Jurisdiction extends over many Cities Towns and Villages wherein none of his Neighbors can equal him Besides he holds as Tributaries the Kingdom of Istama Forkado Jaboe Isago and Oedobo For the more orderly Government of the Kingdom he makes three chief Counsellors in Great Benyn call'd by the Portuguese Figdares who manage the Affairs of the whole Countrey under the King besides whom none superior to them but the Field-Martial and the King's Mother These have Command over every Corner and Quarter of the City and draw great Profit from thence their Names of Office being Ongogue Ossade and Arribo These send into every City or Town a certain number of Noble-men call'd also Fiadoors who decide all Causes except such as relate to Life and Limb and may condemn the guilty Person according to the greatness of his Offence in a Mulct or Penalty but those greater Trials are sent to Benyn to be decided where the Courts of Justice sit But the Judges oftentimes though unknown to the King yet not without the connivance of some of the greatest Fiadoors are Brib'd to partiality The present King keeps a thousand Wives The King of Benyn keeps many Wives for by the Death of his Father Kambadie such Women as had been taken up for his use but never known by him became his Sons by Inheritance the rest with whom the Father had familiarly conversed may never Marry again but are shut up together in a Cloyster and kept by Eunuchs This Prince makes great Wars against his Neighbors towards the East and North winning from them many Cities and Towns He makes great Wars and thereby enriching his Treasury with great Booty of Jasper-Stones and other things He keeps such a reserv'd State Comes but once a year out of his Court. that he appears but once a year at the chief Festival out of his Court before the Commons and then on Horseback adorn'd with all sorts of Royal Ornaments and attended with three or four hundred Noble-men both on Horseback and on Foot and many Musitians before and after in that manner as is mention'd in the foregoing Description of the City of Benyn But he rides not far onely fetching a little compass soon returns As an Ornament to this short Cavalcade he exposes to sight some tame Leopards Chain'd which he keeps for his Recreation many Dwarfs and Fools to shew mimick Tricks and antick Postures and make Pastime for the People At this Festival ten twelve thirteen or more Slaves for the honour of the King are put to death which they believe after they have been a while dead are going to another Countrey and there reviving enjoy the greatest felicity imaginable Upon another Day the King sheweth his Riches consisting in Jasper-Stone Coral and other Commodities before all Men hanging out to publick view and then he bestows many Presents of Slaves Women and other things on the well-deserving And also confers on his Favorites many Offices which concern the Government of Cities and Towns The King's Mother The King's Mother is in great Honour for her greater honour hath a particular Palace without the City rich and stately built where she keeps Court with many Women and Maids Attendants and so highly esteem'd that her Counsel is us'd in all Causes of the Land yet nevertheless by a particular Custom which they term Law the King and his Mother may not see one another as long as they live When a King dies The Funeral of the King a great Cave is digg'd in his Court broad below and narrow above and so deep that the Diggers must be drown'd in the Water In this Cave they put the Corps and then all his Favorites and Servants appear to accompany and serve him in the other Life and when they are gone down to the Corps in the Cave they set a great Stone over the Mouth the People that day and night standing round about it The next day some go to the Cave and removing the Stone ask them within What they do and If none be gone to serve the King To which then perhaps nothing else is answer'd but No. The third day they ask the same Question and then sometimes receive answer That such are the first and those and those are the second whom they highly praise and esteem happy At length after four or five or more days the Men dead and none left to give answer they give account thereof to the new establish'd King who presently makes a great Fire over the Cave whereat spending a great quantity of Flesh to give away to the Common-People so solemnizeth his Inauguration After the Cave stopp'd many Men as they pass along the Streets and some in their own Houses are struck down dead whose Heads cover'd with a Cloth none dare remove but so let it lie to be devour'd by Carnifferous Fowl which are of these two sorts one call'd Goere and the other Akalles Some hold opinion that into the foremention'd Cave no living but onely the Trunks of beheaded Men are put as also that they throw in great part of his Royal Vesture Houshold-stuff and other Wealth By the King's Order yearly Festivals are kept The Festival time of the deceased King in Commemoration of the deceased Kings wherein they make horrible Sacrifices of Men and Beasts to the number of four or five hundred but never more than three and twenty in a day most of them Malefactors who have deserv'd Death and reserv'd in the Trunk of a Tree for this Time But if it happen that there be not Malefactors enough then the King to compleat the number sends for some of his Servants in the Evening into the Streets to take all those that go without Lights and bring them into the Prison If the surprised be a poor or idle person he must expect no favor but hurri'd to Prison soon receives his doom but a rich Man may redeem himself The greatest Fiadoors cannot excuse their Slaves from this duty but by another And in this manner the Fetisero's intending to make a humane Sacrifice to the Devil gets a Man by order from the Court which they may dispose of as they please The Crown descends to the Sons and for want of Sons to the Brothers When the King lieth upon his Death-bed he sends for one of his Nobility The Inheritance whom they call Onegwa to whom he declares the right of Succession and who shall be his Heir which this Noble-man does reveal to none till a competent time after the King's Death but then takes upon him the oversight of the deceased King 's Goods and Children who come with great humility and Salute him not as yet knowing who shall Inherit the Crown Every one makes address to this Onegwa with great respect in hopes of future advantage but he continues silent till the appointed time when sending for the Owe-Asserry that is the General tells him which Son the deceased King appointed to Inherit the Crown whereupon the
to Kay the next place to the Royal Seat After the decease of the Mani-Kay immediately enters upon the Government yet comes not presently into the Court but continues near six Moneths in his own City till all Ceremonies of the Burial be perform'd The word Mani signifies Lord or Prince and is the greatest Title of Honour or Expression which they give one among another the King himself hath the Title of Mani-Lovango which signifies Prince of Lovango as Nani-Kay also signifies Lord of Kay Mani-Bocke Lord of Bocke The King and his Brothers are commonly jealous one of another for if any one of them happen to be sick they presently suspect State-policy The King commonly wears Cloth or Stuff which the Portuguese The King's Cloathing or other Whites bring to them The King and great Noble-men have on their left Arm the Skin of a wild Cat sew'd together with one end stuffed round and stiff The King hath peculiar Orders and Customs in Eating and Drinking Customs of the King 's in Eating and Drinking for which he keeps two several Houses one to eat in and the other to drink in and although he hath many Houses yet by vertue of this Custom he may use no other He makes two Meals a day the first in the Morning about ten a Clock where his Meat is brought in cover'd Baskets near which a Man goes with a great Bell to give notice to every one of the coming of the Kings Dishes whereupon the King so soon as he is acquainted with it leaves the Company he is withall and goes thither But the Servitors go all away because none He that sâ—â—s the King Eat must die neither Man or Beast may see him eat but it must die and therefore he eats with his Doors shut How strictly they observe this Custom appears by the ensuing relation A Portuguese of Lovango named St. Paulo lying in Angola to Trade had presented the King with a brave Dog which for his faithfulness he loved very much This Dog not so strictly look'd to by his Keeper while the King was eating ran smelling and seeking after his Master whom he missed and came at length without any body 's minding him to the Door which with his Nose he thrust open and went to the King whom he saw eating but the King caused his Servants instantly with a Rope to put the Dog to death for be it Man or Child Mouse Cat or Dog or any other living Creature that hath seen the King eat if it can be gotten it escapes not death It happened that a Noble-man's Child about seven or eight years old who was with his Father in the King's Banquetting-house fell asleep and when the King was drinking awaked whereupon it was instantly sentenc'd to die with a reprieve only for six or seven days at the Fathers request that time elapsed the Child was struck upon the Nose with a Smiths Hammer and the blood dropped upon the King's Makisies and then with a Cord about his Neck was dragg'd upon the Ground to a broad Way to which Malefactors are drawn which cannot bear the trial of the Bonde When the King hath done eating he goes accompanied in State with the Nobility Officers and common People to his Banquetting-house the greatest and most sumptuous Structure in all his Court scituate on a Plain fenced with Palm-Tree Boughs wherein the most difficult causes of difference are decided and determin'd in his presence This House stands with the fore-side open The King's Banquetting-house to receive all advantages of the Air about twenty Foot backward is a Skreen or Partition made cross one side eight Foot broad and twelve Foot long where they keep the Palm-Wine to preserve it from the sight of the People This Partition hath Hangings from the top to the bottom of fine Wrought Tufted or Quilted Leaves call'd by them Kumbel close to which appears a Tial or Throne made with very fine little Pillars of white and black Palmito-Branches artificially Wrought in the manner of Basket-work The Throne holds in length The Royal Throne a Man's Fathom in heighth a Foot and a half and in breadth two Foot on each side stand two great Baskets of the same work made of red and black Wicker wherein as the Blacks say the King keeps some familiar Spirits for the Guard of his Person next him sit on each side a Cup-bearer he on the right hand reaches him the Cup when he is minded to drink but the other on the left onely gives warning to the People to that end holding in his hands two Iron Rods about the bigness of a Finger and pointed at the end which he strikes one against another at which sound the People who are commonly as well within the House as without with all speed groveling into the Sand with their Faces and continue in that posture so long as the same Irons continue the voyce or signal that is till he hath done drinking and then they rise up again and according to custom signifie that they wish him health with clapping their hands which they hold for as great an honour as with us in Europe the putting off the Hat Now as none may see the King Eat or Drink without bazard of death None may see the King 〈◊〉 so no Subject may drink in his presence but must turn his Back towards him But the King drinks here seldom except for fashion-sake and then not till about six a Clock in the Evening or half an hour later if any difficult controversie hath been in debate but sometimes he goes thence at four and recreates himself among the Wines About an hour after Sun-set he comes the second time to the aforemention'd Place to Eat where again as before his Meal is made ready After which he visits his Banquetting-house again where he remains for about nine hours sometimes not so long as he finds himself dispos'd or indispos'd In the night one or two Torches are carried before him to Light him None may drink out of his Cup besides himself nor any eat of the Food he hath tasted but the remainder must be buried in the Earth The Stool or Seat whereon he then sits stands raised upon a Foot-pace The King's Seat dressed with white and black Wickers very artificially Woven and other sorts of curious adornings behind his Back hangs on a Pole a Shield cover'd with divers party-colour'd Stuffs brought out of Europe Near him stand also six or eight Fanns by them call'd Pos or Mani Fanne and containing in length and breadth half a Fathom at the upper end of a long Stick which runs through the middle of it having a round Brim in form of a half Globe fasten'd interwoven with little Horns and with white and black Parrots Feathers between Those Fanns certain People which the King keeps for that purpose move with great force which agitating the Air causes a refreshing and pleasant coolness Before the King's Seat lieth spread a
