certainly we would have attempted it had they not removed us There was a small Moors Vessel which lay in the River which they had seized on about this time as we supposed they would have done by our Ship if they could have catched her there This Vessel had some forty men belonging to her who were not made Prisoners as we were but yet lay in the same Town with those we had concluded that they should furnish us with Arms and in the night altogether to march down and get on board of their Vessel and so make our escape But being prevented in this design by our departure we were fain to lay at their mercy In our new quarters our entertainment proved as good as formerly And indeed there was this to mitigate our misery that the People were courteous to us and seemed to pity us For there is a great difference between the People inhabiting the high-lands or the mountains of Cande and those of the low-lands where we now are placed who are of a kinder nature by far than the other For these Countreys beneath the mountains formerly were in subjection unto the Portugueze Whereby they have been exercised and acquainted with the customs and manners of Christian People Which pleasing them far better than their own have begot and bred in them a kind of love and affection towards Strangers being apt to shew Pity and Compassion on them in their distress And you shall hear them oftentimes upbraiding the High-landers for their insolent and rude behavior It was a very sad Condition whilst we were all together yet hitherto each others company lessened our sufferings and was some comfort that we might condole one another But now it came to pass that we must be separated and placed asunder one in a Village where we could have none to confer withall or look upon but the horrible black faces of our heathen enemies and not understand one word of their Language neither this was a great addition to our grief Yet God was so merciful to us as not to suffer them to part my Father and I. For it was some sixteen days after our last remove the King was pleased to send a Captain with Soldiers to bring us up into the Country Who brought us and the other men taken in the Long boat together Which was an heavy meeting Being then as we well saw to be carried Captives into the mountains That night we supped together and the next morning changed our condition into real Captivity Howbeit they gave us many comfortable promises which we believed not as that the Kings intent was not to keep us any longer than till another Ship came to carry us away Altho we had but very little to carry God knows yet they appointed men to carry the cloths that belonged to the Captain and Officers We still expected they would plunder us of our cloths having nothing else to be plundered of but the Chingulay Captain told us that the King had given order that none should take the value of a thread from us Which indeed they did not As they brought us up they were very tender of us as not to tyre us with Travelling bidding us go no faster than we would our selves This kindness did somewhat comfort us The way was plain and easie to Travail through great Woods so that we walked as in an Arbour but desolate of Inhabitants So that for four or five nights we lay on the Ground with Boughs of Trees only over our heads And of Victuals twice a Day they gave us as much as we could eat that is of Rice Salt-fish dryed Flesh And sometimes they would shoot Deer and find Hony in the Trees good part of which they always brought unto us And drink we could not want there being Rivers and Puddles full of Water as we Travelled along But when we came out of the Woods among Inhabitants and were led into their Towns they brought us Victuals ready dressed after their fashion viz. Rice boiled in Water and three other sorts of Food whereof one Flesh and the other two Herbs or such like things that grow in their Countrey and all kinds of ripe Fruit which we liked very well and fed heartily upon Our entertainment all along was at the Charge of the Countrey So we fed like Soldiers upon free Quarter Yet I think we gave them good content for all the Charge we put them to Which was to have the satisfaction of seeing us eat sitting on Mats upon the Ground in their yards to the Publick view of all Beholders Who greatly admired us having never seen nor scarce heard of English-men before It was also great entertainment to them to observe our manner of eating with Spoons which some of us had and that we could not take the Rice up in our hands and put it to our mouths without spilling as they do nor gaped and powred the Water into our Mouths out of Pots according to their Countreys custom Thus at every Town where we came they used both young and old in great Companies to stare upon us Being thus brought up all together somewhat near to the City of Cande Now came an Order from the King to separate us and to place us one in a Town Which then seemed to us to be very hard but it was for the convenience of getting Food being quartered upon the Countrey at their Charge The Captain Mr. Iohn Loveland my self and Iohn Gregory were parted from the rest and brought nearer to the City to be ready when the King should send for us All the Rest were placed one in a Town according to the aforesaid Order Special Command also was given from the King that we all should be well entertained and according to the Countrey fare we had no cause to complain We four were thus kept together some two Months faring well all the while But the King minding us not