Bank of Ganges toward the West not being less than two Leagues in length But the Houses are no fairer than in the greatest part of the other Cities of India being cover'd with Bambouck or Straw The Holland Company have a House there by reason of their Trade in Saltpeter which they refine at a great Town call'd Choupar which is also scituated upon Ganges ten Leagues above Patna Coming to Patna we met the Hollanders in the Street returning from Choupar who stop'd our Coaches to salute us We did not part till we had emptied two Bottles of Sohiras Wine in the open Street which is not taken notice of in that Country where people meet with an entire freedom without any Ceremony I stay'd eight days at Patna during which time there fell out an accident which will let the Reader understand that Sodomy does not go altogether unpunish'd among the Mahumetans A Mimbachi who commanded a thousand Foot went about to abuse a young Boy in his service and who had several times resisted his attempts complaining also to the Governour and telling him withall that if his Master persisted to urge him any more he would certainly kill him At length the Captain took his opportunity at a House which he had in the Country and forc'd the Boy The Boy o'rewhelm'd with grief and rage took his opportunity also to revenge himself and being one day hunting with his Master about a quarter of a League from any of his other Servants he got behind him and cleft his head with his Hanger After he had done he rode full speed to the City crying out all the way that he had kill'd his Master for such a reason and went immediately to the Governours Lodging who sent him to prison but he let him out at the end of six months and notwithstanding all the endeavours which the Captains Kindred us'd to have had him put to death the Governour durst not condemn him for fear of the people who affirm'd that the Boy had done well I parted from Patna in a Boat for Daca the nine and twentieth of January between eleven and twelve at noon and had the River been deep as it uses to be after the Rains I had taken Boat at Hallabas or at least at Banarou The same day I came to lye at sera-Beconcour costes 15 Five Leagues on this side Beconcour you meet with a River call'd Pomponsou which comes from the South and falls into Ganges The thirtieth to Sera-d ' Erija costes 17 The one and thirtieth after we had travel'd four Leagues or thereabout we met with the River Kaoa which comes from the South Three Leagues lower you meet with another River call'd Chanon which comes from the North. Four Leagues farther you discover the River Erguga which runs from the South and at length six Leagues beyond the River Aquera falling from the same part of the World all which four Rivers lose their Names in the Ganges All that day I saw great Mountains toward the South distant from Ganges sometimes ten and sometimes fifteen Leagues till at length I came to lodg in Monger-City costes 18 The first day of January 1666 after I had gone by Water two hours I saw the Gandet fall into the Ganges flowing from the North. This is a great River that carries Boats That eveining I lay at Zangira costes 8 But in regard of the winding of Ganges all that days journey I might well reckon them by Water two and twenty Leagues The second day from between six in the morning till eleven I saw three Rivers that threw themselves into Ganges all three descending from the North. The first is call'd Ronova the second Then the third Ghanan I came to lye at Baquelpour costes 18 The third after four hours upon the Ganges I met the River Katare which comes from the North and lay at a Village call'd Pongangel at the foot of certain Mountains that descend to Ganges it self costes 13 The fourth an hours rowing beyond Pongangel I met a great River call'd Mart-Nadi coming from the South and I lay at Rage-Mehale costes 6 Rage-Mehale is a City upon the right hand of Ganges and if you go by Land you shall find the high-way for a League or two pav'd with Brick to the Town Formerly the Governours of Bengala resided here it being an excellent Country for hunting besides that it was a place of great Trade But now the River having taken another course above a good half League from the City as well for that reason as to keep in awe the King of Aracan and several Portuguese Banditi who are retir'd to the mouths of Ganges and made excursions even as far as Daca it self both the Governour and the Merchants have remov'd themselves to Daca which is at present a large City and a Town of great Trade The sixth being arriv'd at a considerable Town call'd Donapour six Leagues from Rage-Mehale I parted with Monsieur Bernier who was going to Casenbasar and thence to Ogouli by Land for when the River is low there is no going by Water by reason of a great Bank of Sand that lies before a City call'd Santiqui I lay that night at Toutipour distant from Rage-mehale costes 12 I saw there at Sun-rising a great number of Crocodiles lying upon the Sand. The seventh I came to Acerat costes 25 From Acerat to Daca it is counted by Land forty-five Leagues All that day I saw such a vast number of Crocodiles that I had a great desire to shoot at one to try whether the vulgar report were true that a Musket-shot would not pierce their skin The bullet hit him in the jaw and made the blood gush out however he would not stay in the place but plung'd into the River The eighth I saw again a great number lying upon the bank of the River and made two shot at two with three bullets at a time As soon as they were wounded they turn'd themselves upon their backs opening their throats and di'd upon the spot That day I came to lie at Douloudia costes 17 The Crows were here the cause that we found a very fair Fish which the Fisher-men had hid among the Osiers by the side of the River for when our Water-men saw the Crows in great numbers hovering and making an hideous noise about the Osiers they presently conjectur'd that there was something more than ordinary and they made so diligent a search that at length they found an excellent dish of meat The ninth two hours after noon we met with a River call'd Chativor that runs from the North and we lay at Dampour costes 16 The tenth we lay by the River-side in a place remote from Houses and we travell'd that day costes 15 The eleventh toward evening being come to that part where Ganges divides it self into three Arms whereof one runs to Daca we lay at a large Town upon the entry of the great Channel which Town is call'd Jatrapour costes 20 They that have no
of all these Places A Particular Relation of the Gallies belonging to the Grand Signor as well at Constantinople as in the Isles and other Parts of the Empire FOrmerly there lay in the Road of Constantinople above a hundred and fifty Galleys But the Grand Visier perceiving that so great a number did but cause confusion and that the Captain Basha could not conveniently take so great a burden as to look after such a number he gave order that no more than twenty-four should lie in the Port of Constantinople sending the rest to other Ports as well of the Continent as the Islands At present the Number of the Grand Signor's Gallies is fourscore thus distributed under the Command of their several Beys or Captains At Constantinople twenty-four under the Command of the Captain Basha or Admiral of the Sea who when he goes out upon any Expedition sends to the rest to meet him according to Orders When he goes in person to Sea he gives to every one of his Slaves besides their ordinary Habit a kind of Cassock of Red Cloth and a Bonnet of the same colour But this is only in the Admiral 's Gally and at his own Cost His Gally carries usually 366 Slaves and to every Seat of the Rowers a Bonne Vole These Bonne Voles are certain Volunteers that freely offer themselves to the Service of the Admiral and there is great care taken for their being well paid Their Pay is 3500 Aspers for their Voyage which generally continues seven or eight Months They feed as the other Slaves but if they Row negligently or lazily they are beaten worse than the Slaves for the Volunteers have nothing to do except it be to Row But the Slaves are put to several other Duties Take notice also that the Volunteers that serve in the General 's Gally have 500 Aspers more than those in the other Gallies that is to say 4000 Aspers for their Voyage which comes to 40 Crowns The Reer-Admiral carries Two hundred and fifty men as well Slaves as Volunteers That Galley and the great Tefterdar's or Treasurers are the best provided of any in the whole Fleet For the Reer-Admiral Basha has his choice to take four of the best men out of every Galley for his own or else to receive 3500 Aspers for every man which is paid by the Captain of the Galley which makes him the richest of all the Beys The great Tefterdar's Galley is one of the Twenty four Galleys of Constantinople and he sends a particular Treasurer in the quality of a Lientenant to command her That Command is very much contested for in regard that Galley is very well provided with all things and for that all the Captains Court the Tefterdar who when the Galleys return to Port rewards them according to their Merit The Janizary-Aga's Galley is of the same number but he never goes to Sea always sending one in his room The Bey of Rhodes that takes upon him the Title of Basha has eight Galleys The Bey of Stancho an Island about an hundred Miles from Rhodes Lieutenant to the Bey of Rhodes has one Galley The Bey of Sussam a small Island near Scio has one Galley and his Lieutenant another These Galleys are generally appointed to watch the Maltesi and Ligorn The Bey of Scio formerly had but three but since the War with Candy he has had six The Lieutenant of the Bey of Soio has two Gallies There be also three other Beys in the Island of Scio who have no dependance