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
Ammianus like Livy who said that it was a work becoming the most Excellent Wise and Provident Kings And Ammianus pathetically Among all the Buildings the Serapeum bad the pre-eminence wherein was that invaluable Library containing all antient Records of Memorable Transactions in seven hundred thousand Books by the diligence of the Ptolomies Kings of Egypt gathered together but in the Wars of Alexandria and Destruction of the City burnt by that most Pernicious destroyer * Caesar being the most eminent for Arms and Acts accounted this his greatest misfortune that he so great a Lover of Books should be the cause of such an irrepairable destruction Agellius Julius Caesar All the Books says Agellius were burnt in the fore-mentioned Wars of Alexandria when the City was destroyed not wilfully nor of set purpose but perhaps by the multitude of helpers to save it He excuses not onely Julius Caesar but also the Romane Souldiers and lays the fault upon the unruly crew of assistants But Dio and Plutarch speak clean otherwise Dio and Plutarch as may be read more at large in their Writings Thus had this never to be parallel'd Library its end in the hundred eighty and third * Not much above forty years before the Incarnation Olympiade after it had continued an hundred and twenty four years Another Library was after re-erected by Cleopatra in the Serapeum It is again rebuilt by Cleopatra which by the help of Mark Anthony who obtained the Attalian and Pergamenian Libraries was greatly adorned and enriched and in being to the time of Primitive Christianity and was there preserved so long as the Serapeum which was a Building of great Entertainment and wonderful Art continued And at last with the Serapeum utterly subverted which at length the Christians in the Reign of the Emperor Theodosius the Great as a Harbor of Infidelity threw to the ground Over against Alexandria stands the renowned Island Pharos The Island Pharos by the Inhabitants call'd Magraf or Magragh and by the Arabians Magar Alexandri that is Pharos of Alexandria and by Ortelius Pharion from the Lanthorn Tower which stands upon the Island and now call'd Garophalo In the time of Homer Alexandria and this Island were severed by a Part of the Sea about a days sayling from the Land whereof himself thus speaks Od. lib. 4. Pharos an Isle amidst the swelling Deep ' Gainst Egypt lyes from whence a nimble Ship May sayl 'twixt Sun and Sun with Sayls a trip 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Od. 1ib 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But now it is part of the Main Land the reason whereof is because the river Nile by his evomition of Soyl and Mud has constantly gained upon the Sea To this place of Homer Lucan alludes in his tenth Book thus Tunc claustrum Pelagi cepit Pharon Insula quondam In medio stetit illa mari sub tempore vatis Proteos at nunc est Pelleis proxima muris Then he took Pharos circled with the Main Where Fate fore-telling Proteus once did reign But now to Alexandria joyn'd Pinetus and others will have nothing lye between this City and Island but a Bridge but Villamont who hath searcht more narrowly saith Piuetus it is now united to the Continent and the Walls of the City in such manner Villamont that the Island makes two Points one Eastward another West 'T is united to the Main Land which almost meet in two other Points running from the Main Land into the Open Sea But makes two Haven leaving two Passages into the Havens one of which is call'd Porto Vecchio that is The Old Haven and hath no Defence as it is said but the Castle of the old City by the Italians nam'd Castel Vecchio But the other Haven hath two opposite Forts yet not so far distant but that they can answer and defend each other Two Castles nor can any Ship go in and out between them without leave The greater Fort is much the stronger having high Walls fenced with Towers besides a quadrangular Work of Defence And in it beneath is a Watch or Cour du Guâ—â—d for Security and above are Lights that give direction for Ships coming in to finde the Channel This great Castle on the right hand the Italians call Pharzion and that on the left Castelletto or The Little Castle Both of them are subject to great inconveniences by the want of fresh water which they are compell'd to fetch from the City every day on Camels backs The Soyl hereabout The nature of the Soyl in and about Alexandria as we said already is sandy bearing neither Bush nor Vine and so barren that it is unfit to be sown all the Corn that serves the City comes about forty miles off down the Artificial Channels of Nile There are some small Orchards but they onely produce Fruits so unwholesom that they commonly bring such as eat them into dangerous Feavers and other malignant Distempers They have abundance of Capers and Tamarisk-Plants and Hamala which is a Root they make Wine of like the Herb Anthillis by the Arabians named Killu or Kalli Kalli a Plant. and is of three sorts the two first are found in Europe but the third is peculiar to Egypt having few Leaves and very like Field-cypress but longer The Stalk is single and somewhat crooked out of which two or three small Branches shoot forth and grow upright each of which hath a Blade furnisht with five bending Leaves or more as appears ABOVE ENGRAVEN Venice Glasses made with the ashes thereof and other ingredients Out of these three sorts first dried in the Sun and then burnt Ashes are made from thence transported to Venice wherewith and a mixture of Soap and other Ingredients they make those most clear and chrystaline Glasses The Physical use of the Leaves and Juice so well known through Europe for their rarity It is also said that the Leaves beaten and taken in a convenient Vehicle cleanse Flegm and a dust Choller The same vertue is attributed to the strained Juice of them Thus much we have thought fit to say of Alexandria the Seat of the Antient Egyptian Kings and Birth-place of Ptolomy the Prince of Geographers and Astronomers from whence it must be concluded that all the state and ostentation of this City by Historians mentioned is to be understood of the time before its first destruction A great Staple of rich Merchandize still and therefore there are Consuls at Alexandria or Scanderoon at this day however notwithstanding the several desolations thereof yet always hath it driven on Trade and Merchandize by the continual coming in of Ships from several Countreys insomuch that divers European Princes have their Consuls there for the Management of Affairs and Deciding Controversies that may arise between their inhabitants and their Subjects to this day ¶ NExt Alexandria in the East lyeth the wasted City
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
Fort with a good number of Souldiers and the sum of fifty thousand Escues Abdala also accompanied with a great many Moors did not fail to come to the Place whereupon the Jesuit Matthias instantly with four and twenty of the chiefest of the Galleys stepping out to Land asked for the Kings Son which was promised him for a Hostage Abdala answered He was in the Fort this gave Matthias cause to suspect Treachery whereupon he would have retreated but Abdala and his Souldiers opposing fell in upon them and knockt him and all that came on Land with him to the ground Whereupon the Vice-Roy of Majorca took up his Anchors and withdrew leaving all behind him that were Landed LABES. THe Kingdom of Labes Gramay Affr. 7. l. 25. c. Marmol p. 1.5 l. 28. c. which signifies a kind of Rush in Spanish call'd Esparto of which the Frails or Baskets for Raisins are wrought is by the Turks made a Province of because Tributary to Algier The whole County is Mountainous or rather it is one of the Mountains of the Great Atlas three Miles from Kouko and ten or eleven from Bugie unto which it properly belongs on the East part of which stands a strong Fort call'd Kalaa the Residence of the Xeque or King as at Kuoko of Teleta their Sepulchres At the foot of the Hill lieth two Places Tezli and Boni where by command a Fort was cast up to withstand the Turks The Inhabitants are Brebers and Azuagaes both Warlike People observing the same Customs and Ceremonies with those of Kouko The King can bring into the Field an Army of Thirty thousand Foot and Horse yet at present pays a yearly Tribute to the Bashaw or King of Algier which commonly consists of Four hundred Horses and a thousand Goats for which there is returned to him as a Gratuity in point of Honour a Simiter set with Precious Stones TENEZ IF we would take a Journey out of these Countreys Gramay 7. l. Marm. p. 1.5.6 lying high up into the South back Northward we come to the Territory and City of Tenez one of the Midland Divisions of the Kingdom of Algier It had formerly for Borders on the West The Borders Telensin or Tremizen in the East Algier in the South the Mountains of Atlas and in the North the Midland-Sea but now with the renting off many Pieces is become much less Marmol comprehends under it Brexar Sargel Caesarea or Tiguident Mesane and Meliane but at this day Sargel and Meliane are two distinct Jurisdictions Tiguident and Mesane belong to Meliane and Brexar or Bresch subjected to Sargel The Head City is Tenez The Head City built upon the Plain half a Mile from the Mediterrane by Marmol supposed to be the ancient Laguntum of Ptolomy and by Sanutus taken for Tipasa It stands in the Mid-way between Oran and Algier Seventeen Miles Eastward of the first and as much Westward of the second distant Three Miles from Mostagan and Thirty from Telensin There is in the City a Fort with a Palace formerly the Kings Court and still the Residence of the Provincial Governour sent thither by the King or Bashaw of Algier who also in this Jurisdiction possesses many other Places as Medua formerly call'd Mara lying on the Borders of Getulia and Biledulgerid about Thirty Miles from Algier to the Inland and Forty Eastward of Telensin ¶ MOuntains here shewing themselves are Beni Abukaid Abuzaid The Mountains and Guenezeris by some call'd Guanseris Abuzaid or Zatima lieth