Order came from the great Men in Court to place us in Towns as the rest were only my Father and I were still permitted to be together and a great Charge given to use us well And indeed twice a Day we had brought unto us as good fare as the Countrey affordedâ— All the rest had not their Provisions brought to them as we had but went to eat from house te house each house taking its turn On the Sixteenth of September 1660. My Father and I were placed in a Town called Bonder Coos-wat the situation was very pleasing and commodious lying about Thirty Miles to the Northward of the City of Cande in the Countrey called Hotcurly and distant from the rest of our People a full days journey We were removed hither from another Town nearer to the City where the Nobles at Court supposing that the King would call for vs had placed us to have us ready Being thus brought to Bonder Cooswat the People put it to our choice which House we would have
to him at the Kings Palace for a Ticket to receive my Allowance out of the King's Store-houses Hereby I was brought into a great danger out of which I had much ado to escape and that with the loss of my Allowance for ever after I shall relate the manner of it in the next Chapter CHAP. VIII How the Author had like to have been received into the Kings Service and what means be used to avoid it He meditates and attempts an escape but is often prevented THis frequent Appearance at the Court and waiting there for my Tickets brought me to be taken notice of by the Great men inâ—omuch that they wondered I had been all this while forgotten and never been brought before the King being so fit as they would suppose me for his use and service saying That from henceforward I should fare better than that Allowance amounted to as soon as the King was made acquainted with me Which words of theirs served instead of a Ticket Whereupon fearing I should suddainly be brought in to the King which thing I most of all feared and least desired and hoping that out of â—ight might prove out of mind I resolved to forsake the Court and never more to ask for Tickets especially seeing God had dealt so bountifully with me as to give me ability to live well enough without them As when Israel had eaten of the Corn of the Land of Canaan the Manna ceased so when I was driven to forego my Allowance that had all this while sustained me in this wilderness God otherways provided for me From this time forward to the time of my Flight out of the Land which was five years I neither had nor demanded any more Allowance and glad I was that I could escape so But I must have more trouble first For some four or five days after my last coming from Court there came a Soldier to me sent from the Adigar with an Order in writing under his hand that upon sight thereof I should immediatly dispatch and come to the Court to make my personal appearance before the King and in case of any delay the Officers of the Countrey were thereby Autâ—orized and Commanded to assist the Bearer and to see the same Order speedily performed The chief occasion of this had been a Person not long before my near Neighbour and Acquaintance Oua Matteral by name who knew my manner of Life and had often been at my House but now was taken in and employed at Court and he out of friendship and good will to me was one of the chief Actors in this business that he might bring me to Preferment at Court Upon the abovesaid summons there was no Remedy but to Court I must go Where I first applyed my self to my said old Neighbour Oua Motteral who was the occasion of sending for me I signified to him that I was come in obedience to the Warrant and I desired to know the reason why I was sent for To which he answered Here is good news for you you are to appear in the Kings Presence where you will find great Favour and Honourable entertainment far more than any of your Countrey men yet here found Which the great man thought would be a strong Inducement to persuade me joyfully to accept of the Kings Employments But this was the thing I always most dreaded and endeavoured to shun knowing that being taken into Court would be a means to cut of all hopes of Liberty from me which was the thing I esteemed equal unto life it self Seeing my self brought unto this pass wherein I had no earthly helper I recommended my cause to God desiring him in whose hands are the hearts of Kings and Princes to divert the business And my cause being just and right I was resolved to persist in a denial My case seemed to me to be like that of the four Lepers at the Gate of Samaria No avoiding of Death for me If out of Ambition and Honour I should have embraced the Kings Service besides the depriving my self of all hopes of Liberty in the end I must be put to death as happens to all that serve him and to deny his service could be but Death And it seemed to me to be the better Death of the two For if I should be put to Death only because I refused his service I should be pitied as one that dyed innocently but if I should be executed in his Service however innocent I was I should be certainly reckon'd a Rebel and a Traytor as they all are whom he commands to be cut off Upon these considerations having thus set my resolutions as God enabled me I returned him this answer First That the English Nation to whom I belonged had never done any violence or wrong to their King either in word or deed Secondly That the causes of my coming on their Land was not like to that of other Nations who were either Enemies taken in War or such as by