72 deg 32 min. Long. 34 deg 40 min. Lat. At this day almost ruin'd Hawas 75 deg 40 min. Long. 33 deg 15 min. Lat. Heaye 74 deg 35 min. Long. 31 deg 50 min. Lat. Helaverde 91 deg 30 min. Long. 35 deg 15. min. Lat. Built by Abdalla before mention'd Herat 85 deg 30 min. Long. 36 deg 56 min. Lat. A City in the Province of Carassan where Sultan Heussein-Mirza founded several Colledges for Youth Hesn-Medi 78 deg 45 min. Long. 32 deg 5 min. Lat. Hessne Ebneamadé 70 deg 45 min. Long. 26 deg 20 min. Lat. Hurman 85 deg 15 min. Long. 32 deg 30 min. Lat. A small City in a bad Air. I. Jemnon 78 deg 15 min. Long. 36 deg 40 min. Lat. The Trade of it is in Copper Manufactures Jend-Babour 75 deg 5 min. Long. 31 deg 15 min. Lat. A very strong place famous for the Tomb of Melek-Yakoub-Sha King of Schiras Irson 80 deg 35 min. Long. 36 deg 50 min. Lat. Ispahan or Hispahan 86 deg 40 min. Long. 32 deg 40 min. Lat. K. Kaar 78 deg 40 min. Long. 42 deg 32 min. Lat. Kashan 76 deg 15 min. Long. 34 deg 40 min. Lat. Kafre-Chirin 71 deg 50 min. Long. 34 deg 40 min. Lat. Built by Noushirevon-Aadel surnamed the Just and upon the acts and deeds of this King is all the Morality of the Persians founded Kaien 83 deg 20 min. Long. 36 deg 32 min. Lat. Said to breed the choicest Wits of all Persia. Kalaar 76 deg 25 min. Long. 37 deg 25 min. Lat. One of the chiefest Cities in Guilan Kalin 87 deg 5 min. Long. 35 deg 35 min. Lat. In an excellent Soil for Cattel and Fruit. Karkoub 74 deg 45 min. Long. 32 deg 15 min. Lat. Kasbin 75 deg 40 min. Long. 36 deg 15 min. Lat. Kasre-le-lehous or Kengavat 76 deg 20 min. Long. 33 deg 35 min. Lat. Kazeron 88 deg 30 min. Long. 28 deg 30 min. Lat. The Country about produces Oranges Limons and Cypress-trees Kerah 86 deg 40 min. Long. 34 deg 15 min. Lat. Kerman or Kirman 81 deg 15 min. Long. 29 deg 50 min. Lat. Kervak 87 deg 32 min. Long. 34 deg 15 min. Lat. Kirmonsha 63 deg 45 min. Long. 34 deg 37 min. Lat. Kom 75 deg 40 min. Long. 35 deg 35 min. Lat. Kouh de Mavend 74 deg 15 min. Long. 36 deg 15 min. Lat. the smallest now which was once the largest City in Persia. Koucht 83 deg 40 min. Long. 33 deg 20 min. Lat. In a soyl excellent for Corn and good Fruits Koy 60 deg 40 min. Long. 37 deg 40 min. Lat. Kevachir or Verdechir 80 deg 30 min. Long. 28 deg 15 min. Lat. L. Lahijon 74 deg 25 min. Long. 37 deg 15 min. Lat. The Trade of the Town consists in Stuffs half Silk half Cotton call'd Teftile Loussek see Toussea M. Maameter or Barfrouche 77 deg 35. min. Long. 36 deg 50 min. Lat. Mehrouyon or Behbehon 75 deg 15 min. Long. 39 deg 35 min. Lat. Meraqué 71 deg 20 min. Long. 37 deg 40 min. Lat. It stands in one of the Gardens of Persia. Merend 63 deg 15. min. Long. 37 deg 37 min. Lat. Mervasaé 87 deg 32 min. Long. 34 deg 15 min. Lat. in a fertile Country for Corn and Fruit. Merverond 88 deg 40 min. Long. 34 deg 30 min. Lat. in a fertile Country Mesched look Touss Moukon or Derbent 20 Leagues from the Caspian Sea 63 deg 15 min. Long. 37 deg 40 min. Lat. Mourjan 84 deg 15 min. Long. 37 deg 15 min. Lat. A City well peopl'd wherein there are several Mosquées and fair Piazza's N. Nacksivan or Nachevan 61 deg 32 min. Long. 39 deg 40 min. Lat. Natel 77 deg 40 min. Long. 36 deg 7 min. Lat. in a fertile Country for Pasturage Nehavend or Nahoüand 73 deg 45 min. Long. 34 deg 20 min. Lat. The Country people aver this City built before the Loufon or the Flood Neher-Terij 75 deg 00 min. Long. 32 deg 40 min. Lat. Nessah 84 deg 45 min. Long. 38 deg 40 min. Lat. Nichabar 80 deg 55 min. Long. 36 deg 20 min. Lat. O. Oujon 61 deg 35 min. Long. 32 deg 24 min. Lat. To this City finely seated belongs a fair Castle R. Rachmikdon 87 deg 34 min. Long. 35 deg 15 min. Lat. Rem-hormous 74 deg 45 min. Long. 31 deg 45 min. Lat. In this City Selmon Haly's Foster Father was born Rey 76 deg 20 min. Long. 35 deg 35 min Lat. In the best Soil of all Persia for Wheat Fruit and Pasturage Roudbar 75 deg 37 min. Long. 37 deg 21 min. Lat. in the Province of Guilan Royon 71 deg 36 min. Long. 36 deg 15 min. Lat. in the Province of Mazandran S. Saassour 86 deg 20 min. Long. 35 deg 15 min. Lat. Saron 76 deg 20 min. Long. 36 deg 15 min. Lat. In the Province of Guilan Sary 78 deg 15 min. Long. 36 deg 40 min. Lat. Seated among the Copper-Mines Sebzevoar 81 deg 5 min. Long. 36 deg 15 min. Lat. Near this City the people gather great quantities of Manna Semiron 71 deg 30 min. Long. 34 deg 40 min. Lat. A pleasant City stor'd with good Water and Fruits Serijr-el-lan 63 deg 15 min. Long. 45 deg 50 min. Lat. Serkess or Serakas 85 deg 35 min. Long. 36 deg 15 min. Lat. A pleasant City for Scituation and plenty of Waters Sermeghon 87 deg 37 min. Long. 37 deg 32 min. Lat. In a fertile Soil yet not very plentiful Serveston 78 deg 15 min. Long. 29 deg 15 min. Lat. In a Soil abounding with Gardens Servon 79 deg 15 min. Long. 32 deg 15 min. Lat. In a Soil abounding with Wine and Dates Surjon 74 deg 40 min. Long. 30 deg 20 min. Lat. Where the best Persian Carpets are made and Shaads or Girdles of Goats Hair curiously wrought Sohreverede 73 deg 36 min. Long. 36 deg 5 min. Lat. Ssouss 73 deg 45 min. Long. 32 deg 15 min. Lat. Sultanie 76 deg 15 min. Long. 39 deg 40 min. Lat. Where the Mornings and Evenings are very cold all the rest of the day very hot T. Taberon 80 deg 34 min. Long. 35 deg 20 min. Lat. Talikon 88 deg 15 min. Long. 36 deg 32 min. Lat. In a Country plentiful in Corn Fruit and good Water Tauris otherwise call'd Ssernerdehi 63 deg 15 min. Long. 39 deg 10 min. Lat. Tebess 80 deg 40 min. Long. 38 deg 15 min. Lat. Teflis 60 deg 15 min. Long. 43 deg 15 min. Lat. Toukon 82 deg 45 min. Long. 38 deg 40 min. Lat. Touss or Meshed 82 deg 30 min. Long. 38 deg 40 min. Lat. Toussea otherwise call'd Loussek 85 deg 40 min. Long. 37 deg 50 min. Lat. Y. Yesd 79 deg 15 min. Long. 32 deg 15 min. Lat. Yevin see Azadkar Z. Zemma 89 deg 14 min. Long. 38 deg 35
day that Sha-jehan was an Hunting upon one of his Elephants with one of his Sons that sate by him to fan him the Elephant became so furious by reason of his lust that the Governor who was by no means able to master him declar'd to the King that to allay the fury of the Elephant who would else doubtless bruise him to pieces among the Trees there was no way but for one of the three to forfeit his life and that he would willingly sacrifice his for the safety of the King and the Prince his Son Only he desir'd his Majesty to take care of three small Children which he must leave behind him Having so said he threw himself under the Elephant's-feet who had no sooner taken him in his trunk and squeez'd him to pieces with his feet but he grew as quiet and peaceable as before The King as an acknowledgment for so famous a deliverance gave to the poor two-hunder'd-thousand Roupies and highly advanc'd every one of the Sons of him that had so generously laid down his life for the safety of his Sovereign I observ'd also that though the Elephant's skin be very hard while he is alive yet when he is dead it is just like melted-glue Elephants are brought from several parts of India as from the Island of Ceylan where they are very small but the most couragious of all from the Isle of Sumatra from the Kingdom of Cochin from the Kingdom of Siam and from the Frontiers of the Kingdom of Boutam neer the Great Tartarie They are brought also from the Coast of Melinda Eastward of Affrica where they are in very great numbers according to the report of a Portugueze-Captain made at Goa who came from thence to make some complaint against the Governor of Mozambique He told me that he had seen all along that Coast several Parks that were empal'd with nothing but Elephants-teeth the least of which Parks is above a league about He added farther that the Blacks of the Countrey hunt their Elephants and eat the flesh But they are oblig'd to give the tusks of every one they kill to the Lord of the place When they intend to take their Elephants in the Island of Ceylan they make a long lane clos'd in on both sides so that the Elephant can neither run to the right nor to the left this lane is broad at the first but grows narrower and narrower till there is no more room left at the farther-end than for the female-Elephant to lie down which must be one that is covetous of the male at the same time Though she be tame yet she is bound with good Ropes and Cords and by her cries will call the male-Elephant who presently runs through the lane towards her Now when the Elephant comes where the lane grows narrow they that lie hid for that purpose immediately barricado up the lane behind and when he comes neer the female there is another barricado set up that stops him from going any farther When he is thus between the Barricado's they so intangle his legs and trunk with ropes and cords that he is soon taken having no way to help himself The same way they use for the most part in the Kingdoms of Siam and Pegu only that the Natives there mount the female-Elephant and go to find out the male in the Forrests And when they have met with his haunt they tye the female to the most convenient place they can find and then they fix their snares for the Elephant who in a short time hastens toward the female hot for generation where her cries call him This is observable of the female-Elephant that when she begins to be hot she gathers together a great heap of herbs and weeds and makes her self a kind of bed some four or five-foot-high from the ground where contrary to the custom of all other creatures she lies upon her back in expectation of the male whom she calls to her by a peculiar cry This is also particular to the Elephants in the Isle of Ceylan that only the first Elephant which the female produces has any tusks And it is also observable that the Ivory which comes from Achen when it is wrought has this peculiar quality with it that it never grows yellow like that which comes out of the Continent and from the East-Indies which makes it more esteem'd and dearer than any other When the Merchants bring Elephants to any place to sell 't is a pleasant sight to see them go along For in regard there are generally old and young together when the old ones are gone by the children will be running after the little ones to play with them and give them something or other to eat While the young Elephants which are very wanton are busily taking what is offer'd them the children leap upon their backs but then the young Elephants that lately stopt for the lucre of victuals perceiving their Dams a great way before them double their pace and playing with their trunks throvv the children off their backs to the ground yet vvithout doing them any harm Notvvithstanding all the enquiry I have made I could never find exactly hovv long an Elephant vvill live Nor can all the governors and keepers of those creatures tell you more then that such an Elephant has been in the possession of their Father their Grandfather and great Grandfather And by that computation I found that they had liv'd some of them six-score or an hunder'd and thirty years The greatest part of those that have made Relations of India boldly affirm that the Great Mogul keeps three or four-thousand Elephants But being my self at Jehanabad where the King at present resides he that was chief Master of the Elephants assur'd me that the King had not above five-hunder'd Elephants which were call'd Elephants of the House made use of only to carry the Women their Tents and Luggage but that for the Wars he only kept fourscore or four-score and ten at most The noblest of the latter sort is always reserv'd for the King 's Eldest Son the allowance for his food and other necessaries being 500 Roupies a month which comes to 750 Livres There are some that are not allow'd above 50 others 40 others 30 and some but 20 Roupies But those Elephants that are allow'd an hunder'd two-hunder'd three-hunder'd or four-hunder'd Roupies a-month have belonging to them certain Horse-men that live upon the same pay and two or three young fellows to fan them during the heat of the weather All these Elephants are not always kept in the City the greatest part being led out every morning into the fields or among the thickets where they feed upon the branches of Trees Sucre-canes and Millet to the great detriment of the poor Countrey man But not a little to the profit of their Keepers for the less they eat at home the more they gain into their own purses The twenty-seventh of August we travell'd six leagues and lay at a great Town call'd
against nature makes them study all the imaginable waies to satisfie it This proves a hard matter for the Ichoglans to do while they are in their chambers observ'd and watch'd night and day by severe Overseers who never pardon them the least misdemeanour For though the Grand Seignor be himself subject to the same passion the very name whereof causes a horrour yet he orders cruel punishments to be inflicted on those who shall presume to imitate him He does what he can to prevent the mischief which he would not have countenanc'd by his example and imposes the prevention of it as a task upon the Eunuchs a vigilant sort of animals whose Eyes are alwayes open But in the Infirmary all these precautions prove fruitless the Eunuchs belonging to that place being corrupted partly by presents partly by treats or being made drunk with wine or some other liquors they bring in thither some young lads of whom there is great store in the City of Constantinople The better to over-reach the Eunuchs they put those young lads into the habits of the Halvagis and so the cheat succeeds in regard they are the attendants on the Officers of the Seraglio and do all the errands they have to do in the City Of these Halvages there is ordinarily to the number of six hundred and they have only their cloathing and sustenance allow'd them without any wages till such time as they have serv'd thirteen or fourteen years Their wages begin at the rate of two Aspers per diem and in time may rise to seven Aspers and a half but they have other contingent Profits and they know well enough how to make their advantage of the Employments they are put upon For whereas they only are the Persons who have the freedom of going and coming in and out of the Seraglio they set double the price on every thing they buy But their most cunsiderable gain proceeds from the infamous commerce of those young Lads whom they bring in to their Masters and whom they cunningly slip into the Infirmary after they had put them into Habits like their own They wear a white Cap which rises up from the Crown of the Head to a pretty height somewhat to the resemblance of a Sugar-loaf The Hasteler-Agasi or chief Overseer of the Infirmary is indeed continually at the The fruitless endeavours us'd to check its course Gate with five or six other Eunuchs and carefully observes whatever goes in or comes out But all that vigilence will not do the work nay though he had a hundred eyes yet were it impossible for him to discern those young Lads amidst the great number of those Halvagis and that the rather for these reasons that they are frequently chang'd that some of them are made Janizaries and that new ones are taken in upon the advancement of the old ones to some other Employments But if it should happen that the said Superintendent Eunuch should have any secret information of what 's design'd and seems as if he would make some noise about it he is presently appeas'd with a silk Vest or some other Present and 't is thence that he derives his greatest advantages In fine that brutish Passion is so ordinary amongst the Turks Absminable excess over all the East and generally over all the Eastern parts that notwithstanding all the endeavours that have been us'd to prevent the effects of it they will hardly ever be able to do it There happen'd a memorable Example of this in my time Two Pages of the Chamber The Sacrilegious action of two Pages who could not have the convenience of executing their wicked design in the Seraglio would needs aggravate their crime by going into the Mosquey to satiate their brutality After Prayers were ended they suffer'd all the people to go out and having so well hid themselves that he who shut the doors could not perceive them they fell to the doing of an action whereof the very Idea causes horrour On the left hand of this first Court there is a spacious Lodgement answerable to The Wood-Pi of the Straglio that of the Infirmary and that 's the habitation of the Azamoglans persons design'd for the meanest Employments of the Seraglio Within that Structure there is a spacious Court where you shall find dispos'd in order all about and in the middle so many Wood-piles which are renew'd every year and there are brought in thither above forty thousand Cart-loads of wood every Cart-load being as much as two Oxen can draw Some part of this wood comes in by the Black Sea and the rest out of the Mediterranean and whereas there is a great quantity of it left every year especially when the grand Seignor does not winter at Constantinople that remainder which must be very considerable is dispos'd of to the advantage of the principal persons among the Azamoglans They are cunning enough to take their opportunity when it is The great profit of such as have the Charge thereof unloaden upon the Port and computing as well as they can how much may go to make up the Piles they proportionably send what they think may be spar'd to the City and lodge it in the houses where they are acquainted Which they may do with so much the more security in regard that no body minds what they do and that they perform their duty when the Piles are compleated in the season during which they are wont to make their Provisions The wood they thus convert to their own use they are paid for and the sum rais'd thereby is considerable for Persons of so mean a Quality On the same side as the Infirmary and a little lower for the Seraglio is a rising The Exercise of the Girit ground for a certain space and then there is an insensible descent on both sides quite down to the point whereby it is terminated you discover the great Portal of the Gardens which they call Bagge-Karpousi From that Gate which overlooks the foresaid descent and where you are as it were upon an Eminency you descend into a very noble Place which the Grand Seignor causes to be always kept neat and even where the Great Persons of the Court come to do the Exercises of the Girit or the Dart which is perform'd most commonly upon Fridays immediately after their coming out of the Mosquey There are about two hundred paces from the Portal to that place and in the Court there may ordinarily be upon those days above fifteen hundred Persons yet so as that not any person whatsoever is permitted to go any further unless he be call'd by the Order of the Girit-Bey who is the chief Overseer and Director of that Exercise They who enter into the Lists do many times amount to the number of a thousand Persons If the Grand Seignor himself who is present at those Exercises the The Grand Seignors liberalities end whereof proves many times Tragical to those by whom they are perform'd has