close by Tenez to which it belongs Guenezeris very high and craggy from whose Entrails rises the River Selef ¶ THe Land hereabouts brings forth abundance of Wheat The Condition of the Land breeds very good Cattel and yields plenty of Honey Medue abounds with encircling Springs and luxuriant Valleys producing all sort of Fruits Abizaid feeds many Deer or Staggs some Honey but yields great quantities of Barley Guenezeris bears little besides Spart or Rushes and here and there sprinkling a little Tutia or Tutty ¶ THe Natives of Tenez are so homely brutish and ill-natur'd The Customs of the Inhabitants that the Neighbouring Arabs seem to have some Nobleness and Generosity in them Those of Medue are so ignorant that if a Stranger that hath any knowledge come among them they not onely freely entertain and by all good offices endeavour to keep him but also will make him an Arbitrator and Umpire for setling and reconciling all their Differences using in general a civil and decent Habit. From Tenez they Export and Barter Wheat Barley and the like Their Trade for the Imported Commodities of other Countreys and after a good Market send them out again to Algier and other Places The Abuzaidans come usually with Wax and Hides to Tenez Markets to Trade with Europaean Merchants TEBECA TEbeca or Tebesia took the Name of the Head City Gramâ—y 7.6 â— 2. â— Marâ—â— p. 1.5.6 anciently called Thabuna and belonging to the Kingdom of Tunis but now separated and divided from them together with Constantine and connected to this The Head City lieth on the Borders of Biledulgerid The Borders two and twenty miles Southward from the Mediterrane begirt with a high and strong Wall of great Hewen Stones supposed to be built by the Romans In and about these places great Antiquities Pillars and Marble Remains of Monuments with Latine Inscriptions upon them are found In a Mountain close by the City may be seen many great Gaves which the People believe to have been the Recesses of Giants Many Authors of Eminency have written that there is scarcely in Europe a goodlier Place either for magnificence or curiosity of Buildings though it have undergone many sore Storms from the Arabs At present it is of that excellency that they say Proverbially it excells all the Cities of Barbary in three things viz. the fairness of the Walls the Springs or Fountains and the Nutt-trees wherewith surrounded on all sides it seems to stand in a Wood yet the Air about it is very unhealthful and the Ground Lean and Barren HUMANBAR THe first Maritime Province of Algier is Humanbar Borders lying on the Shore of the Midland-Sea opposite to the City Almeria in Granada having for Neighbour on one side The City Humanbar Fez on the other Haresgol and Horan The principal City Humanbar by some called Hunaim by Marmol Ona and by the Moors Deiratuneyn which Ruscelig in his Addition to Ptolomy will have to be Urbara and Gramay the old Siga mentioned by Ptolomy It was by the Spaniards in the Year Fifteen hundred thirty and three Sacked and Destroyed so that it never since had any Inhabitants says Marmol but Gramay tells us it is now re-peopled and the chief place in this Dominion Haren hath a small Haven Haren strengthened with two Block-houses and a strong Wall to the Sea-side The Houses are built with various coloured Brick and plentifully served with good Water Here are two other Cities
Tebekrit viz. Tebekrit and Ned-Roma Tebekrit formerly called Thudaka now fam'd for little but its vicinity to the Mediterranean Sea Ned-Roma Ned-Roma that is New-Rome scituate upon a Plain three miles from the same Sea and one and a half from Atlas and the same which Ptolomy called Celama The Walls Houses Ruines and huge Alabaster Columns with Latin Insciptions testifie it to have been a Roman Structure not far from whence are the two great Hills Tarasa and Galhasu out of whose sides is digged Iron All the Land as well Mountains as Plains abound with Figs Apples Karrabes or St. Johns-Bread Citrons Granates Peaches Olives Melons Cotton and Flax. And some few places yield Wheat Barley and other Grain HARESGOL HAresgol another Maritime Territory so called from the City of the same Name where the Governour keeps his Residence by Marmols computation standing Eastward of Humanbar Westward of Horan about four miles from Tremezen at the influx of the River Teffene anciently called Siga into the Mediterrane on the East side towards the Sea guarded by a Castle This City in the Year Fifteen hundred and seventy by Don Pedro of Navarre was Sacked and Plundered but left by him the Arabians re-entred and possess it to this day under the Protection of the Turks who maintain a Garrison in the Fort. THE MARQUISATE OF HORAN HOran lying also by the Sea Butts on the West upon Haresgol Its Borders and to the East on Tenez and Sargel The City of Oran call'd by the Inhabitants Guharan and by some held to be the Quiza of Pliny or Buisa or Visa of Ptolomy which others contradicting say it was that which he nam'd Icosium It hath been known to former Ages by many several Names as Madura Ara and Auran whence some derive the present Oran It is the Head City of this small Tract seated at the edge of the Midland-Sea oppofite to Cartagena in Spain thirty five miles from Telensin It stands partly on the hanging of a Hill partly in a Plain having the Sea on one side and on the other Trees Brooks and Fountains The Streets are narrow crooked and without order the Houses also mean and scattering yet surrounded with indifferent handsom and high Walls but the Haven very incommodious especially as to some Winds In the most flourishing time the Inhabitants reckoned six thousand Houses besides Temples Hospitals Baths and Inns. Most of the Citizens were Weavers others lived of their yearly Revenues which they raised from their Sale of Barley the adjacent Countrey yielding little Rye or Wheat Many Merchants arrived hither from Catalonia Genoa Venice and other Places who drove a great Trade with the Citizens whose deportment towards them was very courteous and friendly They held Wars a long time with the King of Telensin who would have imposed on them a Governour which they would never admit but among themselves chose a Magistrate whom they impowered to decide all differences arising and was the Judge in all criminal Causes either as to Life or Death By this means and their unity among themselves they became at length so powerful that at their own Cost they maintained a Fleet with which they Pillaged upon all the Coasts of Spain and became as it were a Prison of Captive Christians This so provoked the Spaniard that he sent an Army thither under the Command and Conduct of the Cardinal of Spain Francis Ximenes which with the help of the Biscayners in the Year Five hundred and nine the Eighth day of May with the Loss onely of thirty men and the Redemption of twenty thousand Christian Slaves took it and much defaced its former Lustre yet still there is a stately Palace the Residence of the Kings Lieutenant a Council-House Exchange great Church and several rich Hospitals Here are two other little Cities call'd by Gramay Aghard and Agbal besides Mazagran and Mastagan both possessed by the Turks together with the Mountain Magarava Mazagran hath a Haven the same as Marmol thinks which Ptolomy named the Haven of the Gothes and is environed with high Walls and both strengthened and beautified with a great Castle Mostagan by Sanutus and others call'd Mestugam by some taken for Cartena but by others for the Trada of Ptolomy by the Sea side nine miles Eastward of Horan and one small mile from Mazagran It contains fifteen hundred Houses a fair Church a convenient Haven and on the South side a strong Castle Mount Magarava extending Nine Miles in length upon the Sea-Coast parteth Tremecen and Tenez one from another takes its Name from the Magaravaes a People so called that Inhabit there at whose feet stand both the former Towns About Mostagan the Land is very Rich and Fruitful but lieth waste and uninhabited by the continual Thieveries of the Arabs and Magarava breeds many Cattel and yields good store of Wheat The Mazagrans are untoward Their Employment and ill-conditioned being for the most part Shepherds but the Magaravaes are Warlike and of a haughty Courage not living in Houses but like the wild Arabians removing from place to place with their Cattel Their Language broken Arabick and their Lives spent without any certain order onely for convenience sake they pay to Algier an Annual Tribute of Twelve thousand Escues or French Crowns A Mile Westward of Horan by the side of a little Bay stands Marzalquibir thought to be the place which Ptolomy calleth The Great Haven and placed in Mauritania Caesariensis nor is the Opinion without great shew of Reason for that Marzalquibir Marzalquibir as Marmol says signifies in the Moorish Tongue A Great Haven and indeed it is of so vast an Extent that many think the whole World cannot shew a greater nor is the Magnitude all for it is a secure and safe Port for Shipping against all Winds and Storms This with all its advantages in the Year Fifteen hundred and five was by the Marquess de Comarez taken from the Moors and annexed to Spain under which it long hath and still doth continue SARGEL SArgel another Tributary Jurisdiction of Algier formerly a Member of Tenez so named from its chief City Sargel which some suppose to be the ancient Canuccis and others Cartena but generally in many Mapps Entituled Sargel The Romans erected it by the Mediterranean Sea Nine Miles to the East of Tenez and surrounded it with an high Wall of Hewen Stone The chiefest Monuments are the remaining Ruines of a Magnificent Temple built all of Marble or Alabaster a stupendious Work and worthy the Roman Grandeur brought to that Ruine by Cayne the Califf of Cairavan when he took the City from the Arabians and destroyed it from which time it lay desolate untill the Year Fourteen hundred and ninety two when the Moors banished out of Granada pitching there began to People and Re-build it De STADT ALGIER ¶ TWo miles Eastward of Sargel appears a Mountain The Mountain of Karapula which the Turks call Carapula the Moors Giraflumar and the Christians