reason of poverty or distress were driven to sue for relief out of the Kings bountiful liberality or such as fled for the fear of deserved punishment Whereas as they all well knew I came not upon any of these causes but upon account of Trade and came ashore to receive the Kings Orders which by notice we understood were come concerning us and to render an account to the Dissauva of the Reasons and Occasions of our coming into the Kings Port. And that by the grief and sorrow I had undergone by being so long detained from my Native Countrey but for which I thanked the Kings Majesty without want of any thing I scarcely enjoyed my self For my heart was alwayes absent from my body Hereunto adding my insufficiency and inability for such honourable Employment being subject to many Infirmities and Diseases of Body To this he replied Cannot you read and write English Servile Labour the King requireth not of you I answered When I came ashore I was but young and that which then I knew now I had forgot for want of practice having had neither ink nor paper ever since I came ashore I urged moreover That it was contrary to the Custome and Practice of all Kings and Princes upon the Earth to keep and detain men that came into their Countreys upon such peaceable accounts as we did much less to compel them to serve them beyond their power and ability At my fiâ—st coming before him he looked very pleasingly and spake with a smiling countenance to me but now his smiles were turned into frowns and his pleasing looks into bended brows and in rough Language he bad me be gone and tell my tale to the Adigar Which immediatly I did but he being busie did not much regard me and I was glad of it that I might absent the Court But I durst not go out of the City Sore afraid I was that evil would befall me and the best I could expect was to be put in Chains All
to look after my House and Goats We went down at the Hill Bocawl where there was now no Watch and but seldom any From thence down to the Town of Bonder Cooswat where my Father dyed and by the Town of Nicavar which is the last Town belonging to Hotcurly in that Road. From thence forward the Towns stand thin For it was sixteen miles to the next Town called Parroah which lay in the Country of Neure Cawlava and all the way thro a Wilderness called Parroah Mocolane full of wild Elephants Tigres and Bears Now we set our design for Anarodgburro which is the lowest place inhabited belonging to the King of Cande where there is a Watch alwayes kept and nearer than twelve or fourteen miles of this Town as yet we never had been When we came into the midst of this Countrey we heard that the Governor thereof had sent Officers from the Court to dispatch away the Kings Revenues and Duties to the City and that they were now come into the Country Which put us into no small fear lest if they saw us they should send us back again Wherefore we edged away into the Westernmost Parts of Ecpoulpot being a remote part of that Countrey wherein we now were And there we sate to knitting until we heard they were gone But this caused us to overshoot our time the Moon spending so fast But as soon as we heard they were departed out of the Countrey we went onwards of our Iourney having kept most of our Ware for a pretence to have an occasion to go further And having bought a good parcel of Cotton Tarn to knit Caps withal the rest of our Ware we gave out was to buy dryed flesh with which only in those lower Parts is to be sold. Our Way now lay necessarily thro the chief Governors Yard at Colâ—iwilla Who dwells there purposely to see and examine all that go and come This greatly distressed us First because he was a stranger to us and one whom we had never seen And secondly because there was no other way to escape him and plain reason would tell him that we being prisoners were without our bounds Whereupon we concluded that our best way would be to go boldly and resolutely to his house and not to seem daunted in the least or to look as if we diâ—â— distrust him to disallow of our Iourney but to shew such a behaviour as if we had authority to travail where we would So we went forward and were forced to enquire and ask the way to his house having never been so far this way before I brought from home with me Knives with fine carved handles and a red Tunis Cap purposely to sell or give him if occasion required knowing before that we must pass by him And all along as we went that we might be the less suspected we sold Caps and other Ware to be paid for at our return homewards There were many cross Paths to and fro to his house yet by Gods Providence we happened in the right Road. And having reached his house according to the Countrey manner we went and sate down in the open house which kind of Houses are built on purpose for the reception of Strangers Whither not long after the Great Man himself came and sate down by us To whom we presented a small parcel of Tobacco and some Betel And before he asked us the cause of our coming we shewed him the Ware we brought for him and the Cotton Yarn which we had trucked about the Country telling him withall how the case stood with us viz. That we had a Charge greater than the Kings allowance would maintain and that because dryed Flesh was the chief Commodity of that Part we told him That missing of the Lading which we used to carry back we were glad to come thither to see if we could make it up with dryed Flesh. And therefore if he would please to supply us either for such Ware as we had brought or else