of a League from the City which rises near to Erzerom and is cross'd at Tocat over a very beautiful stone Bridge Upon the North-side of the City it waters a Plain three or four days Journey in extent and two or three Leagues broad It is very fertil and replenish'd with fair Villages very well peopl'd A man may live very cheap at Tocat the Wine is most excellent and all sort of rare Fruit very plentiful It is the only place in all Asia where plenty of Saffron grows which is the best Commodity you can carry to the Indies where a Pound as the Years fall out is worth thirteen or fourteen * Every Frank being 2 s. sterling Franks though the Wax that preserves it be as much in weight as the Saffron This City with the Lands belonging to it usually is the Dowager Sultanesses Joynture There is only an Aga and a Cady that command there in the behalf of the Grand Signor for the Basha from whom they receive their Orders lives at Sivas which is the ancient Sebastia and a very great City some three days journey from Tocat In short Tocat is one of the most remarkable Thoroughfares in the East where are continually lodg'd the Caravans from Persio Diarbequer Bagdat Constantinople Smyrna Synopus and other places and here the Caravans turn off as they are variously bound They that are for Constantinople take to the Winter West upon the right hand they that are for Smyrna incline to the Summer West upon the left hand When you set out either way out of Tocat there is a Toll gatherer that counts all the Camels and Horses that pass by and exacts for every Camel a quarter of a Rixdollar and for every Horse half as much As for the Horses or Camel that carry the Passengers or their Provisions they pay nothing This continual concourse of the Caravans trolls the Money about at Tocat and makes it one of the most considerable Cities of Turkie Setting out of Tocat to go to Erzerom you discover a little Village so situated under a Hill as if the Mountain lay a top of it and between that Mountain and the River the Road is very narrow where the Caravan is to pass In this Road it was that we met the Grand Visier returning from Hunting with a Train of four hundred men so soon as he perceiv'd us he fil'd off all his men to give us liberty to pass by But among all the Company there was not above four Franks upon which he particularly cast his Eye which made him send for the Caravan Bachi to know who we were The Caravan Bachi to avoid the ill Consequences of jealousie which the Visier might have of the Franks at a time when the Grand Visier made War in Persia told him we were Jews at which the Visier shaking his Head reply'd only that we did not look like such and happy it was for us that he took no farther notice For it was twenty to one but that upon better consideration he might have sent after us to have stopt us But when he came home to his Lodging he found a Capigi staying for him with Orders from the Grand Signor to take off his Head which were presently executed For Amurath being troubl'd for the loss of his Army had no way but to revenge himself upon the person that had the command of it Notwithstanding that the Caravans rest at Tocat yet they stay likewise two or three days at Charkliqueu which is not above two Leagues distant from it for Charkliqueu is a great Town in a lovely Country between two fertil Hills where there grows excellent Wine It is for the most part inhabited by Christians who are generally Tanners The fine blew Goat-leather Skins being drest in Tocat and the Parts thereabout It is thought the Water contributes very much to their Art For Tocat is as famous for the blew Goats-leather Skins as Diarbequir and Bagdat are for the red Moussul or the ancient Niniveh for the yellow and Ourfa for the black About two thousand Paces from this Town in the midst of a Plain rises a vast Rock upon the North-side whereof you ascend about nine or ten steps into a Chamber with a Bed a Table and a Cupboard in it all hewn out of the Rock Upon the West-side you ascend other five or six steps that lead to a little Gallery about five or six Foot long and three broad all hewn out of the Rock though it be of an extraordinary hardness The Christians affirm that St. Chrysostom made this Rock his retiring-place during his Exilement and that he had no other Bed or Bolster than the Rock it self in a place where they shew you the print of a Man's Body Hence it is that the Caravans consisting for the most part of Christian Merchants stay at Charkliqueu to pay their Devotions to this Rock where the Bishop of the place attended by some Priests with every one a Taper in their Hands goes and says Mass. But the main Reason is because there grows excellent Wine in this place which being cheaper by half here than it is at Tocat obliges the Armenians to stop here to provide themselves for the rest of their Journey Two Leagues from Charkliqueu you cross over very high Mountains with Precipices on both sides It is the custom of the Armenians when they hear of the approach of a Caravan to ride out two or three days journey to meet their Country-men and carry them fresh Provisions Those of Charkliqueu coming to meet our Caravan three of the Armenians took a large Mornings-draught which made them so Pot-valiant that they would needs ride before to the Town alone by themselves but by the way they were set upon by six Horse-men that came from the North where there are higher Mountains than those which we were to cross Immediately the Thieves darted their Half-Pikes at the Armenians in so much that two of them fell down mortally wounded and the other sav'd himself among the Rocks but the Thieves got their Horses and Goods which were valu'd at ten thousand Crowns The Caravan at the top of the Hill beheld the misfortune of those poor men which their own folly had brought upon them but could not help them by reason of the narrowness of the ways besides that the Thieves knowing all the by-turnings were presently out of sight And therefore it is a dangerous thing to leave the Body of the Caravan either by staying too far behind or running too fast before and some have suffer'd for distancing themselves not above five hundred Paces from it The Caravans do not make their Journeys all alike but come to their Stages sometimes sooner sometimes later according as they meet with Water and Inns or places fit to pitch their Tents in to which places the Natives bring Provision and Provender from the Mountains There are some places where there is a necessity to provide Straw and Barley for two or three days
which time has not defac'd From Shaquemin you come to dine at a Village call'd Angare where every Traveller isentertain'd for his Piaster as at the other Stages Between the other Villages it is ten hours journey but between Angare and Aleppo but three We alighted at the French Consul's House at what time the Customers came presently to search our Cloak-bags after which we went to the Quaissery which is a place where all Strangers are at the expence of half a Crown a day for themselves and a quarter so much for every Servant and are well entertain'd CHAP. II. The Description of Aleppo now the Capital City of Syria A Leppo is one of the most famous Cities in all Turkie as well for the bigness and beauty of it as for the goodness of the Air and plenty of all things together with the great Trade which is driv'n there by all the Nations of the World It lyes in 71 Deg. 41 Min. of Longitude and 36 Deg. 15 Min. of Latitude in an excellent Soil With all the search that I could make I could never learn how it was anciently call'd Some would have it to be Hierapolis others Beroea and the Christians of the Country agree with the latter The Arabian Historians that record the taking of it call it only Aleb not mentioning any other name Whence this Observation is to be made That if the Arabians call it Aleb others Alep the reason is because the Arabians never use the Letter P in their Language This City was tak'n by the Arabians in the fifteenth Year of the Hegyra of Mahomet which was about the Year of CHRIST 637 in the Reign of Heraclius Emperour of Constantinople The City is built upon four Hills and the Castle upon the highest that stands in the middle of Aleppo being supported by Arches in some places for fear the Earth should tumble and moulder away from it The Castle is large and may be about five or six hundred Paces in compass The Walls and Towers though built of Free-stone are of little defence There is but one Gate to enter into it from the South over a Draw-bridge laid over certain Arches cross a Moat about six or seven Fathom deep There is but one half of it full of Water and that a standing Puddle to boot the rest is a meer dry Ditch so that it cannot be accounted a wholsom place However there is Water brought into the Castle through a large Pipe from the Fountains in the City and there is a strong Garrison kept in it The City is above three Miles in circuit and the best half of it is unmoated that Moat there is not above three Fathom deep The Walls are very good and all of Free-stone with several square Towers distant one from the other about fourscore Paces between which there are others also that are less But these Walls are not all of them of an equal height for in some places they are not above four Fathoms from the Ground There are ten Gates to enter into the City without either Moat or Draw-Bridge under one of which there is a place that the Turks have in great veneration where they keep Lamps continually burning and report that Elisha the Prophet liv'd for some time There is no River that runs through Aleppo and but only a small one without the City which the Arabians call Coïc. However though indeed it be but properly a Rivulet yet it is very useful to water the Gardens where grows an abundance of Fruit particularly Pistaches much bigger and better tasted than those that comes from the parts near Casbin But though there be no River yet there are store of Fountains and Receptacles of Water which they bring from two places distant from the City The Edifices neither publick nor private are very handsom but only withinside the Walls are of Marble of several colours and the Cieling of Foliage Fret-work with Inscriptions in Gold'n Letters Without and within the City there are six and twenty Mosquees six or seven whereof are very magnificent with stately Duomo's three being cover'd with Lead The chiefest and largest of all was a Christian Church which they call'd Alhha or Listen'd unto which is thought to have been built by St. Helen In one part of the Suburbs also stands another Mosquee which was formerly a Christian Church In that there is one thing worthy observation In the Wall upon the right side of the Gate there is a Stone to be seen two or three Foot square wherein there is the figure of a handsom Chalice and a Sacrifice over the hollow of it with a Crescent that covers the Sacrifice the two Horns whereof descend just upon the brims of the mouth of the Chalice One would think at first that those Figures were in Mosaïc-Work but it is all Natural as I have found with several other Franks having scrap'd the Stone with an Iron Instrument when the Turks were out of the way Several Consuls would have bought it and there has been offer'd for it 2000 Crowns but the Basha's of Aleppo would never suffer it to be sold. Half a League from the City lyes a pleasant Hill where the Franks are wont to take the Air. On the side of that Hill is to be seen a Cave or Grotto where the Turks report that Haly liv'd for some few days and for that there is an ill-shap'd figure of a Hand imprinted in the Rock they farther believe it to be the Hand of Haly. There are three Colledges in Aleppo but very few Scholars though there be Men of Learning that belong to them who have Salaries to teach Grammar and their odd kind of Philosophy with the Grounds of their Religion which are the Principal Sciences to which the Turks apply themselves The Streets of the City are all pav'd except the Bazar's where the Merchants and Handicraft-Tradesmen keep their Shops The chiefest Artists and the most numerous are Silk and Chamlet-Weavers In the City and Suburbs there are about forty Inns and fifty publick Baths as well for Women as for Men keeping their turns 'T is the chiefest Pastime the Women have to go to the Baths and they will spare all the Week long to carry a Collation when they go at the Weeks end to make merry among themselves in those places of privacy The Suburbs of the City are large and well peopl'd for almost all the Christians have their Houses and Churches there Of which Christians there are four sorts in Aleppo I mean of Eastern Christians that is to say Greeks Armenians Jacobites or Syrians and Maronites The Greeks have an Archbishop there and are about fifteen or sixteen thousand in number their Church is dedicated to St. George The Armenians have a Bishop whom they call Vertabet and are about twelve thousand in number their Church is dedicated to the Virgin The Jacobites being about ten thousand have a Bishop also and their Church is likewise dedicated to the Virgin as is that of the Armenians