Battallo so high that from the top they can see a Ship twelve miles out at Sea This Town hath fruitful Valleys lying round it and within it Walls many Vines Olive and Mulberry-Trees planted chiefly for the feeding of Silk-worms which they nourish and breed in great multitudes making thereof no small profit The Grounds near Brexar bear much Flax Figs and Barley but the Inhabitants are contentious and malicious They of Bresch are strong well-set and fresh-colour'd marking both their Thigh and Hand with a Cross an old Custom observ'd amongst them since the time of the Goths ALZIER THe Province of Alzier the Principal of the whole Kingdom The Borders lies bounded on the West with Tenez Eastwards with Bugia Southwards with the Greater Atlas touching upon Biledulgerid and Northwards on the Midland-Sea The Plains thereof inhabited by powerful and rich Arabians call'd Aben Texita and the Mountains by Breberians and Azuages The Cities lying within its Verge are Algier Metafuz Teddelez or Teddel Col der Medujaren Sasa Medua and lastly Kouko By whom and when this City was built formerly the Head of Mauritania The City of Algler When built and in the time of King Juba his Royal Seat remains obscure although some have conceited it to be the Antient Salde It s Antient Names Mercator with some reason guesses it to have been J◠and Ptolomy Julia Caesariensis Whose History we will give with as much truth as Antiquity or History will afford History records to this purpose That after the Death of this King his Son having been taken and led in Triumph to Rome by Julius Caesar did testifie so great a moderation in the disaster of his Captivity that he won the hearts of the Romans by the high Fame of his Worth and incomparable Vertues which was the cause why Augustus succeeding Julius restor'd to that young Prince the Liberty which he had lost and gave him the Dominions of his Father So that by way of acknowledgement of so great a Favor from Augustus having wholly new built this which was then call'd Jol he order'd to be added to it the Word Caesaria upon which it hath ever since been call'd Jol or Julia Caesaria as may be seen by certain Medals of Claudius and Antoninus Now that Algier is the same City which the Antients call'd Jol appeareth manifestly inasmuch as the Descriptions which the old Geographers made thereof are not to be verisi'd in any other City of Barbary save this alone Others have been pleas'd to affirm also that it was at first call'd Mesgrana But this seems to me altogether improbable in regard that neither Strabo nor Ptolomy nor the other Authors who have been curious in Geographical Enquiries do not speak any thing thereof nor of any such People However of all the Names that it may have had heretofore that of Algier is onely remaining at this day which happen'd in this fashion The Sarazens and Arabs coming to act their Robberies in Africa landed there in sundry places like so many impetuous Torrents and there committed unspeakable outrages Besides this as if in imitation of the Goths they had taken pleasure wholly to ruine what ever published the Grandure and Magnificence of the Roman Empire having observ'd that this Name of Julia Caesaria was an apparent mark thereof and yet not desiring to destroy this City they resolv'd to change its Name They call'd it therefore Algezair which in the Arabick signifieth An Island because it is scituated near unto a small Island where the Mole of its Port is at this day the Sea washing its Walls on the North-side And this Name hath ever since continu'd but yet it hath been several ways corrupted some calling it Algier and others Argier or Argel ¶ ALthough its Soil be for the most part Mountainous The Nature of the Soil yet is it notwithstanding good and fertile as well in its Valleys as all along the Sea-Coasts You there may see very fine Gardens and Vineyards also which the Moorisks have there Planted Insomuch that for eight or ten Leagues round there are counted above eighteen thousand Gardens which are as it were so many Farms which are call'd in Lingua Franca Maceries in which are kept great numbers of Slaves to Cultivate the Land and keep their Cattel This Town The Houses which hath all its Houses whited with Chalk or Plaister within and without maketh a very fine shew to such as approach unto it by Sea For it presents it self unto the view insensible as it were by certain steps and groweth higher and higher in manner of an Amphitheater the reason of which is because it being upon the side of a little Hill exposeth all its Houses to the open view with Terrass Roofs from the top of which they have the pleasure to behold the Sea one House not hindering the Prospect of another Now although it be of a square Figure yet it seemeth much less above than below which happeneth according to the Rules of Perspective by reason of the defect of the Sight which determines in the Pyramidal Form Its Streets are for the most part so narrow The Streets that two men can scarce go abreast in them yet we must except those that are adjacent to the Gates of the City They make them thus narrow that they may be the more cool for that the heat is there very violent The Houses are but of one Story all built of Brick and Clay but plaister'd and washed over with Chalk having on the outside neither beauty nor order of Architecture yet they are for all that very handsome within They are most commonly pav'd with little Bricks of sundry colour'd Clay laid in fashion of Mosaick Work There are four Galleries above and below with a Court in the midst The Chambers are broader than they are long and let in Light onely at the Doors which are very large and all of the full Heighth of the Room from Floor to Cieling 'T is true those that are adjoyning to the Street have some kind of Windows They have very few of them any Gardens and are all very close that being the Form of Building in all the Cities of Barbary Pyrates The most goodly House in Algier is that of the Bashaw or Vice-Roy Publick Building which is almost in the midst of the City and onely remarkable for two small Galleries one over the other supported by a double Row of Columns of Marble and Porphyry with some Enrichments of Mosaick Work There are likewise two Courts the one more spacious than the other encompassed with Galleries where the Divan sits every Saturday at the entrance of the Alcassaw Sunday Munday and Tuesday There are also nine other Houses of note which they call Casseria's or Funduca's The Janizaries to whom they serve as Lodgings have one Chamber betwixt every eight of them And though they be many in number yet they are so cleanly that in all their Apartments one shall not see any
Roman Colony when the Arabian Mahumetans fell into these Parts they ruined it but the Kings of Tunis re-edifi'd the Walls of the Castle and Planted it with Inhabitants CARTHAGE CArthage formerly the most famous City not onely of Africa but stood in competition with Rome to be Mistress of the whole World hath had several Names The Greeks call'd it Charchedon sometimes and sometimes Cadmia Oenussa and Cacabie The Emperor Commodus gave it the Names of Gettabert Commodia Alexandria Caius Gracchus Junonia Marmol from the Africans Bersak and Almenara The Italians Rocco But notwithstanding all this variety it still retains the old and best known Name of Carthage suppos'd to have been a Colony of the Phaenicians who on the Conquest of their Countrey by the Children of Israel forc'd to seek new Habitations and having store of Ships to transplant themselves and Families settled in these Maritime Parts of Mauritania and proper Africa Many pregnant Testimonies hereof might be produced we shall onely instance two One from St. Augustine who in his Comment on St. Paul's Epistles to the Romans tells us that Interrogati Rustici nostri quid sint respondent Punici Chanaani When any of the Inhabitants of this Countrey whereof himself was one was ask'd what they were they answer'd Chanaanites The other from Procopius cited by Evagrius Scholasticus reciting that on two Marble Pillars not far from Tangier there was in the Phaenician Language and Character engrav'd Nos fugimus a facie Joshuah Praedonis filii Nave that is We fly from the face of that Robber Joshuah the Son of Nun The Settlement of this People here might be a great inducement to bring Dido hither who fear'd as much danger from her Brother Pigmalion King of Tyre whose Hands had been imbru'd in the Bloud of her Husband as the others did from the Sword of Joshuah Concerning Dido building of Carthage and the cause of her flying thither hear in brief Venus giving an account of it to Aeneas Carthage thou seest built by (l) Jupiter begat Epaphus he Belus the elder he Agenor he Phenix he Belas the younger Father to Dido Pygmalion and Anna. Here Carthage therefore is call'd Agenor's Seat per Anâ—onomasiam Agenor 's Race But Lybick 's Coasts where Warlike Men are bred Dido reigns here who from her Brother fled The Story 's sad and long but I 'le in brief Of many Passages select the chief (m) The Poet softens rougher Names making Sichaeus of Sicharbus Eelus Dido's Father Methres Sichaeus was her Lord in Wealth beyond All Tyre and she of him extreamly fond Whose Father with blest Omens gave a Maid But (n) Tyri Adverbium Pygmalion whil'st yet a Child was honour'd with a Crown by the People and reign'd 47 years He was the tenth from Hiram who supply'd Solomon with Cedars towards the Building of the Temple From which Hiram to the building of Carthage Scaliger reckons 103 years in Proleg de Emend Temp. Tyre her Brother King Pygmalion swaid Who far exceeds all those that are engag'd To murther Princes and with Fury rag'd Mad till her Husband's Gold he had enjoy'd Sichaeus at the Altars he destroy'd Long hides the Fact and did her Love despise Yet cherish'd her vain Hope with flattering Lies To whom in Sleep her Husband un-interr'd With a most Ghastly Countenance appear'd Dire Altars and his wounded Bosome shews And all her Brothers Treason did disclose Perswades her straight that she her