him good success the Blacks do him a kind of Homage lying down upon both Knees clapping their hands and kissing the King's Hand the Portuguese sit kneeling upon one Knee and so the Priests and Clergy by that humble posture acknowledging his Soveraignty After the eight days past the King appears in the Market and makes a Speech to the People expressing his readiness for the performing of that which was propounded to him with assurance to them that he will seek nothing more than the quiet and welfare of his Kingdoms and Subjects and the propagating of the Christian Faith The People of Congo take the Oath of Fidelity to their King like other Christians but forget it quickly Murdering him upon any sleight occasion either by Insurrections or Treason so that within these forty or fifty years they have had many Kings for if all things go not to their minds or if it Rains too much or too little or if any other accident happens the King bears the blame The Earl of Songo the most Potent in all Congo was subject to this King but considering the Woods of Findemguolla which surrounds his Countrey like a Bulwark he fortifi'd it and made it almost impregnable so casting off the Yoke he will not acknowledge the King of Congo for his Soveraign but onely as a Friend of Songo Formerly this Earl before the taking of the City Lovando St. Paulo by the Netherlanders in the Year Fifteen hundred forty and three by instigation of the Portuguese would have burnt their Ware-houses but that he was afterwards prevented and his anger aswaged This Province of Songo yields Copper There is Copper in Sougo much better than that of Congo and some Cotton but they Vend little of it In the Year sixteen hundred thirty six Wars between the King of Songo and the Earl of Souho the King of Congo Don Alvares the second of that Name for some cause given by the foremention'd Earl with a great Company of Men and the assistance of a Company of eighty Portuguese Soldiers of Lovando St. Paulo drew into the Field But the Songo's by a sudden Sallying out of the Wood The Overthrow of the King of Congo routed the King's Army and took him Prisoner so that for his release and restoration to his Kingdom he was forced to give to the Earl two Territories the one a Principality call'd Mokata a great Land of Tillage lying where the River Zair bordereth nearest to Songo Yet afterwards the Quarrel was renew'd and Forces on both sides drawn into the Field A second Overthrow and the Controversie coming to be decided by the Sword the King lost the Day and together with it many Slaves These two Victories exceedingly puffed up the Earl It was imputed to the King as a great miscarriage that this last he drew into the Field with a small Force whereas he hath innumerable People under his Command but this oversight he quickly amended and hath taken severe revenge of the Songo's for the Losses formerly received But this kept them not long quiet A new War for the old Earl being dead in the Year Sixteen hundred forty and one there arose a new and bloody War between the King and the Earl Don Daniel du Silva arising upon this ground When after the Decease of Don Michael who Rul'd about the Year Sixteen hundred and six his Son the foremention'd Don Daniel du Silva could not come to succeed because a Faction rais'd against him was too strong he fled to the Duke of Bamba in whose Court he remain'd a long time but at last by the help of his Confederates got the possession of his Inheritance and burning with revenge for his sufferings and disgrace he gave occasion of Quarrel by refusing to request of the King of Congo according to the old Custom the confirmation of his Possessions first accusing him as one that had a hand in his long Expulsion and therewithall adding that the Election of his Subjects did enough confirm him in his Government and therefore he needed no other The King of Congo enraged hereat and accounting it a great dis-reputation and diminution to his Royal Authority to be so Bearded as a manifestation of his high displeasure placed his Son the Prince Don Alphonso in the Principality of Makata formerly given as we have said to the Earl of Songo for releasing of the King Don Alvarez giving him in charge not onely to keep it but from thence to make War upon the Earl Hereupon Discontents daily growing on the King of Congo raised a great Army which he gave to Don Alphonso who therewith invaded Songo and using all the extremities of War both against his Countrey and Subjects But the Songo's a very Warlike People in the Year Sixteen hundred forty and five the nine and twentiteth of April in a Pitch'd Battel defeated and put to flight the King's Army and took the fore-mention'd Prince of Mokata together with many Grandees Prisoners and according to the Custom of the Countrey chopt off all their Heads onely he kept Alphonso Prisoner being his Cousin and would not suffer him to depart from him The King by this overthrow provoked more than ever to take revenge raised in the following Year so great a Force that he doubted not therewith to over-run the whole Earldom at once Of this Army consisting of almost all the Nobility together with three or four hundred Moulatto's the Duke of Bamba was made General and therewith drew near to the Borders of Songo but was unawares fall'n upon by an Ambuscade out of the Wood Emtinda Guola on the last of July and his Army not onely totally defeated A third Overthrow but the Duke himself necessitated to yield to the Earl some Places and Countreys The Duke of Bamba taken Prisoner before wrested from him for the release of Prince Alphonso his Son Who was no sooner come home in safety but the Congo's inclin'd to the old revenge and not being able to digest the disgrace began new Quarrels which quickly broke forth into a great flame During this War the King sent Ambassadors with Letters to Brazile to Grave Maurice Ambassadors sent both from Congo and Songo to Brazile who had the Government of that Countrey for the States of Holland together with many Slaves for a Present to the Council and two hundred more with a Gold Chain to Grave Maurice himself Not long after their arrival came thither also three Ambassadors from the Earl one of which was Shipt from thence to Holland to the States the two other required of Grave Maurice that he would give no Assistance to the King of Congo which in some manner he hearkned to and to that end wrote Letters to their Governors in Congo and Angola not to intermeddle in the Wars of these two Princes for that they were both in League with the Hollanders Afterwards the King and the Duke of Bamba the second time sent Ambassadors to Grave
in the Tartarian Tongue A Kingdom full of Mountains and Desarts contains Tartary Scythia and the Countreys of Gog and Magog Now Cathay is divided into the greater and the less Great Cathay spreads through an unfrequented Tract of Land namely from the Mountain Caucasus between that side of the Icy Sea and the Mountains of China to the Indian Sea whereas some will have it joyn at the out-lying Point of America But Little Cathay is that Countrey which borders on North-China commonly call'd Thebes In all this far spreading Countrey of Cathay one may see that this supposed most mighty Emperor Prester-John had the Dominion over seventy two Kingdoms partly Christians and partly Heathens though by the great numbers of Kingdoms he hath gotten many Names to the great distraction both of Historians and Geographers For some make him to be one and the same with the great Cham others call him Ashid some with the Abyssines call him Juchanes Belul that is Precious John Some as Godignus with no improbable Reasons will have it that by his Subjects for their high esteem of the Prophet Jonas he is call'd Joanne a Name common to all those that ever did possess this Kingdom though in these Western Parts he is commonly call'd by the Latin Churches Joannes with the additional surname of Prester not that he ever was a Priest but because according to the Custom of the Arch-bishop in the time of Peace had a Cross carried before him at his going out but ontring upon the Wars two Cross-bearers went before him the one with a Cross of Gold and the other with a Cross beset with Precious Stones for a token of his defending the Worship of God for which reason Scaliger derives his Name from the Persian Word Prestigiani which signifieth Apostolick which the Europeans understanding amiss call'd him in stead of Prestigiani Prester-John Many years did this Kingdom of Prester-John flourish in Asia till it fell to one David who by one of his supreme Commanders call'd Cinge chosen Emperor by the Army and the Scythians who in stead of Prester styl'd him Uncam In the Year Eleven hundred seventy eight it was overcome in Battel whereby the glory of this Empire and the Name of Prester-John came in effect to an end to the great loss and prejudice of Christendom But by what mistake the Name of Prester-John came to the Emperor of Abyssine we will in brief declare When the Portuguese with their Fleets were busie in discovering strange Countreys there was a great noyse through all Europe of Prester-John and his Excellency reported a most powerful Emperor Lord of many Kings and of the Christian Religion but unknown in what place he had his abode For which cause when Pike Kovillan sent by John the second King of Portugal first over the Mediterranean Sea and afterwards by Land to seek out this Prince coming into India and hearing that in Abyssine or that Ethiopia which lieth below Egypt was a great and powerful Prince who professed the Christian Religion he went thither and finding many things in him which was reported of the true Prester-John he took him for the same Person and was the first that call'd him by that Name which others that went the ensuing year into Abyssine follow'd and so easily brought the mistake into Europe the Emperor of Abyssine being ever since call'd Prester-John Yet Damianus a Goez in his Book of the Nature and Customs of the Abyssines positively denies that the King of Abyssine was ever call'd Prester-John so that in truth that Name properly belongs to the foremention'd Prince of Asia But seeing that Custom hath almost made it a Law and the Kingdom of Prester-John in Asia already overwhelm'd the Name of Prester-John may conveniently be applied and fixed upon the Abyssine King of Africa professing the Christian Religion Every Substitute Kingdom as Tigre Gambea Goiame Amara Narea hath a Deputy to Rule it in the Name of the Emperor and the like hath every Territory Besides the Vice-Roy of Tigre bears the Title Tigra Mahon and must always be of the Royal Stock Him of the Countrey next to the Red Sea they stile Barnagas that is King of the Sea not that he properly Commands over the Countreys by the Sea for they are under the Turks but because the Countrey over which he Commands lieth nearer to Sea than any other part of Tigre He hath his abode most in the City Barva or Debaroa and winneth great Respect as well among his own People as Strangers The Government of the Kingdom is administred with Discretion and Justice which hath advanced the honor of the King both at home and abroad The Judges shew great severity in punishing Offenders according to the several qualities of their Crimes viz. such as shrink from the right and true Faith and change their Opinion the People stone to death but those which totally Apostatize or blaspeme God and the Ghost are publickly burn'd alive Murderers they deliver to the nearest Relations of the Murthered to revenge themselves on him according to their pleasure Thieves have their Eyes put out and afterwards by Judgment are appointed for Slaves of the Empire and given to the Guides with whom they may go all the Countrey over to earn their Living by Singing and Playing on Instruments but with this Proviso not to stay above one day in a place upon penalty of losing their lives Other small Offences they punish with Whipping In the Succession of the Crown the eldest takes place after the Father but for want of Issue-male the most worthy Person of the next in Blood is chosen Others affirm that Seniority creates no Claim but that the Crown falls to him whom the Father makes choice of on his Death-bed but that seems improbable because the intended Successor lives at large in the Courts whereas the rest are kept on the Mountain Amara and if he die another whom the greatest at the Court do judge fittest for the Crown is sent for out The great and famous Island Meroe lies divided between three Kings which oftentimes War with one another the first is a Mahumetan Moor the second an Idolater descended from the Blood of the right Ethiopians the third a Christian Abyssine and acknowledges that King for his Lord. The first King of Ethiopia or Abyssinie The Order or List of the Kings of Abyssine whereof we have certain knowledge by the information of holy Scripture was Chus the Son of Cham who took possession thereof immediately after the Flood six other Kings following him whose Names and the time of their Reign remains unknown But when the Royal Seat was planted in the City Axum where it remained till the coming in of Christ they began to keep a Chronological Register but was afterwards transplanted to Sceva or Saba The Kings that Reigned in Axum and Saba are set down to the number of a hundred fifty eight by the following order  Years Arue Reigned 400 Agabo his Father a Murtherer