The Maronites depend upon the Pope not being above twelve hundred their Church being consecrated to St. Elias The Roman Catholicks have three Churches serv'd by the Capuchins Carmelites and Jesuites They reckon that in the Suburbs and City of Aleppo there are about 250000 Souls There is a vast Trade at Aleppo for Silks and Chamlets but chiefly for Gall-Nuts and Valanede which is a sort of Acorn-shell without which the Curriers cannot dress their Leather They have also a great Trade for Soap and for several other Commodities the Merchants repairing thither from all parts of the World For not to speak of the Turks Arabians Persians Indians there are several English Italians French and Hollanders every Nation having their Consul to carry on their Interests and maintain their Priviledges Nor does this place happ'n to be so great a Mart through the convenience of the two Rivers of Tigris and Euphrates as some have writt'n by which they say such vast quantities of Commodities are transported and imported out and into the City For had that been I should never have cross'd the Desert coming from Bagdat to Aleppo nor at another time going from Aleppo to Balsara And as for Euphrates certain it is that the great number of Mills built upon it to bring the Water to the neighbouring Grounds have not only render'd it unnavigable but made it very dangerous I must confess that in the year 1638 I saw a great part of the Grand Signor's Army and several Boats full of Warlike Provisions fall down the Stream when he went to besiege it but then they were forc'd to take away all the Mills that are upon the River which was not done without a vast trouble and expence As for Tigris it is not navigable 'till beyond Babylon down to Balsara where you may take Water and be at Balsara in nine days But the Voyage is very inconvenient for at every Town which the Arabs have upon the River you must be hal'd and be forc'd to leave some Money behind you Sometimes indeed the Merchants of Moussul and Bagdat and others that come out of Chaldea to Trade at Balsara carry their Goods by Water from Bagdat but in regard the Boats are only to be tow'd by Men it takes them up a Voyage of seventy days By this you may judge of the time and expence of carrying Goods by Water up the River Euphrates to Bi r where they are to be unlad'n for Aleppo In short if the convenience of Morat-sou for so the Turks call Euphrates were to be had and that Goods might be transported by that River the Merchants would never take that way for the Arabian Princes with their People and their Cattel lying all the Summer long upon the Banks of the River for the sake of the Water and the Grass would make the Merchants pay what Toll they pleas'd themselves I saw an Example of this coming one time from Babylon to Aleppo In all which Road we met but with one of those Arabian Princes who lay at Anna yet he made us pay for every Camel's Load forty Piasters And which was worse he detain'd us above five Weeks to the end his Subjects might get more of our Money by selling us their Provisions The last time I pass'd the Desert I met another of these Arabian Princes together with his Brother both young Men He would not let us go a step farther unless we would exchange two hundred Piasters in specie for Larins the Money of the Country and he forc'd us to take them what-ever we could urge to make it appear how much we should lose by them And indeed we said as much as we could for the dispute lasted two and twenty days to no purpose might overcoming right By this you may guess what the other Arabians would do who are not a jot more civil and whether the Merchants would get by taking the Road of Euphrates The City is govern'd by a Basha who commands all the Country from Alexandretta to Euphrates His Guard usually consists of three hundred Men and some years ago he was made a Vizier There is also an Aga or Captain of the Cavalry as well within the City as without who commands four hundred Men. There is another Aga who has under him seven hundred Janizaries who has the charge of the Gates of the City to whom the Keys are carry'd every Evening neither has he any dependance upon the Basha The Castle is also under another Commander sent immediately from Constantinople who has under him two hundred Musketeers and likewise the charge of the Cannon of which there are about thirty Pieces eight great Guns the rest of a small size There is also another Aga or Captain of the City who commands three hundred Harquebuzes beside a Sou-Bashi who is a kind of Provost of the Merchants or Captain of the Watch going the round every Night with his Officers through the City and Suburbs He also puts in Execution the Sentences of the Basha upon Criminal Offenders In Civils there is a Cadi who sits sole Judge without any Assistants of all Causes as well Civil as Criminal and when he has condemn'd any Man to Death he sends him to the Basha together with his Accusation with whom the Basha does as he pleases This Cady makes and dissolves all Contracts of Marriage all Acts of Sale and Purchase pass in his presence He also creates the sworn Masters of every Trade who make their inspection that there may be no deceit in the Work The Grand Signor's Duties are receiv'd by a Tefterdar or Treasurer-General who has under him several Receivers in divers places In matters of Religion the Mufti is the Chief and the Interpreter of the Law as well in relation to the Ceremonies as in all Ecclesiastical differences Among these Interpreters of the Law there is a Chieke or Doctor appointed to instruct those that are newly converted to Mahumetanism and to teach them the Maxims and Customs of their Religion Three days after I arriv'd at Aleppo Sultan Amurat made his Entry going to his Army which was upon its march to the Siege of Babylon Now you must take notice that not far from Aleppo toward the East there stands a House inhabited by the Dervies which are a Religious Order among the Turks though it formerly belong'd to the Monks of St. Basil and was a fair Covent It is still in good repair the Walls of the Chambers Halls and Galleries being all of Marble All the Dervies of this House went half a League from the City as far as Mount Ozelet to meet the Grand Signor and the Superiour at the Head of the rest having made a Speech to his Highness two Dervies came and made their obeisance in particular Which being perform'd from that place to the Castle of Aleppo for half an hours march together they went just before the Grand Signor's Horse turning round continually with all their might 'till they soam'd again at the Mouth and dazl'd the
threats or by rewards The eleventh after a Journey of ten hours we came to Ourfa where the Caravan usually stays eight or ten days for here it is that they live that hire the Horses and the Mules who have always some business in this place We lay at an Inn three or four hundred paces distant from the City toward the North. When the Inn is full the rest retire into the Grotto's which are near at hand and are very good quarters Here the Toll-gatherer presently comes and counts the Bales without op'ning them They that carry any Sacks must pay for half a Load if not he op'ns the Sack to see if there be any Merchandise therein for then the Merchant must pay the whole duty Ourfa is the Capital City of Mesopotamia built as they say in the same place where Abraham liv'd and where stood the ancient Edessa where the people of the Country report that King Abagarus generally kept his Court. There are still to be seen the ruines of a Castle from whence they add that the same King sent to CHRIST for his Picture and offer'd him his Kingdom and his people to defend him against the Jews whom he understood to be his Enemies The Chronicles of the Armenians report that Abagarus was their Country-man and that in his Reign they began to be Christians and to be Baptiz'd by the hands of an Apostle whom CHRIST sent to that Prince after his Resurrection * Neither is this Castle yet so far ruin'd but that there is still to be seen a spacious Hall and three or four handsom Rooms with some relicks of Mosaick work I was curious to see what ever was remarkable in this City And first they led me to a large Fountain which resembles a Fish-pond the Spring whereof is under the Foundations of the principal Mosquèe which was built in the honour of Abraham The Christians of the Country say that it was in that place where he pray'd before he went about to Sacrifice his Son Isaac and that two Springs of Water arose from the two places where he rested his knees which now feed the large Fountain I have made mention of It is pav'd with Free-stone and so full of fish that if you throw them in a little Bread they will follow you from place to place as you walk by the side of the Pond There is no medling with them for the Turks have a great veneration for those Fish which they call Abraham's Fish Besides that the place about the Fountain where the water wid'ns it self to water all the City is cover'd with very fair Carpets for about twenty paces in bredth This Fountain at length falls into a little River that runs by the Walls As for the Grotto where the two Springs rise there is no going into it before you have pull'd off your Shooes and it is a great favour for a Christian to see it such a favour as cost me six Piasters I also saw the Church under the portal whereof they say St. Alexis liv'd seventeen years a private life It stands in the middle of a Church-yard in the highest part of the Town in the possession of the Armenians But their principal Church is about a quarter of an hours walking from the City built by St. Ephren who is there buried The Monastery stands yet entire enclos'd with fair Walls In the Church I saw a large Bible in Armenian Characters The Sepulchre of St. Ephren is in a Cave at the foot of the Mountain to which there also belongs a Chappel where they keep three or four Lamps continually burning There are other Grotto's up and down the Mountain where are to be seen very ancient Sepulchers of the Christians The City of Ourfa is seated in a good soil very well manur'd which extends it self out of sight toward the East There are several pleasant Gardens near the walls water'd by little Channels brought thither by Art The soil produces good Wine so that a man may live as well at Ourfa as in any part of Turkie While I stay'd there I kill'd abundance of Feldfares in those Gardens and indeed there is great store of wild Fowl all the Country over The Walls of the City are of Freestone with Battlements and Towers but within the houses are small ill built and ruinous And there are several void spaces in the City which makes Ourfa to look rather like a Desert than a Metropolis The City is Govern'd by a Basha who has under him a hundred and fifty Janizaries and six hundred Spahi's standing more in need of Cavalry than Infantry by reason of the Incursions of the Arabians especially in Harvest time In short Ourfa is the place were they dress such great quantities of Cordovan Skins by reason of the waters particular to the Country which give them that peculiar beauty The Yellow Skins are drest at Ourfa the Blew at Tocat and the red Rat Diarbequir The twentieth of March we set out of Ourfa and after a Journey of six hours we lay at a pittiful Village where the Inn was fal'n all to decay There is a Fountain of excellent water by it which is all the convenience of the place for there is no Provision to be had The twenty-first we travel'd nine hours and came to lye near several Caverns which are very deep at the entry whereof there are little Rooms which are suppos'd to be the places where the People of the Country liv'd that fed their Cattel thereabouts There is also Rain-Water to be had in some of the Concavities of the Rock Half this days journey you must pass over Rocks where it is almost impossible and very dangerous to keep your Horses back The twenty-second having travel'd eleven hours we lodg'd near a Cavern having forded a River that runs at the foot of it There are two great Grotto's on each side where Travellers take up their Quarters and whither the Natives of the Country bring Provisions both for Horse and Man The Toll-gatherers coming from a Fort about three Leagues distant from these Caverns here exact two Piasters and a half for every Horse and Mules Load and search your Sacks to see if there be no Merchantable Goods therein About half the way of this days journey you meet with a City quite deserted by the Inhabitants and about an hours march after that with Tombs of Stone in the middle whereof stands a Cross with Armenian Characters The twenty-third we travel'd elev'n hours and lay at Dadacardin This appears to have been a great Town but is all ruin'd nor is there any thing remaining but a long Stone-Bridge very well built under which runs a River that is very broad when it overflows The People of the Country have no other Habitations than the Hollows of Rocks yet they bring to the Travellers Hens Butter Cheese and other Provisions which they sell very cheap The twenty-fourth we travel'd nine hours and lay at a place call'd Cara built upon a Hill The Caravan lay
Helmet upon his head and carries the Standard upon his shoulders and by him marches the Grand-Master's Page who carries a Sword in one hand and a Dagger in the other both very richly Embellish'd and giv'n to the Order by CHARLES the fifth The Page that carry'd the Sword and Dagger was the youngest Nephew of Pope Innocent the tenth The Souldiers and Citizens marching before to the Church door make a Lane for the Knight and the Page to pass on to the Altar where the Knight makes three bows and having done as much to the Grand-Master places himself on the right hand of the Grand-Masters Chair and the Page on the left Then the Mass and the Musick begins and while the Gospel is reading the Grand-Master takes the Sword and the Dagger out of the Page's hand and holds them with the points upward all the remaining part of the Mass. During the Elevation of the Host the Knights repeats the same Ceremony as at the beginning and then the Bells ring the great Guns go off and the Souldiers give three Vollies Mass being ended the Grand-Master retires accompany'd as before only that he is then attended by all the Ecclesiastical persons of the City and coming out of the Church he proceeds with all the Infantry marching before him toward our Lady 's of Victory where they all go in procession While they make a stand in that place the Souldiers give another Volley which is answer'd by all the Canons in the Town as also from the Ships and Galleys After that they return to St. John's and the Infantry Guard the Standard back to the Inn while the Grand-Master goes to his Palace The ninth we view'd the Fortifications which are stor'd with very fair pieces of Canon The tenth we saw the Pages perform their Exercises before the Grand-master which are generally vaulting and handling their Arms both Musquet and Pike The elev'nth we view'd the Arsenal where I was assur'd that there were Arms for twenty thousand men being in good order and rarely well look'd after The next day we visited the Infirmery where the sick are serv'd in Plate as well the poor as rich The twentieth we set Sail having the Wind at West-South-West and a fresh gale so that upon the twenty-third we discover'd the Coast of the Morea to which we approach'd so near as to descry Navarin In the Evening we saw the City of Coron where there is a great Trade for Sallet-Oyl From thence it was that the Great Turk Embarqu'd for Candy in the year 1645. The twenty-fourth the Wind was at East-North-East In the Morning we discover'd the Cape of Matapan which is the most Southern Point of Land in Europe lying in the Morea and at Noon the Iland of Cherigo The twenty-fifth we drew near Cyprus and descry'd a Mountain in that Iland call'd Canteliere with some other Promontories toward the South From the twenty-seventh day 'till we came to Alexandretta we perceiv'd the Sea to be all over cover'd with Pumice-stones which happ'nd from an Earthquake that had for some time before swallow'd up the Iland of Santorini Some think that it proceeded from the abundance of Sulphur of which that Country is full which took Fire and was the death of above 750 of the Ilanders that were partly buried in the Ruines and partly dy'd out of fear They that remain'd alive became black like Charcoal and the Vapours that ascended out of the Abyss fully'd all the Silver as far as Constantinople the noise of the Earthquake being heard as far as Smyrna The twenty-ninth by break of day we discover'd the Iland of Cyprus The first of October by eight in the Morning we came to an Anchor before Salines which is one of the Ports of Cyprus where our Consuls live Here I ask'd several of the Christians of the Country how they did to live and pay their Carage Who told me that it was with a great deal of difficulty in regard the Iland was very bare of Money which was the reason that many Christians turn'd Mahometans to avoid paying their Carage which is a Tribute that the Grand Signor Iayes upon all Christians throughout his Dominions He exacts from the poorest six Piasters a Head but there are some that pay a hundred or a hundred and fifty and this Tribute is due so soon as ever they come to be eighteen years of age The Iland of Cyprus is one of the most considerable in the Mediterranean Sea more to the East than any of the rest bearing the title of a Kingdom as being 500 Miles in circuit It is not all of the same bredth being of a triangular form the sides whereof are very unequal To it there belong several Capes or Promontories the principal whereof are St. Epiphanio toward the West Cape de Gate toward the South Cape Diegrega toward the North-East Cape Cormachiti toward the North and Cape St. Andrew upon the most Eastern Point of the Iland The principal Roads are that of Salines or Larneca that of Paphos and that of Cerines or Cerigni The Haven of Famagosta signifies nothing as to great Ships there being none but small Vessels that can ride there The Venetians had formerly made a small Mole there to harbour their Gallies but it is now quite ruin'd The Road of Cerines is that where the Barks and Galliots lye that come from Caramania and Payasses and where the Basha's land that are sent as Governours of the Iland from Constantinople who reside generally at Nicosia That City is almost in the middle of the Iland and was formerly a very large one as appears by the compass of the ancient Walls The new Walls are well terrass'd within-side and in a good posture of defence There are three Gates belong to the City that of Famagosta that of Paphos and that of Cerines The City it self is no uncomely place the Venetians having adorn'd it with many fair Palaces which the Turks demolish every day out of hopes to find hidd'n Treasure therein and sell the Stones to build new Houses The Cathedral that goes by the name of Santa Sophia is an ample and fair Structure of which the Turks have now made a Mosquee together with one more which was formerly a Monastery belonging to the Austin-Fryars The Greeks have there four Churches and the Franks two that is to say the French Missionary Capuchins and the Italian Missionary Soccolans The first have a Church dedicated to St. James the others another which is call'd Holy Rood Church The Armenians also have another belonging to them which is a very neat Building which was formerly a Monastery of the Carthusians There it is that there is a Tomb adorn'd with several Sculptures of Religious Nunns especially an Abbess with a Cross in her Hand the Writing about the Stone being in French Characters The City is seated in a temperate Air and a fertil Soil abounding with Water It extends more in length than bredth having been anciently nine Miles in compass but