Countrey fly A Hoord of Gold and Silver to supply Her Voyage he discovers under ground Which made her way and many Followers found Those who did hate or fear the Tyrant meet And suddenly they seiz'd a ready Fleet Transporting thence greedy Pygmalion 's Coyn A Woman Principal of this Design And found those parts where now huge Walls and new Tow'rs of aspiring Carthage thou may'st view Call'd (o) Dido driven upon Libya and ready to be turn'd away a gain by Iarbas cunningly intreated that she might buy of him others say that he would give her so much Ground as an Oxe's Hide would compass which he granting she cut the Hide into so many small pieces as inclos'd twenty two Stadia Thus saith Cambden Our Aunals record that Hengist the Saxon after he had vanquishâ—d the Picts and Scots and receiv'd very large Possessions in other places obtain'd also in Lincoln-shire of Vortiger so much Ground as he could compass round with an Oxe Hide cut into small Thongs whereon he founded and built a Castle afterwards called Thong-Castle Whence it is that one who hath written in Verse a Breviary of the British History turn'd Virgil 's Verses in this manner Acceptique solum facti de nomine Thongum Taurino quantum poterat circundare tergo A Ground he took which Thong he call'd when first he did begin As much as he a Bull Hide cut could well incompass in As to the name Byrsa Scaliger in Festum observes that it is us'd by Metaphrasis for Bysra originally an Hebrew word signifying a Tower or Fortifi'd place for Carthage was a Colony of Tyrians who speak Hebrew But that this story is to be understood onely of the Tower not of the whole City which was afterwards added to it as they grew greater we have the Authority of Appian in this more probable than Livy who would understand it of all lib. 44. Byrsa from the Bargain so much Ground Bought as a Bull 's Hide might encompass round Punica regna vides Tyrios Agenoris urbem Sed fines Lybici genus intractabile bello Imperium Dido Tyria regit urbe profecta Germanum fugiens longa est injuria longae Ambages sed summa sequar fastigia rerum Huic conjux Sichaeus erat ditissimus agri Phoenicum magno miserae dilectus amore Cui pater intactam dederat primisque jugarat Omnibus sed regna Tyri germanus habebat Pygmalion scelere ante alios immanior omnes Quos inter medius venit furor ille Sichaeum Impius ante aras atque auri caecus amore Clam ferro incautum superat securus amorum Germanae factumque diu caelavit aegram Multa malus simulans vana spe lusit amantem Ipsa sed in somnis inhumati venit imago Conjugis ora modis attollens pallida miris Crudeles aras trajectaque pectora ferro Nudavit caecumque domus scelus omne retexit Tum celarare fugam patriaque excedere suadet Auxiliumque viae veteres tellure recludit Thesauros ignotum argenti pondus auri His commota fugam Dido sociosque parabat Conveniunt quibus aut odium crudele tyranni Aut metus acer erat naves quae forte paratae Corripiunt onerantque auro portantur avari Pygmalionis opes pelago dux femina facti Devenere locos ubi nunc ingentia cernes Moenia surgentemque novae Carthaginis arcem Mercatique solum facti de nomine Byrsam Taurino quantum possent circumdare tergo The Descent of Dido from whence the truth of her Story
Kingdom abounds in Rice Barley Cotton Cattel and Fish but their scarcity of Dates are supply'd them from Gualata and Numidia ¶ THe Inhabitants according to their manner go handsomely clad in black and blue Cotton of which they also wear Head-Shashes Their Clothing but their Priests and Doctors are habited onely in white Cotton ¶ THese People make great advantage of their Cotton-Clothes Their Trade which they barter with the Merchants of Barbary for Linnen Copper Arms Dates and other Commodities This Kingdom was formerly under the Luntiins a people of Lybia whose King was afterwards made Tributary to Soni-Ali King of Tombut his Successor Ischia obtaining a Signal Victory on a great Battel against the King of Guinee took him Prisoner and sent him to Gago where in miserable Captivity he died close Prisoner Thus the King of Tombut now grown Master of all Guinee reduc'd it into a Province setting his Lieutenant over them and then caus'd a great Market to be proclaim'd in the Metropolis of the whole Countrey THE KINGDOM OF MELLI THe Kingdom of Melli The Kingdom of Melli. likewise so nam'd from their prime Village the Residence of their King hath for its Northern Confines Gheneoa or Guinee Southward Desarts and barren Mountains in the East the Jurisdiction of Gago Westerly bounded with a mighty Forrest which runs sixty miles along the Banks of Niger to the Verges of the Ocean The Village Melli is very large The Village Melli. and contains above six thousand Families standing thirty days journey from Tombut The Countrey abounds in Corn Flesh and Cotton and hath a King but Tributary to those of Tombut ¶ HEre they are all Mahumetans Their Religion and have Mosques in which wanting Colledges they not onely perform their daily Devotions but in the Temples instruct their people and Disciples in their Laws and Doctrine These were the first Apostates from Christianity to Mahumetanism These People formerly were govern'd by a great Prince of Royal Extract descended from a Prince of Lybia Uncle to the King of Morocco the Renowned Josephus The Sovereignty continued in his Progeny until Uzchea King of Tombut Anno 1520. made the then King of Melli Tributary and so reduc'd all these Countreys under his Subjection THE MONARCHY OF TOMBUT OR TONGUBUT THe Kingdom of Tombat hath its Denomination from a City founded The Kingdom of Tombat as they say by King Mense Suleyman Anno 1221. about three miles from an Arm of Niger lying a hundred and eighty miles from the Countrey of Dara or Sugulmesse ¶ THis City gloried formerly in great Fabricks The City Tombat and sumptuous Buildings but now condemn'd to simple Huts and Hovels and onely boasting one stately Mosque and a magnificent Palace for the King built by a famous Architect of Granada Three miles from Tombut Kabra on the Banks of Niger stands another great Town call'd Kabra or Kambre being a convenient Port for the Merchants to travel from thence to the Kingdom of Melli in Guinea ¶ THis Countrey abounds with fresh-Water-Springs Corn Cattel The Disposition of the Countrey Milk and Butter but what savors all Salt is very scarce for a Camels Load goes often there at fourscore Ducats being brought over Land from Tegaza about a hundred miles distant from Tombut They use small Horses with which they ride up and down the City and the Merchants travel with them but their best Horses they have from Barbary whose numbers when they arrive are Registred which at any time is above twelve the King makes choice of the primest of them paying the Price they would go at ¶ THe Inhabitants especially those of the City Tombut The Manners of the Inhabitants are a People usually merry and of a chearful Disposition and spending most part of the Night in Singing Dancing and Revelling up and down through all the Streets They keep a great many Slaves both Men and Women Students which are highly esteem'd amongst them are there frequent and bred up at the Kings proper Charge Here are store of Arabick Books and Manuscripts brought from Barbary and not to be purchas'd but at a great Value Here are also many Tradesmen and Artificers especially Cotton-Weavers Their common Diet is a Dish made of Flesh Fish Butter and Milk hasht and stew'd together ¶ ALl the Women Their Clothing except the Slavesses go with their Heads and Faces cover'd They have no stamp'd Coyn but plain Pieces yet bigger and lesser all of pure Gold This King or Emperor of Tombut ruling vaste Dominions that yield him inexhaustible Treasure which he piles up in Bars or Billets of pure Gold some of them weighing if the report be true Thirteen hundred pound Weight ¶ MAny Merchants of Fez Their Trade Morocco and Gran-Cayre resort to Tombut for the Trade of Gold which was brought thither by the People of Mandinga in so great abundance that oftentimes the Merchants having disposed of all their Commodities which they barter with them for that Mettal it becomes a Drug and either left there till the next Return or else they carry it home again ¶ THis Countrey Their Government according to Marmol a Prince governs stil'd Emperor of Melli who dwelling in a magnificent Palace takes such state upon him that no Ambassadors or Envoys from Forreign Countreys making their Addresses are admitted to Audience but in posture of humble Suppliants kneeling with dejected Countenances throwing dust upon their heads In the City Kabra the King hath a Commissary who Hears Judges and Determines all Causes and Differences either concerning the Crown or other private Arbitrations betwixt the Subjects THE KINGDOM OF GAOGA THe Kingdom of Gaoga The Kingdom of Gagao or Goagao as Marmol calleth it lying by the unanimous consent of the chiefest Geographers in the same Elevation where Ptolomy placeth the Lake or Pool Chelidones bordering Westward on the Kingdom of Borno East on Nubia and South near the Nylean Desart which conterminates the North with the Wild of Seth. It passeth by the South of Egypt spreading from the West to the East a hundred and twenty five miles in length reckoning as much in breadth This Countrey abounds with Cattel and Goats but the People are in a manner savage and ignorant of all Civility and Literature nor under any form of Government especially the Mountaineers or Highlanders which go stark naked in the Summer onely retaining so much modesty that they wear a Lappet before them concealing their Privities They dwell in Huts or rather Arbors their whole defence against Sun Wind and Rain are Boughs of Trees set up and plac'd together Their chief Employment is onely in Cattel the whole Nation being onely Herdsmen yet they are a kinde of Christians after the Egyptian manner THE KINGDOM OF GUBER THe Kingdom of Guber inclos'd between very high Mountains The Kingdom of Guber is about seventy five miles Eastward from Gago with a barren Desart between them
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
