the encounter and about twenty five Portugals amongst which were three or four Captains Men of Valor and Esteem in which action some conceiv'd that Ruy Freyra had not done well in hazarding and losing so many people upon a place of small importance but he continuing to besiege it it was deliver'd to him upon Articles the Garrison which was within marching away with their Arms and Baggage after which he raz'd the Fortifications and attempted another place of that Coast of Arabia which they call Galfarcan and having taken it out of indignation as I believe for the many good Souldiers which they had kill'd of his at Sohà r and to cast a terror left no person alive sparing neither sex nor age Which cruel manner of proceeding I cannot approve because on the one side it will alienate the minds of the people of that Country and on the other it will incite Enemies to fight against more obstinately and valorously as knowing they are to expect no quarter This is as much as hath been done hitherto in those parts about Ormùz the doing of greater matters requiring new and greater supplies from the Vice-Roy but they say likewise that Ormùz and Kesciome are extreamly well fortifi'd by the Moors September the six and twentieth Sig Don Garcia de Silva y Figueroa Ambassador in Persia from the Catholick King in my time who by
or General Nevertheless we departed from Goa the aforesaid Evening onely with our own Ship the rest being already fallen down lower toward the Sea and the Ambassador Vitulà was above a day at Pangi expecting us where we arriving the abovesaid night did not land because it was late but slept in the Vessel October the fourteenth We went a shore in the Morning at Pangì and the two Ambassadors saw one another upon the Sea-side where I being present with them Sig Gio Fernandez told the Brachman Ambassador who I was and that I went with them out of curiosity to see his King wherewith he testified great contentment but was much more pleas'd with the Pendant which I wore at my left ear as I have us'd to do for many years past for remedy of my weak sight because wearing Pendants at the ears is a particular custom of the Indians especially of the Gentiles who all wear them in both ears And because this is among the Portugals a thing not onely unusual but ignorantly by some of the ruder sort of them held for unlawful onely because 't is us'd by Gentiles therefore the Ambassador marvelled that I being of the Portugals Religion nevertheless us'd it but being told that it was not forbidden us by our Law but onely customarily disus'd and that in Europe it was us'd by many he commended the custom and bid the Portugals see how well I shew'd with that Pendant and better then they who wore none so powerful is use to endear things to the eye and make that fancy'd and esteem'd by some which others through want of custom dislike or value not This day we departed not because one of the Frigats of the Armado which was to accompany us was unprovided with Sea-men for which we were fain to stay till the day following and then were not very well provided The cause whereof was for that there was at this time a great scarcity of Mariners in Goa because the Governours of the maritime parts of the Continent subject to Idal-Scià h would not permit their Ships to come as they were wont to supply Mariners for the Portugal Armado which seem'd an argument of some ill will of that King against the Portugals of which were there nothing else theirs being weaker and more confus'd in their Government then ever and all things in bad order was a sufficient ground for remedy of which they took no other course but daily loaded themselves with new unusual and most heavy Impositions to the manifest ruine of the State taking no care to prevent the hourly exorbitant defraudations of the publick Incomes which otherwise would be sufficient to maintain the charge without new Gabels but if such thefts continue both the publick Incomes and the new Gabels and as many as they can invent will be all swallow'd up Nevertheless the Portugals are heedless according to their custom and out of a fatal blindness making no reckoning of these signs which shew the evil mind of their Neighbour Adil-Scià h think he knows nothing of these disorders and that this with-holding of his Subjects is onely an impertinence of his Officers What the event will be Time will shew But to return to my purpose Not being to depart this day we went to dine and pass the time with intention also to lodg the following night in the house of Sig Baldassar d' Azevedo who liv'd constantly in a fair House there by the Sea-side a little distant from the Villa or Fort where the Vice-Roys lodg in Pangi Whilst we were recreating our selves Sig Fernandez bethinking himself of what perhaps he had not thought of before ask'd me whether I had the Vice-Roy's Licence to go with him this Voyage and I telling him that I had not because I did not think it needful he reply'd that it was needful to be had by any means if I intended to go otherwise he could not venture to carry me for fear of giving malevolous persons occasion to criminate him by saying that he had