Balsara But the Hollanders fearing to break with the King of Persia where they vended above fifteen or sixteen hundred thousand pounds of their Pepper and paid therewith for all their Silk did not think it worth their while to quit Ormus to settle themselves at Mascaté Had it been yielded to the way had been from Balsara to Elcatif a Sea-Town in Arabia the Happy where there is a Fishery for Pearls that belongs to the Emir of Elcatif From Elcatif to Mascalat another City of Arabia and the residence of another Emir From Mascalat to Vodana a good handsom City seated upon the meeting of two little Rivers that carry Barques to the Sea and run together by the single name of Moyesur The Soyl about Vodana produces no Corn and very little Rice but it abounds in Fruits especially Prunes and Quinces which are not so sour as ours and are eaten by the Natives as Pears There are extraordinary good Melons and great Store of Grapes of which the Jews who inhabit the best part of the City are permitted to make Wine From Vodana to the Gulf the County of each side is full of Palm-Trees the Dates being the Food of the common people who have not Money to buy either Corn or Rice From Vodana to Mascatè it is but fifteen Leagues though by the Maps which are Erroneous the way is describ'd to be much longer Being at Ormus the Emir of Vodana shew'd me a Pearl transparent and perfectly round that weigh'd seventeen Abas or fourteen Carats and seven Eights for in all the Pearl Fisheries of the East they use no other weights but Abas which make seven Eights of a Carat I offer'd him 300000 Piasters or 60000 Roupies for the same Pearl but the Emir refus'd to take it telling me that he had been offer'd more Money for it by several Princes of Asia who had sent to him to buy it but that he was resolv'd never to part with it CHAP. X. Of the Authors first Voyage and the adventures of four French-men I Departed out of Paris in the year 1657 and Embark'd at Marseilles for Ligorn We set Sail from Ligorn seven Vessels together two bound for Venice one for Constantinople one for Aleppo and three for Smyrna in one of which being a Dutch Vessel I Embark'd But before I leave Smyrna to begin my Journey from Tauris give me leave to relate the story of four French-men the various accidents whereof will much enlight'n the Reader into the Customs and Manners as well of the Turks as Persians While I stay'd the departure of the Caravan which could not be ready in five or six Weeks as also upon the advice of a rich Jew and a Merchant of Jewels at Constantinople who had several Pearls to sell as well for their beauty as their bigness the best Commodity a man can carry to the Indies I sent to Constantinople a person that I carry'd along with me one that was well vers'd in that sort of Commodity There was a Norman Gentleman nam'd de Reville then at Smyrna who would needs accompany my Factor so that they went both together in a Vessel that carry'd the French Ambassador and his Lady to Constantinople This Gentleman had two or three thousand Ducats in his Purse wanting neither wit nor courage besides a good presence but perhaps he was more hasty in his proceedings than the reserv'dness of that Country requir'd He had left the Service of the Muscovites thinking to find an employment in the Service of the Venetians at Candy but failing in his expectations he resolv'd to travel into Persia. While he was at Constantinople the Jews who lay hold upon all opportunities of gain soon found out my Factor and besides the Pearls which he desir'd to see they shew'd him several other rich Stones to try whether they could draw him in for he had refus'd the Pearls because they held them at too high a Rate The Norman Gentleman fell into their acquaintance and picking out the richest told him that being resolv'd for the Indies he had a mind to lay out four thousand Ducats in Pearls He added also that he would pay him half in Money half in Goods and at the same time shew'd the Jew two thousand Ducats which the Jew had already devour'd with his eyes Some four days after the Jew brought the Gentleman four fair Pearles with some Emraulds and you may be sure they easily agreed upon the price in regard the Gentleman had a design to put a trick upon the Jew Thereupon he shews his Ducats a second time which the Jew who thought he had a Cully presently told out as his own After that the Jew desiring to see the Goods which made up the other part of the payment the Gentleman without any more ado told him that all the Merchandize which he had to pay him was a good strong Quartan Ague which had held him a long time and indeed such a one that he could not possibly meet with a better but that he would not over-rate it in regard he ask'd but two thousand Ducats for it The Jew who was rich and in great credit at Court was so incens'd at his raillery that he had like to have made a wicked stir about it For as he had heard him say that the Gentleman was going into the Indies and Persia he might have easily caus'd him to have been apprehended for a Spy But in regard the Jews can do nothing in point of Trade without the assistance of the French Merchants he adviz'd with some of them who perswaded him that it was an Act of folly which it better became him to excuse and desir'd him to take his Goods again and put up the business which with much ado they perswaded him to condescend to The Gentleman fearing least the Jews underhand should do him a private mischief stole away with what speed he could and return'd to Smyrna De Reville being thus return'd to Smyrna put himself into an Almadier which is a small Vessel of War that generally touches at Chio and Rhodes being bound for Cyprus from whence there is always some convenience or other to get to Alexandretta From thence he went to Aleppo and while he stay'd there he met with two French men the one whose name was Neret the other Hautin who was an Accomptant They had four wooden Chests full of false Stones ready set by which they flatter'd themselves to be great gainers in Persia. They went from Marseilles to Seyde from Seyde to Damas hearing that there was an opportunity to Travel to Bagdat with the Topigi-Bashi This Topigi-Bashi or chief of the Engineers was he that assisted Amurath in the taking of Bagdat in recompence whereof the Grand Signor gave him a Timar or Lordship in Damas worth four thousand Crowns a year Now it was his custom every year to visit Bagdat and to stay there during the Season that there was any probability of the King of Persia's besieging it which Season not lasting above
where the people live in little Hutts made of the Branches of Palm-trees From Bagdat to Anna you ride in four days through a desert Country though it lye between two Rivers Anna is a City of an indifferent bigness that belongs to an Arabian Emir For about half a League round about the Town the Lands are very well manur'd being full of Gardens and Country-houses The City for its situation resembles Paris for it is built upon both sides of the River Euphrates and in the midst of the River is an Island where stands a fair Mosquee From Anna to Mached-raba is five days riding and from Mached-raba to Taïba five days more Mached-raba is a kind of a Fortress upon the point of a Hill at the Foot whereof springs a Fountain like a large Vase which is very rare in the Deserts The place is encompass'd with high Walls defended by certain Towers and in which are little Hutts where the Inhabitants keep their Cattel of which there is great store but more Mares and Horses than Cows Taïba is also a fortifi'd place in a level Country or a high Bank of Earth and Brick bak'd in the Sun Near to the Gate a Fountain springs out of the Earth and makes a kind of a Pond This Road is most frequented by those that travel through the Desert from Aleppo or Damas to Babylon or from Damas to Diarbequir by reason of this Fountain From Taïba to Aleppo is but three days journey but these three days are the most dangerous of all the Road for Robbers in regard that all the Country is inhabited only by the Bedouïns or Arabian Shepherds who make it their business only to plunder and steal Now to take the same Road from Aleppo to Ispahan it lyes thus From Aleppo to Taïba days 3 From Taïba to Mached-raba days 5 From Mached-raba to Anna days 5 From Anna to Bagdat days 4 From Bagdat to Bourous days 1 From Bourous to Charaban days 1 From Charaban to Casered days 1 From Casered to Conaguy days 1 From Conaguy to Cassiscerin days 1 From Cassiscerin to another Conaguy days 1 From Conaguy to Erounabad days 1 From Erounabad to Maidacht days 1 From Maidacht to Sahana days 1 From Sahana to Kengavar days 1 From Kengavar to Nahoüand days 1 From Nahoüand to Oranguie days 1 From Oranguie to Comba days 1 From Comba to Consar days 1 From Consar to Ispahan days 1 So that whether you travel from Aleppo to Ispahan or from Ispahan to Aleppo you may easily ride it in thirty days From whence I make this Observation That a man making it but two days more from Alexandretta and finding a Ship ready there to set Sail for Marseilles with a fair Wind he may travel from Ispahan to Paris in two months Another time having an occasion to go from Aleppo to Kengavar and so to Bagdat and from thence so through the Desert at Bagdat I met with a Spaniard that was travelling the same way with whom I luckily met to bear half the Charges of the Guide which as soon as we had hir'd for sixty Crowns we set forward from Bagdat the Spaniard and I and our Arabian who was afoot walk'd about Pistol Shot before our Horses From thence to Anna we met with nothing remarkable but only that we saw a Lyon and a Lyoness in the Act of Generation Whereupon our Guide believing we had been afraid told us that he had met them oft'n but that he never found them do any harm The Spaniard according to the humour of his Nation was very reserv'd and contenting himself with an Onion or some such small matter at meals never made much of his guide whereas I was mightily in his favour in regard there was never a day pass'd wherein he did not receive of me some good business or other We were not above a Musquet Shot from Anna when we met with a comely old man who came up to me and taking my Horse by the Bridle Friend said he come and wash thy feet and eat Bread at my House Thou art a Stranger and since I have met thee upon the Road never refuse me the favour which I desire of thee The Invitation of the old man was so like the custom of the people in ancient times of which we read so many Examples in Scripture that we could not choose but go along with him to his House where he Feasted us in the best manner he could giving us over and above Barly for our Horses and for us he kill'd a Lamb and some Hens He was an Inhabitant of Anna and liv'd by the River which we were oblig'd to cross to wait upon the Governour for our Passports for which we paid two Piasters apiece We staid at a House near the Gate of the City to buy Provisions for our selves and our Horses where the woman of the House having a lovely sprightly Child of nine years of age I was so taken with her humour that I gave her two Handkerchiefs of Painted Calicut which the Child shewing her Mother all we could do could not make her take any Money for the Provisions we had agreed for Five hundred paces from the Gate of the City we met a young man of a good Family for he was attended by two Servants and rode upon an Ass the hinder part of which was Painted red He accosted me in particular and after some Compliments that pass'd Is it possible said he that I should meet a Stranger and have nothing to present him withall He would fain have carry'd us to a House in the Country whether he was going but seeing we were resolv'd to keep our way he would needs give me his Pipe notwithstanding all the excuses I could make and though I told him that I never took any Tobacco so that I was constrain'd to accept of it About three Leagues from Anna we were going to eat among the Ruines of certain Houses and had thought to have lain there 'till midnight when we perciv'd two Arabians sent by the Emir to tell us that he had some Letters which he would put into our own hands to the Basha of Aleppo to which purpose he had order to bring us back There was no refusing so that at our coming into the City the next day we saw the Emir going to the Mosquée mounted upon a stately Horse and attended by a great number of people afoot with every one a great Poniard stuck in their Girdles As soon as we saw him we alighted and standing up by the Houses we saluted him as he pass'd by Seeing our Guide and threatning to rip up his Belly Ye Dog said he I will give ye your reward and teach ye to carry Strangers away before I see them Carry them said he to the Governours House 'till I return from the Mosquée Returning from the Mosquée and being seated in a spacious Hall he sent for us and our Guide whom he threatn'd again for carrying us out of the Town without giving him
arriv'd upon Easter-eve and as we enter'd into the City the great Guns went off round the City in honour of the Resurrection At Rome we all separated according as our Business led us CHAP. VI. Another Road from Constantinople to Ispahan by the Euxin or Black Sea with some Remarks upon the principal Cities thereabouts THere are three Roads yet remaining leading out of Europe into Persia or the Indies That of Constantinople all along the Coasts of the Black Sea that of Warsovia crossing the same Sea at Trebisond and that of Mosco down the Volga which has been amply describ'd by Olearius Secretary to the Embassy of the Duke of Holstein In this and the next Chapter I shall describe the Way from Constantinople all along the Black Sea and that from Warsovia not knowing any person that has hitherto mention'd any thing upon this subject And first of all I will give a short Description of the principal Places that lye upon that Sea as well upon the side of Europe as of Asia with the just distances of one Place from another The principal Cities upon the Black Sea on the Coast of Europe From Constantinople to Varna they count it two hundred Miles four of which make an Alman League miles 200 From Varna to Balshinké miles 36 From Belshinké to Bengali miles 70 From Bengali to Constance miles 60 From Constance to Queli miles 25 Near to this City of Queli the great Arm of Danow throws it self into the Black Sea Here is the grand Fishery for Sturgeon From Queli to Aquerman miles 50 The City of Aquerman belongs to a Kan of the lesser Tartary but it is not the place of his residence for he keeps his Court at Basha-Serrail twenty-five miles up in the Land From Aquerman to Kefet or Kaffa miles 350 This is a great City and a place of great Trade wherein there are above a thousand Families of the Armenians and about five hundred Greeks They have every one their Bishop and several Churches St. Peter's is the biggest very large and very beautiful but it falls to decay because the Christians have not Wealth enough to repair it Every Christian aboue fifteen years of age pays a Piaster and a half tribute to the Grand Signor who is Lord of the City and he sends a Bashae that lives in the ancient City call'd Frink-Hessar However the Kan of the Lesser Tartary extends his Jurisdiction as far as the Gates of Kaffa From Kaffa to Assaque miles 70 Assaque is the last City in Europe belonging also to the Grand Signor By it runs a great River of the same name the other side being in the Territories of the Duke of Muscovy Down this River come the Cossacks that do so much mischief to the Turks For sometimes they come with threescore or fourscore Gelia's which are a kind of Brigantines the bigger sort of which carry a hundred and fifty men the less a hundred Sometimes they divide themselves into two parts one of which makes Havock toward Constantinople the other Ravages the Coast of Asia as far as Trebizond The Coast of Europe bord'ring upon the Black Sea is 861 miles in length The chief Cities upon the Black Sea on the Coast of Asia which is 1170 miles in length From Constantinople to Neapoli miles 250 In this City are made the greatest part of the Galleys and Vessels that belong to the Grand Signor From Neapoli to Sinabe miles 250 From Sinabe to Ouma miles 240 From Ouma to Kerason miles 150 From Kerason to Trebisond miles 80 From Trebisond to Rise miles 100 From Rise to Guni miles 100 The City of Guni belongs half to the Grand Signor and half to the King of Mengrelia with whom he keeps a good Correspondence because the greatest part of the Steel and Iron that is spent in Turkie comes out of Mengrelia through the Black Sea The only good Ports upon the Black Sea from Constantinople to Mengrelia are Quitros Sinabe or Sinope Onnye Samsom Trebisond Gommé The Haven of Quitros is very deep and the Vessels lie shelter'd from the winds but the entrance into it is very bad which only the Pilots of the place or they who have often accustom'd themselves to that Trade can only find out It seems that anciently there had been most stately Buildings round about the Port and several noble Pillars are to be seen all along the shore not to speak of those which have been Transported to Constantinople Near the City toward the South stands a high Mountain whence there flows good store of excellent Water which at the bottom gathers into one Fountain To go from Constantinople for Persia by Sea you must embark at Constantinople for Trebisond and many times for Rise or Guni which are more to the North. They that Land at Trebisond go directly to Erzerom which is not above five days Journey off and from Erzerom to Erivan or Tunis But there are few that will venture upon this Sea where there is no good Anchorage besides that it is subject to prodigious Tempests from which there are very few good Ports to defend them which is the reason it is call'd Cara-denguis or the Black Sea The Eastern people giving to all things mischievous and dangerous the Epithet of Black They that are Bound for Rise or Guni go to Testis the Capital City of Giorgia and thence to Erivan for though the way be bad yet it is far better and smoother than the Road to Tauris The principal places from Teflis to Erivan are these together with their respective distances From Teflis to Soganlouk leagues 3 From Soganlouk to Senouk-kupri leagues 7 From Senouk-kupri to Guilkac leagues 7 From Guilkac to Daksou leagues 6 From Dakson to Achikent leagues 6 From Achikent to Dillou leagues 6 From Dillou to Yazegi leagues 6 From Yazegi to Bicheni leagues 4 From Bicheni to Erivan leagues 2 From Erivan you keep the ordinary Road to Tauris CHAP. VII The Road from Warsow to Ispahan over the Black Sea and from Ispahan to Mosco with the Names of the principal Cities and Islands of Turky according to the vulgar pronunciation and as they are call'd in the Language of the Turks FRom Warsow upon the left hand of the Vistula the ordinary residence of the Kings of Poland to Lublin days 6 From Lublin to Iluove days 5 There all the Bales are open'd and the Customers take Five in the Hundred for their Merchandize From Iluove to Jaslovieer days 12 This is the last City of Poland toward Moldavia where if you sell any quantity of Goods you must pay Five per Cent. From Jaslovieer to Yashé days 8 This is the Capital City of Moldavia and is the Residence of the Vaywood which the Grand Signor sends to govern in the Country There they open all the Bales and there is a Roll of what every Merchant ought to pay which may amounts to Five per Cent. From Yashé to Ourshaye days 3 This is the last City of Moldavia
