shall not speak of them I will only tell what I had from an Itchoglan newly come out of the Serraglio that the Grand Signior is served at his Meals in China which is more valuable then Purcelane or Terra Sigillata that is reckoned to be good against Poyson The Grand Signior's Dishes He hath also a great many covered dishes of beaten Gold each dish with its cover weighing twelve or thirteen Marks These Dishes were presented to him by Kilidge Hali Basha a Renegado native of Messina after the Pillage and Robberies that he committed in Calabria where he took great Booty Now though with them it be a sin to eat in Gold or Silver yet he makes use of both and the Queen Mother of the Grand Signior is served in forty Silver plate dishes But at extraordinary Feasts which are kept in the Gardens or Summer-Houses they are served in Basons of Purcelane or Terra Sigillata as the Ambassadours are also when they are feasted in the Hall of the Divan before they have their Audience of the Grand Signior When he eats he speaks to no body The Grand Signior never speaks at Dinner but makes himself be understood by Signs to the mute Buffoons who are very expert at that having a very singular method in it and there is nothing but what they can express by Signs These Buffoons are always playing some foolish Tricks amongst themselves to make him Laugh He never beats his Brains about Business Care of Affairs but refers the whole management of Affairs to his Ministers who give him a Summary Account of them on certain days of the Week Not but that there have been some who have taken the Care upon themselves ordering their Ministers to act according to their Directions Sultan Amurat though a very debauched Prince always minded his Affairs and Sultan Mahomet who Reigns at present and traces the Footsteps of his Uncle Amurat loves Business very well too When the Grand Signior is weary of staying in his Serraglio he goes and takes the Air upon the Water and sometimes by Land but not often because his Ministers do what they can to hinder him from that least Petitions may be presented to the Grand Signior against them For such as cannot have Justice of them expect till the Grand Signior be abroad in the Streets and when he passes by they put their Petition on the end of a Cane which they hold up as high as they can which the Grand Signior perceiving sends for it and has it brought to him The truth is the Ministers are not well pleased he should be informed of Affairs by any but themselves I have several times seen the present Grand Signior abroad but the first time that I saw him I was told that for at least a Year before he had not been out of his Serraglio The Grand Signior's going abroad out of the Serraglio When he goes abroad by Land it is either with small Attendance or in Pomp I have seen both as I shall afterwards relate When he goes by Water he has always few Attendance his Galiotte comes to the Kieusk of the Serraglio which is on the Water-side over against Galata and entring with a very small Retinue he goes to Scudaret or the Black-Sea to take the Air. This is a most rich Galiotte guilt all over and adorned with many counterfeit Stones It hath four and twenty Benches that is to say four and twenty Oars on each side Bostangis Rowers each rowed by two Bostangis who have only a Shirt over their Breeches or rather Drawers they have scarlet Caps shaped like a Sugar-Loaf such as all the Bostangis wear being half an Ell high and they who serve on this occasion are the Favorites of the Bostangi Basha The advantage of the Rowers Those that Row on the right side are all the Sons of Christians made Turks who may arise to the dignity of Bostangi Basha to which Office those that Row on the left hand who are the Sons of Turks and commonly of Asia can never aspire And the greatest reward that they can hope for when they come out of the Serraglio is to have fourscore Aspres a day in Pay whereas those on the right side after they have discharged the Office of Bostangi Basha may be Agas of the Janizaries nay even Bashas or Governours of Provinces If any of these Bostangis chance to break an Oar in Rowing the Grand Signior gives him according to his Liberality a handful of Aspres or a handful of Chequins as an encouragement for plying his Business with so much strength In the time of Sultan Solyman three Chequins was the ordinary reward but at present it is not limited However it is not by strength but rather slight that they break their Oars and many times they break them half off before the Grand Signior come on board his Galiotte and then easily do the rest as they Row. The Bostangi Basha sits at the Helm and steers the Galiotte and at that time has opportunity enough to discourse with the Grand Signior at his ease The Grand Signior goes through the City in Disguise Besides these ways of going Abroad the Grand Signior goes sometimes through the City in Disguise and without Attendance as a private Man to see if his Orders be punctually observed And he at present who seems in all his Actions to imitate his Uncle Sultan Amurat went abroad almost every day in Disguise whilst I was at Constantinople having however some Men following him at a little distance and amongst the rest an Executioner And by the way he caused many Heads to flie off both in Constantinople and Galata which kept all things in better order The Christians were very glad that he Disguised himself so for that was the cause that no body durst molest or abuse them Sometimes he would go to a Bakers Shop and buy Bread and sometimes to a Butchers for a little Meat And one day a Butcher offering to sell him Meat above the rate which he had set he made a sign to the Executioner who presently cut off the Butchers Head. Prohibition of Tobacco But it was chiefly for Tobacco that he made many Heads to flie He caused two Men in one day to be Beheaded in the Streets of Constantinople because they were smoaking Tobacco He had prohibited it some days before because as it was said when he was passing along the Street where Turks were smoaking Tobacco the smoak had got up into his Nose But I rather think that it was in imitation of his Uncle Sultan Amurat who did all he could to hinder it so long as he lived He caused some to be Hanged with a Pipe through their Nose others with Tobacco hanging about their Neck and never pardoned any for that I believe that the chief reason why Sultan Amurath prohibited Tobacco was because of the Fires that do so much mischief in Constantinople when they happen which most commonly are
built that Tower which is not impossible but it is more probable that the Turks have brought these stones ready cut and carved from Banias or some other place which had been possessed by the French and which the Turks had demolished for they are lazy enough to chuse rather to bring stones ready cut from a far than to be at the pains to cut them upon the places After that we saw in the Fields about some hundreds of paces off the places where the Christians and Jews are buried every Religion however having their burying-place at some distance apart Burying-place The Tomb of St. George Being gone some paces from the VValls we came to the place where St. George the Porter was stoned by the Jews who accused him of having saved St. Paul. That place is as it were a Court in the middle whereof is the Tomb of that Saint it is of Free-stone and covered with a little Pavillion in form of a Pyramid and below there is a little opening wherein the Christians commonly keep a burning Lamp their Devotion is great at that place and is even imitated by the Turks who affirm as well as the Christians that Miracles are daily wrought there and that several sick Turks having spent a Night in that place have next Morning come out in perfect health On that Saint's Holy day many People Men Women and Children aswell Turks as Christians repair to that Tomb. At the entry into the Court where it is on the left hand there is a place designed for burying of those who die for the Faith of Jesus Christ and when any Christian departs his body is first brought to that place where having said the office for the dead it is carried to the place appointed for its burial Being come out of that place we kept streight along by the City-Walls The place where St. Paul was let down and shortly after came to the place where St. Paul was let down in a Basket over the VVall. There is a Gate there which the Turks have walled up because they are perswaded that the City will never be taken but by that Gate The fatal gate and over it they have put a great Stone with some lines in Arabick cut on it intimating that that is the place where St. Paul the Apostle of Jesus came down to save himself from the Jews Afterwards we returned into the City by the Gate called Bab-Tchiaour Bab-Tchiaour we went into the streight-Street and following it came into a very large fair Bazar covered with a high ridged Timber-roof and full of shops on both sides it is called the Bazar of stuffs because nothing else is sold there The Bazar of Stuffs Rotte of Damascus and I learned by the by that the Rotte of Damascus is a weight answering to five French pounds Having crossed over half of that Bazar which is very long we struck off to the left hand and through a little street went to the house of Judas The house of Judas which is close by where it is believed in that Country that St. Paul lay hid three days and that Ananias went to him there VVe went into that house which was heretofore a fair and large Church and there is still to be seen a lovely Iron-Gate through which we passed and then came into a little Chamber where the Tomb of Ananias is raised against the VVall The Tomb of Ananias over which there is a green Cloath and on it Arabick Letters stitched I read them and found these words Veli Allah el Ahmed rivan that is the Holy God Ahmed sleeping or buried here The Turks have a great respect for it and they have taken that house because of the profit they make on 't from the Francks who give them somewhat when they go thither We then returned into the Bazar of Stuffs or the Streight-street and on the left hand from thence we came near to a Gate which separates that Bazar of Stuffs from another Bazar at the end of it where there is a Fountain with the Water whereof they say Ananias baptised St. Paul Having passed that Gate we entered into another Bazar which is still in the Streight-street the beginning of which is covered with a high-ridged Roof and the rest with a flat supported with round Joysts They sell stuffs there also Bab-Jabie The end of the streight-Street At length we came to the City-Gate called Bab-Jabie where the streight-street ends Having without it turned a few steps to the left hand we were got into a large Bazar where they sell wooden Boxes This is the largest Bazar of all it has a high ridged Timber-Roof upheld by several great stone-Arches at convenient Distances A Bazar called Sinanie That place is called Sinanie from the Name of a Basha of Damascus named Sinan who built it as he did many other fair publick Fabricks in several parts of Turkey and all his Works bear his Name As you enter into that Bazar without the Gate you see the green Mosque The green Mosque so called because it hath a Steeple faced with green glazed Bricks which renders it very resplendant it is covered on the Top with a Pavillion of the same stuff except the Spire of the Steeple which is covered with lead We passed before the door of that Mosque and I saw during the short time that I durst consider it a large Court paved with lovely Stones with a Bason or Fountain of Water in the middle at the end of that Court there is a Portico supported by eight Marble-Pillars of the Corinthian Order of which the six middlemost are chamfered these Eight Pillars uphold so many little domes leaded over that cover the Portico through which they enter into the Mosque by three doors It hath a large Dome covered over with lead and on the West side there is a Steeple or Minaret faced in the same manner and covered with a Pavillion of the same matter The Turks say that this Mosque was made in that place because that Mahomet being come so far would not enter the Town saying it was too delicious and that he might suddenly remove from it he set one foot upon a hill that is not far from it whereon there is a little Tower and from thence made but one leap to Mecha that 's the reason why they have covered that Mosque with green which is the Colour of this false Prophet Others confess indeed that Mahomet came as far as that place and would not enter the Town but they say that it was Haly who made that fair leap However it be they call Damascus Chamscherif that is to say Noble Damascus because Mahomet came thither From thence we advanced to the City-Walls and coming along the Serraglio Street we saw to the left hand a fair Tomb made in fashion of a Dome several fathom high and covered with lead next to that there is a lovely Mosque with a Court it
by the South gate which they call Eyam-Capisi and I came to see the Well called the Well of the Handkerchief about a thousand paces from that Gate The history of Abagarus Their History says that Abagarus King of Orfa being a Leper all over and having heard many wonders spoken of our Lord sent Messengers to pray him to come and cure him with orders to assure him in his Name that he would protect him from all his Enemies and sent with them a Painter to draw his Picture They say that our Lord made answer to the Messengers that he could not go with them because the time of his passion drew nigh and that perceiving the Painter drawing his Picture The face of Jesus Christ imprinted on a handkerchief he put a Handkerchief upon his face which immediately received the print of his Countenance and that Handkerchief he gave them to be carried to their Prince The Messengers satisfied with their Embassy returned but being near the City were set upon by Robbers who put them to flight and he that had the Handkerchief threw it nimbly into the Well we speak of and escaped into the Town where he related all his proceedings to the King who went next day in procession with all his People to the Well where they found the Water swelled up to the brim and the Handkerchief floating on the top The King took it was immediately cured of his Leprosie and he and all his People turned Christians They say that they kept that Handkerchief a long time but that at length the Francks stole it and carried it away to Rome Job A Turk told me in good earnest another story of that Well he said that Job living hard by and being fallen into extream poverty the Worms eat him up so that there remained no more of him but the Tongue which they would have devoured also but that he having had his recourse to God cried What! Lord will not you leave my Tongue to sing your Praises with That then God bid him go wash in that Well from which he returned sound and well and shortly after recovered great Riches that the Worms retired into a Grott not far off and consumed part of the Wall of it of which they fail not to shew the marks The Lepers Well This Well is walled in and many People both Men and Women go thither to Wash they go behind little Stone-Walls and there stripping themselves receive upon their bodies the Water of the Well which runs out of a Vessel pierced through standing upon the little Wall that they have filled before I saw many Lepers in this Town of Orfa as well as at Damascus They look hideously are black and melancholick much ado they have to speak and their body all over pains them Lepers what they are their distemper is much like the Pox but it is another thing and they say porceeds from a different cause Whilst I was at Orfa I enquired how they cut men of the Stone there and a Chirurgeon the Son of a Franck but born in Aleppo called Domenico Cabei told me that they cut them in the same manner as in Europe but that there was at that time a Turk at Orfa The way of cutting the Stone who seemed to be a dull blockish fellow and yet cut all succesfully in this manner He thrust up his finger into the Patients Fundament and feeling about the Bladder presently found the Stone which with the same finger he brought down as far as the Scrotum and this with the other hand he opened at the place where the Stone was after that he stitched up the wound dressed it with an Ointment and had been succesfull in all the Cures he had undertaken The fame Chirurgeon told me that he had found one in the Bladder of a Child a few days before I came which he was to cut very shortly Bragging a little then of the skill he had in curing fleshy Excrescences upon the Privy parts I told him that whilst I was at Rossetto a French Physician called Monsieur Sarazin The way of curing Excrescences cured these Excrescences in this manner He took two sticks wherewith he separated that superfluous Flesh from the parts so ordering it that nothing remained under the sticks but just what he was to cut then holding the two sticks very fast with one hand with a Bistori in the other he cut clear off the superfluous flesh that was under the sticks That if he chanced to cut any Vessel which made a great flux of blood he had his Buttons ready upon Coals to stop it After that he sewed up the Scrotum and dressed the wound till it was perfectly cured This swelling is caused by a Carnosity that grows in the Scrotum under the Privy parts with Veins by which it is nourished And I told him that that Physician had assured me that at Alexandria he cut from a man a Wen on these parts that hung down to the very ground and that having weighed it it was twenty five pound weight Seeing he had many Patients come to him because in Egypt most are troubled with that distemper some more and some less I had the Curiosity to see one of them whose Scrotum reached almost to his heels Having informed the Chirurgeon Domenico of this way of Operation he told me that he had one under hands troubled with the same disease whom he was to cure but that though his own way was good yet he would make tryal of the method of that Egyptian Physician upon his Patient and indeed he proposed it unto him assuring him with all that there would remain a hanging skin as long as he lived which would be very uneasie to him if he made his ordinary operation upon him whereas if he did it the other way that I had taught him he would be free from all inconvenience but the Patient would not admit of it and told him that another Franck had heretofore proposed to treat him in that manner but that he would not and that he had rather have the trouble of that Skin and run no risk than to be rid of it with the danger of his life The Patient was a man above five and fifty years of Age and to cure him Domenico made an incision cross-ways in his Scrotum and then stript that superfluous flesh which he cut off after that he stitched up the skin leaving onely a little place open to which he applied his Medicines this piece of flesh was bigger than ones Fist and had a great many little veins Whilst that operation was performing the old man smoaked a Pipe of Tobacco and made no noise onely he oftentimes recommended himself to Mahomet whilst the by standers prayed for him but the Chirurgeon that did the operation was so poor that he had not so much as a Button or actual cautery Wednesday the ninth of July in the Evening the Officer of the Custom-house came to demand his
be the more commodiously done they tell the Aspres upon Boards made for that purpose which they call Tahhta Tahhta that have a ledgeing to keep them from falling except at one end where it draws narrower by which they pour them into the Bagg on these Boards they pick out all the good ones and lay aside the bad They have also pieces of two three four five six ten Aspres c. And this is all the Silver Money they coin at Constantinople so that payments are hardly made in any other Money To an Aspre go six Quadrins Quadrins which are pieces of Copper about the bigness of a French Double they have also half Quadrins which they call Mangours when they say a Purse they understand five hundred Piastres or fourty five thousand Aspres which is the same thing As to their Weights Cantar Rottes Drachms Quirats Medical Oque the Cantar is a hundred and fifty Rottes the Rotte is twelve Ounces the Ounce twelve Drachms the Drachm is sixteen Quirats the Quirat four Grains the Medical is a Drachm and a half the Oque contains four hundred Drachms so that the Oque is worth three Rottes two ninths less CHAP. XLIX Of the Punishments and kinds of Death in Turkey Kinds of Punishments in Turkey .. The way of giving Bastonadoes on the Feet THE most common Punishments in Turkie are blows with a stick either upon the soles of the Feet or the Buttocks They give them on the soles of the Feet in this manner They have a great stick with two holes in it about the middle a large foot and an half distant from one another and through these two holes they put a cord He who is to be Bastanado'd lyes down upon the ground and his feet are put between that cord and the staff then two men take the staff by the two ends and each of them also pull an end of the cord that so he may not stir his feet that are fast betwixt the cord and the staff which they hold up very high In this posture he has no strength to move being only supported by his shoulders and then two other men each with a stick or switch about the bigness of the little finger beat upon the soles of the wretch one after another like Smiths striking upon an Anvil reckoning the blows aloud as fast as they lay them on until they have given as many as have been ordained or till he that hath power say It is enough The rowling of the eyes of him that suffers shews this to be a cruel punishment and there are some after it who for several months cannot go especially when they have received or as they say eaten three or four hundred blows but for the matter of thirty they are not at all disabled When they give them on the Buttocks Blows upon the Buttocks the party is laid upon his belly and receives the blows which are laid on over his Drawers in the same manner as upon the soles of the feet sometimes they give five or six hundred blows but that is the highest and when a Man hath been so handled a great deal of mortified and swollen flesh must with a Razor be cut off of his Buttocks to prevent a Gangrene and he is obliged to keep his bed five or six months without being able to sit up In this manner the Women are punished The Punishment of Women when they deserve it but never upon their soles This is a Correction frequently used by them and for a small fault and sometimes as I have said already they make him who hath received the blows pay so much money a blow Masters give no other Correction to their Servants and Slaves than blows upon the soles of their feet which they have for the least fault they commit The Turks well served and indeed they are wonderfully well served you 'l see their Servants stand in their presence a whole day together like Statues against a wall with their hands upon their belly expecting their Masters commands The Chastisement of School-boys The kinds of Death for Malefactors Christians serve for Hang-men which with the wink of an eye are obeyed School-masters chastise their Scholars with blows upon the soles of the feet instead of the whipping of Christendom The punishments of those who have deserved death are Hanging Beheading Empaling or throwing upon Tenter-hooks or Spikes of Iron When they carry any Man to be Hanged if they meet a Christian by the way they make him the Executioner and a French Merchant being on a time engaged in this office and finding no means to avoid it did what they bid him do and having hanged two asked them if they had no more to be dispatched in that manner whereat the Turks were so incensed that they threw stones at him saying That the Christian would have them all hanged so that it was his best course to make his escape In cutting off Heads they are very dextrous and never miss As for Empaling I shall speak of it in another place because it is not much practised at Constantinople Ganche a Punishment Now the Ganche or throwing upon Hooks is performed in this manner They have a very high Strappado stuck full of very sharp-pointed Hooks of Iron such as Butchers have in their Shambles and having hoisted the Malefactor up to the top of it they let him fall and as he never fails to be catched by a Hook in falling so if he hang by the middle of the body his case is none of the worst for he suddainly dies but if the Hook catch him by any other part he languishes sometimes three days upon it and at length enraged with pain hunger and thirst expires This Torment hath been thought so cruel that the Turks very seldom practice it Those that turn Christians they Burn alive hanging a bag of Powder about their neck and putting a pitched Cap upon their head But Christians that do or say any thing against the Law of Mahomet are taken with a Turkish Woman or go into a Mosque are Empaled though yet there be some Mosques into which Christians may enter at certain hours There are a great many other cases wherein if Christians do not turn Turks they are put to death for a Christian may redeem his life by making himself Turk whatsoever Crime he may have committed but the Turks have no way to save theirs CHAP. L. Of the Grand Signior's Militia HAving treated of the Grand Signior and his chief Officers we must now speak of the Forces that have got him so great a Power which he daily enlarges at the Cost of his Neighbours The Grand Signior keeps always a standing Army both in Peace and War which consisting of Horse and Foot is punctually payed once in two months The Infantry are of several Orders he hath first his Capidgis or Porters Capidgis or Porters who are as it were the Officers and Porters of the
general Assault to be given the next day and assured them that all such as should return from the Assault before the Town was taken should be put to death with his own hands Next day the Assault was given and seeing all knew that Sultan Amurat was a Man of Execution every one both Soldiers and Officers strove who should first offer their bodies to the Enemies blows a vast number were killed but at length they took the Town by storm Besides the advantage of their Numbers and Courage they are likewise very well armed and likewise very skilful in handling of them for in that especially they exceed the Christians that they place the chief part of their Wealth in the magnificence of their Habits Turkish Soldiers well armed Horses Arms and Harness of whatsoever quality they be and if a wretched Janizary who hath four or five Aspres a day can scrape together fifty Crowns he 'l freely lay them out upon a good Musket or handsom Sword. These Muskets are big and of very good metal and weigh sometimes forty fifty nay sixty pound weight nay I have seen one that weighed fourscore They put in them a great Charge of Powder and then ram down a sizable Bullet with the Scowring-stick The way of firing the Musket which is all Iron after that they hold their Musket with the right Hand against the right Shoulder and with the left Hand a leathern Belt fastened to a ring at the middle of the Musket and to another near the Butt and with that they 'l shoot as exact as one can do with a light Fowling-piece and their Musket never split I remember that a Janizary belonging to the French Consul at Caire having on a time charged his Musket with a Bullet of size and shot at two Turtles upon a Tree he shot off the head of the one and the other through the body As for the Troopers whatever some French men who have been in those Countries may say they sit a Horse well they have indeed the Stirrops very short but yet they look very well and sit as close as if they were nailed to the Horse One day in the French Quarter I saw a Spahi so drunk that he could not stand but when he was on Horse-back he made an hundred Caracolles without the least reeling They are very careful also in looking after their Horses Troopers careful of their Horses and there is no Trooper but hath always a measure of Oats ready for his Horse and every thing else that is fit to dress him or to set right what is amiss about him and early in the morning he rises and dresses him himself All this being considered it is not to be thought strange that they are strong by Land and bring to pass whatever they undertake CHAP. LII Of the Weakness of the Turks by Sea. IF the Turks succeed very well in their Wars by Land The Turks unskilful at Sea. they are neither so fortunate nor so stout at Sea where they are always worsted and never get the better but when they are six to one which chiefly is occasioned by their want of skilful Sea Officers fit to Command I speak not now of the Barbary men who being always a Pirating and for the most part Renegadoe Italians French English and Dutch Sea-men by profession cannot but understand Sea Affairs The Turks are even unskilful in building of Ships The Turks understand not how to build Ships and though in that they employ Christian Slaves yet they are so ill built that they are not fit to serve above two years They build Saiques and other Merchants Vessels pretty well but for Men-of-War they are meer Apprentices at it They do what they can to imitate the Galleasses of Venice which do them so much mischief but they cannot compass it for their Galleasses which they call Maones are no more but Galleys a little higher raised Nay Maone there Bastarde or Admiral Galley having served one year Bastarde becomes next year a Maone When they are about to launch a new built Vessel Ceremony in launching a new built Ship. all the other Ships and Galleys come to the place and the Ship that is to be launched is covered with Musicians and Players on Instruments adorned with Flags and Colours on all hands and the Port is covered over with Boats full of People All things being ready they kill a great many Sheep on board the new Ship which are given to the Poor and then she is launched off with the sound of all the Instruments and the shouts of the People who several times cry Allah when she is in the Sea all the other Ships and Galley's salute her with their Guns I saw the Admiral Galley launched in this manner but a little before I came to Constantinople they had ill luck with that Ceremony for a new Vessel which was very big and full of People being launched shot off so fast that she ran her head under water so that many were drowned and the Ships and Galleys that came to salute her were fain to return without firing a Gun. They man their Ships very well with Soldiers and even Janizaries but these Blades The Janizaries have an aversion to the Sea. Seferlus The insolence of the Soldiers when they are going to Sea. who know not what it is to give ground on shore never go to Sea but against their wills and if they can get off for money they are sure not to go All that go for a season to Sea are called Seferlus that is to say who make a Voyage Three days before the Fleet put out they go along the streets with a Hatchet in their hand demanding Aspres from all Christians and Jews whom they meet and sometimes of Turks too and if they have them not quickly bestowed they freely lay on with their Hatchet never minding what may come on 't for they are not sought after so that it is not good for Christians or Jews to be abroad in the streets during these three days Then are all Taverns shut up by order of the Visier who causes them ever to be sealed lest the Wine might inflame their Insolence But I cannot forbear to say somewhat of the Battel that was fought before the Dardaneiles whilst I was at Constantinople wherein the Christians and Venetians gained so much honour and advantage CHAP. LIII Of the Battel of the Dardanelles Fought in the Year 1656. Battel of the Dardanelles in 1656. NEws being brought to Constantinople that the Venetian Fleet was before the Dadanelles the Turks made hast to set out theirs and engage them and during that time an Italian who had had some command on Board of a Ship of the Venetian Fleet being disgusted by the other Officers made his escape out of the Fleet A Venetian turns Turk and came with his Son presently to Constantinople where they both turned Turks the Turks took that for a good
Presage and gave it out that he was a Christian of great Quality that had turned Turk He desired the command of a Ship but they would not trust him so much only put him on Board the Bastarde All things being in readiness the Turkish Fleet parted from Constantinople on Saturday the seventeenth of June about ten a clock in the Morning I was at that time in a Balcony of my Lodgings from whence I had a view of all the Port The number of the Turkish Vessels that were at the Battel of the Dardanelles in 1656. and easily reckoned all the Vessels as they went out The Fleet consisted of six and fifty Galleys seven and twenty Gallions or Ships nine Maones or Galleasses and five Galliottes or Brigantins I had with me a Turkish Spahi who by what art I cannot tell guessed very well at a great many things as he had several times done to French Men in my presence to whom he told such things as none but themselves ought to know when he saw the Fleet go out he looked into his Book and then told me that the Captain Basha was much in the wrong to set out before Noon because it was an unlucky day It is probable that somebody with the Captain Basha told him as much or that they Did the Book because they never undertake any thing of Importance without Doing the Book as they call it with two Arrows as I have said before for being out of the great Port they put into a little one called Besiktasch in Europe about four miles below Galata towards the Black-Sea and staid there till one of the clock The first day of the Ramadan which was six or seven days after the Mufti Grand Visier and all the People went to pray for the prosperity of the Fleet in the Ocmeidan which is a great open place that I mentioned before but their Prayers were not heard for Thursday evening the nine and twentieth of June News of the Fight news came to Constantinople that the two Fleets had engaged the six and twentieth and that the Turkish Fleet was Defeated Some days after a French man of Provence and Renegado Janisary who had been in the Fight and got off told me all the particulars and the order of it very exactly A Frenchman began the Fight according to his relation and even according to what the Turks and all people confessed it was a Ship commanded by a French man carrying fourty Guns which began the play When the two Fleets were drawn up over against one another the Turks being near the Dardanelles but without this French Captain made all the Sail he could and bore in upon the Turks with so good way that the Galleys could not follow her The Turks seeing her so far on head of the rest of the Fleet and all alone thought at first that she was coming to joyne with them but when the Captain was come within distance and poured in two Broad-sides among them so that they saw their Vessels shattered and Arms and Legs flying about they were soon undeceived and all fell a Firing at him the rest of the Christian Fleet followed but he alone was fain to stand by it and received the great and small Shot of one half of the Turkish Fleet which he mawled severely for playing continually both with great and small shot he disabled a good part of their Fleet. At length the Turks doing what lay in their power to sink this ship an unlucky shot from the Dardanelles carried away her Rudder so that the brave Captain finding his Ship to be now no more fit for Service he put all his Men on board a Turkish Vessell that he had taken and Burn'd his own that the Turks might not be the better for her In relating the Valour of this Captain it is not my design to lessen the Glory of the rest of the Fleet all did wonderfully well and the Galleys of Malta who were but seven when they came were fifteen besides three Galleasses when they went back having taken seven Turkish Galleys and had the eighth brought them by the Christian Slaves who taking their advantage of the Confusion mastered the Turks that were on Board the Galley and delivered themselves up to the Knights of Malta who besides these eight Galleys which had all been commanded by Beys and carried Flags took three Galleasses and gave liberty to two thousand five hundred Christian Slaves who were on Board these Vessels and when they were come to Malta gave them all new Cloaths and Money to carry them to their own Countries They made also a great many Turks Slaves When the Fight was over the Turks had no more remaining but eighteen Galleys one Maone and the five Brigantins The loss of Turkish ships So that in that Engagement they lost seven and twenty Ships seven and thirty Galleys and eight Maones They would not certainly have saved a Sail had it not been for the Guns of the Castles which shattered the Christian Ships that came too near and covered the Turkish Fleet besides the Christians were afraid they might run a Ground for most of the Vessels of the Infidels that remained ran a shoar as the Bastarde wherein was the Captain Basha did to save themselves from the Knights of Malta who had resolved at any rate to take her and carry her off to Malta but they lost her in the Smoak however they very narrowly missed being taken by the Christians in another manner for the Slaves endeavoured to become masters of her and had done it but for that Renegado Italian I mentioned before who came with his Son and turned Turk at Constantinople a few days before the Fleet set out This Traiterous Villain enraged to see the Christians his Country-men and not long before his Brethren prosper perceiving that the Slaves endeavoured to carry away the Bastarde wherein he was instead of making amends for his fault by a timely Repentance and joining with them in the Execution of the design he drew his Cimetere and cut off the Heads of the Boldest of the poor wretches and by that means disappointed the Design and saved the Bastarde The Turks lost a vast number of Men for besides those that were Killed and made Slaves many threw themselves into the Sea to swim a shoar of whom some were Drowned and most part Killed for they stayed not to take them up but knocked them on the head with Poles as that Provenceal Renegado told me who seeing the Ship wherein he was taken by the Christians and fearing to be served as one that had renounced his Religion leaped into the Sea and had enough to do to save himself for not only it concerned him to have a care of the Christian Vessels because of their Poles but also of those who not knowing how to swim endeavoured to catch hold of any thing to save themselves by at length for all the care he took a Turk took hold of his Foot
telling him that he must either save him or both Perish finding himself in this danger he told the Turk that he could not save him in that posture but that if he would get upon his Back he would do his best which the Turk a little too credulous attempting to do no sooner had he let go his Foot but he gave him a punch on the Belly and made all haste to land where siting down to rest himself two other Turks who had swam a shoar as well as he having rested in the same place and rising up to be gone were both shot close by him with a Canon-Bullet from the Sea. I thought fit to mention all these particulars as supposing they will not be unpleasing to the Reader This was so great an overthrow that it put all the Turks into a consternation The Consternation of the Turks after the Overthrow who were so terrified that they imagined themselves to be Slaves to the Venetians already The Grand Signior took this loss so much to Heart that for a whole day he would not eat nor receive any comfort but wept bitterly nay before any news of it was brought his Barber having told him that he heard say the Turkish Fleet was Defeated he caused him immediately to be put to Death When he had got certain Intelligence of it he ordered Soldiers to be forthwith sent to all the Isles and other places where he feared the Venetians might make a descent and because he was apprehensive that they might come to Constantinople he caused the Houses that were upon the Walls to be pulled down because they might facilitate the Burning and hinder the defence of the City For my own part I make no doubt but that if they had appeared the Turks would have abandoned Constantinople it is most certain that the Grand Signior would have immediately fled over to Asia and a great many among them said that the time was come which had been foretold by a Scheik or Imam to wit that the time would come when a Chequin would be offered for a place in a Perme to go from Constantinople to Scudaret and could not be had This Overthrow had been foretold by several Turks to be greater than it was for before the Fleet put out from Constantinople I was told that some Turks had predicted that not one sail of them should come back again The taking of Tenedo and Lemnos and that the Christians should not only defeat it but take Canea also the same year which nevertheless proved not to be true but the Venetians took Tenedo and Lemnos which would have much incommoded the Turks if the Christians had kept them for keeping some Gallies and Galleasses at Tenedo they would have deprived the Turks of Greece of all Commerce by Sea with Aegypt but the Turks soon after took both these Islands The Captain Basha turned out After this great Overthrow every one thought that the Captain Basha would lose his Head and yet he had so good Friends that they saved him only he was made Mansoul and in his place was employed Seyd Hamet Basha The Name of of the Captain Basha with orders to the Captain Basha Mansoul to go to Negrepont of which he was made Basha This man named Ourous Kienan Basha was by Nation a Russian and one Night when the Tartars plundered the Village where he was they found him at the age of six Months lying stark naked on a heap of Chaff they took him and with other Slaves sent him to Constantinople where he was sold and brought up in the Turkish Religion wherein his luck was so good that he attained to the highest places Sunday the sixth of August late in the Night The return of some of the remaining Vessels to Constantinople when hardly any thing could be seen seven Turkish Galleys and a Maone which were part of the remaining Fleet came into the Port at Constantinople without any noise having no Colours nor Main-masts but only the fore Mast standing we who were Franks rejoiced at all this in private but so far from making any Publick rejoicing it behoved us to act the Turks and seem sorrowful for the Christians good success Nevertheless after the loss of that Battel the Turks conceived so great hatred and rage against the Christians that the very sight of a Frank brought it into their mind nay many of them seeing Frank Merchants pass along in Galata could not forbear to say openly We shall see at Bairam what will become of these Hats so that those who heard the words telling them to one another The fear of the Franks at Constantinople we thought we had reason to apprehend that they might take the day of Bairam to Massacre all the Franks It was known also that several Janizaries were come a shoar one night in Galata and this gave us great suspicion for we ought to fear every thing from Bruitish People especially when they are provoked The English Ships that were in the Port by orders from their Ambassadour in the Night-time put off a little from shoar and kept good Guard. in fine the Bairam which was the four and twentieth of July being past we took a little heart again but Friday the eight and twentieth of July about ten a clock at Night a Letter was brought to the French Ambassadour which renewed our former fears it was written in Turkish by an Itchoglan of the Serraglio Dragoman that is close by the Palace of the Ambassadour who sent for his chief Dragoman or Interpreter and gave him the Letter to read the purport whereof was that if the Turks had failed to fall upon the Franks at their Bairam An Itchoglan punished for a Letter he wrote to the French Ambassadour they should not fail to do it within a few Days My Lord Ambassadour sent that Letter to the Aga of the Janizaries who having seen it caused the Young-man who wrote it in a meer caprice to have instantly two hundred blows of a Cudgel upon the soles of his Feet so that his Cries were heard in the Ambassodours House CHAP. LIV. Of the Sedition that happened in Constantinople in the Year 1655. I Have said enough I think of the Turkish Militia yet I cannot dismiss that Subject without taking some Notice of the Revolts of the Janizaries These very Men who when obedient to the Grand Signior render him one of the most formidable Princes on Earth strangely limit his Power when they lose that Respect they owe to him which happens pretty often and then more like to Rapid Torrents than a company of Rational Men they run down all that comes in their way and slighting the Commands of all Superiours follow the dictates of their furious Passion Sultan Osman had a mind to turn off the Janizaries so that they have strangled several Grand Signiors and among others Sultan Osman because as they suspected he had a mind to rid himself of them For that
