will kill a Man for a penny and indeed they are very Poor therefore when one goes by Water upon the Nile he had need keep a good Guard against the Corsairs During our Voyage in the night-time we lighted several Matches which we fastened round about our Bark on the out-side and the Arabs seeing these Matches easily take them for so many Musquets which they are deadly afraid of as not knowing the use of them besides that we had Fire-Arms which we now and then Discharged as well by night as by day that they might hear them but notwithstanding all that a Bark of Robbers came one night up with our Caiques which one having discovered he allarmed the rest then all cried to them to keep off thereupon they made answer in Turkish that we need not be afraid for they were Friends and would go in company with us but when we called to them again that if they did not stand off we would Fire at them they went their way At Boulac we took Asses to carry us to Caire half a League distant from thence My Lord Honorie de Bermond the French Consul did me the favour to lodge me at his House The French Consul as those of other Nations resides at Caire because the Basha lives there so the Affairs of the Nation are the more conveniently managed he hath two Vice-Consuls under him whom he appoints as he thinks good one at Rossetto another at Alexandria and sometimes one at Damiette who depend upon none but him CHAP. IV. Of Caire THere are so many things to be seen at Caire that a very large Book might be fill'd with the Relation of them and seeing I made a considerable stay there and saw a good many of them I shall here describe them in order according to the several times I saw them in Caire the Capital and Metropolitan City of Aegypt Caire before it fell under the Turkish Dominion was in the later times Governed by Sultans or Kings who were taken from among the Mamalukes Mamalukes These Mamalukes were all Circassian Slaves bought of Merchants who came and sold them to the Sultan of Aegypt who presently made them renounce the Christian Religion then committed them to the care of Masters of Exercise by whom they were taught to bend the Bow shoot exact give a true thrust with a Launce make use of Sword and Buckler sit a Horse well for they were all Horse-men and skilfully manage him After that they were advanced according to their merit and the Cowards and Unhandy were left behind so that all who were brave might rise to be Sultans for by them the Sultan was chosen and none who were not Mamalukes could be Sultans nor was any received to be a Mamaluke that was not of Christian Extraction those being excluded who had either Mahometans or Jews to their Fathers These Men were exterminated in the Year 1517. that Sultan Selim the First Conquered all Aegypt and at the taking of Caire Thomambey their Sultan called Tbomambey who was the last Sultan of Aegypt falling into his hands he put him to an ignominious death the Thirteenth of April 1517. causing him to be Hang'd at one of the Gates of Caire called Babzuaila Babzuaila and for ever rooting out the Mamalukes who were cut off to the last man. Since that time the Turks have always been Masters of it This City stands ill Caire stands ill for it is at the foot of a Hill on which the Castle is built so that the Hill covers it and intercepts all the Wind and Air which causes such a stifling heat there as engenders many Diseases whereas if it stood in the place where Old Caire is in the first place they would have the benefit of the River which is of great importance were it only for water to drink for the water must be brought into all parts of Caire in Borachios upon Camels backs which feth it from Boulac above half a league from the City and yet that is the nearest place Hence it is that so much bad water is drank at Caire because those who go to bring it on their Camels that they make the more returns take it out of the Birques or stinking Pooles Birques that are nearer than the River and for all that sell it very dear They would besides have the advantage of the Wind which blows on all hands along the River so that the heat would not be so prejudicial nay more it would be a great help to Trade in that it would ease them of the labour and charges of loading their Goods on Camels to carry them from the City to the Port or from the Port to the City And indeed Memphis the Antients chose a very good Situation for Memphis on the other side of the River and Old Caire hath since been built opposite to Memphis also upon the River But the Later who ought to correct the faults of the more Ancient if they were guilty of any have committed the greatest errours for I can see no reason why they have pitched upon that incommodious Situation unless it was perhaps to joyn the City to the Castle that so it might be under the protection thereof Caire is a very great City full of Rabble it lies in form of a Crescent but is narrow and they are in the wrong who perswade themselves that Caire is bigger than Paris I once went round the City and Castle with two or three other French-men we were mounted on Asses not daring to go on foot for fear of some bad usage The circumference of Caire how many leagues but we went at a foot pace and as near as we could no faster than a man might walk and we were two hours and a quarter in making that round which is somewhat more than three but not four French Leagues I walked once on foot also the whole length of the