Fields intended for Rice cutting down the Wood Bushes and Weeds laying all even and smooth The Ground thus prepared one goes before with the Seed which he sprinkles upon the Ground while others with crooked Iron-Rakes turn it under the Soyl. This commonly sprouts on the third day but then must be carefully lookt after to keep it from Birds which flock thither in great numbers but after it hath taken firm Root they mind it no farther nor have more trouble till grown ripe and fit for gathering In some places they are forced to Fence their Fields to keep out wild Beasts especially Buffles and Water-Elephants which else would rob them of all the fruits of their labors and the hopes of the ensuing Harvest The second Rice-planting is begun in April in the High-land The second Planting of Rice and at the time of the first Rains Those that are good Husbands and diligent may sowe Rice three times in one Summer the first in the Low-land the second in higher and the third in the highest Land every one a moneth after the other because they will not have all ripe at a time not being able then to get it in for it must be cut off ear by ear with great leasure The first Crop growing in low and moist places is cut off in the beginning of April the second in the higher Land in June and July the third in September or October Such as are wary save commonly good quantities against the next Seed-time whereas more lazy and careless persons that eat up all their store are compell'd to betake themselves to other places as to Hondo Gala or Gebbe where they buy it for Basons Kettles Cloathes or other things The Women Manure and Dig the Fields The Work of the Women and Sowe the Rice and the Men cut down the great Trees and clear the Bushes and sometimes help the Women in the rest to dispatch the sooner But the chiefest business wherein the Men employ themselves is Fishing Hunting and building of Houses for those Sports of Hunting and Fishing are free Hunting is free yet all sorts of Hunting is used not by all for the Hunting of Elephants and Buffles is dangerous and undertaken by such onely as will venture their lives for few escape mischief or death at one time or other The King hath for his proportion The Revenue of the King of Elephants and Buffles one out of two of Boars Harts and other wild Beasts a third part but Water-Elephants and Sea-Cows belong wholly to the King who bestows upon the taker a Present of Rice and Mille but yet less than a tenth part All people are bound to offer the best of the Fruits and Plants to Belly their Idol for Junanen that is for the health of the Souls of their deceased Friends and Parents ¶ THe Houses Houses and Villages or rather Huts are round so likewise the Villages and inclosed with Trees standing close together and with their Boughs Plashed and interwoven make a good Defence or Bulwark the Gates are low and so narrow that but one man can go through at a time the whole Inclosure shadowed with Bangoela that is Branches of Vine-Trees or Tomboe bound together so close that they are forc'd to make certain Holes therein to Shoot through which they can open and shut at pleasure At every of the Gates there is a Hut or moveable Turret fifteen or sixteen Foot high which they can carry in time of need and set in any fit place made as the Walls wherein always some exquisite Archers keep Guard and are as Sentinels both for discovery of the Enemies approach and to defend against their assaults In the middle of the Town lies an open Green to play in cross ways leading to the Gates are Streets between whose ends and the Tree-Wall round about is a passage to go from place to place The Towns thus fenced with Trees they call Sansiah but other unfenced Fonferah that is an open place so that properly we may term the former Cities and the later Villages or Hamlets Into these Fortifications the Countrey people also without restraint repair in time of need to secure their lives and what they have from depraedations and also by their Persons and Valour to defend their Abodes By vertue of an antient Law made by the Tribe of the Karous The Karous may not eat Fish with Scales nor Beef the Inhabitants are prohibited to eat Beef or Fish with Scales which they observe very strictly believing that if they should break it they should either instantly die receive some remarkable judgement or else fall into phrensie The people in general are very libidinous The Lustfulness of the Inhabitants but their ability answers not their desire however such their too frequent actions and dealing with variety of Women draws upon them no small inconveniences Nor do the Women fall short of the men in their Unchastity wholly giving themselves up to Venerial Exercises and as if continually troubled with a Furor Uterinus at all times chaw and eat such Herbs and Barks of Trees as are the greatest Incentives to heighten their desires to almost hourly Congresses Both Men and Women are much inclin'd to drink Brandy yet they will not give Elephants Teeth in exchange for it but onely barter Provisions of Victuals They are courteous one among another holding firmly together They are gentle and courteous helping each other upon all occasions Whatever any wants wherewith his own store or penury cannot furnish him his friends and acquaintance supply freely They shew great Friendship to one another in Gifts of Clothes and sometimes of Slaves and in House-keeping live as it were in common every one participating of the others Diet without grudging None appears or makes any address to the King empty-handed insomuch that all Merchant-strangers having any occasion to speak to him make their way by Presents some few of the baser sort will steal from Strangers but yet be just among their own Countreymen they neither swear curse nor quarrel but have a natural antipathy against those that cause Bloudshed amongst their Neighbours There are found many among them which can work strange effects with Herbs Powders Characters and Figures They understand Sorcery very much and some Diabolically mischievous whom they enstile Savah-Monou that is Poisoners and Bloud-suckers because in the absence of any person they can fetch out his bloud and bring him by that means into a Malady They have amongst them another sort of people call'd Senearts that by Incantations and Charms can mischief a Childe spoil Rice and Plants and do other prestigious Facts This particular Art they call Pilly but all the rest Sovach-Monousin all which though so much practis'd yet if any Complaint be made against the users thereof they are punish'd with great severity and sometimes with Death ¶ THe Word Sovach signifies an Evil Imagination The signification of the word Sovach Atra-biliary Sadness or Melancholy
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
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
and beautifi'd with exquisite Imagery each Cloth holding about two Spans and a half in Square which a Weaver with his greatest diligence may well spend fifteen or sixteen days in Working to finish it The second sort call'd Sokka are less by one half than the Kimbes yet many that have little handl'd their Work would easily mistake the one for the other for both are high and Cutwork with Images or Figures upon them but the turn'd side gives the distinction by the Courseness or Fineness Six of the foremention'd Pieces make a Garment which they know how to Colour Red Black or Green The two other sorts of Cloathes are a wearing for Common People being plain without Images or Figures yet have their distinctions one being closer and firmer wrought than the other These are many times Slash'd or Pink'd from the middle to the knees as old fashion'd Spanish Breeches were wont with small and great cuts Every man by promise or injunction is bound to wear a Furr-skin over his Cloathes right before his Privacies viz. of a tame Cat Otter Cattamountain great Wood or wild Cat or of an Agali or Civet Cat with whose Civet they sometimes also anoint themselves Besides these they have very fair speckl'd Skins call'd Enkiny of high Price among them which none may wear but the King and his peculiar Favorites Some Persons of high Degree when they Travel wear six or eight Skins for Garments others as the King and his greatest Nobility cause five or six Skins to be sew'd together interlac'd with many white and black speckl'd Tails of the foremention'd Enkiny Cross-wise in the midst of the Skin they set commonly round Tufts made of the aforesaid Furr and white and black Parrets Feathers and at the edges Elephants Hair spread round in winding-Trails Every one also wears a String about his middle made of the peeling of Matombe Leaves of which there are two sorts one call'd Poes-anana and the other Poes-anpoma with which they tye their Cloathes fast Besides they have two Girdles one above another that is one of fine Red or Black Cloath slightly Embroyder'd in three or four places the other of Yarn wrought in Flowers and fastned together before with double Strings call'd Pondes These Girdles are commonly three or four Inches broad wherefore the Cloathes sent thither out of Europe with broad Lists serve to be Embroider'd and Quill'd to make such Girdles Some wear Girdles of Bulrushes and young Palm Branches others of peelings of a Tree call'd Catta and in other places Emsande which they Weave and Pleit together of the same peelings Match for Guns is made which stand the Portugals in good stead Between the upper and lower Girdle they set several sorts of Ornaments and about their Necks white and black Beads the latter they call Insimba Frotta and the white Insimba Gemba but the last bears the greatest value Others wear Triangular Breast-Chains brought thither out of Europe Their Ornament and by them nam'd Panpanpane some Ivory cut in pieces and some sort of flat Scalops which they polish very smooth and round and wear them strung as Neck-Laces On their naked legs they put Brass Copper or Iron Rings about the bigness of the smallest end of a Tobacco Pipe or else trim them with black and white Beads On their Arms they wear many Rings of several fashions and light which