the Dead happy by a Heavenly influence with a Divine dew of the Spirit The Wisdom of the Sun quicken it with his own Heavenly dew Hermanubis bring it with his Ruling influence into the Garden of Osyris In another rank sometimes stands aloft upon a Serpent with a half circle and an out-stretched Arm an Image revers'd and looking backwards toward an Altar a Wreathed Cord with three Blossoms of the Plant Lotus a hooded Fowl upon two Scepters one Scepter two Semi-circles an Eye a Fowl with extended Wings a crooked stump with a Mans Foot of which Father Kircher gives this Explanation The Tutelar God moved by Offerings and due and acceptable Solemnities grant life to this Corps and bring this Body into the Heavenly Constellations Whence it appears that the Hieroglyphicks were set upon these Urns for no other ends but that the Deity moved and drawn thereby should first protect the Body against all Infirmities and afterwards bring it to the Heavenly habitations with all good success and satisfaction Some Coffins or Urns are inscribed with Dogs-heads Rolls of Paper found in the Mummies Others have representations of the Anatomies or Dissections of Bodies to be Embalmed with the Balsam pots about them In these Chests sometimes are found Labels of Paper rowled up one in another written with abundance of these Characters for this Sacred Learning in the opinion of the Egyptians did not onely signifie hidden things but had also a great power and vertue in them to procure the Protection of the Gods to whomsoever they were thus affixed In these Rolls the chiefest Portraitures of the Gods which are also sculp'd upon the Pyramids and in the very same order as they use to be carryed about in Solemn Festivals call'd Comasien after the manner of Procession for they placed a great Mysterie in the graceful and sumptuous order of the Gods marching decently one after another For this very cause were these Images set by the Corps to protect them from all adverse and evil Spirits and to lead the Souls to Blisse These Rollers therefore describe onely the Funeral Pomp or Solemnity of Burials The Funeral Pomp of the Egyptians which they carry forth most sumptuously those especially of Kings Priests and other persons of great Quality bearing several Images of most of the Gods upon Sacred Supporters thereby to procure their grace and favour to the deceased Party The Portraiture of two such Funeral Solemnities What Figures stood upon it according to the Draughts found in the Mummies are to be seen in Kircher's Book of the Mummies where you may find according to this Method Isis of Memphis with Strings and a Scarf upon her head and out-stretched Arms and Hands signifying the Spirit of the Deceased The Goddess Nemphte and the God Anubis with Arrows and Darts in their Hands Two other Images of Anubis and Nephte upon their knees adorn'd also with Darts and Sycles The two first which go upright seem to be Priests of Anubis and Nephte whose Images they follow'd to reconcile those Gods A Serpent with his Breast and Head raised up An Image with a mans Face but the Body of a Serpent representing the Spirit of the World A Tripos or Trevet joyn'd by three Angles Two Dogs sitting as Warders of their Sacred Dominions Two bundles of offensive Weapons with a Caduceus and Ball therein out of which creeps a Serpent A Bar between Perches whereupon stood two Falcons covered with a consecrated Cloth A Biere with the Funeral Bed of Memphti the Tutelar God of Nilus and Anubis under it The Veil of Horus The Scepter of Monphti Water-pots and an Egyptian Bani or Ship with other Images belonging to the adornment of their several Mummies At length the Corps or the Mummy Embalmed and wound up with many folds and dress'd with various remarkable Characters After that a humane Figure with erected Arms and a Tail pendant which they use to carry about at Anniversary Obsequies or Annual Celebrations of Funerals Several other Images also headed like a Hawk and Bodied like a Serpent at last seven Oxen with a covering cast over their Backs signifying the seven days and a * Which we may suppose to be six hours quarter that concern the Birth of the Goddess Isis during which time none according to the received opinion are hurt by the Crocodiles and that there is a cessation of punishment from any of their offended Deities After all this followed several other Images This is the representation of an Egyptian Funeral Solemnity for in such Order they march which as a hidden matter full of Mysteries the Egyptians describe upon the mentioned Rolls of Paper firmly believing that the Corps will thereby remain freed from the vengeance of those Deities Some with much mistake have judg'd that the life and praise of the Deceased is Hieroglyphically described hereby but the former Descriptions have sufficiently declared the contrary The antient Romans have wholly and altogether followed the Egpptians in their Funeral Solemnities Gutherus as Gutherus in his Book of The Jurisdiction of Spirits sets forth in like manner also have all the usual Ceremonies which the old Romans observ'd toward their Corps had their original from them Many Mummies have under their Tongue a small Plate of Gold of the value of two Duckats Gold Plates in the Mummies for covetousness of which the Arabians and others which dwell in Egypt break up most of the Mummies which they finde undefaced Among several which have treated of the Mummies Athanasius Kircher in his Book of the Egyptian Hieroglyphicks Johannes Nardius in his Exposition of Lucretius and Peter de la Valla deserve singular esteem The two first for the exact description of the Mummies and the last for not onely describing but also for his diligent searching of them among which he found two most remarkable one of a Man and the other a Woman which he exactly describes in this manner Upon a piece of a great gilded Winding-sheet that lay flat upon the Mummy The Description of the Mummy of a young Man was the shape of a young Man in a long Veil of fine Linnen as the antient Egyptians used to be cloth'd artificially represented and all over from head to foot delineated with Hieroglyphicks The Head was cover'd with a Wreath of Gold and Pretious Stones under which black-colour'd Hair appear'd in like manner the Beard was black and curl'd but small On his Neck he had a Gold Chain with a piece of Coyn like a Single-penny on his Breast such as the Governors of Provinces in Egypt wore formerly whereupon the Bird Ibis with several observable Marks were pourtrayed which seems to import that this young Man had been of quality in his time He held in his right Hand a Golden Cup with red Liquor for a token of presenting the Drink-offering and in his left Hand a Fruit not unlike a Malacatoon with a Gold Ring on the fore and little finger He had on
of Red or other Colour with Caps of Linnen or Silk and on their Feet a kind of Slippers or single-soal'd Shooes which they call Reyas The Women pride themselves in much Linnen The Habit of the Women their wide Smocks being several Ells in the hem with large Linnen Drawers or Calsoons which come down to the Calf of the Leg. In Summer they have Bonnets of Silk in Winter of Linnen in stead of a Mantle they cast over them long pieces of Cloth call'd by the Inhabitants Likares trim'd with Embroidery or Fringes which they clasp together with a Buckle either of Gold or Silver Brass or Iron according as the Wearers ability will extend which it seems was antient there by Virgils Description of Dido Virgil. In their Ears they wear Jewels rich Neck-laces and Bracelets of Pearl which they call Gagales ¶ SEveral Languages are here spoken viz. the Morisk Arabick and Gemmick Tongues The Morisk is the antient African or rather a mixture of several Tongues with a dash of Arabick for they speak it not pure because of their converse with Forreign People whereby are introduced many strange words the Gemmick is half Spanish and half Portugues There is another Speech call'd Tamacete used by the People which dwell between Morocco and Tarudant Northerly of Mount Atlas and boast themselves to come of a Christian Parentage ¶ Every Mahumentan may by the Alcoran lawfully have four Wives The Marriage-condition from any of which he may divorce at his pleasure and take other When any man intends to Wed they have a Caziz Notary and Witnesses the Notary makes a seal'd Agreement of all that the Man promises to give his intended Bride for a Marriage-Portion which they call Codaka which he must give if at any time he part from her If a Woman will part from her Husband she loseth her Marriage-Goods Besides their Wives they may keep as many Concubines as they are able to maintain out of which the King may choose one to bestow upon his Favorites They count it no Crime to obstuprate their Slaves White or Black The King hath commonly four Wives besides a multitude of Concubines with whom he companies according to the dictates of his wandring Fancy On the day of Marriage The Solemnity of Marriage they set the Bride on a Mule sumptuously adorn'd and set forth begirt with a round Canopy in form of a Tower cover'd with Tapistry after the Turkish Manner so carrying her in State through the whole City follow'd by many Muletts laden with the Goods given her by her intended Husband and attended with Men and Women in great Multitudes After this Calvalcade they go to Feasting which done they remove to a spacious and open Place where all the Kindred and Friends assemble and such as are skil'd in Horsmanship for the space of two hours exercise themselves with Lances before the Bride But Diego de Torres says Cap. 76. the Woman is carried upon a well-furnish'd Camel in a small Castle or Tower call'd by them Gayola and curiously adorn'd and cover'd with thin and single Taffaty that she may easily see through it with a great Train of Followers so is she first brought to her Fathers House and from thence to her Husband where is great Feasting and Mirth If the Husband find she was devirginated before Maquet lib. 3. he immediately sends her away with all he gave her but if he be satisfied of her Chastity her praises are sung through the City and the tokens of his satisfaction publickly shewn which also be carried through the City in token of her being a Maid this was customary among the Jews Into their Church-yards the Women go every Friday and Holy-days to bewail their dead with Blew Mourning Garments on in stead of Black Mourning for the Dead as is the fashion in this Countrey The Revenue of this Kingdom yearly brought into the Kings Chamber or Exchequer is very great and rais'd thus Diego de Torret Botero Relat. univers p. 2. lib. 2. Every Male or Female of twelve Years or according to Botero of five Years old pays four fifths of a Ducat Hearth-Money and the like of every Hearth which by them is call'd Garama For every Bushel of Beans the King receives the second for every Beast the tenth but for every sack of Wheat half a Real Besides these there are other Customs paid upon exported Goods which sometimes they raise high pretending thereby to ease their Subjects However the Christian Merchants for all Commodities either imported or exported pay great Tolls besides a large Sum of Money for License to Trade freely there Lastly The King hath full power over all the Goods of his Subjects What makes the Kings mighty and rich of whom none can claim what he possesses for his own for when the Alkayde that is the Governour of the Countrey and other Officers that take Salary die the King seizes all they left giving to his Son if fit for the Wars his Fathers Imployments but if they be little he maintains them till they can handle a Weapon and the Daughters till they are married Another Device the King uses to possess himself of the Peoples Wealth When he hath intelligence of any rich Person he sends for him and under colour of Favour confers on him some Office that receives a Salary from the Crown in which continuing to his Death makes the King a Title to his Estate which is the cause that every one as well at Morocco as Fez to prevent this inconvenience endeavour to conceal their Wealth and keep as far from Court and the Kings knowledge as possible The King also takes one Beast in twenty and two when the Number riseth to a hundred His Collectors also gather the tenth of all Fruits growing in the Mountains which the People pay as a Rent for their Land ¶ THe English Hollanders and French drive here a notable Trade The Merchandise of several People in this Kingdom carrying thither several Commodities as Cloth c. bringing thence again Turky-Leather Wood Sugar Oyl Gold Wax and other Merchandise having their Consuls resident in the Cities of Sale Zaffi and other Places ¶ THe Inhabitants of Morocco in some things differ among themselves as to Religion most of them follow the Doctrine of the Xerif Hamet The strictness of the Moroccoians in observing Mahomets Doctrine who at first was a Monk but left his Cloister in the Year Fifteen hundred and fourteen and began to set abroach the Enthusiasm of one Elfurkan declaring that the Doctrine of Ali Omar and other Expounders of the Alcoran were only humane Traditions and that men were to observe the pure and single writings of Elfurkan who was a faithful Expositor of the same And as the Turks prohibit any to come into their Mosques that is not of their Religion upon pain of Death So this new Prophet admitted all Nations as well Christians as Jews to hear
they invited to them other exiled Andaluzians by whose help they took up Arms and declar'd themselves no more to be Governed by Kings As soon as the King heard of this Insurrection The Agreement of the King of Fez. he immediately sent an Army thither to block up the City which by the Charm or Magick of a Rebel Santon or Marabou call'd Layassen an inveterate Enemy to the King so routed and afflicted the Royal Army that the King was necessitated to break up the Siege yet before he marched off he made with the Rebels these Articles following That they did acknowledge Him for their Chief and as a Token of their Submission should every Year as a Tribute present some Slaves That the King should appoint them Officers to do Justice and hear and decide Causes among them That the City and the Castle should remain in their Custody Thus rested Affairs for a while but the King at last got possession of the Fort and settled a Garrison in it which the Andaluzian Moors for some time murmur'd at but at length in the Year Sixteen hundred and sixty they began again to take up Arms against those of the Castle New Insurrections of the Andaluzians beleagured before by about two thousand Souldiers of Santa Crux and other Places under the Command of one Hamed Aginnivi which at last so far prevail'd that on the tenth of February the Citizens of both the Cities joined Forces with him to beleaguer and straighten the Castle though with little hope of suddenly obtaining it whereupon in the City they cast up several Works and Fortifications of Loam from whence with Muskets for want of great Guns they daily alarm'd those of the Castle the like did they of Old Salee with their great Guns On the other side the Besieged were not wanting to defend themselves both with great and small Shot which they plyed with such effect that they kill'd many as well in the Works as the Streets whereupon considering with themselves and finding their own strength too weak for their Designs They send a Chief Officer to Gailand they sent to Abdulkada Gailand Lord of Arzile Tituan and Alkazer a chief Officer to crave his Assistance whereto he presently consented dispatching thither Abdelkador Ceron to look to New Salce and Hadzi Fenis with Hadzi Ibrahim Manino to take charge of the Old City Ceron had not long continued in his new Government before he was treacherously surprized in his House his Neck broke and his Body cut to pieces whose Death as it begot no small terror in the hearts of the Citizens so it heighten'd the hopes of those in the Castle Nor did this rebellious Faction contain it self within the Walls but as other infections spread into the Country adjoyning where not onely Towns but every Family were divided into Parties by which Contrast and Separation among themselves minding solely their mad Disputes the Ground lay neglected Tillage