carry'd me a stranger and without the Vice-Roy's Licence into suspected places where matters of State were to be handled in brief knowing the matter blameable and the wonted Cavils of many of his own Nation and being admonish'd by many and great troubles befallen others and particularly a Kinsman of his very innocently for very slight causes and much inferior to this he told me resolutely that without the Vice-Roy's Licence it was no-wise good either for him or me that I should go Wherefore being we were not to depart that day he advis'd me to return to the City and procured the said Licence if I intended to go and he would stay for me till the next Morning but without the Licence I must not return to take Ship nor would he by any means venture to carry me I who well understood the procedures of the Portugals and what rigor they use in their Government and to what suspitions and malevolences they are prone which cause a thousand ill usages and injustices was sensible that Sig Fernandez had reason and that the not having gotten this Licence was an inadvertency because I accounted it not necessary but to obtain it of the Vice-Roy who knew me well and had shewn himself courteous to me I look'd upon as not difficult Wherefore being loath to lose my intended Voyage as soon as I had din'd with these Gentlemen I went by boat to the City and having first given account of my business to Sig Antonio and Sig Ruy Gomez his Brother to whose House I repair'd having left that which I had hir'd and remov'd my goods to that of the said Sig ri Barocci I went with the same Sig Ruy Gomez to speak to F. Marejao a Jesuit and the Vice-Roy's Confessor and my Friend whom I desir'd as the fittest person to do it in the short time left me to get me a Licence from the Vice-Roy He went immediately to speak to the Vice-Roy about it and had the fortune to find him before he enter'd into a Congregation or Council which was to sit till night and the Vice-Roy presently writ a Licence for him with his own hand directed to the Ambassador Gio Fernandez wherein he told him that whereas I desir'd to go along with him he might carry me and shew me all kind of Civility and Honour as a deserving person with other like courteous and high expressions Having gotten my Licence I went with F. Ruy Gomez Baraccio to visit the Bishop of Cocni who in the vacancy of the See administred the Arch-bishoprick of Goa and whom I had not yet visited and understanding that he was desirous to know me and was a Prelate of great merit not onely as to Ecclesiastick matters but also in point of Government and Warr for he took divers strong places and perform'd other exploits in India for the service of his King with great valour I would not depart without first visiting him and making my self known to him This Prelate is call'd FrÃ
namely Sig Gio Fernandez the Ambassador the Chief Commander of the Fleet call'd Hettor Fernandez F. Bartolomeo Barroso the Ambassadors Chaplain Sig Consalvo Carvaglio and I who came in the Ambassador's Company The Entertainment was sumptuous and very well serv'd dinner ended we return'd to our House October the twentieth In the Evening the Chaplain and I went in a Palanchino a mile out of Onòr to see a fine running water which issuing out of the Earth in a low or rather hollow place as it were the bottom of a Gulph falls into a Tanke or Cistern built round with stone and this being fill'd it runs out with a stream watering the neighbouring-fields The water is hot to wit not cold and therefore the Country-people come frequently to bathe themselves in it for pleasure The Cistern is square every side being five or six yards and the water would reach to a man's neck but by reason of the ruinousness of the walls in some places it is not very clean Within it are small fishes which use to bite such as come to swim there yet without doing hurt because they are small and the place being low is consequently shady and so affords a pleasant station at all times The Gentiles have this Cistern in Devotion and call it Ram-tirt that is Holy Water Water of Expiation c. The Portugals call it O Tanque da Pedre that is the Cistern of the Father or Religious person from the Gentile-Monastick who uses to remain there We stript our selves and spent a good while in swimming here The fields about Onòr through which we pass'd were very pleasant Hills and Valleyes all green partly with very high herbage partly with wood and partly with Corn. October the one and twentieth I took the Altitude of the Sun and found it distant from the Zenith 24. degrees 20. minutes upon which day the Sun according to my manuscripts was in the 27th degree of Libra and declin'd from the Aequinoctial to the South 10. degrees 24′ 56″ which deducted from 24. degrees 20′ in which I found the Sun there remain 13. degrees 55′ 4″ and precisely so much is Onòr distant from the Aequinoctial towards the North. In the Evening the Ambassador Vitulà Sinay who was lodg'd beyond the River more South of Onòr came to the City to visit the Captain in the Fort. The Captain with all the Citizens and Sig Gio Fernandez with us of his Company went to meet and receive