they temper in the Forging with Oyl of Palm Over their Shoulders they hang a Sack about three quarters of a yard long sew'd together onely a little opening left to put in the hand Upon their Head they have an artificial Cap made to sit close And in their Hands either a great Knife Bowe and Arrows or a Sword for they never go without Arms. The Womens Clothes which come a little below their knees are made of the same with the Mens over which they sometimes put some fine European Stuff or Linen but without any Girdles The uppermost part of the body and the Head remains always naked and bare but on their Arms Legs and Necks many Rings Beads and other Toys Their usual Diet is fresh and smoak'd Fish especially Sardyn Food which they take with a Hook and Boyl with Herbs and Achy or Brasilian Pepper People of Quality eat with their Fish Massanga or small Mille first stamp'd with a Pestle then Boyled with Water and so Kneaded together They Swear by the King speaking these words Fyga Manilovanga Their Oath or Swearing but the highest Oath is the Drinking of Bondes Root and never used but when something is presently to be undertaken or perform'd The Bondes is onely a Root of a Tree of a russet Colour very Bitter Bondes Root or Adjuration Root and astringent and gets as they say by enchantment of the Ganga or Conjurer perfect power and vertue This Root they scrape with a Knife and put into a Pot of Water of which the accused Party takes about a Pint and half administred by a person appointed by the King for that purpose In like manner if any weighty or criminal matter either of Sorcery or Theft be laid to any ones charge and it cannot be ascertain'd by the Oracle of Ganga or their Conjurer they forthwith condemn the suspected person to drink of the Bonde-drink which is perform'd in this manner The Complainant must go to the King How the Bonde-drink is drank and beseech him to appoint an administrator of the Bondes for which he pays the King his due These Bonde-givers are about eight or ten persons appointed by the King and his Nobility who meeting under the open Heaven in a broad way sit down upon the ground and about three a Clock in the afternoon begin their work for by that the Complainers must be there who coming with their whole Retinue and Generation the Bonde-givers admonish to bring to light the righteousness of the Matter without any siding or partiality which he adjures them to with an Oath by their Fetisies which they have standing round about them Then also appears the Accus'd with his Family for seldom one person alone but commonly the whole Neighbourhood is accus'd these meet and standing in a row come by course one by one to the Bonde-givers who have a little Drum upon which they continually Beat and receiving about a Pint and a half of Liquor they retire to their places again After this one of the Bonde-givers riseth up with certain sticks of a Bacoven tree in his hands which he flings after the Accus'd requiring him to fall down and if he have no guilt to stand up and make Water in token of his Innocency Then the Bonde-giver cuts the Root before them all that every one may walk up and down over it In the doing whereof if one or other of them chance to fall then the standers by set up a loud Cry and the party fall'n lieth like a possess'd man speechless but with horrible Convulsions in all his Limbs not enduring his body
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
he proposes somewhat saying the Oracle by the Fetisie has given him to know that the child shall have such an injunction not to do so and so wherein the Mother takes care to instruct the child from its youth that when it shall come to years it may be able to keep it These injunctions are manifold as that they may eat no such Flesh Herbs Injunctions how manifold they are nor Fruits or eating thereof they must eat it alone leaving none and besides bury the bones in the ground that they may not be scrap'd up again and eaten by any Dog Cat or other living Creature Some are enjoyn'd not to go over any water others may not pass over a River with a Canoo yet admitted to walk swim or ride thorow some must not shave the hair of the Head others may as also their Beards which again in divers is an offence beyond pardon Several are commanded to forbear all Fruits indulging to others a liberty to devour all yet again restraining many In relation to Garments the commands are general Injunctions about mens Clothes for all men must wear a Girdle made of the skin of some living Creature which must be fasten'd in a peculiar manner above their Belly Caps upon their heads or else in stead thereof a Cord or some Covering of Clothes call'd Libonges or otherwise The Women must go with their heads always uncover'd Of the Women and wear four or five Clothes of Kimbi or Sambes or Libonges sew'd together beneath their Waste before the Belly in stead of a Girdle When a man at any time comes into a house and sits down unawares upon the corner of a Bed wherein a man and woman have lain together when he hath receiv'd information of his fault he must go instantly to a Smith which commonly sit with their tackling under the open heaven and tell him the cause of his coming who then blows up a fire and taking him by the little finger of his left hand turns it over his head then striking two or three strokes with his Hammer and blowing with his mouth upon his hands put together he pronounces some words with a low voice wherewith the promise unwittingly transgress'd is cleans'd This ceremony they call Vempa-Momba that is A Benediction or Purification If an unmarry'd man have gotten a foolish child he may not eat of the breast or udder of a Buffle but by getting another more witty becomes free again to eat as at first These and the like Fopperies they observe with all exactness The vertue ascrib'd to these Injunctions believing that none have any sickness sorrow or affliction but for breaking the same Now because the word Mokisie will sometime be mention'd it is necessary to shew the meaning thereof and how they use it By the word Mokisie What Mokisie fignifies they mean a natural Superstition and firm Perswasion that they have of something to which they ascribe an invisible power in working good to their advantage or evil to their prejudice and detriment or from whom they expect to learn the knowledge of past or future things It cannot properly be call'd Idolatry because these people have no knowledge of any Deity or Diabolical Spirit having no particular name for the Devil onely call all Mokisie where they suppose an over-ruling power Whatever they effect by it The vanity of the Mokisie is done by meer imagination or if by natural means it happens more by chance than any knowledge they have Any man that is sound and determines to live after the manner of his Mokisie observing temperance and chastity takes the natural course to preserve his health but their ignorant stupidity ascribes it to the operation of the Mokisie On the other hand if any be sick and use means for the recovery of health the good success thereof the Mokisie gets the praise of although the cause of the sickness were remov'd by the goodness and bounty of nature or the strength of his constitution But if the person by the violence of the sickness happen to die they certainly believe him kill'd by Sorcery for transgressing against his Mokisies The ancient use of this Common Custom seems an infallible demonstration to the besotted people of the great vertue of the Mokisies and it confirms them not a little in their foolish belief because they see their King and the Grandees of the Countrey make it their work The King hath the general stile of Mani-Lovango Why the King is call'd Mokisie but the people call him Mokisie because he hath as they say a great power to kill any body with a word speaking and can spoil the whole Countrey and prefer and put down make rich or poor at his pleasure cause rain transhape or metamorphose himself into the shape of a beast and innumerable such like which all serve to manifest his greatness and strike an awe into the Subjects of his Potency Thus also it stands with the other Lords The higher a man is the more Mokisies he hath whose might honor and esteem grows from the same root As for example the King's Sister as soon as she hath a child holds by assignment the Village Kine for a dwelling-place and may not eat Hogs flesh when the child hath attain'd age and growth it visits the Moansa and dares not eat the fruit call'd Kola with company but onely alone Afterwards it goeth by the Ganga Simeka and then it dare eat no sort of Poultry but those kill'd and boyl'd by himself and must bury the remainder when he comes in Sallasy he hath other and more Mokisies and so in Boeka and Kaye till brought to the King Then is he advanc'd in all power and wisdom as having in imagination attain'd the active intelligence of the Mokisies All Conjurers and Priests are call'd Ganga All Conjurers are call'd Ganga or Ganga Mokisie otherwise Ganga Thiriko Ganga Boesy-batta Ganga Kyzokoo Ganga Bombo Ganga Makemba Ganga Makongo Ganga Nijmy Ganga Kossy Ganga Kymaye Ganga Injami Ganga Kytouba Pansa Pongo and Mansy and innumerable other such names either given to or assum'd by them from the Mokisies they serve The Mokisie Thiriko is a great Village four miles Northward of Boaryâ— wherein is a great house built on Pillars resembling a man The Ganga of this Mokisie being Lord of the Village performs every morning his Service and Ceremony with some words and Conjurations being answer'd in the mean time by a youth that stands by him this Ganga commends to his Mokisus the health of the King the wellfare of the Countrey the good flourishing of the Seed success for the Merchants and full Nets for Fishermen All the by-standers at the mentioning the King 's long life and health clap their hands in token of their affections and assent The Mokisie of Boesy-batta hath many standing round about him Mokisie Boesy-batta when he sets himself to his Devotion viz. Drummers Singers Dancers and the like but he chiefly
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