for our Money it would be a great favour the which would oblige us for the future to bring him any necessaries that he should name unto us when we should come again unto those Parts as we used to do very often and that we could furnish him having dealings and being acquainted with the best Artificers in Cande At which he replyed That he was sorry we were come at such a dry time wherein they could not catch Deer but if some Rain fell he would soon dispatch us with our Ladings of Flesh. But however he bade us go about the Towns and see whether there might be any or no tho he thought there was none This answer of his pleased us wondrous well both because by this we saw he suspected us not and because he told us there was no dryed Flesh to be got For it was one of our greatest fears that we should get our Lading too soon for then we could not have had an excuse to go further And as yet we could not possibly fly having still six miles further to the Northward to go before we could attempt it that is to Anarodgburro From Anarodgburro it is two dayes Iourney further thro a desolate Wilderness before there is any more Inhabitants And these Inhabitants are neither under this King nor the Dutch but are Malabars and are under a Prince of their own This People we were sorely afraid of lest they might seize us and send us back there being a correspondence between this Prince and the King of Cande wherefore it was our endeavour by all means to shun them lest according to the old Proverb We might leap out of the Frying pan into the Fire But we must take care of that as well as we could when we came among them for as yet our care was to get to Anarodgburro Where altho it was our desire to get yet we would not seem to be too hasty lest it might occasion suspition but lay where we were two or three dayes and one stay'd at the Governors House a knitting whilst the other went about among the Towns to see for Flesh. The Ponds in the Country being now dry there was Fish every where in abundance which they dry like red Herrings over a fire They offered to sell us store of them but they we told them would not turn to so good profit as Flesh. The which we said we would have tho we stayed ten dayes longer for it For here we could live as cheap and earn as much as if we were at home by our knitting So we seemed to them as if we were not in any hast In the mean time happened an Accident which put us to a great fright For the King having newly clapped up several Persons of Quality whereof my old Neighbour Ova Motteral that sent for me to Court was one sent down Souldiers to this High Sheriff or Governor at whose house we now were to give him order to set a
he may call in the assistance of any man The next Officer under the Governor is the Liannah The Writer Who reads Letters brought and takes accounts of all Business and of what is sent away to the Court He is also to keep Registers and to write Letters and to take notice of things happening Next to him is the Vndia A word that signiâ—ieth a lump He is a Person that gathers the King's Money and is so fly led because he gathereth the King's Monies together into a lump After him is the Monnannah The Measurer His Place is to go and measure the Corn that grows upon the King's Land Or what other Corn belongeth to him The Power of these Officers extends not all a whole Counâ—ty or Province over but to a convenient part of division of iâ— To wâ—â— so much as they may well manage themselves And there are several â—ets of the like Officers appointed over other Portions of the Counâ—â—â—â— As with us there are divers Hundreds or Divisionâ— in a County To each of which are distinct Oâ—â—icers belonging These Officers can exercise their Authority throughout the whole Division over which they are constituted excepting some certain Towns that are of exempt jurisdiction And they are of two sortâ— First such Towns as belong to the Idol-Temples and the Priests having been given and bestowed on them long ago by former Kings And secondly The Towns which the King allots to his Noblemen and Servants Over these Towns thus given away neither the â—oreâ—mentioned Officers nor the chieâ— Magistrate himself hath any Power But those to whom they are given and do belong to do put in their own Officers who serve to the same purposes as the abovesaid do But these are not all the Officers there are others whoâ—e place it is upon the Death of any Head of a Family to â—etch away the King's Marrals Harriots as I may call them Viz. a Bull and a Câ—w a Male and Female Buffalo out of his Stock Which is accustomably due to the King as I have mentioned before And others who in Harvest time carry away certain measures of Coâ—n out of every Man's Crop according to the rate of their Land These Inferior Officers commonly get their Places by Bribery Their Children do pretend a right to them after their Father's Death and will be preferred before others greazing the Magistrate None of these have their Places for life and no longer than the Governor pleaseth And he pretty often removes them or threatens to do so upon pretence of some neglects to get Money from them And the People have this privilege that upon Complaint made oâ— any of these Officers and request that they may be changed and others made They must be displaced and others put in but not at their Choice but at the Choice of the Chief Magisâ—rate or Owner of the Town For the hearing Complaints and doing Iustice among Neighbours here are Countrey-Courts oâ— Iudicature consisting of these