Turkish Adrianople Edrené Burse Brousa Belgrade Beligrade Buda Boudim Grand Caire Mesr. Alexandretta in Egypt Iskendrié Mecca Meqquie Balsara Basra Babylon Bagdat Nineveh Moussoul Nisibis Nisbin Edessa Ourfa Tiqueranger Diarbequir Eva-togea Tokat Teve Toupolis Erzerom Shamiramager Van. Jerusalem Koutsheriff Damas Cam. Tripoli in Syria Cam Taraboulous Aleppo Haleb. Tripoli in Barbary Taraboulous Tunis Tunis Algier Gezaiir Candy Guirir Rhodes Rodes Cyprus Kebres Chio Sakes Methelin Medilli Smyrna Izmir Troy Eski Istamboul Lemnos Limio Tenedos Bogge-adasi Negropont Eghirbos The Dardanels Bogaz-ki Athens Atina Barut Biroult Seyde Saida Tyre Sour St. John of Dacres Acra Antioch Antexia Trebizond Tarabozan Sinopus Sinap In the Fortress of Sinopus at the lower part of the Wall there is a Stone to be seen where there is an Inscription in Latin abbreviated with the word Rome in it whence some conjecture may be made that the Romans built it The Mediterranean Sea Akdeniis The Ocean Derijay Mouhiit The Black Sea Kara-Deniis CHAP. VIII Remarks upon the Trade of the Island of Candy and the principal Isles of the Archipelago as also upon some of the Cities of Greece adjoyning with a particular Relation of the present Condition of the Grand Signor's Galleys belonging as well to the Isles as to the Continent Of the ISLAND of CANDY OUT of the Island of Candy Strangers export great store of Wheat and Sallet-Oyl all sorts of Pulse Cheese yellow Wax Cottons Silks but more especially Malmsey wherein consists its chiefest Trade When Vintage draws near the Country-people that are to gather the Grapes wrap their Feet in a piece of a Boar's Skin which they tye together upon the upper part of the Foot with a piece of Pack-thred to preserve their Feet from the violent heat of the Rocks upon which they are to tread Those Skins are brought out of Russia by the Russes that bring Botargo and Caviare to Constantinople where they have a vast vent for it all over Turkie Persia and Ethiopia where they that follow the Greek and Armenian Church eat little or nothing else all the Lent By the way take notice that the Turks make a certain Glew out of Sturgeon which is the best in the World so that whatever is fasten'd with it will rather break in another place than where it is glew'd They make it thus When they have caught a Sturgeon they pull out his Guts and then there remains a Skin that covers the Flesh this Skin they take off from the head to the belly It is very clammy and about the thickness of two Sheets of Paper which they roll as thick as a Man's Arm and let it dry in the Sun When they use it they beat it with a Mallet and when it is well beat'n they break it into pieces and steep it in Water for half an hour in a little Pot. When the Venetians were Masters of Candy they that had committed any Crime which deserv'd Death if they could get out of the Island before they were apprehended went directly to Constantinopole to beg their pardon For you must know that no person but the Ambassador of the Commonwealth of Venice had the Priviledge to pardon Crimes committed in Candy For example when Signor Dervisano was Ambassador for the Commonwealth of Venice at Constantinople a Candiot having a desire to lye with a Woman by force she told him she would sooner eat her Child's Liver than yield to his Lust. Whereupon the Villain enrag'd he could not compass his design took his opportunity kill'd the Child cut out the Liver and made the Mother eat it and then slew the Mother also Upon this he fled to Constantinople to beg pardon of the Ambassador and obtain'd it there But the Ambassador at the same time wrote word to the Governour of Candy to put him to death at his return having only granted him his Pardon to preserve his Priviledge And indeed to speak truth the Candiots are the most wretched people under Heaven Of the ISLAND of CHIO THE City of Chio which gives the Island its Name contains about thirty thousand Inhabitants where there are little less than fifteen thousand Greeks eight thousand Latins and six thousand Turks Among the several Greek and Latin Churches the last of which hath continu'd ever since the time that the Genoeses possess'd the Island there are some indifferent handsom Structures The five principal Latin Churches are the Cathedral and the Churches belonging to the Escolantines the Dominicans the Jesuites and the Capuchins The Turks have also their Mosquees and the Jews their Synagogue Four Miles from the City near to the Sea-side is to be seen a vast Stone which was cut out of some Rock it is almost all round only the upper part which is flat and somewhat hollow round about the upper part and in the middle are places like Seats cut into the same Stone of which there is one higher than the rest like a School-master's Chair and Tradition reports that this was Homer's School where he taught his Scholars In this Island there is such an infinite number of Partridges that the like is not to be found in any part of the World But that which is a greater Rarity is this that the Natives breed them up as we do our Poultry but after a more pleasant manners for they let them go in the fields all the day long and at night every Country-man calls his own sevèrally home to Roost by a particular Note whither they return like a Flock of so many Geese There are great quantities of Damasks and Fustians wrought in the Island of Chio which are transported to Grand Cairo and to all the Cities upon the Coast of Barbary Natolia and particularly to Constantinople Three Leagues from the Island of Chio upon a Mountain to the South there grows a peculiar sort of Trees the Leaves are somewhat like a Myrtle their Branches so long that they creep upon the ground but which is more wonderful that when they are down they rise again of themselves From the beginning of May to the end of June the Inhabitants take great care to keep the Earth under the Tree very clean for during those two Months there issues out a certain Gum from the joynts of the Branches which drops upon the ground this is that which we call Mastick and the Turks Sakes according to the Name which they give the Island The Island produces great store of this Mastick which is spent in the Seraglio of Constantinople where the Women continually chew it to cleanse and keep their Teeth white When the Mastick Season draws near the Grand Signor every year sends a certain number of Bestangi's to take care that it be not exported but be preserv'd for the use of the Seraglio If it be a plentiful year for Mastick the Bestangi's that cull out the lesser sort to sell put it into little Bags and seal it up which Bags being so seal'd are never question'd by the Custom-house Officers The Island also
least prone to Jealousie By the way take notice that the Nogaies though they live almost after the same manner as the Tartars and are under the same Prince yet they perfectly hate them reproaching them for effeminate because they live in Houses and Villages whereas the true Souldier should live in Tents as they do to be ready upon all occasions They that run a-foot as well in these Countries as in Persia when they are weary take Walnuts and bruise them and then rub the Soles of their feet with them before the fire as hot as they can endure it which presently makes them fresh again Having thus done with all the several Roads here follows an Alphabetical Table of the Longitudes and Latitudes of all the Principal Cities of the whole Empire of Persia. THE LONGITUDES and LATITUDES OF THE Principal Cities of PERSIA according as the Geographers of those Countries place them A. A Amoul is in 72 Degrees 20 Min. of Longitude 36 deg of Latitude The Lands about this City abound in Prunes Abeher in 74 deg 20 min. Long. 36 deg 15 min. Lat. 12 Leagues from Casbin a small City but the Land is good about it Absecun in 79 deg 15 min. Long. 37 deg 10 min. Lat. A small City in an excellent Soil Abdehil in 60 deg 20 min. Long. 36 deg 24 min. Lat. The Inhabitants are most Christians and there are many ancient Churches in it It depends upon Sultany Ahwaz 70 deg 15 min. Long. 31 deg 15 min. Lat. A small City half ruin'd in the Province of Belad-Cowreston in a Soil that yields excellent Fruits Arbella 69 deg 50 min. Long. 36 deg 20 min. Lat. A small Champaign City where Provisions are Cheap Ardevil 62 deg 30 min. Long. 38 deg 15 min. Lat. Ardeston 77 deg 10 min. Long. 33 deg 7 min. Lat. Famous for the Copper Vessels that are there made Arion 74 deg 32 min. Long. 32 deg 25 min. Lat. One of the three places where Olives grow in all Persia. Assed-Abad 63 deg 40 min. Long. 34 deg 50 min. Lat. A small City toward Amadan Ava 75 deg 10 min. Long. 34 deg 40 min. Lat. This is a very small place Azadkar or Yevin 82 deg 15 min. Long. 36 deg 32 min. Lat. A City in a great Plain where there are above four hundred Channels under-ground B. Bab El Abab or the Gate of Gates call'd also Demir-capi or the Gate of Iron The Tartars call it Monjou 75 deg 15. min. Long. 45 deg 15 min. Lat. It has been formerly a strong place Badkeist 85 deg 32 min. Long. 35 deg 20 min. Lat. A small but most pleasant City and well built Baste 80 deg 15 min. Long. 29 deg 15 min. Lat. A City in the Province of Kerman where in Summer the Mornings are very cold the Afternoons hot yet the Air very good Bafrouche see Mahmeter Beylagon 63 deg 52 min. Long. 41 deg 20 min. Lat. A City toward the Caspian Sea in a Country abounding in Corn and Fruit. Balk 91 deg 36 min. Long. 38 deg 10 min. Lat. Three days journey from Moultan Bem or Bembe 74 deg 15 min. Long. 28 deg 20 min. Lat. Thought to have been built by Caliph Mouktadar near the great Desert of Bersham Berdoe 63 deg 15 min. Long. 35 deg 30 min. Lat. It lyes surrounded with Pasture-grounds which breed great store of Cattel Berzendé 63 deg 14 min. Long. 37 deg 40 min. Lat. Here are made a sort of course Druggets for ordinary people Beston 79 deg 15 min. Long. 37 deg 20 min. Lat. It lyes in a Country abounding in Corn and Fruits Bimonoheer 74 deg 10 min. Long. 37 deg 30 min. Lat. Here is great Trade for Silk Bost 91 deg 28 min. Long. 32 deg 16 min. Lat. A great City to which belongs the fairest and strongest Castle in all Persia. Bourou-Jerdé 74 deg 30 min. Long. 34 deg 20 min. Lat. Famous for Saffron and for being the native City of many Learned Men. C. Chemkon 63 deg 15 min. Long. 41 deg 15 min. Lat. Chiras 78 deg 15 min. Long. 29 deg 36 min. Lat. Chirvan or Erivan 63 deg 15 min. Long. 38 deg 32 min. Lat. Here all the Silk Caravans rendevous and it is one of the richest Kanats or Governments in Persia. D. Dankon 78 deg 15 min. Long. 30 deg 15 min. Lat. A bad Town in a bad Soil Darabguired 80 deg 15 min. Long. 30 deg 15 min. Lat. In several parts round about this City they meet with Salt of several colours as red and green black and white Here they also make long-neck'd Glass-Bottles which are very curious work nor are they without Sider to fill those Bottles in regard of the great plenty of Apples thereabouts Near to the City there is a Sulphur-Mine and great store of Mummy very much esteem'd in Persia. Debeston 80 deg 15 min. Long. 38 deg 15 min. Lat. This is not properly a City but a great many Villages joyn'd together Deras 79 deg 30 min. Long. 31 deg 32 min. Lat. Devinmaat 62 deg 5 min. Long. 38 deg 40 min. Lat. Din Ver 63 deg 15 min. Long. 35 deg Lat. A City in a fruitful Soil stor'd with Mosquees Doulad 74 deg 15 min. Long. 37 deg 50 min. Lat. The Country about is full of black Mulbery trees Dourak 74 deg 32 min. Long. 32 deg 15 min. Lat. Here they make the loose Cassocks without Sleeves which the Arabians wear Near to this City the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates meeting at a place call'd Hellá make a Marsh where grow the Reeds of which the Eastern people make their Pens E. Elalbetem 87 deg 15 min. Long. 37 deg 15. min. Lat. Eltiib 70 deg 15. min. Lon. 32 deg 15. min. Lat. Enderab 93 deg 15 min. Long. 32 deg 15 min. Lat. Erivan see Chirvan Espharaïen 81 deg 40 min. Long. 37 deg 15 min. Lat. The Country about it abounds in Pears and Apples Estakré 78 deg 30 min. Long. 30 deg 15 min. Lat. The ancient City in the Province of Fars properly Persia in a Soil abounding in Vines and Date-trees Esterabat 75 deg 35 min. Long. 36 deg 50 min. Lat. F. Ferah 18 deg 15 min. Long. 39 deg 15 min. Lat. Built by Abdalla the Son of Taher in the time of Maimon Reshid Caliph of Berni-Abbas Ferouzabad 82 deg 32 min. Long. 30 deg 10 min. Lat. Anciently call'd Hourbecthion G. Girefte 73 deg 40 min. Long. 31 deg 10 min. Lat. One of the biggest Cities in the Province of Kerman The Trade of the City consists in Hones and Wheat Girrcadegon vulgarly Paygon 75 deg 35 min. Long. 34 deg 15 min. Lat. Goutem 74 deg 46 min. Long. 37 deg 20 min. Lat. A little City full of Silk-Twisters H. Hamadan 75 deg 20 min. Long. 34 deg Lat. The Country about it breeds great store of Cattel Hasn-Eltaf or The Center of Beauty