not daring to carry them into any part of Turkie for then the Ambassadours would get them set at liberty At length Thursday the Twelfth of October in the dusk of the Evening we arrived in the Port of Chio. I went and lodged with Monsieur Mille the French Vice-Consul for that place belongs to the Consulship of Smyrna Chio is a small Town but well peopled Chio. and most part of the Inhabitants are Christians Greeks or Latins who have each of them there a Bishop and several Churches but the Greeks have many more than the Latins because every one of their Papas has his Church not allowing above one Mass a day to be said in every Church They have also many Convents of Nuns who are not so strictly shut up and look't after as those of the Latins are for I remember I went into one of these Nunneries where I saw here and there both Christians and Turks and then having entered the Chamber of one of the Sisters I found that she was kind even beyond the bounds of Christian charity The Nuns when they put themselves in there buy a Lodging they go abroad when then they please and even leave the Convent when they have a mind they Embroider in Gold Silver and Silk in which the Greek Women are very skilful Embroidering very lovely Flowers upon Handkerchiefs Purses and such like things The Latins have five Churches in the Town the first is the Church of the Bishoprick which is fair and large it is not very old having been built but since the Turks were Masters of Chio because the Church and Bishop's House are in the Castle and the Turks having converted the Church into a Mosque suffered the Bishop to build another in the Town which should be of the same length breadth and height according to the agreement made betwixt the King of France and the Grand Signior wherein it is specified that the Turks shall not ruine the Christians Churches nor take them from them but that the Christians shall enjoy them in full liberty and also that the Christians shall not repair them when they fall to ruine nor yet build any new The Bishop having obtained that permission bought a place in the Town where he built his Church and House In that Church are interred the French who die in Chio in a Burying-place which M. John Dupuis of Marseilles M. Dupuiâ— Consul of Smyrna Capucins at Chio. Consul of Smyrna bought and gave to the French. The Capucins have also a House and Church in the Town their Church is spacious and very handsome standing in the middle of a very great Court through which one must pass in going to their House that is wholly separated from the Church the half of the breadth of the Court being betwixt them so that their Church is without their Convent which they keep always shut with a good gate because of the Turks who would spoil all their Garden if they came into it and commit a thousand insolencies as sometimes they do when they find the gate open coming in and calling for Wine which must be given them This House of the Capucins is very neatly built and has a large Garden but it wants Water so that they can hardly raise any thing These good Fathers teach Humanity Jesuites aâ— Chio. Jacobins and Cordeliers at Chio. and the Christian Doctrine to the Children that are sent to School to them The Jesuites have also a Church and Colledge there all the Jesuites that live there are of Chio and have three Congregations There are also Jacobins and Cordeliers there who all have fair Churches In the Countrey also there are several Roman Catholick Churches belonging either to the Bishop or to these Religious There are a great many also belonging to the Greeks scattered up and down insomuch that in the whole Island there are above thirty Latin Churches and more than five hundred Greek They are all very well served and Divine Service is performed there with all the Ceremonies as if it were in the heart of Christendome Great freedom of Religion in Chio. for the Turks molest them not so that all have free exercise of their Religion Nay the Profession of it is publick and on Corpus Christi day the Holy Sacrament is carried about the streets under a Canopy without any fear or indignity offered even by the Turks This Town and whole Island is governed by Christians but under the Authority of the Turks who give them free liberty to act in matters of small Importance They chuse Consuls one half Greeks and one half Latins who during the time of their continuance take the care of all Affairs When any man is found kill'd Turk or Crhistian the Author of the Murther is sought out and if he be not found The price of Blood for a man kill'd Chio. the whole Town pays the price of the dead man's blood at the rate of twelve thousand Aspres or a hundred and fifty Piastres and the Consuls of the Town assess every house for its proportion so that the Tax exceeds not fifteen or sixteen Aspres a house one with another And when the Murtherer is apprehended his Blood pays for the other 's that is kill'd for if Justice be executed there is nothing to be paid When Money is paid in that nature the Cady and other Turkish Officers make the profit of it keeping it to themselves The Town of Chio as I said is but small and yet hath eight Gates It is not strong at all The Castle of Chio. but it hath a pretty good Castle that defends it and commands it also The Turks live there and commonly there are eight hundred Men in it No Christian may lodge there but the Jews for a certain summ of Money which they pay yearly live there for they would not be so safe nor so well accommodated among the Christians who would often abuse them This Castle is a mile in circumference and you must pass three Gates before you enter it over the third are still to be seen the Castle with three Towers and the Eagle of stone in relief The Arms of the Justinians at Chio. which are the Arms of the Justiniani Genoese Lords to whom heretofore that Isle belonged with the Title of a Principality Having pass'd this last Gate you see a very fair House in the Castle with the same Arms which are upon several other Houses besides This is a very lovely Castle and well built all the Houses in it were built when the Christians were Masters thereof and indeed they are very high and of fine Free-stone adorned with many Coats of Arms and well cut Figures among others there is one over the Gate representing in bas relief our Saviour's riding into Jerusalem upon the Ass and is very well cut All the Streets are streight and broad and I saw one where two Coaches might easily go a breast This Castle absolutely commands the Port which is little
into two Pits the first is almost square and is eleven foot long and ten foot broad there is a pair of stairs to go down to it about seven or eight foot broad cut in the Rock all round and separating the Pit from the Rock so that when you go down you have one of the sides of the Well on the right hand which serves for a rail to keep one from falling or indeed seeing into the Well unless it be by windows that are at convenient distances On the left hand you have the wall which is the Rock it self This Stair-case hath been made very easie to go down and up for the convenience of the Oxen that go down to labour so that the descent is hardly sensible You go down then 220 steps finding on each side of the Pit two windows each about three foot square there are three windows in some places A hole in Joseph's Well that goes to the Pyramides but the Pit being very deep they are not sufficient to give light enough and therefore some Torches must be carried down At the bottom of these two hundred and twenty steps in the Rock on the left hand there is a great hole like a door but stopt up and they say that that hole goes as far as the Pyramides Another hole in Josephs Well which the Aegyptians say reaches as far as Suez There is another hole like the former on the right hand of the Pit and stopt up in the same manner and that they say goes as far as Suez upon the Red-Sea but I believe neither of the two Turning then to the right hand towards that hole you come to a place which is the bottome of the first Pit or story this place answers perpendicularly to the mouth of the Pit being equal to it in length and breadth so much of it as is uncovered for afterwards it strikes off to the right hand under the Rock to the place of the second story or second Pit which is narrow but deeper than the former At the top of this last Pit in the afore-mentioned place that goes under the Rock the Oxen are which by means of wheels draw a great quantity of water out of this narrow Pit or Well which falling into a Channel runs into a reservatory at one end of this place and at the bottom of the first Pit from whence at the same time it is conveyed up on high by little buckets fastened to a rope which Oxen on the top continually keep going by the means of other wheels that they turn and then it is distributed through the Castle in several pipes One may go to the bottome of this narrow Well there being several steps in it by which some have descended but there is too much mud and slime in it Now what is most wonderful all this Pit or Well is made out of the hard Rock to a prodigious breadth and depth and the water of it is from a Spring there being no Spring to the knowledge of man in all Aegypt but this Onely two Springs of Water in Aegypt and that of the Matharee which we mentioned before Many and almost all the Franks think that the water of Joseph's Well is the same that is brought from the Nile in that fair Aqueduct which comes by Old Caire to the Castle But we informed ourselves as to that of many in the Castle who all assured us that the water that is brought by that Aqueduct served only for the Bashas Horses as indeed it comes streight to the Stables in the Bashas Appartment and that it enters not at all into Joseph's Well which is in the Quarter of the Janizaries besides the water of Joseph's Well is sweetish as the water of most Wells is and differs in taste from that of the Nile Joseph's Hall. Thirty Pillars of Thebaick stone in Joseph's Hall. The Hall of Joseph's Steward Joseph's Hall is also to be seen in the Castle but much ruined it hath thirty lovely great Pillars of Thebaick-stone and a good deal of Gold and Azure still to be seen on the seeling Pretty near to that is the Hall also of Joseph's Steward which is more curious than the other but there remains still ten or twelve Pillars such as those of Joseph's Hall. It is to be observed that all the fine things of the Antients that still remain in Aegypt are attributed to Joseph and all that is ugly or infamous to Pharaoh There is to be seen also in the Castle a large old Hall well built the seeling whereof is in many places gilt and painted in Mosaick In this Hall the Vest which is yearly sent to Mecha is embroidered Then you have many high Terrasses from whence you may see all the City of New Caire the Old Boulac and a great way farther into the Desarts Joseph's Dungeon The Dungeon or Arcane is still remaining in the Castle which they say is the Prison whereinto Joseph was cast and where he interpreted the Dreams of the King's Butler and Baker but nothing makes it considerable but the Name of Joseph for it is a Prison composed of some dark nasty and stinking passages like Dungeons by what I could discover on the out-side and some who have been Prisoners there told me that it is far worse within and Prisoners are so cruelly used there that it deserves not to be look'd upon nay woe be to them who are shut up there for so soon as a Man is clapt up in it his feet are put into the Stocks and his body chained to the wall by a heavy Chain where he must sit on his breech then the Gaolers demand of him ten or twenty Piastres more or less The bad usage of Prisoners by the Gaolers of the Arcane according as they judge him able and if he give it not they throw pales of water under his breech and when he has feed the first that he may not be abused next day others come into office who use him in the same manner if he see them not also as he did the former and in a word this Prison is a Hell upon Earth People are put in there for small matters as for Debt or Batteries especially the Christians and Jews The Aga of the Janizaries lives in the Castle and Commands there Being come out of the Castle you must go see the Basha's Appartment separated from the Castle only by a Wall and I think all together made but one Castle before but the Turks make a distinction betwixt them calling the Basha's Appartment the Serraglio of the Basha and the rest the Castle you must see then the Appartment or Serraglio of the Basha which is very neat as that of the Kiayas is also Both these places have a very pleasant Prospect for from them one has a full view of Caire Old Caire Boulac the Desarts and all places about The Hall of the great Divan is in the Basha's Appartment it is long but the seeling a
with the Knife The Master comes to them now and then with a Pattern and looking upon it tells them what they are to do as if he were reading in a Book nay faster too than he could read saying So many points of such a colour and so many of such another and the like and they are as quick at their work as he is in directing them CHAP. XI Of the Ovens that hatch Chickens ALL that I have related hitherto are such things as may be daily seen and whoever Travels into that Countrey may see them at his leisure when he thinks fit But there are also several other curious things that are casual and temporary and others again which yearly happen but at such a time and season I shall relate what I have seen of both according to the order of time they happen in and I saw them The first of these extraordinary things I saw at Caire was the artificial way of hatching Chickens one would think it a Fable at first to say that Chickens are hatch'd without Hens sitting upon the Eggs and a greater to say that they are sold by the Bushel Nevertheless both are true and for that effect they put their Eggs in Ovens which they heat with so temperate a warmth The manner of the Ovens for hatching of Chickens which imitates so well the natural heat that Chickens are formed and hatched in them These Ovens are in a low place and in a manner under ground they are made of Earth round within the Hearth or Floor of them being covered all over with Tow or Flocks to put the Eggs upon There are in all twelve of these Ovens six on each side in two ranks or stories there being two stories on each side and three Ovens in each storie These two sides are separated by a Street or Way through which they who work in them who are all Cophtes and those that come to see them pass They begin to heat their Ovens about the middle of February How the Ovens are heated and continue to do so for almost four months space They heat them with a very temperate heat only of the hot ashes of Oxen and Camels-dung or the like which they put at the mouth of each Oven and daily change it putting fresh hot dung into the same place This they do for the space of ten days and then lay the Eggs upon the Tow and Flocks that are within the Ovens ranking them all round and they 'll put about eight thousand in an Oven After twelve days time that the Eggs have been there the Chickens are hatch'd and come out so that the time of heating the Ovens and the time the Eggs have been in them make in all two and twenty days But it is pleasant to see these Chickens in one side some thrusting out their heads others striving and struggling to get out their bodies and others again which on the other side are quite out of the shell tripping up and down upon the rest of the Eggs for if you stay there but the least you 'll see all these progresses When they are all hatched they gather them up measure them in a Bushel that wants a bottom and sell them by that measure to all that please to buy and then divide the profit betwixt the Owners and the Masters of the Ovens During the four months that they plie this business they use above three hundred thousand Eggs but all do not succeed Such as have a very nice palate think that these Pullets are not so good as those which are hatched by a Hen but the difference is but little or rather it is only in fancy and it is still very much to imitate Nature so near Many think that this cannot be done but in Aegypt because of the warmth of the Climate but the Great Duke of Florence having sent for one of these Men he hatched them aswel there as in Aegypt The same also as I was told had been done in Poland and I certainly believe it may be done any where provided it be in some place under ground where no Air comes in but the great difficulty is to proportion the heat to such a temperate degree that there be neither too much nor too little either of which would prove unsuccesful CHAP. XII Of the Burying-place where the Dead rise IT is strange to see the Superstitions that reign among People and there is no Country that can pretend to be free from them only some have more and some less but the strangest thing of all is that they will not be undeceived and if any man offer to lay open the Cheat he is presently taken for an Atheist and wicked Person No People that I know are certainly more Superstitious than the Aegyptians as I shall hereafter make it out but at present it shall be enough to give one instance of it Upon the River-side near to old Caire there is a great Burying-place where many dead Bodies are Interred All the Inhabitants of Caire not only Cophtes and Greeks but also Turks and Moors are fully perswaded that on Holy Wednesday Thursday An imaginary Resurrection of the dead in Aegypt and Friday according to their account who follow the old Calendar the dead rise there not that the dead People walk up and down the Church-yard but that during these three days their Bones come out of the Ground and then when they are over return to their Graves again I went to that Burying-place on the Holy Friday of the Greeks and other Christians who follow the old Calendar that I might see what Ground they had for this stupid Belief and I was astonished to find as many People there as if it had been at a Fair for all both small and great in Caire flock thither and the Turks go in procession with all their Banners because they have a Scheikh Interred there whose Bones as they say come out every year and take the Air with the rest and there they say their Prayers with great Devotion When I came to the place I saw here and there some Sculls and Bones and every one told me that they were just come out of the Earth which they so firmly beleive that it is impossible to make them think otherwise for I spoke to some who one would think ought to have more sense than the rest and they assured me it was a truth and that when you are in a place where the Ground is very even while you are looking to one side Bones will come up on the other side within two steps of you I who would willingly have seen them come up before my Face not doubting but the Bones which were to be seen had been secretly scattered by some Santo's fell a jeering the Men An Apparition of the blessed Virgin in a Nunnery of the Cophtes Gemiane An Apparition of Saints among the Cophtes but finding that they were in the same errour with the rest I durst not say all
faced with lovely Marble in the middle whereof there is a Glory of Silver like the Sun with this Inscription about it Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est About half a Foot from this Glory there is naturally upon a Marble Stone The figure of the Virgin and of her Son naturally imprinted on Marble The place of the Manger of our Lord. a figure in red Colour of a Virgin on her Knees and a little Child lying before her which is taken for the Blessed Virgin and her Son Jesus on whose Heads they have put two little Crowns of Silver-Plate Nine and twenty Lamps are kept burning before that Chappel Then you go down by three Marble-steps into a little Chappel where was the Wooden Manger into which the Virgin laid our Lord so soon as She had brought Him into the World this Manger is now at Rome in Santa Maria Majora And in the same place St. Helen caused another of white Marble Tables to be put on one of which set against the Wall is the natural Figure of an Old Man with a Monks Hood and long Beard lying on his Back and they 'll have this to be the Figure of St. Jerome which God was pleased should be marked upon that Stone because of the great love he had for that place Ten Lamps are kept burning before that Chappel two steps from which and just over against it is the Altar of Adoration of the Three Kings where there is a little Stone for a mark of the place The place of the Kings Adoration on which sat the holy Virgin with Her dear Son in Her Arms when She saw the three Wise Men come in who having laid down their Presents upon a little Bench of Stone at the foot of the Altar on the side of the Epistle adored Jesus and then offered him their Presents The Vault in this place is very low and supported by three Pillars of Porphyrian Marble before this Altar three Lamps burn At the other end of this place there was heretofore a Door by which one came down from St. Catharine's Chappel into this Grott before the Latin Monks lost it but at present it is Walled up and close by that Door there is a hole into which the Oriental Christians say the Star sunk after it had guided the Magi into this holy place This Grott is all faced with Marble both the Walls and Floor and the Seeling or Vault is adorned with Mosaick Work blackened by the smoak of the Lamps It receives no light but by the two Doors that are upon the Stairs which affords but very little Now this place is held in very great Veneration even by the Turks who come often and say their prayers there The Church of Bethlehem serves for a lodging to the Turks that pass that way But it is a very incommodious and unseemly thing that all the Turks who pass through Bethlehem should Lodge in the great Church with their whole Families there being no convenient Lodging in Bethlehem which is a great Eye-sore to the Christians who see their Church made an Inn for the Infidels But it is above all troublesome to our Latin Monks whom they oblige to furnish them with all things necessary both for Diet and Lodging CHAP. XLVI Of the Way of making what Marks Men please upon their Arms. WE spent all Tuesday the Nine and twentieth of April The Pilgrims of Jerusalem marked in the Arm. in getting Marks put upon our Arms as commonly all Pilgrims do the Christians of Bethlehem who are of the Latin Church do that They have several Wooden Moulds of which you may chuse that which pleases you best then they fill it with Coal-dust and apply it to your Arm so that they leave upon the same the Mark of what is cut in the Mould after that with the left hand they take hold of your Arm and stretch the skin of it and in the right hand they have a little Cane with two Needles fastened in it which from time to time they dip into Ink mingled with Oxes Gall and prick your Arm all along the lines that are marked by the Wooden Mould This without doubt is painful and commonly causes a slight Fever which is soon over the Arm in the mean time for two or three days continues swelled three times as big as it ordinarily is After they have pricked all along the said lines they wash the Arm and observe if there be any thing wanting then they begin again and sometimes do it three times over When they have done they wrap up your Arm very streight and there grows a Crust upon it which falling off three or four days after the Marks remain Blew and never wear out because the Blood mingling with that Tincture of Ink and Oxes Gall retains the mark under the Skin CHAP. XLVII Of what is to be seen about Bethlehem and of the Grott of the Virgin in Bethlehem WEdnesday the Four and twentieth of April we parted from Bethlehem at five a Clock in the Morning and went to see the holy places that are about it In the first place we saw on a little Hill on our right hand Boticella Boticella which is a Town wherein none but Greeks live and the Turks cannot live there for they say that if a Turk offer to live in it he dies within eight days Then a League from Bethlehem we saw the Church of St. George where there is a great Iron-ring fastened to a Chain through which the People of the Country A Ring that eures the Sick. both Moors and Christians pass when they are troubled with any Infirmity and as they say are immediately cured of it We went not thither because the day before the Greeks having been there met with some Turks who made every one of them pay some Maidins though it was not the custom to pay any thing and our Trucheman would by no means have us go thither that we might not accustome them to a new Imposition We left St. George's on the right hand and went to see a Fountain called in holy Scripture Fons Signatus Fons Signatus the Sealed Well which is in a hole under Ground where being got down with some trouble and a lighted Candle we saw on the right hand three Springs one by another the Water whereof is by an Aqueduct that begins close by the Fountain Heads conveyed to Jerusalem Near to that place there is a pretty Castle built some fifty or sixty Years since for taking the Caffares of the Caravans of Hebron a little farther are the three Fish-Ponds of Salomon The three Fish-ponds of Salomon they are three great Reser-servatories cut in the Rock the one at the end of the other the second being a little lower than the first and the third than the second and so communicate the Water from one to another when they are full near to this place his Concubines lived Continuing our Journey we saw in
place where St. James was Beheaded The House of St. Thomas The House of St. Mark. in this Church there is a little Chappel on the left hand as you enter which is the place where St. James the Minor first Patriarch of Jerusalem was Beheaded by command of Herod Agrippa This Church has no light but by the opening in the Dome above where there is an Iron-Grate very well wrought Over against this Church is the House of St. Thomas the Apostle into which the Turks dare not enter because they say that in times past such as entered it died there Afterwards we entered into the House of St. Mark where there is a Church held by the Syrians it is the first that was built by St. Helen in Jerusalem when Herod cast St. Peter into Prison the other Apostles with the Disciples were in that House praying for his deliverance near to that we saw the Iron-Gate through which the Angel brought St. Peter Iron-Gate when he delivered him out of the Prison from whence St. Peter went to the House of St. Mark and found the other Apostles there We then visited in order the House of Zebedee the Father of St. James the Major and St. John the Evangelist The House of Zebedee which is also the place of their Nativity at present there is a Church there held by the Greeks Then we came into the Court or open place of the Church of the holy Sepulchre and on the right hand where Mount Calvary is we entered a little Door and ascending nine and thirty steps of a winding stair-case we saw two Churches held by the Abyssins And then a Chappel near to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with a Dome and fifteen steps up to it under which St. Mary the Aegyptian did Penance The place where St. Mary the Aegyptian did Penance The Prison of St. Peter when she could not get into the Holy Sepulchre This Chappel is the place where the Holy Virgin and St. John the Evangelist were when the Jews Crucified our Lord. Then we went through a place where we saw the Ruines of a great Pile of Building where heretofore the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem lived we went into the Prison where Herod put St. Peter from whence he was delivered by an Angel as we have said After we had seen all these Places we came back to the Convent about eleven a clock in the Forenoon CHAP. L. Our third Entry into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Of the City of Jerusalem SAturday the seven and twentieth of April we entered into the Holy Sepulchre where we stayed till next day being Sunday the eight and twentieth of April that the Pilgrims went to Dinner in the Convent for my part I stayed still in the holy Sepulchre Knighthood of Jerusalem where I was honoured with the Order of a Knight of the holy Sepulchre with the customary Ceremonies This Knighthood costs an hundred Crowns and has many Privileges but not acknowledged in many places That which chiefly made me desire this Knighthood was that that they assured me in several places that the Spaniards did not detain the Knights of Jerusalem Prisoners though they were French men and seeing I was afraid I might meet them at Sea upon my return into Christendome I thought my self obliged to take shelter under that protection After I had dined in the Refectory which the Monks have in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre I went to the Convent and we prepared to leave that Holy City next day I shall say nothing of the Ancient Jerusalem only give the Reader an account of the present State of it Jerusalem The City of Jerusalem is the Capital of Judea It stands on a dry and mountanous ground that bears nothing so that for three or four leagues about the Land is very barren but good at a farther distance The Streets of this City are narrow and crooked The Gates of Jerusalem It hath six Gates to wit the Sheep-Gate at present called St. Stephens Gate the Gate of Ephraim that of Damascus that of Jaffa or Bethlehem that of Sion and the Dung-Gate It hath also besides these six Gates the Golden Gate by which our Lord entered upon the Ass in Triumph but it is walled up because the Turks have a Prophesie That the Christians are to take Jerusalem by that Gate A Prophecy of the Turks And every Friday all the other Gates of the City are shut at Noon and not opened till their Noon-Prayers be over because they have another Prophecy That the Christians are to become Masters of them on a Friday during Noon-Prayer The same thing they also do in many other Cities Not far from the Golden-Gate there is on high on the outside of the City-Wall towards the Valley of Jehosophat The Valley of Jehosophat A Pillar on which Mahomet will sit at the Day of Judgment The transformation of Mahomet a little Pillar peeping out of a nich in the Wall like a Cannon out of a Port-hole and the Turks say that at the day of Judgment Mahomet shall sit upon that Pillar and observe whether our Lord Judge the Christians well or not if he Judge righteously Mahomet will give him his Sister in Marriage with a great deal of Money that then the same Mahomet shall change himself into a Sheep and all the Turks shall nestle in his Wool being all like Flees and so he shall flie in the Air shaking himself very hard and that those who stick fast to him shall be happy and such as fall off be damned The Walls are fair and strong much like to the Walls of Avignon and look as if they were new CHAP. LI. Of Emaus and Jaffa MOnday morning the nine and twentieth of April the R. F. Commissary led us to the Church of St. Saviour where having sung the Benedictus and some Prayers he gave us his Blessing and so having taken leave of him and of all the Monks of the Convent after we had given some Piastres to the Truchemen for their pains and Money to the Procurator or Steward for our diet which is given by way of Charity every one according to his liberality for they ask nothing we parted from the said Convent extremely well satisfied with the Entertainment we had received from these good Fathers who certainly are at a loss how to Treat the Pilgrims for they say if they treat them well when they return into their own Countrey they give it out that there is no need of sending any thing to the Monks because they are too rich and if they treat them not well they hinder others from sending them any Charity saying that they do not so much as entertain Pilgrims with what is given them In the mean time they need support considering the great summs of Money they yearly pay the Turks without which they would not so willingly be tolerated though indeed the League betwixt the Grand Signior and the French
Tyrannie of the Turks made them abandon it Among the ruines of the Town and even within the Precincts of it a great many Palm-Trees grow within this last Precinct there is a Castle upon the Sea-side which seems to have been a strong place A hundred paces from thence within the said Precinct we saw a Church five and twenty paces in length and fifteen broad dedicated to St. Peter which is still entire They say that St. Helen caused it to be built in the place where our Lord said to St. Peter Mat. c. 16. Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church c. There we had that Gospel read to us Others say it is the place where our Lord eat Fish with his Apostles after his Resurrection when He appeared unto them upon the side of this Sea. We Dined in that place and then washed our selves in the Lake the Water whereof is fresh very good to Drink and full of Fish It is about twelve or fifteen Miles long and five or six over It was heretofore called the Sea of Galilee Lake of Genezareth Capernaum Mat. 9. Mat. 8. John 4. or Lake of Genezareth From thence on the left hand upon the side of that Sea we saw the ruines of the Town of Capernaum where St. Matthew left the Custom-House to follow our Lord and where our Saviour Cured the Centurion's Servant and the Son of the Nobleman and raised a Maid from the Dead About an hundred paces from the Precinct of the Town of Tiberias close by the Sea-side there is a natural Bath of hot Waters to which they go down by some steps The ancient Walls of Tiberias reached as far as this Bath We parted from Tiberias about two in the Afternoon and about seven a Clock at Night arrived at a Village called Sabbato near to which we lay abroad in the open Fields Aain Ettudgiar for our Monks would by no means have us to Lodge at the usual place which is at the Castle called Aain Ettudgiar that is to say the Merchants Well as being afraid of some Avanie Next day Saturday the eleventh of May we left that bad Inn about five a Clock in the Morning and half an hour after came to a Castle called Eunegiar which is square having a Tower at each Corner close by it there is a Han which appears to be pretty enough The place where Joseph was sold and is also square It was at this Castle as they say that Joseph was by his Brethren sold to an Ishmaelite Merchant the Pit or Well whereunto they had put him first is still to be seen but we went not to it because it was quite out of our Road. This Castle is commanded by a Sous-Basha and there we payed a Piastre of Caffare a piece of which one half goes to the Sous-Basha and the other to the Arabs From thence we went towards Mount Tabor Mount Tabor or Gabeltour by the Arabs called Gebeltour and came an hour after to the foot of it where alighting from our Horses though one may ride up on Horse-back as some of our Company did we got up to the top about nine a Clock It is easie to be mounted seeing one may go up on Horse-back but it is also very high being almost half a League from the bottom to the top Having taken a little breath we entred by a low Door into a little Grott where we found on the left hand a Chappel built in memory of the place where our Lord was Transfigured and of what St. Peter said It is good for us to be here let us make three Tabernacles c. This Chappel is made up of four Arches cross-ways one of them is the entry of the Chappel that which is opposite to it is the place where our Lord was when he was Transfigured that which is on the right hand of it but on the left hand of those that enter into the Chappel is the place where Moses was because in holy Scripture Moses is mentioned before Elias The fourth which is over against that of Moses is the place where Elias was and a Monk read to us there the Gospel of the Transfiguration Near to this place there is a little Plain and a Cistern of excellent Water This Mount is shaped like a Sugar-Loaf and is covered all over with Trees for most part hard Oaks After we had eaten in that place we came down about ten a Clock in the Morning and took our way towards the Convent of Nazareth where we arrived about one of the Clock In the Evening we went to see the House and Shop of St. Joseph very near to the Convent there is an old ruinous building there which appears to have been a Church wherein were three Altars The House and Shop of St. Joseph built by St. Helen and a few steps farther we saw the Synagogue where our Lord taught the Jews when they had a mind to precipitate him CHAP. LVI The way by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth ONE may Travel by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth The way by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth and besides avoiding the dangers that offer by Sea see a great many other curious places but as I have already said the Arabs exact such unreasonable Caffares upon the Road that few go that way at present however I shall set it down in this Place Parting from Jerusalem after Dinner you come to Lodge at Elbir Elbir there there is a very curious Village standing upon a height and Inhabited by a few People There is also a Church half ruined which was heretofore a fair Fabrick The Walls that yet stand are of great Flints They say that this was the place where the blessed Virgin lost her dear Son Jesus and therefore returned to Jerusalem where she found him in the Temple Disputing with the Doctors Next day you Lodge at Naplouse Travelling all the way over Hills and Dales Naplouse which are nevertheless Fruitful and in many places bear plenty of Olive-Trees Naplouse is the Town which in holy Scripture is called Sichim Sichem near to which Jacob and his Family most frequently Lived it stands partly on the side and partly at the foot of a Hill. The Soil about it is fertile and yields Olives in abundance The Gardens are full of Orange and Citron-Trees watered by a River and sundry Brooks About one hundred paces from the Town towards the East there is a spring under a Vault which discharges its water into a reservatory of one entire piece of Marble ten spans long five broad and as much in height in the front there are some Foliages and Roses cut in Relief upon the Marble About half a quarter of a League from thence upon the Road from Jerusalem is the Well of the Samaritan The Well of the Samaritane as the Christians of the Country say who keep it covered with great Stones least the Turks should fill it up
wrought in it and a great many Magazines which served formerly to hold Provisions and Amunition Assi or Orontes The River Assi or Orontes runs by the side of this Castle and fills the Ditches about it that are cut in the Rock and very deep It runs also through the whole Town where it turns eightteen great Wheels which raise the Water two Pikes height into Channels that lye upon great Arches and convey it not only to the Fountains of the Town but also without into the Gardens You must also see a Mosque that stands near the River and over against the Castle before the door of which there is a Pillar of most lovely Marble erected with the figures of Men Birds and other Animals very well cut in Demy Relief upon it In this Mosque there is a very pleasant Garden Marra full of Orange-Trees by the River-side From Ama you go and lodge at Marra which is a sorry Town commanded by a Sangiac and there is nothing in it worth the observing but the Han you lodge in which is covered all over with Lead and is very spacious being capable of Lodging eight hundred Men and their Horses with ease In the middle of this Han there is a Mosque with a lovely Fountain and a Well two and forty Fathom deep from the top to the Water is still to be seen there About sixscore Years ago that Han was Built by Mourab Chelebi great Tefterdar when he made the Pilgrimage of Mecha About fifty paces from thence there is another old Han half ruined having a door of Black Stone of one entire piece seven span long four and a half broad and a span thick on which two Crosses like those of Malta with Roses and other Figures are cut in Demy Relief From Marra you go and lye at Aleppo CHAP. LXI The Road fram Tripoly to Aleppo by Damascus THose who have never seen Damascus may go to it from Tripoly in three good days Journey and from thence to Aleppo by the way following From Damascus the first nights Lodging is at Cotaipha one half of the way thither is over most pleasant and fruitful Plains abounding with Fruit-Trees Olive-Trees and Vines and watered by seven little Rivers and several Brooks where you see by the way a great many Villages in the Countrey about to the number as the People of the Countrey say of above three hundred and fifty The rest of the way is very Barren and Mountainous Cotaipha A fair great Han. There is at Cotaipha the lovelyest Han that is to be seen in the whole Countrey In the middle of this Han there is a Fountain that discharges its water into a great Pond There is plenty of all things necessary therein and a thousand Men and Horse may be commodiously lodged in it About fourscore years since Sinan Basha the Grand Visier passing through that Countrey upon his way to Mecha and Hyemen caused it to be Built as you go into it you must pass through a great Square Court walled in like a Castle It hath two Gates one to the South and the other to the North upon each of which there are three Culverines mounted to defend the Place There is a Caffare to be paid there From Cotaipha the next Nights Lodging is at Nebk and upon the Road five hours travelling from Cotaipha you see an old Castle called Castel or Han el Arous that is to say the Brides Han standing in a very Barren place and environed by Mountains Nebk is Situated upon a little Hill at the foot of which are Gardens full of Fruit-Trees and watered by a small River over which there is a handsom Bridge of four Arches Next day when you have Travelled two Hours you pass by a Village called Cara which contains two Hans and a Greek Church Dedicated to the Honour of St. George For half a League round this Village there is nothing but Gardens full of Fruit-Trees watered by little Brooks Two Leagues from thence you find a Castle called Cosseitel and without the walls of it is a Fountain that runs into a Pond twenty paces long then you come to Lodge at Assia which is a Han for lodging of Travellers As you go to it you pass through a large Court walled in like a Fort having a very lovely Fountain in the middle which discharges its Water by four Pipes and at the Back of the Han there is a Spring of Water that fills a Pond From Assia you go next day to Hems About mid way you find a sorry Han Hems. called Chempsi Hems is a pretty Town indifferently big the Walls whereof are of black and white Stones and half a Pikes height almost all round fortified with little round Towers to the number of six and twenty formerly they were begirt with Ditches which at present are for the most part filled up with ruines This Town hath six Gates and there are five Churches in it The first is very great and is supported with four and thirty Marble-pillars most part Jaspirs it is threescore and ten paces long and eighteen broad Within on the South-side there is a little Chappel where you may see a Stone-Chest or Case set in the Wall five spans in length and three in breadth wherein the people of the Country not only Christians The Case wherein is the Head of St. John Baptist but Moors believe the head of St. John Baptist to be and therefore the Moors make great account of it and have commonly a Lamp burning before it They say that on certain days of the year some drops of Blood distill from that Case There are also many other long and round pieces of Marble built in the Wall inscribed with Greek Characters and very artfully engraven with Roses and other Figures St. Helen built that Church which was long possessed by the Christians of the Countrey but at length about an hundred and sixty years ago was usurped by the Turks and serves them at present for their chief Mosque the Roof that is supported by these Pillars has been lately renewed and is only of Wood ill put together Christians are suffered to enter into it By the side of it without there is a great Pond where the Turks make their Ablutions before they go into it At the door of this Mosque there are two Marble-Pillars twenty span long lying along upon the Ground From thence you go to another Church held by the Moors called St. George's the Christians of the Country may perform their Devotions there paying for half the Oyl that is consumed in it The third is dedicated to the Honour of our Lady and is possessed by the Christians of the Countrey Arbain Chouade The fourth is held by the Greeks and is called Arbaine Chouade which is to say forty Martyrs it is very neat supported by five Pillars whereof four are Marble and the fifth Porphyrie wrought and cut in the form of a Screw