Khalis from end to end which is exactly the length of the City of Caire for it is a Street that goes through the middle of it from one end to another I set out early in the morning with a Janizary that I might not be by any hindred in my design or abused and being come to the end about St. Michael's I alighted and having set two Watches which I had in my pocket at the same hour I began to walk pretty fast when I came to the other end of Khalis I found that we had been almost three quarters of an hour in going the length of it and I could undertake to perform it very well in half an hour if I had not on Turkish Shoes as I had at that time which was a great hindrance to me for at every turn my Paboutches slipt off my feet and besides I was in my Vest that likewise retarded my going I reckoned also all the steps I made putting at each hundred paces a bean in my pocket and at the end I found one and fifty beans in
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
our Lord and afterwards threw them back being in despair for having sold his Master They were taken up and laid out in purchasing this Field which was appointed to be a Burying-place for Strangers and the Armenian Strangers are buried there at present The Grott of the Apostles Afterwards we saw the Grott where the eight Apostles hid themselves when our Lord was taken there are some Pictures of the holy Apostles still to be seen there then the place where the Strangers Greeks are Interred The pit where the Fire was laid during the Captivity of Babylon and the pit where the Jews hid the Fire of the Altar by orders from the Prophet Jeremy when they were carried away Slaves to Babylon by Nebuchadnezer King of Babylon and many years after they were delivered the high priest Nehemiah causihg search to be made for the Fire in that place they found nothing but a fat Clay which being by the said Priest laid upon the Burnt-Offering it took Fire and was Consumed Close by this Pit there is a Mosque with a reservatory of Water We came afterwards to the Pool of Shiloah Pool of Shiloah whither our Lord sent the Blind man to wash The place where the Prophet Isaiah was Sawn in sunder a live The Fountain of the Virgin The Mount of Scandal The place where Judas hanged himself Bethany The Castle of St. Lazarus The Sepulchre of Lazarus after he had anointed his Eyes with Clay and Spittle which restored his sight to him Then we came to the place where the Prophet Isaiah was Sawn a live in two by the middle with a wooden Saw by command of King Manasses then the Fountain of the Virgin so called because there as it is said she washed our Saviours Clouts There are thirty steps to go down to it and they say that such as are sick of Feavers by bathing in that water and drinking of it it being very good to drink are presently Cured From this Well comes the water of the Pool of Shiloah Not far from thence we saw the Mount of Scandal so called because the Concubines of Salomon made him commit Idolatry in that place by Sacrificing to the Idol Moloch and the Idol of Chamos Not far from thence is the place where Judas Iscariot Hanged himself after he had betrayed our Saviour then we went to Bethany where we saw the ruines of the House of Simon the Leper where Mary Magdalen poured the precious Ointment upon the Feet of our Lord. Advancing sixty Paces further we saw the place of the Castle of St. Lazarus nothing remaining but the ruines upon a little Mount at the foot of which is the Sepulchre that our Saviour raised Lazarus out of when he had been four days Dead and the very stone that was rolled against the mouth of it there are twenty uneasie steps down to it cut in the Rock and at the bottom of them are six wooden steps that lead into a little Chappel out of which you go into the said Sepulchre that is on the left hand This Sepulchre is a little square Grott containing a Table on which all the Priests of the Nations that Inhabit Jerusalem say Mass and the Body of Lazarus was laid upon this Table Not far from thence is the stone on which our Saviour coming from Jericho sat down and bewailed the Death of Lazarus The Castle of Mary Magdalen The House of Martha when St. Martha told him Lord if thou hadst been here my Brother had not Died. Within a few paces of that stone stood the Castle of Mary Magdalen called Magdalon and close by it is the place where the house of Martha stood after that we came to the place of the Fig-Tree which our Saviour Cursed because it bore no Fruit whereupon it instantly withered Then we passed through Bethphage where we saw the place where the Ass was when our Saviour sent for it to make his entry into Jerusalem on Palm-Sunday riding on the Ass Next we went to the Grott where St. Peter wept bitterly for his Sin The Grott of St. Peter after that the Cock had Crow'd from thence we came to the place where the Jews would have taken the Body of the Virgin from the Apostles as they were carrying it to the Sepulchre for which they were immediately punished Then we went to Mount Sion about five or six hundred paces distant from the City Mount Sion The place of the Lords-Supper which is the place where our Lord celebrated his Holy Supper with his Apostles washed their Feet and instituted the most August Sacrament the eighth day after his Resurrection he entered into it when the Doors were shut and said to his Disciples Pax vobis Peace be unto you the Holy Ghost also descended there upon the Virgin and