Officers together with the Head-Men of the Places and Towns where the Courts are kept and these are called Gom sabbi as much as to sayâ— Town-Consultations But if any do not like and is loath to stand by what they have determined and think themselves wronged they may appeal to their Head Governor that dwells at Court but it is chaâ—geable for he must have a â—eg They may appeal also from him to the Adigars or the â—hiâ—â— Iuâ—â—â—â—s of the Kingdom But whoso gives the greatest Bribeâ— he shall overcome For it is a common sayâ—ing in this Land That he that has Mâ—ney to see the Iudge needs not fear nor â—are whether his cause â—e right or not The greatest Punishment that these Iudges can inâ—lâ—â—â— upon the greatest Malefactors is but Imprisonment From which Money will release them Sâ—me have adventured to Appeal to the King sometimes â—alling down on the ground before him at his coming â—orth which is the manner of their obeâ—sance to him to complain oâ— Injustice Sometimes he will give order to the great ones to do them râ—ght and someâ—times â—id them waâ—â— until he is plâ—ased â—o hear the Cause whiâ—h is not suddenly for he is very slow in all his Business neither dare they then depart from the Court having been hidden to stay Where they stay till they are weary being at Expence so that the Remâ—dy is worse than the Disease And sometimes again when they thus â—all before him he commands to â—eâ—t them and put them in Chains for troubling of him and perhaps in that Condition they may lay for some years The King 's great Officers when thâ—y go abroad into the Countriâ—â— about the King's Business they go attended with a number of Soldiers armed both before and behind them their Sword if not by their side a Boy carrieth after them neither do they carry their Swords for their safety or security For in travelling here is little or no dangâ—r at all But it is out of State and to shew their greatness The Custom is that all their journey Victuals â—e prepared for them ready dressed and if their Business requires hastâ— then it is brought on a Pole on a Man's shoulder the Pots that hold it hanging on each end so that nothing can be spilt out into the road and this is got ready against the great Man's coming So that they are at no charge for Diet It is brought in at the charge of the Countrey But however this is not â—or all his Soldiers that attend him they must bring their own Provisions with them but only for himself and some of his Captains The greatest Title that is allowed in the City to be given to the greatest Man is Oussary which signifieth Worshipful But when they are abroad from the King men call them Sâ—hattu and Disâ—ondâ—ew â—mplying Honour and Exâ—ellency These Grandeâ—s whensoever they walk abroad their manner is in State to lean upon the arm of some Man or Boy And the Adigar besides this piece of State wheresoever he goes thâ—re is one with a great Whip like a Coach-whip goes before him slashing it that all People may have notice that the Adigar is coming But there is something comes after that makes all the Honour and Wealth of these great Courtiers not at all desirable and that isâ— that they are so abnoxious to the King's displeasure Which is a thing so customary that it is no disgrace for a Nobleman to have been in Chainsâ— nay and in the Common Goal too And the great Men are as ready when the King Commands to lay hold on one another as he to command them and glad to have the Honour to be the King's Executioners hoping to have the Place and Office of the Executed When any of these are thus dispatched commonly he cuts off or impriâ—oneth all the Male kind that are near of â—in aâ— Sons or Brothers â—â—aring they should plot revenge and seizes on all
to reside in The Countrey being hot and their Houses dark and dirty my Father chose an open House having only a Roof but no Walls Wherein they placed a Cot or Bedstead only with a Mat upon it for him which in their Account is an extraordinary Lodging and for me a Mat upon the Ground Moneys at that time were very low with us For although we wanted not for opportunity to send for what we would have brought unto unto us from the Ship yet fearing we should be plundered of it sent not for any thing only a Pillow for my Father For we held it a point without dispute that they that made Prisoners of our Bodies would not spare to take our Goods my Father also alledging that he had rather his Children at home should enjoy them But to make amends for that we had our Provisions brought us without money and that twice a Day so much as we could eat and as good as their Countrey yielded to wit a Pot of good Rice and three Dishes of such things as with them is accounted good Cheer one always either Flesh Fish or Eggs but not over much of this Dish the other Dishes Herbs Pumkins or such like one of which is always made sower The first year that we were brought into this Town this part of the Land was extraordinary Sickly by Agues and Feavours whereof many People dyed insomuch that many times we were forced to remain an hungry there being none well enough either to boil or bring Victuals unto us We had with us a Practice of Piety and Mr. Rogers seven Treatises called the Practice of Christianity With which companions we did frequently discourse and in the cool of the Evening walk abroad in the Fields for a refreshing tyred with being all day in our House or Prison This Course lasted until God was pleased to visit us both with the Countrey Sickness Ague and Feavour The sight of my