that Ispahan seems rather a Forrest than a City The Plain being fertile is well inhabited but there are no Villages in it only three or four Houses in a place together The Walls of Ispahan are of Earth to which do belong some pittiful Towers without Battlements or Platforms Bastions or Redoubts or any other Fortification The Moats also are as bad neither broad nor deep but always dry In some places also the people have beaten down great gaps in the Wall to get the nearest way into the City yet they reckon ten Gates which are but of Earth however and of no defence the chief of which are Der-Vasalsehab not far from the King's Palace Der-Tokshi Der-Mark Der-Vasal-Lembon Der-Nasan-Abad Der-Sha and Der-Dekt The Gates are made of Planks rudely joyn'd together and cover'd with plates of Iron four fingers broad and as thick as a Crown fasten'd with flat-headed Nails The Keys are never carry'd to the Governour but left with a silly Porter that op'ns and shuts the Gates as he pleases himself for indeed there is no necessity of shutting the Gates when there are so many other ways into the City The City of Ispahan is ill laid out for the Streets are narrow and unequal and for the most part dark because of the Arches that go from one House to another so that a man is forc'd sometimes to feel his way for two hundred paces Moreover the Streets are many times annoy'd with Loads of Ordure and the Carcasses of dead Beasts which cause a most filthy stench and would be very infectious certainly but for the wholesomness of the Air. In the most part of the Streets are Wells which are stop'd up in Summer and open'd in the Winter to carry away the Rain and the Snow into the Arch'd Channels which run under Ground through the middle of the Street There are also before every Door certain Troughs to receive the filth and ordure of every Family which the Country-men come and carry away to Dung their Grounds Every morning the Country-man comes with his Ass to lade Dung and it is observable that he is more diligent to carry away the Dung of the Armenians Franks and Jews that drink Wine than of the Persians that drink none And this is the profit of the Servants of the House that sell an Asses Load of Dung for five and sometimes for ten or twelve Kasbeshé The Streets of Ispahan as of all the rest of the Cities of Persia are not pav'd which makes them very incommodious both Summer and Winter For in the Summer the dust puts out your Eyes unless it be in the Streets where the great Merchants live and about the Meydan where there are people hir'd to water the Streets Morning Noon and Night Those people go about the Streets also with a Boracho full of Water and a Glass with Ice in a Bag to give them drink that desire it Nor do they take any money being paid out of the Legacies left by persons deceased for that purpose In the Winter this dust turns to mire half the leg deep though it be very true that there are very few people to be seen then in the Street for in regard of the vaulted Channels that run through every Street should the soak'd Earth chance to fail under the Horse it might endanger a Limb. Besides the Persians are so superstitious that they will hardly receive a man within their doors with a spot of Dirt upon his Cloathes for fear of being defil'd by him You shall also meet with little Holes against the Walls of the Houses in the op'n Street where the Persians are not asham'd to squat and Piss in the face of all the World If there be any running Water in the Street they take a little in their Hands and wash their Member with it or if there be no Water they rub it against a Stone or the Wall which they take for a great piece of gentility and modesty That which farther contributes to the nastiness of the Streets of Ispahan is that the Butchers throw the Blood and Excrements of the Beasts which they kill into the Streets If a Horse or a Mule a Camel or an Ass dye they presently throw him into the Street True it is that there are people who come presently to buy it of the Owner who make Harissé which they sell to the poor Work-men This Harissé is thus prepar'd they boyl the flesh of the dead Beast with Corn and after it is well boyl'd they mash it together 'till it becomes like a Pottage They also make Harissé of good Mutton both which sorts they sell in the Market-place or great Meydan of the City Though the City of Ispahan be dirty yet there is a way for persons of ability to avoid it for they never stir but on Horse-back with two or three Lackeys call'd Chatres that run before to make room For the Men are all upon the false Gallop in the Streets without any fear of hurting the Children by reason that the Children are not suffer'd to play in the Streets like ours but as soon as ever they come from School they sit down by their Parents to be instructed by them in their Profession These Valets or Foot-men make a Trade of Running of which the King and the Lords have several in their service it being a piece of grandeur to keep a great many They serve from Father to Son undergoing an Apprentiship in Running From six to seven years of age they only set themselves to walk slowly The next year they run a League at a time upon a handsom trot the next year after they run two or three Leagues and so proportionably for the rest At eighteen years of age they are allow'd a Scrip of Flowr with a flat piece of Copper to bake their Bread upon and a Bottle of Water all which they carry about them when they run For these people when they are sent Post never take the Caravan-Road but the shortest cuts through the Deserts and must therefore accustom themselves to carry their Provision The King and the Lords have no Chatres but what are Masters which degree they are not to arrive at without some Ceremony and performing a Race like our Jemmy and the Butcher of Croyden If he be a Lord that owns the Chater who desires to be a Master he sends for all his Friends sets up a Scaffold in the Meydan provides a Collation and sends for the Curtisans to divert the Company Now there is not one of these Guests that does not bring something to give this Chater after the Race is run either a Bonnet or a Girdle or some other thing part of which the Chater gives to his fellows Then the Chater appears with his Legs greas'd his Thighs bare only a slight short pair of loose Breeches and a Girdle with three little Bells hanging upon his Belly Thus accouter'd he starts from Ali-Capi and between Sun-rising and Sun-setting he runs backward and forward to a
the heat is not extream they that please may walk for the sake of the fresh Air. But the most usual passage is under the Galleries where there are several out-lets upon the River to let in the fresh Air. For the Galleries are very high from the level of the Bridge to which you ascend by easie steps the middle of the Bridge not being above twenty-five foot broad serving for Waggons and Pack-horses There is also another way all along by the Water side where there are several Stones laid to step upon to keep you from being watchet It crosses through all the Arches of the Bridge through little doors made in every Arch from one end to the other descending from the Bridge by a little pair of stairs tak'n out of the thickness of the Arches supporters There is another Stair-case to ascend up to the Galleries of about two fathoms broad with stays or Rails on both sides This Bridge is truly a very neat piece of Architecture if I may not say the neatest in all Persia. THE PERSIAN GOLPHE There are also three other Bridges upon the River one above the Bridge of Zulfa and two below The first but meanly built but very commodious for the Armenians when they travel Westward who would else be forc'd to go a great way about through the whole City of Ispahan The first of the other two Bridges below the Bridge of Zulfa was built by Sha-Abas the second Father of the present King It is almost equal to it in Structure but it has one particular beauty which is a hexagonal place in the middle of the Bridge which causes the Water to fall in that part with a pleasing noise For that being the deepest part of the River Sha-Abas resolv'd to build a Bridge there partly for the Gaurs sake to the end they might not come through the walk of Tcharbag and that going from Ispahan they might have a shorter cut home The Habitation of the Gaurs is only a large Village the first Houses whereof are but a little way from the River though the walk that goes from Ispahan to the King's Bridge is both longer and broader than that of Tcharbag planted on both sides with a row of Trees but no Channel in the middle Before each of the Avenues to the Bridge stands a House that belongs to the King for his divertisoment That upon the left side of the River toward Ispahan was by the great Sha-Abas giv'n to the Capuchins For as soon as they came to Ispahan upon their Examination the King was extreamly tak'n with their behaviour He ask'd them how they liv'd and whether they took any money To which the Capuchins making answer that they never handled any money but contented themselves with Alms the King believing his Subjects would give them very little bestow'd that House and Garden upon them But they stay'd not long there because it was too big for them to repair and too far from the City so that the Roman-Catholicks in the Winter could not get to their Chappel Now they have built themselves a very handsom House not far from the King's Palace at the Cost of Father Joseph one of their own order There is another old Bridge a quarter of a League below the Gaurs Bridge which is upon the Road from Ispahan to Schiras But to return to the long-walk of Tcharbag which continues above eight hundred paces beyond the Bridge of Zulfa to the Garden of Hezardgerib The Rivulet that passes that other part of the walk comes from the same River which they have cut three or four Leagues above Ispahan When you have walk'd about four hundred paces you meet with a fall of Waters that tumbles into a Pool from whence there are twelve steps to ascend to the end of the Alley The walk is fronted by the great House which stands before the Garden of Hezardgerib or the thousand Acres The House consists but only of one great Hall over the Gate and four small Chambers at the four corners of it Hezardgerib is the fairest Garden in Asia though it would be accounted nothing in Europe However as it lies upon the descent of a Hill it consists of sixteen Terasses sustain'd by a Wall sixteen or seventeen foot high There is but little Water in any of the Wells but that which has most is in the fourth Terrass That is a great Octagonal Pool about a hundred and twenty foot in Diameter round about which are several Pipes that throw up the Water about three foot high and there are three steps down to the Water A Channel pav'd with Stone runs through the principal Alley which goes no farther than the building This Channel is as wide as that of the Channel of Tcharbag whence it is supply'd as being right opposite to it In the tenth Terrass you meet with another Fountain of the same bigness and form with that in the fourth and in the last which terminates the Grand Alley and the length of the Garden there is another Channel which crosses all the Alleys which like the great one compose the length of the Alley Besides this there are op'n Rooms to take the fresh Air some falls and murmurs of Water but for borders and close Alleys and Arbours you must expect no such thing either in Hezardgerib nor in any other part of Persia. Having walk'd in the great walk of Tcharbag you meet upon the right hand with a Street between two Walls of the Gardens that belong to the King which Street leads you to Zulfa not above two or three Musquet Shots distance off Zulfa a Colony of Armenians which Sha-Abas brought from Zulfa a City of Armenia is so much encreas'd for some years since that it may now pass for a large City being almost a League and a half long and near upon half as much broad There are two principal Streets which contain near upon the whole length one whereof has on each side a row of Tchinars the roots whereof are refresh'd by a small Channel of Water which by a particular order the Armenians bring to the City to water their Gardens The most part of the other Streets have also a row of Trees and a Channel And for their Houses they are generally better built and more chearful than those of Ispahan How they came to be fetled here I have already describ'd And now the number See the Description of Zulpha of Inhabitants is strangely increas'd by the accession of several other Christians of divers Sects as Jacobites Cophtes and Nestorians who formerly liv'd in the Suburbs of Ispahan Neither was Sha-Abas so cruel in transplanting the Armenians away out of their own Country for they were all at that season poor labouring men who knew not at all what belong'd to Trade Since that time they are grown very rich so that the Armenians have no cause to be covetous of the Habitations of their Ancestors And now I will tell you how they came to be such great Proficients
condition Others more refin'd and not believing material enjoyments affirm that Beatitude consists in the perfect knowledge of the Sciences and for the sences they shall have their satisfaction according to their quality CHAP. XX. The Author departs from Ispahan to Ormus and describes the Road to Schiras I Set forth out of Ispahan the 24. of Feb. 1665. in the afternoon and stai'd a League from the City in a field whither some of my friends would needs accompany me About ten a clock at night I set forward again and travell'd till break of day and then I came to a place where the Radars kept guard half a league from a great Town call'd Ispshaneck which you are to cross About ten a clock in the forenoon I came to Mahiar where there is a very good Inn. But the Land between this and Ispahan is all very barren and without wood The 26 th three hours after midnight I set forward through a dry Plain which begins to grow more fruitful about a League from Comshe a great City where I arriv'd by eleven a Clock in the morning In it are several Inns and indifferent handsome ones considering that they are built only of Earth This City is compos'd of a row of Villages that extend about half a League in length About three quarters of a League on this side the City stands a neat Mosquee with a pond full of fish But the Moullahs will not permit you to catch any saying that they belong to the Prophet to whom the Mosquee is dedicated However because it is a shady place in the Summer Travellers rather choose to lye by this pond then to shut themselves up in the City The 27 th I travell'd from four in the morning till ten in the forenoon through a plain sow'd with store of grain and lodg'd in an Inn call'd Maksoubegui The 28 th I departed two hours after midnight and after eight hours travel through a barren plain I arriv'd at Yesdecas a little City built upon a rock in the midst of a great Valley and lodg'd in an Inn at the foot of the Rock The same day in the morning I pass'd on to a neat house with sine Gardens call'd Amnebad built by Iman-Kouli-Kan Governor of Schiras The first of March I departed an hour after midnight and a little after I cross'd a short mountain but so rugged and so craggie that they have given it the name of Kotel-Innel-tebekeni that is the Mountain that breaks the Horses shoes The next day we pass'd by a scurvy Castle call'd Gombessala then travelling through a flat Country I came by ten in the morning to Dehigherdou or the Village of Wall-nuts I endur'd very sharp weather all the morning for all that Country and that which I travell'd the next day is very cold at some times of the year The second day I travell'd from midnight till ten a clock in the morning through the Snow over a barren Plain to come to Cuzkuzar where there is a new Inn well built The third I was a horseback from five in the morning till noon first over the same Plain by a Lake side in a very bad way cover'd with snow that hid the holes then passing a tedious long and rugged mountain I descended to a Village call'd Asepas where there is to be seen an old ruin'd Castle upon the point of a Hill The Inhabitants were all Georgians by descent but now turn'd all Mahumetans I met with wine and fish in regard of the many Rivolets but the Caravahsira is old and ill provided The fourth setting out by day-break I rode over a Plain which Sha Abbas the first gave the Georgians to till and in eleven hours I came to Ondgiom a large Village upon a River over which there is a fair stone bridge The fifth I got a horseback by two a clock in the morning and had two leagues in the first place of deep miery way afterwards I pass'd a steep Mountain craggy and durty I pass'd through a Village call'd Iman Shade from the name of one of their Prophets that lyes buried there and gave the Mountain its name being all cover'd with bitter Almond-trees I travell'd sometime between rude and craggy rocks after which I met with a small River which runs to Mayn a little City where I lodg'd in a fair Inn. The sixth I departed three hours after midnight and travell'd through a large Plain encompass'd with high and rugged Mountains upon one of which that is divided from the other stood a Castle which they say was ruin'd by Alexander the Great of which at present there does not remain the least sign or footstep I cross'd the river of Mayne over two stone Bridges and then came to Abgherme a place that stands in a Plain where there is an Inn half built so call'd by reason of a Spring of hot waters that rises not far from it In the morning I pass'd over a fair and long Causey call'd Pouligor being above 500 paces long and 15 broad divided also by certain Bridges to give the water free passage by reason the Country is very full of mershes At the end of this Causey stands an Inn very well built but the gants that haunt it will not suffer it to be frequented I pass'd along by the foot of a Mountain and after three hours travel I stopp'd a while at an Inn that stands at the foot of another steep and craggie mountain I arriv'd at Schiras about six a clock at night But here give me leave before I enter the City to make two observations the one touching the Road from Ispahan to Schiras the other concerning the ruins of Tche-elminar As to the Road from Ispahan to Schiras observe that in winter time when the Snow is fallen when you come to Yesdecas you must of necessity leave the direct road because it is impossible to pass the streights of those Mountains which I have mention'd Therefore you must keep the left hand road eastward through the Plains taking a guide along with you This way which is the longer by two days journey was formerly unknown because of a River that in one place beats upon a steep rock and closes up the passage But Iman-Kouli-Kan with a vast expence of time and money caus'd a way to be levell'd out of the Rock about 15 or 20 foot above the River which he secur'd to the water-side with a Wall three or four foot high This way continues for half a league and then you come to lye at a great Village in a Plain where you take Guides to shew you the Fords of the River Having past the River you cross over several fertil Plains water'd with great store of Rivers Then you ascend a Mountain from whence you have but a league and a half to Tche-clminar At the point of the Mountain upon the right-hand of the great Road are to be seen twelve Pillars still standing that form a kind of a square In the spaces of the Mountain