upon the Basha of Scio but buy their Provisions where they can find it best cheap The Bey of Smyrna and his Lieutenant have two Gallies but they can do nothing without the Orders of the Bey of Scio. The Bey of Metelin has two Gallies The Bey Cavale a small Bay twelve Miles on this side the Dardanells upon the Coast of Europe has one The Bey of Nestrepont seven The Bey of Napoli in Romania five The Bey of Coron one The Bey of Modon one The Bey of Famagosta six The Bey of Alexandria in Egypt five The Bey of Canée two Gallies The Bey of Candia one The Bey of Castel-Tourneze or Navarin two Gallies All these Gallies make up the number of Fourscore The light Gallies carry not above 196 men the four men that are wanting of two hundred being the Bey's profit Every Captain is allow'd thirteen thousand Piasters for his Provision and every Christmas he gives to every Slave a pair of Breeches and a Cassock of course Cloth with a scantie kind of a Cloak Every Slave has every day a pound and a half of good Bread and nothing else But upon Friday which is the Mahumetans Snnday they have hot Pease or Beans or Lentils boyl'd in Butter They receive also sometimes the Alms of the Greeks when they lie in any Port. But at Constantinople they fare somewhat better for twice a week as well the Turks as the Greeks and others come to the Bains and be stow their Charity of Rice and other good Victuals The Bains is the name of the place where the Sea-men are kept when they are not at Sea Sometimes when they are to go to Sea they will counterfeit themselves sick or lame but they are so narrowly observ'd that it serves them to no other purpose than to procure to themselves the more Blows CHAP. IX a Relation of the present State of Georgia GEORGIA which others call Gurgïe or Gurgistan extends Eastward to the Caspian Sea and upon the West is bounded by Mountains that part it from Mengrelia Formerly it was a Kingdom all the Inhabitants whereof were Christians of the Armenian and of the Greek Church but of late the Mahometans have got footing among them And the King of Persia having fill'd them full of Divisions has made two Kingdoms of it which he calls Provinces over which he has plac'd two Governors They are generally Princes of the Countrey who must turn Mahometans before they can be admitted to that Dignity When they are advanc'd they take upon them the title of Kings and while they have any Issue the King of Persia cannot dispossess their Children The most Potent of these two Kings is he that resides at Testis who in the Language of the Country is call'd the King of Cartele The present King is the last that has continu'd a Christian with his four Sons the Eldest of which the King of Persia having entic'd to Court partly by Promises and partly by Presents has won to Mahumetism Immediately thereupon he caus'd him to be declar'd King of the other Province These two Kings have each of them a Guard of Mahumetan-Horsemen under their own pay and at present I believe there are in both Kingdoms near upon 12000 Mahumetan Families The King of Testis coyns Mony in the King of Persia's Name and the Silver which he coyns is in Spanish Reals French Crowns and such other Money which the Armenians bring out of Europe for their Goods As to
men cannot think upon any thing needful for them which is not to be found therein But instead of that satisfaction which I ought to have for having accomplish'd so great a work I find no reason but to be altogether griev'd When God demanding the cause the Angel Gabriel answer'd My God and Father I will tell you what afflicts me because that after the making of the World as I have done I foresee that there will come into it a prodigious number of Jews Turks Idolaters and other Infidels Enemies of your Name who will be unworthy to eat and enjoy the Fruits of our Labours To whom God thus reply'd Never grieve my Son there shall live in this World which thou hast built certain Christians of St. John who shall be my friends and shall be all sav'd Upon which the Angel admiring how that should be What said he will there not be several Sinners among those Christians and by consequence will not they be your Enemies To whom God thus concluded That at the day of Judgment the Good should Pray for the Wicked and by that means they should be all forgiv'n and obtain Salvation These Christians have a strange Antipathy against the Blew Colour call'd Indigo which they will not so much as touch For certain Jews dreaming that their Law should be abolish'd by St. John told it their Country-men Which they understanding and seeing that St. John prepar'd to Baptize Christ in a great rage fetch'd a vast quantity of Indigo which they call Nill in their Language and flung it into Jordan They add also that those waters continu'd unclean for some time and had hinder'd the Baptism of Christ had not God sent his Angels with a large Vessel of water which he caus'd them to fill out of Jordan before the Jews had defil'd it with Indigo for which reason God particularly Curs'd that Colour CHAP. IX A Continuation of the Road from Balsara to Ormus THe tenth of April we set out from Balsara for Bander-Congo for which passage we hir'd a Terrade or a Barque for the purpose for they which are laden with Dates are generally so overcharg'd that if a Storm rises they are in danger of being overset The River of Balsara is very dangerous by reason of the Sands which also lie up and down the Persian Gulf and are very prejudicial to Navigation in that place On both sides the Gulf that separates Persia from Arabia the Happy live a sort of poor people that follow no other Trade than fishing so poor that when they bring fish to your Vessel they require nothing for it but Rice and not the best neither but such course stuff as we feed our Hens and Pigs withall I gave them a Sack of thirty or forty pounds and bid them make merry with it but they told me they must be careful how they spent such Rice as that unless it were for their Sick or at their Weddings so that if the rest of Arabia the Happy be like that assuredly 't is rather a most unfortunate Country There are several Isles in the Persian Gulf but the chiefest of all is the Isle of Baharen where they fish for Pearls of which I have spoken in its proper place Near to the place where Euphrates falls from Balsarae into the Sea there is a little Island where the Barques generally come to an Anchor in expectation of the wind There we stay'd four days whence to Bandar-Congo it is fourteen days Sail and we got thither the twenty-third of April This place would be a far better habitation for the Merchants than Ormus where it is very unwholesom and dangerous to live But that which hinders the Trade from Bandar-Congo is because the Road to Lar is so bad by reason of the want of Water and craggy narrow ways which only Camels can endure but from Ormus to Lar the way is tollerable We stay'd at Bandar-Congo two days where there is a Portugais Factor who receives one half of the Customs by agreement with the King of Persia. By the way take notice that they who will go by Water from Ormus to Balsara must take the Natives for their Pilots and be continually sounding besides The thirtieth we hir'd a Vessel for Bander-Abassi and after three or four hours Sailing we put into a Village upon the Sea-side in the Island of Keckmishe Keckmishe is an Island three Leagues about and about five or six from Ormus It exceeds in Fertility all the Islands of the East that produce neither Wheat nor Barley but at Keckmishe is a Magazine of both without which Ormus would hardly subsist in regard it furnishes that City with most of their Provision for their Horses There is in the Island a Spring of good Water for the preservation of which the Persians have built a Fort least the Portugals when they held Ormus should get it into their Possession In 1641. aud 1642. the Hollanders falling out with the King of Persia about their Silk Trade besieg'd this Island For the Ambassadors of the Duke of Holstein coming into Persia the Dutch were jealous that they came to fetch away all the Silk and thereupon enhanc'd the Market from forty-two to fifty Tomans When the Ambassadors were gone the Dutch would pay no more than forty-four which was two Tomans more than they were us'd to do The King netl'd that they would not stand to their words forbid that they should make sale of their Goods 'till they had paid their Customs from which 'till that time they were exempted Thereupon the Hollanders besieg'd the Fortress of Keckmishe but the Heats were so intollerable that they were forc'd to quit their design with great loss of their Men and at length by great Presents to the chief Courtiers they obtain'd to pay no more than forty-six Tomans Larec is an Island nearer to Ormus than Keckmishe well inhabited and so stor'd with Stags and Hinds that in one day we kill'd five and forty From Keckmishe we Sail'd for Ormus where we arriv'd the first of May. I had put my choicest Goods in a Chest directed for the Hollaad Commander at Ormus by which means I got the Custom free The Persian Gulf is the most dangerous Gulf I know by reason of the shallowness and sharp Promontories that point out into the Sea and therefore the best way is to take a Pilot at Ormus or Bander-Congo and the most proper Pilots are the Fishermen who are only skill'd in that Sea and no farther The Soyl about the Persian Gulf is dry Sand and without Water so that it is impossible to Travel by Land from Ormus to Balsara The Merchants would be glad to find a way through the Coast of Arabia to get to Mascaté whence there might a cut be made to Sindi Diu or Surat which are the three chief Ports of India During the difference between the King of Persia and the Hollanders the Emir of Vodana an Arabian Prince offer'd to shew them an easie Road from Mascaté to