him at the place where he landed three pieces of Ordnance being discharg'd when he entred into the Fort. October the four and twentieth was the Davà li or Feast of the Indian-Gentiles and I believe was the same that I had seen the last year celebrated in Bender di Combrù in Persia The same day if I mistake not in my reckoning the Moors began their new year 1033. In the Evening I went to see another great Town of Gentiles separate from that stands upon the Sea near Onòr and they call it the Villa de' Brahmani because most of the inhabitants are Brachmans whereas they that live by the Sea-side are Fishermen and of other like profession This Town of the Brachmans stands about a Canons-shot within land remote from the Fortress of Onòr towards Hordete or Greco The inhabitants keep Cows or Buffalls and live upon other Trades In the entrance of the City is built for publick use a handsome square Cistern or Receptacle for Water each side of which contain'd about a hundred of my paces in length 't is fill'd with rain water which lasts for the whole year October the five and twentieth came News to Onòr how on Thursday night last October the nine and twentieth Venk-tapà Naieka lost his chief Wife an aged Woman and well belov'd by him her name was Badra-Amà Daughter of a noble-man of the same Race of Lingavant which Venk-tapà himself is of Badrà was her proper name Amà her Title denoting Princess or Queen We stay'd all this while at Onòr because as soon as we arriv'd there Vitulà Sinay writ to Venk-tapà Naieka his Master giving him an account of our arrival and so it was necessary to stay for his Answer and Orders from the Court we also waited for men to carry us upon the way the whole journey being to be made in Litters or Palanchinoes together with our Goods and Baggage which were likewise to be carry'd by men upon their shoulders And the Davà li or Feast of the Gentiles falling out in the mean time we were fain to stay till it was pass'd and I know not whether the Queens Death and Funerals may not cause us to stay some time longer I will not suppress one story which is reported of this Lady They say thar twelve or thirteen years since when she was about five and thirty years old it came to her ears that Venk-tapà Naieka her Husband being become fond of a Moorish Woman kept her secretly in a Fort not farr from the Court where he frequently solac'd himself with her for two or three dayes together whereupon Badra-Amà first complaining to him not onely of the wrong which he did thereby to her but also more of that which he did to himself defiling himself with a strange Woman of impure Race according to their superstition and of a Nation which drank Wine and eat Flesh and all sort of uncleannesses in their account told him that if he had a mind to other Women he need not have wanted Gentile-Women of their clean Race without contaminating himself with this Moor and she should have suffer'd it with patience but since he had thus defil'd himself with her she for the future would have no more to do with him and thereupon she took an Oath that she would be to him as his Daughter and he should be to her as her Father After which she shew'd no further resentment but liv'd with him as formerly keeping him company in the Palace tending upon him in his sickness and other things with the same love as at first helping and advising him in matters of Government wherein she had alwayes great authority with him and in short excepting the Matrimonial Act perfectly fulfilling all other Offices of a good Wife Venk-tapa Naieka who had much affection for her notwithstanding the wrong he did her with his Moor endeavor'd by all means possible to divert her from this her purpose and to perswade her to live a Matrimonial Life still with him offering many times to compound for that Oath by the alms of above 20000. Pagods Pagod is a gold coin near equivalent to a Venetian Zecchine or English Angel but all in vain and she persever'd constant in this Resolution till death which being undoubtedly an act of much Constancy and Virtue was the cause that Venk-tapà Naieka lov'd her always so much the more October the eight and twentieth Vitulà Sinay sent to tell our Ambassador that having sent word of our arrival to the Court the great Ministers had acquainted Venk-tapÃ
and in her own Dominions where I was come to visit and to do her Honour After she was gone her way I with my people enter'd into a little village and there took a lodging in an empty house belonging to a Moor of the Country and near the Palace but I caus'd my diet to be prepar'd in an other house of a neighbour Moor that so I might have the convenience of eating flesh or what I pleas'd which in the houses of Gentiles would not be suffer'd The inhabitants of Manèl are partly Gentiles and partly Malabar-Moors who have also their Meschita's there which was of much convenience to me The Name of the Queen of Olaza is Abag-deuì-Ciautrù of which words Abag is her proper Name Deuì signifies as much as Lady and with this word they are also wont to signifie all their gods nor have they any other in their Language to denote God but Deù or Deurù