but through it being environ'd with a Wall planted with Guns to defend it against the Portuguese who in the Year Fifteen hundred under the Command of Vasques de Gamma took this Fort with all the Turkish Gallies At the same time the City was also conquer'd by a People call'd Imbires living not far from the Cape of Good Hope by the aid of the Portuguese after a long Siege into which five hundred of them entring by Storm pull'd down the Walls Churches and a greatvaulted Castle to the ground and burn'd all the Ships in the Haven The King of Mombaza himself with all his Courtiers and great Officers fell into the hands of these Imbires which not onely put them to death but eat them up The City was once before in the Year Fifteen hundred and five ruin'd by one Francois Almede and some years afterwards again re-built by the King of Mombaza but it long held not up its head being again assaulted taken and plunder'd by another Portuguese call'd Nunno de Acunha who endeavouring to settle were forced to leave their Conquest and retire to the fore-mention'd Fort but were also at last dispossessed thereof by the same King in the Year Sixteen hundred thirty one The temperature of the Air gives no cause of complaint to such as dwell there Air. nor the barrenness of the Countrey any discouragement to Planters there being store of Mille Plants Rice many sweet and sowre Oranges and also some very large with sweet Rhinds like China-Oranges Citrons Pomegranates and Peaches without Stones They have many excellent Sheep Beasts Cows very large Goats and Hens The People are of a whitish-brown Colour Nature somewhat inclining to black more loving and courteous than those of the other Places lying near the Sea The Women are very richly Habited Apparel in Cloth of Gold and Silver after the Arabian manner Their common Food is Mille and Rice Food and their Drink either Areka made of boyl'd Rice or Wine of Honey which they keep in great Horns in stead of Casks cut in several fashions They have a King Government whom they honor like a God and say he Reigns only upon the Earth as the Portuguese do upon the Sea He is said to be so arrogant and self-conceited that at the falling of Rain against his pleasure or excessive Heat he breaks out into several exclamations against Heaven and out of madness draws his Bowe against the Sun In brief he calls himself the Emperor of all the World and imagines that he shall overcome the whole Earth He keeps commonly an Army of fourscore thousand Men in the Field and in their March observes this Order First he commands to go before him many Droves of Cattel next several persons carry Fire whereby he intends to declare that all those whom he Conquers must expect nothing else but to be Roasted and Eaten All the Towns and Villages he travels through of the Enemies he ruines and without distinguishing of Men from Beasts kills all he finds so that all stand in great fear of him and betake themselves to flight when they hear of his approach The King of Mombaza and all his Subjects were formerly Idolaters Religions but at present embrace Mahomet's Superstition introduced by their last King about the Year Sixteen hundred thirty one He was from his Infancy inclin'd to Christianity and Marry'd to a Christian Woman but being too highly affronted by the Governor of the Portuguese Fort fell off from it and then raged against them with horrible fury putting all to death that fell into his Hands and never ceased till he had expell'd them the Countrey This Seat was formerly for the conveniency of its Haven a Place of great Trade being much frequented by neighboring Merchants from Zanzibar Penda Araer and other parts of Africa The Kingdom of Melinde THe Kingdom of Melinde lying more to the North than that of Mombaza hath received its Name from the chief City Borders seated on the Shore of the Sea It lyeth in two Degrees and a half South-Latitude and reaches along the Sea-Coast of Mombaza to the River Quilmanzi and runs into the Countrey to the Place call'd Calice The chief City Melinde situate in a pleasant Plain The chief City and surrounded with several Gardens contains many Houses very neatly built of hew'n Stone with handsom Rooms and Painted Cielings Some will have it from the famous Arabian Physitian Avicen call'd Avicenne Mondelle from whence the black Aloe comes to be the same with Melinde The Haven lieth a little distant from the City by reason of sundry Rocks which makes the Landing-place very dangerous The Countrey is fat and fruitful and yields all necessary Provisions Plants except Bread in stead of which the Inhabitants use the Root Potatesen Some Rice and Barley grows there but inconsiderable nor have they any Wheat and Rye but what is brought from Kambaye There are several sorts of Fruits-Trees and above all very excellent and well tasted Melons in the Countrey Language call'd Dormous which the Inhabitants eat in the Summer time as a pleasant cooler There is all sorts of Venison and Fowl great and small Cattel Beasts chiefly Sheep much bigger than those in Europe with Tails of five and twenty and thirty Pound weight Hens Geese and all sorts of Flesh may be had here in great abundance The Inhabitants are some black Nature of the Inhabitants and some brown with Curl'd Hair but those which live by the River Quilmanzi are white as also most of the Women of Melinde The Women go very nobly apparell'd in Silks Apparel and wear Gold and Silver Chains with a Cloth before their Faces when they go abroad The Men go naked down to their Wastes but from thence wear Cotton or Silk Coats with a Linnen or Cotton Turbant on their Heads The principal Commodities for Trade are Gold Ivory Copper Quicksilver and Wax which the Mahumetan and Cambayan Merchants barter for Clothes and Stuffs For Arms they use Scimiters Arms. Shields Bowes and Arrows Some have reputed them the valiantest of all Africa yet those of Mombaza have often put them into fear and would have treated them very badly had they not obtain'd the Portuguese assistance The Subjects honour their King very highly Honor shown to the King carrying him on their Shoulders and at his going out in the Streets burning sweet Perfumes before him which also they use to do before all other Princes and Lords that come to visit them The King takes cognisance in Person of all Matters in debate Their manner of executing Justice although he hath appointed Officers and Judges to officiate in the administration of Justice And if any complain of another person to the King he must be sure to give a good account of the Matter or else he runs in danger of losing his Head however upon the Complaint he immediately sends for the person if the
they go stark naked onely with a Clout or Skin of a Beast before their Privacies which Corsalis also affirms Their Heads are bare though Thevet saith they wear Shashes as the Abyssine Christians The Women wear the same Cambolins and with it from their Middle to their Feet another great Mantle without any thing on their Heads These as we mention'd before live in Holes and Caves as the ancient Troglodites on the opposite Coast of Ethiopia and sleep on the Ground upon Buck-skins and their manner of Salutation consists in the kissing one anothers Shoulders There are no Artists nor Handicrafts found amongst them onely every one knows how to Weave the foremention'd Cambolins or Hair-Clothes They are ignorant and brutish beyond comparison and as they know no better so they hate to learn and use no other Arithmetick than what they notch on Sticks The Men keep as many Women as they can maintain though Osarius Marriage upon a wrong information scarcely allows one Woman to a Man and part from them when they think meet When they have any Children they may charge others with them whom they please and this nominated Father must receive and feed them as his own and give them part of his Goods as to his other Children The Children thus given away they call Children of Smoke because when the Men and the Women conclude to dispose of a Child they make a Fire at the Door of the House with green Wood and whilst it begins to smoke the Man runs out crying with a loud voice That the Child shall be given to such a Man whose Name they declare and so the Father and Mother carry it to him and he takes care for it as we mention'd before The Names of the Beduin-Men are The names of the men Lakaa Sumaa Xembe Terremo Xamaxana Surrakaa and other such like so that John de Barras seems to have been misinform'd who says They take the Names of St. Thomas and other Apostles But all the Women are call'd Maria not out of Honor or Respect to the Virgin Mary but because in their common Language Mary signifies A Woman They never stay to wait for the dying of their sick Friends The Beduins kill their sick but when they guess them past recovery they kill them For they say That between being quite dead and beginning to die is no difference When the sick Persons see their Ends approach they call their Children and nearest Relations giving them many Counsels and Advices among which the three following are most usual First That they should receive or embrace no other Doctrine or Religion than those of their Forefathers The second That they would not make themselves familiar or have to do with any one of another Countrey The third That they would take revenge of some Enemies which they name Which last proves many times the occasion of divers Murders When any Person is pursu'd by another that intends to kill him and he cannot escape he takes and drinks the white Juyce of a Tree growing in this Island being the strongest Poyson that can be found and which they always carry about them The Arabians of this Island Trade according to the Relation of Pyrard Trade to Goa Arabia and other Places where they sell their Dates and Rice brought to them out of Ethiopia very curious Mats made of Date-tree Leaves and great abundance of Myrrhe and from thence the European Merchants bring Aloes Sicotrina and Dragons Blood vulgarly known among Apothecaries by the name of Sanguis Draconis Here are few Fortifications Strength onely