Minasqui-sera to this Bridg costes 8 Not far from this Bridg it is that they view the Merchants Goods that when they come to Agra they may not be deceiv'd of their duties But more particularly to see whether among the Casks of Fruits pickl'd in Vinegar in pots of Glass there be no flasks of Wine From the Bridg Jaoulcapoul to Agra costes So that from Seronge to Agra it is an hundred and six Costes which are ordinary leagues and from Surat to Agra 339. CHAP. V. The Road from Surat to Agra through Amadabat FRom Surat to Baroche costes All the Countrey between these two Cities is full of Corn Rice Millet and Sugar-Canes Before you enter into Baroche you must Ferry over the River which runs to Cambaya and falls into the Golf that carries the same name Baroche is a great City to which there belongs a Fortress of which there is no use made at this time But the City has been always very famous by reason of the River which has a particular quality to whiten their Cottons which are brought thither from all parts of the Great Mogul's Territories where they have not that convenience In this place are made a great quantity of Baffa's or long and large pieces of Cotton These Cottons are very fair and close woven and the price of these pieces is from four to an hundred Roupies You must pay Custom at Baroche for all Goods that are brought in and carri'd out The English have a very fair House in the City and I remember once that coming thither one day in my return from Surat to Agra with the President of the English presently the Mountebanks came about him and ask'd him if he would see any of their tricks The first thing they did was to light a great fire and to heat certain Iron-chains red-hot and wind them about their bodies making as if they felt a great deal of pain but in truth receiving no harm at all Then they thrust a piece of a stick into the ground and ask'd the Company what Fruit they would have One told them he would have Mengues then one of the Mountebanks hiding himself in the middle of a Sheet stoopt to the ground five or six times one after another I was so curious to go up stairs and look out of a window to see if I could spy what the Mountebank did and perceived that after he had cut himself under the armpits with a Razor he rubb'd the stick with his Blood After the two first times that he rais'd himself the stick seem'd to the very eye to grow The third time there sprung out branches with young buds The fourth time the Tree was covered with leaves and the fift time it bore flowers The President of the English had then his Minister with him having brought him from Amadabat to Christen the Commander of the Hollander's Child to which he had promised to be Godfather The English Minister protested that he could not give his consent that any Christian should be a spectator of such delusions So that as soon as he saw that those Mountebanks had of a dry-stick in less than half an hour made a Tree four or five foot high that bare leaves and flowers as in the Spring-time he went about to break it protesting he would not give the Communion to any person that should stay any longer to see those things Thereupon the President was forc'd to dismiss the Mountebanks who wander about the Countrey with their Wives and Children just like Gipsies and having given them to the value of ten or twelve Crowns they went away very well contented They that are curious to see Cambaya never go out of their way above five or six Costes or thereabout For when you are at Baroche instead of going to Broudra you may go directly forward to Cambaya from thence afterwards to Amadabat But whether it be for business or out of curiosity the latter Road is never to be taken not only because it is the longest way but because of the danger in crossing the mouth of the Golf Cambaya is a great City at the bottom of the Golf that bears its name Here it is that they shape those fair Agats that come from the Indies into Cups Hasts of Knives Beads and other sorts of Workmanship In the parts adjacent to the City they also make Indigo of the same nature of that of Sarquess and it was famous for traffick at the time when the Portugueses flourish'd in India There are to be seen at this day in the Quarter next the Sea very fair Houses which they had built with very rich Furniture after the Portugal manner but now they are uninhabited and fall to decay every day more and more There were then such good Orders observ'd in Cambaya that two hours after day was shut in every Street was lockt up with two Gates which are still to be seen and still they continue to lock up the principal Streets as also the Streets that lead into the Town One of the chief reasons why the Town has lost the greatest part of its Trade is because that formerly the Sea run close up to Cambaya so that little Vessels easily anchor'd by it but afterwards the Sea daily lost in that part so that a small Ship could not ride within five or six Leagues of the City There are a great number of Peacocks in the Indies especially in the Territories of Baroche Cambaya and Broudra The flesh of the young ones is white and well-tasted like ours and you shall see vast numbers of them all day in the Fields for at night they roost upon the Trees 'T is a hard matter to come near them in the day for as soon as they perceive themselves hunted they fly away as swift as a Partridg among the Bushes so that it is impossible for any man to follow them without tearing his Cloaths all to rags therefore are they only to be taken in the night time to which purpose they have this invention They approach the Tree with a kind of a Banner upon which there is a Peacock painted to the life on both sides at the top of the stick are fasten'd two lighted Candles the brightness whereof amazing the Peacock causes him to stretch out his Neck toward the end of the stick to which there is a Rope ty'd with a sliding knot which he that holds the Banner draws when he finds that the Peacock has put his Neck into it But you must have a care of killing either Bird or any other Animal in the Territories of which the idolatrous Raja's are Masters which it is nothing dangerous to do in those parts of the Indies where the Governours are Mahometans and give liberty to Fowl or Hunt It happen'd one time that a rich Persian Merchant passing through the Territories of the Raja of Dantivar shot a Peacock upon the road and kill'd it either out of rashness or ignorance of the Customs of the Country The Bannians incens'd at
Bargant we should go neer to have all our throats cut for that the Raja of that place liv'd altogether upon Robbery So that unless I hir'd an hunder'd more of the Countrey-people there was no likelihood of escaping those Free-booters At first I argu'd with them and tax'd their Cowardice but fearing to pay for my rashness afterwards I sent them to hire fifty more for three days only that we cross'd the Raja's Countrey for which they ask'd me every one four Roupies which is as much as you give them for a whole Month. The next day as I was about to set forward my Guard came and told me they would leave me and that they would not venture their lives desiring me not to write to Agra to their Captain who was responsible for them that they had left me against my will Three of my servants also did as they did so that I had no body left with me but a man that lead an Horse in his hand my Coachman and three other servants and so I set forward under the protection of God About a league from the place which I had left I perceived some part of my Convoy following me Thereupon I stopt my Coach to stay for them and when they came neer I bid them advance if they intended to go along with me But seeing them fearful and unresolv'd I bid them go about their business telling them I had no need of such Cowards as they were About a league from thence I discover'd upon the brow of an Hill about fifty Horse four of which came riding up to me when I perceived them I alighted out of my Coach and having with me some thirteen Spit-fires I gave to every one of my men an Harquebuss The Horse-men approaching I kept my Coach between them and me and had my Gun ready cockt in case they should assail me But they made me a sign that I should fear nothing only that the Prince was a Hunting and had sent to know what Strangers past through his Territories I made answer that I was the same Franguy that had past by five or six weeks before By good luck the very same Lieutenant to whom I had made the Present of Aquavitae and Spanish-Wine follow'd those four Horsemen And after he had testify'd how glad he was to see me he ask'd me if I had any Wine I told him I never travell'd without that For indeed the English and Hollanders had presented me with several Bottels at Agra So soon as the Lieutenant was return'd to the Raja the Raja himself came to me and told me I was welcome and bid me rest my self in a shady-place which he pointed to about a league and an half from the place where we were In the evening he came and we staid together two days to make merry the Raja bringing along with him certain Morrice-dancers without which the Persians and Indians can never think themselves heartily merry At my departure the Raja lent me 200 Horse to convoy me to the Frontiers of his Territories for three days together for which I only gave them three or four pound of Tobacco When I came to Amadabat the people would hardly believe that I had had so kind a reception from a Prince that was noted for abusing strangers that past through his Countrey From Bargant to Bimal costes 15 From Bimal to Modra costes 15 From Modra to Chalaour costes 10 Chalaour is an ancient Town upon a Mountain encompast with Walls and very difficult to come to There is a Lake at the top of the Mountain and another below between which and the foot of the Mountain lies the Road to the Town From Chalaour to Cantap costes 12 From Cantap to Setlana costes 15 From Setlana to Palavaseny costes 14 From Palavaseny to Pipars costes 11 From Pipars to Mirda costes 16 From Dantivar to Mirda is three days journey being a mountainous Countrey that belongs to Raja's or particular Princes that pay tribute to the Great Mogul In recompence whereof the Great Mogul gives them Commands in his Armies by which they gain much more than they loose by the tribute which they pay Mirda is a great City but ill-built When I came thither in one of my Indian-journeys all the Inns were full of Passengers in regard that Cha-jehan's Aunt the Wife of Cha-Est-Kan was going that way to marry her Daughter to Sultan Sujah the second Son of Cha-jehan I was forc'd to set up my Tent upon a Bank with Trees on both sides But I was not a little surpriz'd two hours afterward to see fifteen or twenty Elephants loose that tore down the boughs as far as they could reach breaking off the huge Arms of Trees as if they had been but small faggot-sticks This spoil was done by the order of the Begum in revenge of the Affront which the Inhabitants of Mirda had put upon her who had not waited on her and made her a Present as they ought to have done From Mirda to Baronda costes 12 From Baronda to Coetchiel costes 18 From Coetchiel to Bandar-Sonnery costes 14 From Bandar-Sonnery to Ladona costes 16 From Ladona to Chasou costes 12 From Chasou to Nouali costes 17 From Nouali to Hindoo costes 19 From Hindoo to Baniana costes 10 These two last places are two Towns where as in all the Countrey round about they make Indigo-Plate which is round and as it is the best of all the Indigo's so is it double the price From Baniana to Vettapour costes 14 Vettapour is an ancient Town where they make woollen-Hangings From Vettapour to Agra costes 12 From Surat to Agra is in all costes 415 If you could divide your journeys equally into thirteen Costes a-piece you might go to Surat in thirty-three days but because you rest and stay at some places it is generally thirty-five or forty days journey CHAP. VI. The Road from Ispahan to Agra through Candahar I Have made an exact description of some part of the Road and brought the Reader as far as Candahar it remains that I carry him from Candahar to Agra to which there are but two ways to go either through Caboul or through Mlultan The latter way is the shorter by ten days journey But the Caravan never goes that way For from Candahar to Multan you travel almost all the way through Desarts and sometimes you travel three or four days without meeting any water So that the most ordinary and beaten Road is through Caboul Now from Candahar to Caboul is twenty-four days journey from Caboul to Lahor twenty-two from Lahor to Dehly or Gebanabat eighteen from Dehly to Agra six which with the sixty days journey from Ispahan to Farat and the twenty from Farat to Candahar makes in all from Ispahan to Agra an hundred and fifty days journey But the Merchants that are in haste take Horses three or four together in a company and ride the whole journey in sixty or sixty-five days at most Multan is a City where there is made a vast
wherein the Nich is made which is on that side where they say their Prayers is an entire Rock of such a prodigious bulk that it was five years before five or six-hunder'd men continually employ'd could hew it out of its place They were forc'd also to rowl it along upon an Engine with wheels upon which they brought it to the Pagod and several affirm'd to me that there were fourteen-hunder'd Oxen to drawit I will tell you hereafter the reason it remains imperfect For had it been finish'd in all reason it had excell'd all the boldest Structures of Asia On the other side of the City as you go to Maslipatan there are two great Lakes being each about a league in compass wherein there ride several Pinks richly adorn'd for the King's Pleasure and upon the Banks are several fair Houses that belong to the Principal Lords of the Court. Upon three sides of the City stands a very fair Mosquee wherein are the Tombs of the Kings of Golconda and about four in the afternoon there is a Dole of Bread and Pilau to all the Poor that come If you would see any thing that is rare you must go to view these Tombs upon a Festival-day For then from morning till night they are hung with rich Tapestry As for the Government and Policy which is observ'd in this City In the first place when a Stranger comes to the Gates they search him exactly to see if he have any Salt or Tobacco about him for those Commodities bring the King his greatest Revenue Sometimes a Stranger shall wait a day or two before he shall have leave to enter For a Souldier first gives notice to the Officer that commands the Guard and then he sends to the Deroga to know what he shall do Now because it many times happens that the Deroga is busy or gone to take a walk out of the City or else for that sometimes the Souldier himself pretends he cannot find the Deroga only to create himself more errands to get the more Money a Stranger is forc'd to endure all this delay sometimes as I have said before for a day or two When the King sits to do Justice I observe that he comes into the Balcone that looks into the Piazza and all that have business stand below just against the place where the King sits Between the People and the Walls of the Palace are fix'd in the ground three rows of Poles about the length of an Half-Pike to the ends whereof they tye certain ropes a-cross one upon another Nor is any person whatsoever permitted to pass beyond those bounds unless he be call'd This Bar which is never set up but when the King sits in Judgment runs along the whole bredth of the Piazza and just against the Balcone there is a Bar to open to let in those that are call'd Then two men that each of them hold a Cord by the end extended all the bredth of the passage have nothing to do but to let fall the Cord for any person that is call'd to step over it A Secretary of State sits below under the Balcone to receive all Petitions and when he has five or six together he puts them in a Bag and then an Eunuch who stands in the Balcone neer the King lets down a string to which the Bag being ti'd he draws it up and presents it to his Majesty Every Munday the chiefest of the Nobility mount the Guard every one in their turn and are never reliev'd till at the eight days end There are some of these Lords that have five or six thousand men under their command and they lye encamp'd in their Tents round about the City When they mount the Guard every one goes from his own Habitation to the Rendevouz but when they are reliev'd they march in good order over the Bridg thence through the long Street into the Piazza where they draw up before the Balcone In the first place march ten or twelve Elephants more or less according to the quality of the Captain of the Guard There are some of these Elephants that carry Cages which in some sort resemble the Body of a little Coach there are others that have but one man to guide them and another in the Cage who carries a Banner After the Elephants follow the Camels by two and two sometimes to the number of thirty or forty Every Camel carries a kind of Packsaddle upon which is fasten'd a little Culverine which a certain Engineer clad in a skin from head to foot and sitting upon the Crupper of the Camel with a lighted Match in his hand dextrously manages from one side to another before the Balcone where the King sits After them come the Coaches attended by the Domestick Servants of the Commander Next to them follow the lead-Horses and then the Lord appears to whom all this Equipage belongs attended by ten or twelve Curtisans that stay for him at the end of the Bridg and skip and dance before him to the Piazza Behind him the Cavalry and Infantry march in good order Which being a shew wherein there was much of delight and state all the while I staid at Bagnabar which was about four Months I had the divertisement to see them out of my Lodging in the great Street every week as they march'd by The Souldiers wear no other Clothes than only three or four ells of Calicut with which they cover half their Bodies behind and before They wear their hair very long and tie it up in a knot upon the top of the crown like the women who have no other Headgear than only a piece of Linnen with three corners one that comes to the middle of the head and the other two which they tie under their chins The Souldiers do not wear Hangers or Scimitars like the Persians but broad Swords like the Switzers as well for a thrust as a blow which they hang in a Girdle The Barrels of their Muskets are stronger than ours and much neater for their Iron is better and not so subject to break Their Cavalry carry Bows and Arrows a Buckler and a Battel-Ax an Headpiece and a Jacket of Mail that hangs down from the Headpiece over their Shoulders There are so great a number of common Women as well in the City as in the Suburbs and in the Fortress which is like another City that there are generally above twenty thousand set down in the Deroga's Book without which licence it is not lawful for any Woman to profess the Trade They pay no tribute to the King only they are oblig'd to come a certain number of them with their Governess and their Musick every Friday and present themselves before the Balcone If the King be there they dance before him if he intend not to come an Eunuch comes into the Balcone and makes them a sign to retire In the cool of the evening they stand at the doors of their Houses which are for the most part little Huts and when night