which are both one and equally attributed to Princes whereby it appears that the gods of the Gentiles are for the most part nothing else but such Princes as have been famous in the world and deserv'd that Honour after their deaths as likewise which is my ancient opinion that the word God where-with we by an introduc'd custom denote the Supream Creator doth not properly signifie that First Cause who alone ought to be ador'd by the World but signifi'd at first either Great Lord or the like whence it was attributed to Heroes and signal persons in the world suitable to that of the Holy Scripture Filii Deorum Filii Hominum and consequently that the gods of the Gentiles though ador'd and worship'd both in ancient and modern times were never held by us in that degree wherein we hold God the Creator of the Universe and wherein almost all Nations of the world always held and do hold him some calling him Causa Prima others Anima Mundi others Perabrahmi as the Gentiles at this day in India But that the other gods are and were always rather but as Saints are amongst us of the truth whereof I have great Arguments at least amongst the Indian Gentiles or if more then Saints yet at least Deifi'd by favour and made afterwards Divi as Hercules Romulus Augustus c. were amongst the Romans But to return to our purpose they told me the word Ciautrù the last in the Queen of Olaza's Name was a Title of Honour peculiar to all the Kings and Queens of Olaza and therefore possibly signifies either Prince or King and Queen or the like As for this Countries being subject to a Woman I understood from intelligent persons of the Country that in Olaza Men were and are always wont to reign and that 't is a custom receiv'd in India amongst the greatest part of the Gentiles the Sons do not succeed the Fathers but the Sons of their Sisters they accounting the Female-line more certain as indeed it is than the Male. Yet that the last King of Olaza having neither Nephews nor other Legitimate Heirs his Wife succeeded him and she also dying without other Heirs left this Abag-Deuì who was her Sister to succeed her To whom because she is a Woman and the descent is certain is to succeed a Son of hers of whom I shall hereafter make mention but to him being a Man not his own Sons but the Son of one of his Sisters hereafter likewise mention'd is to succeed Not to conceal what I know of the History of this Queen I shall add that after her Assumption to the Throne upon the death of her Sister she was married for many years to the King of Banghel who now is a fugitive depriv'd of his Dominions but then reign'd in his own Country which borders upon hers Yet though they were Husband and Wife more for Honors sake then any thing else they liv'd not together but apart each in their own Lands in the Confines whereof either upon Rivers where they caus'd Tents to be erected over boats or in other places of delight they came to see and converse with one another Banghel wanting not other Wives and Women who accompany'd him where-ever he went 'T is reported that this Queen had the Children which she hath by this Banghel if they were not by some other secret and more intimate Lover for they say she wants not such The Matrimony and good Friendship having lasted many years between Banghel and the Queen I know not upon what occasion discord arose between them and such discord that the Queen divorc'd Banghel sending back to him as the custom is in such case all the Jewels which he had given her as his Wife For this and perhaps for other causes Banghel became much offended with the Queen and the rupture proceeded to a War during which it so fortun'd that one day as she was going in a boat upon one of those Rivers not very well guarded he sending his people with other boats in better order took her and had her in his power Yet with fair carriage and good words she prevail'd so far that he let her go free and return to her Country In revenge of this injury she forth-with rais'd War against Banghel who relying upon the aid of the neighbouring Portugals because he was confederate with them and as they say of many Royolets of India Brother in Arms to the King of Portugal the Queen to counterpoize that force call'd to her assistance against Banghel and the Portugals who favour'd him the neighbouring King Venk-tapà Naieka who was already become very potent and fear'd by all the Neighbours and under his protection and obedience she put her self Venk-tapà Naieka sent a powerful Army in favour of the Queen took all Banghel's Territories and made them his own destroying the Fort which was there he also made prey of divers other pety Lords thereabouts demolishing their strength and rendring them his Tributaries one of which was the Queen of Curnat who was also confedrate with the Portugals and no friend to her of Olaza he came against Mangalòr where in a battel rashly undertaken by the Portugals he defeated a great number and in short the flower and strength of India carrying the Ensigns Arms and Heads of the slain to Ikkerì in triumph He did not take Mangalòr because he would not answering the Queen of Olaza who urg'd him to it That they could do that at any time with much facility and that 't was best to let those four Portugals remain in that small place which was rather a House then a Fortress in respect of the Traffick and Wares which they brought to the benefit of their Countries After which he came to a Treaty with the Portugals by which he restor'd the Colours he had taken from them and by their means Banghel surrendred the Fort which Venk-tapà as I said before demolish'd besides other conditions which are now under consideration according as is above-mention'd in my Relation of the Ambassie to Ikkerì This was the War of Banghel