is very little among them If you receive one false Roupie in a Bagg from any particular person 't is better to cut it to pieces and lose it than to speak of it for if it should come to be known there might be danger in it For you are commanded by the King's Law to return the Bagg where you received it and to return it from one to another till you can find out the Counterfeiter who if he be apprehended is only sentenc'd to lose his hand If the Counterfeiter cannot be found and that it be thought that he who paid the Money is not guilty he is acquitted upon some small amercement This brings great profit to the Changers For when there is any Summ of Money received or paid the Merchants cause him to look it over and for their pains they have one sixteenth of a Roupie in the hundred As for the Money which is paid out of the Sarquet or King's Exchequer there is never any found that is counterfeit For all the Money that is carried in thither is exactly view'd by the King's Bankers The Great Lords have also their particular Bankers Before they put up the Money into the Treasury they throw it into a great Charcoal-fire and when the Roupies are red-hot they quench the fire by throwing water upon it and then take out the Money If there be any Piece that is white or that has the least mark of Alloy it is presently cut in pieces As often as these Roupies are carried into the Treasury they mark the Pieces with a Puncheon which makes an hole but not quite through and there are some Pieces that have seven or eight holes made in that manner to shew that they have been so many times in the Exchequer They are all put a thousand Pieces together in a bagg seal'd with the Seal of the great Treasurer and the number of years superscrib'd since they were coin'd And here you are to take notice whence the Treasurers profit arises as well that of the King's Treasurer as that of the particular Treasurers of the Great Lords of the Kingdom When there is any bargain made they agree for new Roupies coin'd the same year but when they come to receive the payment the Treasurers will make it in old Roupies wherein there is a loss of six per Cent. So that if they will have new Silver the Merchants must compound with the Treasurer In my fift Voyage I went to visit Cha-Est-Kan according to my promise to let him have the first sight of what I brought along with me So that as soon as I arrived at Suratt I sent him word and received his Orders to meet him at Choupart a City in the Province of Decan to which he had laid Siege Coming to him in a little time and a few words I sold him the greatest part of what I had brought along with me out of Europe And he told me that he expected every day that Money should be sent him from Suratt to pay the Army and to pay me also at the same time for what he had bought of me I could not imagin however that so great a Prince as he that commanded so great an Army had not store of Money by him but rather conjectur'd that he had an intention to make me some abatement upon those Pieces which he would put upon me in payment as he had serv'd me before It fell out as I faresaw But for Provisions for my self my Men and my Horses he took such order that there was great plenty brought me night and morning and for the most part he sent for me my self to his own Table Ten or twelve days thus past away and not a word of the Money that I expected So that being resolv'd to take my leave of him I went to his Tent. He appeared to be somewhat surpriz'd and looking upon me with a frowning-brow wherefore will you be gone said he before you are paid or who d' you think shall pay you afterwards if you go away before you receive your Money Upon these words with a countenance as stern as his my King replied I will see me paid For his goodness is such that he causes all his Subjects to be paid that have not received satisfaction for such Goods as they sell in forreign Countries And what course will he take answer'd he in a great choler with two or three stout Men of War said I which he will send either to the Port of Suratt or toward the Coasts to wait for the Ships that come from Mocca He seemed to be netled at that reply but not daring to give any more way to his choler he ordered his Treasurer immediately to give me a Letter of Exchange to Aurengabad I was the more glad of that because it was a place through which I was to pass in my way to Golcanda besides that it would spare me the carriage and the hazards of my Money The next day I had my Bill of Exchange and took leave of the Prince who was nothing displeased but told me that if I return'd to the Indies I should not fail to come and see him which I did in my sixt and last Voyage When I came to Suratt he was at Bengala where I sold him all the rest of my Goods that I could not put off either to the King of Persia or the Great Mogul But to return to the payment of my Money I was no sooner arrived at Aurenggabat but I went to find the great Treasurer who no sooner saw me but he told me he knew wherefore I came that he had received Letters of advice three days before and that he had already taken the Money out of the Treasury to pay me When he had brought me all the Baggs I caused my Banker to open them who saw them to be Roupies by which I was to lose two in the hundred Upon that I thank'd the Treasurer very heartily telling him I understood no such dealing and that I would send and complain of him to Cha-Est-Kam and declare to him that he should either give order that I should be paid in new Silver or else let me have my Goods again which I presently did But not receiving an answer so soon as I knew I might have done I went to the Treasurer and told him I would go my self and fetch away my Goods I believe he had received order what to do for seeing I was resolved to go he told me he was very unwilling I should put my self to so much trouble and that it would be better for us to agree among our selves After many contests about the two in the hundred which he would have made me lose I was contented to abate one and had lost the other had I not happily met with a Banker who wanted Silver and had a Bill of Exchange to pay at Golconda so that he was glad to make use of mine and gave me a Bill to be paid at Golconda being my full Summ
comes they set up a Candle or a lighted Lamp for a Signal Then it is also that they open all the Shops where they sell Tari which is a certain drink made of the juice of a Tree and is as sweet as our new Wines They fetch it some five or six leagues off upon Horses that carry two earthen-Bottles of each side and trot at a great rate of which there come every day to the City above five or six-hunder'd The King has a considerable Revenue by the Impost which he lays upon this Tari And for that reason he permits so many common Women in regard it is for their sake that so much Tari is consum'd those that sell it for that cause keeping their Shops by those Houses These sort of Women are so nimble and active that when the present King went to see Maslipatan nine of them undertook to represent the figure of an Elephant four making the four feet four the body and one the trunk upon which the King sitting in a kind of Throne made his entry into the City All the Men and Women of Golconda are well proportion'd and of comely statures and fair enough in their councenances only the Countrey-people are a little more swart The present King of Golconda bears the Name of Abdoul-Coutou-Sha and I will tell the Reader in a few words from whence he drew his Original In the Reign of Axbar King of India the Father of Jehan-Guir the Territories of the Great Moguls did not extend farther Southward then Narbider to that the River which runs by it and which coming from the South empties it self into Ganges separated their Dominions from the Territories of the Raja of Narsingue that stretch'd as far as Cape-Comorin the other Raja's being only his Subjects and depending upon him This Raja and his Successors have been always at Wars with them that succeeded to Tamerlane or Temur-leng in India and their Power was so great that the last Raja who was at War with Akbar brought into the Field four Armies under as many Generals The most considerable of his Armies lay in those Provinces which at this day are call'd the Kingdom of Golconda the second was quarter'd in the Provinces of Visapour the third in the Province of Dultabat and the fourth in the Territories of Brampour The Raja of Narsingue dying without Children the four Generals divided among themselves the Countreys which they possess'd with their Army and took upon them the title of Kings the one of Golconda the other of Visapour the other of Brampour and the fourth of Dultabat Though the Raja were an Idolater nevertheless his four Generals were Mahumetans and he of Golconda was of the Sect of Haly descended from an Ancient Family of the Turcomans which inhabit the Country of Hamadan in Persia. This General as I have said was more considerable than any of the rest and some few days after the death of the Raja they won a famous Victory from the Mogul so that he could not hinder them from assuming their several Sovereignties But after that Jehan-Guir the Son of Akbar conquer'd again the Kingdom of Brampour Cha-jehan the Son of Jehan-Guir recover'd the Kingdom of Dultabat and Aureng-zeb the Son of Cha-jehan recover'd some part of the Kingdom of Visapour As for the King of Golconda neither Cha-jehan nor Aureng-zeb disturb'd him but let him rest in peace upon condition that he should pay to the Mogul an annual tribute of 200000 Pagods At present the greatest Raja on this side Ganges is the Raja of Velou whose Territories extend to Cape-Comorin and who succeeded to some part of the Territories of the Raja of Narsingue But in regard there is no Trade in his Countrey and by consequence no concourse of strangers there