King of Aethiopia to spend several days about that Fountain which is twelve days Journey from Gonthar the Capital City of Aethiopia This Spring sends its Water Northwards through a long tract of Land which having passed seven Cataracts or Falls that are very high places from which it falls plumb down making a roaring noise at every one of these Cascades and having run through all Aegypt it discharges itself into the Mediterranean Sea by the two mouths of Rossetto and Damiette Now the cause why Nile overflows so regularly in the Summer-time is only because when they have Summer in Aegypt it is Winter in Aethiopia where for three months time the Rain that continually falls running by Torrents into the main River makes it to swell extraordinarily and nevertheless there are no Mountains near to that Spring head for the Mountains that are nearest to it are the Jews Mountains whereof I shall make some mention hereafter and these are three Weeks Journey from it It is a Vulgar errour then that this River has its Source from an unknown place The source of the Nile is not unknown as also that those who live near the Cataracts of Nile are deaf and a greater still what some say that the Grand Signior pays Tribute to the King of Aethiopia to let the Nile run in its usual Channel for it is not in his power to divert it The Mountains of the Jews are but two in number of which the one is called Semain and the other Sallemt Semain Sallemt They were heretofore Inhabited by Jews who became powerful under the command of one called Ghidhon which the King of Aethiopia perceiving marched out against them reduced them to duty Ghidhon chief of the Jews and at length that they might attempt no Innovation for the future he dispossessed them of the Mountains and brought them down into a Plain Inhabited by Christians whom he sent into their Mountains on which there always lyes a great deal of Snow CHAP. LXX Of the Esine that was kept at Caire in my time IN the month of November there was an Esine kept at Caire that is to say Esine a publick Rejoicing because the Turks had taken two Castles in Hungary It was proclaim'd on the eighth of November after noon there being a man who cried it in every Quarter and the chief Cryer went in a Caftan to advertise the Beys and Consuls and got money in the Streets They Cried it for seven days to begin on Saturday the ninth of November at the hour of Evening Prayers though it used not to last above three days This Saturday morning the Guns were fired from the Castle which continued to be done every morning as long as the Esine lasted and then all fell to work before their doors the poorest Man that is being ready on such occasions to lay out somewhat on Lamps and Stuffs It is a very pleasant thing to be seen especially in the Night-time when one may go abroad with greater safety and freedom than in the day at any other time for by Lamp-light they cannot tell whether your Turban be white or of any other Colour and so they know not whether you be Christian or Turk All the streets are full of Lamp-lights but especially some wherein there are a vast number of Lights not only before the Gates but within the Houses of the Beys and other Persons of Quality Besides that the streets are hung with lovely Hangings of Cloath of Gold and other rich stuffs among others there are some Streets wherein all the Shops are hung with Cloath of Gold and rich silk Stuffs flowered with Gold. In many places also you may see pleasant figures of Christian Franks which to them is a great Diversion Besides the Tapistery and Lamps which are to be seen in the Houses of the Beys they make a shew also in the entry of all sorts of Arms and Armour as Head-pieces Corslets Coats of Mail Musquets Swords and Targets c. which are ranked in very good order The Consuls are likwise obliged to act their parts in the Solemnity though it were even a rejoycing for a Victory obtained by the Turks over their own Country else they would have an Avanie put upon them and therefore when they keep an Esinie for a Victory over the Venetians the Consul of Venice is obliged to do as others do if he had not rather pay the next day a swinging Avanie There they expose besides Lamps and Tapistry several excellent Pictures which the Turks look upon with a great deal of pleasure especially when it is some good Face thinking it impossible that we should have such Beauties in Christendom nay that there can be any such in the World. The Women came also being allowed then as at Bairam to go abroad and see the Festival yet not the great Ladies as those of the Basha's Beys and others of higher Quality but only those of an inferiour Condition This is very expensive to the Consuls and to all that would make any shew for besides some hundreds of Lamps and the Tapistry which must be hired it is the custom to treat all those who come to see what is before the House with Coffee and if they be People of Honour and Fashion they must give them Sorbet also nay and Sweet-meats too And for that end every Consul had before his House a piece of Tapistry hung out on each side of the Street and Hangings all round leaving only a Passage between under these kind of Pavillions on each side of the Street there were some hundreds of Lamps and a great many Pictures as likewise at the Avenues of the Street with Chairs and rich Cushions for those that come to see to sit on And no sooner did any come how mean soever he was but he had Coffee and Tobacco brought to him so that the Expence went high for betwixt morning early and three a Clock after Midnight many thousands of People came This Festival ended on Friday Morning the fifteenth of November so that the Esine lasted but six days though it had been cried for seven because the Inferiour sort of People were at too great Charges and got nothing for during that time no Man was suffered to Work. CHAP. LXXI Of the Desarts of St. Macharius The Journey to the Desarts of St. Macharius ONE should also see the Desarts of St. Macharius where there are four Monasteries to wit of St. Macharius the Syrians Balsarion and of our Lady I did not see them having still put it off from day to day However I will here give you a Relation of them which I got You must take Water at Boulac with a Janizary or two and fall down as far as a Village called Terrana where there is a Cachef to whom it will not be a miss to make some small present of Sweet-meats or the like that you may be the better protected by him Then the Janizaries wait upon the said
fronts the North and at the end of the Court there is a Portico supported by six Pillars by which they enter into the Mosque which is covered with a very large Dome The Mosque of Hasan having one less on each side they are all three covered with lead Its Founder was a Basha called Hasan who at his death left money to build that Mosque and his own Tomb. The Basha's Serraglio Going forward we came to a place of the Street where on the left hand stands the Basha's Serraglio which seems pretty enough Over the Gate there is a Pavillion in form of a Pyramid but it is onely of Earth and not faced it is the appartment of the Basha's Kiaya and the Castle is on the right hand The Serraglio gate or of Bazar Espahi The Castle of Damascus The Gate called Bab-Espahi or Bab-Bazar-Espahi is in this place We entered the Town and went along by the Castle which was on our left hand the Ditch wherein there is Water being betwixt us That Castle serves for a Wall to the Town on that side and it reaches almost to the Gate of Paboutches it is a large square well built fabrick of Free-stone Table cut the Walls of it are very high and at certain distances there are large high square Towers built as the rest are and very near one another Having walked all along that side we went along the second side which serves also for a Wall to the Town There we saw a stone-Chain made of a single Stone though it consists of several Links cut one within another it is fastened very high to the Wall There was another Chain longer than this but six years agoe it was broken down by foul Weather and fell into the Ditch From thence we passed by the Gate of the Castle where we saw some Cannon that defend the entry of it then we went to the Market-place of Paboutches Two Mosques formerly Churches and having crossed it we went through little Streets to one where there are two Mosques in which are the Sepulchres of some Kings of Damascus having been formerly the Churches of the Christians There is no seeing into one of them but we looked into the other through lovely Grates of well polished Steel This Mosque is compleatly round and covered with a lovely Dome of Free-stone in which there are several Windows all round it is faced in the inside with Marble of various Colours from the Pavement to the height of three fathome or thereabouts and from thence up to the Windows there are several fair Paints of Churches and Trees after the Mosaick way In the middle of the Mosque there are two Tombs one by another upon a Floor of Marble raised about a Foot and a half high These Tombs are of Cedar-wood very well wrought they are about four or five Foot high and ridged They say that the one contains the Body of King Daer who being a Christian turned Turk and persecuted the Christians cruelly and the Turks affirm that no Candle nor Lamp can be kept lighted there it is certain that both times I past that way I saw none Near to these Tombs there are some Alcorans chained to desks of the same matter the Tombs are of and though all the times I passed that way I saw no body at them yet I imagine there are men hired to read the Alcoran for the Souls of these Kings according to the Custome of the great Lords of the Mahometan Religion who commonly at their death leave great Estates for performing such Prayers The great Mosque of Damascus Having considered this Mosque as much as we could we came to another which is called the great Mosque I took several turns about it to see it by the doors which were open for a Christian dares not set foot within it nor stand at the door neither Some Turks offered indeed to take me in with a Turkish Turban on my head but I would not embrace that offer for had I been known I must have died since by God's Assistance I would not renounce my Faith. On the West-side they enter that Mosque by two great brazen Gates near four fathom high which are very well wrought and full of odd Figures in the middle of each of them there is a Chalice well cut By the doors I saw the breadth of that Mosque which may be about eighteen fathom it hath two ranges of large thick Pillars of grey Marble of the Corinthian Order which divide it into three Isles and of all these Pillars each two support an Arch over which are two little Arches separated by small Pillars which look much like Windows The Pavement is all of lovely stones that shine like Lookinglass That great Mosque which reaches from East to West is covered with a sharp ridged wooden Roof and hath a very large Dome in the middle but on the Noth-side at the place where that Dome is largest there are little arched Windows all round and from these Windows three or four foot higher which is also their height it is faced with green Stone glazed which makes a lovely object to the sight and the rest is rough cast with Lime On each side of the Front of the Mosque there is a square Steeple with Windows like to ours but the higher and larger is on the East-side and they say it was made when that Church was first built which since hath been converted into a Mosque The Turks affirm that Jesus is to return into this World by that Steeple There is a third Steeple behind the Dome The Steeple of the Messias which is diametrically opposite to that of the Messias and this last is round and hath been built by the Turks aswell as the other less square one One Night of the Ramadan I went upon the Terrass-walks to the Windows of that Mosque which are made like the Windows of our Churches and have panes of glass set in Plaister which are wrought into Figures I looked in through a quarry of one of these Windows from whence I saw the end of the Mosque which I could not through the others because on the outside they have wire Lettices There by the Lamp-light I perceived in the Keblay which is exposed to the South a hole grated over with gilt Iron The head of St. Zachary wherein they say the Head of St. Zachary is kept I could see no more of the Ornaments except the Lamps which are in great Number and the Pillars I mentioned Besides the two ranges of Pillars which are in the Body of the Mosque to the Number of six and thirty eighteen to each rank there are at least threescore more aswell in the Court as at the Portico's which make the Entrys into the Court. Take this account of what I could observe of that Court its Porches and of all the outside of the Mosque having taken several turns round it On the West-side there are three Brazen Gates embelished with
Month about half an hour after five in the Morning when it was almost in the Meridian and about two degrees beyond the Sign of Virgo its Tail appeared to the view about the length of a Fathom Some days after the Tail of it pointed betwixt the West and the North. It past from Virgo to Libra and the one and twentieth of December when it entered into Leo there was a Conjunction of the Sun and Saturn after that its Tail pointed Eastward Friday the sixteenth of January 1664 / 5. there happened an Eclipse of the Sun which began a little after eight of the Clock in the Morning and lasted almost till half an hour after Eleven and two thirds of the Sun were well near Eclipsed The Mahometans have no publick Superstition for an Eclipse of the Sun they only say a Prayer made on purpose wherein they Pray God to avert all Calamities from them But it is not the same in Eclipses of the Moon during which as I have already said they spare not their Kettles However it were no great matter if the Persians were only Superstitious in relation to the Stars they are so also in a thousand trifles which concern not at all Astrology For instance They will not eat any thing that a Christian hath but touched thinking it Polluted and therefore they will not suffer them to touch Flesh or any thing else that is Eatable A Persian superstition before they have bought it if a Christian drink in their Pot they break it immediately and it is very rare to see them lend one to any body if a Peece miss firing they are persuaded that some Enemy hath laid a Charm upon it and to cure the pretended Charm he that is to shoot knocks the muzzle of his Peece against the ground and then he thinks the Charm is spoilt and that it will not miss again though the defect he found proceeded only perhaps from the foulness of the Peece Christians esteemed impure They suffer no Christians to enter into their Coffee-Houses nor their Bagnios because they say they are Medgis that is to say impure Whereupon I had a pretty pleasant adventure when I was coming from Bagdad to Hamadan being as yet ignorant of that custom I very fairly went one day to one of their Bagnios they not knowing me to be a Christian suffered me to strip and enter the Bagnio where there were a great many Persians and Turks but some among them knowing me presently whispered the rest that I was a Christian at which being extreamly startled they acquainted the Master of the Bagnio with it who to dismiss me civilly came and told me that the Vizir or Lieutenant of the Chan desired to speak with me I who understood nothing of their intrigue made him answer that I would wait upon him so soon as I had done in the Bagnio and though he told me that he stayed for me I would not go but at length perceiving that the Servants attended all the rest and left me to look to my self I went to my Cloaths and quarelled with the Master because they had not served me which he suffered without making answer whereupon one of those who was in the Bagnio told me that the Bagnio-Master must wash all the Bath over as being polluted by my entring into it and I heard no more of the Vizirs Orders The Persians hate the Turks no less and hold them to be as impure as the Christians but dare not tell them so as they do the Christians to whom there are some Moulas that will not so much as teach the Persian Tongue for love nor mony but there are others who are not so scrupulous The Persians suffer a House that is on fire to burn out The filliest of all their Superstitions in my judgment is this that if a fire break out in their Houses they will not put it out but only save what Goods they can and let the fire burn down as many Houses as it can till others who are not of their Law put it out They suffer not Christians to enter their Mosques and if they catched one there they will oblige him to turn Mahometan or at least make him pay a good sum of mony if he were able and if not they will give him many Bastonadoes Nevertheless they will suffer Christians to dispute with them about matters of Faith which amongst the Turks would be a crime punishable by death CHAP. XIII The Continuation of the Observation of Ispahan Of the Religion of the Persians The Religion of the Persians THE Religion of the Persians is in substance the same with that of the Turks though nevertheless no Nations in the World hate one another so much upon the account of Religion as those two do they look upon one another as Hereticks not without appearance of reason as some think nor yet because the Persians have Translated the Alcoran into Persian for though it be true that they have several Alcorans Translated in Persian nevertheless that is but an interlineal Translation Translation of the Alcoran word for word and without any Sence and they believe as well as the Turks that that Book can not be explained in any other Language but in Arabick But the true ground of their division is that the Turks pretend that Aboubeker was the Lawful Successour of Mahomet Omar the Successour of Aboubeker Osman of Omar and then Aly whereas the Persians affirm that Aboubeker Omar and Osman were but so many Usurpers of the Succession of Aly who was the Lawful Successour of Mahomet and that is the reason the Turks hold them to be Hereticks The Persians believe then that Aly succeeded Mahomet or at least that he ought to have succeeded him and that he was the first of the twelve Imams whom they much honour and who succeeded one another of whom the last Mahomet Mehedy called Mahomet Mehedy-Sahabzemon that is to say the Master of times was snatched out of the hands of those who would have killed him and Translated as Enoch and Elias were and that he will also come at the day of Judgment but only that he may force the world to embrace the Faith of Mahomet that JESUS CHRIST shall be his Lieutenant JESUS CHRIST and that he will Marry for they look upon it as a great defect in his person that he was not married Upon these Principles of Religion the Politicks of the Kings of Persia have firmly secured the Crown to all the Descendants of the Race that sits at present upon the Throne For they have made a strong impression upon the minds of their people that to have a true Title to Rule over them one must be Descended of the Race of Aly by one or other of the twelve Imams Chah Ishmael Sofi first King of the Family that Reigns at present had the cunning to inspire these Sentiments into them because he derived his Extraction from one Cheik Sefi of the
of an Amphitheater being all built one at the back of the roof of another upon the side of the hill and in that manner making ten or twelve ranks so that there are no other streets but the roofs of houses which are flat and joyn to one another insomuch that at one view one may see all the houses of the Town There is a Castle there of a great height which though now it be ruinous was nevertheless so strong that as I was told some years ago Threescore Turks held it out a whole month with two Musquets only against the Venetian Army under the Command of General Thomas Morosini and yielded not till they came to want water This Island which in ancient times was called Ceos and Cea Ceos Cea and is said to have been heretofore part of the Isle of Negropont is shaped like a Horse-shoe and is fifty mile in circumferece the soil of it is pretty good producing Corn Wine Grass and a great many other good things its harbour is full of Fish which we often made tryal of with our Nets The Inhabitants pay yearly in Caradge or Tribute three thousand four hundred Piastres to the Turks and two thousand six hundred to the Venetians besides the extortions and robberies they meet with so that the Inhabitants being thereby ruined and oppressed many of them are forced to forsake their houses and country The Women are Apparelled in a fashion that seems to be rude and clownish but which becomes tall women very well They have coats that reach down to their knees and of them six or seven one over another which make them look very bigg their smock appearing half a foot lower they wear white cloth stockins and on their head a kind of veil that also covers their Breasts which they turn as they please After all the Inhabitants of this Island are good people and deserve to be pitied because of the miseries they suffer both from Christians and Turks CHAP. XIII Of the Isle of Andra and of our Ships running a ground TVesday the Sixtenth of November the wind being a little abated we put out about eight of the clock at night hoping to find the wind fair at Sea but Wednesday morning the seventeenth of November it blew so strong a North Wind that we were obliged to bear away to Isle of Andra Isle of Andra. where we came to an Anchor at two in the afternoon We found five Venetian ships there who so soon as they understood from us that there was some suspition of a Plague in Malta they discharged us from having any communication with them or those of the Island Though this prohibition hindred me from getting any knowledge of this Isle by my own means yet I shall here relate what I learnt of it from those who have been upon it as also from a manuscript Relation that hath come into my hands since The Isle of Andra in ancient time Andros is threescore miles from Zia it is fourscore miles in circuit and is reckoned the most fertile Island of all the Archipelago as indeed it is so in all things especially in Silk wherein the Inhabitants who are about six thousand souls Trade at Chio and other Places with Backs that are made in Andra and make forty thousand Piastres profit of it a year It hath a Town near the Sea which contains not above two hundred Houses the Port of it is pretty good and the South Wind blows a thwart it there is an uninhabited Castle still to be seen upon a little Rock in the Sea hard by it There are besides sixty Villages scattered here and there in several places of the Island of which the most considerable are Arni and Amolacos Arni Amolacos that are inhabited by the Arnantes or Albanians to the number of twelve hundred souls all of the Greek Church and differing in Language and Customs a rude sort of People any without discipline Near to these Villages there is a Monastry of an hundred Monks called Tagia built in form of a Fort with a Church very well adorned though small and served by these Monks who live in extreme ignorance They entertain Travellers all the while they stay there and when they depart they give them Provisions to carry them home to their own Countrey for they have great Revenues There are besides six other little Monasteries with a few Religious in them There is a great number of Greek Churches in the Island which are all under the government and discipline of a Greek Bishop The Latins have also a Bishop there who on Corpus Christi-day carries the Holy Sacrament in Procession all over the Town at which there is a great concourse of People both Greeks and Latins and when the Bishop passes along the streets all the people prostrate themselves spread Carpets Flowers Herbs and other odoriferous things and lye so thick upon the ground that the Bishop cannot pass without treading upon them The Cathedral of the Bishop of the Latin Church is dedicated to the Apostle St. Andrew it is pretty neat but hath no great Revenue There are six Churches besides in the Town of which there is one dedicated to St. Bernard and held by the Capucines who ease the Bishop very much by their Preaching hearing Confessions and by their School to which all the Greek Children come nay some are sent thither from Athens to learn. The Turks have the disposal of the Temporal Affairs and there are several Families of them upon the Island who are very uneasie Neighbours to the Greeks and Latins There is a very pleasant Valley in this Island called by the Inhabitants Menites with plenty of fresh Springs and Fruit-trees in it besides about forty Mills that grind Corn for the People of the Town and circumjacent Villages which is very commodious The Water which drives these Mills comes from a Spring in a Church called Madonna del cumulo and this Water runs in Brooks through the Valley and under Trees fallen of themselves so that they seem to have been bent so artificially and indeed a Painter cannot represent a more lovely and pleasant Valley in Landskip In the Plain at the end of this Valley the Jesuites have a Garden full of Fruit-trees of all sorts which render them a considerable Revenue yearly There they have their House and their Church called St. Veneranda This Island might be called very lovely if the Houses of it were better built and the Air good but it is very bad and so is the Water of the Town The Inhabitants of the Isle of Andra are civil and their Language is more literal than the Language of the other Greeks their Women are Chast and speak well but their Aparrel is very unbecoming The Inhabitants of the Town are not very laborious love good chear and diversions but the Peasants are more industrious they make very white wicker Baskets which are used all over the Archipelago As to their Food they eat sometimes Goats flesh
is hardly any body to be seen but in the Market-places Raki Several Greeks live there who for the most part sell Raki or Brandy the Doors of their Houses are but about two foot high and they make them so that the Turks may not come in on Horse-back The reason why the doors of the Greeks houses are very low as they do elsewhere when they are drunk and turn all things topsy-turvy In this Town there is a square Castle with a Tower joined to it by a Pomel of a Wall but for what I can judge of its Antiquity I believe it hath been built by the Christians On the Sea-side there is an Arsenal where seven very old Galleys are to be seen which the Turks say were taken from the Venetians when they took the Island of Cyprus Turkish Galleys remaining since the Battel of Lepauto but the truth is they are the remains of their Fleet which escaped from the Battel of Lepanto and they were carried by main strength over the Isthmus of Corinth and put into the Archipelago not being able to bring them about by Sea because the Christians who had taken or sunk the rest possessed all the Passes Wednesday the First of December a little gale of Wind blowing we weighed at Four of the clock in the Afternoon for we were all weary enough of staying there But we were hardly out of the Harbour when it behoved us to come to an Anchor again The Moon shining a little about Nine a clock at night we weighed and with a good West South-west Wind which made us run a pace The Isle of Marmora we passed the Isle of Marmora in the Night-time At this place the Sea is very wide and this Sea is called Mare de Marmora which was anciently named Propontis Propontis Thursday the Second of September the Wind chopt about to the South which made us run a great deal faster but the Currents which are very strong in that place being against us hindered us from making so much way as otherwise we could have done at length with the day we discovered Constantinople which is about an hundred and twenty five miles from Gallipoly being entered the Streight of it and sailing along the Serraglio and Constantinople Arrival at Constantinople we came to an Anchor at Galata betwixt One and Two in the Afternoon There we learn'd that there had been a Fire in that great City the Night before which was not as yet fully quenched we had seen it in the Propontis but could not imagine where it should be Assoon as I was got a shore I went to wait upon Monsieur de la Haye Ambassadour for the French King who received me very civily I then went to lodge in Galata at a Flemand's House named Monsieur de la Roze who kept a Pension and some days after I hired a very pretty House at Pera which had a Garden and a Prospect into the mouths of the two Seas and all at a very cheap rate CHAP. XV. Of the Situation of Constantinople ALL who have seen Constantinople agree in this That it is the best situated City in the World so that it would seem to be design'd by Nature for bearing Rule and Command over the whole Earth It lies in Europe upon a point of the main Land jutting out towards the Bosphorus of Thrace The Bosphoros of Thrace from which it is but half an hours passage over to Asia On the right-hand it hath the White Sea or Propontis by which there is easie passage into Asia The White Sea. Aegypt and Africa and whereby it is supplied with all the Commodities of those Places On the left-hand it hath the Black or Euxin Sea Black Sea. Euxin Sea. Palus Meotis and the Palus Maeotis which recieving a vast number of Rivers and having many bordering People furnish this City with all the Commodities of the North insomuch that there is nothing that can be useful necessary or pleasant which is not brought in plenty from all hands to Constantinople by Sea The advantage of the opposition of the Chanels of the White Black Seas The beauty of the Port of Constantinople and these two Chanels of the White and Black Seas are so opposite one to another that when the Wind hinders Vessels from coming to Constantinople by the one it is good for Importation by the other Betwixt those two Seas is the Entry of the Port which Nature without the help of Art hath made the loveliest of the World It is at least six miles in compass a mile over and deep in all places so that on both sides one may step out of a Ship on shore without the help of any Boat because the biggest Ships may lay their head a-shore without any danger The Response of the Oracle then that was given to the Founders of it is not to be wondred at who having consulted it to know where they should build their Town received no other Answer but this Over against the blind Men intimating unto them that they should build over against the Chalcedonians whom it reckoned to be very Blind in having neglected a Situation so advantagious by Nature and built Chalcedon in Asia over against that place This Town heretofore called Byzantium was built by Pausanias King of Sparta some say he only re-built it or enlarged it at most It was destroyed by the Emperour Severus to punish the Inhabitants for their Revolting and afterwards restored by Constantine the Great who making it much bigger called it New Rome and afterwards from his own Name Constantinople It was also called Parthenopolis Parthenopolis because it was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin by the same Constantine perhaps in Imitation of Antioch which was called Theopolis After the Division of the Empire Theopolis it continued to be the Seat of the Eastern Empire The French and Venetians took it from the Greeks The French Masters of Constantinople Constantinople taken by Mahomet the Second Istambol The Climate of Constantinople in the Year 1203. but it was re-taken by the Paleologi in the Year 1254. and at length retaken from the Greeks by Mahomet the Second Emperour of the Turks upon Tuesday the Seven and Twentieth of May being Whitsunday of the Year 1453. The Turks have ever since kept it calling it Istambol which is a word corrupted from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It lies almost in the same Climate as Lions does and nevertheless the heat in Summer would be very incommodious there if the Air were not cooled by a Breeze that commonly blows in the Afternoon during the Months of July and August the French call that Wind the Breeze from without because it comes from the mouth of the Port. This Town is so subject to Earthquakes that I have felt two in one night As to its figure it is triangular two sides of it are beat by the Sea The Plain of Constantinople the
one by the Propontis or White Sea and the other by the Port the third is towards the land and the biggest of the three is that which lies on the Propontis and reaches from the Seraglio to the seven Towers that towards the Port is the middlemost The Seraglio is built upon the point of the Triangle The Situation of the Seraglio which runs out betwixt the Propontis and the Port and in a lower place under this Palace upon the shore are the Gardens of the Seraglio much about the place where the ancient Town of Byzantium stood which afford a very lovely Prospect to those who come to Constantinople either by the White Sea or the Black. On the other Angle The seven Towers which is upon the Chanel of the White Sea are the seven Towers covered with Lead they were built by the Christians and served a long time for keeping the Grand Seignior's Treasure at present they are made a Prison for Persons of Quality At the third Angle which is at the bottom of the Port on the Land side are the Ruines of Constantine's Palace This Town is encompassed with good Walls The Walls of Constantinople which to the Land side are double in some places built of Free-stone and in others of rough Stones and Brick Each of these Walls has a broad flat-bottom'd Ditch wharfed and faced on both sides The first Out-wall is but a Falsebray about ten foot high with many little Battlements and Casements in its Parapet and Gun-holes below aswel in the Courtine as in the Towers which are but at a little distance from one another and about two hundred and fifty in number The second Wall is of the same fashion but higher for it is at least three fathom from the ground up to the Cordon or edging it has the same number of Towers as the former but higher so that one Tower commands the other which is as a Cavalier to it In short this might be made a very strong Town but as yet the Turks have had no need of it for they have not been pursued so far The Walls on the Sea-side are not so high but they are still good and fortified but with the Ments and Turrets they run along the sides of the water upon the Streight of the Propontis unless it be at the Creeks and Stairs which are little Harbours where Boats put a shore for there they turn inwards about fifty paces to make place for them according to the turnings of the shore The bigness of Constantinople Many have imagined that Constantinople was bigger than either Caire or Paris but they are mistaken for certainly it is less than either of those two Cities Some allow it thirteen miles in circuit others sixteen and others again eighteen but I went round it once with another Frenchman we had each of us a Watch and having taken a Caique or Boat at Tophano we went over to Constantinople and landed as near as we durst to the Kionsk of the Seraglio which is upon the Port having then sent the Boat to stay for us at the seven Towers we set our Watches to Seven of the clock and walked a-foot along the Port without the Walls and also along the Land-side till we came to the seven Towers where looking on our Watches we found them both at three quarers after Eight so that we spent an hour and three quarters in performing that Journey and it requires no more than an hour to come by Water from the seven Towers to the Seraglio in a Boat with three Oars for that Way cannot be gone on foot because the Water washes the Walls but if there were a foot-Way I make no doubt but one may walk it in an hour or little more and in an hour and a quarter at most with ease and indeed that quarter is to be allowed because in the beginning we left behind us a little of the side that is on the Port seeing no body dares to walk there Thus I found that in the space of three hours at most one might make the circuit of Constantinople on foot walking a pace as we did It may be said The circuit of the Walls that without the Walls it is twelve miles in compass This Town hath two and twenty Gates six towards the Land eleven along the Port and five on the Streight of the Propontis having all their landing Places and Stairs CHAP. XVI Of Santa Sophia Solymania the New Mosque and others WHen Constantine the Emperour removed the Seat of his Empire from Rome to Constantinople he resolved to render that City which he called New-Rome so illustrious that it should at least be equal to old Rome and for that end he chose seven little Hills on the top and sides whereof in imitation of the first which is built upon seven Hills he built his Town which in progress of time he enrich'd with many ornaments as Statues Pillars c. This Town which stands on seven little hills is disposed in such order that one house takes not away the sight from another the streets are not fair but are for the most part narrow though there be several goodly Buildings in them There are many stately Mosques in it of which the most magnificent is the Santa Sophia heretofore a Christian Church built by the Emperour Justin enlarg'd enrich'd and adorned by Justinian the Emperour and dedicated to the Wisdom of God wherefore it was called Agia Sophia The Turks becoming since masters of Constantinople have changed it into a Mosque leaving it the name which it retains at present This Fabrick which is admired by all that see it is an hundred and fourteen paces in length and fourscore in breadth it is square on the outside and round within There are four Gates to enter under the Portico which reaches along the whole front of the Church but there is only a little door left open which is the wicket of a great Gate of well wrought Marble Afterwards you find seven doors to enter into a kind of Nef or body of a Church which is not very broad and then nine other great brazen Gates The middlemost whereof particularly is very great and by it they enter into the Mosque which is very spacious and hath a Dome in the middle the arch whereof is made in form of a squatted half Globe and so almost singular in its kind and architecture In the inside of this Church there is a porch that ranges all round which carries another Gallerie in like manner vaulted over thirty paces btoad supported by sixty Pillars and this carried as many more lesser ones which uphold the top of the Church all these Pillars being ranked by tens as well above as below The Ascent to the higher Gallery is by a very easie staircase and it behoved us to give a Turk money to open the door of it This gallery when the Christians were masters of it was appointed for the women who kept there
one or two have hit the mark and if any Basha or Person of quality be present he 'll give five or six Aspres to him that hath hit the mark I think that among their Diversions I may reckon Puppet-Shows Puppet Shows in Turky for though the Turks suffer no Images among them yet they have Puppets which indeed play not publickly but in private Houses though during the Ramadan they go from Coffee-house to Coffee-house and if they collect money enough they play there if not they give back the money and go their way Now they are commonly Jews that show Puppet-Shows and I never saw any but them play they play not as in France and other Countries of Europe but place themselves in a corner of a room with a cloth hung before them and in the upper part of that piece of Hangings there is a hole or square window about two foot every way with a piece of thin white stuff over it behind this they light several Candles and having with the shadow of their hands represented many Animals upon this cloth they make use of little flat Figures which they move so dextrously behind the cloth that in my opinion it makes a prettier Show than our way does and in the mean time they sing several pretty Songs in the Turkish and Persian Languages but on most nasty subjects being full of foul obscenities and nevertheless the Turks take great delight in seeing of them nay I was one evening with a Renegado who after he had treated me at Supper entertained me with a Puppet Show The Lord to whom he belonged was at that time in Candie with Hussein Basha General of the Turkish Army The Wife of this Lord desiring to see this Puppet-Show caused a piece of Tapistry to be hung before the door of her Appartment which lookt into the Hall where we were that she might not be seen by us and she stir'd not from thence till the Show was over which was at One of the clock in the morning having lasted above three hours for they 'l make it last as long as one pleases and I wondred that she was not ashamed to see the obscene pranks their Caragheuz play'd who amongst their Puppets act the chief part Caragbuez They have also a sort of Women whom they call Tchingueniennes Tchingueniennnes who are publick Dancers that play on Castanets and other Instruments while they dance and for a few Aspres will shew a thousand obscene postures with their bodies CHAP. XXVI Of the Language of the Turks their Sciences and ways of Divination Turkish Language THe Turkish Language is a primitive and original Language that 's to say not derived from any of the Oriental or Occidental Tongues that we have any knowledge of it is very grave pleasant and easie to be learn'd but not copious and is wanting in many words which it borrows from the Arabick and Persian but with that supply and ornament it may be said to be very ample and rich Sciences of the Turks The Turks are not much addicted to Sciences nevertheless they have their Doctors of the Law appointed for that purpose who make it their study to explain the Law in all the senses that can be given to it There are some also who give themselves to Astrology and many to Poetry wherein they succeed well enough and have very ingenuous Conceits in their Poems The greatest part of their Poems and songs are in the Persian Tongue which they sing not musically as we do but with a certian tone which though at first it be not pleasing yet by custom becomes agreeable enough to the ear They have several Instruments of Musick The Turkish Lute the most common is a little Lute with three strings on which they 'll play a whole day and not put it out of tune and they have the Flute also Among the Turks there are a great many who pretend to fortune-telling Diviners amongst the Turks and have very good luck at it There you see in several corners of the streets men sitting upon a Carpet on the ground with a great many Books spread round about them Now their Divination is performed three manner of ways the first is commonly for the wars though it be also performed for all sorts of things as to know whether a man should undertake a voyage buy such a commodity or the like They take four arrows and place them with their points against one another giving them to be held by two persons Then they lay a naked sword upon a cushion before them and read a certain Chapter of the Alcoran with that the arrows fight together for some time and at length the one fall upon the other if for instance the victorious have been named Christians for two of them they call Turks and the other two by the name of their enemy it is a sign that the Christians will overcome What Doing the Book means if otherwise it denotes the contrary They never go out to war but they make that experiment first which they call Doing the Book nor do they undertake a Journey or Voyage or any thing else of Consequence as I have already said but they first Do the Book saying if such arrows be victorious I 'll do it if they be overcome I 'll not do it Since my return to Paris having found a Frenchman who had been of the Turkish Religion and afterward renouncing it had made his escape into Christendom who pretended to know how to Do the Book I was curious to see it he made his arrows which he gave to another and me to hold then he put a naked sword upon the Table where the arrows were calling two of them Christians and the other two Turks and told me that he would know whether or not the Emperour should have Wars with the Turks he took an Alcoran and read over the whole Chapter which relates to that but though he told us that the arrows would fight together in spight of us hold them as fast as we could yet they did not so much as wag he said it was because we laughed so that we endeavoured to compose our selves and look very seriously and he began again three or four times but still no engagement at which he was exceedingly surprised for he swore to us that he had done it a thousand times nay even to give responses to Christians and that he had always succeeded in it Another way of Divination The third way of Divination I cannot tell whether it was that we wanted faith or that he was no more Turk but we laughed heartily at him Secondly they Divine with Beans which they put together without reckoning them then they count them and look in the Book what the Number signifies Thirdly they Divine with a piece of Timber almost Square but somwhat longer than broad This piece of Wood they call Elif and on one of the sides of it there is a b