into Spain in answer to the Embassy of Don Garcia de Silva Figueroa and travailed in the same Ship before it was taken by the Pirats died by the way having first substituted another of his company to perform his charge which other Embassador was taken with the said Ship and carried a slave into Argiers whereof notice being given to the Persian Embassador at Constantinople order was expected from thence what to do with him which not coming before this Gentleman was delivered he could not tell what the issue was but left him still a prisoner in Argiers August the fifth The Indians were to celebrate their solemn Festival of Washing and other Ceremonies accustomed to be performed at Narva and mentioned by me in the last years relation to be celebrated on the seventeenth of the same Month. And because this year the Feast-day fell twelve dayes sooner in our year then in the last I perceived that the Indian year must be Lunar or if it be Solar as I think I have heard it cannot be just or equal but to be adjusted requires some great and extravagant intercalation I went not to Narva to see the Feast because the place lies beyond the River in the Territory of the Moors who at this time stood not upon good Terms with the Portugals Neither did the Gentiles of Goa go thither for the same reason and if I was not mis-enformed they expected a safe conduct from Idal-Sciah from Vidhiapor to go thither another day August the ninth Two hours and forty minutes before Noon if the Calculation and Observation of Christofero Borano or Boro be true the Sun was in the Zenith of Goa and began to decline towards the South August the twenty fourth On which day the Feast of St Bartholomew uses to be celebrated certain Officers deputed for that purpose with other Principal Persons entrusted with the superintendency of the Fields and Agriculture offered to the Cathedral Church and afterwards also to the Vice-roy the first-fruits of the Fields to wit of Rice newly eared which is the most substantial of the fruits of the Territory of Goa I was told likewise that they made a Statue of an Elephant with Rice-straw which I know not whether they carry'd about with them or set up in some Piazza This custom is practis'd annually upon the said day because at that time precisely the said fruit begins to ripen August the twenty seventh One Galeon of four that were coming from Mascat whither they had been sent last April with Provisions arriv'd at Goa they came by the Vice-roy's Order to transport if occasion requir'd new succours to be sent to Ormuz This Ship related that the other three were possibly return'd back again to the streight of Ormuz for fear of some Dutch Vessels which hover'd thereabouts but this being driven out to Sea and having lost its company in the night was forc'd to come directly forwards It related further that Ormuz had been again besieg'd a good while by the Captains of Ruy Freira to wit first by Michel Pereira Boraglio our friend and afterwards by another whom he sent thither by turns because thereby the task would be easier to the besiegers but that at the parting of these Galleys from Mascat Ruy Freira himself was upon the point to go to the said Siege with all the Men and Vessels with oars he had which were about twenty or twenty five Galeots and many less Morisco Vessels call'd Ternata's a small preparation indeed to take Ormuz withall September the second a little before day-light The safe arrival of the annual Portugal Fleet was congratulated by all the Bells of Goa It consisted of two Merchant's Ships lesser and lighter then the Carracks which use to come other years one Galeon laden also with Merchandize and order'd to return with the same Ships in case it should not be necessary at Goa for the war and five other Galeons equip'd for war which were to remain at Goa with all the Soldiery which was numerous and good to be imploy'd as occasion should require The General of this Armada was Sig. Nugno Alvares Botelho the Admiral Sig. Giovan Pereira Cortereal to whose diligence the happy and speedy arrival of this Fleet is attributed the like not having come to pass in many years and that through the fault and greediness both of the Pilots and Merchants for before without keeping order or rule in the voyage or obedience to the General every one endeavor'd to have his Ship arrive first and alone But this Sig. Gio. Pereira Cortereal having written and presented a printed Discourse about this matter to the King his Majesty approv'd the same and gave strict charge that his Prescription