is little notice taken of him The present King of Golconda has no Sons but three Daughters who are all married The Eldest Espous'd one of the Kinsmen of the Grand Chek of Mecca Nor must we forget some passages that fell out before this Marriage The Chek coming to Golconda in the habit of a Faquir for some Months lodg'd without the Gate of the Palace disdaining to give any answer to several Courtiers that demanded what his business was At length the thing being made known to the King he sent his chief Physitian who spoke good Arabick to know of the Chek what he had to request and the reason of his coming The Physitian and some other Lords of the Court that discours'd him also finding him to be a person of great Wit and Learning brought him to the King who was very well satisfi'd with his aspect and his presence But at length the Chek declaring to him that he came to Espouse the Princess that proposal very much surpriz'd the Prince and was look'd upon by the greatest part of the Court as made by a person not well in his wits At first the King only laugh'd at him But when he found him obstinately persevering in his demand in-so-much that he threaten'd the Countrey with some strange Calamity if the Princess were not given to him in Marriage he was committed to Prison where he lay a long time At length the King thinking it more to the purpose to send him back into his own Countrey caus'd him to be ship'd away at Mastipatan in a Vessel that carri'd Goods and Pilgrims to Mocca whence they travell by land to Mecca About two years after the same Chek return'd again to Golconda and order'd his affairs so well that he Espous'd the Princess and won an high reputation in the Kingdom which he governs at this day and is very Potent He it was that kept the King from surrendring the Fortress of Golconda whither he was retir'd when Aureng-zeb and his Son took Bagnabar as I shall tell you by and by threatning to kill him if he would not resolve to hold it out and not deliver the keys to the enemy This bold action wss the reason which made the King love him ever afterwards and that he takes his counsel in all weigty affairs not as he is the King's Son-in-Law but as he is a great Minister of State and the chiefest person next the King in all the Court He it was that has put a stop to the finishing the great Pagod in Bagnagar having threaten'd the whole Kingdom with some great Calamity if they went forward with the work This Prince is a passionate Lover of all those that profess the Mathematicks and understands them as well For which reason though he be a Mahumetan he is a great Favourer of all the Christians who are vers'd in that Science as he has particularly testifi'd to Father Ephrahim a Capuchin passing through Golconda for Pegu whither he was sent by his Superiors He did all he could to oblige him to stay in the Country and offer'd to build him a House and a Church at his own expences telling him he should neither want employment nor Hearers in regard there were several
of the way are enemies to them that are bred on the other side so that they dare not cross from one side to the other but they are in danger of being immediately strangl'd Here we had good sport in setting the Apes together by the ears which is done after this manner This part of the Countrey at every leagues end is clos'd up with Gates and Barricado's where there is a good Guard kept and where all Passengers are examin'd whither they go and whence they come so that men may safely travel there with their Money in their hands In several parts of this Road there is Rice to be sold and they that would see the sport cause five or six Baskets of Rice to be set in the Road some forty or fifty paces one from the other and close by every Basket they lay five or six Battoons about two-foot-long and two inches about then they retire and hide themselves presently they shall see the Apes on both sides of the way descend from the tops of the Bambou's and advance toward the Baskets which are full of Rice They are about half an hour shewing their teeth one at the other before they come near the Baskets sometimes they advance then retreat again being loath to encounter At length the female-Baboons who are more couragious than the males especially those that have young ones which they carry in their arms as Women do their Children venture to approach the Basket and as they are about to put in their heads to eat the males on the other side advance to hinder them Immediately the other party comes forward and thus the seud being kindled on both sides they take up the Battoons that lie by the Baskets and thrash one another in good earnest The weakest are constrain'd to flie into the wood with their pates broken and their limbs maim'd while the Masters of the Field glut themselves with Rice Though it may be when their bellies are full they will suffer some of the female-party to come and partake with them The four and twentieth we travell'd nine leagues all the way being like the Road the day before as far as Naraveron The five and twentieth after a journey of eight hours through a Countrey of the same nature meeting at every two or three leagues end with Gates and Guards we came in the evening to Gazel The six and twentieth we travell'd nine leagues and came to lie at Courva where there was nothing to be found neither for Man nor Beast so that our Catte were forc'd to be contented with a little Grass which was cut on purpose for them Courva is only a celebrated Pagod by which at our arrival we saw several bands of Souldiers pass by some with Half-pikes some with Muskets and some with Clubs who were going to joyn with one of the principal Commanders of Mirgimola's Army who was encamp'd upon a rising-ground not far from Courva the place being pleasant and cool by reason of the great number of Trees and Fountains that grace it When we understood the Captain was so neer we went to wait upon him and found him sitting in his Tent with many Lords of the Countrey all Idolaters After we had presented him with a pair of Pocket-Pistols inlaid with Silver he demanded of us what had brought us into that Countrey but when we told him that we came to attend Mirgimola Generalissimo of the King of Golconda's Army about business he was infinitely kind to us However understanding that he took us for Hollanders we told him we were not Hollanders but French-men Thereupon not understanding what Nation we were he fell into a long discourse with us about the Government of our Countrey and the Grandeur of our King Six or seven days before they had taken five or six Elephants three whereof had escap'd having kill'd ten or twelve of the Natives who assisted in the Chace in pursuit whereof the General was preparing and because we could not stay to see the sport we were contented to inform our selves of the manner of hunting that vast Animal which is thus They cut out several Alleys or Walks in the Wood which they dig full of great deep holes and cover with Hurdles strow'd over with a little earth Then the Hunters hooping and hollowing and beating up Drums with Pikes that have Wild-fire ti'd to the end of them force the Elephant into those Walks where he tumbles into the holes not being able to rise again Then they fetch Ropes and Chains and some they bring under their bellies others they wind about their legs and trunk and when they think they have sufficiently hamper'd the Beast they have certain Engines ready wherewithal to draw him up Nevertheless of five three escap'd notwithstanding the cords and chains about their bodies and their legs The people told us one thing which seem'd very wonderful which was that these Elephants having been once deceiv'd and having escap'd the snare are very mistrustful ever after and when they get into the Wood again they break off a great bough from one of the Trees with their trunk with which they examine every step they go before they set down their feet to try whether there be any hole or no in their way So that the Hunters that told us the Story seem'd to be out of hopes of ever taking those three Elephants which had escap'd Had we been assur'd that we might have been eye-witnesses of this miraculous precaution of the Elephant we would have staid three or four days what-ever urgent business we had had The Captain himself was a kind of a Brigadeer that commanded three or four-thousand men who were quarter'd half a league round the Countrey The seven and twentieth after two hours travel we came to a great Village where we saw the two Elephants which had been so lately taken Every one of the two wild Elephants was plac'd between two tame ones Round about the wild Elephants stood six men with every one an Half-pike in their hands and a lighted-Torch fasten'd at the end of the Pike who talk'd to the Beasts giving them meat and crying out in their language Take it eat it The food which they gave them was a little bottle of Hey some pieces of brown-Sucre and Rice boil'd in water with some few corns of Pepper If the wild Elephants refus'd to do as they were bidden the men made signs to the tame Elephants to beat them which they did banging the refractory Elephant upon the head and forehead with their trunks and if he offer'd to make any resistance the other Elephant thwackt him on the other side so that the poor Elephant not knowing what to do was constrain'd to learn obedience Being thus fall'n into the Story of Elephants I will add some other observations which I have made upon the nature of those Animals Though the Elephant never meddles with the female after he is once taken yet he is sometimes seiz'd with a kind of lustful rage One