on another t on the third d gim and on the fourth h a but nothing on the ends He that demands the response roles it three times and at each time they observe the Letter that turns up then they look into a Book which they call Fal that 's to say a Fortune-book what these three Letters put together signifie and that is the Response CHAP. XXVII Of the Diseases of the Turks and their Remedies THe Turks are long Liv'd little subject to Diseases The Turks Heath and whence that proceeds and we have many dangerous Distempers that are not known amongst them as the Stone and many more I beleive this great Healthfulness proceeds partly from their frequent Bathings and partly from their Temperance in eating and drinking for they eat moderately and feed not upon so many different things as Christians do for the most part they make no Debauches in Wine The Turks Sober and use Exercises so that they have no Physicians and perhaps that may be one cause of their Health and long Life too When they are sick Who are the Physicians among the Turks they commonly make use of Christian or Jewish Physicians and when there are none to be found they have their recourse to Renegado's amongst whom there are always some Physicians that learn their Skill at the cost of many Besides that the Turks have some Receipts that all know which somtimes succeed and they often enough make use of them The Medicines of the Turks They very willingly use Hony in their Medicines They are commonly Renegado's that let them Blood though there are Turks that can do it very well but with Butcherly Launcets nay some with such Fleems as they use for Horses in Christendom and others with sharp-pointed Canes When they are troubled with a pain in the Head they Scarifie the place where the Pain is and having let out a pretty quantity of Blood The Turks way of Blood-leting they put a little Cotton to the Wound and so stop it or otherwise they give themselves five or six little Cuts in the Fore-head Fire used amongst the Turks for several Distempers They make also great use of Fire as I saw a Man who having the Head-ach caused a red-hot Iron to be applied above his Ear to the place of the Pain which actually seared it then he clap'd a little Cotton upon the Place and so was Cured And for all Diseases in several Members they apply to them a large Match or piece of Stuff or Cloath twisted and well Lighted and patiently suffer the pain till the Match goes out of it self And at Constantinople a Turk told me that he knew one who having a Rheumatism or some such Distemper in the region of his Reins had a mind to apply a burning Match to that part but that fearing it would hurt him the rest Laughed at him so that having at length resolved and bending himself downward that he might the more conveniently apply the Match to his Reins he clap'd it to and suffered the Pain so long and with so much Patience that he burn'd a Nerve and when he had a mind to raise himself upright again he could not but continued ever after bent down in that manner In short it is no Country for Physicians to get Estates in because as I have said they are subject to few Diseases and besides are but very bad Pay-masters to those that Cure them and if the Physicians should prove unsuccessful and the Patient Die they are so far from Paying them that they put them many times to Trouble and somtimes to Charges Physicians are in danger amongst the Turks accusing them of having Killed the Patient as if the Life and Death of Men were in the hands of Physicians and not of God. But let us proceed to their Religion CHAP. XXVIII Of Mahomet and the Alcoran THe Turks Religion is so full of Fopperies and Absurdities that certainly it is to be wondered at that it hath so many Followers and without doubt if they would but hearken it would be no hard matter to undeceive and convince them of the Brutality of their Law Mahomet but they are so resolutely deaf that they have Ears but will not hear and indeed Mahomet took care of that for being a Man of Wit he foresaw very well that his Sect would go down if they once came to Dispute about it and therefore he commanded that whosoever contradicted it should be put to Death So many have written the Life of Mahomet that one can hardly say any thing but what hath been already said and therefore I 'll wave it only I shall observe that Mahomet who was an Arabe and an Illiterate Man for the Turks themselves confess that he could neither Read nor Write having struck in with a Greek Monk called Sergius who had forsaken his Monastery this Monk who had some smattering in Learning made him lay the foundation of that great and damnable Sect which hath hitherto infected a great part of the World. He made use of the Old and New Testament in composing of the Alcoran The Alcoran sent from Heaven in the Month Ramadan The Alcoran in great Reverence but in a very confused manner that so he might draw in both Christians and Jews Nevertheless that Book hath got such great Credit amongst all these People that they say it was Written in Heaven and sent from God to Mahomet by the Angel Gabriel in the month of Ramadan not all at once but chapter by chapter and they have so great reverence for it that they never touch it but presently lift it up to their head before they read it and if a man should sit upon an Alcoran he would be guilty of a great crime If a Christian touched an Alcoran he would be soundly bang'd for that would be a prophanation of the book They say that they gain great indulgences by reading it all over and in the schools when a scholar hath made an end of reading over the Alcoran he treats the rest They say that whosoever reads it over so many times in his life shall after death go strait to Paradise This word Alcoran signifies Reading it is written in most excellent pure and exact Arabick The Turks believe that it cannot be translated into any other language and look upon the Persians as Hereticks purely because they have translated it into Persian This Book contains all their Law both canon and civil but it is full of fables and follics taken for the most part from the Rabbins who are excellent at such ridiculous stuff CHAP. XXIX Of the Belief of the Turks The Belief of the Turks THE Turks believe in and worship one God the Eternal and Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth but they believe not at all the Trinity they believe that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Breath of God this Breath is in Arabick expressed by the word Rouahh which signifies aswell as in
Hebrew Breath or Spirit They say then that he was conceived by the Breath of God in the Womb of the Virgin Mary a Virgin both in his Birth and after his Birth which goes a great way but they deny that he is the Son of God thinking it an unworthy thing to attribute a Son to God The opinion of the Turks concerning Jesus Christ who is One and hath no companion They believe that Jesus Christ is a great Prophet who wrought great Miracles among the Jews to whom he foretold the coming of Mahomet under the name of the Comforter that therefore they endeavoured to kill him but that having disappeared from among them and ascended up into Heaven they crucified Judas whom they took to be Jesus In the first Chapter of the Gospel of St. John at the tweny seventh verse it is said He it is who coming after me is preferred before me whose shoes latchet I am not worthy to unloose where St. John means our Lord whose shoes latchet he was unworthy to unloose they say that is false and invented by the Christians and that it was not St. John who said that of Jesus but Jesus who said it of Mahomet They believe that Jesus will come and Judge the World that he shall reign forty years in Damascus Marry and have Children at which time Antichrist shall arise whom they call Dedgial who shall lead away many Dedgial especially of the Jews and put a mark on the foreheads of all those whom he shall deceive but that Jesus shall destroy Antichrist and all that have his mark When that time is expired that he shall again ascend up into Paradise then the Day of Judgment shall come after which that God shall create a sort of very little People such as are described by the Name of Pygmies who shall be great Drinkers for they shall drink the Sea dry and these they call Meijutch In short Meijutch they give great honour to Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary The Turks honour Jesus and the Virgin and if they heard any Man speak ill of them they would chastise him no less than if he spake amiss of Mahomet They believe that the Gospel was sent to Jesus as the Law was to Moses and the Psalms to David They believe all the Prophets They believe a Paradise that shall be filled with the Just and a Hell that shall be filled with the Wicked but they believe not Purgatory Aaraf and nevertheless they will have a place called Aaraf which is betwixt Paradise and Hell wherein they shall be who have done neither Good nor Evil. Mahomet promises the Blessed in Paradise wonderful Gardens where many Rivulets shall run The Turks opinion concerning Paradise and delicious Fruits abound 〈◊〉 all Seasons He says also that in that Paradise there shall be Rivers of Water Rivers of Milk Rivers of Wine and Rivers of Honey He promises them also that they shall be clothed in Green and Scarlet and that they shall have lovely Virgins whom they call Dgennet Kzlar that is to say Virgins of Paradise Dgennet Kzlar who shall be exceedingly beautiful as white as new-lay'd Eggs with great black Eyes and the complexion of the Body extremely white that they shall be alwaies young and never passing the Age of fifteen years have every day a new Maidenhead and never cast an eye upon any but them that they shall never exceed thirty years of Age and shall be served by young Boys that God shall appear to them once a week to wit on Friday They tell a thousand other Fopperies of this voluptuous Paradise which I shall not relate as having been mentioned by many Authours Mahomet promised them in this Paradise all things that he thought could work upon their senses and he feasts them with Gardens Fruits Brooks and Rivers because he was of a Countrey where it is excessively hot where there is but little Fruit and where Water is so scarce that a good Well is a great treasure He promises them Cloahts of Green and Scarlet because he delighted much in these colours as the Turks and Moors do at present especially in Green which is held in great veneration among them Seeing they are very lascivious he would have his Paradise provided with beautiful Maids and young Boys and because they reckon Women with big black Eyes and red Cheeks to be the greatest Beauties so they fancy to themselves those Coelestial Virgins who shall look upon none but their own Husbands which will be very grateful to them The opinion of the Turks concerning Hell. for they are jealous to extremity Those that are in Hell shall drink scalding hot Water and eat of the Fruit of the Tree Zacon this Tree grows out of the bottom of Hell and rises to a great height the Branches of it being like the Heads of Devils If those that are in Hell have a little Faith that is to say if they be not Atheists after that all their sins are consumed Zacon a Tree Selzaboul and they washed in a water which they call Selzaboul they shall be admitted into Paradise where they shall receive and enjoy as much happiness as those who entered at first And on the contrary they who have no Faith that is to say Atheists shall burn everlastingly in Hell-fire and their Bodies being reduced into Ashes by continual torments God shall create them a-new and so they shall suffer Eternally They pray for the Dead aswel as Christians and they likewise invocate their Saints as being able to recommend them to God. CHAP. XXX Of Tutelary Angels and of the Examination of the Black Angels THE Turks also acknowledge Guardian-Angels but in far greater number than we do for they say that God hath appointed threescore and ten Angels though they be invisible for the guard of every Musulman and nothing befalls any body but what they attribute to them They have all their several offices one to guard one member and another another one to serve him in such an affair and another in another There are among all these Angels Two chief Guardian-Angels of every Man. Kerim Kiatib two are the Dictators over the rest they sit one on the right side and the other on the left these they call Kerim Kiatib that is to say the Merciful Scribes He on the right side writes down the good actions of the man whom he has in tuition and the other on the left hand the bad They are so merciful that they spare him if he commits a sin before he goes to sleep hoping he 'll repent and if he does not repent they mark it down if he does repent they write down Estig fourillah Estig fourillah that is to say God pardons They wait upon him in all places except when he does his needs where they let him go alone staying for him at the door till he come out and then they take him into possession again wherefore when the
Companions with his coming that they might not be frightened which the King having condescended to he went first to the Cave and told his Companions what had befaln him saying That the King and his People were come to see them When they heard that they glorified God saying Let us pray to God that he would now take us into Paradise for if we go out these People will Worship us as Gods Their Prayers being heard they were carried up into Paradise and the little Dog with them Jub When Mahomet went from Mecha to Medina to visite Jub a Great Captain of the Turks lying at present buried in Constantinople being mounted on his Camel he knew neither the Way nor the House but the Camel conducted him thither Mahomet's Camel. and being come to the Gate stood there making a noise with head and feet until the Gate was opened And for that piece of service it shall enter into Paradise as the rest of the Animals above mentioned CHAP. XXXII Of Circumcision WHen Mahomet founded his Law he took as we have said the Jewish and Christian Religion for the model of it and perceiving that both of them had a Character whereby a Man was made a Jew or a Christian to wit Circumcision and Baptism Circumcision he resolved to find out one for his and finding none proper but one of these two he chose Circumcision as being the most ancient way and the most commodious for the Mahometans think that a Man who has the fore-skin cut off is fittest for generation and the truth is the Arabs have so long a fore-skin that if they did not cut it it would trouble them much and you may see little Children among them who have it hanging very long besides if they did not cut their Prepuce when they made water they would still retain some drops of it that would pollute them and nevertheless that they might be distinguished in that from the Jews The difference betwixt the Circumcision of the Jews and the Turks he would not have the Circumcision of the Turks performed as that of the Jews is for the Jews circumcise their Children when they are eight days old and after they have cut off the fore-skin slit with their nails the skin also that covers the nut and turn it up with their fingers that the nut may be wholly uncovered whereas the Turks circumcise not their Children before the age of eleven or twelve years to the end they themselves may pronounce the words La illah illallah Mehemet resoul allah that is to say there is no God but God Mahomet is his Prophet which is their profession of Faith And also to the end they may understand what they say and say it with the heart aswel as mouth and they think it enough to cut off the fore-skin Some also add for a difference that the Jews make the Circumcision with a Knife of Stone and the Turks with one of Iron but it is certain A Knife of stone the Jews may do it with any Knife either of Iron Wood or Stone Rejoycing made at the Circumcision of Children The Turks aswel as the Jews make great rejoycing at the Circumcision of their Children for when a Child is come to competent age they fix a day for that Ceremony which being come the Child is set on Horse-back and led about the Town with the sound of Timbrels and Cymbals then he returns home where he makes the aforesaid profession of Faith holding up one finger and then is circumcised that being done the Father makes a Feast to which he invites all his Relations and Friends there they make merry dance and sing and the day following the Guests fail not to make Presents to the Child according to the several qualities of the Giver and Receiver When any Christian turns Turk they use the same Ceremonies but when a Jew becomes Turk he is not circumcised It is false that a Jew must become Christian before he be made a Turk because he hath been so already and though his Circumcision be different yet it is sufficient and they only make him say the profession of the Musulman Faith and then he is a Turk Many are perswaded that when a Jew turns Turk he must first become Christian which is very false for I have asked it of several Turks who alwaies laugh'd at me for my pains and indeed that which makes us Christians is Baptism Now it is certain they are never baptised it is very true that when they turn Turks as they propose to themselves to believe all that the Turks believe so they must believe that Jesus Christ is the Word of God Conceived by the breath of God and Born of the Virgin Mary a Virgin after his birth and that he is the Messias If a Renegado or natural Turk happen to die without Circumcision they break the little Finger of the left Hand and that serves him for Circumcision To conclude the Turks bear so great respect to these words La illah illallah Mahomet resoul allah that if a Christian or Jew should pronounce them even inconsiderately before Witnesses he must absolutely and without remission turn Turk or be burnt CHAP. XXXIII Of the Commands to be observed in the Turkish Religion THE Turks receive the Decalogue of Moses Commands of the Turkish Law. and cause it punctually to be observed by all but besides these they have other Commands that Mahomet gave them which are properly the Foundation of their Religion These Commands are chiefly Five the First is To Believe one only God and to Worship him as such The Second To Fast the Ramadan The Third To Pray at the hours appointed The Fourth To give yearly to the Poor the fortieth part of their substance The Fifth Once in their lives to make a Pilgrimage to Mecha Whereupon a Turk of Quality told me once that his Father meeting one day with a Beggar who begg'd an Alms of him he ask'd him what Religion he was the Beggar told him that he was a Musulman and the other putting him to it What was the duty of a Musulman the Beggar answerd That he had Five Commands to observe who would be a Musulman but that they ought to be reckoned no more now but One because said he the Rich have abolished the Second and Third by their want of Devotion and the Poor the Fourth and Fifth by their Inability having nothing to give in Charity nor to perform the Pilgrimage of Mecha so that only the First remains It is certain that they observe their First Command very punctually for they shew very great reverence to God and even to his Name The Turks have great respect for the Name of God. which they never pronounce nor hear pronounced but with signs of great submission and reverence They never set about any action let it be of never so small consequence but they first say Bismillah that is to say In the Name of God whether
four times When they pray they may be all Naked except their privy parts and so may their Slaves both Men and Women but Free-women are not permitted to do so for they are to be covered all over when they pray unless it be one half of the Cheek and Chin. This is the difference betwixt the Ceremonies of the Men and of the Women when they pray the Men lift up their Hands to their Shoulders say Allah ekber and then lay them on their Navil the Women lift them up but half way to their Shoulders and then lay them upon their Breasts saying their Prayers as the Men do and performing their Ablutions in the same manner Great Devotion of the Turks When Prayers are ended all both Men and Women bow first to the right side and then to the left as saluting the two Angels Kerim Kiatib In short none can be more Devout than they are for when they are in the Mosque they pray so affectionately that they turn neither this way nor that way what ever may happen And in my time a Fire breaking out one Night of the Ramadan in Constantinople at the hour of Prayer a Renegado told me next day that those who were at that time in the same Mosque where he was which was not far from the place where the Fire was consulted which was best not to break off their Prayers or go and put out the Fire and at length they resolved upon the latter The Reverence of the Turks in their Mosques They are never seen to Prattle and Talk in their Mosques where they carry themselves always with great Reverence and certainly they give us a Lesson for Devotion There are but few who go not every day to Prayers at least to those of Noon Quindy and Ackscham for many perform the other two at Home nor does Travelling excuse them for when they know that it is about the hour of Prayer they stop in the Fields near to some Water and having drawn Water in a tinned Copper-Pot which they carry always purposely about with them they do the Abdest then spread a little Carpet upon the ground without which they never Travel and say their Prayers upon it They have Chaplets also which they often say for most part have them always in their Hand whether it be at Home or abroad in the Streets talking with their Friends Buying or Selling or drinking Coffee and at every Bead they turn they say Allah which is the Name of God. CHAP. XXXVIII Of the Charity of the Turks and the Pilgramage to Mecha Charity of the Turks THE Turks Fourth Command is Charity by that Command they are obliged to give yearly to the Poor the fortieth part of their Goods if they have poor Kindred they ought to prefer them before others if they have none they should give their Charity to their poor Neighbours and if they have no poor Neighbours they give it to the first they meet This Command is not ill observed among the Turks for they are very charitable and very willingly help the wretched without minding Religion whether they be Turks The reason why there are few Beggars among the Turks Christians or Jews I will not say that the Charity alone of the Rich hinders the beggary of the Turks there are in my opinion other causes for most part of the Turks have pay from the Grand Signior they live at a cheap rate and make good chear of a small matter so that a little Pilau a bit of Meat and a small portion of water will make to them a considerable Feast Charitable Donations of the Turks But after all they perform great acts of charity some in their life-time relieve the Poor with their Goods and others at their death leave great Estates for the founding of Hospitals building of Bridges Kervanserrais or Inns for the Caravans bringing Water to the High-ways and such other publick Works nay many of them see them done in their own life-time others again at their death give their Slaves their liberty They who can't be charitable with their Purses do good with their Hands employing themselves in mending the High-ways filling the Cisterns that are there standing by the Waters when they are out that they may shew Travellers the Foard and all this for Gods sake refusing money when it is offered them for they do it as they say for the sake of God and not for the sake of Money Their Charity extends also even to Beasts and Birds The charity of the Turks toward Beasts and all Market-days there are a great many who go and buy Birds which they presently set at liberty saying that the Souls of these Birds will come at the Day of Judgment and declare in the presence of God the kindness that they have received from them and indeed they cannot endure to see a Beast kept in pain for when they kill their Pullets they cut of their head at one blow and if they saw a man kill any after the French way they would not forbear to cudgel him nay they reckon it cruelty to kill a Louse or Flea with the nail they do no more but give them one or two turns betwixt the finger and thumb and then throw them away dead or alive There are others who at their death leave considerable Means for the feeding so many Dogs or Cats so many times a week and give the money to Bakers or Butchers for performing that charity which is faithfully and punctually enough put in execution and it is very pleasant to see every day Men loaded with meat go and call the Dogs and Cats of the Foundation and being surrounded with them distribute it among them by commons I could here give an hundred Instances of the charity of the Turks towards Beasts An instance of the charity of the Turks toward Beasts I have seen them often practice such as to us would seem very ridiculous I have seen several Men in good garb stop in a street stand round a Bitch that had newly puppied and all go and gather stones to make a little wall about her lest some heedless person might tread upon her and many such like Examples but it is not my design to trouble the Reader with such trifles In fine Sultan Amurath who in all appearance had no Religion and who made so slight a matter of the life of a man that if a day past wherein he had not put some body to death he was out of humour this cruel Prince I say was affected with that superstitious and bestial compassion for seeing a man one day stop at the corner of a street in Constantinople to dine on a piece of Bread and a bit of roast Meat which he had bought hard by and hold his Horse that was loaded with Goods he had to sell by the bridle he ordered the Horse to be unloaded and the load put upon the Master's back obliging him to continue so all the while that
a corner of a Street where they think they are not perceived they 'll lift the Veil to shew themselves to some Friend or Young-man that pleases them but in that they hazard their Reputation and Bastonadoes besides Now these Women are very haughty Turkish Women are haughty all of them generally will be clad in flowered stuffs though their Husbands can hardly get Bread nevertheless they are extreamly Lazy spending the whole day sitting on a Divan and doing nothing at all unless it be embroadering Flowers upon some Handkerchief and so soon as the Husband gets a penny it must be laid out for purchasing a Woman-Slave This great Idleness makes them Vicious and employ all their thoughts how to find out ways of having their Pleasures The Turks value not women much The Turks do not believe that Women go to Heaven and hardly account them Rational Creatures the truth is they take them only for their service as they would a Horse but seeing they have many of them and that they often spend their love upon their own Sex these poor Women finding themselves so forsaken use all means to procure what they cannot have from their Husbands who are very Jealous The jealousie of the Turks and put so little confidence in the frailty of that Sex that they suffer them not to shew themselves to Men and a Woman that should allow a Man to see her Face or Hands only would be reckoned Infamous and receive Bastonadoes on the Buttocks and therefore they suffer them not to go to the Mosques The Women go not to the Mosques Upon what grounds a woman may sue out a Divorce from her Husband where they would only distract the Men from their Devotion nor to Market nor yet to enter into their Husbands Shops They never show their wives to their Friends how intimate soever they be and in short they hardly ever stir out of doors unless to the Bath and these also men of Quality have at home and those of higher Quality keep Eunuchs to look to their Wives so that the greater Quality the Husbunds have the less liberty have they The wives have not the priviledge of Divorcing their Husbands as the husbands have of Divorcing them unless he deny them the things which he is obliged to furnish them which are Bread Pilau Coffee and Money to go twice a week to the Bagnio for if he fail in giving them any of these things they may goe before the Cady and demand a Divorce because the Husband is not able to maintain them Then the Cady visits the House and finding the Wives complaints to be just grants her Suit. A Wife may also demand divorce if her Husband hath offered to use her contrary to the course of Nature then she goes before the Cady and turns up the sole of her Slipper without saying a word the Cady understanding that Language sends for the Husband who if he makes no good defence is Bastanado'd and his Wife Divorced from him CHAP. XLIII Of the way of Mourning for the Dead among the Turks their manner of Burying and of their Burying-places WHen any one Dies in Turky the Neighbours soon have the news of it Of the way of mourning for the Dead for the Women of the House fall a Howling and crying out so loud that one would think they were in Dispair all their Friends and Neighbours having notice of this come to visit them and fall to making the same musick as they do for these visits are not rendered for Comforting but for Condoling They all then together weeping and in a mournful and doleful tone but still as if they were singing fall to rehearse the praise of the Deceased as for example the Wife of him that is dead will say He loved me so well gave me plenty of every thing I stood in need of c. And then the rest say the same making now and then all with one consent such loud cries that one would think all were undone The Burying of the Dead and this musick they continue for several hours together But the best of all is that so soon as the Company is all gone the mourning is over and so soon again as any Woman cometh a new Lamentation begins This lasts several days and sometimes at the years end they 'll begin again Such as cannot or will not weep hire Mourning Women who gain a good deal of money thereby At length after all these Lamentations comes the Ceremony that is to be observed before the Deceased be put in the Grave and his Relations and Friends having laid him out upon the Ground wash his Body and shave off his Hair for the Turks love so much to have their Bodies neat and clean that they make even the Dead observe it Next they burn Incense about him which they say scares away Evil Spirits and Devils who otherwise would muster about the Body then they wrap him up in a Sheet praying God to be merciful unto him but they sew not up the shroud at head and feet to the end the Deceased may the more easily kneel when the Angels that are to examine him The colour of the Palls of the Dead command him to do so They put him afterwards into a Coffin or Beer like to ours which they cover with a Pall that ought to be red if he be a Soldier that is Dead if it be a Scherif it ought to be a green Pall and if neither of the two a black one and a thwart over it they extend a Turban according to the Office he bore If he was a Janisary they put a red Turban if a Spahi a red one and a white and if he be a Scherif a green Turban for others they put a white one He is after that carried to the Burying-place then priests going before saying certain prayers and often calling upon the name of God after the Body comes the Relations and Friends then the Women who altogether crie along the Streets like Mad-women and holding a Handkerchief about their neck with both hands they pull it sometimes this way and sometimes that way as if they were out of their wits for Grief In fine being come to the Burying-place where the Corps is to de Interr'd they take it out of the Coffin or Beer put it into the Grave and so depart leaving the Women there to make an end of their Musick If it be a Person of Quality his Horses are led in state Horses led at Funerals Now the difference of the Turkish Graves and those of the Christians of the Country in the inside is this that after the Turks have put their Dead into the Grave they lay over a sloaping Board one end of it being set in the bottom of the Grave and the other leaning on the upper end of the same above so that it covers the Body which the Christians of the Country do not but neither of the two Bury their Dead in
Coffins The use of the Stone erected upon Graves When the Grave is filled up they erect a stone over the head of the deceased to serve for a seat to the Angels who are to examine him that they may be the milder to him but the Richer have Tombs of Marble rais'd as ours are with a Stone whereon the Turban of the Deceased is cut Somtimes they erect a Stone at the Head with a Turban of Stone like to that the Deceased wore and another at his Feet with his Epitapth Their Burying-places are always without the Town that the Air might not be Infected by the corrupt Vapours that rise out of the Graves and that was always observed by the Ancients For the same reason those of the Turks are distinct from those of the Christians and the Turks Burying-places are commonly by the Highway sides that Travellers may remember to pray to God for them and wish them happiness and upon the very same account they who build a Bridge or any other publick work are commonly Buried upon or near it that they may have the Prayers of the Passengers There are so many great Stones erected in some of these Burying-places that they might serve to build a Town Now after they have Interred their dead the Relations and Friends for several days come and pray upon the Grave beseeching God to deliver the Deceased from the Torture of the Black Angels and calling to him bid him not be afraid but answer them stoutly and the Women also with their acquaintance come and spend several hours there nay sometimes half a day in bewailing the Dead as they did at home in the House so that a Man who were not informed of this and saw them in that posture would make no doubt but they were Mad-women Victuals and Drink upon the Graves of the Dead On Friday many bring Victuals and Drink which they leave upon the Graves and Travellers may freely eat and drink there They do so that those that come there may pray for Gods Blessing on him for whose sake that charity is given CHAP. XLIV A Summary of the Humour of the Turks Humour of the Turks HAving described at length the Customs and Practices of the Turks it will be fit in this place to make a little Recapitulation and in a few words represent their Nature and Manners In Christendom many think that the Turks are Devils Barbarous and men of no Faith and Honestty but such as know them and have conversed with them have a far different opinion for it is certain the Turks are good People and observe very well that command of Nature not to do to others but what we would have others to do to us When I speak here of Turks I understand Natural Turks and not such as turn to their Religion from another who are very numerous in Turkie and are certainly capable of all sorts of Wickedness and Vice as is known by Experience and commonly as unfaithful to Men as they have been to God but the native Turks are honest People and love honest People be they Turks Christians or Jews Nor do they think it lawful to Cheat or Rob a Christian more than a Turk I know very well I may be asked Why then do they so Extortion the Franks But it is certain that the Christians and Jews put them upon it and corrupt them these Men being themselves the Instruments of one anothers ruine through a damnable Envy that reigns ever amongst the Frank that are in the Levant The Turks zealous for their Religion The Turks Loyal to their Prince Usury is esteemed a very great sin by the Turks and is but little practised They are very Devout and Charitable very zealous for their Religion which they labour to propagate all over the World and when they love or esteem a Christian they pray him to turn Turk They are Loyal to their Prince whom they highly Reverence and blindly Obey Turks are not seen to betray their Prince and turn to the side of the Christians They never Quarrel nor carry Swords in the City Duels not known amongst the Turks No Quarrels amongst them The Turks never play for Money no not the Souldiers but only Cangiars They seldom fight together and they never knew what Duels were which proceeds chiefly from the wise Policy of Mahomet who kept from them two great causes of Quarrels Wine and Gaming for the good Turks drink not a drop of Wine and those who drink are not esteemed no more than they who eat Opium or the Coculus Indicus which makes them Drunk As for Gaming though they play at several Plays yet it is always for nothing so that they never Fight because if any Quarrel happen amongst them the first that comes by makes them Friends or otherwise he that complains citing his Companion in presence witnesses to appear before a Judg he does not refuse to go otherwise he would condemn himself and there every one having alledged his Reasons he who hath done the wrong is Condemned and many times Bastonadoed if he deserve it They are very Temperate and commit no Excess Temperance of the Turks neither in quantity nor quality of Victuals Treating Houses would be very insignificant amongst them and it may be said that they Eat to Live and Live not to Eat This I think is most part of the good that can be said of them Now for their Vices they are Proud Pride of the Turks esteeming themselves above all other Nations they think themselves the Valiantest Men upon Earth and that the World was only made for them And indeed they despise all other Nations in general and especially those who are not of their Religion as the Christians and Jews and they commonly call Christians Dogs Nay Turks Superstitious there are some Turks so Superstitious that if when they come out of their Houses in the Morning the first Person they meet be a Christian or Jew they return quickly home again saying Aouz billah min el scheitan el redgim that is to say God preserve us from the Devil The Rable think they do a brave action when they flout at and jear a Christian especially if he be a Frank but that 's because our fashion of Apparel differing very much from theirs they are much offended thereat and call us Apes that have no Tails But at Constantinople they are not very insolent to the Franks either because of the great Commerce they have with them or rather because they might easily be got Punished if they did any hurt however they spare not now and then a blow with a Cudgel by the by especially if it be a Turk in drink For my own part I never met with any Trouble only being one day with some other French in Constantinople without a Janizary the Children threw some Cores of Apples at us but some Tradesmen coming out of their Shops ran after them and dispersed them And indeed when upon
by the Capidgi Basha and Chiaoux Basha This Aga gives the Grand Signior an account of his charge Spahiler Agasi and then returns After him the Spahilar Agasi is introduced in the same manner next the Cadilesquers then all the Officers of the Divan and last of all the Visiers All these Officers go every Divan day and give the Grand Signior an account of what they have done and none of them can promise to himself to bring back his Head again for the Grand Signior for a small matter will cause them to be Srangled upon the spot CHAP. XLVIII Of the Oeconomy or regulation of Provisions amongst the Turks Of the Money and Weights of Constantinople IN all things the Turks are so great lovers of Order that they omit nothing that can tend to the observance of it and because oeconomy and the regulation of provisions is one of the chief things that serve to maintain it they take a special care of that so that all things are to be had in plenty and at reasonable rates they never sell Cherries or other Fruits there when first they come in at the weight of Gold as they do in this Country things are sold there always at reasonable rates and he that hath taken the pains to bring his Fruit soonest to Market has no more advantage but to take Money before others if any one offered to exact upon a Turk in selling of his Goods he would be soundly Drubbed or else brought unto Justice and there be Condemned to Bastonadoes besides the payment of a Fine and therefore there are Officers that take care to examine the weights of those that sell Goods who daily go their rounds and if they find any Man with weights that are too light or that sells his Goods too dear they fail not upon the spot to order him so many blows with a Cudgel upon the Soles of the Feet and besides make him pay a Fine so that being afraid of that punishment they 'll always give you somewhat over and above the weight and so one may send a Child to Market provided it can but ask for what it wants for none durst cheat the Child and sometimes the Officers of the Market meeting it will ask what it payed for so much Goods and weigh them to see if the poor thing hath not been cheated for if it be they carry it along with them and punish the seller I saw a Man who sold Snow at five Deniers the pound The punishment of sellers by false Weights receive Blows upon the Soles of his Feet because his weight was not exactly full Another having sold a Child a Double worth of Onions and the Officers of the Market meeting this Child and finding that he had not enough went to that Man and gave him thirty Blows with a Cudgel They have also another punishment for those that sell with false Weights Another punishment for such as sell by false Weights which seems not to be so harsh but is more Ignominious as being more publick they put a mans neck into a Pillory made of two Boards weighing an hundred pound weight which he carries on his shoulders and with these being hung full of little Bells he marches up and down the Town to be laughed at by all that see and know him As to disorders and quarrels that happen in the Streets every one is obliged to hinder them and that all may be the more concerned in that there is a Law much received that if any dead Person be found in the Streets whether he be Christian Turk or Jew and it be not known who Killed him they before whose door the Dead Man is found are made to pay for his Blood and the set rate for the Blood of a Man The price of a mans Blood that hath been kill'd before any bodies door is five hundred Piastres or forty five thousand Aspres so that it is the interest of every one to see that no noise be made before his Door or at least to observe those that make it this is very exactly observed in relation to the Turks but the Christians have many times partial Justice done them When I was at Constantinople a poor Greek meeting some Turks coming out of a Tavern in Galata they asked him for some flowers that he had in his hand and he having given to the one and denied the other telling him he had no more the Villain gave the poor Greek a stab with a Cangiar in the Body and so fled This having happened before the Convent of the Jacobins the poor wretch was immediately carried into their court for relief but he was hardly there before he Expired which at the same time coming to the knowledge of the Vaivode or Bailiff of Galata he sent and demanded of the poor Religious and of a French Merchant that lived overagainst them the Blood of that Man Vaivode but luckily for them that Vaivode was Strangled four or five days after before they had paid their Money so that they were quitted for the fear of it To prevent accidents in the Night-time No man is abroad in the streets of Constantinople in the Night-time Under Basha all Persons whatsoever are prohibited to be abroad in the streets after that night is in except during the Ramadan and if the Under Basha who is as the Captain of the Watch or Constable and ought to walk about all night long meet any Man he carries him before the Cady who examines who he is and then being known he is led to Prison and beware of Bastonadoes next morning and of a Fine to boot if he give not good reasons why he was abroad at such an hour nay though he should be cleared without Blows or a Fine yet it is a disgrace to have been taken abroad in the Streets in the Night-time I think it will not be amiss to tell here what money they use at Constantinople The Turkish Chequin is worth two Piastres Money of Constantinople Turkish Chequin Piastre The Aslanie the Venetian is worth ten Aspres more the Piastre or Picade of fifty eight Sols is commonly worth ninety Aspres and sometimes only eighty The Aslanie is worth eighty Aspres and when the Piastre is but worth fourscore Aspres the Aslanie is but worth threescore and fifteen These Aslanies are the German Rix Dollars which have a Lion on one side and for that they are called Aslanies from the Turkish word Aslan that signifies Lyon. Isolotte The Isolotte is worth fifty five Aspres Aspres The Aspres are little pieces of Silver that have no other stamp but the Grand Signior's Name and are worth about eight Deniers or three Farthings a piece but there are many of them Counterfeit and one must have a care of that so that to receive half a Crown in them it requires half a quarter of an hour to examine the Pieces one after another but great payments require whole days That this may