should be observ'd with all exactness and hence proceeded the good success of this Voyage This Fleet brought news that the Prince of England was departed from Spain without effecting the marriage between the two Crowns because the Parliament of England would not consent to it which considering all the preceding transactions seems to me a strange case and perhaps the like hath scarce hapned between Princes unless possibly there be some unknown mysterie in the business That the Frosts having obstructed the mouth of a River in Holland had caus'd a great inundation which broke the banks or dikes whereby they keep out the sea and done much damage to the Country That twelve Ships which set forth from thence for India being beset by the Spanish Fleet of Dunkirk were partly sunk and partly shatter'd so that they could not come to India That the Catholicks in August last upon the precise day whereon Vrban VIII was created Pope had obtain'd a signal victory in Germany against the Hereticks That great Fleets were preparing in England Spain and France for unknown designs That the King of Spain was at Sevil and the Queen had brought him forth a Daughter who was dead but the Daughter of the Conte di Vidigueira present Vice-Roy here in India had brought him forth a Son at which the Queen was much displeas'd with the King And that in Portugal it was expected that the Arch-Duke Leopold should go to govern that Kingdom September the fifth the other three Galeons which I said were to come from Mascat arriv'd at Goa The cause of their delay was as was rightly conjectur'd that they had discover'd an English Ship upon those Coasts and spent some time in giving her chase but in vain through the fault perhaps of the Portugal Captain who was loth to fight her for one of them made up to her and fought a while with her Artillery but perceiving her companions came not to do the like gave over and having given and receiv'd many shots let her go without doing her hurt and return'd to her company The English Ship shew'd much bravery for seeing three Vessels coming against her she waited to give them battle without flying The above-said Galeons brought Letters which signifi'd that Mascat was molested with wars by the neighbouring
the Mahometans by their Beards which they wear long then by any other of their habits Their Calling gains and gives them very much reverence and esteem amongst the People as another sort of Priests there have of an high order or rank which live much retired but when they appear openly are most highly reverenced they are called Scayds who derive themselves from Mahomet The Mahometans have fair Churches which as before are called Mosquits their Churches are built of Marble or coarser stone the broad-side towards the West is made up close like a firm wall and so are both ends in which there are no lights the other broad side towards the East is erected upon Pillars where a man may take notice of the excellent workmanship both in Vaults and Arches the spaces betwixt them Pillars stand open Their Churches are built long and narrow standing North and South which way they lay up the bodies of their dead but none of them within their Churches At the four corners of their Mosquits which stand in great Cities or in other places much peopled there are high and round but small Turrets which are made open with lights every way wherein a man may be easily seen and heard their devout Moolaas five times every day ascend unto the tops of those high Turrets whence they proclaim as loudly as they can possibly speak their Prophet Mahomet thus in Arabian La alla illa alla Mahomet Resul-alla that is There is no God but one God and Mahomet the Messenger from God That voice instead of Bells which they use not in their Churches puts the most devout in mind of the hours of their devotion those Priests being exceedingly zealous to promote the cause and to keep up the honour of their Mahomet as the men of Ephesus sometime were when they feared that the credit of their Baggage Diana was like to be called into question they took up a Cry which continued for the space of two hours Crying out with one voice Great is Diana of the Ephesians Acts 19.24 But to return again to those Mahometan Priests who out of zeal do so often proclaim their Mahomet Tom Coryat upon a time having heard their Moolaas often as before so to cry got him upon an high place directly opposite to one of those Priests and contradicted him thus La alla illa alla Hasaret Eesa Benalla that is No God but one God and the Lord Christ the Son of God and further added that Mahomet was an Impostor and all this he spake in their own language as loud as possibly he could in the ears of many Mahometans that heard it But whether circumstances considered the zeal or discretion of our Pilgrim were more here to be commended I leave to the judgment of my Reader That he did so I am sure and I further believe how that bold attempt of his if it had been acted in many other places of Asia would have cost him his life with as much torture as cruelty could been invented But he was here taken for a mad-man and so let alone Haply the rather