Rock We inform'd him of the cause of our coming telling him that we had some commodities that were rare and worth the King 's buying but that we were unwilling to shew them to the King till he had seen them believing it our duty to render him that respect The Nahab was very well-pleas'd with our Complement and after he had caus'd us to be presented with Betlé we took our leaves of him and return'd to our Lodgings whither he sent to us two Bottles of Wine one of Sack and the other of Sohiras which is a rare thing in that Countrey The fourth day we waited upon him again and carried along with us some Pearles of an extraordinary weight beauty and bigness the least whereof weighed twenty four Caratts After he had vewd them and shew'd them to some of the Lords that were about him he ask'd the price which when we had set him he return'd us our Jewels and told us he would consider of it The tenth day he sent for us in the morning and after he had caus'd us to sit down by him he sent for five small Bags full of Diamonds every Bag containing a good handful They were loose Stones of a very black Water and very small none of them exceeding a Carat or a Carat and a half but otherwise very clean There were some few that might weigh two Carats After the Nahab had shew'n us all he ask'd us whether they would sell in our Country We made answer that they might have been for sale in our Country provided they had not been of a black Water for that in Europe we never esteem'd any Diamonds but such as were clean and white having but a small esteem for any others It seems that when he first undertook the Conquest of this Kingdom for the King of Golconda they inform'd him that there were Diamond Mines in it Whereupon he sent twelve thousand men to dig there who in a whole years time could find no more than those five small Bags full Whereupon the Nahab perceiving that they could find none but brown Stones of a Water enclining much more to black than white thought it but loss of time and so sent all the people back to their Husbandry The eleventh the French Canoneers came all to the Nahabs Tent complaining that he had not paid them the four months pay which he had promis'd them threatning him that if he did not discharge it they would leave him to which the Nahab promis'd to give them satisfaction the next day The twelfth the Canoneers not failing to give him another visit the Nahab paid them three months and promis'd to pay them the fourth before the month were out but so soon as they had receiv'd their Money they fell a feasting one another so that the Dancing Wenches carried away the greatest part of their Coin The thirteenth the Nahab went to see the Guns which Maille had undertaken to cast For which purpose he had sent for Brass from all parts and got together a great number of Idols which the Soldiers had pillag'd out of the Pagods as they march'd along Now you must know that in Gandicot there was one Pagod said to be the fairest in all India wherein there were several Idols some of Gold and others of Silver among the rest there were six of Brass three sitting upon their Heels and three upon their Feet ten foot high These Idols ' were made use of among the rest But when Maille also had provided all things ready he could not make those six Idols run that were taken out of the great Pagod of Gandicot though he melted all the rest He try'd several ways but it was impossible for him to do it whatever expence the Nahab was at nay though the Nahab threaten'd to hang the Priests for having inchanted those Idols And thus Maille could never make any more than only one single piece and that split upon trial so that he was forc'd to leave the work unfinish'd and soon after left the Nahabs service The fourteenth we went to take our leaves of the Nahab and to know what he had further to say to us concerning the Commodities we had then shew'n him But then he told us he was busie at present about the examination of certain Offenders which were brought before him For it is the custom of that Country never to put a man in Prison but as soon as the Offender is taken he is examin'd and sentence is pronounc'd upon him according to his crime which is immediately executed or if the party taken be found innocent he is as soon acquitted And let the controversie be of what nature it will it is presently decided The fifteenth in the morning we went to wait upon him again and were immediately admitted into his Tent where he sate with his two Secretaries by him The Nahab was sitting according to the custom of the Country bare-foot like one of our Taylors with a great number of Papers sticking between his Toes and others between the Fingers of his left hand which Papers he drew somtimes from between his Toes sometimes from between his Fingers and order'd what answers should be given to every one After his Secretaries had wrote the answers he caus'd them to read them and then took the Letters and seal'd them himself giving some to Foot Messengers others to Horsemen For you must know that all those Letters which are sent by Foot-Posts all over India go with more speed than those which are carried by Horsemen The reason is because at the end of every two Leagues there are little Huts where there are men always ready who are engag'd to run away immediately so that when one of these men that carries the Letters comes to one of these Huts he throws the Letters into the Hut and then he that is appointed runs with them to the next Stage They look upon it as an ill Omen to give the Letters into the Messengers hands but they must be thrown at his feet and he must gather them up It is to be observ'd also that the Highways in most parts of India are like Walks of Trees and that where there are no Trees at every five hundred paces distance there are set up little Heaps of Stones which the Inhabitants of the next Villages are bound to white-wash from time to time to the end those Letter-Carriers may not miss their ways in dark and Rainy nights While we stay'd with the Nahab certain Officers came to tell him that they had brought certain Offenders to the door of his Tent. He was above half an hour before he return'd them any answer writing on and giving instructions to his Secretaries but by and by all of a sudden he commanded the Offenders to be brought in and after he had examin'd them and made them consess the crime of which they stood accus'd he was above an hour before he said a word still writing on and employing his Secretaries In the mean while several
by this course that they are kept within their duty and that they obey the Laws as much out of a principle of Religion and Conscience as out of the fear of chastisement and in that they do not much recede from our Christian Maximes The Mouftis and the Cadis pass therefore indifferently under the Name of Persons well skill'd in the Law as if we should reduce our Divines and our Civil Lawyers into the same Class and in civil and criminal Causes the Moufti is often consulted The Moufti is the honourary Chief of the Law all over the Empire and accounted to be the Interpreter of the Alchoran I speak of the grand Moufti of Constantinople who is the most esteem'd and the principal of all For there are several others of them in Turkey over whom he has no more jurisdiction than he has over the Imans or Priests every one of them submitting themselves only to the Magistrate and there being no Ecclesiastical Superiority amongst them That hinders not but that the Grand Moufti is honour'd by all the rest and in great veneration among the Turks The Grand Seignor never bestows that Dignity but upon a Person of great abilities and great integrity he often consults him in the Affairs of greatest importance he always follows his Directions and he is the only Person in the World at whose approach he rises up to receive him The Cadilesquers follow the Moufti and are Judges-Advocates of the Militia the Souldiers having this Priviledge That they are judg'd only by them whence they also call them Judges of the Armies There are but two of them all over the Empire the Cadilesquer of Romania and the Cadilesquer of Natolia who are in highest esteem next to the Moufti and have their Seats in the Divan immediately next to the Grand Vizir The Mollah or Moula-Cadis are the Judges of great Cities who receive their Commissions from the Cadilesquers to whom there may be an Appeal made from their Sentence in civil Concerns only for as to the criminal part the Cause is soon decided and the least Judge condemns to death without any Appeal The Cadis are under the Mollah and ought to be well vers'd in the Laws and Customs of the Countrey They have also under them the Naips who administer Justice in the Villages and that is done with much expedition without the help of Proctors or Advocates The Imans or Emaums are the Priests of the Turks and as 't were the Parsons of their Mosqueys where they take care that all things be done in order and at the times appointed The Hogias are the Doctors of the Law and as it were the Regents and Instructors of Youth The Sheiks are to them instead of Preachers and they make publick Exhortations The Muezims are they who cry upon the Towers of the Mosquey to call the People together at the hour of Prayer the Turks not using any Bells not the Christians in the Levant The Dervis are Religious Men among the Turks who live poorly and indeed the very word signifies poor They are for the most part ridiculously cloath'd and all generally great Hypocrites OF THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF Gold and Silver-Coins And the small MONEY Now current in TURKEY Together With the History of the TRADE in Five Sols Pieces French MONEY and the Abolition of it THere are but two Species of Gold-Coins current all over the Turkish What Money current in Turkey Empire the one is the proper Countrey Money the other comes out of Forein parts The former is the Scherif otherwise called Sequin or Sultanine and that kind of Gold is worth at the present six Franks French