to shew how insignificant a thing the Grand Signior is when the Soldiery is in an Insurrection CHAP. LV. Of the Christians and Jews that are Subjects to the Grand Signior THE Subjects of the Grand Signior who are not Musulmans The Grand Signior's Subjects are either Christians or Jews of the Christians the chief are the Greeks who use the same Habit that the Turks do only there are some colours which they dare not wear neither on their Head nor in their Body-Apparel for not only they but generally all who are not Turks whether Christians or Jews Subjects to the Grand Signior or not dare not wear Green on their Head or any other part of their Body and if a Christian or Jew be found with the least bit of Green about him he 'll be soundly Bastonado'd and pay Money to boot in so great veneration is the Green colour with them Nor dare Christians wear a Turban all white A white Turban for if he be taken with such an one whether he be a Subject of the Grand Signior's or not he must turn Turk or die for it Colours for those who are not Mahometans but they may wear of all other colours or of mixt colours provided there be no Green among them though still it be dangerous to wear all Red or all Yellow because the Soldiers affect those colours Neither dare the Christians who are Subjects to the Grand Signior wear yellow Paboutches upon pain of several Bastonadoes but only Red Strangers however may wear Yellow Papas The Papas or Greek Priests are always clad in Black and wear a black Cap with a list of white Cloth about it having a piece of black Cloth fastened to it within which hangs down upon their back They wear long Hair and so do their Monks also As for their Religion the chief point wherein they differ from the Church of Rome is that they maintain that the Holy Ghost proceeds only from the Father and not from the Father and Son together They acknowledge not the Pope for Head of the Church but have four Patriarchs who are Chief and have equal Authority in their several Patriarchates The first is the Patriarch of Constantinople the second of Antioch the third of Alexandria and the fourth of Jerusalem All the four are confirmed in that Dignity by the Grand Signior or by his Officers at least to wit he of Constantinople by the Grand Visier and the rest by the Bashas of the Countrey He that receives them gives them a Caftan or Vest the day of their Confirmation They admit not of Purgatory but yet allow a Third Place where they will have the Blessed to be in expectation of the Day of Judgment And nevertheless though they believe not that the Saints are in Paradise into which they say they are not admitted before the Day of Judgment yet they pray to them that they would intercede for them with God. At Mass they Consecrate with Leavened Bread such as we commonly eat they Communicate under both kinds aswel Laicks as Priests and aswel Women and Children as Men. They have four Lents The Greeks Lents and begin the First six weeks before Easter which they continue till Easter Day The Second fifteen daies before the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul until the Day of that Feast The Third the First of August until the Assumption which is the Fifteenth day The Fourth from the first Sunday of Advent until Christmas day and all this according to their Calendar which is the ancient During these three last Lents they may eat Fish and Oyl The Great Lent of the Greeks but in the first Lent they eat neither Oyl nor Fish nor any thing that hath blood but only Herbs and Shell-fish and that which they call Ceppia and we Cuttle-fish whose blood is as black as Ink and certainly what Busbequins says That the Greeks never eat Oysters is not true for they hardly eat any thing else during Lent and at all times they are great Eaters of Fish The Lent of the Armenians is stricter than that of the Greeks The Lent of the Armenians for during their Lent they eat no kind of Fish not so much as Shell-fish nor Oyl nor do they drink Wine but live only on Bread Water Herbs and Roots But to return to the Greeks their Churches are like ours save that the High Altar is divided from the rest of the Church by a wooden partition with three doors in it and that makes a kind of Sanctum Sanctorum They have no Images but in flat Picture The Greeks kneel not and not in Relief The Greeks kneel not in their Churches no not at the Elevation of the Sacrament but all lean upon Crutches and for that purpose the Greek Churches are always well provided with them The age of Greek Priests Priests married A Man with them cannot be a Priest if he be not full thirty years old Their Priests may have been Married once in their life to a Virgin and keep their Wives after they are Priests but being dead they cannot take other Wives The Caloyers or Religious Greeks can never Marry Caloyers These Monks eat no Flesh I shall not here spend time in describing their way of celebrating Mass which is in substance the same with that of the Latins nor shall I speak of their Sacerdotal Vestments which have their Mysteries aswel as the Candlestick with three Candles that signifies the Holy Trinity and the other with two which signifies the two Natures in Jesus Christ to wit the Divine and Humane Natures Every one knows also that in giving the Blessing they make the sign of the Cross from the right to the left whereas the Latins make it from the left to the right But let us say somewhat of their Marriage The Marriage of the Greeks Maids shew not themselves before they be married nor yet a long while after avoiding the sight even of their Relations and go not to Church for fear of being seen I saw a Maid married at Rhodes who had two other Maiden Sisters who were neither present at the Ceremony nor Rejoycings of the Wedding for fear of being seen The Greeks are married by a Priest as the Latins are and give a Ring in the same manner But over and above that they have something that the Latins have not Father and Mother of the Marriage for they take a Godfather and Godmother to whom they present some wrought Handkerchief at least I had one presented to me when once I was chosen for a Godfather The Godfather and Godmother present themselves before a Papas with the Bridegroom and Bride and while the Papas says some Prayers the Godfather and Godmother hold a Garland of Flowers interlaced with Orpine over the Heads of the couple that are to be married and a Pall over that When Prayers are said the Bridegroom and Bride holding one another by the hand turn several times while
the Father and Mother who give them have hold of them behind then a glass of Wine is brought of which the Bridegroom drinks a little and then the Bride then the Bridegroom drinks again which the Bride pledges and then the glass is given to the Priest who merrily drinks off the rest and breaking the glass says So may the Bridegroom break the Virginity of the Bride All things else are done as among Roman Catholicks The Manners of the Greeks As to their Customs and ways of living they are much like the Turks but more wicked The Greeks are covetous perfidious and treacherous great Pedereasts revengeful to extremity but withal very superstitious and great Hypocrites and indeed they are so despised by the Turks that they value not even a Greek that turns Turk They are far greater Enemies to Roman Catholicks themselves than the Turks are and if it lay only in their power to hinder us from becoming Masters of the Turkish Countries we need never expect it Their Women are beautiful but a little to fat and very proud The Jews in Turkie are cloathed as the Turks are The Apparel of the Jews save that they dare not wear Green nor a white Turban nor red Vests they wear commonly a Violet colour but are obliged to wear a Violet Cap shaped like a Hat and of the same height and such as can reach to the price of a Turban have one round their Cap below They ought also to wear their Mestes and Pabouthes of a Violet colour I need say nothing of their Religion since it is fully contained in the Old Testament and Talmud But as to their Manners The Manners of the Jews they are the same in all places that is to say as great Cheats in Turkie as in Italy and their thoughts run upon nothing else but devising and finding out taxes and tricks to vex Christians or Turks They are in all places despised and ill used by all People In the whole extent of the Turkish Empire all Male Christians and Jews who are Subjects to the Grand Signior pay the yearly Karadge The Karadge which the Males pay which is a Tribute of four Piastres and a half a Head They begin to pay this Tribute when they are Nine years of Age but the Christian Priests and Monks are exempted from it and so are the Jewish Rabins the Women also pay nothing This brings in a great Revenue to the Grand Signior and no body can avoid it by often changing Habitation for whatsoever place they come at when they Travel their Karadge is demanded if they have paid it for that year in another place they must produce an Acquittance but if they have none to shew they must pay it and take a Note or Acquittance to serve them in other places Seeing none but the Subjects of the Grand Signior pay that Tribute the Jews of Christendom pay it not when they are in Turkie And to shew that they are not liable to it they wear a Hat and have a good Certificate from a Consul that they are of such a place in Christendom CHAP. LVI The Arrival and Audience of an Ambassadour from the Mogul An Ambassadour from the Mogul THere came to Constantinople in the Month of May an Ambassadour from the Mogul who had been two and twenty Months by the way and came by the Red-Sea which much retarded him because of contrary Winds and besides he had stayed three or four Months at Mecha and stop'd also at several other places he brought not fourscore Men with him to Constantinople a great many of these being Sick too and most part Naked having no more but a Rag to cover their Nakedness There was no great Ceremony at his entry into Constantinople On Monday the fifteenth of May he had a private Audience of the Grand Signior at the Kieusk upon the Port by the Sea-side I was told that at this Audience he made a very considerable Present to the Grand Signior A Present made by the Moguls Ambassadour at his first Audience Cangiar to wit a Girdle all of Diamonds a Chaplet of the same and a Cangiar or Dagger whose Pommel was a Diamond weighing eight Chequins or six hundred Grains which was valued at five hundred Purses or two hundred and fifty thousand Piastres several added more a Box full of Diamonds well Sealed with a Writing upon it bearing that it should not be opened but by the Grand Signior but there was no certainty of this however that Present was valued at six hundred thousand Piastres The Grand Signior presented him with a Kurk or furred Vest Tuesday the sixteenth of May was pitched upon for his publick Audience and I had a great desire to see his entry into the Serrraglio and Present but was told that I could not have Access because Franks were never suffered to come in but when Franks Ambassadours made their entry and at the entry of any other Ambassadours no Franks were admitted However I resolved to try my Fortune and for that end went betimes in the Morning with a Janizary and Spahi to the Serraglio I was in company of a French Gentleman called Monsieur Mesquin who hath since been sent to Constantinople by the King of Poland in quality of Internuncio he having for several Years lived at the Court of Poland when we were come near the Serraglio we saw a great Guard of Capidgis who freely bestowed Blows on all hands as well on Christians as Turks that came in their way and suffered none to enter but a few whom they durst not refuse having stop'd there a little our Janizary told us that we had best return again for that certainly we could not get in and my Spahi told me as much nevertheless this French Gentleman having spoken in Turkish to one of the Capidgis met with no rude usage only he told us that he could not let us in which gave us some hopes that for all that we might enter I began also to speak Turkish to the same Capidgi and though I could hardly pronounce two right words yet I hammered out that I was a Stranger and that I had a great desire to see the Ceremony he still told me that I should not enter and sometimes being troubled with my Importunity fell into some Passion but seeing he offered not to strike me I Persisted and holding my peace when I saw him vexed I Just did as a bashful Beggar does when he beggs an Alms and when he bid me stay till the Ambassadour came and that I should come in with him I made answer that I was afraid of being abused by the Croud as being a Christian and a Frank at length having stunned him with my Gibberish language which was almost wholly made up of these words Allai seversen which is to say for God's sake he sent one of his comerades to his Colonel who was under the Porch to ask his leave to let us in which the Colonel easily
his Father in the Year of the Hegyra 726. which was the Year of our Lord 1325. it was afterwards taken from the Turks by Tamerlan having totally Routed their Emperour Bajazet whom he made Prisoner This Town stands towards Mount Olympus Mount Olympus which is but about Ten Miles distant It has a pleasant Scituation and so great plenty of fresh Water that the Inhabitants bring it into all the Houses and Hans where it is conveyed in Pipes bigger then ones Leg Plenty of fair Water at Bursa into the Houses of Office and so washes away all the filth and supplies them with clean Water without any necessity of carrying Pots of Water into these places for the Ablution for there they have Fountains on purpose Besides these there are other Waters that run through the Town which are so hot Hot waters at Bursa that they easily boyl Eggs. They have made several fair Bagnios in the place where this Water runs which serves for the Cure of many Distempers so that People come to Bath there above an Hundred Miles off I went thither out of Curiosity and entred into a very lovely Bagnio all adorned with Marble and in stead of the innermost Room where they Sweat there was a very large Bason above Nine Foot deep full of hot and cold Waters mingled together all that please may Bath therein and some take their pleasure in Swiming there There are Steps to go down into it on all sides where one may be as deep as he pleases They bring into it two thirds of cold Water and nevertheless it is still so hot that I was scalded when first I went into it though the hot Water run through the Fields in an open Rivulet There are many fair Buildings in this Town and they reckon above Two hundred lovely Mosques in it and among others they shew'd me the Mosque of the Dervishes and in a little Chappel at the back of it I saw a Tomb which they assured me was the Tomb of the Mufti whom the Grand Signior had caused lately to be Strangled in that Town There are a great many Hans in it also all very Magnificent and constantly Inhabited because this Town is a common passage for Caravans from several places But one must not forget to see the Sepulchres of the first Turkish Emperours and of their Sultanas in so many little Chappels built Dome wise among which is the Monument of a French Sultana as they say but seeing they call all the Europeans Franks A French Sultana they many times confound the French with the rest of Franks They believe she was a most beautiful French Princess that having been taken at Sea was presented to the Grand Signior who was so much in love with her that he allowed her the Exercise of her Religion and yet lay with her though she was a Christian for she never forsook her Faith but lived and died in the same Religion she had been bred up in After her death the Christians of the Country beg'd her Body that they might Bury her after their Way and even offered Money to have that liberty but it was refused them and she was Buried like the other Sultanas Her Tomb is in a little Chappel arched and enclosed with Walls and one may see into it through Windows with Grates I could earnestly have wished the Door had been open that I might have gone in and read a Paper I saw fastned to the end of her Tomb which without doubt was her Epitaph for I observed in the Tombs of the other Sultana's that their Epitaph was cut in the Stone which was not so on this but I had not that satisfaction The length of Bursa The Castle of Bursa This Town is above half a French League in length and not Walled in all places Upon a little Hill in the middle of it there is a Castle which is almost as big as the rest of the Town it is Walled round and no Christian permitted to live in it This Castle is very strong and hath a Bastion that commands the Town which seems to be Impregnable yet the Water that runs into it may be cut off as it passes through the Town The Christians heretofore lost it so for the Turks having Besieged it then held out by the Christians and perceiving that there was no way to take it by Force bethought themselves of cutting off the Water for want of which the Christians forced by Thirst surrendred the place In this Castle are many Ruines of a stately Building which was formerly the Serraglio of the first Sultans of the Ottoman Family but it is all Demolished The People of the Country tell a Story in relation to this Castle which I have thought sit to Relate here They say A Maid built the Castle of Bursa That heretofore there was a Daughter of an Emperour Leaprous all over and by Consequence very Ugly but to make a mends for that very Vertuous who reposing great Confidence in God and finding her Father much dissatisfied that he could not Marry her all Men refusing it because of her Leprosie The hot Waters of Bursa cure Leprosie To ease her Father of that Trouble she begged his leave that she might go wander over the World like a poor Wtetch hoping that God would help her which she having with much ado obtained of her Father who tenderly loved her She Travelled so long till at length she came to the place where the Rivulet of hot Water runs whereof we spake before and there having Prayed as she never failed to do several times a day She saw a Measly Hog come and Wash in the Water which it having continued to do for some days was Cured of its Leprosie The Maid observing this thought that God Almighty had guided her to that place for a Cure wherefore she went into the Water and for some days having Bathed there she was in the end perfectly Cured being as Sound and Clean as if she had never been Leprous She failed not to give God thanks and resolved to stay in that Country which she found had been so healthful to her She therefore acquainted her Father with her Cure praying him to send her Means and People to Build a Place of Retreat for her Having then obtained of her Father all that she desired she Built this Castle which at present is the Castle of Bursa And because the Saracens much incommoded her by their Inrodes she demanded Assistance from her Father who sent her Aid under the Conduct of Roland or Orland a very strong and Valiant Man Roland or Orland who made great Slaughter of the Saracens Close by the Town there is a Hill on the top whereof a Turkish Hermite lives in a Chappel that Chappel is enclosed with good Walls and Iron-Grates but for a small present of Aspres the Hermite let me in and shewed me the Sword of the aforesaid Roland Roland's Sword. which is above seven Inches
Saints day This Church is called Tasiarchi it is well built and beautified hath large Revenues and as they say several Mad-men recover their Senses in it but the Inhabitants are very vicious Catharacti is a Castle Catharacti built with great Judgment on a Hill by the Genoese when they were Masters of that Island it was commanded by the Signiors Della Rocca Signiors Della Rocca Didima Oxodidima Merminghi Tholopotami Dimite Scamandee as may be seen by their Arms upon it The Inhabitants may be about Fifteen hundred People who have sixteen Churches and a Monastery of Monks dedicated to the Virgin there are Nuns there also who are not very austere I shall say nothing of some other Villages as Didima Oxodidima Merminghi Tholopotami containing an Hundred and fifty Two hundred and Three hundred Inhabitants In most of these Villages are made the Stuffs which they call Dimite and Scamandee that is to say double and single Stuff which are much used in the Island and Exported also to other places And in fine Why so many Castles in the Isle of Chio. that the Reader may know why heretofore they built so many Castles and Towers I shall here give the Reason of it The Fields of Chio being full of Mastick-Trees there was a necessity of having People to watch them and gather the Gum in the seasons wherefore there were little Villages dispersed up and down the Country some containing thirty some fifty and some an hundred Inhabitants but being infested by the Turks of Anatolia which is but about eighteen Miles distant who came and carried away both Men and Goods all these Villages resolved to joyn three or four together and to build Castles or Towers to defend them from these Pirates and for guarding the Trees and Villages they built Towers round the Island at three or four Miles distance one from another And each neighbouring Village sent thither two Men to Watch who when they saw any Boats Ships or Galleys gave the Allarm to the Country and either retired or defended themselves CHAP. LXIV Of the Isle of Chio and its Inhabitants Chio. CHIO called by the Turks Sakisadasi that is to say the Isle of Mastick is a famous Island of the Archipelago about an hundred miles from Smyrna though it would not be so far if one kept a streight course but one must go round a Hill Xamos or Sousambogazi which the Greeks call Xamos the Turks Sousambogazi that runs a great way out into the Sea. This Island belonged heretofore to the Justiniani Genoese Lords with the title of a Principality but it was taken in the year 1566. by a Captain Basha named Pialis and subjected to the Turks The Isle of Chio is fourscore Miles in Circuit and very Populous having a City and above threescore Towns and Villages inhabited for the most part only by Christians and the whole Land is full of Country Habitations consisting of a little spot of Ground and a little Tower-house with two or three Rooms so that it seems to be a Town in the Fields like the Country about Marseilles It is an Island much subject to Earth-quakes and would be very Fertile if it were not so Stony and had more Water for it Rains so little there that every Spring they are fain to make Processions through the City for obtaining Rain from Heaven The Turks first make theirs next the Greeks then the Latines and lastly the Jews The Turks are very little concerned which of all these Prayers be heard Justiniani provided they have what they ask but notwithstanding the Hilliness and dryness of the Island yet it has all things necessary in sufficient quantity and good It yields Corn plenty of very good Wine but so thick that many do not like it because as they say they must both eat and drink it All things are very cheap there and excellent good Partridges may be had for little or nothing Partridges cheap and how they are bred but it is curious to see how they breed up those Birds at Chio For there are Peasants like publick Keepers who are paid by all that have Partridges for feeding them and these Men having called them all about them in the Morning with a Whistle lead them out into the Fields as one drives Turkies and so soon as they are come to the side of a Hill where he drives them they scatter and feed where they can best and in the Evening he who hath the care of them coming to the Hill falls a Whistling very loud and then all his Partridges gather about him and return Home to their several Masters none ever staying behind These Creatures understand so well the call of him who commonly feeds them that let another Whistle never so much they will not come to him When I was at Chio I could not have that Diversion for then it was not the Season Tame Partridges I have seen of these Partridges more tame than any Pullets for they would let any body touch them and stroke them without stirring from their place The sole Isle of Chio hath preserved its Liberty This is the only Island among the Turks that hath preserved its Liberty for the Inhabitants live as they think fit professing and exercising their Religion with all imaginable freedom only they are Subjects to the Turks and pay him Tribute but they are in no ways molested nor burthened with Impositions The Chiots are generally Christians and there are very few Turks among them a good part of these Christians are Roman Catholicks and the rest are of the Greek Church All the Inhabitants both Greeks and Latins Families of the Justiniani have much of the Humour of the Genoese who formerly Governed them There are several Families still in that Island who derive themselves from the House of the Justiniani for they still make a distinction betwixt the Gentlemen who are pretty numerous and the Plebeians The manners of the Chiots the Chiots are Apparelled after the Geonese Fashion they are ugly and though their Persons be proper and well shaped yet their looks would scare a body they are very proud and nevertheless Gentlemen and all go to Market and buying what they want carry it openly along the Streets without any shame They love the Spaniards better then the French but had rather be under the Government of the Turks than Christians The Chiots make much Damask Sattin Taffetaes and other Silk Stuffs and drive a great Trade in many places with their Saiques Such as neither Work nor Travel abroad spend whole days Sitting and Talking together under Trees Letters are in no vogue in that Country and perfound Ignorance reigns among them nevertheless they have naturally a sharp Wit and are indeed so great Cheats that one hath need of both Eyes to deal with them They are much given to their Pleasures and Drunkenness and in a word they are Greeks The Women are very Beautiful and well Shaped
Orange-Water two Baskets full of Pomegranates two of Limons two of Water-Melons two of Mezingianes or Violet-Naveurs one of Grapes one of Grass half a dozen of Pidgeons a dozen of Pullets and three Sheep Next day his Kiaya or Lieutenant had likewise the usual Present brought to him which was but one half of the abovementioned Provisions They expected two Bashas more within a short time and these Bashas caused People to be often Bastonadoed as they went along the Streets when they were out of Humour but for all that no sooner were they Lodged but the whole Trouble was over CHAP. LXV Of the Isle of Patino HAving said enough of Chio Patino I shall here make a little digression from my Travels and relate what I have learned of some Islles of the Archipelago where I have not been as well by what has been told me as by a memoire that hath come to my hands And in the first place I shall speak of the Isle of Pathmos which though small is nevertheless Illustrious Pathmos as being the place to which St. John the Evangelist was Banished and where he wrote the Revelation This Isle called anciently Pathmos and at present Patino and Palmosa is eighteen miles in circuit Palmosa and has in it but one well Built little Town with a Castle in the middle of it called the Monastery of St. John where two hundred Greek Monks live who carefully keep in their Church a Body shut up in a case which they say is the Body of St. John what ever they think who doubt whether he be as yet Dead or not There are about three thousand Souls in this Isle who have much ado to live Three thousand Souls in Pathmos The Grott where the Apocalypse was written called Theoskeposti the Land being very dry and all Rockie In it is the Grotto where St. John wrote the Apocalypse which Grotto by the Greeks is called Theoskeposti that is to say in vulgar Greek covered by God. The Inhabitants of this place relate a pretty ridiculous story of St. John and that is that the Devil went to Tempt St. John in that Grotto which is but half a mile from the Sea and as far from the Town bidding him go and swim and that St. John made answer to the Devil do thou first throw thy self into the Sea and I 'll follow thee which the Devil did and was immediately changed into a Stone The figure of a Devil at Pathmos of the same Figure that he had when he threw himself into the Sea And that Stone is to be seen to this day being but one step from the Land. No Turk lives in this Island they are Christians that bear rule there yet they pay Tribute to the Grand Signior And the Corsars put into this Island to careen and take fresh Water CHAP. LXVI Of the Isle of Nixia THE Isle of Nixia heretofore called Naxus is sixscore miles in circuit Nixia In latter times before it was possessed by the Turks it carried the title of a Dutchy The Families of Sanudi and Somarigi Venetians in Nixia and at present it has among its Inhabitants several noble Families descended of the said Dukes who were the Sanudi Somarigi Venetians and others The Fields of this Isle are most fruitful in all things and chiefly a certain Valley called Darmilla wherein are eighteen Villages The Inhabitants of this Isle make plenty of Wine which they send to Alexandria Smyrna and Chio as likewise very good Cheese for they have many Cows Sheep and Goats Not far from the Town near the Sea are the Salt-pits and a Pond which the Town letts out to farme they Fish in it but two Months in the Year to wit August and September There are great quantities of Eels taken also in a Valley called Plichi that is full of Marshes which are always supplied with Water from greaâ— Springs that run into it There are very thick Woods also in it with Rocks and solitary Dens where there are a great many tall Stags Catching of Partridges with an Ass and there the Gentlemen go a Hunting with the Cady who governs the Island the Peasants catch Partridges with an Ass in this manner Late in the Evening the Peasant goes and joggs the Partridges to know where they Sleep then he pitches a Net where he thinks convenient and afterwards puts himself under the belly of his Ass which is trained to the sport and thus both stalking along together the Peasant with a switch drives the Partridges into the Net where they are caught and this sport is the better because Partridges are very Plentiful there There are besides other Valleys with Water-springs in them that turn Mills for the use of the People There are several Monasteries in this Island one of which ought to be very Ancient for it is built in form of a Tower upon a Hill. There is another called Fanaromeni Fanaromeni dedicated to the Virgin because a Picture of the Virgin was found in that Place which is held in great Veneration and called Faneromeni it is not long since that Monastery was built and contains threescore and ten Rooms or Chambers besides those that are under Ground the Church is small but well built and beautified It is served by ten Monks all Countrey Clowns who have no Learning and not only there but over all the Isles of the Archipelago they are so ignorant that it may be said of them Ignoto Deo and it is impossible but that Vice must reign where People are so ignorant of the commands of God and where there is so much Idleness and Drunkenness Threscore miles from the Town there is a Tower and another Church also dedicated to the Virgin named Tagia in that place there is a Spring of as good Water as can be desired and a Monk and some Shepherds live there the people of the Island often go thither out of Devotion and not without much Pain because of the troublesome Hills and Valleys that are in the way About six miles from thence near the Sea overagainst the Isle of Nicaria there is to be seen upon a very steep and rugged Mountain The Castle of Apollo some ruines of the Castle of Apollo and it is a wonder how they could carry up Stones to Build it The wall is eight hand breadth thick it is not carried on to the Sea on the East-side because there is no going up to it on that side but by a very dangerous place but on the South East and South-side it is built of Stone and Bitumen down to the Sea. In that Castle there are several Houses and Cisterns for Water In the neighbourhood of it are four little Towns very well Inhabited In these Quarters there are also many Goat-heards that keep Goats and the Hills are full of an Herb which Mathiolus calls Ledum The Ledum of Mathiolus Kissaros an Herb. Laudanum a Gum. Darmilla Strongyle Palace of Bacchus and
in it they say that the Blessed Virgin was in that very place when the Body of our Lord was anointed When you have ascended that Stair-case of seven and thirty Steps you enter into the Church of the Armenians wherein you find nine and fifty Lamps and two Candlesticks of sixteen branches a piece and in the Quire there are seventy Lamps and two Candlesticks of six branches a piece At the side of the Quire there is also a Chappel and three and forty Lamps with a Candlestick of eight branches within it Being come down from thence you find the Chappel of the Abyssines then that of the Syrians or Jacobites which hath its entry at the back of the Holy Sepulchre wherein are one and thirty Lamps and at the end of it there is a Grott in which are the two Sepulchres of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea cut in the depth of the Rock The Sepulchres of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea with a Lamp before each of them This good Man Joseph of Arimathea having laid our Lord's Body in the Sepulchre which he had prepared for himself caused another to be made for him accounting himself unworthy to be laid where the Body of our Saviour had lain Then you find a Door by which ascending some steps you go to the Lodgings of the Greeks and from thence to the Chappel of the Apparition and so you have made the whole circumference of the Church This Church formerly belonged wholly to the Latins but the other Christians have for Money obtained their shares in it it is pleasant to see this Church on High Festival Days for then it shines with an infinite number of Lamps some red some green because of the water within them to which they give what colour they please and that especially when the Greeks and other Christians who follow the old Calendar have Easter on the same day with us as it happened this year But there is a great deal of trouble with it also for there are near four thousand Christians who come from all Parts and all for a Maidin a piece get into St. Sepulchres so that then one can hardly perform his devotions well not only because of the noise but also because there is always a great croud of people at the Holy Places for though every Nation have their own distinct yet all have liberty to pay their devotions at what place they please There you 'll see some both Men and Women rowl upon the ground at the Holy Places without any respect to modesty Others bring with them whole Pieces of Cloth which they measure upon the Holy Sepulchre and Stone of Unction and cut them in pieces according to the length of these Sanctuaries which serve them for Shrouds to be buried in and all this in pure devotion And if for more convenience you take the night-time to perform your devotions in or the dawning of the morning you must step over a great many people Men Women and Children lying and tumbling confusedly in the Church besides all these People have their Children with them who do their needs in the Church just where they are for though there be a Court with Necessary-houses yet that signifies but little for so many insomuch that all these things together do much incommode and distract you The way of Ringing to the Office in St. Sepulchres When these Christians would Ring to Office they have pieces of Wood about a fathom long somewhat crooked a hand broad and two fingers thick which they hang by a Rope in the middle upon this Board they knock with two pieces of Iron which gives a sound something like to that of our Bells and makes an horrid din especially when several ring at the same time Others again have a kind of Drums and other Instruments all which together make mad Musick CHAP. XL. Of the Burying-places of the Kings and of the Grott of Jeremiah ON Palm-Sunday after Dinner we went out of the City by the Gate of Damascus to go see the Burying-Places of the ancient Kings of Jerusalem which is a rare thing You enter first into a great Court cut out and made even in the Rock which serves for Walls to it and on the left hand there is a Gallery cut also out of the Rock with several Pillars all very much beautified with many Figures engrav'd upon the stone at one end of this Gallery there is a little open place by which you must creep upon your belly into a large square Room cut also out of the Rock in which there are other Rooms and several fair Tombs cut in the Rock This is a very stately and magnificent Place and many think that the Doors wbich are very thick and of the same stone have been cut with their Hinges and Pivots in the same place where they are and by much labour divided from the rest of the Rock but that is not so as may be easily known if one will but take the pains to scrape a little below and put aside the dust for then he 'll see the joyning of the stones that have been put there after that the Doors have been placed with their Pivots in the holes Being come out of this fair Palace of the Dead we went to the Cave where the Prophet Jeremiah composed his Lamentations which is near to that place of the Sepulchres It is a large very light Grott made in the Rock having a Pillar in the middle that supports the Roof of it CHAP. XLI Of the River of Jordan of the Dead-Sea and of the Mount of the Forty Days Fast MOnday the fifteenth of April which to the Greeks and Latins was Holy Monday we prepared to go to the River of Jordan and therefore the Monks having made necessary Provisions for the Journey we took Horse at the Door of the Church of the Sepulchre of the Blessed Virgin from whence we parted at eight a clock in the morning to go to that River whither the Christians go not but on the Greeks Holy Monday because then the Basha gives a Guard of four or five hundred Men for fear of the Arabs and unless there be a great many Christians they cannot raise a sufficient summ of money to defray the Charges of it for the Greeks and other Christians that are Subjects to the Grand Signior pay upon account of this Journey three Piastres and a half the head and the Franks five Piastres Now the year I went thither the Easter of the Greeks fell on the same day with that of the Latins and the Greeks Armenians and other Christian Subjects of the Grand Signior's made in all above four thousand The Basha sent with us a Convoy of three hundred Horse and two hundred Foot under the Command of the Musellem About nine of the clock we came to the Fountain of the Apostles and a little after to Bethany The fountain of the Apostles Bethany Our way lay all along among Mountains and the Road was