the Apostles on the day of Pentecost the Sepulchre of David and Salomon In this place are the Sepulchres of David and Salomon About an hundred years since that Mountain was within the Town possessed by the Religious of the Order of St. Francis but after that Sultan Solyman rebuilt the Walls of Jerusalem The place where the Virgin died it was excluded and the Friers dispossessed of it The Turks have built a Mosque there into which the Christians are not suffered to enter close by we saw the place where the holy Virgin died at present there being no building there a little lower is the Church-yard of the Roman Catholicks On the left hand towards the City is the place where St. John the Evangelist many times said Holy Mass About an hundred and fifty paces from that Mount as you go towards the City there is a Church held by the Armenians in the same place where the House of Caiaphas stood we went into it and saw upon the Altar The Stone that shut the Sepulchre of our Lord. the Stone which shut the door of our Saviours Monument which is near seven foot long three foot broad and a foot thick On the right hand is the Prison into which our Lord was put whil'st Caiaphas after he had examined him consulted with the rest what should be done with him As you go out of the Church on the left hand in a low Court there is an Orange-Tree which is the place where St. Peter warmed himself when he three times denied his Master seven or eight steps from thence is the place of the Pillar where the Cock Crew After that we entred the City by the Gate of Sion and went to see the House of the High Priest Annas which now is an Armenian Church The House of the High Priest Annas In the Court before the Church there is an Olive-Tree which they affirm for a certain to be the same to which our Lord was Bound till he received the Sentence of the High Priest Going from thence we went to another very fair Church called St. James still held by the Armenians which was built by St. Helen The
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
ascended three stories more you pass over a Canal three fathom broad which runs cross all the Walks of the Garden that are parallel to this as the other does which is at the other end A little farther you find a bason before a building much of the same contrivance as the others are which puts an end to the Walk and the length of the Garden All these Waters come from the River of Senderu by Chanels that divert them three or four Leagues above the City which having watered and embellished this Garden run and lose themselves in the Fields Many such Chanels are drawn from this River above the City for watering the Gardens which otherwise would be barren For besides that the Wells could not furnish a sufficient quantity of water their water is not so good as that of the River which is made very fat by the grounds that it runs through Every day is appointed for giving Water to a certain quarter and every Garden is taxed to pay thirty forty or sixty Abassis a year more or less according to its bigness for the water once a week None of these Canals return to the River but lose themselves in the Fields which makes the River to be much lessened when it comes to the City so that having run thorough it at a little distance farther it loses it self also in the Fields The Persians are so carefull to have water for their grounds The care of the Persians for having VVater that in many places they make Aqueducts under ground which bring it from a far nay and that many Leagues off They make them almost two fathom high and arch them over with Brick In making of them they digg at every twenty paces distance or thereabouts and make large holes like wells in which they go down and so carry on the Aqueduct because they cannot continue in going on so far under ground and these Aqueducts cost a great deal of money Although the Garden I have been describing is so magnificent yet you must not imagine to find such lovely Grass-plats and borders of Flowers as are in Europe There you have onely young Fruit-trees in great numbers with great Plane-Trees planted in a row which are the ornament of it The fruits of Hezar-dgerib so that in fruit-Season it is very pleasant walking there and since for a little money all are welcom one may eat as many as he pleases There is plenty also of Rose Bushes there and the Gardiners make money of their Roses This Garden is the Kings so are one half of those of Tcheharbag the rest belong to Chans and these Gardens are almost all of the same contrivance that 's to say that their beauty consists in long streight walks and abundance of Fruit-trees Rose-bushes and Plane-Trees which yield them a considerable revenue and therefore they are well kept so that when I went to the Garden of Hezard-gerib I saw a great many People at work in levelling the walks which had been spoilt by the Rain and Snow There is no Burying-place in Ispahan but they are all without the City Burying-places so as all over Persia and the Levant CHAP. V. A Continuation of the Observations of Ispahan and particularly of the manner of ordinary Buildings Materials for Masons ALL the Houses of Ispahan are built of Bricks baked in the Sun dawbed over with Clay mingled with Straw and then white cast over with a very fine and white Plaister which they get out of the neighbouring hills from a stone that being burnt is crushed and broken with a great rowler drawn by a Horse The