Money though heretofore it yielded but five Franks nay came so low as four The Scheriffs come from Egypt and Cairo isthe only City of the Empire where The Gold brought to Cairo and coin'd there Gold is coin'd That Gold is brought out of the Kingdom of the Abyssines and this is the manner how it is brought to Cairo The quantity is not the same every year and when the passages are shut up whether by War or by extraordinary Rains whereby the Fields are overflown there comes but little Gold into Egypt during that time As soon as those obstructions are taken away and that there is a freedom of Commerce you shall see arriving at Cairo nay at Alexandria too several Abyssines who bring in one man two pounds another four every one more or less according to his abilities Those poor People run a thousand risques in their Travels and 't is almost a miracle how they bring them to a period Some of them are of that Country whence the Queen of Sheba came and which is now call'd the Kingdom of Sabour Others come from places at a greater distance and they have sometimes fifteen days journeys to make and cannot meet with any waters to drink but what are corrupt and destructive to health which I found but too true my self when I cross'd the Desarts of Arabia If by chance they come to some Cottage or Hut where they have kill'd an Elephant it is a place for them to feast in This consider'd we need not wonder at the short lives of those miserable people whose bodies are destroy'd in those Voyages and who for the most part do not exceed forty years of age The case is the same with those who trade with the Portugueses on the Coasts of Melinda and Mozambico the corrupt waters they are forc'd to drink in their way make them hydropical at five and twenty years at age and generally all the several peoples of the Kingdom of Sabour have the right Leg swell'd and twice as big as the left and seldom exceed five and thirty years 'T is a miraculous thing to see the fidelity wherewith those poor Abyssines demean The sincerity of the Abyssines themselves in trading as well those of the Southern parts who are Christians as those of the North who border upon Egypt and are Mahumetans For after they have taken the Commodities they like for the Gold they have brought if the Merchant they deal with will supply them with any thing further to be paid at their return and upon their own words he is sure enough of it and need not break his sleep for it For if it happen that one of those Abyssines who is a Debtor should die by the way some of his Relations or Friends whom he acquaints with his affairs brings the Gold at the next return for the Commodity which had been taken up and it could never hitherto be found that any Merchant could complain that ever he had lost ought by any one of them All that is to be fear'd is that they should fall into the hands of their Enemies who rob and kill them and particularly on the South-side there being less danger towards the North. The foreign Coins of Gold in Turkey are the Ducates of Germany Holland Hungary and Venice They are very much sought after and they are
or thirteen for the worth of a Crown in the payments they made to the petty Merchants of the Provinces of the Empire for the Merchandizes they brought out of Turkey there was none of that counterfeit Money dispers'd and the Armenians were far enough from burthening themselves with it in regard that all the Money which is carried into Persia is presently convey'd to the Mints upon the Frontiers to be melted down and afwards coin'd into Abassis whereof they give the Merchant an account answerably to the Standard of his Money after it has been examin'd and by that means there can be no fraud committed The same course is taken over all the Great Mogol's Empire and of all the Princes in the World he causes all the Species of Gold and Silver of the best Standard to be coin'd without admitting the least alloy The Genuese Merchants perceiving that the French had at the beginning been fortunate The jealousie of the other Merchants in their Commerce would needs imitate them in other sorts of Money and got two or three hundred thousand Ducats coin'd which they carried into Turkey But they had not the success they expected the Gold was so counterfeit that the cheat was immediately discover'd the Consul and the Captain of the Vessel were in some trouble about it and the persons concern'd therein sav'd what they could of that distaster The Germans also would needs come in for a share taking another course all along the Dannow quite to the mouth of it from whence they got to Constantinople through the Black Sea With other their Merchandizes most whereof consisted in the counterfeit Copper-wares of the City of Nuremberg things fit enough those Nations which border upon the Euxine Sea they carried a quantity of Roups or quarter Ryals of the coinage of Poland which were pleasant to the eye and might have been commodious enough for the Merchants if the adulteration had been moderate But the Italians need not be much asham'd that the Germans should be more successful than they upon that occasion since that both Nations came short in point of subtilty to deceive the Turks But to return to the French the first concern'd in this History to which it is time to pur a period In the heat of their Commerce and while all things were very well with them they thought it not enough to carry away the richest Merchandizes but they also bought up all sorts of good Money they could meet withal and brought it into France to carry on and continue the coinage of their counterfeit pieces This Trade was carry'd on so far through the whole extent of that vast Empire and there was so prodigious a quantity of that counterfeit Money spread abroad that it was found by the Register-Books of the Farmers of the Customes that the sum of what had been dispers'd of it amounted to a hundred and fourscore millions of Livers not accounting what had never come to their knowledge and what Seamen and other private Persons might have conceal'd The other Merchants and Traders of Europe who brought none but good Money having exclaim'd against that disorder and renew'd their complaints to the Grand Vizir the Turks at last open'd their eyes and that principal Minister having comprehended that if the thing continu'd in a short time in stead of Silver there would be nothing but Copper in the Empire prohibited the bringing in of any more of those pieces of five Sols upon pain of confiscation and great penalties to be inflicted on those who durst do any thing contrary thereto Yet could not that crying of them down and the Grand Vizir's prohibition make the Souldiers who serv'd in Candia out of love with those little pieces the beauty whereof they were so much taken withal Notwithstanding all the Remonstrances that could be made to them they would not be paid in any other kind of Money and some discontented Persons and Mutineers beginning to shew their Teeth they were forc'd immediately to to send Gallies to Smyrna and some other Cities of great Commerce to bring away all that could be found of that sort of money The incredible quantity of those counterfeit pieces dispers'd in all the Provinces of the Ottoman Empire is at least vanish'd they are grown red and no longer current At the first crying down of that counterfeit money before the news of it could A mischievous fraud gently punished have been brought to foreign Countries a certain Person named Goulin engag'd all he had in the world to make up to the sum of five and twenty thousand Crowns in those pieces of five Sols so extremely falsify'd that there was harldly so much Silver as was requisite to whiten them He came to Smyrna where I then was and where he soon found that there was no way to put off his counterfeit Merchandize Whereupon he imagin'd that he might get it off if he could make a speedy Voyage to Constantinople where as he had been assur'd some Persons took them even after they had been cry'd down Being unwilling to hazard all by Sea he sent away by Land four or five thousand Crowns which were taken away by Thieves near Bursa and carry'd the much greater part to Constantinople in a Dutch Vessel of which he had also sufficient cause to repent him After he had expos'd it at the Custom-house for the payment of the Duties the Chief Officer of the Customs told him that he might return within two or three days to take back what belong'd to him and as soon as the other was gone he caus'd all to be melted down in his presence The separation being made upon twenty thousand Crowns which was the sum he had brought thither there was not the full fourth part of Silver and the Merchant coming again to the Customer fell down all along out of pure fear lest a severe punishment might follow the fraud whereof he was visibly convicted seeing so much scum of brass on the one side and so little silver on the other But the Turks are not so rigorous as some persons imagine all was restor'd to him nay there was no penalty inflicted upon him and they only order'd him to be gone Certain it is that the Europaeans more addicted to subtilty and circumvention than the Levantines and for the most part not endeavouring to be sincere in Commerce The ancient sincerity of the Turks corrupted by the commerce of the Europaeans have taught the Turks several Cheats which they were either ignorant of or did not practise especially since the Inhabitants of Granada being driven out of Spain dispers'd themselves into several Provinces of the Levant Before that time a man might have rely'd on their integrity and fair dealing But now when you treat with them you must stand upon your guard so prevalent is the example of evil to corrupt mens minds Nor are we to be astonish'd at that ancient undisguized humour of the Turks in their Commerce since we find that