very stony from Jerusalem to the Plain of Jericho where we arrived and encamped about two in the afternoon We took no care to carry with us Tents Victuals nor any other Necessaries in all that Journey for the Monks made it their business to provide us with Horses Victuals and Tents and to shew us all without paying any thing but for our Horses The Town of Jericho is about a quarter of a league from thence Jericho which formerly was a famous City but at present consists only of thirty or forty Brick-Houses inhabited by Arabs These Houses were all forsaken when we went that way because the Arabs had fled for fear of the Turks that went with us Near to these Habitations we saw the House of Zacheus The House of Zacheus about a quarter of a league from the Camp as I said already and then we returned to the Camp. In the Plain of Jericho Roses of Jericho there are Roses of Jericho as they call them but they have not the vertues as many ascribe to them for they blow not unless they be put into water and then they blow in all seasons and at any hour contrary to the Opinion of those who say That they blow not but in Christmas Night and others on all the Festival Days of our Lady with a great many such idle tales I found of them also in the Desarts of Mount Sinai Next day Tuesday the sixteenth of April we set out about three of the clock in the morning and travelled on still in the Plain till about half an hour after five we came to the River of Jordan which is something deep The River of Jordan and perhaps half as broad as the Scine at Paris it is very rapid and the water of it thick because it passes through fat Land but they say it corrupts not The course of Jordan and I filled a Bottle of it to try the experiment but the Corsairs whom I met with threw it into the Sea this River has its source from two Springs towards Mount Libanus called Jor and Dan which joyned together make Jordan It runs from East to South passes through the Sea of Tiberius and loses it self in that nasty and stinking Lake Asphaltites called the Dead-Sea Lake Asphaltites It is very full of Fish and on both sides beset with little thick and pleasant Woods among which thousands of Nightingales warbling all together make a most pleasant delightful and charming Consort Devotions at Jordan Here our Monks quickly erected an Altar upon which they sayed two Masses at the first of which I received the Sacrament but it was very incommodious for it behoved one besides he that Celebrates to hold the Chalice Veil c. Lest the Wind which blew high might overturn and carry them away and another to hide the Tapers lest they should be blown out During that time all the Greeks Cophtes Armenians c. Performed their Devotions also most part go into the Water stark-naked especially the Men and the Women in their Smocks they had of the Water of Jordan poured upon their Heads in memory of our Lords Baptism and washed their Linen in it carrying away Jarrs and Bottles full of Water with Mud and Earth which they took up by the River side not forgetting Sticks which they cut in the adjoining Woods and all to be kept as Relicks This River is rendred Illustrious by many Miracles as having stopt its course to let the Children of Israel pass over The Prophet Elisha passed it over dry-shod upon his Masters Cloak c. I was very desirous we might have gone afterwards to the Dead-Sea but the Turks would not and therefore I shall here relate what I have learn'd of it from those that have been there The Dead-Sea It was in this Sea that the five Cities of the Plain Sodom and Gomorrah c. Were swallowed up The water of it is very clear but extreamly Salt and in some places of it they find Salt as resplendant as Cristial It bears up all who wash in it though they move neither Hand nor Foot as many have found by Experience But I do not at all believe what some say that it bears up only Live things and lets things Inanimate sink to the Bottom nay that if a lighted Candle be plunged into it it will float above But if put out it will sink to the bottom There is no sort of Fish in this Sea by reason of the extraordinary saltness of it which burns like Fire when one tastes of it and when the Fish of the Water Jordan come down so low they return back again against the Stream and such as are carried into it by the Current of the Water The extent of the Dead-Sea immediately Die. This Sea is an hundred miles in length and twenty five over The Land within three Leagues round it is not Cultivated but is white and mingled with Salt and Ashes They say that there are Apple-Trees upon the sides of this Sea which bear very lovely Fruit but within are all full of Ashes In short we must think that there is a heavy Curse of God upon that place seeing it was heretofore so pleasant a Countrey There are many Camels load of Bitumen daily got out of this Lake Return from Jordan Having no liberty then to go see that Sea we parted from the River of Jordan about seven a clock in the Morning and returned back the same way as we came about nine a clock the Musellem who as I said commanded the Convoy halted in the middle of the Plain of Jericho and went into a Tent which was purposely pitched for him then he caused all the Latin Monks to pass by before him The Musellem numbers the Pilgrims who were numbered Then we who were secular Pilgrims passed by also and the Musellem ordered us to be set down eight though we were but six and though the Trucheman said that there was but six of us and offered to make us pass by him again yet nothing would be abated which was an Avanie of twenty Piastres for the Monks An avanie for the Pilgrims Franks for every Secular Frank payes ten Piastres but they pay it in the City because the Convent answers for them after we had been thus mustered we went and Encamped in the same place where we did the day before and having taken some refreshment we went to the Mount of the Quarantine The Mount of forty days Fasting ar forty days Fast not far from thence while the Musellem mustered the rest of the Christians who payed down in ready Money four Bokels and twenty Maidins a Head though the years before they payed no more but three Bokels We parted from the Camp about ten a Clock in the Morning then went to the Mount of Fasting a League distant from the Town of Jericho it is so called because our Lord when he came out of Jordan spent forty days
and forty Nights there without Eating or Drinking It is not so hard to go up as some have been pleased to say unless it be in some places which are very dangerous for one must climb with Hands and Feet to the Rock that is smooth like Marble and when we went up it Rained which rendered it more slippery but we assisted one another The Grott where our Lord Fasted We came to the place where our Lord fasted forty days which is a Grott wherein there is an Altar on which one of our Monks said Mass the Greeks heretofore held this Place and there are still some Greek Pictures there Some of our company went up to the top of all the Hill The place of the Mountain where our Lord was tempted by the Devil to the place whether the Devil carryed our Lord and Tempting him shewed him all the Kingdoms of the Earth saying All these will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and Worship me But I was so spent and weary that I would not go up There are dangerous places in it where the way is not two foot broad and there is a great Precipice on the side of it There are some ruins still of an ancient Monastery that was heretofore on the very top of the Mount. After we had seen that Mountain we came down again and upon our return The prophet Elisha's Well saw the Well of the Prophet Elisha the Water whereof was formerly bitter but that Prophet sweetened it by casting Salt into the Fountain so that at present the Water is excellently good It is a quarter of an hours going from the foot of the Hill towards the Camp where we arrived at two of the Clock in the afternoon When we were come some Greeks to the number of ninety seven after they had been mustered before the Musellem and payed their four Bokels and twenty Maidins a piece would needs go see the Mountain also The inconvenience of seeing the Holy places but seeing they have not the permission as the Franks have to go thither upon their return the Musellem ordered them to be bound with Cords and demanded of them three Bokels and a half a piece but the Procurator of the Religious Franks compounded the business for somewhat less We parted from thence next day Wednesday the seventeenth of April about four a Clock in the morning and all the way in Rain and came about eleven of the Clock to Jerusalem The truth is there is a great deal of reason in what is said that those who would visit the Holy Places ought to arm themselves with Patience for in all these places they suffer injuries of all kinds from the Turks besides a great deal of Fatigue for they must visit all the Holy places about Jerusalem on Foot and to the more remote they ride on Beasts which are commonly very bad and they who bear with all purely for Gods sake may merit much but though there were no merit in the case yet they must take Patience per force For he that would huff and play the Bravo would pay and suffer dearly for it CHAP. XLII Of our second entry into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre THE same day we returned from Jordan which was Holy Wednesday the seventeenth of April after we had dined in the Convent of St. Saviour we entred a second time into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre but the Greeks entered not till the nineteenth of April which was Holy Friday in the Afternoon so that we had two days quietly to perform our Devotions in On Holy Thursday the eighteenth of April in the Morning we received the Blessed Sacrament from the hands of the reverend Father Commissary and in the Afternoon went in Procession to the holy Sepulchre at the door whereof the reverend Father Commissary washed the Feet of twelve Monks and Pilgrims of the number of whom we were for when there is a sufficient number of Pilgrims they take no Monks but when they are fewer than twelve the number is made up with Monks as also when there are more than twelve Pilgrims they cast Lots who shall be admitted as it happened the year before I was there when there was one and twenty of whom nine were excluded by Lot we sat down then all twelve upon the two seats of Marble that are near to the Chappel of the Angel Washing of Feet and the Reverend Father Commissary washed all our Feet and kissed them giving to every one of us afterwards a Cross full of Relicks All the Oriental Christians who were in the Church for some went in with us crouded much to see that Ceremony most part weeping and crying aloud when they saw the good old man on his knees washing our Feet On holy Friday the ninteenth of April when the evening Office was over we went in Procession through all the Sanctuaries of the great Church where all the mysteries of the Passion were represented to the Life The Procession of Holy Friday in this Procession there were two Monks who carried the one a Box of Aromaticks and the other a Bottle of odoriferous Oyl every one of the Monks had a lighted Wax-Taper and the R. F. Commissary carried a Crucifix we who were Pilgrims marched two and two every one with his burning Taper and the Father of the Pilgrims after us to tell us what the places were and the Prayers that were to be said there and certainly the Janizaries who were with us did us a great kindness in making way for us laying about them with Sticks for they took great care that the Pilgrims should not be squeezed in the terrible croud of Christians that were there to see our Procession and who pressed one another almost to Death and indeed the Latin Monks perform all their Ceremonies with great Order and Devotion such as was admired and reverenced not only by all the Christians but also by several Turks who were present The Ceremonies of the Franks whereas the other Christians perform theirs without any Order but with great noise insomuch that the Janizaries who make way for them beat them themselves with their Sticks having no veneration for their Ceremonies as they have for ours We stopped first at the Chappel of the Pillar of Flagellation where having sung the Prayers that are for that place in Books which were given us an Italian preach'd upon that Subject then we went to the Prison of our Lord where having sung the Prayers for that place a French man made a very good Sermon From thence we went to the Chappel of the parting of the Garments where after Prayers there was an Italian Sermon then to the Chappel of Exprobration where after Prayers we had a French Sermon being gone up to Calvary we came to the place where our Saviour was nailed to the Cross and there having sung the proper Prayers for that place there was a Sermon in high Dutch. From thence we went to the place
where the Cross was planted and having put the Crucifix into the same hole where the holy Cross stood on which our Saviour was Crucified and then Sung the Prayers of the place there was a Sermon made in Greek which wrought much upon the Greeks who were very attentive and shed many Tears then the Crucifix was taken off of the Cross and wrapped in a Linen-Cloath Afterwards being come down again we went to the Stone of Unction on which the Crucifix in the sheet was laid and after Prayers was said there was a Latin Sermon after which the R.F. Commissary anointed the Crucifix with the Oyl and aromatick Spices then wrapped it up in a Sheet and from thence we proceeded towards the holy Sepulchre but hardly were we risen up from about the stone of Unction when all the other Christians who followed the Procession cast themselves in crouds upon the said Stone rubbing Linen-Cloaths upon it that they might dry up what of the Oyl and Aromaticks had fallen upon the Stone as a great Relick all kissing it with great Devotion Being come to the holy Sepulchre the Crucifix was laid upon it and then having Sung the proper Prayers for the place we had an excellent Sermon in Spanish Saturday the twentieth of April the Reverend Father Commissary performed the Office before the holy Sepulchre and made use of the ornaments given by Lovis the thirteenth late King of France which are all most richly Embroadered and a compleat Service of them There was a great croud of Christians and Turks to see and hear the little Organ that a Monk played upon which they much admired CHAP. XLIII Of the Holy Fire of the Greeks and other Schismatical Christians The holy Fire of the Greeks Armenians Cophtes c. WHen our Office was ended we made ready to have the pleasure of the Holy Fire of the Greeks Armenians and Cophtes which the Priests make the People believe comes down from Heaven into the Holy Sepulchre on Holy-Saturday and for that make every one of their Pilgrims pay so much Money who are always very numerous This Solemnity looks more like a Comedy or Farce than a Ceremony of the Church and would be more proper for a Stage than for such a Sacred place as the holy Sepulchre is and indeed the Turks take up their places betimes and come in great numbers to have the pleasure of it We took our places in our Galleries After we had concluded our Service then which was about eight a clock in the morning they put out all their Lamps and the Lamps of the holy Sepulchre and then began their folly running about the holy Sepulchre like mad men howling roaring and making a horrid noise without any respect to the place where they were Every time they passed before the Holy Sepulchre they cried Eleeson and it was pleasant to see them run one after another kicking one another on the Breech and with Ropes-ends laying one another over the Shoulders Several of them joined together in a body and carrying men upon their Arms as they passed by the holy Sepulchre let them fall and then burst out in Laughter while they who had fallen run after the others to be revenged of them In short one would have taken them all for down right mad People and it was not only little Boys but men both old and young that did so From time to time they lifted their Eyes up to Heaven and stretched out their hands full of Wax-Tapers crying all together Eleeson as if they were weary of expecting the holy Fire and would obtain it from God by force This continued till about three a Clock in the Afternoon when two Greek Arch-Bishops and two Bishops being cloathed in Patriarchal Robes for the Patriarch was not at that time in Jerusalem came out of their Quire with all their Clergy and began the Procession about the holy Sepulchre the Armenians came also and followed that Procession there being four Armenians with Mitres after the Latin fashion then came a Cophtish Bishop with his Clergy and People going all distinctly but yet following close after one another After they had continued their Procession three times round the holy Sepulchre a Greek Priest came out of the Chappel of the Angel and told him who supplied the place of the Patriarch that the holy Fire was come down from Heaven then he went into the holy Sepulchre having in each hand a bunch of Wax-Candles he was followed in by him that represented the Armenian Patriarch and the Cophtish Bishop the door of the Chappel of the Angel being in the mean time guarded by Janizaries When they had been a little while there we saw the Greek Arch-Bishop comeing out in a very pleasant posture he marched with his head down having in each Fist a bunch of Wax-Candles all lighted no sooner did he appear but they all fell a striving who should first light his Candle at the Arch-Bishops it being the best Fire that is soonest lighted in the mean time the Janizaries hands were not in their Pockets they hurled the Greeks Caps and Calpecs from one end of the Church to the other and laid about them on all hands with their Cudgels to make way for the poor Arch-Bishop who was doing on his part the best he could to make his escape too The Arch-Bishop being freed a little got quickly upon a stone-Altar that is before the door of the Quire over against the entry of the holy Sepulchre where the People immediately flocked about him those also who having lighted their Candles endeavoured to get out of the Croud were run down by the rest in short there was a horrible confusion and plenty of Blows bestowed After that the Greek Arch-Bishop was come out the Armenian came next and made his escape towards the Church of the Armenians as the Cophtish Prelate did towards his own Church in the mean time the Janizaries kept the door of the holy Sepulchre and suffered none to enter but such as gave them several Maidins that they might light their Candles at the Lamps of the holy Sepulchre where the holy Fire first was All made so much haste to catch this holy fire that in a short time their candles were all lighted so that in a trice there were above two thousand bunches of Candles flaming in the Church then began all to cry again and play more foolish tricks than before and immediately a man with a Drum upon his back fell a running with all speed round the holy Sepulchre while another at his heels beat upon the Drum with two sticks and when he was weary another instantly supplied his place however by little and little the noise lessened and we began to look about towards all the parts of the Church both above and below and there consider men and women who having by them pieces of Cloath enough to set up a shop unfolded them and at every spans length made Crosses with their lighted Candles in them
the Countrey being so stony that it cannot be Cultivated Raimbe About mid way you find a Han built of black stones and called Raimbe over the Gate whereof there is a square Tower with four Windows after the manner of our Steeples Saxa is a pretty Han having a Mosque in the middle and a Fountain by the side of it Without it you see a little Castle near to which runs a River that divides itself into four and thirty Branches and there you find three Bridges where there is a Caffare to be paid The day following you come to Damascus seven hours traveling from Saxa but first about an hour and a halfs journey from Saxa you cross over a Bridge upon the River that comes from Saxa For the four first hours the way is stony after that betwixt two little Hills and on the right hand of a ruined Village called Caucab that is to say Star Caucab the place of St. Pauls Conversion is the place where our Lord said to St. Paul Saul Saul why Persecutest thou me The rest of the way is over most fertile Plains CHAP. LVIII Of the City of Damascus and the places that are to be seen about it THE first thing that may be seen at Damascus is the Bezestein Damascus which is Beautiful enough and hath three Gates from whence you go to the Castle which is all built of Stones cut in Diamond cut but it is not easie for Franks to enter it At first you come to a Court of Guard with several Arms hanging upon the Wall and two pieces of Ordnance each sixteen spans long About fifteen steps further is the Mint where the Jews Work. A little beyond that there is a Dome of no great Workmanship but supported by four so great Pillars that three men can hardly fathom one of them round Fifty paces from thence you enter through a large Arched Hall into the Divan where the Council is held painted with Gold and Azure after the Mosaick way and in it there are three Basons full of excellent water When you come out of the Castle you see the Ditches half a Pikes depth and twenty paces over wherein on the side of the Town a little Canal of water runs which waters the Gardens about that are full of Orange Limon Pomgranet and several other Trees Through the middle of the Castle runs a branch of the River with which they can fill the Ditches when there is occasion On the outside of the Walls of the same Castle hang two Chains of Stone one of which contains sixteen Links and the other fourteen cut one within another by matchless Art each Link being about two fathom long and one and a half wide and the two Chains are of one entire Stone a piece From thence you come to a fair Mosque about twenty Paces Square painted all over with Mosaick work in Gold and Azure and paved with Marble Melec Daer in the middle of it is the Sepulchre of Melec Daer Sultan of Aegypt After that you must see the House of the Tefterdar wherein there is a little Marble Mosque of most lovely Architecture and painted with Gold and Azure There are several lovely Rooms in it of the same fashion at each Window whereof you have a little Fountain of most clear Water which is artificially brought thither in Pipes In this House there is a door and several great Windows with copper-Lettices which look into the great Mosque and thence one may see without molestation but Christians are forbidden to enter it upon pain of Death or turning Turk From that door and the Windows one may perceive a great part of the Mosque which may be about three hundred paces long and threescore wide The Court is paved with lovely Stones most part of Marble shining like Lookin-glasses Round about this Court there are several Pillars of Marble porphyrie and Jasper incomparably well wrought which support an Arch that ranges all round painted with several pieces in Mosaick work The Porch of the Mosque faces this Court and the entry into it is by twelve large Copper-Doors embossed with Figures with several Pillars most part of Porphyrie whose Capitals are gilt The walls are painted with lovely figures in Gold and Azure The Turks themselves have so great a veneration for this place that they dare not pass through the Court without taking off their Pabouches and certainly 't is one of the loveliest Mosques in all the Turkish Empire It was heretofore a Christian Church built by the Emperour Heraclius in Honour of St. Zacharias the Father of St. John Baptist and they say there is a Sepulchre in it where the Bones of that holy Prophet rest You must also see the Fountain where St. Paul recovered his sight and was Baptized by Ananias which is in the Streight-street so called in the Acts of the Apostles under a Vault in the Bazar near to a thick Pillar called the Ancient Pillar then you go up to the House of that same Judas with whom St. Paul Sojourned to be instructed in the Christian Religion and Baptized there you see a great door armed with Iron and huge Nails within which is the Chamber where the said Saint Fasted three Days and three Nights After that you go out of the Town by a Gate called Bab cherki Bab Cherki That is to say East Gate near to which in former times there was a great Church built in honour of St. Paul but at present the Turks have made a Han of it the Steeple remains still and is very ancient Work. Continuing your way along the Town-Ditches and about fifty paces Southward from the said gate you see a great square Tower joining to the walls in the middle of which there are two Flowers de luce cut in Relief and well shaped and at the side of each of them a Lyon cut in the same manner Betwixt these Flowers de Luce there is a great Stone with an Inscription upon it in Turkish Characters About three hundred paces further you come to the Gate called Bab Kssa Bab Kssa that is walled up under which is the place where St. Paul was let down in a Basket to avoid the persecution of the Jews Sixty paces from thence over against the Gate The Porter St. George is the Sepulchre of St. George the Porter who had his Head struck off upon pretence that he was a Christian and had made St. Pauls escape The Christians of the Countrey reckon him a Saint and have commonly a Lamp burning upon his Tomb. Returning the same way back to the Town The House of Ananias you pass by the House of Ananias which is betwixt the East Gate and St. Thomas Gate and there you find fourteen steps down to a Grott which is the place where Ananias instructed St. Paul and taught him the Christian Doctrine And on the left hand is the hole but now stopp'd up by which Ananias went under ground to St. Paul
in the House of Judas They say that the Turks have several times attempted to build a Mosque over that Grott but that all that they had built in the day-time was in the Evening thrown down in an instant You may also go to a little Hermitage two miles from the City where Dervishes live it stands upon a little Hill above a great Village called Salahia Salahia The Cave of the seven Sleepers There you may see the Cave where the seven Sleepers hid themselves when they were Persecuted by Decius who would have made them renounce the Christian Faith and where they slept till the time of Theodosius the Younger This is a very pleasant place and the more that from thence one may see all the Countrey about Damascus Three Leagues from thence towards the way of Baal bel The place where Cain slew his Brother Abel Jobar Elias's Grott is the place where they say Cain slew his Brother Abel and where also they Sacrificed You must also go to a Village called Jobar half a League from the City inhabited only by Jews who have a Synagogue there at the end of which on the right side there is a Grott four paces square with a hole and seven steps cut in the Rock to go down to it They say that this is the place where the Prophet Elias hid himself when he fled from the Persecution of Queen Jezabel The hole by which the Ravens brought him Victuals for the space of forty days The place where Abraham Fought is still to be seen there There are three little Presses in this Grott serving to set three Lamps in A League and a half from thence is the place where as they say the Patriarch Abraham gave Battel to the five Kings who carried away his Nephew Lot Cham. and overcame them Damascus which the Turks call Cham is very well situated seven Rivers run by it and it is encompassed all round almost with two Walls and little Ditches The Houses are not handsome on the out-side being built of Brick and Earth but within they are most Beautiful and have all generally Fountains The Mosques Bagnio's and Coffee-Houses are very fair and well Built But let us return to Nazareth which I passed not hoping to see Damascus by another way as I shall relate hereafter The Reader may find a more ample description of Damascus in the Second Part Of these TRAVELS CHAP. LIX Our return to Acre A Description of Mount Carmel AFter we had seen Nazareth and all that is to be seen about it we took leave of the Father Guardian of Nazareth and parted on Sunday the twelfth of May about two a Clock in the Afternoon Monday the thirteenth of May we parted from Acre about four a Clock in the Evening in a small Bark to go to Mount Carmel ten miles from Acre we had a fair Wind but so high that our Rudder broke which being quickly mended again with some Nails we sailed only with a fore Sail and about six a Clock at night arrived at the Village of Cayphas The Village of Cayphas before which we were taken by the Corsair mentioned before This Village which was formerly a Town stands at the foot of Mount Carmel we went up the Mount and about seven a Clock came to the Convent which is held by barefooted Carmelites The Convent on Mount Carmel There we found two French Fathers and an Italian Brother who had been twenty years there They observe a very severe Rule for beside that they are removed from all Worldly Conversation they neither eat Flesh nor drink Wine and if they need it they must go to another place as the Superiour at that time did for being asthmatick and pining away daily he was forced to go to Acre there to recruit himself for some days Nor do they suffer Pilgrims to eat Flesh in their Convent only they allow them to drink Wine This Convent is not on the top of the Mount where they had a lovely one before the Christians lost the Holy Land the ruines whereof are still to be seen but is a very little one somewhat lower and needs no more but three Monks to fill it who would have much adoe to subsist if they had not some Alms given them by the French Merchants of Acre that go often thither to their Devotions They have possessed this place thirty years since the time they were driven out of it after that the Christians lost the Holy Land it is the place where the Prophet Elias lived and their Church is the very Grott where sometimes he abode which is very neatly cut out of the Rock From this Convent they have an excellent Prospect especially upon the Sea where there is no bounds to their sight About their Convent they have a pretty Hermitage very well Cultivated by the Italian Brother who hath brought all the Earth that is in it thither and indeed it is very pleasant to see Flowers and Fruits growing upon a Hill that is nothing but Rock These good Monks gave us a very neat Collation of nine or ten Dishes of Fruit and then we went to rest in the apartment of the Pilgrims for though it be a very little place yet they have made a small commodious and very neat Lodging for Pilgrims but they must not exceed the number of six Next day the fourteenth of May we performed our Devotions in that holy place and then left the Convent about eight a Clock in the morning that we might go visit the places of Devotion about it Our guide was one of the French Fathers who fearing we might be Robbed by the Arabs made us carry upon our shoulders sticks in the manner of Musquets At a good Leagues distance from the Convent we saw a Well that the Prophet Elias made to spring out of the Ground and a little over it another no less miraculous the waters of both are very pleasant and good The Arabs say that all the while the Monks were absent after they had been Banished from thence they yielded no Water Close by this last Fountain are stately ruines of the Convent of St. Brocard who was sent thither by St. Albert Patriarch of Jerusalem to Reform the Hermites that lived there without rule or community Stone-Melons it hath been a lovely Convent Not far from thence is the Garden of the Stone-Melons and they say that Elias passing that way demanded in Charity a Melon from a man that was gathering some who in contempt answered Elias that they were Stones and not Melons whereupon all the Melons were immediately turned into Stones when I prayed them to conduct me to that Garden They made me answer that they knew not the way but after that they told me privately that they were unwilling to carry me thither because we were too many in company and that there being but few of these Melons there at present if every one took what he listed no more would remain
The Sepulchre of St. Julian The fifth Church is called St. Merlian alias St. Julian the People of the Countrey say that his Body is there in a Sepulchre of most excellent Marble standing behind the Altar made like a Beer or Coffin with a high ridged cover At the four Corners there are four Balls of the same Marble and twelve Crosses round it in Demy Relief This Sepulchre is ten Spans long five broad and as much in height seeming to be all of one entire piece The Sepulchre of Caius Caesar the Nephew of Augustus Six hundred paces West-ward from the Gate called Bab Jeoundy that is to say the Jews Gate there is a Pretty big Pyramid wherein the People of the Countrey believe that Caius Caesar the Nephew of Augustus is buried Upon a Hill to the South of the Town there is a Castle built like that of Ama which I mentioned in the foregoing Chapter but it is not so ruinous though it be uninhabited as well as the other They say that heretofore both of them were held by the Christians who endured long and hard Sieges before they surrendred them to the Turks and that 's the reason that the Grand Signior has commanded that they should not be Repaired nor Inhabited The Han where Travellers lodge is fifteen paces without the Walls of the Town on the North-side from Hemps The next Lodging is at Ama. About half way there is a little Oratory which they say was built by the Franks it is at present Inhabited by a Moorish Scheik A little further there is a ruined Village upon a Hill. Near to that is the Han where Travellers that have a mind to stop there may Lodge After that you pass over a Bridge of ten Arches called Dgeser Rustan that is to say Rustans Bridge which is very neat and has the River Assi running underneath it I have said enough of Ama in the Chapter before The Country of Job Betwixt Hemps and Ama is the Countrey which the People that live there say was inhabited by Job and his Family but half of it is not Cultivated The day following you Lodge at Scheicon Han that is to say the Han Scheick it is a very old Han having on the Gate a Marble-Stone six spans long and four spans broad upon which are engraven six lines in Arabick Characters and on the two sides there are also two round stones of Marble Scheicon Hani upon each whereof there is a Chalice with its Paten very well Engraven From Scheicon Hani you go to Marra of which I have spoken in the preceeding Chapter Next day you go to Han Serakib Upon the Road you see some ruinous Villages whereof that which is most entire is called Han Mercy built in form of a Castle having four Towers in the four Corners three square and one round this Han is four Hours going from Marra and about twenty paces short of it on the left hand you see five great Sepulchres in one whereof a Basha is Interred having his Turban cut in Marble at one end of his Tomb. In an old Building fifteen paces distant from the Gate of that Han Serakib there is a Well almost square which is two and forty Fathom deep before you come at the Water as well as that of Marra about fourscore paces from thence there is a pitiful Village little Inhabited though there be good Land about it Han Touman Sermin From Han Serakib you have a days Journey to Han Touman Upon the Road to the left hand you see a pretty handsome Town called Sermin and three or four ruinous Villages having been forsaken because of the Robberies of the Arabs About forty Years since Han Touman was rebuilt by a Basha of Aleppo called Hisouf Basha who put into it an Aga with fifty Soldiers and ten little Culverines Singa to keep it against the Arabs who formerly committed frequent Robberies thereabouts The River of Aleppo called Singa runs hard by it and turns two Mills not far from thence From Han Touman you go to Aleppo in three or four Hours time CHAP. LXII Our setting out from Acre to Damiette and our meeting with Italian Corsairs From Acre to Damiette WE staid at Acre four days expecting a passage for Damiette but at length finding two Sanbiquers of Cyprus which were both bound for Damiette we resolved to go along with them and having sent for the Reys of that Sanbiquer that was a Greek Monsieur de Bricard the Consul took the pains to make a Bargain for us Sanbiquer and recommended us to him Sanbiquers are Vessels made like Galliotts but longer the Stern and Stem of them are made much alike only in the Poop there is a broad Room under Deck there are several Banks for Rowers according to the length of the Sanbiquer and each Oar is managed by two Men. Ours had twelve Oars on each side but besides it had a great Mast with a very large Sail so that being light Loaded no Galley could be too hard for one of them if their Oars were long enough but they have them very short The Wind offering fair for us we took our Provisions and went on board our Sanbiquer Sunday the nineteenth of May about three a Clock in the Afternoon the other Sanbiquer being in company with us We were much afraid of Corsairs still and especially of him who had taken us before not only because his Men had said That if they had killed us they would not have been obliged to make Restitution of any thing but also least they might have accused us of being the cause that the Turks had come out against them and so used us the worse for that However we met with nothing considerable till next day being Monday the twentieth of May that about Sun-setting we passed by a Tower about twelve Miles from Jaffa when we were come near to that Tower they fired some great and Small shot at us which much surprised us but more when we saw that they made great Fires all along the Coast and especially upon the Towers We knew not the cause of this which I shall tell hereafter only we concluded that they took us for Pirats When we came near to Jaffa we perceived a great Fire upon the Tower and then about nine a Clock at Night offering to put into the Harbour to take in Wood and Water they fired at us both great and small Shot Then our Reys went upon the Poop and called out as loud as he could that he was such a Man Reys of a Sanbiquer calling by Name those whom he knew at Jaffa but we had no other answer from within but Alarga that is to say that we should stand off and with that another Volley of great and small Shot When this Musick had lasted about an Hour they continually Firing and our Reys calling to them and making a heavy Noise the other Sanbiquer stood in nearer than we and
Month of December and at the same time it Thundered so much that the eleventh or twelfth night of the said month a man in the Castle was killed by Thunder though it had never been heard before that Thunder had killed any body at Caire It is cold weather also in December which I found by experience but it is never so cold that one stands in need of a Fire In the other Seasons it is extream hot but especially in Summer From January till March they catch Snipes in Aegypt in May yellow Birds or Nitrials Fowling in Aegypt which are nothing but a lump of Fat and wild-Turtles which are very good but for the house-Pigeons they are good for nothing In September also yellow Birds and Turtles which come again and at the same time Larks that last till the years end This Countrey indeed is not only most fertile but also very pleasant and it is not without reason that I said elsewhere that Aegypt is an Earthly Paradise inhabited by Devils but certainly the oppression the people lye under from their Governours abates much of their Pleasure as I shall say hereafter This Countrey produces a great deal of Corn and Herbs of all sorts but no Fruits nor Wine for it yields but very few Grapes which are of those great red Grapes that have a very thick Skin and little Juice in them Trees of Aegypt Many fair Trees grow there which we have not in this Countrey and especially Palm-Trees and the Sycamores or Fig-Trees of Pharaoh which differ from those Trees we call Sycamores for those of Aegypt are the true Sycamores they bear Figgs that stick to the stock which are not good and yet the Moors for all that eat them there are also Cassia-Trees there which are very lovely they bear always both Blossoms and Fruit the Blossoms of them being yellow and having a very pleasant Scent which may be smell'd at a great distance I wave many other plants as the Colocasse and Papyrus c. which are described in Prosper Alpinus CHAP. LXXIII Of the Manners of the Aegyptians the Woman who pulls Worms out of Childrens Ears and of the Arabick Language Caire Masr or Misr CAire the chief City of Aegypt called in Arabick Masr and in Turkish Misr as the whole Province of Aegypt is whereof it is the Capital is peopled by several different Nations The Nations that Inhabit Caire who may be reduced into some kinds for there are the people of the Countrey who are either Musulmans or Christians the Musulmans of the Countrey are the Moors the Christians and the Cophtes Besides these there are the Stranger Christians Turks and Jews the stranger Christians are either Franks or Greeks I shall here speak first of the Moors after I have said a word or two of the Aegyptians in general The People of the Countrey The manners of the Aegyptians generally speaking both Musulmans and Christians are all swarthy they are exceeding wicked great Rogues Cowardly lazy Hypocrites Buggerers Robbers treacherous very greedy of Money and will kill a man for a Maidin in short no vice comes a miss to them they are Cowards to the highest degree and are very loath to fight but when they fall out they huff scold and make a terrible noise as if they would cut one anothers Throats and nevertheless they refer their controversie to the next man they meet who makes them good Friends again then Spectators and all together for they soon gather to a croud lifting up their Hands say the prayer which they call Fatha I mean when they are Moors and then they are better Friends than ever they were before These wretches are used by the Turks like slaves or rather like Dogs for they govern them with a Cudgel and a Turk will knock a Moor on the head and he not dare to resist and indeed when they speak to a Turk they do it with great respect They labour and cultivate all the Land and yet the Bread they eat is very bad and have not their Bellies full of that neither though it be a most plentiful Countrey and indead they are of so bad a nature that they want to be well beaten and love those the better for it who beat them like Dogs serving very well when they are soundly drubbed whereas they are insupportable and will do nothing when they are gently used Dgibn Halum They live a wretched life their most ordinary Diet being salt Cheese which they call Dgibn Halum with very course Bread their Bread is as broad as our Plates made like thin Buns and consists only of two round pieces of paste and as thin as Parchment clap'd together and shewed to the Fire so that one of them may very well be eaten at three mouthfuls but it is so bad not only for the blackness of it but as being ill kned worse bak'd and full of Coals and Ashes that I could never accustome my self to it It is cheap enough indeed for you may have eight of these Cakes for a Maidin which is worth about three half pence For their Desert or after-course they suck Sugar-Canes they are also great eaters of ordinary Melons water-Melons and the like whereof they have great plenty and many sorts which we have not yet all cannot attain to them though they be extraordinarily cheap They are Apparrelled like the Turks when they are able I mean the Moors for the Christians wear neither any green nor the white Turban but most part of them are half naked and many have no more but a blew shirt upon their body They are a very ignorant sort of people and yet have Secrets which surprize the most knowing many thinking them to be knacks of Magick for to see a man take up a Viper in the Fields handle and stroak it open the mouth of it and put his Finger therein without the least hurt seems very strange to me They bring whole Sacks full of them into the City and sell them to the Apothecaries They come often to the Quarter of the French and boldly thrusting their hand into their Sacks pull out a whole handful of them One day one of these blades handling his Vipers in this manner in the quarter of the French they brought a Pullet and made one of the Vipers bite it which immediately thereupon died so that it evidently appeared that the Moor had something about him which preserved him against their Poyson But I cannot tell what to say of a Moorish Woman who lives in a corner close by the quarter of France A Moorish Woman that pulls Worms out of Childrens Ears and pulls worms out of Childrens Ears When a Child does nothing but cry and that they know it is ill they carry it to that Woman who laying the Child on its side upon her knee scratches the Ear of it and then Worms like those which breed in musty weevely Flower seem to fall out of the Childs Ear then turning it on the