charges of building a House The charges of building a house they commonly divide into three equal parts one for Brick another for Plaister and the third for Doors Windows and other timber necessary for a house However something may be saved in the Brick for out of the very place where the house is to be built Earth may be had for making all the Bricks that are necessary and furnishing Straw to be mingled with the Earth for the making of them the rest will not amount to above an Abassi and a half the thousand but the truth is it will cost three times as much in employing them In the rest of Persia the Houses are onely built of that sort of Brick made of Earth wrought with cut Straw and well incorporated which is afterwards dried in the Sun and then employed but the least Rain washes them away and dissolves all They make also tiles which they burn in a Kiln yet they seldom use them but for their Floors and Stair-cases some but few pave their Terrasses with them The Roofs of Houses Nevertheless it were much more profitable to pave them with Bricks for being onely of Earth they must be repaired once a year because of the Rain and Snow which spoil them all nay and as often as Snow falls they must of necessity throw it off assoon as they can else it would rot and by its weight bear down the houses but seeing for all their diligence they must needs with the Snow throw a good deal of Earth also from the Terrasses which are loosened by it it would be much safer to pave them because then the Snow might be more easily thrown off and nothing spoilt but it must be also confessed that the Terrasses cannot always be paved because of the uneavenness of the Rooms underneath some being higher and some lower nay and some of them having Domes which make the Terrasses very irregular and all crooked and convex in several places Much water at Ispahan There is so much Water at Ispahan that one may have a Well dug for three or four Abassis commonly and when it is dug they put down in the bottom one or two Pipes of baked or burnt Clay about three or four foot high and of the same Diameter as the Well is to keep the ground on the sides from falling in and choaking it up The Walls that go round the Terrasses are all pierced through checker ways with square holes about four or five inches square not onely to ease the Walls which are onely of Earth but also to let in the Air on all sides The Persians use no Cranes in building of their Houses but they raise high banks of Earth on which they drag along what the Crane would lift Many times they need neither of the two for all that they employ is light enough They make their houses commonly front the North to receive the fresh Air and they who can make them separated and open on all the four sides They make their little Vaults very quickly and in building of them use Timber as with us The Masons call for their materials as if they were singing all these Vaults are of brick sometimes baked in the Sun and sometimes in the Oven or Kiln according as they 'll be at the charges of it It it is pretty pleasant to see a
afterward they count no more of the money but onely filling up the empty Scale of the Balance until it weigh as much as the other wherein the Toman is counted and when they find that both sides weigh not alike they examine the pieces The Man of Ispahan is a weight of twelve pounds The Man. In Geometry the Persians make use of a certain Measure which they call the Farsange and is as much as three Miles Farsange The Mile the Mile contains four thousand Cubits the Cubit four and twenty Fingers and the finger six Barley Corns laid side-ways this account I had out of a Persian Book of Geography I have measured six Barley Corns with a pair of Compasses and found that eight times that Measure of six Barley Corns laid by one another side-ways make eight common Inches So that the four and twenty Fingers will make eighteen Inches or a common Foot and a half which is exactly a Cubit and so the Mile will be six thousand common Feet which make four thousand Cubits The Geographers degree The same Persian Geography makes the Degree to be two and twenty Farsanges or Parasanges and a seventh Part I think I have said elsewhere that a Farsange or Parasange makes a French League CHAP. VIII The Continuation of the Observations of Ispahan Of the Nature of the Persians The language of the Court. AT the Court of Persia they speak nothing but Turkish but a Dialect of Turkish so different from what is spoken at Constantinople that one may say it is a quite different Language The reason why they speak Turkish there and not Persian is not onely because the Turkish Language hath been introduced by the different Powers of Turks and Tartars who conquered Persia but also because that Language which commonly none speak but those that belong to the Court distinguishes them from the rest of the People and gives them a certain Pre-eminence and Authority which they affect to have on all occasions The nature of the Persians as being extremely vain glorious and proud This gives us an opportunity to say somewhat of the Nature of the Persians By what I could find in them it may be confidently said that they are extremely vain The Persians are vain and voluptuous and much given to Luxury which puts them to vast expences not onely in Apparel and Furniture but also in Servants whom they entertain in great Numbers and in their Table too which according to their Power