and Husbandry thrown by whereby so great a Famine followed that in the Year Sixteen hundred and sixty many thousands perisht for want of sustenance In like manner The secret Conveyance of Provision by the Citizens to them in the Castle those in the Castle were distressed for want of Provisions notwithstanding some Citizens sent them under-hand Supplies almost daily partly out of a sense of their Duty to the King and partly out of a desire of their own gain though upon Discovery many of them were severely punished for it Besides the English were great Supporters of the loyalty of those in the Castle by sending in to them Provision of all kinds from their Ships which then lay in the River as on the contrary the French and Hollanders animated the Rebels In the end The Agreement after the Wars had thus continued a while Sid Tagar Gailand's Brother came with about Three hundred Horse from Arzile to Salee to make a Peace with those of the Castle which upon the fifteenth and sixteenth day of April in the Year Sixteen hundred sixty four was concluded to the great rejoycing of the Inhabitants upon Condition that of all the Contributions or Tenth-Moneys which the Goods imported produced one third Part should go to the Castle another to New Salee and the last third Part to Old Salee On the third of May Gailand was owned by those of the Castle for their Lord and as a token of their Joy these Volleys of Cannon-shot made Proclamation thereof and the next day his Brother Sid Tagar drew away with his Soldiers to Arzile But the fifth of October came Gailand himself in Person accompanied with three or four hundred Horse from Arzile and pitched by the River about eight in the Morning he was invited by the Governor Sid Hamed Aginnivy into the Castle which the next day was deliver'd up The Castle delivered up to Gayland beyond expectation of all that were concern'd which done the sixteenth Gayland withdrew again to Arzile having the before-mention'd Aginnivy and Sid Hamed el Xhymir Governors of it for him The tenth of December Sid Hamed Aginnivy took his Collegue Governor and put him in Hold charging him to have conceal'd a hundred weight of Silver from Sid Abdala the former Lord of the Castle and fined him a thousand Pesoes or Pieces of Eight The twenty ninth of March in the Year Sixteen hundred sixty five another of Gayland's Brothers Sid Sybi came thither and took away with him all the principal Persons of Salee whom on the second of the same month he carried to Arzile thrusting into the City a Garrison of Two thousand Horse and Foot During the time of his stay he was very friendly received by Sid Hamed however he cashiered the old Soldiers of Santa Crux and other Places who had so long guarded the Castle and not only so but took from some of them what they had and Imprison'd others These tyrannies produc'd new Commotions for on the one and thirtieth in the Morning the Andaluzians and their Complices chose Sid Abdulkadar Merino Commander in Chief sending the former Prisoner to the Castle In like manner Xache Brahim Manino Lieutenant of Old Salee they displaced and put into his stead Xache Fenis The first of April Sid Tybi with his own Hand led Sid Hamed Aginnivy out at the Gate of the Castle under the Custody of Abulkadar but after a little stay he was discharged and set at liberty with a Reward of Two hundred Ducats The same Day most of the Women also were sent out of the Castle to Old Salee but Aginnivy not contented with this as he thought too slight a reward the third day after took his Journey towards Arzile to make his Complaint to Gayland But the two and twentieth tidings came to Salee that upon Friday before their Passeover he died suddenly not without great suspicion of Poyson The two and twentieth of August the Governours of the City took Merino and Xache Fenis with one Abulkadar Roxo to Arzile and returned
harrasing he erected this onely for a convenient Retreat for the Army and a Repository for his Booty for the security whereof he environ'd it with impregnable Walls Within he erected a stately Mosque supported with Marble Pillars two of which were of an unvaluable worth being of a red Colour and glistering intermixt with small white Spots like Porphiry but notwithstanding this Strength and Beauty yet is it destitute of water being scituate on a dry and sandy Plain Tobulte or Tabulta Tobulte according to Bertius and by some taken for Adrimentum boasts it self a Roman Foundation standing on the edge of the Midland-Sea three miles Eastward of Monaster One Elugleb being chief Magistrate there by the consent of the Inhabitants erected another goodly Pile of Buildings which they nam'd Recheda adjoyning to it for a Palace for the Prince and his Retinue both which in the Civil Wars of Barbary were greatly defac'd and never since recover'd their former Lustre Arfachus Arfachus otherwise Esfakos or according to Marmol Elfachus thought by some to be Rhuspe of Ptolomy and by others Tafrute built by the Moors at the Mediterranean-Sea heretofore handsomely Wall'd and very Populous but now can shew not above four hundred mean Houses ¶ THe Sandy-Plain about Kayravan bears neither Trees The Constitution of the Countrey Corn nor Fruit so that all Necessaries are fetcht by them from other places They have no Wells nor any Springs onely Rain-water which with great diligence they preserve Nor is that of sufficiency for that also after the going out of June fails them so that they are reduc'd to great extremity About Arfachus and Tobulte there grows some Barley and Olives but the greatest part of the Land lies waste because of the Arabians pillaging ¶ THe Inhabitants of Kayravan are generally Skinners and Tanners The Nature of the Inhabitants which send their Leather to Biledulgerid and there barter and exchange it for European Cloth ¶ KAyravan is eminent for the Residence of a Mahumetan Pope Their Religion or Worship or High Priest of great esteem among them for his Sanctity and strict Observance of the Alcoran The Arabians ascribe to this place extraordinary Veneration for that their Kasiz or Priests continually here exercise their Priestly Functions maintaining that the Dead there buried cannot be damn'd because they participate so constantly of the Prayers of the Kasiz and Pope and this Belief has so far prevail'd that many great persons coming thither out of Reverence pull off their Shoes when they enter into the City as if it were a Mosque and build there Mesquites which they endow with great Revenues believing by such meritorious Works they shall go directly to their Paradice THE ISLAND OF TABARKA AND GALITA ABout six Miles from the Cape of Maskarez lieth the Island Tabarka Peter Davity Estats du Turkin Africa severed from the main Land by a Foordable Passage a Musquet Shot broad Now possessed by the French who have built there a Fort furnished with all Necessaries of War and a Garrison of Two hundred Souldiers as a Conveniency for defence and support of the Trade which they drive there with great advantage Transporting thence Hides Grain Wax and other Merchandise yet are obliged or rather compelled for that Licence to pay to the Bashaw of Tunis Four thousand Crowns and to the Bashaw of Algier Two thousand and yet for all this there is a Band of Janizaries always thereabouts to supervise their Actions and give a Check to them if they suspect any incroachment Here the French get Coral as we mentioned before Opposite to this but two Miles distant you may see the Island Galita or Galata TRIPOLIS TRipolis a Member of the Turkish Empire bears at this day the Title of a Kingdom not so much for the Largeness of its Extent or that it had peculiar Lords as that having a Bashaw from Constantinople it is nam'd out of ostentation to encrease the swelling bulk of those Titles which makes that Empire seem so Gigantick But be it one or other now it is so reckoned and containeth the Territories of Tripolis Essab Mezellata Mesrata The Partition or Cyrenaica and Barka with some Islands extending The Borders according to Peter Dan's Account Eastward along the Sea-Coast of the Island Zerby or Gerby to Egypt and Southerly to the Negroes Countrey ¶ THis City and State hath from the beginning had Lords of greatest eminency Tripoli under the Romans as first the Romans to whom it did Homage and Fealty when they were Masters of Africa but as their Strength and Glory declined shrowded themselves under the Protection of the Kings of Morocco Fez and Tunis which have possessed it by right of Birth But when the Inhabitants saw themselves oppressed by the Tyranny of Mukamur Under the Moors Son of Hesen King of Tunis they threw this yoke off their Necks first by a general Revolt then expelling the King's Lieutenant and all other his Officers and at last electing from among themselves one whom they made their Ruler or Magistrate putting all the Revenue and Support of the State into his hands In the beginning this new Lord rul'd with all gentleness but afterwards degenerating into all kinds of Tyranny his Brother in Law revenged the Cause of the City by killing him Freed from this Viper of their own breeding they impowered a Courtier of Prince Abubacer who had been a Recluse or Hermit who held the Command a few moneths till Ferdinand Vanquished by Ferdinand King of Arragon and Castile sent Don Pedro de Navarre thither with an Army who surprizing the City made all the Inhabitants Slaves and brought them away together with their Governor and his Son whom he sent first to Messina from thence to Palermo where the Emperor Charles the Fifth set him at liberty dismissing him home to Tripoli which the Christians as we said had dismantled and made untenable in all parts except the Castle which they fortifi'd with a brave Wall whereon they Planted divers great Cannon The young Prince being come to Tripoli re-peopled it in the name and on the behalf of the Emperor Charles but in the Year Fifteen hundred thirty and three together with Tunis Byserta Susa Monaster and the Island of Zerby was re-gained by Barberossa Re-gained by Barberossa who was scarcely warm in it before the Emperor Charles re-assaulted and took it By the Empetor Charles forthwith making a Present of it to the Knights of Malta who possessed it till the Year 1551. when under the Reign of Solyman the Magnificent Sinan Bashaw came and Besieged Tripoli to whom after a short time it was delivered upon honourable Articles It was brought under the Turks among which one was That the Garrison should march out with Bag and Baggage and be provided of convenient Shipping to Malta by Sinan but contrary to the Conditions most of them were plundered of their Goods two hundred of the Moors
Brandy-Wine are the most ready Traffick especially with such as dwell more towards the In-land In Jawesil is a weekly Fair of Hides Cows Goats Hens Mille and all edible Commodities Of this Market call'd Gambayar a Noble-man has the supervising who appoints Deputy-Clerks of the Market under him at certain Rents The Trade driven by the Merchants of Europe in these Kingdoms In what places of Zenega and when the Euroan Merchants Trade there is transacted most between the beginning of October and the last of May In the rest of the Moneths the Blacks are busie in Tilling of their Grounds The Wares desired by the Blacks Wares brought over from Europe to Zenega and carried over thither out of Europe are these following of which Brandy and Iron are the chief for they use great quantities of Iron to make Bowes and Arrows Harping-Irons Assagay's Javelins and other Utensils for their Fishing Trade Tillage and Husbandry Bars of Iron of which eight and twenty or thirty make a thousand Weight Sleight In-land Brandy-Wine Brass Basons from seven to ten Inches deep with narrow Brims Copper-Bars each of a pound weight Wool-Cards Blue small Buckles Red yellow and Blue Clothes White Blue Red and Yellow comb'd Wooll Red and Yellow Yarn Grain of all sorts The best or common Allom. Fine red and long Beads like Corall * But at this day in stead of Chrystal rather Coral or Beads are used Mountain Christall Sea-mens Knives Fine and course Shirts for men wrought on the Neck Breasts and Sleeves Sleazy Linnen which is call'd Akros on the Coast of Guinee Fine Diaper Fine Cotton Thin and white Paper White and blue Canns Irish Mantles Spanish Leather-Shoes Mens Hats or Caps Sleight Scemiters or Cuttles Brass Trumpets Course red Caps White and course Sowing-Thread or Yarn Glass Bottles overlaid with Tin and all sorts of Nails All these Wares are commonly packt in little Chests which are there barter'd for good advantage the Commodities received in Exchange we mentioned before ¶ THe Weapons and Arms of the Jalofs are Lances Bowes and Arrows made of Iron-Plates a kind of Turkish Scimiter crook'd like a Bowe round and broad Shields made of very hard Skins Darts which they shoot in long Bowes made of Canes Others carry a great Shield made of Oxe-Hides with a Scimiter and great Knife by their side a long Assagay or Javelin with two other short Darts by them call'd Sinchirin which by the help of a loop fastened in the middle of it wherein they put one finger they can throw very steady and with great swiftness and strength They have a sort of small Horses for service which they know how to ride with great dexterity The Moors of Barbary sometimes carry their Horses thither and sell them to the Blacks every Horse for ten twelve or thirteen Slaves each Slave accompted for nine and twenty Bars of Iron These Horses as soon as they have them they charm by a certain peculiar method of Incantation believing by that means they shall pass shot-free in the Wars Such Horsemen as follow the Wars mount and dismount with such active agility as is admirable for they can in full speed stand upright on the Saddle turn this way and that way stand upon their hands bow their bodies lie down on their sides and take up any thing from the earth Their Arms are Scimiters long Javelins with long Iron-points wherewith they strike holding it in their hands without casting The Wars are seldom undertaken out of ambition or for honor or mannag'd with design to subject others but principally out of revenge and that extends onely to the burning of some Towns if at any time they come to a Battel the greatest fury thereof vents it self on the