other side she scratches the other Ear out of which the like Worms drop also and in all there may come out ten or twelve which she wraps up in a Linnen-Rag and gives them to those that brought the Child to her who keep them in that Rag at home in their House and when she has done so she gives them back the Child which in reality cries no more She once told me that she performed this by means of some words that she spake There was a French Physician and a great Naturalist there who attentively beheld this and told me that he could not conceive how it could be done but that he knew very well that if a child had any of these Worms in its head it would quickly die In so much that the Moors and other Inhabitants of Caire look upon this as a great Vertue and give her every time a great many Maidins They say that it is a secret which hath been long in the Family There are children every day carried to her roaring and crying and such as would see the thing done need only to follow them provided they be not Musulman Women who carry them for then it would cost an Avanie but when they are Christian or Jewish Women one may easily enter and give a few Maidins to that Worm-drawer The Language that is spoken in Aegypt is the Arabick which is a dialect of the Hebrew but very copious The Arabick Language and the most ample Language that ever I heard spoken and is indeed used in a great many Countreys it is very difficult to be pronounced because it has many guttural words and therefore when the Turks at Constantinople would make themselves merry they make Arabs speak that Language before them and yet it is their holy Language for their Alcoran and all their Prayers are in Arabick it is a common saying with them That the Turkish Language serves in this World the Arabick shall be spoken in Paradise and in Hell the Persian which nevertheless is a fine Tongue and makes the greatest part of the Turkish Poems and Songs but seeing they extreamly hate the Persians they revile every thing that concerns them CHAP. LXXVI Of the Circumcision of the Moorish Females and of the Santo 's of Aegypt THE Moors are Mahometans but they have some Superstitions Circumcision of Moorish Girls which the Turks have not for the Moors Circumcise their Daughters cutting off a little bit of that which is called the Nymphe and that Circumcision is performed by Women The Turks do not do so they only Circumcise their Boys As the Moors are great Hypocrites so have they many sorts of Santo's among them They have dancing Dervishes of whom I wrote when I was at Constantinople but they have a great many others besides these whom they much honour among the rest there are some as horrible as the Dancers are pleasant I saw none of them at Constantinople because they perform their Ceremonies too late though there be some of them towards Tophana but at Caire I have often seen them very easily because they have a little Mosque in the quarter of France They are cloathed much in the same manner as the Dancers and have felt-caps after the same fashion These men say their prayers much oftener than the other Musulmans do but chiefly on Tuesdays and Thursdays about ten or eleven a clock at night They all meet at the Mosque at the call of him who goes up to the top of the Tower then they fall a singing some verses of the Alcoran which they often repeat so that they have enough to last them till day clapping their hands now and then against one anothers playing on certain Drums and such like Instruments but about the middle after they have long sung the Alcoran they all rise upright and put themselves into a Ring one behind another then he who is the chief sings some prayers very loud and in the mean time the rest instantly say over and over almost without fetching breath Allah which is to say God making at every time a very low bow so that their straining to pronounce that word which they draw out from the depth of their Breast without intermission or taking breath with the frequent bending of their Body in these inclinations make them look like men possessed and especially towards the end when being quite out of Breath one of them beats his Drum as fast as he can and the rest pronounce the word Allah as fast and almost as often as he strikes upon his Drum so that they foam like mad Dogs and some with the violence of straining void Blood at the Mouth This lasts about half an hour but towards the end they say no more but Hou that is to say he which is as good as if they had said God because they want strength to pronounce Allah insomuch that to hear them about the end one would think he heard so many Hogs grunting when that is done they sit down as before and take a little rest singing other Prayers then towards the end they start up and begin their sweet Musick again which they do three times and then continue on singing as before I have often been stun'd with this at Rossetto where I fancy they do it more than in any other place for my Chamber-Window looked into their Mosque I lodged in a Han because I would not part from the Chiot Gentleman with whom I came from Chio. But at Caire they have a little Mosque in the quarter of the French in which every Tuesday and Thursday they fall to that Catterwouling about ten a Clock at Night there they may easily be seen from the street standing over against the door of their Mosque for one must have a special care not to enter into it nor indeed to set foot upon the threshold of the door These are a sort of men that take a great deal of pains to damn themselves In their Processions you always see some of these fools who foam at the mouth like mad Men and with shut eyes pronounce the word Hou having a man on each side to support them for fear of falling and they who can keep longest in that Extasie for they think they are in an Extasie are the greatest Saints There are Santo's also in Aegypt who go stark naked many of whom I have seen without the least rag to cover their Nakedness either in Winter or Summer but it is not very cold there and they suffer all their Hair to grow as long as it can for greater Mortification These men are highly honoured and going to the Houses of the chief Persons of the City at dinner-time they sit down at Table dine and so go their way and that is look'd upon as a blessing to the House they are very lascivious Rogues and that for both Sexes and it is no fiction that many Women who cannot be got with Child kiss their Priapus with great veneration nay sometimes
Caire a French Consul a Venetian an English and a Dutch all other Nations that Traffick in that Countrey or in any part of the Turkish Empire go under the Banner of France as the Messines Geneose c. and the French Consul protects them The Consuls in Aegypt have from the Grand Signior a yearly Pension of six thousand Maidins which amount to two hundred Piastres but the Consul of Venice has only two thousand Maidins and yet is obliged to make a Present of about two thousand Piastres to every new Basha whereas the rest are excused for about a thousand for it is the custome when a new Basha comes or a new Consul enters into Office to send the Basha a present of so many Vests and so many besides to some other Officers which are rated at above a thousand Piastres The Consuls expence towards the Basha not reckoning a great many other Vails that are to be given every day almost to the Sous-Basha and several other Knaves When the Consul hath sent his Present he demands Audience of the Basha who having assigned him a day he goes to wait upon him and the Basha makes him to sit down over against him in a Chair or Couch or else near to himself upon a Divan and when the Consul takes his leave the Basha gives him a Vest of Cloath of Tissue to put on and one to the chief Trucheman on whom also he bestows a small Pension and raises the pay of the Consuls Janizaries Herteofore the Consuls had the honour of Beys but at present they are pulled down very low and so little regarded especially in Aegypt that a Basha makes no scruple to put Avanies upon them when he pleases and while I was in Aegypt I knew the Turks and Jews squeeze from the French Nation above fourscore or an hundred thousand Piastres in one year because the Jews are very powerful in Aegypt and govern all the affairs of that Kingdom the Customes being in their hands and they being the only Serats or Bankers Besides that they enjoy some Offices about the Basha which make them have his Ear and they daily put new inventions into his Head for raising of Avanies He has three principal Officers to wit the Basha's Schelebi which is an Office instituted within these few years the Saraf Basha and the Saraf of the Basha who set their Wits continually a devising and think of nothing else but of ways how to persecute the poor Franks A Turk told me one day that the Jews were the Turks Hounds for catching Money from the Franks for the Turks of themselves are neither malicious nor cunning enough to chase the Prey but when once the Jews have made sure of the Game the Turks come in and carry all away I have known the Consuls several times put in Prison and always most unjustly An English Merchant-man bound for Aegypt was met and pursued by six Turkish Ships coming from Candie An Avanie upon the English Consul in the Chase he fired several Guns and killed three Janizaries but so soon as the Ships arrived in Aegypt and this was known the English Consul was put into Prison and for some days kept there but this is nothing in respect of what happened some time after The Turks having freighted two French Ships with goods in Alexandria An unlucky business for the Franks in Aegypt the one commanded by Captain Durbequi and the other by Captain Civilliers and one English Ship to all which they gave a good Freight Captain Durbequi instead of going to Constantinople as he ought to have done went to Legorn with a design to make the best of his Cargoe Captain Civilliers and the English Captain followed the Example upon this Ships durst not come from Christendom to Aegypt fearing the loss might be revenged upon them but in the mean time the Jews having had advice from Legorn that the Ships were arrived in that Port presently acquainted the Basha with it who at that time dissembling his Indignation sent an Aga to assure the Consuls that the Ships of their Countrey were in no Danger and that they might come as freely and with as much safety as they did before entreating the Consuls to send this advice into Christendom each Consul presented the Aga with a Vest to the value of fifty Piastres for it is a general rule that Aga's never come in Message to any person whatsoever Consul or private man Christian or Turk but they must be presented according to the merit of the business whether good or bad A few days after when they thought that the Consuls had sent Letters into Christendom according to the orders sent to them on which the Consuls did really rely one morning an Aga with a Chiaoux and such other Rogues came to their several Houses and halling them out like Thieves and Robbers by force put them upon ugly Horses without allowing them time to dress themselves one being in his Slippers and another in his Night-Cap and with all imaginable rigour carried them Prisoners to the Castle being even in danger of being knocked on the Head in the Streets for the Villains spead about a report that the Franks had robbed the Grand Signior's Money which much incensed the People The Dutch and Venetian Consuls were carried away in the same manner though they were not at all concerned in the business but they were no sooner come into the Castle when they were sent home again to their Houses though for all that it cost them an hundred Piastres a piece to the Aga's and Chiaoux as a reward for the pains they had been at The other two Consuls lay several days in Prison nay and were for the first day put in Chains and at length were not released till their Nations paid great sums for their liberty and promised the Basha to pay within a few Months the value of the Ships Loadings for which all the Merchants were obliged under hand and Seal If the Capitulations made by Monsieur de Breves were observed such violences would not be used as I my self have seen practiced by the Sous-Basha who sent his Officers one night into the quarter of the French some Merchants walking then in the open place which is at the end of their Quarter having perceived them coming retired to their homes but the Villains pursuing them to the very tops of their Houses halled them out and with all the speed they could dragged them to a nasty Prison upon pretext that they had found them abroad at unseasonable hours for it is prohibited to walk abroad in the streets in the Night-time but the French are excepted by the Capitulations which specifie that the Sous-basha is not to enter into their Quarter They ran away with them in all haste for fear they might be taken from them and to make them run the faster each of them was led by two Cowas one holding one Arm and the other the other Cowas These Cowas are Moorish Recors
or Officers tall strong fellows who wear no other Cloaths but blew-Shirts sewed close like Womens Smocks they carry staves as long as themselves and as big as a Mans Arm and when they carry any man to Prison they give him now and then a blow with their Cudgel which they hold in both hands by the end that they may lay on the better Thus were these Gentlemen dragg'd away each of them by two of these great Devils who emptied their pockets by the way and pulled even the Rings off of their Fingers but what was worst of all other Cowas followed them at the back who so banged their fides with their poles that they were forced to keep their Beds for some days after In the mean time the other Merchants who thought that if they let them alone till next day the Charges would be the greater went immediately with the Consul though it was eleven a clock at night to the Sous-Basha and presented him with a Purse in consideration whereof he released the Prisoners and let them go home with the rest Two days after the Basha threatened to Imprison the fame Merchants under pretext that the Sous-Basha's Officers had found them with Women though it was false and though they could draw no evidence of the matter from some Barberins whom the Sous-Basha's men found at the same time in the French Quarter and purposely clap'd into Prison when they apprehended the French Merchants however it cost them three Purses more to take up that affair Monsieur Honore de Bermond in whose Family the Consulship of Egypt continued for many years had a design to remedy all these Disorders who being a man of Resolution and very well beloved in that Countrey purposed to raise his Office to as high a pitch as ever it had been and for that end sent his Chief Trucheman to Constantinople with instructions to sollicite the Grand Signior for several Orders and among the rest for one to have two or three of the chief Jews Hanged before their own Doors in Caire thereby to terrify the rest from putting their tricks upon the French and another of no less importance to wit that the Jews should not demand from the French repayment of the money they had lent them because they had received double the principal in Interest for they take one percent Usury a month adding the Interest to the Principal every month which amounts to considerable gains doubling almost the debt in twenty six months time He spared not Money to accomplish these things and would easily have obtained them if Monsieur de Begue had not come at that time for his coming broke all the others measures bred a confusion among the Nation and cost them above threescore thousand Piastres for he promised the Basha great sums of Money to admit of him to be Consul and to send off Monsieur de Bermond who for some time was obliged to give way to that violence Had he obtained these orders from the Port they might have contributed somewhat to the preventing of so many Avanies but the best course that could be taken would be to have the Capitulations made by Monsieur de Breves with Sultan Amurat at that time Grand Signior renewed at Constantinople It is true that would cost a round sum of Money for the Turks do nothing gratis but then it would exempt from Indignities such as go into those Countries that are remote from Constantinople as Caire in Egypt is When a Frank goes along the streets you shall have one rascally Moor spit in his face another give him a blow with a Cudgel and in the mean time he dares not so much as look them in the face for fear of a present Avanie for many times after they have beaten a Christian or it may be given him a stab with a knife though the Christian hath not revenged himself they 'll go and complain to the Cady saying that the same Christian hath beaten them and to lift the hand against a Turk is a Crime that deserves with them the cutting off of the hand but the matter must presently be compounded for Money and the longer it is delayed the more it will cost nay you shall see a Turk who having killed a Christian that did him no hurt go and complain to the Cady that that Christian had beaten him or blasphemed against the Law of Mahomet which is a Crime for which a Christian must be burnt or turn Turk and though commonly the Cady knows very well that all is false yet he still Condemns the Christians that he may get money and if the party who is so unhappy have nothing to give they Charge the Nation with it and exact it from them by force I saw also a Woman who passing by a French man purposely josled him Diverse sorts of Avanies and then went and complained that he struck her a blow on the breast and that she had a big Belly which cost him an hundred Piastres There are likewise Rascals who will inform against a Christian that they saw him with a Woman but that they could not apprehend him because he made his escape and they want not false Witnesses for that if it be a Turkish Woman with whom he is accused to have been he must turn Turk or Burn for it if it be a Christian or Jewish Woman the rigour is not so great but whether Turk Christian or Jew that as any other Vanie is compounded for Money In short they 'll do any thing to suck Money from the poor Franks obliging those who live near to them even to keep their Windows always shut pretending that they would not have them look upon their Wives but in reality to get some Present from them I could make a whole Book of the Avanies which I have seen practised when I was in that Countrey but it is sufficient to have mentioned some to shew how much these Rascals despise and insult over us I wave this among others that all Christians whether they be Franks or not must have a care to alight from their Asses Mehkieme not only when they pass by the Mehkieme which is the Hall of Justice but also when the chief of the Scherifs passes or when they meet several Persons of Quality and especially the Black Eunuchs coming from the Grand Signior's Serraglio who are Men of Power now seeing these Devils are very proud they have always a great Train with them and make the Christians render them that testimony of Respect which nevertheless is not their due but a Custome abusively introduced but if a Christian did not alight as they passed by their Cowas would dismount him and drub him soundly with their Cudgels CHAP. LXXVII Of the Vestments which the Greek Patriarch of Alexandria wears when he Celebrates A Greek Patriarch in Alexandria I Have but little to say of the Greeks in this place having spoken of them elsewhere There are many of them in Aegypt and
We ran at a great rate in this manner for the space of three hours then the Wind turned West which brought us a Flurry with a great scud of Rain for half a quarter of an hour but the main Wind was easie enough and with it we bore away North-west in the evening the Wind freshened a little and we steered the same Course till about ten or eleven a Clock at Night that we tackt and stood away South-west About midnight we had a sudden gust of Wind with Hail and Rain which was so violent that it laid the Ship on her side and if she had been a small Vessel would certainly have overset her it tore the Main-sail in pieces and blew so very hard that the Sea-men could not furl their Sails but at length all Hands coming aloft they made a shift to furl them till the storm was over They saw the Flurry a coming and then they should have minded their Sails so that we needed not to have feared any damage but through Laziness they let them alone saying that perhaps it might pass over them In fine we spent the Carnaval in this manner dancing more than enough in spight of our Teeth and without Musick When the storm was over we spread all our Sails and tackt about again Northwards with the same West-north-west Wind until Friday the one and twentieth of February that the Wind turning South-west we bore away West-north-west till after Dinner that the Wind got into the North-north-west and we stood away West This lasted till Saturday the two and twentieth of February when we were becalmed and in the Evening the Wind turned North-west and by west but an easie Gale and we steered South-west till Sunday the three and twentieth of February that the Wind turned Northerly but so gently that it look'd like a Calm and we steered our course West-north-westward we were afterwards becalmed until Evening when we had an easie North-east Gale which freshened a little in the Night-time and in stead of steering away West which was our Course we stood away North-north-west to bear in with the Gulf of Venice where we hoped to have found a North-wind that would have carried us streight to Tunis We kept that Course till Tuesday the five and twentieth of February when the Wind blew so hard that we made nine or ten Miles an hour always North-west for fear of being carried to far to the Leeward and losing the Wind This Wind lasted all Wednesday the twenty sixth of February and Thursday morning the twenty seventh we made Malta which we left to the Starboard running betwixt Tripoly and Malta leaving Lampedosa and Linosa to the Larboard Linosa Linosa is about seventy Miles distant from Malta We saw them not because we passed them in the Night-time Our Lady of Lampedosa is well known and Reverenced both by Turks and Christians and though I had not the satisfaction to go ashoar there yet I will say two or three words of it CHAP. LXXXVIII Of Lampedosa and Pantalaria Of several Corsairs we met with and our Arrival before Goletta LAmpedosa is a little Isle or Rock of small Circumference Lampedosa about an hundred Miles distant from Malta It is an Island that produces nothing and is only inhabited by Coneys but because there is good Water upon it and a good Harbour Ships put in there for Fresh-water In that Isle there is a little Chappel wherein there is an Image of the Blessed Virgin which is much Reverenced both by Christians and Infidels that put ashoar there and every Vessel always leaves some present upon it Some Money others Bisket Oyl Wine Gun-powder Bullets Swords Musquets and in short all things that can be useful even to little cases and when any one stands in need of any of these things he takes it and leaves Money or somewhat else in place thereof The Turks observe this practice as well as the Christians and leave Presents there As for the Money no body meddles with that and the Galleys of Malta go thither once a year and take the Money they find upon the Altar which they carry to our Lady of Trapano in Sicily I was told that six Christian Ships having some time since put into that Port and that when they had watered the Wind offering fair they all sailed out of the Port except one which having set sail with the rest could not get out at which the Master was strangely surprised However taking patience he waited for another more favourable Wind which offering he attempted to get out again but as yet he could not which seemed very strange to him and therefore he resolved to make a search in his Ship whereby he found that one of his Soldiers had stollen something in that place which being carried back again he made sail and got easily out of the Harbour Many Miracles are wrought in that place at the intercession of our Blessed Lady which are not so much as doubted of neither by Christians nor Turks We past that Island then with the same Wind which lasted till Friday the eight and twentieth of February when we were becalmed about three a Clock in the morning the Wind leaving us pretty near Pantalaria Pantalaria is a little Island about twelve or fourteen Miles in Circuit it is distant from Malta about an hundred and thirty Miles and is fruitful in Wine Fruits and Cotten It belongs to the King of Spain who keeps a Spanish Governour in it that lives in the Castle which as the Turks told me is so strong that two hundred Galleys could not take it About two a Clock in the Afternoon we had a Gale at North-north-east and we stood away West About three in the Afternoon we made two Ships to the Windward which bore down upon us with full sail they were got already so near us that we wondred we had not made them sooner We made ready to receive them the best way we could in the short times warning we had Immediately we launched our two Boats then cleared the Gun-Deck of Chests Hamocks and of all incumberances that our Guns might have freedom to play so that in a trice the Deck look'd like a great Hall all the Goods and Baggage were laid aloft on the Poop and upon the upper Deck but betwixt the Masts that they might not hinder the execution of our Guns Scopa Coperta The Main-yard was chained to the Main-mast all the great Guns loaded every one took his Musquet and Bandileers and all with so much expedition that by that time they were got within Cannon shot of us we were ready The headmost Ship put out Red Colours and then all took them for Spaniards because we were so near Sicily For though we perceived the Turkish Colours yet we knew that Corsairs have all sorts of Colours on board and put out many times false ones that they may the more easily surprise We put out English Colours which they saluted with a Gun without shot and
about it all the while with West-north-west and North-winds Our Mates told us that they were always a long time in doubling that Cape and sometimes spent three Weeks about it About five a Clock in the Evening we Sailed betwixt the Isle of Zimbre and an Isle or Rock that is almost mid-way betwixt the Main-land and Zimbre Zimbre Zimbre is Inhabited has convenient Anchorage by it and good Water in it From Zimbre it is but forty Miles to Goletta Having passed Zimbre we stood off from Land intending not to enter Goletta till next day because of the many Flats that are on that Coast Friday night and Saturday morning the eighth of March we had greater gusts of Wind and Rain than before and if we had not doubled the Cape we must have been a long time still before we could have done it considering the Weather that happened afterward During these storms a Moor on board of us died who had been ill of a Bloody Flux almost ever since the beginning of our Voyage and next morning he was thrown over-board At length on Saturday the eighth of March about seven a Clock in the Morning we came into the Port or rather the Road of Goletta for it is not a Harbour but a Road that lies open to the South east Wind and in all Barbary there are but two good Ports to wit Porto Farina Porto Farina Porto Stera Biserta Vtica and Porto Stera The Harbour for the Galleys of Tunis is Biserta a little Town threescore Miles from Tunis Biserta was formerly called Vtica and here it was that Cato killed himself wherefore he was called Cato Vticensis We came to an Anchor near a Point of Land where the Sepulchre of Dido is The Sepulchre of Dido Marabout and a Marabout or Sheick is Interred there So soon as we had dropt Anchor Don Philippo sent ashoar one of his Men who having informed a poor Moor whom he met that Don Philippo was arrived the poor Man ran with all the speed he could to the Town to carry the news to Don Philippo's Mother who was overjoyed thereat and gave him twenty Crowns for a Reward he was no more expected at Tunis and it was thought he was gone back again into Christendom having been absent almost two Years Sunday the ninth of March we went ashoar and when Don Philippo left the Ship they fired fifteen Guns He found several Men on Horse-back and amongst them all his Brothers who were come out to receive him CHAP. LXXXIX Of Goletta and our Arrival at Tunis Goletta GOletta is no more but two Castles whereof the one was built by the Emperour Charles the fifth and the other by Ahmet Dey the Father of Don Philippo who perceiving that the Galleys of Malta came and took ships in the Road without any damage from the Guns of the Castle built this last which is very low and has seven or eight great Gun-holes two foot above the Water by which the Guns play level with the surface of it This Castle is round on the side next the Sea and that of Charles the fifth is almost square Between these two Castles there are three Houses one belonging to the Family of Don Philippo the other to the Bey and the other to Schelebi the Son of Hisouf Dey who is called barely Schelebi because he was Born during the time his Father Reigned When we had refreshed our selves a little in the House of Don Philippo we took Boat and went to Tunis by the Canal or rather Lake which in the beginning is very narrow there being many Canes fixed all round in the bottom of the Water for catching of Fish afterwards it grows very wide It is not commonly above five span deep in Water then it was very shallow and had many dry places in it which with the least Wind are quickly covered and that very high with Water Don Philippo went by Land with his company mounted on a stately Horse that was brought him The first thing we saw upon that Water was a Hill to the left hand very near the Sea-side where there are natural Baths of Water almost boyling hot There is a Bagnio built there and it is called Hamarmulf Hamarmulf Zagouam then a little further on upon the same side they shewed us a high Hill called Zagouam which is a great way from this Lake and a days Journey distant from Tunis there there is a little Town of Tagarins or Andalaous called also Zagouam When the Christians possessed that Countrey there were Aqueducts that brought Water from thence to the City of Carthage at present they are broken but some Arches with the Fountains and Cisterns still remain to be seen As we came near to Tunis we saw a great many Olive-Trees and abundance of other Trees which denote a good Countrey In four hours time we arrived at Tunis though with a little wind they go it many times in two hours but we were many times imbayed By Land it is eighteen miles from Goletta to Tunis If they pleased they might make a good Port at Tunis but then the Town would not be so strong or at least not so secure From the place where you Land it is a mile still to the Town where being arrived we went to lodge at the House of Monsieur Le Vacher a Perisian Priest and Father of the Mission who was then Consul for the French and he received us very Affectionately CHAP. XC Of the Countrey-Houses and other places that are to be seen about Tunis TWO days after our arrival Don Philippo sent for us to shew us a Countrey-House he had half a League from the Town The Countrey about Tunis is full of these Countrey Houses which are built like the Bastides about Marseilles Don Philippo's is very pretty it is built in form of a square Tower and higher than any about it from the Hall to the top of the Tower there are an hundred and eleven steps up and from thence there is an excellent Prospect which discovers on all hands a lovely Plain reaching out of sight full of Olive-Trees In it there is a great Hall open above with covered Galleries round it which have the Roof supported by several Pillars In the middle of this open place there is a great reservatory of Water which serves for several Water-works All this place is adorned with Marble as also all the Halls and Chambers which are beautified with Gold and Azure and very pleasant Plaister-work there being Fountains every where that play when one pleases One should also see the Bardes which are three Houses built by the Bey for his three Sons a League from Tunis This Bey is as it were the Basha's Farmer to whom he gives so much of the Revenue due to the Grand Signior in the Countrey which he gathers and the rest he keeps to himself He was not at that time Bey but Basha and his eldest Son was Bey In these Houses
we travelled all day long mounting through very good Corn-fields and the rest of the ground by the road that was not sowed was covered over with Daffadils and Furzes in the blossom Daffadils and Furzes with other like shrubs that yielded a very pleasant prospect So soon as we were arrived a Tchorbadgi of Damascus encamping hard by under a Tent being informed of the Moucre that there was a Franck there sent for me and having treated me with Coffee asked me if I had any relation to Monsieur Bermond a Chirurgeon of Marseilles who negotiated some Affairs at Damascus for the Merchants of Saide I told him I was without mentioning in what degree for our Kindred is onely derived from the Patriarch Noah He told me that he was his friend and made me to understand several times that if I had a mind to buy ashes he would be my merchant but all my answer was that I was too poor to be a Merchant and that my business was to go to my Kinsman Labatia is a miserable little Village where we could not find lodging Labatia and the best accommodation we had to lie in was a little place at the end whereof there was a pane of a Wall our Mules were made fast hard by and we posted our selves near the Wall in the open Air. Next day being Wednesday the twenty sixth of March we parted about five in the Morning the ground being frozen with a sharp cold Wind. Our way was bad and still upwards and we soon came in sight of a Castle upon a high hill before us The Castle of Skheip Sefet a Town which is called Skheip and is pretty large and square it depends on Sefet which is but two days Journey from it That Castle is strong by scituation for it is inaccessible but yet was inhabited VVe left it to the right and went a great way to find out a descent into a place from whence we saw a very deep Valley where a River runs which they call Leitani Leitani a River that makes many turnings and windings it is at least five fathom broad and very rapid During a quarter of an hour we descended by a very dangerous way for the least false step was enough to make one tumble down into the River and that from a great height too Being come down we kept along that VVater following the current and a little from thence crossed it upon a stone-Bridge of two Arches about three fathom high which is called Hardala A Caffare at Hardala There Passengers pay a Piastre and a half a head I mean the Christians for Turks do not pay so much Having passed the Bridge we stood off a little from the VVater still ascending and had in view the Hill that we had left on the other side which appeared pleasanter unto us than when we were upon it for it was very high and streight and all covered over with Trees After we had travelled about half an hour in ways where it would have been very dangerous to fall we came just over against the Castle of Skheip which is upon a very high and steep Hill Some time after we came into a Plain and an hour after to another far larger but uncultivated and full of stones as the former was though both looked very green In this Plain we met a Caravan of Camels loaded each with a Mill-stone I was told that these stones came from Oran Oran which is five days Journey from thence and that they carried them to Saide to be transported into Egypt Having past that Plain we came over bad way to a stone Bridge of three Arches lying over a Brook four or five fathom broad when we had crossed it we mounted by a worse way full of stones bad enough to make Mules that were not loaded to break their Necks and that lasted till we came to our Lodging at Banias where we arrived two hours after during all that way besides stones we had a great many torrents and such dirty deep ground that the Mules often stuck Banias This Village of Banias is very inconsiderable nevertheless when heretofore the Christians were Masters of it it was a good Town it lies at the foot of a Hill on the top whereof there is a great Castle uninhabited this place depends on the Basha of Damascus VVe found no better Lodging here than the Night before for having crossed a square Court we entered under a Vault two foot deep of Horse-dung and dust mingled together our Lodging was appointed us in that place and seeing the Court was vaulted all round under which they had put the Mules and a Caravan of Asses we were so incommoded there that so soon as the Beasts began to stir they raised a dust that spoilt all the Victuals we had prepared to eat all the pleasure we had came from a little door that opened towards the side of a River that runs by it and which is at least three fathom broad but very shallow though it be rapid it is called the River of Banias Next morning about five a Clock we left that nasty Lodging and after about an hours mounting upwards turning by very bad ways though the Land about was sowed we found ourselves just opposite to our Lodging having betwixt us and it a very deep Valley agreeable by its verdure and the many Trees it is filled with which are watered by a River that runs through it A little after we saw the Castle of Banias in its full extent which is large and strong VVe still mounted during the space of an hour by ways that were better than the former but we had the lovely Valley always in sight and on the road there were a great many Trees which by their verdure and shade lessened somewhat of the fatigue The truth is there was no false step to be made there because the way being very smooth and slopeing to the very bottom of the Valley one could not stop before he came to the bottom By the way we found many wild Chestnut-trees withered and without leaves and yet bearing their fruit Having descended a little we entered into a large Plain and having passed it and mounted a little amongst Trees we found stony Plains where it behoved us to march on untill about three of the Clock after Noon in the worst way imaginable for they were all great stones amongst which there was no place for a Mule to set his foot After Noon it was a little better but we saw no sowed Land all the ground about being still full of a prodigious number of stones Nevertheless our Monkires would needs have me believe that heretofore Vines had grown there Indeed in several places there are still to be seen some Hovels like to Hen-houses made of stones piled one upon another where it might be thought that they who dressed the Vines retired but since that time some Medusa's head must needs have past over these grounds or
so he might save the Caffare After Sun-set he sent for me and I crossed the Bridge where the wheels are mentioned by Belon and Pietro della Valle which draw the Water that supplies the whole Town It is the Orontes still that runs there but I cannot tell how many Arches the Bridge has for I crossed it in the Night-time My Moucre was encamped so near that all Night long we had the musick of these wheels which mingling with the Bells of our Mules as they were feeding represented very well the chiming of the Bells of a little Countrey-Church of which the wheels made the base We parted from Hama on Sunday the twenty seventh of April at break of day leaving the Caravan of Powder at Hama where the way to Constantinople strikes off from that of Aleppo we continued our way still Northwards going to the right amongst the hills where hardly had we advanced half an hour before we entered a Plain which on all sides reaches out of sight and abounds in Pasture About Eight of the Clock we passed close by a Village Taibit El-Hama Lachmi called Taibit-El-Hama and about ten we found another called Lachmi but it is forsaken because of the Robberies of the Arabs At eleven we discovered some Trees and from Damascus to that place I had not seen one unless it were in the Gardens of the Towns and Villages and indeed wood is very dear on that road Salisbury-plain not being barer of Trees than that Countrey is Han Scheikhoun A little after towards Noon we arrived at Han Scheikhoun before which we encamped finding our selves better abroad under Tents than within though that Han which stands alone be pretty enough The first entry into it is by a Gate that looks to the West which leads into a large square Court and on the right hand as you enter there is a little door by which you enter into a Stable divided in length by a range of Arches that reach from one end to the other but it is not covered At the other end of the Court almost opposite to this door there is a little house inhabited and on the left hand in the middle of the Wall there is a great Gate which leads into another Court as large as the first where there are half paces covered for Lodging of Travellers Over the Gate of that second Court there is a great square Building of pretty good work in form of a Tower with a Dungeon before it and the Dome of the Mosque is in the middle There the Aga lodges for this is a Castle depending on the Basha of Aleppo Some hundreds of paces Northwards from thence behind a Hillock there is a Village of the same Name with the Han. We parted from that place the same day about ten a Clock at Night and in our way all Night long we found a great many shallow Cisterns dug on little Hillocks for receiving the Rain-water and at the foot of the Hillock there is another opening by which they goe down three or four steps to take the Water we found already the day before some of these which are made for the Arabs and Shepherds Next day being Monday the 28th of April about two in the morning we passed by a ruinated Han called Han Hherte Han Hherte and at break of day arrived at the Town of Marra encamping just before the Han. Marra That Town is at most but a good Village we could hardly find bread in it and there is nothing to be seen on all hands but Cellars and ruined Vaults the best thing is the Han which is well built of Free-stone it is a large square Court round which there is a Portico wherein are Mastabez seeing I often make use of that Term which is the proper word of the Countrey though I have already I think made known what it means nevertheless for the satisfaction of the Reader I tell him once more that a Mastabe is a kind of a half pace that 's to say that the Floor is raised two or three foot from the ground and there the Travellers lodge In the middle of the Court of this Han there is a little Mosque with a Dome covered with Lead at the end of it there is a little Court round which runs a Portico the Roof whereof is supported on each side by two Arches separated by a Pillar between the two close by there is a Bagnio with a large Dome covered with Lead but it is shut and useless for want of Water Next you 'l find a covered street where there is a Coffee-house and five or six Shops on each side and at the farther end are four Arches the remains of an Aqueduct which butted almost in a right Angle upon these four Arches it was carried thither from a Mosque some hundreds of paces distant in the fields where there was a Wheel to draw Water out of a Brook that ran by it which came from the Countrey towards Antioch This Aqueduct brought the Water behind the upper part of the covered street into the Bagnio that is joyned on the one side to the Street and on the other side to the Han it was built of rough Stone as the Arches that still remain are which at the other end are joyned to the great Mosque This great Mosque hath six little Domes the Roofs rough cast and at the end of it there is a pretty fair Minaret The rest of the Town is altogether beggarly It had also another Han of which nothing now remains but the Gate and some Arches which daily run into decay The houses are scattered here and there and no better than Owls-nests the Walls are of Stones two or three foot high piled one upon another without any Art on all hands there are great large Free-stones and pieces of Pillars to be seen some of which still retain some fragments of inscriptions Amongst these Ruines I saw a door about four foot high and half a foot thick with crosses and roses cut upon it it is all of one piece with its hooks which enter into holes purposely made above and below That door is of a greyish Stone very hard as the sides to which it shuts are and it requires no less than two men to open and shut it it is still in case and daily made use of Marra heretofore was a good Town but the Turkish Tyranny is the cause of its desolation they say that the Ruines of a Church built by the Christians when they were Masters of that Town are still to be seen there but because it is at some distance in the Countrey I did not go thither The Francks in this place pay four Piastres for Caffare and we stopt there all that day because the Turks celebrated the Bairam the Moon having appeared the Evening before We parted not then till Tuesday the nine and twentyeth of April at two of the Clock in the Morning about break of