Fathers misery was farmore grievous unto me than the sence of my own that I must be a Spectator of his Affliction and not any ways able to help him And the sight of me so far augmented his grief that he would often say What have I done when I charged you to come ashore to me again your dutifulness to me hath brought you to be a Captive I am old and cannot long hold out but you may live to see many days of Sorrow if the mercy of God do not prevent it But my prayers to God for you shall not be wanting that for this cause he would visit you with his Mercy and bestow on you a Blessing My Father's Ague lasted not long but deep grief daily more and more increased upon him which so over-whelmed even his very heart that with many a bitter sigh he used to utter these words These many years even from my youth have I used the Seas in which time the Lord God hath deliverâ—d me from a multitude of Dangers rehearsing to me what great Dangers he had been in in the Straits by the Turks and by other Enemies and also in many other places too large here to insert and always how merciful God was to him in delivering him out of them all So that he never knew what it was to be in the hand of an Enemy But now in his old Age when his head was grown grey to be a Captive to the Heathen and to leave his Bones in the Eastern Parts of the World when it was his hopes and intention if God permitted him to finish this Voyage to spend and end the residue of his days at home with his Children in his Native Countrey and to settle me in the Ship in his stead the thoughts of these things did even break his heart Upwards of three Months my Father lay in this manner upon his Bed having only under him a Mat and the Carpet he sat upon in the Boat when he came ashore and a small Quilt I had to cover him withall And I had only a Mat upon the Ground and a Pillow to lay on and nothing to cover me but the Cloths on my back but when I was cold or that my Ague came upon me I used to make a Fire Wood costing nothing but the fetching We had a black Boy my Father brought from Porto Nova to attend upon him who seeing his Master to be a Prisoner in the hands of the People of his own Complexion would not now obey his Command further than what agreed unto his own humour neither was it then as we thought in our Power to compel or make him but it was our ignorance As for me my Ague now came to a settled course that is once in three days and so continued for Sixteen Months time There appearing now to us no probability whereupon to build any hopes of Liberty the sence of it struck my Father into such an Agony and strong Passion of Grief that once I well remember in Nine days time nothing came into his mouth but cold water neither did he in three Months together ever rise up out of his Bed but when the course of Nature required it always groaning and sighing in a most piteous manner which for me to hear and see come from my dear Father my self also in the same Condition did almost break my heart But then I felt that Doctrine most true which I had read out of Mr. Roger's Book That God is most sweet when the world is most bitter In this manner my Father lay until the Ninth of February 16 60 61. By which time he was consumed to an Anatomy having nothing left but Skin to cover his Bones yet he often would say That the very sound of Liberty would so revive him that it would put strength into his Limbs But it was not the will of him to whom we say Thy will be done to have it so The evening before his Death he called me to come near his Bed side and to sit down by him at which time also I had a strong Feavor upon me This done he told me That he sensibly felt his life departing from him and was assured that this Night God would deliver him out of this Captivity and that he never thought in all his Life-time that Death could be so easie and welcom to any Man as God had made it to be to him and the joyes he now felt in himself he wanted utterance to express to me He told me These were the last words that ever he should speak to me and bid me well regard and be sure to remember them and tell them to my Brother and Sister if it pleased God as he hoped it would to bring us together in England where I should find all things settled to my contentation relating to me after what manner he had settled his Estate by Letters which he sent from Cotiar In the first place and above all He charged me to serve God and with
trusty than his own People With these he often discourses concerning the Affairs of their Countreys and promotes them to places far above their Ability and sometimes their Degree or Desert And indeed all over the Land they do bear as it were a natural respect and reverence to White Men in as much as Black they hold to be inferior to White And they say the Gods are White and that the Souls of the Blessed after the Resurrection shall be White and therefore that Black is a rejected and accursed colour And as further signs of the King's favour to them there are many Privileges which White Men have and enjoy as tolerated or allowed them from the King which I suppose may proceed from the aforesaid Consideration as to wear any manner of Apparel either Gold Silver or Silk Shoes and Stockings a shoulder Belt and Sword their Houses may be whitened with Lime and many such like things all which the Chingulayes are not permitted to do He will also sometimes send â—or them into his Presence and discourse familiarly with them and entertain them with great Civilities especially white Ambassadors They are