one side to take on the other to keep the Royal Drum by them call'd Omlambe and in no less esteem there with them then the Royal Standard of the Eagle with the old Romans The present King of Ivala a free and loving Prince courteous towards Strangers is constrained to be always in a posture of Defence against the King of Baool a Tyrant and delighting in cruelty and oppression When the King of Ale intends to War upon his Neighbours he calls a Council with whom he Treats in a Wood close by the Palace in which they sit about a round Hole three Foot deep with their Heads hanging down This Hole they cover after the rising of the Council for the King saith That the Hole will never disclose his Secrets letting them understand thereby that none shall know what their Determination is By this means and for fear of being punisht as Traitors and betrayers of their Countrey their Enemies can never learn ought of their Resolution till it be brought to effect which without doubt is the chiefest cause of their success Their Government is not Hereditary from Father to Son The Inheritance of the Crown but three or four Grandees elect a King amongst them of the noblest Stock whom sometime presently after the Election they drive out of the Countrey again upon the least distaste When the King dies his eldest Brother takes upon him the Dominion and after his Decease all his other Brothers successively and when they are all dead at last the Children according to their degree of age or for want of Children the eldest Son of his Brother The Subjects shew great honour and respect to their Kings The Respect of the Subjects to their Kings using many Ceremonies when they come into his Presence saluting him first afar off upon their Knees bowing down to the Earth and with both Hands cast Sand upon their Heads and Shoulders thus they creep forwards kneeling till they come within two Paces of him and then speak having said what they intended the King answers in few words with great state When any Noble-man comes to the King he puts off his Shirt and lays it upon his right Shoulder and Arm appearing onely in his close Coat call'd by them Joula and so draws near to the King who is always attended with a great Train of Courtiers and other Servants who as a Guard to his Person are Armed with Assagay's and other Weapons of Defence Every Town on the Coast of Cape Verde hath an Algayere or Alkaid set there by the King of Cayor to receive the Custom of Foreign Ships that is three Bars of Irons for each Vessel but when they find any Merchants unexperienced in their Modes they extort as much as they can get besides every Ship pays to the Alkaid for their Water ten Bars of Iron or the like value in other Merchandise and sometimes a Cask of Brandy-Wine In the Year fourteen hundred fifty and five The Kings of Cape de Verde are call'd Burdomel a great Prince named Burdomel had Dominion over all the places about Cape Verde from whom ever since all the Kings of Cape Verde in general are call'd Burdomel as the Roman Emperors were stiled Caesar and the great
Language call'd The Bolmish Tongue being hard to learn and difficult to pronounce whereas that of the people of Timna dwelling to the South is easie The Capez and Kumba's are subject to their particular Princes who sit in publick to administer Justice and decide their Differences and to that end have near their Palaces several terrassed Walks call'd Funko's in every of which is rais'd a Throne cover'd over with fine Mats where the King sits and on each side plac'd long Forms for the Noblemen call'd Solatequies that is Councellors with whose advice he determines the Causes The Method this first appears the Party Complainant with his Proctors and Advocates call'd by them Troens attir'd with several sorts of Feathers having Bells at their heels and Staves in their hands to lean on when they Plead they put a Mask before their Faces that they may not be afraid but speak freely before the King what they have to say after the Cause is pleaded on both sides and the Councellors have given their opinion upon it the King pronounces the definitive Sentence with present Execution against the party cast When the King Creates one of these Councellers How the King's Lords of his Council are made he causes him to come into the Funko where being set upon a wooden Stool curiously wrought and carv'd and appointed onely for this Solemnity he girts him with a bloudy Fillet of a Goats-skin about the Temples afterwards Rice-meal is strowed over it and presently a red Cap put upon his Head And that the people may take notice of this new-conferr'd Honour he is carried about in Triumph upon the shoulders of certain Officers to that purpose appointed These Ceremonies perform'd the new-made Lord makes an Entertainment wherein they spend three days in all kind of Mirth and divertising Pastimes setting forth divers Skirmishes and other jocose Exercises according to the fashion of the Countrey At last they kill an Oxe and divide the flesh among the common people ¶ WHen the King dies his youngest Son inherits the Dominion The antient manner of chusing of a King or if there be no Male-Issue then the Brother or nearest Relation succeeds But before they proclaim him they fetch him out of his House and carry him bound to the Palace where he receives an appointed number of strokes with a Rod. Then unbound and Habited in his Royal Robes he is conducted very ceremoniously to the Funko where the chiefest Nobles of the Kingdom have assembled and seated on the Throne when one of the gravest Olatequi declares in a large Speech the Right and Priviledge of the new King which ended delivers into the new King's hand the Insignia Regalia that is an Axe with which the Heads of Offenders are cut off and thenceforth he remains an absolute Soveraign peaceably and receives all Services and Tributes These were the antient Customs while the Kingdom was free but since by the Conquest of one Flansire Grandfather of the present King of Quoia or Cabo Monte it was subjected to Quoia Bolmberre is Governed by a Vice-Roy Bolmberre is become a Province and Governed by a Vice-Roy who receives the Dignity and Title of Dondagh that is King from the Quoia's as themselves took it from the Folgia's but they have thrown off that Yoke and at this day the Quoian King as Supream not onely gives Laws to Bolmberre but also to the Principalities of Boluma and Timna having also left his old Title Flamboere and from the Portugals by whom converted to Christianity received the Name of Don Philip. The King has four Brothers The Residence of the King and his Brothers who separately hold their Residence in distinct places in the South Countreys the eldest five or six miles beyond the Town Bugos the second call'd Don Andreas at the second Watering-place before-mentioned the third Don Jeronimo at the third Point of the South River the fourth Don Thomas in a Town call'd Thomby All that Tract of Land lying by the Sea The Dominion of King Fatuma from the North-side of the River Serre-Lions to Rio das Pedras together with the Isle De los Idolos are under the Jurisdiction of Fatuma a Potent Prince commanding far up into the In-lands and holding as his Tributaries the Kings Temfila Teemsertam and Don Michaell a converted Christian The People before the coming of the Jesuit Barreira Their Religion lay wholly drencht in Idolatry but he converted many to the Christian Faith and in the Year Sixteen hundred and seven Baptized the King his Children and many others giving to the King at his Baptism the Name of Philip as we said before to which the Portugals flatteringly added Don and because he was King of Serre-Lions call'd him Don Philip the Lyon But they little practice the good Instructions taught them but still retain with the generality of the People their old heathenish Customs as shall be declared afterwards in the Description of the Kingdom of Quoia The English Trade Hollanders and other people that come into these Parts to traffick carry out of Europe several sorts of Commodities which they barter and exchange with great advantage the principal are these Iron Bars Linnen Basons Earthen Cans All sorts of speckled Glass-Buttons Counterfeit Pearles of several sorts Copper Meddals Bracelets and Armlets Pendants and such like Small Cutlasses Seamens Knives Fine Bands Ordinary Lace Chrystal Ordinary Painted Indian Cloathes Spanish Wine Oyl of Olives Brandy Wine All sorts of great Bands Waste-bands wrought with Silk which the Women buy to wear about their middles On the Island in the River of Serre-Lions The English Fort subdued by the Netherlanders the English possessed a small Fort erected for the more secure managing of their Trade which in the Year Sixteen hundred sixty and four the tenth of December the Dutch under the Conduct of the Admiral De Rutter with a Fleet without reason surpriz'd and took wherein they found four or five hundred Elephants-Teeth a good number of Copper-Kettles Iron Bars and about sixty or seventy Lasts of Salt the later parcels with some other inconsiderable Merchandises they left there but the Teeth and other Wares of consequence they brought over in the returning Ships GUINE WE are to observe Several acceptations of the Name Guine that the English Portuguese and Dutch greatly differ in their Descriptions of this Countrey though in the general Name they seem to agree for the Portugals divide Guine into the Upper and Lower comprising under the Name of the Upper the whole Tract of Land lying by the Sea inclos'd between the River of Zenega and the Borders of the Kingdom of Congo and under the Lower the Kingdoms of Congo and Angola whereas others bring Congo and Angola together with Monomotapa Zanzibar and Ajan under the Exterior as they include Abyssine or Prester-Johns Countrey wholly in the Interior Ethiopia But by the English and Netherlanders Guine is circumscribed in much narrower Limits allowing it no more
belonging to the people Vey and Puy whereupon the Heir of the Crown when the King dies requires Earth from the Ambassadors of Folgia in token of Acknowledgement and Installs the Lord of Bolmberre with the Title of Dondagh by a particular Ceremony of which we shall give this brief Account The Heir is laid flat upon the ground with his Face downward and some Earth thrown upon him Lying thus they ask what Name he desireth to have and what he chuses they impose together with the Title of Dondagh Then they cause him to rise and put a Bowe into his hand and a Quiver of Arrows to defend the Countrey with which performed he distributes Slaves Clothes Kettles Basons and such like Presents to the King of Quoia The Power of the present Quoian-Prince is absolute and unlimited so that he is the onely and sole Judge of all Causes For although he admit his Counsellors sometimes to give their Opinions yet they signifie nothing for he follows his own single resolved Determinations This absolute Power makes him jealous of his Honor For he will not endure it should be diminished by any His highest Pomp consists in sitting upon a Shield whereby he gives to understand that he is the Protection and Defence of the Countrey and the manager of all Wars pacifying Civil Insurrections and other Weighty Matters belonging to him alone His Title as we said is Dondagh which is as much as Monarch When any Nobleman proves disobedient and will not appear before him on Summons then he sends his Koredo that is his Shield In what manner the King deals with any man who keeps away from his duty as if he would say upbraidingly if you be not obedient be Lord your self and bear the burden of the Countrey This peremptory Command by the Shield is sent by two Drummers who as soon as they come near the Offenders Habitation begin to beat their Drums and so continue without ceasing till they have delivered the Shield upon receipt whereof without delay he must speed away to the Court carrying the Shield with him which he presents to the King begging forgiveness of his miscarriages and so taking up Earth before the King humbles himself ¶ THose that make an Address to the King to obtain his Favor An address to the King to obtain his favor now it is made make their way with Presents of Ribbons Elephants-Teeth or such things which he must deliver at the house of the Kings chiefest Wife who receiving the same bears it to the King with request that the person may be admitted to his Presence If the King accept it the person hath leave to enter otherwise if any complaints be brought against him he sends it back yet so as the Presenter dares not receive and carry it away but continues his Suit by Friends without intermission by whose frequent and renewed mediations the King at last seeming a little pacified remits his severity takes the Present and calls for the Suppliant who entring the Royal Presence goes bowing all along towards the King who sits on the ground upon a Matt leaning upon a Stoole when he approaches within two steps he bows himself to the Earth kneeling down upon one Knee with his right Elbow to the Earth and names the Kings Title Dondagh whereupon the King if pleas'd answers Namady that is I thank you if not sits silent If it be a person of Quality and his Subject the King perhaps causes a Matt to be spread on the ground upon which sitting at the distance of a Pace he declares what he hath to request But if he be a Foraigner that comes onely to Salute the King without any further Ceremony he is conducted to him receiving an immediate dispatch If the person have any Proposition Petition or Complaint to make upon notice thereof a Jilly or Interpreter is call'd who coming with his Bow in his hand opens to the King the whole matter sentence by sentence whereto according to the quality of the Affair he receives answer with promise if upon a Complaint that as soon as he hath heard what the other party can say in his defence he will forthwith give Judgment according to Right If any man come to thank the King for doing Exemplary Justice in a difficult Cause How the King is thank'd for doing good Justice after his Presents receiv'd he devests himself of all his Clothes and Ornaments saving onely a little Cloth to cover his Pudenda so casts himself backwards upon the ground and instantly turning again rises upon one knee takes up earth with his