perfect Equity I shall not think it much to produce here a second Example of the exact Justice which the Grand Seignor would have administred to the People and in this Example there is something that is signally remarkable A great Stone-Mortar which may be seen at the Gate of the Divan serves for a Monumental confirmation of this Story and whereas it is accompany'd by many circumstances worthy our observation I think my self oblig'd not to conceal them from the Reader In the Reign of Sultan Amurat a certain private Person finding himself without How Sultan Amurat discover'd a secret breach of trust Wife or Children resolv'd to undertake the Pilgrimage of Mecha Before his departure he conceiv'd that he could not better dispose what he left behind him that was most valuable then by putting it into the hands of a Hoggia a Doctor of the Law He thereupon left in his custody certain Jewels in a little bag intreating him to keep them till he return'd and declaring him his Heir in case he dy'd in his Pilgrimage It was the Pilgrim's fortune to return safely from Mecha and making no question but to get what he had entrusted the Hoggia withal calls for what he had deposited in his hands The other makes him a very cold answer telling him That he knew not what he meant leaving him very much surpriz'd at so unexpected an account of his concerns The Pilgrim smothering his discontent and reflecting that the thing had been done without witnesses did nothing for some days but afterwards he Presents a Petition to the Grand Vizir and acquaints him how all things had pass'd between him and the Doctor The Grand Vizir perceiving there was a great nicety in that affair and that the Doctor might easily deny a thing which had been transacted without witnesses bid the Pilgrim have patience awhile and that he would give the Grand Seignor an account of it which he accordingly did The Grand Seignor Commands the Vizir to be very circumspect in the management of that Affair as being very desirous to sift out the truth of it and orders him to send for the Doctor to make protestations of friendship to him and to put him in hopes of being employ'd in things of great importance Some days pass on while the Grand Vizir minds what Game he had to play At length he sends for the Doctor he commends his Ingenuity and his Conduct and so putting him into very fair hopes he promises him to prevail so far with the Grand Seignor as that he should have the honour to kiss his hands since it was not just that so transcendent a Wit as he should be any longer unknown to his Highness The Doctor overjoy'd at that discourse thought himself the happiest man in the World especially when he saw that the Grand Vizir had made him his Hougia which is as much as to say his Almoner The Vizir proceeds and according to the secret Orders he had receiv'd from the Grand Seignor gives the Doctor another Employment which was that he should bring him in a Report of all the Criminal Affairs which could be presented The Grand Seignor upon the Report of the Hougia ask'd him his advice and what punishment the guilty Person deserv'd for the Crime whereof he was convinc'd the execution being to be done according to the judgment which the Doctor had pass'd whom he made his ordinary Reader and would have near his Person Five or six months pass on in this manner ere there could be any discovery made of the falsify'd Trust. And it is to be observ'd That the Pilgrim had given the Grand Seignor an exact Inventory of all the several things which he had put into the little Bag. Among other things there was particular mention made of a Tesbuch of fine Coral This Tesbuch is a kind of Chappelet or String of Beads consisting of ninety and nine beads upon each of which the Turks repeat certain words taken out of some sentences of the Alcoran That Chapelet is divided into three parts from thirty three to thirty three beads by a little string which separates them and at the end there hang'd a long piece of Corral next to which there was another round bead of the same material of an extraordinary bigness The more Puritanical sort of Turks have their Beads in their hands when they are upon visits and especially when they approach great Persons and that very thing made the first discovery of the Hoggia's theft and breach of trust One day coming into the Seraglio with his Coral-beads in his hand the Grand Seignor before whom he presented himself casting his eyes upon them and presently imagining that it might well be the Pilgrim's Tesbuch according to the description he had given of it in the Catalogue of what things were left in the little bag told the Doctor that he had a great rarity there The other immediately approaches him and intreats his Highness with all submission to accept of it The Grand Seignor takes it and making some discoveries how acceptable that Present was to him does by that prudent dissimulation cause a joy in him whose chastisement he was then contriving But that single indicium the Grand Seignor does not think enough but he will have other discoveries and knowing that among other things that were in the bag there was a Ring the work of an excellent and an ancient Master famous for that sort of Rings which the Turks wear on the Thumb when they shoot with the Long-bowe he expects a second occasion in order to a fuller discovery of the Cheat and the more absolute conviction of the Doctor 'T was not many dayes ere that happen'd by the contrivance of the Emperour himself who calling for one of his Pages one well skill'd in Archery went to the place of the Girit where he also call'd for a Bowe there being not any person in the whole Empire but was inferiour to him as to strength and dexterity in the Exercises of the Bowe and the Dart. When he came to bend the Bowe he complain'd that the Ring hurt his Thumb presuming that the Doctor who stood neer him and had already presented him with the Coral-Beads would also make him a proffer of the Ring which he had of the Pilgrim's It is possible saies the Grand Seignor that there is not at this time any Master living who can make a Ring any thing like such a one whom he nam'd The Doctor whose apprehension was not so good as to see that this trap was laid for his destruction and thinking to insinuate himself more and more into the Grand Seignor's favour told him T hat by good Fortune he had a Ring of that very Master's work which he had kept a long time and that if his Highness would be pleas'd to accept of it he would bring it thither which he presently did Assoon as the Grand Seignor was return'd to his own Quarter he sent for the Grand Vizir
opens it reads it and finds that the Prince demands his head He makes no other answer to that Order then what he does in these few words Let the Will sayes he of my Emperour be done only give me leave to say my Prayers which is granted him His Prayers being ended the Capigis seize him by the Arms and the chief of them presently takes off his Girdle or Sasche and casts it about his Neck That Girdle consists of several small strings of Silk with knots at both ends which two of the company immediately catch hold of and one drawing one way and the other t'other-way they dispatch him in an instant If they are unwilling to make use of their Girdle they take a handkerchief and with the Ring which they use in the bending of their Bowes and which they ordinarily wear on the right-hand Thumb they thrust the hand between the handkerchief which is ty'd very close and the Throat and so break the very Throat-Bone Thus they make a shift to strangle a man in an instant suffering him not to languish in pain that he may dye a faithful Mahumetan and not have the time to enter into despair the Turks thinking our way of hanging Criminals who are so long in torment upon the Gibbet a strange kind of Execution Though I have often us'd this expression That the Grand Seignor sends to demand When and how they strike of the Head in Turkey the Head of any person whom he would rid out of the way yet they never cut it off but when he expresly declares his desire to see it and then it is brought to him If it be from some place at a great distance they take out the Bruins and fill the empty place with Hay and it was my fortune to see two Heads so order'd at the same time which they carried in a Bag. They were the Heads of the Bassa's of Kars and Erzerom It is further to be observ'd That when the Sentence of death is pass'd by the Prince against any one what quality soever he may be of the Turks make no further account of him and when they speak of him treat him no otherwise than they would do a Dog The Bostangi who had been commissionated to bring those two Heads to the Grand Seignor finding himself weary and indispos'd at a Village in Armenia where it was my chance to be at that time and having understood that there was a French-man in the Inne ask'd one of my Servants whether I had any Wine and would be content to let him have any to cheer up his spirits I immediately sent him some in a large Flaggon whereupon having intreated me to come and take a Glass with him which I thought it not fit to deny he would needs shew me whether I would or no the Heads of those two Bassa's a sight I had no great curiosity to see When there is no order given for the bringing of the Head they bury the Body about Mid-night without any ceremony and the memory of the Bassa who had made so much noise before is soon extinguish'd and laid in the dust But it is moreover to be A Prohibition against shedding the blood of the Mahumetans who are condemn'd to death noted That it is the Custome in Turkey not to cut off the Head of any one till after they have strangled him and that the blood is quite cold it being against their Law That the blood of a Mussulman that is one of the Faithful should be spilt upon any occasion but