the King of Kaxem or Fartas erected a Fort or Bulwark by the Village Tamara with another of Stone on the Sea-shore which the Portuguese Conquer'd under the Command of one Trestan de Cunha in the year Fifteen hundred six or seven who left it to the Charge of Alphonso Norogue with a strong Garrison of Portuguese Soldiers But the Islanders instigated by the Mahumetans to whom they were before bound in Marriages broke their Promise made to the King of Portugal so that King Emanuel discerning the Nature of the People and how the defending of this Fort cost more than it was worth commanded the same to be demolished Their Arms are broad Hangers Arms. with great Hilts At their Girdle they wear also a Knife of about three fingers broad and sharp The Hilts of the Hangers are cover'd with Silver or Copper or wound about with Wyre very neatly Some carry Shields and ordinary Guns in the use whereof they are very expert The proper Language of these Beduins is so barbarous Language as not to be understood by others than themselves but most of them speak Arabick by daily Conversation with the Arabians The Government of this Island according to Pyrard Government belongs to a peculiar Xeque sent thither by the Xerif of Arabia and hath his aboad in Tamary Formerly the Turk possess'd this whole Isle by Conquest thereof in the year Fifteen hundred thirty eight at which time he made himself also Master of Aden But the King of Kaxem or Kajem which some take to be the same with the King of Fartas regain'd and held it till the Xerif of Arabia won it from him who sends thither a Xeque to Rule as his Substitute For the deciding of Differences determining of Criminal Causes and managing Affairs of State Judges which they call Caciz or Hodomas are appointed from whom there is no Appeal If any one has stoll'n a Buck or a Goat out of necessity or for meer hunger he may if he perceives the Owner of the Beast pursues him fly to a Temple by which he is clear'd If coming to the Temple and making a noise another cometh to receive him there may nothing further of prejudice be offer'd but if none cometh to him then they may pull him out and cut off his Hand alledging That the Temple would not serve him for his defence because none would come to receive him There are some that to this time hold an opinion Religion That the Islanders of Socotora call themselves Christians and particularly shew great Honor to St. Thomas from whom they boast to have received the Christian Faith and have been induced to believe the same by seeing the Cross upon their Altars and the Observations and Fastings of their Caciz and other Marks of Christianity But the contrary was afterwards found for certain it is That they have no knowledge of Christ or of Matters concerning the Christian Religion except their shewing great Honour to the Cross and because they have it upon Altars in the Church but being ask'd a Reason thereof they answer That it was taught them by Tradition from their Fathers They worship the Moon because they hold her to be the Mother and Cause of all things and therefore in great Droughts they set one among them in a certain place and make a Circle round about him out of which he must not stir upon pain
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
Jerusalem but after his decease the Knights and Templars govern'd it themselves under the Grand Master Godfrey Rat as Chief Commander About the year Twelve hundred twenty five these Knights overcame the City Damiata in Egypt under the Conduct of the Grand Master Guerin de Montaign In the Year twelve hundred and sixty under the Grand Master Haegues de Revel they took from the Saracens the Castle of Lebion whereupon the Sultan concluded to destroy and root out all the Hospitallers and to that end Besieged and took the Castle of Assur in the Year One thousand two hundred sixty five and the following year the Hospitallers and Templars were beaten by the City Ptolemais or Alkre or Acon three years afterwards they lost the Castle of Krak or Montreol In the Year Twelve hundred eighty two The Knights are drove out of the Holy-Land the Hospitallers obtain'd a great Victory under the Grand Master Nicholas de Orgui against the Turks Besieging the Castle of Margat their chiefest strength which yet was deliver'd up in the Year twelve hundred eighty five to the Sultan Melechsait from whence they went to the City Alkre but stay'd not there for by the loss of Tripoli in Syria and likewise of Sidon and Barut in the Year twelve hundred eighty nine and the before-nam'd Alkre in the Year Twelve hundred ninety one the eighteenth of May to the Sultan Melekseraf all the Christians and by consequence these Knights were utterly expell'd out of the Holy-Land after a possession of a hundred ninety one Years ten Moneths and three days since the winning thereof by Godfrey of Bouillon The Knights betook themselves from thence to the Island of Cyprus under the Grand Master Jan de Villices where the King gave him and the Templars the City and Haven of Timesso for their abode Pope Clement the First granted afterwards to this Order all the Goods and Lands which they took from the Infidels for which cause they gathered a strong Army under the Command of the Grand Master Foulques Villaret and took Rhodes from the Turks with several other adjacent Islands whereupon they remov'd from Cyprus to Rhodes and were since call'd The Knights of Rhodes About this time the Order of Knights Templars was suppress'd and their Goods conferr'd upon these Knights by the Pope A long time they defended Rhodes against the assaults of the mahumetans chiefly in the time of Habusar Sultan of Egypt who Besieg'd it five years and in the Year Fourteen hundred and eight the Grand-Seignior Mahomet or Mihammed attempted with an Army of Three hundred thousand Men but was necessitated to leave it with a great loss of Soldiers but at last the Bassa Ibrahim by the Command of Solyman the Magnificent overcame the City and the whole Island in the Year Fifteen hundred twenty two on the day of St. John Baptist having an Army of two hundred thousand men whereof the Siege devour'd above a hundred thousand whereas the Island was scarce furnish'd with six hundred Knights and five thousand Inhabitants After the loss of this Island they went away from it according to the Agreement made with the Turks and Landed first at Castro in Candia but went thence to Messina in Cicilia and from thence in the Year Fifteen hundred twenty three to Civita Vecchia thence again to Viterbo a City in Tuskani where the Pope entertain'd them a while they went from Viterbo in July in the Year Fifteen hundred twenty seven to Cornetto from thence to Franche and from Franche to Nize in Savoy out of this in the Year Fifteen hundred twenty nine they betook themselves to the City Auguste in Cicilia and from thence to Sarragoa where they remain'd by leave of the Emperor Charles the First who took a great content in them for their Valor which they manifested every where to the destroying of the Turks and Corsairs insomuch that Charles at last in the Year Fifteen hundred and thirty the four and twentieth of March out of a voluntary Donation transferr'd the Tenancy to the Knights of the Islands of Malta and Goza aforemention'd with a Proviso to give every year for an Acknowledgment a Falcon which the Grand Master should bring himself or send to the Vice-Roy of Sicily In the same Year The Knights take their abode in Malta the six and twentieth of October the Knights took possession thereof under the Grand Master Philip de Villiers and have since that been call'd The Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in Malta or singly Knights of Malta The intention of instituting this Order in the beginning was to serve the Pilgrims which travell'd to Jerusalem and to assist them with all their Power to keep the Ways secure for such as travel'd to visit the Holy Sepulchres But at this day their chiefest business is against the Turk and all Infidels and to serve Christendom as a Buckler of Defence against them These Knights glory in themselves A Letter from the Grand Master Lackaris that they are an Order which hitherto hath had no other Foes than those that are Enemies to the Name of Christ being a renown'd as well as an admirable Institution without advantage or any other reward than that of Vertue their probity continually exercising it self in the prudent Education of its noble Posterity even with the hazard of their lives and wishing nothing else but to persevere in the shewing of their Valor in Fighting against the Wicked They manage great Wars against the Turks and all Infidells without joyning or confederating with any Party in the Quarrel of Christendome and are by all Christian Princes known to be impartial being indeed an Order consisting of the flower of the Nobility of all Europe establish'd in the defence of Christian Princes who by their glorious Enterprises of a renown'd and Holy War have five whole Ages approv'd themselves famous and honourable towards Christendom and at all times formidable to their Enemies They have in Services and Warlike Exploits so highly merited of the Roman Emperors Kings and other Christian Princes that they stand in a perpetual League with them and have been receiv'd into the Protection of the Roman Empire according to the purport of the Letters from the Emperor Charles the fifth given and granted at Antwerp the four and twentieth of May in the Year Fifteen hundred and forty where he saith The aforesaid Order many years since and even beyond imagination have been a continual Defence against the Turk that great Persecutor of our Faith and have most valiantly spent their Blood against him for the defence of Religion and performed many excellent Deeds whereupon our Predecessors Roman Emperors and Kings have receiv'd them into singular Protection and Favor The Popes who confirm'd the Institution of this Order held to be Temporal and Secular not onely in respect of their chiefest Employment but for that they stand exempted both in their Persons and Goods from the Power and Authority of the Clergy All