hand and lays it upon his head then leaning with one elbow upon the earth he says three times Dondagh whereupon the King answers some times Namady that is to say I thank you and sometimes otherwise as he thinks fit The first Address usually is perform'd in his own House in the presence of his chiefest Wife But such as concern Justice or the State of the Countrey he hears in the Council-House in the presence of the Lords of the Council This Assembly they call Simannoe When some Eminent Person sent from a Neighbor King desires Audience one of the Kings Wives goes with a Present and tells him who sent it whereupon the Person appears before the King and takes earth This Address the King receives in his Simannoe or Council-House being open on all sides with great attendance round about After this Gratulatory Salutation the Ambassador desires leave to relate his Embassie but is put off till the next day so retiring he diverts himself till the appointed time in Feasts and Sportive Recreations The Ambassador receives Answer by the Kings Direction from a Jilly or Interpreter after which they shew the Ambassador and his Retinue the place where they are to remain where the Kings Slaves bring them Water to wash and the Kings Women bring very neatly drest in Dishes set on their heads Rice and Flesh much or little according to the number of his Attendants The Entertainment ended the King sends him for his Welcome Wine and other Presents either a Kettle Bason or such like If any European Merchant bring the King a Present he is invited to eat with him but with no Black how great of State soever will he eat out of the same Dish but lets their Meat be carried by his Women to the place where they are When the King dies the eldest Brother succeeds in his Throne The Inâ—eritance of the Kingdom and enjoys his Rice-Fields Slaves and Women except those which in his life were given to the Children The Folgia's are under the Emperor of Manou or Manoe a mighty Prince The Folgia's are under the Manou's who receives of them yearly Tributes in Slaves Salt red Cloth Kettles Basons and such like for which he bestows on them as a Gratuity certain Cloathes call'd Quaqua-Cloathes which the Folgian send to the Quoians as they again to the Bolmian or Hondoian Lords The People of Gala-Monou
also give Presents to this King of Monou yearly whose Name at present is Quawawoe but his Predecessors was Mendino but the Folgia's as an acknowledgment of their accustomed subjection to them of Monou call them Mendi-Manou that is to say Lord the word properly so signifying For the same cause the Quoians have the like Title of Mendi-Monou both from the Folgia's Bolmasses and Timnasses And this Power of the Mendi-Monou is as we said already more maintain'd by Wisdom than Force The Folgia's are esteemed Rich and their Language Courtly and Eloquent which wins great respect and by their Neighbors call'd Mendi-Co The Lordly Tongue ¶ HOndo hath many several Princes the chiefest appointed by the Quoians The Government of Hondo are Mossilago Dedowach Dangoerro and Dandi each lying far distant from the other From hence come yearly Merchants bringing Slaves and Elephants-Teeth who apply themselves in the name of their Lords to King Flamboere who returns by them back again to their Lords red Cloathes Copper Kettles Basons Cypress or Quaqua-Cloathes and Salt which is not dri'd in Pans by the heat of Sun but boil'd from the Sea-water with great labour and toil ¶ THe Quoians Their Religion as also those of Bolm Timna Cilm Folgia Hondo Gala and Manou are all Circumcised according to the Mahumetan manner and acknowledge one God the Creator of Heaven Earth and Men and jointly with these they worship no visible earthly Creature but they highly honour the Sun Moon and Stars They neither represent the Deity nor Spirits in the shape of Men or Beasts onely in Bolma and Timna some Images by them call'd Janaa they set in the Ways and by their Houses as remembrances of their deceased Ancestors and Friends They believe that the Almighty Their great Superstition concerning the Souls of the Detaâ—â—ed whom they call Kanuo will punish all their misdeeds and encourage well-doing therefore they call upon him when they are oppressed for his presence and aid and that he will take notice of their Cause and do them Justice continually inculcating in all their speeches That there shall a time come in which all evil-doers shall receive their wages They believe that their Friends after their death become Spirits which they call Jannack or Jannanen and say that they are omniscient to take cognisance of all Causes which happen among them and therefore they hold familiar Colloquies with them telling them all troubles and adversities under which they labour Those that go into the Woods to Hunt The Offers or Sacrifices to their deceased Parents and take Elephants or Buffles or begin any other dangerous Enterprize go first and offer to the Spirit of their deceased Parents either a Cow or Wine or Rice which they leave on the Grave The high times of Sacrificing are kept among them with great Joy Dancing and Singing But besides those solemn times the King calls upon the Souls of his Father and Mother almost in every Matter of difficulty They believe the Spirits of their near acquaintance are protectors of their Houses and therefore in all Sorrow and Sickness they bring Wine and Food out of their Houses into the Way and there leave it for an Offering They say farther that these Spirits have their habitation in the Woods whereupon all that are distressed and look for help from God by them go thither complaining and lamenting their affliction but with awful reverence for how great soever any man is yet he fears very much in the presence of God For this cause all acts of Devotion are performed in those solitary Recesses into which no Women or Children may be permitted to come In this Place twice thrice or oftner in the year according to the fruitfulness of the Season and when Hunting is good all sorts of Meat-offerings are brought to feed the Spirits They say Circumcision hath been received among them from hand to hand from all antiquity Circumcision and that God hath commanded it They Circumcise Children at half a year old though sometime by the Mothers tenderness they are kept to the second or third year but then the Cure proves more difficult because the Children going naked the Air and Sun make the Cut swell and fester which they heal by washing with the Juice of green Herbs They have together with Circumcision another Custom which they call Belli-Paaro whereby they say they become incorporated into the society of Spirits and therefore take part with them in eating the before-mention'd Offerings But this is kept hidden from Women and unskilful persons to whom they affirm that the Jaananen or Spirits themselves eat it And if any dare be so bold as either out of covetousness or curiosity to peep into this secret if it happen to be known they are by some sudden and undiscovered means immediately made away The received Tokens of Belli-Paaro are seldom shewn viz. once in twenty When it is done or five and twenty years and then they tell strange Stories of it and how they came to the high favour of receiving them which are nothing else but some rows of Cuts from the Neck along both the Shoulder-blades What they are Those that have them are accounted very understanding persons and when they grow old in all Assemblies and Councils relating to State-Affairs or Causes Criminal wherein Life is concern'd may be present and give their opinion Of the manner of receiving these Marks take this short account There is by the Kings order a place in the Wood appointed of about two or three miles compass They are received in the Wood. whither are brought the Youths that have not been Marked by main force and against their wills because they believe they shall be kill'd or chang'd and therefore they take a sorrowfull farewell of their Friends and Parents as if they went indeed to their death When now they are lodged in the Wood continually some Ancient persons which have had the Tokens of Belli-Paaro very long attend to teach and instruct them what behavior they shall use leading them a strange and uncouth Dance and causing them to learn some Verses which they call Belli-Dong being Songs and Encomiums of Belli stuffed with obscene and scurrulous language Hither the women bring Rice Bonano's and all sort of Fruit prepared for an Offering and give it up to the Soggonoe that is the Ancientest Marked whom the women hold for Saints praying them by all means to hinder that their Children in the change should not be burnt to ashes Thither also goes the King and stays two or three days This living in the Wood continues four or five years during which time there are new comers daily brought thither None unmark'd may come near this place onely women in manner before mention'd and they too must come and go singing with a loud noise for if it fall out that any pass by silently they are taken away by the Spirits without ever being heard of more When they come out of
and Sonquay in the North by the Kingdom of Aquumboe and the Countrey of Abonce in the East at Great-Akara and in the South spreads along the Sea-shore Agwana hath divers Villages and Mountains near the Sea as the Rough-Point a Village of Fisher-men Souldiers-Bay and The Devils-Hill New-Abrembee Old-Abrembee Great-Berku scituate on a Mountain four Miles from Akara Jako-Kox-broot and Little-Berku where Water'd by a small River All these places have Stony Cliffs before their Havens From Cormantin the Coast reacheth East and by South The spreading of the Coast to The Devils-Mountain about six Miles from thence to Berku a Tract of five Miles East and by North from Berku one Mile Westward to Akara a Tract of five Miles East North-East Beyond Kox-broot lieth low Land replenish'd with small Trees but the Countrey within is high and Mountainous In Berku breed many Hens sufficient to eat among themselves and to sell cheap to strangers and their Drink call'd Pitouw is like our small Beer The Inhabitants have the repute of Stout and Warlike People The Nature and Maintenance of the Inhabitants but in Peaceable times maintain themselves by Husbandry and Fishing Yet some of them are good Artists both in Iron and Gold of the first making good Arms and of the second curious Gold-Chains and other neat Pieces of Workmanship In this Territory is but a small Trade for European Wares There is little Trade and therefore little frequented the best dealing is for Slaves of Berku with the Akerasche Merchants which come thither who exchange them for Serges viz. a Piece of Serge for a Slave or else two ounces of Gold THE KINGDOM OF AKARA THis Kingdom contains in Circuit The Borders of the Kingdom of Akara ten or twelve miles having on the West Aguana and the Countrey of Abonce on the North the Dominion of Aboura and Bonoe on the East that of Labbeda and Ningo and on the South the Sea Near whose Shore are three Villages viz. Soko Little Akara fifteen miles Eastward of Kormantyn and Orsaky Having gone four miles into the Countrey you come to Great Akara where the King keeps his Residence Provision here is very scarce especially Fruits and Bread-Corn so that whatever Whites put into this Place to Trade must upon necessity provide themselves well with all necessary Provision The King hath and not without cause the repute of a Potent Prince The Kings Power being able in time of War to bring fifteen or sixteen thousand Men into the Field He hath a more absolute Soveraignty over his Subjects than any of his Neighbors so that he is an unlimited Monarch and for the more sure confirming his Jurisdiction keeps good Correspondency with all Whites without shewing more favour to one than another The Little Akara has been many years the chiefest place of Trade upon the Gold-Coast next Moure and Kormantyn Trade where Foreign Merchants carry Iron and Linnen which they exchange in Barter for Gold with much greater gain than on the other places of the Gold-Coast but the Linnen must be finer than ordinary otherwise the Blacks will not meddle with it While Trading here was free to all that is till the Hollanders West India Company had ingross'd it to themselves the Haven of Akara produced a third part of the Gold that was to be had on all the Gold-Coast which was brought thither to sell from the Countreys of Abonce and Akamen All the Wares which the Inhabitants buy they sell again at the Market of Abonce two hours Journey beyond Great Akara which they hold three times a Week with great resort of People out of all the neighboring Territories The King of Akara suffers none out of Aquemhoe and Aquimera to come through his Countrey and Trade with the Whites but reserves that freedom to his own Subjects onely who carry the Wares brought from the Europeans to Abonce and exchange them there with great profit Neither would this King suffer the Whites to set up a Store-house on Shore for Trade but forc'd to ride with their Ships Ketches and Sloops before the Haven yet some few years since he sold to the Dutch a piece of Ground whereon he hath permitted them to build a Store-house Adjoining to this they have so far incroached The Store-house of Akara as to raise a little Fort of Stones sixty two Foot long four and twenty broad and flat above overlay'd with thick Planks strongly mortis'd together and strengthned round about with high Breast-works Port-holes and defensive Points for keeping off an Enemy At Great Akara the King hath appointed a Captain over the Merchants Overseer of the Trade with full power to set a Tax or Price for Selling to prevent all Quarrels Differences and Controversies which might otherwise arise of whom the Merchants stand in greater awe than of the King himself for he not onely punishes Offenders according to his pleasure but in case that any Dissentions happen he stops up all the Ways if they do not pay him according to his Amercement THE KINGDOM OF LABBEDE LAbbede a small Territory hath on the West Great Akara The Borders of the Countrey Labbede on the North and the East the Kingdom of Ningo on the Sea-Coast two miles Easterly from Little Akara lies one and the onely Village call'd Labbede a delightful place Wall'd and fortifi'd with Cliffs by the Sea-shore The Countrey hereabouts has plain and many well-water'd Meadows convenient for Pasturage of Cattel The Trade of the Inhabitants consists chiefly in Cows Maintenance whereof they breed some up themselves and others they fetch over-Land from Ley a Place eight or ten miles lower which they then sometimes sell again to the Akraman Blacks and to those of the uppermost Places The Government of this Countrey belongs to a petty Government yet absolute Prince THE TERRITORY OF NINGO OR NIMGO THe Countrey Ningo hath on the West Borders of the Kingdom of Ningo Great Akara on the North Equea and Little Akara On the Sea-Coast in this Territory are four places Ningo three or four miles from Akora and two from Labbede Temina one mile from Ningo Sinko a mile from Temina and Pissy all with Cliffs before the Walls in the Sea Ningo abounds with Cattel which the Akarians buy and carry to sell with Canoos to Moure Within the Countrey stands another fair City call'd Spicei where grow many good Oranges The Inhabitants generally support themselves by Fishing Maintenance which they do in a strange manner and with as uncouth Implements being like Baskets or Coops such as they put Chickens under with which going along the Shore in the Night with Lights they throw them over those Fishes which they get sight of Ningo Sinko Pissy some years since Places of good Trade but having now for a long time given out no Gold they are not visited by the Merchants who for that cause go no lower than Akara where as it is before