they fill with Diversity of Dishes In the Countrey they carry about with them an infinite deal of baggage because they will have all their Conveniencies as if they were in the City and their Tents are not inferiour in magnificence to the Tents of any other Nations which makes most of them to be beggarly poor and destitute of Money Persons of Quality lead a very idle Life in Persia in the Morning they come to Court but at Noon return home where they spend the rest of the day in smoaking Tobacco If they pay a Visit to any of their Friends all their Exercise is smoaking of Tobacco and that is the greatest part of their Conversation They take their Tobacco in a pretty singular manner they draw the Smoak of it through Water by means of a large Vessel full of Water which they hold betwixt the bowl and end of the Pipe through which the Smoak passes that Vessel is commonly of glass when they go a visiting they fail not to have their Vessel and Pipe carried along with them They play there also at Draughts and Chess wherein the Armenians imitate them much There are a great many in Persia who understand the Mathematicks and they are generally curious of Sciences The Persians are Mathematicians and Phylosophers They have all the Parts of Philosophy and Mathematicks and there have been good Authors of that Nation who have written of them as well as of Ethicks and Morality But with these laudable Curiosities they are somewhat importune and uneasie for their Curiosity is in some manner insupportable they stop at the meanest thing to do that which they call Tamacha that 's to say to consider and admire it and if they perceive that you have any little knack they take a pretext from that to examine all you have They make Astrolabes very well and have not that aversion which the Turks have to the figures of Animals Not hating the Figures of Animals on the contrary they commonly use them upon their Works both of painting carving and sculpture but their Pictures for the most part are as lascivious and obscene as can be imagined and indeed They are lascivious they as well as the Turks are much addicted to impurity and especially to that abominable Crime which in France is punished by fire They are subject to quarrelling and fighting which happens pretty often amongst them and then they bang one another soundly with Cudgels contrary to the Turks who must stand a tryal for a cuff of the hand but in Persia if there be no bloud spilt there is no danger A Melefactor that hath killed another man is delivered up to the Prosecutor When a man hath killed another the next of Kin or the Widow of the party deceased demands her Husband's bloud then the Murderer endeavours to compound with the parties for money but if they will not which happens often enough the Criminal is to be deliver'd over tied and bound into the hands of the Prosecutor who may do with him what he pleases Commonly he makes him suffer a great deal of torment before he put him to death Persian Women cruel especially when he falls into the hands of a Woman but because by delivering up in this manner the Malefactor into the hands of the Prosecutor there is nothing for the Judges to do they always endeavour what lies in their power to compound the business for money of which they take a good share The Persians revengefull There are a great many that compound willingly but the Persians are naturally so revengefull that notwithstanding their Agreements the Relations of the party deceased leave not off seeking for occasion of revenging him and are not content untill they have accomplished it thinking that their honour is concerned so to do In the administration of Justice avarice reigns in Persia as well as in Turky and all the World over Nothing without presents and therefore there is nothing to be done without presents If any man hath been robbed he makes his complaint to the Deroga who is as the Sous-basha in Turky the Deroga sends abroad his men causes those he suspects to be apprehended and to make them confess the Robbery puts them to the rack The thing robbed being found again he takes a tenth and sometimes a sixth part he takes nothing from the Francks The Deroga takes nothing from the Francks but they make him a present and commonly he shews them
of Sivagy who made inrodes to the very Town We Encamped beyond Indelvai and next day being the six and twentieth of March having after four hours March passed over the pleasantest Hills in the World by reason of the different kinds of Trees that cover them we arrived at Calvar which is the last Village of the Moguls Countrey It is distant from Aurangeabad about fourscore and three Leagues which we Travelled in a fortnights time The rest of the Road to Golconda I shall describe when I treat of that Kingdom The way from Aurangeabad that I have been now speaking of is diversified by Hills and Plains All the Plains are good Ground some sow'd with Rice and the rest planted with Cotton-trees Tamarins Wars Cadjours Manguiers Quesous and others and all Watered with several Rivers which turn and wind every way and with Tanquies also out of which they draw the Water by Oxen And I saw one of these Reservatories at Dentapour which is a Musquet-shot over and seven or eight hundred Geometrical paces long We were incommoded during our whole Journey almost with Lightenings Whirle-winds Rains and Hail-stones some as big as a Pullets Egg Very large Hail-stones The Moguls Horse