day we passed by a Han called Han Merai near to which there is a good Village Han Merai About an hour after we found another called Han Herbe with a Village close by it Han Herbe and not far from thence a third About Eight in the Morning we came and encamped near to another called Han Serahheb The other three as well as this are all called Han Serahheb that 's to say the Hans of Wells because in the Fields near to these Hans there are several Wells whose Mouths are even with the ground but this last has more particularly the Name of Serahheb Han Serahheb It is in bad order most of the Vaults being ruined but has a Village close by it On that road we saw a great many Olive-trees and that was the second time that we found Trees since we came from Damascus We parted from thence the same day immediately after Sun-set and about Eleven a Clock at Night Zarbel passed by a Village called Zarbel where there is a Han. We had an allarm in that place because he that marched before with a Lanthorn cried out that he saw Horse-men which made us prepare to receive them but none came Han Toman Wednesday the thirtieth of April about break of day we passed by Han Toman and three hours after arrived at the City Aleppo where so soon as I alighted I went to the great Han to lodge with Mousieur Bertet as civil a Man as lives and as zealous to serve his Friends as his Brothers are who were then at Marseilles who have all shew'd me particular Kindnesses Monsieur Bertet who resides at Aleppo had obliged me by his advice and care when I was at Damascus and therefore I thanked Monsieur Baron who had the goodness to offer me his Lodging and accepted of the former Monsieur Baron was at that time Consul for France and discharged that Office with honour and universal Approbation CHAP. VII Of Observations of Aleppo Aleppo SEeing Aleppo which I take to be the Ancient Baerea is one of the most considerable Cities of the Ottoman Empire in Asia by reason of Trade I will describe what I observed in it as exactly as possibly I can This town is distant from Alexandretta or Scanderoon Alexandretta that lies Westward from it about two and twenty Leagues and from Euphrates which it hath to the East betwixt eight and twenty and thirty This Alexandretta which serves it for a Sea-port on the Mediterranean Sea is the Ancient Hierapolis Degrees of heat at Aleppo It is very hot in Aleppo and the first day of June at Noon I found by my Thermometre that the heat was at the thirtieth Degree The Air. The Air is thin and wholsom so that about the end of May they begin to lie in the Night-time upon Terrasses untill the middle of September and that without any fear of danger or hurt for during all that time there is no Dew and they say that in the Months of May June and July there is no Cloud to be seen nevertheless whilst I was there we had Clouds often and Rain too which all wondered at The circumference of Aleppo I went the Circuit of Aleppo twice once on horse-back and another time on foot the first time I thought that in a large hour one might walk round it on foot and indeed having undertaken to do it my self with a friend keeping close by the Walls on the outside it took us up but an hour and a quarter and if we had not stopped to look about us we had certainly performed it in an hour or little more We left the Suburbs and went through the middle of Dgedid Dgedid a Suburbs which is a kind of a Burrough or Suburbs lately built as its Name implies for in Arabick it signifies new The Christians of the Countrey lodge in that quarter but there are several Turks also among them and the houses are well built The Maronites Armenians Greeks and Syrians have each of them a Church there This Suburbs lies betwixt the Gates Bab-El-Feradge and Bab-El-Nasre and is pretty near the Burying-place of the Christians The Walls of Aleppo The Walls of this City are not strong though they stand upon a Rock and there are houses built close by them The Gates of Aleppo The City of Aleppo hath ten Gates to wit Bab-Antakie the Gate of Antakia by which they go to Antakia or Antioch it looks to the West and North-West Bab-El-Dgenain the Gate that leads to a Village called Genain it looks also West-North-West Bab-El-Feradge the Gate of fair prospect because passing out at it one has a sight of several Gardens it looks likewise West-North-West Bab-El-Nasre the Gate of Victory because by that Gate the Turks entered the Town when they made themselves Masters of it the Christians call it St. George's Gate it looks North-East Bab-El-Barcousa otherwise Bab-El-Hadid or Iron-gate it looks East-South-East Bab-El-Ahmar the red Gate it looks to the South-East Bab-El-Atame the dark Gate it looks to the South-East but it has been stopt up not long since because much mischief was done there Bab-El-Nairem the Gate that leads to Nairem it looks to the South-East Bab-El-Macam so called from a Santo of that Name buried hard by it is also called Damascus Gate and looks to the South Bab-Kennesrim from the Name of a Captain that kept it in time of the Christians it is also called the Prison-Gate because the Prisons are near to it it looks to the South-West My meaning is that the City in those places where these Gates are looks to these Quarters of the World for some of the Gates look along the Walls Without the Prison's Gate there are a great many fair large Caves cut in the Rock which are wide and have a very high Roof reaching above an Hundred paces into the Rock They make ropes in the mouths of them and lay Grapes there also a drying to make Brandy of This Rock is white and pretty soft Seeing my curiosity led me to see all that could be seen they took me one day to a place called Scheik Bakir from the Name of the Founder Scheik Bakir it is a very pleasant convent of Dervishes You enter into a Court where there is a Fountain with a lovely Bason on the right hand at the end of the Court there is a fair large Hall covered with a great Dome paved with lovely greyish Marble and on the left hand stands the Mosque covered with a Dome The Water they have in that house is forced by Pousseragues From thence we past by the Garden of Sultan Amurat which signifies but little and then went to refresh our selves at the Fish-well The Fish-well which is a Court surrounded with Walls where there are a great many plane-Trees and a Canal wharfed with Marble that is filled with Water from a very good Spring hard by and that Water
Damascus Kfr. and is by others called Malhomar Some of it was sent in my time Malhomar from Aleppo to Venice for the same purpose it was sent for by a Merchant residing in Venice who had formerly lived at Aleppo I remember that I have read upon that Subject in the History of Stones written by Anselmus Boetius de Boot in the Chapter of the Lythanthrax or Pit-coal that the Boors of the Countrey of Liege make an Oyntment of Pit-coal wherewith they anoint the Eyes of the Stocks of their Vines least the insects should gnaw them Mixto oleo hic carbo emolliter eoque unguento Agricolae vites oblinunt ne earum oculi ab insectis erodantur I was told that in Cyprus and many other places of Turkey they use a little drug for the same ends At Aleppo when the Grapes are ripe they bring them to the Town Grapes in Sacks of Goats hair without breaking though sometimes they be brought eight French Leagues from that City These Grapes have a very thick Skin are all white and make a very strong Wine the best time to gather them is in the Month of May. All buy as many as they stand in need of for making of Wine for it is the Custom of the Inhabitants of Aleppo that every one makes his own Wine in his own house after this manner The way of making Wine at Aleppo They put the Grapes into a great square fat of wood where they press them with mens feet and then the Wine runs into a Pale or a shallow Tub through a hole and strainer at the bottom of the fat When it is all run out they put it with the Lees into very large Earthen Jarrs where it works for thirty or forty Days these Jarrs are covered onely with a Board and a Cloath over it without any fear of its taking vent In this manner they leave it as long as they please nay sometimes a whole Year carefully stirring it every day And when they have a mind to drink it they draw it off provided the time at least wherein it was to work be over and they put it with the lees again into the fat where they strain it a second time When it runs no more they put the lees into a bag and press them in the same press with mens Feet till no more come out and what comes out runs into the rest Then they spread the Stalks of the Grapes that have been so prest in the fat and pour upon them all the Wine again and so let it run through a third time This being done it is clear fit for drinking and hath no lees They then barrel it up and in that manner make Wine at Aleppo all the months of the year but as I have already said it is onely White-wine for there are no red nor black Grapes in all those Quarters The Christians in that City make very good Brandy but they who sell it are obliged to put about six Drachms of Alum into a Bucket full of Brandy to make it stronger for otherwise the Turks would not like it They drink very good Water at Aleppo observing a great deal of circumspection in the use of it It is indeed River-water but it is diverted from the River about three Leagues above Aleppo near a place called Ailan from whence it is brought into the City in open Aqueducts which coming near the Town are conveyed under ground to Fountains whence they take the Water These Aqueducts have been made for purifying the Water which is very muddy and also for supplying the City for the River being low in the Summer-time the Gardens drain all the Water almost with their Pousseragues The Francks have Cisterns also which they fill with the Water of these Aqueducts by opening a hole in the Cistern through which the Water comes and then stopping it again aswell as the mouth of the Cistern which they open not but in Summer and these Cisterns are made not onely to keep the Water very cool but also to make it pure and clear They have besides another excellent way of clarifying it that is they put the Water into great Jarrs of unburnt Clay through which it distills and falls into Vessels put underneath to receive it This River of Aleppo comes from Antab two days Journey from thence and loses it self under ground about half a league beyond Aleppo many think that it comes from Euphrates near to which it hides it self under ground and appears again at Antab Though commonly they eat but little Fish at Aleppo nevertheless they have sometimes great plenty but onely when they are brought from Euphrates The little River furnishes several Trouts which are not above a Fingers length and very small but exceeding good They take good Eeles in it which though they be but small are most delicious There are also a great many Crabs in that River which are broad and flat Crabs and pretty good They are at no pains to fish for them when the Mulberries are knit because these Crabs delighting in that Fruit fail not to ramble about and crawl up the Mulberry-trees to feed on the fruit and then it is no hard matter to catch them Cucumbers The Cucumbers are so good in Aleppo that not onely the Countrey-People but the Francks also eat them green skin and all and they do no hurt though they be eaten in great quantity it is the same all over Mesopotamia There is no salt used in this City but what is brought from a place a day and a halfs Journey of Caravan distant towards the North-East it is made of Rain-water which in the Winter falls into a spacious low place that makes a kind of a Pond and that Water having extracted the Salt out of the ground it covers congeals and is formed into Cubes of Salt like to Sea-Salt it is brought to Aleppo on Mules but is nothing near so good as Sea-Salt There is very good Turkey Leather made at Aleppo There also aswell as at Damascus they prepare the Sagri which is that we call Chagrine in France but much more of it is made in Persia They are so jealous of their secret in preparing of Turkey Leather that they suffer no body to enter their houses The Sagri is made of the crupper-piece Skin of an Ass The way of making Chagrin they shave that skin so long till it become smooth white and thin like Partchment but what they do with it afterwards is all mystery I did all I could to learn it but could not onely I was told by a Jew who trades in it and deals much with them that they put some very small grain upon the skin so prepared which being pressed makes at first little dents in it but these dents afterwards filling up again they make that grane which we see in Chagrin but he assured me that he knew not in the least what grain it was they made use of I came to
they provide themselves for six days at the end of which they come to Anize which is a Well of fresh-water where they make provision again for three days in which time they arrive at Niged where there are two Castles opposite to one another and inhabited by Arabs They may have Victuals here for mony but the water is bad however they must make provision of it for five days and at five days end they find a Well where they take for two days more after that they find another Well of bitter water and yet must make Provision of it for four days which being over they come to a Well called Heram-Baglar-lar In this place all the Pilgrims strip and leave nothing upon their bodies but a Cloath to cover their Nakedness Having taken water at this Well for seven days they continue their march to Dgebel-Harafat where they spend the night in throwing stones at the Devil and next Morning having made the Courban they put on their Cloaths again There are Wells at Dgebel-Harafat Dgebel-Harafat where they take water enough to serve them to Mecha which is but a day and a halfs Journy distant From Mecha they go to Vadi-Fatima the place where the Tomb of Fatima is twelve days Journy distant wherein there are Wells but no Habitation to be found From Vadi-Fatima they go to Medina five days Journy distant Tschah-Haffer and they come from Medina to Tschah-Haffer in five and thirty days and from thence to Bassora The Basha hath a great many lovely Country-Houses and amongst others Gourdilan which is opposite to the mouth of the little Canal of Bassora and on the other side of Schat-El-Aarab The Subjects of the Basha of Bassora are either Aarabs or Sabeans Who are the Subjects of the Basha of Bassora Carmelites but besides these there are some Persians and Indians that live in the Capital City and these last have Pagods there No Franks live there except the Reverend Fathers Carmelites who have a House on the Terrass whereof they put out the Banner of the Cross They have their Church in that House which not only serves the Franks but also the Armenians and Nestorians who come to the Town during the Mouson they come there to Pray but say not Mass in it The Basha hath always some Present from these good Monks for that House The other Franks to wit the Portuguese English or Dutch come not to Bassora but in the Mouson and depart in their Ships at the end of it But two days before I came to Bassora Cunning of the Dutch in burning their Cinnamon the Dutch had burnt a great deal of Cinnamon because the Merchants would not give them the price they demanded for it which made them in anger say publickly that they would burn it which they did at home in their House and they consumed so great quantity of it that it was smelt all over the Neighbourhood During the Mouson the Franks and all other strangers are well received at Bassora Liberty at Bassora and no body molests or wrongs them Every one may wear a white Turban and the green colour there of whatsoever Religion he be and that not only during the Mouson but at any other time not but that I have been told that out of the Mouson they pretty often squeezed the Franks who staied behind there I must now say somewhat of the Sabeans The Sabeans or Christians of St. John. They are otherwise called Christians of St. John but very improperly for they are more Gentiles than Christians and one of them who turned Roman Catholick and was of those who went to Rome some years ago assured me that they were partly Christians partly Turks The Baptism of the Sabeans partly Jews and partly Gentiles The truth is if because of Baptism which they retain in memory of St. Johns Baptising our Saviour they ought to be called Christians the Turks may in the same manner be said to be of the Jewish Religion because of Circumcision It is in reality but a name of Baptism for they Baptise not in the name of the Holy Trinity nor do they perforn it but on Sundays and if the Child be born any other day they stay till Sunday though it be even in danger of dying A man carries the Child to the River-side for they hold that there can be no Baptising but in running water and therefore they always live near the Rivers and inhabit not those places where there are none One of their Ministers goes along with the Man that carries the Child and when they are come to the River-side the Minister says these words In Biscemon edai rabbi ead mai nocrai men hale me that is to say In name of the Ancient Mighty Lord God who knows all that we do before the light of the world then he throws a little water upon the Head of the Infant and repeating the same Prayer casts water again upon the Head of it afterwards he reapeats the same words a third time and throws water a third time upon the Childs Head this being done he who holds the Child dips it three times into the River and that is all the Ceremony of their Baptism It is not enough for them to have been so Baptised once in their life-time but they often reiterate these Ceremonies and every year during the space of five days every person great and small young and old Male and Female is Baptised and Rebaptised and when any of them Marry the Minister again Baptises the Bridegroom and Bride The Sacraments of the Sabeans They hold only four Sacraments to wit Baptism the Eucharist Orders and Marriage they acknowledge neither Confirmation Extream Unction nor Penance As to the Sacrament of the Eucharist which is but a nominal Sacrament no more than their Baptism they pronounce not the words of Consecration over the Host but only some Prayers The Hosts of the Sabeans They make their Hosts of Flower kned with Wine and Oil. As for the Wine of their Consecration they make use of Wine drawn from dryed Grapes steeped in water which they press and they use the same Wine for moistening the Flower whereof they make the Host In relation to Orders The Ministers of the Sabeans they have Superiour and Inferiour Ministers but they use no great Ceremony in Consecrating them for Children succeed to their Fathers in the Ministery provided they be sixteen or seventeen years of Age and failing Sons the next of Kin succeed this is all the Ceremony of their Consecration a Minister says some Prayers over him who is to be a Minister and that is sufficient with them The Marriage of the Sabeans As to Marriage the Minister who is to Officiate takes an Oath of the Bride in presence of the Women that are called to the Ceremony that she is a Virgin and let her swear what she please to him the Ministers Wife must still search her and make her
is to answer for the Robberies committed within his Territories And the truth is he is as exact as possibly he can be to hinder them and to cause restitution to be made of what is taken especially if it be Merchants Goods or other things of consequence And my Coach-man told me that one day having lost an Ox he went to the Raja to demand his Ox The Raja sent for those who he thought had stoln it and causing them to be cudgelled till one of them confessing he had it he obliged him to bring it out and restore it to the Coach-man who was to give him only a Roapie for the blows he had received But the Raja of the Gratiates do's much more for if he that comes to complain have not time to stay till what he hath lost be found it is enough if he tell the place of his abode and he fails not to send it him back by one of his People though it be eight days Journey off He is so much a Gentleman that most commonly he sends Presents to People of fashion who pass by Bilpar and do's them all the good Offices they desire of him Seeing the Caravans that pass by that place on their way to Agra pay him ten Roupies a Man The Raja treats the Caravan gratis he treats the whole Caravan gratis and sends Provisions and Victuals into the Camp which he orders his Cooks to dress These do what they can to please the Caravan and earn some Pechas from them and they are reckoned the best Cooks in the Countrey but in truth their Ragoes are not at all good Nor do's their Master forget to send Dancing Girls to divert the Company and when they are ready to go he furnishes the Caravan with several Horse-men for their security until they be out of his Jurisdiction His Territories comprehend all the Villages from Cambaye to Baroche and all his Subjects are called Gratiates Next Day I came to the Town of Baroche and stay'd only a few Hours to refresh my Men and Oxen. The Officers of the Custom-house asked me at parting If I had any Merchants-goods and having answered them that I had none they took my word and used me civily So I crossed the River at Ouclisser from whence next day I went to Surrat CHAP. VII Of Surrat THe Town of Surrat lies in one and twenty Degrees and some Minutes of North Latitude and is watered by the River Tapty Surrat When I came there the Walls of it were only of Earth The Fortification of Surrat and almost all ruinous but they were beginning to build them of Brick a Fathom and a half thick they gave them but the same height and nevertheless they design'd to fortifie the place as strong as it could be made because of the Irruption that a Raja of whom I shall speak hereafter had made into it some time before However the Ingeneer hath committed a considerable fault in the setting out of his Walls He hath built them so near the Fort that the Town will be safe from the Canon of the Castle and those who defend it may easily be galled by Musquet-shot from the Town These new Walls render the Town much less than it was before for a great many Houses made of Canes that formerly were within its Precinct are now left out for which those who are concerned pretend Reparation Surrat is but of an indifferent bigness The bigness of Surrat and it is hard to tell exactly the number of its Inhabitants because the seasons render it unequal There are a great many all the Year round but in the time of the Monsson that is to say in the time when Ships can go and come to the Indies without danger in the Months of January February March and even in April the Town is so full of People that Lodgings can hardly be had and the three Suburbs are all full It is inhabited by Indians Persians Arabians Turks Franks The Inhabitants of Surrat Armenians and other Christians In the mean time its usual Inhabitants are reduc'd to three Orders amongst whom indeed neither the Franks nor other Christians are comprehended because they are but in a small number in comparison of those who profess another Religion Moors at Surrat These three sorts of Inhabitants are either Moors Heathens or Parsis by the word Moors are understood all the Mahometans Moguls Persians Arabians or Turks that are in the Indies though they be not uniform in their Religion the one being Sunnis and the others Chiais I have observed the difference betwixt them in my Second Part. Gentils at Surrat The Inhabitants of the Second Order are called Gentils or Heathens and these adore Idols of whom also there are several sorts Those of the third rank are the Parsis who are likewise called Gaures or Atechperest Adorers of the Fire These profess the Religion of the Ancient Persians and they retreated into the Indies when Calyfe Omar reduced the Kingdom of Persia under the power of the Mahometans There are People vastly rich in Surrat Rich Merchants in Surrat English and Dutch Factories at Surrat and a Banian a Friend of mine called Vargivora is reckoned to be worth at least eight Millions The English and Dutch have their Houses there which are called Lodges and Factories They have very pretty Appartments and the English have settled the general Staple of their trade there There may be very well an hundred Catholick Families in Surrat The Castle is built upon the side of the River at the South end of the Town to defend the entry against those that would attack it The Castle of Surrat by the Tapty It is a Fort of a reasonable bigness square and flanked at each corner by a large Tower. The Ditches on three sides are filled with Sea-water and the fourth side which is to the West is washed by the River Several pieces of Canon appear on it mounted and the Revenues of the King that are collected in the Province are kept there which are never sent to Court but by express Orders The entry to it is on the West side by a lovely Gate which is in the Bazar or Meidan The Custom-house is hard by and that Castle has a particular Governour as the Town has another The Houses of Surrat The Houses of this Town on which the Inhabitants have been willing to lay out Money are flat as in Persia and pretty well built but they cost dear because there is no Stone in the Countrey seeing they are forc'd to make use of Brick and Lime a great deal of Timber is employ'd which must be brought from Daman by Sea the Wood of the Countrey which is brought a great way off being much dearer because of the Land-Carriage Brick and Lime are very dear also and one cannot build an ordinary House at less charge than five or six hundred Livres for Brick and twice as much for Lime The Houses are covered
of Surrat was full of Riches he took measures how he might plunder it But that no body might suspect his Design he divided the Forces he had into two Camps and seeing his Territories lie chiefly in the Mountains upon the Road betwixt Bassaim and Chaoul Sivagy's first Camp towards Chaoul The other towards Bassaim he pitched one Camp towards Chaoul where he planted one of his Pavillions and posted another at the same time towards Bassaim and having ordered his Commanders not to plunder but on the contrary to pay for all they had he secretly disguised himself in the habit of a Faquir Thus he went to discover the most commodious ways that might lead him speedily to Surrat Sivagy at Surrat in the habit of a Faquir He entred the Town to examine the places of it and by that means had as much time as he pleased to view it all over Being come back to his chief Camp Savagy returns to his Camp. he ordered four thousand of his Men to follow him without noise and the rest to remain encamped and to make during his absence as much noise as if all were there to the end none might suspect the enterprise he was about And comes back to Surrat with four thousand men but think he was still in one of his Camps Every thing was put in execution according to his orders His march was secret enough though he hastened it to surprise Surrat and he came and Encamped near Brampour-gate To amuse the Governour who sent to him he demanded guides under pretence of marching to another place but the Governour without sending him any Answer retired into the Fort with what he had of the greatest value and sent for assistance on all hands The Plundering of Surrat Most of the Inhabitants in consternation forsook their Houses and fled into the Country Sivagy's Men entered the Town and plundered it for the space of four days burning several Houses None but the English and Dutch saved their quarters from the pillage by the vigorous defence they made and by means of the Cannon they planted which Sivagy would not venture upon having none of his own Nor durst he venture to attack the Castle neither though he knew very well that the richest things they had were conveighed thither and especially a great deal of ready Money He was affraid that attack might cost him too much time and that assistance coming in might make him leave the Plunder he had got in the Town besides the Castle being in a condition to make defence he would not have come off so easily as he had done elsewhere So that he marched off with the Wealth he got And it is believed at Surrat that this Raja carried away in Jewels Gold and Silver to the value of above thirty French Millions 22 l. of Pearls in the house of one Banian for in the House of one Banian he found twenty two Pound weight of strung Pearls besides a great quantity of others that were not as yet pierced One may indeed wonder that so populous a Town should so patiently suffer it self to be Plundered by a handful of Men but the Indians for the most part are cowards No sooner did Sivagy appear with his small body of Men but all fled some to the Country to save themselves at Baroche and others to the Castle whither the Governour retreated with the first And none but the Christians of Europe made good their Post and preserved themselves All the rest of the Town was Plundered The Christians of Europe defended themselves against Sivagy The Capucins escaped except the Monastery of the Capucins When the Plunderers came to their Convent they past it by and had Orders from their General to do so because the first day in the Evening Father Ambrose who was Superiour of it being moved with compassion for the poor Christians living in Surrat went to the Raja and spake in their favour praying him at least not to suffer any violence to be done to their Persons Sivagy had a respect for him took him into his protection and granted what he had desired in favour of the Christians The Great Mogul was sensibly affected with the Pillage of that Town and the boldness of Sivagy but his Affairs not suffering him to pursue his revenge at that time he dissembled his resentment and delayed it till another opportunity In the Year One thousand six hundred sixty six Auran-Zeb praises Sivagy that he may allure him to his Court. Auran-Zeb resolved to dispatch him and that he might accompish his design made as if he approved what he had done and praised it as the action of a brave Man rejecting the blame upon the Governour of Surrat who had not the courage to oppose him He expressed himself thus to the other Rajas of Court amongst whom he knew Sivagy had a great many Friends and told them that he esteemed that Raja for his Valour and wished he might come to Court saying openly that he would take it as a pleasure if any would let him know so much Nay he bid one of them write to him and gave his Royal word that he should receive no hurt that he might come with all security that he forgot what was past and that his Troops should be so well treated that he should have no cause to complain Several Rajas wrote what the King had said and made themselves in a manner sureties for the performance of his word So that he made no difficulty to come to Court and to bring his Son with him having first ordered his Forces to be always upon their Guard Sivagy's coming to Court. under the command of an able Officer whom he left to head them At first he met with all imaginable caresses but some Months after perceiving a dryness in the King he openly complained of it and boldly told him that he believed he had a mind to put him to death though he was come on his Royal word to wait upon him The boldness of Sivagy in speaking to the King. without any constraint or necessity that obliged him to it but that his Majesty might know what Man he was from Chasta-Can and the Governour of Surrat That after all if he Perished there were those who would revenge his death and that hopeing they would do so he was resolved to die with his own hands and drawing his Dagger made an attempt to kill himself but was hindered and had Guards set upon him The King would have willingly put him to death but he feared an insurrection of the Rajas They already murmured at this usage notwithstanding the promise made to him And all of them were so much the more concerned for him that most part came only to Court upon the Kings word That consideration obliged Auran-Zeb to treat him well and to make much of his Son. He told him that it was never in his thoughts to have him put to death and flattered him with
is the same all over the Indies A Cow of Paste There is another day of rejoycing whereon they make a Cow of Paste which they fill full of Honey and then make a fashion of killing it and break it to pieces the Honey which distills on all sides represents the Blood of the Cow and they eat the Paste instead of the Flesh I could not learn the Original of that Ceremony as for the Catris or Raspoutes except that they eat no Pullets they as the rest of the inferiour Castes do make use of all kinds of Fish and Flesh unless it be the Cow which they all have in veneration The Gentiles Fasting The Gentiles generally are great Fasters and none of them let a fortnight pass over without mortifying themselves by Abstinence and then they Fast four and twenty hours but that is but the ordinary Fast for there are a great many Gentiles and especially Women who will Fast six or seven days and they say there are some that will Fast a whole month without eating any more than a handful of Rice a day and others that will eat nothing at all Criata a Root only drink Water in which they boyl a Root called Criata which grows towards Cambaye and is good against many distempers it makes the Water bitter and strengthens the Stomach When a Woman is at the end of one of these long Fasts the Bramen her director goes with his companions to the House of the penitent beats a Drum there and having permitted her to eat returns home again There are such Fasts many times among the Vartias the Sogues and other religious Gentiles of that Province and they accompany them with several other mortifications Religious Communities Now I have mentioned these Religious Gentiles I would have it observed that in all the Indies there is no religious Community amongst the Gentiles belonging particularly to one Caste or Tribe For Example There is not any whereinto none are admitted but Bramens or Raspoutes if there be a convent of Sogues any where the Community will consist of Bramens Raspoutes Comris Banians and other Gentiles and it is the same in a convent of Vartias or a company of Faquirs I have already treated of both these as occasion offered CHAP. XLVIII Of the Province of Baglana and of the Marriages of the Gentiles The yearly Revenue of Baglana THe Province of Baglana is neither so large nor do's it yield so great a Revenue as the other nineteen for it pays the Great Mogul a year but Seven hundred and fifty thousand French Livres it is bordered by the Countrey of Telenga Guzerat Balagate and the Mountains of Sivagi the Capital Town of it is called Mouler Mouler The Portuguese border on the Moguls Countrey Daman Before the Moguls this Province was also of Decan and at present it belongs to Mogolistan by it the Portuguese border upon the Moguls Countrey and their Territories begin in the Countrey of Daman The Town of Daman that belongs to them is one and twenty Leagues from Surrat which is commonly Travelled in three days It is indifferently big fortified with good Walls and an excellent Citadel the Streets of it are fair and large and the Churches and Houses built of a white Stone which makes it a pleasant Town There are several Convents of Religious Christians in it it depends on Goa as the other Portuguese Towns do especially as to Spirituals and the Bishop keeps a Vicar General there It lies at the entry of the Gulf of Cambaye and the Portuguese have Slave there of both Sexes Portuguese Slaves which work and procreate only for their Masters to whom the Children belong to be disposed of at their pleasure from Daman to Bassaim it is eighteen Leagues Bassaim This last Town lies in the height of about nineteen Degrees and a half upon the Sea being Walled round and almost as big as Daman it hath Churches and a College of Jesuits as Daman hath From Bassaim to Bombaim it is six Leagues Bombaim made over to the English this last Town hath a good Port and was by the Portuguese made over to the English upon the Marriage of the Infanta of Portugal with the King of England in the year 1662 it is six Leagues more from Bombaim to Chaoul Chaoul The Port of Chaoul is difficult to enter but very safe and secure from all foul weather it is a good Town and defended by a strong Citadel upon the top of a Hill called by the Europeans Il Morro di Ciaul it was taken by the Portuguese Il Morro di Ciaul in the year One thousand five hundred and seven From Chaoul to Dabul it is eighteen good Leagues Dabul Dabul is an ancient Town in the Latitude of seventeen degrees and a half it has its Water from a Hill hard by and the Houses of it are low it being but weakly fortified I am told Sivagi hath seized it notwithstanding its Castle as also Rajapour Vingourla Rasigar Rajapour Vingourlâ— Rasigar Towns. and some other places upon that coast of Decan It is almost fifty Leagues from Dabul to Goa which is in Viziapour As all the People of that coast are much given to Sea-faring so the Gentiles offer many times Sacrifices to the Sea Sacrifice to the Sea. especially when any of their Kindred or Friends are abroad upon a Voyage Once I saw that kind of Sacricrifice a Woman carried in her hands a Vessel made of Straw about three Foot long it was covered with a Vail three Men playing upon the Pipe and Drum accompanied her and two others had each on their head a Basket full of Meat and Fruits being come to the Sea-side they threw into the Sea the Vessel of Straw after they had made some Prayers and left the Meat they brought with them upon the Shoar that the poor and others might come and eat it I have seen the same Sacrifice performed by Mahometans The Gentiles offer another at the end of September Opening of the Sea. and that they call to open the Sea because no body can Sail upon their Seas from May till that time but that Sacrifice is performed with no great Ceremonies they only throw Coco's into the Sea and every one throws one The only thing in that Action that is pleasant is to see all the young Boys leap into the Water to catch the Coco's and whilst they strive to have and keep them shew a hundred tricks and feats of Agility In this Province as in the rest of Decan the Indians Marry their Children very young The Marriage of Children and make them Cohabit much sooner than they do in many places of the Indies they Celebrate Matrimony at the Age of four five or six Years and suffer them to Bed together when the Husband is ten Years old and the Wife eight but the Women who have Children so young soon leave off Child-bearing and commonly do not conceive
in time of Divine Worship that by the sight of them the Devotion of the men might not be disturbed Constantine's Tomb. There is a Tomb to be seen there which the Turks say is the Tomb of Constantine and a stone also upon which as they believe our Lady washed our Lords Linnen and they bear great reverence to it Heretofore this Church was painted all over A Stone reverenced after the Mosaical way and some pieces of it are still to be seen as Crosses and Images which the Turks did not half deface when they endeavoured to rub them out for they suffer no Images On the outside of this Church Minarets there are four Minarets or Steeples very high and slender yet one may go up to the top of them they have several stories of Balconies all round them from whence the Muezins call to prayers This Church with the appurtenances of it was heretetofore much bigger than it is at present the Turks having cut off a great deal from it and it has served them for a pattern to build their Mosques by Close by the back of this Church in a litte street not far from its entry are two large and thick Pillars where they say Justice was heretofore administred others say that there were three of them and that upon each Constantine caused a brazen Cross to be erected and that upon every Cross one of these words Jesus Christ Surmounts was engraven in large Greek Characters Near to that place there is an old Tower where the Grand Signior's Beasts are kept there I saw Lyons Wolves Foxes Leopards a spotted Lynx Loup-cervier the skin of a Giraffe and other rare Animals Santa Sophia being the Model for all the fair Mosques of Constantinople wherein there are seven Royal ones that of Solymania Solymania is very like to it it is a great Mosque full of Lamps at the end of which there is a little Chappel or Turbe Solyman's Coffin and in it the Coffin that holds the body of Sultan Solyman the Founder of that Mosque this Coffin stands upon a Carpet spread upon the ground which was brought from Medina and over it there is a Pall brought from Mecha which Town is represented upon the Pall. At one end of the Coffin there is Turban to which are fastened two Herons tops enrich'd with precious stones and about it are many Tapers and Lamps burning with several Alcorans chained that they may not be stoln and that people may read them for the salvation of the defuncts Soul and indeed there are men there at all times reading the Alcoran who are hired to do it for the Grand Signiors take care to leave a fund for continual Prayers to be said for them after their death Near to this Chapel there is another in the middle whereof is the body of a Sultana whom Solyman loved extremely and the body also of a Son of Selim the son of Solyman the Second This Mosque hath a most lovely Cloyster with Bagnios and Fountains The New Mosque A fair Portico The new Mosque built by Sultan Achmet is one of the fairest and most magnificent in Constantinople The entry into it is through a large Court that leads to a Portico which hath a gallery covered in length by nine Domes and in breadth by six supported by marble Pillars and leaded then you enter as into a square Cloyster having many necessary houses about it Necessary Houses about the Mosque And Water near them with each a cock that gives water for purifying those that have done their needs there according to the custom of the Turks and there is also a lovely Fountain in the middle of the Cloyster the Mosque joyns to this Cloyster and the door of it is in it It is a very great Mosque and hath a stately Dome and it is full of Lamps and curiosities in glass balls of which one for instance contains a little galley well rigg'd another the model of the Mosque in wood and the rest a great many pretty knacks of that nature at the back of this Mosque there is a Turbe where are the bodies of Sultan Achmet and his children upon their Coffins there is a great Chiaoux Cap a big wax Taper standing by each of them and alwaies somebody there praying for the rest of their souls The chief entry into that Mosque is in the Atmeidan Mosque of Sultan Mehemmet Mosque of Selim Mosque of Chabzadeb Mosque of Bajazet Poor Scholars maintained at the Charge of the Mosque There are besides several other fair Mosques in Constantinople as the Mosque of Sultan Mehemmet near the angle at the end of the Port that of Sultan Selim a little more remote from it that which is called Chabzadeh Mesdgidi that 's to say the Kings Sons Mosque because a son of Solyman built it near the Oda of the Janisaries And the Mosque built by Bajazet near to the old Seraglio All these Mosques have hospitals and schools where a great many poor schollars who have not means of their own to keep them are maintained and educated CHAP. XVII Of the Hyppodrome the Pillars and Obelisks of Constantinople IN former times there were a great many fair Statues Obelisks and Pillars in Constantinople but they have been all so ruined that there are but a few of them remaining The ancient Hyppodrome is still to be seen and of the same dimensions as it was formerly of it is a very large square longer than broad Hyppodrome Atmeidan which was called Hyppodrome because horses were exercised to run there and the Turks still exercise them there daily and call it the Atmeidan which is as much as to say the place or field of horses in the middle of this place there is an Obelisk pretty entire An Obelisk marked with hieroglyphick Letters and some steps from thence a pretty high pillar A Pillar of three Serpents all made of Stones layd one upon another without any ciment A little further towards the end of the Square there is a Pillar made of three brazen serpents twisted together the heads of which at some distance from one another make the capital of the pillar Mahomet the second having taken Constantinople with the blow of a Zagaye or Mace of Arms beat off the under jaw of one of those heads Talisman against Serpents and some say that this pillar being placed there for a Talisman against serpents that breach is the cause that serpents have come there since which before they did not however they do hurt because say they the pillar is still in being there There are two other fair pillars in the Town the one very ancient Historical Pillar called the Historical Pillar because all round from the bottom to the top it is full of figures in bas relief like those of Antoninus and Trajan at Rome and it is said to be the History of an Expedition of Arcadius who erected it and put his Statue