being called to explain which we must tell you That they conceit that none die either by Poyson Violence or otherwise until their Friends in the other World call them whereupon the Relations of the Deceased take away all things from the Survivor and for eight Days afflict him with divers Pains and Torments as shaving his Skin and the like saying Thus must you bear the Punishment if guilty or having a hand in the Death of our Friends The eight days ended they bring him or her to a new Tryal by Pleading and if upon that quitted they dwell still in the House as before but if found guilty are banish'd thence There is a prevailing Custom among them That if there be three Brothers Inheritance and one of them die the two that survive share his Concubines between them And when either of the two remaining die the longest Liver takes all After whose Decease all the Concubines stay in the House and become his due that happens to dwell therein afterwards Those of Congo reckon the Year by the Cossionoes or Winter-seasons The Accompt of their Year which there begin upon the fifteenth of May and end the fifteenth of November The Months by the Full Moon and the Days of the Week by their Markets because they have every Day one in a several Place but know not how to parcel out Time into Hours or less Spaces These People before the Arrival of the Portuguese who instructed them in the Christian Faith had no particular or proper Appellations for the Common People call'd themselves by the Names of Herbs Plants Stones Fowls Beasts and Living Creatures The Lords bare the Title of the Lordship they commanded as the Lord of Songo was call'd Mani-Songo that is to say Lord of Songo Mani signifying Lord and Songo the Countrey But at this day both Men and Women Persons high and low even the King himself commonly receives a Name in Baptism They seem well experienc'd in several Handicrafts but yet will not take upon them any Works of hard Labor Congo Songo and Bamba vent few Slaves and those the meanest of all because being us'd to live idly when they are brought to Labor they quickly die The best come thither out of Amboille Gingos Jages Caseudas Quilax Lembo and other Territories thereabouts above Massignan in Angola The Europeans also drive a little Trade with Simboes But the chief Dealing in Songo consists in Pannos Sambos Oyl of Palm Palmito-Nuts and such like Heretofore they brought thence many and those very large Elephants-Teeth but of late fall'n to nothing The City Saint Salvadore is the Staple for the Portuguese Merchants in those Countreys of whom the Natives desire chiefly to buy Cypress Clothes or painted Table-clothes call'd Capes de Verdura blue Cans Biramks or Surats Copper Basons English Cloth great Simbas of Lovando Baesier and other inconsiderable Trifles as Rings Beads and such like They use no Measure or Weight except among the Portuguese Housholdstuff nor have any Housholdstuff save onely Swords Shields and a few Slaves Their Wealth consists chiefly in Elephants-Teeth and Simbos or little Shells Riches which pass in stead of Money The Citizens of Saint Salvadore amount to near forty thousand of which most are Gentlemen and Nobles yet wretchedly poor For among them all you shall scarce find ten or twelve that have a Gold Chain or small Jewel The Revenues of the King consist especially in yearly Tributes The Revenue of the King paid him by the Dukes of Bamba Batta Sundo Nambanganga Bumby Mussulo Oando Quingengo and others under the Titles of Earldoms as those of Pembo Pango and many others which falls out on St. James his day when the King rewards them with some small Trifle as a Mark of his Favor Some have not doubted to aver That the whole Income of the King amounts not to above one hundred and twenty French Crowns besides some small Presents made by every Lord above his Tribute the greatest whereof rises but to a couple of Goats the most onely giving Fruits as Bacovens Wine Nuts and Oyl of Palm They have no Coyn'd Money Simboes or Horn Shells are their Money either of Gold Silver or Copper but as we have often mention'd make all their Markets with little Shells call'd Simboes which pass here as Current but in other Countreys of no esteem or value And the Portuguese use them in their Passage when they or their Pomberoes that is Slaves are sent with Merchandise to Pombo and other Places lying up the Countrey out of Angola Lovando Sante Paulo through Congo Apothecaries or Doctors they have none Medicines for Cure nor any Physick but what themselves make of Plants Barks of Trees Roots Stones Waters and Oyl which they administer for Agues Fevers and almost all other Maladies Fevers Sicknesses the most common Distemper of this Climate they cure with the beaten Root of Zandel-wood Zandel-wood mixt with the Oyl of Dates anointing therewith the Body of the Sick two or three times from Head to Foot Pain in the Head by letting Blood in the Temples with little Shells sharpned wherewith opening the Skin they suck with the Mouth till they draw the Bloud The Pox or Venerial Distemper call'd Chirangas rages among them extremely which they cure with red Wood call'd Tavilla The King appoints a Judge in every particular Province Government to hear and determine Civil Causes and Differences that happen who though there be no settled Laws or Statutes may Imprison and Release or impose a Pecuniary Mulct or Fine upon them But in more weighty Matters every one may appeal to the King before whom also Criminal Causes come wherein as Supreme Head he giveth Sentence In Matters of State Council of State and such as concern Peace and War the King takes advice of ten or twelve Councellors his Favorites who conclude for the Wellfare of the Kingdom and set forth and publish the Decrees by his Order and in his Name These punish Witchcraft and Idolatry openly Punishment of Offenders with great Severity condemning the least Sorcerer to the Fire Whosoever killeth a Man first having his Offence openly read before him and then convicted by Witnesses is condemn'd to die When an Offender suffers Death by Judgment of the King The punishment of Death is also with Confiscation of all his Goods he forfeits all his Goods and Slaves so that none of his Relations enjoy ought that was his And sometimes to supply the King's Coffers others are for small cause or if but suspected though the Witnesses fall short in the proof of the Fact Banished and their Goods Confiscate and seized to the King's Use When they march out with an Army to incounter their Enemies Arms. the Commanders wear Square Caps or Bonnets trimm'd with Ostriches Peacocks and other Feathers partly to make the greater shew and partly to seem the more terrible The upper part of their Bodies are naked
split Quill at the end which being blowed yields a low sound Conney and Badger-Islands NOrthward of the Great Cape lie three Islands in the Sea viz. Conneys Badgers and Fransh Island The Conneys Island so called from the many Rabbits breeding in the Cliffs and on the Shore lieth before the Mouth of Table-Bay a League or thereabouts from the Land five Miles Southward from Badger-Isle It contains a Mile and a half in compass but more over-grown with Bushes than the Badger which receiv'd its name from the abundance of Rock-Badgers there found Neither of these have any fresh Water Spilber Voyage 1601. and although the Ground be sandy and full of Bushes yet they bear many good Herbs and Flowers and abound with Cattel The Conneys were first brought thither by the Dutch in the year One thousand six hundred and one The Sheep carried thither first by the English grow extraordinary fat and increase exceedingly so that some have been found whose Tails were five and twenty Inches thick and nineteen pound in weight with four and thirty pound of Swet about the Kidneys besides the Fat that came from their Flesh but the Meat gives no satisfaction in the eating by reason of the exceeding fatness There are many Pinguins and thousands of Meuwen and yet for all this plenty they both lie desolate and not inhabited A little Northerly lies the Fransh-Island equal in all things to the aforemention'd and as them without Inhabitants THE EMPIRE OF MONOMOTAPA THis Empire The Empire of Monomotapa by Joseph Barras call'd Benomotapa and by Sanutus Benomotaxa lies up within the Countrey before the Kingdom of Sofale near the Sea inclosed between Rio de Spirito Sancto or Magnice and the great River Quama both which by some are taken for two Branches of Zambere It spreads Southerly towards the Cape de Bona Esperanza Borders having in the North for Borders the Kingdom of Monimuge or Nimeamae and the River Quama in the East the Sea-coast of Sofala in the West and South the River Magnice and the neighboring Mountains Others Cluverius conterminates it in the East South and West with the great Ocean in the North with Congo the Abyssines and Zanguibar It s Length The bigness between the Lake Ro and the Ethiopick Sea together with the Mountains of the Moon Cluverius reckons to be four hundred Dutch Miles and the Breadth between the Head-Fountains of Nilus and the Cape of Good Hope three hundred Dutch Miles For all the little Kingdoms from the River Magnice to the Cape of Good Hope are said to acknowledge the Prince of Monomotapa for their Supreme Lord. But the whole Compass of this Countrey is accounted by many but seven hundred and thirty five French Miles The Imperial and Royal Court being the Chief City is call'd Banamatapa Chief City although by Vincent le Blank Madrogam lying six days Journey from a great House call'd Simbaoe or Zimbaoch and five Miles from Safale towards the West The Houses have almost sharp Roofs very large built of Wood or Earth Houses very finely and whited without and within The Palace of the Emperor carries a vast extent The Kings Palace having four Eminent Gates and very many large Chambers and other convenient Apartments guarded round about with Watch-Towers and within hung with Cotton Hangings of divers Colours wrought with Gold and richly Embossed as also overlaid with Tin gilt or as others say cover'd over with Plates of Gold and adorn'd with Ivory Candlesticks fastned with Silver Chains The Chairs gilt and painted with several Colours The four chiefest Gates of the Court richly Embossed and well defended by the Life-Guards of the Emperor whom they call Sequender The Emperor keeps a great Train of Servants who all attend in good order bowing of the Knee when they speak to him His Meat is serv'd up to his Table in Pourcelane round beset with Gold Branches Other Principal Cities are Zimbas a Mile and half from Sofale Tete where the Portuguese Jesuits have their Residence Sena c. Certain War-like Women like the ancient Amazons The Residence of the Amazones do possess a peculiar Territory appointed for them by the King although Sanutus appropriates to them a particular Kingdom upon the Borders of Damout and Gorage more towards the South Not far from Monomotapa is the Province of Chitambo The Kingdom of Chitambo wherein stands the City Tamburo This Kingdom hath the benefit of a temperate Air Air. and enrich'd with luxurious Valleys which though not Inhabited in all Places affords Provision of Cattel and Fruits sufficient to store both themselves and Neighbours nor is it destitute of pleasant Woods stor'd with variety of Fruit-Trees Plants and in some places abundance of Sugar-Canes that grow without Planting to the increase whereof the Rivers and Brooks that besprinkle the Countrey do not a little help The greatest Wealth of the Countrey consists in Oxen and Cowes Beasts with them more highly esteem'd than Gold or Silver They have no Horses nor other Beasts for Carriage besides Elephants which flock together by whole Herds in the Woods They shew a Beast call'd Alsinge resembling a Stag or Hart and Ostriches as big as Oxen. There grows upon Trees call'd Koskoma a Fruit of a Violet Colour and sweet in taste of which whoever eats plentifully it purges them so violently that a Bloody-Flux and at length Death follows upon it Here are found several Gold Mines in the Bowels of the Earth Gold Mines and also in some of their Rivers for which the Inhabitants dive in the Stream and take it up with the bottom from the Mud and so pick it out which Gold-diving they also practice in divers great Lakes spread far and near in this Kingdom for which cause the King of Monomotapa is not without reason call'd by the Portuguese The Golden King All the Inhabitants have short and black curl'd Hair The Constitution of the Inhabitants and as Linschot saith are of a middle Stature though Pigafet makes them a kind of Giants They are well set of a sound Body of Complexion black very apprehensive and quick of Understanding much addicted to War and apt to make Insurrections upon any trivial cause Their usual Food is salt Beef Milk and a little Verjuyce and Oyl of Sesamos Their Bread made of Rice Mille or of the Root Ignamees which they boyl in Basons The Drink of the Common People Milk but of the King and the Grandees Wine of Honey or Meath which they preserve in Ox-horns or Wine of Palm made delicious with Manna Amber and Musk. The King bestows every day in Perfumes two pound of Gold which certain Merchants furnish him with For the Torches and Lights which he uses are mix'd with sweet Odours which he causes to be born before him in the night being set in a richly Embroider'd Pavilion carry'd by four Noble-men follow'd by a great Train and cover'd over with a Canopy in