against Viziapour and when we were troubled with none of these we heard dull Thunderings that lasted whole Days and Nights We met every where Troops of Horse designed against Viziapour the King whereof refused to send the Great Mogul the Tribute which he used to pay to him To conclude with this Province it is to be observed that all the Rocks and Mountains I have mentioned are only dependances of that Mountain which is called Balagate The Mountain of Balagate which according to the Indian Geographers divides India into the two parts of North and South as that of Guate according to the same Geographers environs it almost on all hands CHAP. XLVII Of the Province of Telenga The Province of Telenga TElenga was heretofore the principal Province of Decan and reached as far as the Portuguese Lands towards Goa Viziapour being the Capital City thereof But since the Mogul became Master of the Northern places of this Countrey Calion and of the Towns of Beder and Calion it hath been divided betwixt him and the King of Decan who is only called King of Viziapour and it is reckoned amongst the Provinces of Indostan which obey the Great Mogul The borders of Telenga It is bordered on the East by the Kingdom of Golconda on Maslipatan side on the West by the Province of Baglana and Viziapour on the North by Balagate and on the South by Bisnagar The Capital City of this Province is at present Beder which belonged to Balagate when it had Kings and it hath sometime belonged to Decan Beder is a great Town Beder it is encompassed with Brick-Walls which have Battlements and at certain distances Towers they are mounted with great Cannon some whereof have the mouth three Foot wide Great Guns The Garison of Beder There is commonly in this place a Garison of Three thousand Men half Horse and half Foot with Seven hundred Gunners the Garison is kept in good order because of the importance of the place against Decam and that they are always afraid of a surprize The Governour lodges in a Castle without the Town it is a rich Government and he who commanded in it when I was there was Brother-in-law to King Chagean Auran Zebs Father but having since desired the Government of Brampour which is worth more he had it because in the last War that Governour had made an Army of the King of Viziapours raise the Siege from before Beder Some time after I met the new Governour upon the Road to Beder The Train of the Governour of Beder who was a Persian of a good aspect and pretty well stricken in years he was carried in a Palanquin amidst Five hundred Horse-men well mounted and cloathed before whom marched several Men on foot carrying blew Banners charged with flames of Gold and after them came seven Elephants The Governours Palanquin was followed with several others full of Women and covered with red Searge and there were two little Children in one that was open The Bambous of all these Palanquins were covered with Plates of Silver chamfered after them came many Chariots full of Women two of which were drawn by white Oxen almost six Foot high and last of all came the Waggons with the Baggage The Great Moguls Revenue in Telenga and several Camels guarded by Troopers This Province of Telenga is worth above Ten millions a Year to the Great Mogul No where are the Gentiles more Superstitious than here they have a a great many Pagods with Figures of Monsters that can excite nothing but Horror instead of Devotion unless in those who are deluded with the Religion These Idolaters use frequent Washings Men The washings of the Gentiles Women and Children go to the River as soon as they are out of Bed and the rich have Water brought them to wash in When Women lose their Husbands they are conducted thither by their Friends who comfort them and they who are brought to Bed use the same custom almost as soon as they are delivered of their Children and indeed there is no Countrey where Women are so easily brought to Bed when they come out of the Water a Bramen dawbs their Forehead with a Composition made of Saffron and the Powder of white Sawnders dissolved in Water then they return home where they eat a slight Breakfast and seeing they must never eat unless they be washed some return to the Tanquie or River about noon and others perform their Ablutions at home before they go to Dinner As they have a special care not to eat any thing but what is dressed by a Gentile of their Caste so they seldom eat any where but at home The feeding of the Gentiles and commonly they dress their Victuals themselves buying their Flower Rice and such other Provisions in the Shops of the Banians for they 'll not buy any where else These Banians as well as the Bramens and Courmis feed on Butter Pulse The Diet of some Castes Herbs Sugar and Fruit they eat neither Fish nor Flesh and drink nothing but Water wherein they put Coffee and Tea they use no Dishes for fear some body of another Religion or Tribe may have made use of the Dish out of which they might eat and to supply that they put their Victuals into large Leaves of Trees which they throw away when they are empty nay there are some of them who eat alone and will not suffer neither their Wives nor Children at Table with them Nevertheless I was informed The Bramens sometimes eat Hogs Flesh that in that Countrey one certain day of the year the Bramens eat Hogs Flesh but they do it privately for fear of Scandal because the Rules of their Sect enjoyn them so to do and I believe it