because every one there hath liberty to profess his own Religion freely and if he please may argue against theirs without fear of an inquisition as Tom Coryat did at another time with a Moolaa and the Question was Which of these two was the Mussleman or true Believer after much heat on both sides Tom Coryat thus distinguished that himself was the Orthodox Musslemam or true true-believer the Moolaa the pseudo Mussleman or false true believer which distinction if I had not thought it would have made my Reader smile had been here omitted The Mahometans have a set form of prayer in the Arabian Tongue not understood by many of the common people yet repeated by them as well as by the Moolaas they likewise rehearse the Names of God and of their Mahomet certain times every day upon Beads like the miss-led Papists who seem to regard more the Number then the weight of prayers But for the carriage of that people in their devotions before they go into their Churches they wash their feet and entring into them put off their shooes As they begin their devotions they stop their ears and fix their eyes that nothing may divert their thoughts then in a soft and still voice they utter their prayers wherein are many words most significantly expressing the Omnipotency and Greatness and Eternity and other Attributes of God Many words likewise that seem to express much humiliation they confessing in divers submissive gestures their own unworthiness when they pray casting themselves low upon their Face sundry times and then acknowledg that they are burdens to the Earth and poyson to the Air and the like being so confounded and asham'd as that they seem not to dare so much as to lift up their eyes towards Heaven but after all this comfort themselves in the mercies of God through the mediation of Mahomet If this people could as well conclude as they can begin and continue their prayers in respect of their expressions and carriages in them they might find comfort but the conclusion of their devotions marrs all Yet this for their commendation who doubtless if they knew better would pray better that what diversions and impediments soever they have arising either from pleasure or profit the Mahometans pray five times a day The Mogol doth so who sits on the Throne the Shepherd doth so that waits on his flock in the field where by the way they do not follow their flocks but their flocks them all sorts of Mahometans do thus whether fixed in a place or moving in a journey when their times or hours of prayer come which in the morning are at Six Nine and Twelve of the clock and at three and six in the afternoon When they pray it is their manner to set their Faces that they may look towards Medina neer Mecha in Arabia where their great Seducer Mahomet was buried who promised them after one thousand years to fetch them all to Heaven which term when it was out and the promise not fulfilled the Mahometans concluded that their Fore-fathers mis-took the time of the promise of his coming and therefore resolve to wait for the accomplishment of it one thousand years more In the mean time they do so reverence that place where the body of Mahomet was laid up that whosoever hath been there as there are divers which flock yearly thither in Pilgrimage are for ever after called and esteemed Hoggees which signifies Holy men And here the thing being rightly and seriously considered it is a very great shame that a Mahometan should pray five times every day that Pagans and Heathens should be very frequent in their devotions and Christians who only can hope for good answers in prayer so negligent in that great prevailing duty For a Mahometan to pray five times every day what diversions soever he hath to hinder him and for a Christian to let any thing
ascended the Regal Throne at Lahore where by a general Acclamation of that very great and populous City he was pronounced and acknowledged King His Father the late Mogol was thus acknowledged at Agra Two great Armies were presently levied and met together to decide the Controversie and the generality of the people within that Empire thinking it meet that the Father should be King before the Son clave by far more to him then to his Son by which means Sultan Coobsurroo was defeated and taken Prisoner and a very great many of young Gallants with him whereof his Father immediately after caused to be impaled or put upon Stakes that most cruel and tormenting death eight hundred in two several ranks in one day without the City Lahore and then carried his Son most disgracefully through them bidding him to behold the men in whom he trusted His Son told him that he should have serv'd him so and spared the other who did nothing in that action but upon his Command his Father replyed that he could serve him so presently if he so pleased his Son will'd and desired him so to do telling his Father that he had no joy at all to live after the beholding of so many gallant men dead Notwithstanding the King spared his Life casting him into Prison where his Eyes were sealed up by something put before them which might not be taken of for the space of three years after which time that seal was