but to the terrestrial Paradice to remain there till the day of Judgment That the Wicked do not go immediately to Hell but to a place near adjacent in which they can see the Punishment prepared for them waiting in the mean while for the day of Judgment Damianus a Goez affirms that they conclude a Purgatory and believe that the Souls of the vertuous are not plagued there on Saturdays and Sundays and that Alms-deeds do exceedingly serve for the mitigating of their pain but deny that their Eteche or Patriarch can grant Souls any liberty to go out judging that onely to belong to God who hath limited or set the time of their punishment Godignus affirms that Children are Baptiz'd with Fire and Water imprinting a Mark upon their Foreheads which they must carefully keep for they hold it fit to follow the Rule which the Forerunner of Christ seems to have Preached when he said I shall baptize you in the Spirit and in Fire but others think that the first Christian Kings of Abyssine did it to distinguish the Believers from Heathens Between the Religion or Worship of the Egyptians Copticks and Abyssines there is no difference at all for both these People perform the Mass in the same manner and consent in the Church Ceremonies which they observe in the Consecration of the Body and Blood of Christ which they perform in this manner The Priest at the appointed hour comes into the Church and when the People are assembled in his Priestly Vestments ascends to the Altar the Deacon crying with a loud voyce in the Coptick Tongue Blessed be the Participation whereupon the Priest turning to the People with a loud voyce often repeats these words Christ be with us all and the the People answer And with thy spirit After several Ceremonies perform'd with Songs of Praise and Thanksgiving and at last Prayers being ended the Priest blesseth the Cover the Chalice or Cup the Spoon and Shrine or Coffer of the Sacrament by which they understand The Ark of the Covenant as by the Spoon The Spear of Christ and begin the Participation with stretched out hands thus O Lord Jesus Christ Partaker of the Divine Substance who art immaculate together with the Father and holy Spirit our Father our Lord our God and our Redeemer Thou art that Bread which descended from Heaven Thou who art come to be a Lamb without blemish for the redemption and life of the World we ask and pray thy Deity that thou wilt set thy Countenance upon this holy Mystery upon this Bread and upon this Cup which we Priests do set upon this Table Bless sanctifie cleanse and transmute this Bread into thy holy Body and this Wine in this Cup into thy holy and precious Blood In like manner says the Abyssine Priest Our Prince Jesus Christ whose Substance is not created but thou art the pure Word Thou art the Son of the Father Thou art the Bread of Life come down from Heaven Thou wert before thou camest in the similitude of an immaculate Lamb for the redemption of Sinners Now O thou lover of Mankind we humbly beseech thy Majesty to shew thy favorable Countenance and Benediction upon this Bread and upon this Cup on this Altar Bless sanctifie purifie and transmute this Bread into thy undefiled Flesh and this Wine into thy precious Blood Concerning the rest they use one and the same manner of Incense and the same words of Consecration the same form of Confession and the same words of Adoration In the Consecration of the Body and Blood of our Saviour both these People observe one and the same Ceremonies The Abyssine expresseth it with a loud voyce thus He stretcheth out his hands to the feeble He is become weak that he may strengthen those that wait upon him who the same Night wherein he was betray'd took Bread into his holy and immaculate Hands looked up to heaven to his Father he gave thanks blessing and sanctifying it and gave to his Disciples saying Take and eat ye all of it This Bread is my Flesh which is given for the remission of sins Amen Whereupon the People say Verily verily verily we believe and trust and love thee O Lord our God This we believe in truth is thy Flesh Then saith the Priest again In like manner he took the Cup and gave thanks blessed and sanctifi'd it and said to them Take and drink ye all of it This is the Cup of my Blood which shall be shed for you for the redemption of many Whereupon the People answer Verily verily verily we believe and trust and love thee O Lord our God This we believe in truth is thy Blood In the same manner it is done by the Copticks That the Coptick and Abyssine Church hath been one and the same from all Antiquity Nicephorus Zonoras Cedrenus and lastly the Abyssine Rituals themselves do testifie for the common Liturgy the Admonition that is made of Praying for the welfare of the Abyssine Church for the King and Princes of the Empire Judges and Subjects there is also in particular made mention of the Patriarch of Alexandria in these words Pray for our Prince and our Patriarch N. N. Lord and Head of the Bishops of the great Territory of Alexandria and for our Reverend Arch-Bishop Mark the Head of our Countrey and for all Bishops Priests and true believing Ministers In other Admonitions the Evangelist Mark Theon Petrus Alexander Athanasius Theophilus Cyrillus and other Patriarchs of Alexandria are remembred which abundantly shew that the Egyptian Coptick and Abyssine are in effect but one Church The Abyssine and Coptick are under one and the same Patriarch who hath his Residence in Alexandria in Egypt and in Abyssine hath a Substitute under him the Head in Ecclesiastical Causes there call'd Eteche as we said before This Man is chosen by the Patriarch of Alexandria or by the Monks of Abyssine and confirm'd by the Patriarch His chiefest Office consists in conferring of holy or sacred Orders though the bestowing of Church-Offices belongs to the Xeques or King and the punishing the obstinate such as stand in contempt Godignus against the opinion of many maintains they have no Bishops but others that the Eteche hath twelve Suffragans under him A Clerk may have one Wife but is not made Priest till three years after that After the death of the first Wife no Priest may Marry again but by special consent of the Eteche yet then he may never celebrate Mass any more a matter so severely observed by them that they do not so much as touch a Candle Consecrated for the Church If a Clerk or Priest get a Bastard-Child they instantly put him out of his Office and if he dies without lawful Children his Goods Escheat to the King They have many Monks which follow the Rules of St. Anthony St. Maccair and St. Basil They accommodate themselves every where to the Clergy which they boldly visit do great Penance live soberly and Fast often All the
Ages known to the Antients When found in the time of Pliny Mela and Strabo but by negligence of Posterity the places lost as to knowledge though Geographers had preserv'd their memory by Recording their Names which gave the curious cause of enquiry Some Centuries they continu'd forgotten till in the Year Four hundred and five John King of Castile transferr'd all his Right therein to a French Nobleman of Chaux in Normandy by name John of Betancourt who provided with Ammunition and Victuals Sailing thither at their first coming took in the Haven of Lancerota and the Castle and having built the Cloyster of St. Francis together with a Church return'd victorious to Spain where according to Grammay for a Sum of Money he tranferr'd his Right to Diego de Herrera who subdu'd the Island of Fort-aventure to which he first gave the name of St. Bonaventure But Sanutus writes that Betancourt took in the Island of Lancerota and Fort-aventura by the Consent and at the Charge of the King of Castile to whom he sold the Inheritance thereof after his death Grammay affirms That Diego de Herrera made himself Master of Ferro and Gomere but not able to defend his Conquest he sold his Interest in the whole to King Ferdinand who after a doubtful and hot dispute with the Inhabitants overcame the Grand Canary Afterwards Alphonses and Bartelt de Lugo sent thither in the Year Fifteen hundred and twelve subjected Ferro and de Palma Sanutus on the other side mentions That Gomere and Ferro with the three other Grand Canary Palma and Teneriff were found first by Alphonses de Lugo and Peter de Vera Noblemen of Xeres and by order of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella and that Palma and Teneriff were subdu'd by Alphonses de Lugo and the three other by Peter de Vera and Michael de Maxica If we enter into a serious scrutiny of the quantity of those Islands in general The quantity of the Islands in general we shall find that in respect of their Scituation being near the Tropick of Cancer they are subject to great heat sufficiently testifi'd by the early Harvest in March and April The Grounds boast a more than ordinary fertility but especially they carry Repute and Glory for the Delicious Canary-Wine wherewith they furnish the whole world Sanutus avers That formerly but one of them brought forth this Wine and Corn but now all are equally productive of both There are also Figgs Oranges Pomegranates Citrons Peaches and other Fruits besides many Sugar-Canes Palm-Trees and Pepper-Trees which grow on the Banks of the Rivers There grows also a Plant commonly call'd Oriselle held by most Herbalists to be the Phalaris of Dioscorides and by De la Champ upon Pliny for the Gierst of Theophrastus from whence grows the Canary Seed which the Inhabitants propagate diligently to feed Canary Birds They have also a black Gum or Pitch stiled Bre but principally in Teneriff burn'd out of Pine in the following manner They cut the Trees in pieces which they lay cross one upon another over a Trench whereinto the Pitch dissolving by the heat of the fire falls They are competently rich in Cattel Cattel as Oxen Goats Wild-Asses Roe-Bucks with many sorts of Fowl amongst which Canary-Birds which sing very clear and pleasantly The Inhabitants are a sturdy and strong people The constitution of the Inhabitants neither White nor Black but Tauny with flat and broad Noses lively and nimble Spirited stout-hearted and inclin'd to Wars There remain yet some few of the antient Barbarous People call'd by the Spaniards Guanchas but they have in some measure laid aside their Native rudeness Some of them seem to have a Caninus Appetitus an unsatisfi'd Voracity so that one of them will sometimes eat up twenty Rabbets and a whole Goat at a Meal By continual converse most of them besides their Lingua Vernacula or Mother-Tongue speak good Spanish In Grand Canary the chiefest of the whole knot Government the Bishop and Inquisitors have their Seat and the Chief Governor a Spaniard his Residence attended by all inferior Ministers of Justice for the deciding of differences arising between the Inhabitants And by the equal care both of the Ecclesiastical and Civil Power Christianity hath gain'd so firm a footing Religion that admits of no Opponent or Rival those obstinate persons that fled into the Mountains being utterly extirpated The Merchandize brought from thence are Canary-Wines Goat-Skins Sugar and such like The Grand-Canaries THe Grand-Canaries according to the common opinion is the same with the Ancients so lying Westward of Lancerote near the Cape of Bajader but more Northerly seven and twenty degrees and thirty minutes from the Equator the length accounted thirty French or eighteen Dutch Miles though Thevet shortens the length and in breadth gives it no more than twelve French Here stands the Metropolis of the whole being the Bishops See containing the Cathedral and some Cloysters of St. Francis and others They have besides the Cities of Galdar and Guia with divers dispers'd Cloysters built by the Munificence and Generosity of the Genoese Merchants It excells in grandeur and fertility all the rest being inhabited by nine or ten thousand Souls holding a Jurisdiction over them as well in Spiritual as Temporal Affairs Fortaventure or Fuerteventura FOrtaventure or Fuerteventura by some taken for the Casperia of Ptolomy Gramay lib. 9. c. 3. and Capraria of Pliny lieth close to the Main Land of Barbary in eight and twenty degrees North-Latitude Northward of Lancerote and Westward of the Grand-Canaries fifteen Miles in length and three in breadth strengthen'd with three Cities on the Sea-Coast namely Lanagla Tarafalo and Pozo Negro On the North side opens a Haven call'd Chabras and another on the West side very convenient Lancerote LAncerote Bacchius or Lancerota as some imagine the Pluitalia of Ptolomy and Pluvalia of Pliny though more probably it might be Ferro which lieth Northerly of Fuerteventura and Westerly of the Grand Canaries in nine and twenty Degrees and thirty Minutes of North-Latitude twelve Miles in length and seven Miles in breadth Gramay placeth in it the City Cayas which in the Year Sixteen hundred and eighteen together with the Island was Plunder'd by the Tukish Pyrates of Algier who carry'd away Captive fourteen hundred and sixty eight Men. Teneriff Teneriff or Tenarife supposed to be the Nivaria of Pliny lieth to the West six Miles from the Grand Canaries in seven and twenty Degrees and thirty Minutes North-Latitude Thevet and Sanutus make it the biggest of all the Canary Isles extending the length of it to fourteen Legaues but Gramay will not allow so much It hath on the North-side the Haven of Santa Cruize and three fine Cities Lagana Ortone and Garrico together with St. Christophers Here stands the so fam'd Mountain by the Moors call'd Elbard by the Spaniards El Pico de Terrairo and by us The Pike of Teneriff thought not to have