greatly chargeable unto his Countrey but he regards it not in the least So that the People are more like Slaves unto us than we unto the King In as much as they are inforced by his Command to bring us maintenance Whose Poverty is so great oftentimes that for want of what they supply us with themselves their Wives and Children are forced to suffer hunger this being as a due Tax imposed upon them to pay unto us Neither can they by any Power or Authority refuse the Payment hereof to us For in my own hearing the People once complaining of their Poverty and Inability to give us any longer our Allowance the Magistrate or Governor replied It was the King's special Command and who durst disannul it And if otherwise they could not supply us with our maintenance he bad them sell their Wives and Children rather than we should want of our due Such is the favour that Almighty God hath given Christian People in the sight of this Heathen King whose entertainment and usage of them is thus favourable If any enquire into the Religious exercise and Worship practised among the Christians here I am sorry I must say it I can give but a slender account For they have no Churches nor no Priests and so no meetings together on the Lord's Dayes for Divine Worship but each one Reads or Prays at his own House as he is disposed They Sanctifie the Day chiefly by refraining work and meeting together at Drinking-houses They continue the practice of Baptism and there being no Priests they Baptize their Children themselves with Water and use the words In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and give them Christian Names They have their Friends about them at such a time and make a small Feast according to their Ability and some teach their Children to say their Prayers and to Read and some do not Indeed their Religion at the best is but Negative that is they are not Heathen they do not comply with the Idolatry here practised and they profess themselves Christians in a general manner which appears by their Names and by their Beads and Crosses that some of them wear about their Necks Nor indeed can I wholly clear them from complyance with the Religion of the Countrey For some of them when they are Sick do use the Ceremonies which the Heathen do in the like case as in making Idols of clay and setting them up in their Houses and Offering Rice to them and having Weavers to Dance before them But they are ashamed to be known to do this and I have known none to do it but such as are Indians born Yet I never knew any of them that do inwardly in Heart and Conscience incline to the ways of the Heathen but perfectly abhor them nor have there been any I ever heard of that came to their Temples upon any Religious account but only would stand by and look on without it were one old Priest named Padre Vergonce a Genoez born and of the Iesuits Order who would go to the Temples and eat with the Weavers and other ordinary People of the Sacrifices offered to the Idols but with this Apology for himself that he eat it as common Meat and as God's Creature and that it was never the worse for their Superstition that had past upon it But however this may reflect upon the Father another thing may be related for his Honour There happened two Priests to fall into the hands of the King on whom he conferred great Honours for having laid aside their Habits they kept about his Person and were the greatest Favourites at Court The King one day sent for Vergonse and asked him if it would not be better for him to lay aside his old Coat and Cap and to do as the other two Priests had done and receive Honour from him He replied to the King That he boasted more in that old habit and in the Name of Iesus than in all the honour that he could do him And so refused the King's Honour The King valued the Father for this saying He had a pretty Library about him and died in his Bed of old Age whereas the two other Priests in the King's Service died miserably one of a Canker and the other was slain The old Priest had about Thiâ—ty or Forty Books which the King they say seized on after his Death and keeps These Priests and more lived there but all deceased excepting Vergonse before my time The King allowed them to build a Church which they did and the Portugueze assembled there but they made no better than a Bawdy-house of it for which cause the King commanded to pull it down Although here be Protestants and Papists yet here are no differences kept up among them but they are as good Friends as if there were no such Parties And there is no other Distinctions of Religion there but only Heathens and Christians and we usually say We Christians FINIS Books printed for and sold by Richard Chiswel FOLIO SPEED's Maps and Geography of Great Britain and Ireland and of Foreign Parts Dr. Cave's Lives of the Primitive Fathers Dr. Cary's Chronological Account of Anciâ—â—t time Wanly's Wonders of the little World or History of Man Sir Tho. Herbert's Travels into Persia c. Holyoak's large Dictionary Latin and English Sir Richard Baker's Chronicle of England Causâ—n's Holy Court Wilson's compleat Christian Dictionary Bishop Wilkin's Real Character or Philosophical Language Pharmacopaeia Regalis Collegii Medicorum Londinensis reformata Iudge Ione's Reports in Common â—â—w Iudge Vauâ—han's Reports in Common Law Cave Tabulae Ecclesiasticorum Scriptorum Hobbe's Leviathan Lord Bacon's Advancement of Learning Sir W. Dugdale's Baronage of England in 2 Vol. QUARTO DR Littleton's Dictionary Bishop Nicâ—olson on the Church