taken away that he might with freedom enjoy the Light though not his Liberty And after his Father had taken him out of Prison he kept him alwayes near about him but with a very strong Guard upon him so that he following the King his Father in his Progresses we sometimes saw him And once he called my Lord Ambassadour to him as we passed by him asking him many Questions as how far distant our Country was from them and what we brought thither and what we carryed thence and how the King his Father had used him since his arrive there whether or no he had not bestowed upon him some great gifts The Ambassadour told him that his business there was to obtain a free Trade for his Nation the English and that being granted him he had reward enough The Prince replyed that this could not be denyed us we coming so far to trade there with him and the Prince further asked him How long he had been there the Ambassadour told him About two years the Prince replyed again that it was a very great shame for the Successor of Tamberlane who had such infinite Riches to suffer a Man of his quality to come so far unto him and to live so long about him and not to give him some Royal Gift and he further added that for himself he was a Prisoner and therefore could do him no good but would pray for him and so he departed For that Prince he was a Gentleman of a very lovely presence and fine carriage so exceedingly beloved of the common people that as Suetonius writes of Titus he was Amor Deliciae c. the very love and delight of them Aged then about thirty and five years He was a Man who contented himself with one Wife which with all love and care accompanied him in all his streights and therefore he would never take any Wife but her self though the Liberty of his Religion did admit of Plurality It was generally believed to be the intent of his Father for he would often presage so to make this Prince his first-born his Successor though for the present out of some jealousie he being so much beloved of the people he denyed him his Liberty His Father's Love brings upon him the extream hatred of his Brother Caroom the Mogol's third Son who then lived in very great Pomp and Splendor at that Court aiming at that Empire to which end he put many jealousies into his Father's Head now grown in years concerning his Brother Coobsurroo and that his Father might live more secure and out of all present fear of him if he so pleased upon which insinuations partly by force as I observed before and partly by intreaty of Friends about the King he was by the King put into the Cruel Hand of his Brother Caroom who told his Father that he would have both his Eyes upon him and further so provide that he should never have cause to fear him any more and he was as good as his word for presently after he had gotten possession of him though his Father had given him as great a charge as possibly he could to use him well and to keep him honourably and by no means to hurt him which was all promised by Caroom to be faithfully observed he caused his Second Brother Sultan Parveen to be poysoned and not long after that strangled that most gallant Prince his eldest Brother which did so trouble his Father that the grief thereof as it was strongly believed shortned his dayes who not long after this much against his mind made room for that Murderer to succeed him in that Empire who lay'd the foundation of his high Advancement in the Blood of his Brothers and rather then he would have missed it would certainly have made a way through the Blood of his Father likewise All Laws of honesty and of Nature were by him thrown down trampled under foot forgotten and made void to compass and gain his most unjust ends as if he resolved to practise that Language which Polynices out of the height of Ambition spake in the Tragedy Pro Regno velim Patriam Penates Conjugem flammis dare Imperia Precio quolibet constant bene Sen. Trag. Fire on my Gods Wife Country for a Crown An Empire can the dearest price weigh down I shall add but a few things more to this Relation before I conclude it And one shall be to give my Reader a taste but very briefly SECTION XXIX Of the manner of the style or writing of that Court. WHich I shall here insert and in some measure shew by the Copy of a Letter written by the Great Mogol unto King James in the Persian Tongue here faithfully translated which was as follows UNto a King rightly descended from his Ancestors bred in Military Affairs clothed with Honour and Justice a Commander worthy of all Command strong and constant in the Religion which the great Prophet Christ did teach King James whose Love hath bred such an impression in my thoughts as shall never be forgotten but as the smell of Amber or as a Garden of fragrant flowers whose Beauty and Odour is still increasing so be assured my Love shall still grow and increase with yours The Letters which you sent me in the behalf of your Merchants I have received whereby I rest satisfied of your tender Love towards me desiring you not to take it ill that I have not wrote to you heretofore This present Letter I send to you to renew our Loves and herewith do certifie you that