in Warr. The execution being over he who brought the Order for it makes an immediate Seizure of all that belong'd to the deceas'd Bassa and after he has set aside what he The Inventories of the Goods of Bassa's deceas'd not faithfully taken liked best for his own use whether in Gold or Jewels he brings the same persons who had been at the precedent Councel to proceed to the Inventory of his Goods which are afterwards as I have said elsewhere transmitted to the Chambers of the Treasury They who are assistant at the taking of that Inventory know well enough that many things which belong'd to the deceas'd are embezill'd but they are so far from repining or murmuring at it that they sign and attest that there was not any more found They are afraid if they demean'd themselves otherwise lest that Officer of the Seraglio whom the Grand Seignor has sent and who possibly is in favour should do them ill offices at the Court and spread some false report of them whence according to the example they have then before their eyes might happen in like manner the loss of their Charges and Lives They therefore think it prudence to connive at what ever is done by that Envoy as being otherwise perswaded that he will not be disown'd by the Grand Seignor who is not ignorant of what 's done upon those occasions Nay on the contrary whatever he may have dextrously secur'd to himself of the Bassa's Goods they make him some additional Presents of their own at his departure from them engaging him thereby to speak well of them to the Grand Seignor and to the Grand Vizir at his return to the Port. And then also not accounting what he had taken before-hand and what Custome tolerates he receives new marks of the Liberality of his Prince who is satisfy'd that he has so faithfully executed his Orders and so he participates of what is set down in the Inventory when the Bassa's Goods are brought into the Seraglio Some possibly will be apt to imagine that this Sentence of Death pass'd in the Grand Seignor's Letter should raise some disturbance and astonishment in the Soul of The Causes inducing the Turks to defie Diath with so much constancy him who reads it and who reading therein his own Condemnation knowes that it must be immediately executed Yet is it not apparent in his Countenance that he is much startled at it he is not surpriz'd therewith he sees that few of his Companions escape the same sate and he has dispos'd himself for such an end assoon as he first took possession of his Charge Besides the Turks have a strong perswasion That the Decrees of Predestination are irrevocable and that it is impossible to avoid them which makes them look Death in the face with such a degree of constancy and intrepidity as renders them in a manner insensible To which reflection we may adde this That that ready and implicite obedience and submission of the Turks to the Orders of their Soveraign is rather a principle of Religion than of State which has been instill'd into them by a most subtle piece of Politicks and they believe That if they dye by the Command of their Prince they go streight into Paradise As for the opportunity of making an escape out of Turkey by any one who might The Difficulties of making an Escape out of Turkey have some presentiment of his destruction it
their Priests and get him to write down these words in another piece of paper La hé Illa Alla hul vahidul gebbar That is to say There is no other God then God the punisher of Crimes There are others who order these words to be writ down La Illa hé Illa Allahul meliquid vehhab which signifies There is no other God then God alone the Liberal Emperour and Pardoner of Offences The paper having these words written upon it is put into the water of the little Bottle and so they swallow down both together with a strong perswasion that those words have the same vertue as the impression of the Seal There is also to be seen in the same Chamber a very homely kind of Cuttelas hanging The Relicks of Omar by the Wall near the place where the Prophet's Seal and Garment are kept The Scabbard is cover'd with Green cloath and they have it by Tradition that it had been the Cuttelas of Omar one of Mahomet's four Companions who govern'd after him though Ebou-Bequer was the elder of the two and Father-in-law to Mahomet The Arabians affirm That Ebou-Bequer was a Jew by extraction and one of the most learned of his time and that having renounc'd the Mosaick Law he taught at Mecha in the Schools after which he beset himself to compose some part of the Alcoran Near the Cuttelas there is also to be seen a kind of short Sword for which they have in like manner a great veneration upon a perswasion that it some time was the Sword of a certain person named Ebou-Nislum with which he cut to pieces those who had spread a Heresie in the Law of Mahomet He came not into the World till Four hundred years after the death of the Prophet and at length destroy'd that Sect which during the space of two Ages before had given much trouble to the true Mahumetans and gain'd several Battels against them The said Sect was grown very powerful under the denomination of Muharriguu and I have met with some remainders of it in the Mountains of Churdistan which is the A ridiculous Sect. ancient Chaldea Those people are very remarkable for their superstition and much more for their ignorance and a man must have a great care of striking a black Dog in their presence or cutting an Onion with a Knife for their way when they are to eat an Onion is to crush it between two stones The cause of that gross ignorance is their not having any person among them to instruct them and a man may travel five or six dayes Journey in their Country and not meet with either a Mollah or a Mosquey The same reason may also be given for their being for the most part uncircumcis'd and that they who have receiv'd Circumcision had it not till they were Twelve or fifteen years of age and that accidentally by going to some place at a great distance to find out a Mollah and defraying the charges of their Friends and Relations who must accompany them to that ceremony Between the Chamber where these noble Relicks are to be seen and that of the The Grand Seignor's Quarter Forty Pages of which I have given an account at the beginning of this Chapter you have the Prospect of a treble portal of Porphyry that is three doors at a small distance one from the other whereof that in the middle gives entrance into the Grand Seignor's Appartment The two others lead to the Lodgings of the Chokadar-Aga and the Biquabdar-Aga and those Lodgings are very dark because they are not in a place where light can be brought into them and that at the first building thereof they could afford each of them but one little Window But abating that inconvenience they are well enough furnish'd according to the mode of the Country you tread on nothing but Silken Carpets there 's no want of Brokado-Cushions and emboyder'd ones and the Walls which are all of White Marble entertain the Eye with pots of Flowers plainly painted at certain equal distances about which there has been an ingenious application of Gold and Azure The Grand Seignor's Quarter begins with a Hall which is spacious enough and the embellishments of the in-side of it are correspondent to those of the out-side It is an incrustation of Marble of several colours and the Floor of it is cover'd only with the large Woollen Carpets which are brought out of Persia but such as are more sumptuous and much more highly esteem'd than those which are made of Silk All about the Hall for the space of Five foot there are spread Coverlets of Silk of a light colour some Tufted some Embroyder'd and upon the Coverlets there are several sorts of Rich Cushions four foot in length and between two and three in breadth Of the two Doors which are within the Hall one goes to the Appartment of the Pages the other to the Quarter of the Sultanesses and as you go out by this last Amurath's Belvedere mentioned you enter into a Flower-Garden in the midst whereof there is a Basin with its water-work From one of the ends of the Garden you pass to the Revan-Kouchki that is to say a Chamber supported by Pillars It is a Belvedere or spacious Room having a delightful Prospect of all sides which the Sultan Amurath caus'd to be built at his return from the Persian War after he had taken the City of Babylon from Shach-Sefi the King of that Kingdom ruin'd the Province of Tauris and added that of Erivan to his Conquests by the perfidiousness of the Governour I shall give you an account anon how he was justly punish'd for that act of Treachery and I reserve the compleat history of his baseness for the Relations of my Travels This Room or Arbour which we call the Belvedere from the delightfulness of its Prospect is built in an Eminent place upon a steepy Rock It is a noble Arched Roof and the Walls which are rais'd no higher then that a man may rest his Elbow on them are all of White Marble with some Arabian Verses thereon cut and gilt It is open of all sides and the Lattices all about it hinder those that are within it from being seen by such as are on the out-side and afford them withal one of the most delicate Prospects in the World For from that Room they have the sight of all Galata and Pera all that pleasant Landskip of Asia about Scutaret and Chalcedon the Port of Constantinople one of the noblest of all Europe and the Channel of the Black Sea which at the point of the Seraglio is intermixt with the Waters of the Mediterranean where there is observable in the midst as it were a white foamy streak which seems naturally to denote the Confines of Europe and Asia 'T was in this pleasant Arbour that Amurath was often wont to divert himself with The Excellent Wines of Tenedos that Governour of Erivan who had taught him to drink Wine whereto