presented him at my arrival This Pistol the French-Consul at Aleppo gave me the fellow of it being unhappily lost for else the Bair had been presented by the French-Nation to the Basha who might then have boasted himself the Master of the fairest and best-made pair of Pistols in all Asia The Vice-Roy admits no person whatever no not his Children to sit at his Table But there is a little partition in the Dining-room where there is a Cloath laid for the Principal Officers as is usual in the Courts of the German-Princes The next day I went to wait upon the Arch-Bishop and the next day after I design'd to have visited the Inquisition but I understood by one of his Gentlemen that he was busy writing into Portugal there being two Ships ready to weigh Anchon that only staid for his dispatches After the Ships were set sail he sent the same Gentleman to tell me that he expected me at the Inquisition-House about two or three in the afternoon I fail'd not to go thither at the time prefix'd When I came a Page brought me into a large Hall where after I had walk'd a quarter of an hour an Officer came and carri'd me into the Chamber where the Inquisitor was After I had past through two Galleries and some Chambers I enter'd into a little Chamber where the Inquisitor sat at the end of a great Table like a Billiard-Table which as well as the Chairs and Stools in the Chamber was cover'd with green Cloath such as is carri'd out of England He told me I was welcome and after a Complement or two he ask'd me what Religion I was of I answer'd him of the Protestant Religion He ask'd me then if my Father and Mother were of the same Religion and after I had satisfi'd him that they were so He told me again I was welcome calling out at the same time for some other persons to enter Thereupon the Hangings being held up there came in ten or twelve persons out of another room hard-by The first of the Train were two Austin-Friars follow'd by two Dominicans two barefoot-Carmelites and some other of the Clergy whom the Inquisitor told who I was and assur'd them I had brought no prohibited Books for indeed knowing their orders I had left my Bible at Mingrela We discours'd about two hours of several things but particularly of my Travels the whole Company testifying their desire to hear me make some repetitions Three days after the Inquisitor sent for me to dine with him at a fair House about half a league from the City which belongs to the Barefoot-Carmelites It is one of the loveliest Structures in all the Indies and I will tell you in short how the Carmelites came by it There was a Gentleman in Goa whose Father and Grandfather had got great Estates by Merchandizing and he it was that built this House which might well have past for a most noble Palace He had no mind to Marry but being altogether addicted to his devotions he very much frequented the Austin-Friars to whom he shew'd himself so affectionate that he made his Will wherein he gave them all his Estate provided they would bury him on the right-side of the High-Altar where he intended a sumptuous Monument Now according to the common report this Gentleman was a Leaper which some jealous persons endeavour'd to make the World believe seeing he had given away all his Estate to the Austin-Friars Thereupon they told him that the ground on the right-hand of the High-Altar was a place only fit for a Vice-Roy and that a leaprous person was not to be laid there which was the opinion of the generality of the people and of a good part of the Austin-Friars themselves Thereupon some of the Fathers of the Covent coming to speak with the Gentleman on purpose to perswade him to choose some other place in the Church he was so offended at the proposal that he never went more to the Austin-Friars but always went to perform his devotions among the Carmelites who receiv'd him with open arms and accepted the conditions which the other had refus'd Nor did he live long after he had interested himself with that Order so that the Carmelites having magnificently buri'd him enjoy'd all his Estate with this same House where we were splendidly entertain'd with Musick all the time of Dinner I staid at Goa from the twenty-first of January till the eleventh of March departing thence that very day in the evening after I had taken leave of the Vice-Roy I begg'd leave also of the Vice-Roy for a French-Gentleman whose name was Belloy to go along with me which was granted me but through the imprudence of that Gentleman who did not tell me the reason of his coming to Goa he had like to have been taken from me again and it was an even-lay that we had not been both carri'd to the Inquisition This Gentleman had left the place of his Nativity to travel over Holland where having run himself in debt and finding no person that would lend him any Money he resolv'd to go for India Thereupon he listed himself as a private Souldier upon the accompt of the Holland-Company and came to Batavia at the same time that the Hollanders made War against the Portuguezes in Ceylan Being arriv'd they sent him away among the recruits which were sent into that Island and the Holland-General seeing such a reinforcement of stout men commanded by a French-Captain whose name was St. Amant a person of great courage and experience he resolv'd to besiege Negombe a considerable Fort in the Island of Ceylan They made two assaults wherein the French-men behav'd themselves valiantly especially St. Amant and John de Rose who were both wounded The General of the Dutch seeing them to be two such men of courage made a promise that if Negombe were taken one of them two should be Governor The place was taken and the General kept his word with St. Amant but the News being carri'd to Batavia a young Gentleman of kin to the General and but newly arriv'd out of Holland obtain'd to be Governor of Negombe to the prejudice of St. Amant and came with an order from the Council at Batavia to displace him St. Amant incens'd at such ill-usage inveigles to his Party a matter of fifteen or twenty most part French-Souldiers among whom were Monsieur Belloy Marests and John de Rose and revolts to the Portuguezes The Portugals encourag'd by the reinforcement of such a stout though small number of men storm'd Negombe again and took it at the second assault At that time was Don Philip de Mascaregnas Governor of Ceylan and all the places belonging to it under the jurisdiction of the Portugals He liv'd also at the City of Colombo and then it was that having receiv'd Letters from Goa that the Vice-Roy was dead and that the Council and all the Nobility desir'd him to come and succeed in his place he resolv'd to see St. Amant and his
and be acquainted among the Nobility their Weddings are very pompous and expensive The Bridegroom is mounted upon an Elephant and the Bride rides in a Chariot the whole Company carrying Torches in their hands They also borrow of the Governour and the Nobility of the place as many Elephants and prancing Horses as they can get And they walk some part of the night with Fire-works which they throw about the Streets and Piazza's But the greatest expence to those that live three or four hundred Leagues from it is to get the water of Ganges for in regard they account that water sacred and drink it out of devotion it must be brought them by the Bramins and in Earthen Vessels glaz'd within side which the chief Bramin of Ingrenate fills himself with the purest Water of the River and then seals up with his own Seal They never drink this water till the end of the Feast and then they give their guests three or more glasses apiece This water coming so far and the chief Bramin demanding a Tribute for every pot which contains a Pail-full sometimes a wedding comes to two or three thousand Roupies The eighth of April being in a City of Bengala call'd Malde the Idolaters made a great Feast according to the particular Custom of that place they all go out of the City and fasten Iron hooks to the boughs of several Trees then come a great number of poor people and hang themselves some by the sides some by the brawn of their backs upon those hooks till the weight of their body tearing away the flesh they fall of themselves 'T is a wonderful thing to see that not so much as one drop of blood should issue from the wounded flesh nor that any of the flesh should be left upon the hook besides that in two days they are perfectly cur'd by such Plaisters as their Bramins give them There are others who at that Feast will lye upon a bed of nails with the points upward the nails entring a good way into the flesh however while these people are under this Pennance their Friends come and present them with Money and Linnen When they have undergone their Penance they take the presents and distribute them to the poor without making any farther advantage of them I ask'd one why they made that Feast and suffer'd those severe Penances who answer'd me that it was in remembrance of the first man whom they call'd Adam as we do In the year 1666 I saw another sort of Penance as I cross'd the Ganges upon the Bank of which River they had prepar'd a clean place where one of the poor Idolaters was condemn'd to rest upon the ground touching it only with his hands and feet which he was to do several times a day and every time to kiss the earth three times before he rose up again He was to rise up upon his left foot never touching the ground with his right all the while And every day for a month together before he either eat or drank he was oblig'd to this posture for fifty times together and consequently to kiss the ground a hundred and fifty times He told me that the Bramins had enjoin'd him that Penance because he had suffer'd a Cow to dye in his House and had not lead her to the water to be wash'd before she dy'd When an Idolater has lost any piece of Gold or Silver or summ of Money either by negligence or as being stoln from him he is oblig'd to carry as much as he lost to the great Bramin for if he does not and that the other should come to know of it he is ignominiously cast out of his Tribe to make him more careful another time On the other side the Ganges Northward toward the Mountains of Naugrocot there are two or three Raja's who neither believe God nor the Devil Their Bramins have a book containing their Belief full of ridiculous absurdities whereof the Author whose name is Baudou gives no reason These Raja's are the Great Moguls Vassals and pay him Tribute To conclude the Malavares carefully preserve the nails of their left hands and let their hair grow like women's These nails which are half a finger long serve them instead of Combs and it is with their left hand that they do all their drudgery never touching their faces nor what they eat but with their right hands CHAP. XV. Of the Kingdom of Boutan whence comes the Musk the good Rhubarb and some Furs THE Kingdom of Boutan is of a large extent but I could never yet come to a perfect knowledg thereof I have set down all that I could learn at Patna whither the Merchants of Boutan come to sell their Musk. The most excellent Rhubarb comes also from the Kingdom of Boutan From hence is brought also that Seed which is good against the worms therefore call'd Wormseed and good store of Furs As for the Rhubarb the Merchants run a great hazard which way soever they bring it for if they take the Northern Road toward Caboul the wet spoils it if the Southern Road in regard the journey is long if the Rains happen to fall there is as much danger that way so that there is no Commodity requires more care then that As for the Musk during the heats the Merchant loses by it because it dries and loses its weight Now in regard this Commodity pays twenty-five in the hundred Custom at Gorrochepour the last Town belonging to the Great Mogul next to the Kingdom of Boutan when the Indian Merchants come to that City they go to the Officer of the Custom-House and tell him that they are going to Boutan to buy Musk or Rhubarb and how much they intend to lay out all which the Officer Registers with the name of the Merchant Then the Merchants instead of twenty-five agree with him for seven or eight in the hundred and take a Certificate from the Officer or Cadi that he may not demand any more at their return If the Officer refuses a handsom composition then they go another way over Desarts and Mountains cover'd with Snow tedious and troublesome till they come to Caboul where the Caravans part some for great Tartary others for Balch Here it is that the Merchants coming from Boutan barter their Commodities for Horses Mules and Camels for there is little Money in that Country Then those Tartars transport their Commodities into Persia as far as Ardevile and Tauris which is the reason that some Europeans have thought that Rhubarb and Wormseed came out of Tartary True it is that some Rhubarb comes from thence but not so good as that of Boutan being sooner corrupted for Rhubarb will eat out its own heart The Tartars carry back out of Persia Silks of small value which are made in Tauris and Ardevile and some English Cloth brought by the Armenians from Constantinople and Smyrna Some of the Merchants that come from Caboul and Boutan go to Candahar and thence to Ispahan whether they
whereof make a Salt so tart that it is impossible to eat it until the tartness be tak'n away which they do by putting the ashes in water where they stir them ten or twelve hours together then they strain the substance through a Linnen Cloth and boil it as the water boils away the bottom thick'ns and when the water is all boil'd away they find at the bottom very good and white Salt Of the ashes of these Fig-leaves they make a Lye wherewith they wash their Silk which makes it as white as Snow but they have not enough to whiten half the Silk that grows in the Country Kenneroof is the name of the City where the King of Asem keeps his Court twenty-five or thirty days journey from that which was formerly the Capital City and bore the same name The King requires no Subsidies of his people but all the Mines in his Kingdom are his own where for the ease of his Subjects he has none but slaves that work so that all the Natives of Asem live at their ease and every one has his house by himself and in the middle of his ground a fountain encompass'd with trees and most commonly every one an Elephant to carry their Wives for they have four Wives and when they marry they say to one I take thee to serve me in such a thing to the other I appoint thee to do such business so that every one of the Wives knows what she has to do in the House The men and women are generally well complexion'd only those that live more Southerly are more swarthy and not so subject to Wens in their throats neither are they so well featur'd besides that the women are somewhat flat Nos'd In the Southern parts the people go stark naked only covering their private parts with a Bonnet like a blew Cap upon their heads hung about with Swines teeth They pierce holes in their ears that you may thrust your thumb in whete they hang pieces of Gold and Silver Bracelets also of Tortoise-shells and Sea-shells as long as an egg which they saw into Circles are in great esteem among the meaner sort as Bracelets of Coral and yellow Amber among those that are rich When they bury a man all his Friends and Relations must come to the burial and when they lay the body in the ground they all take off their Bracelets from their Armsand Legs and bury them with the Corps CHAP. XVIII Of the Kingdom of Siam THE greatest part of the Kingdom of Siam lies between the Golf of Siam and the Golf of Bengala bordering upon Pegu toward the North and the Peninsula of Malacca toward the South The shortest and nearest way for the Europaeans to go to this Kingdom is to go to Ispahan from Ispahan to Ormus from Ormus to Surat from Surat to Golconda from Golconda to Maslipatan there to embark for Denouserin which is one of the Ports belonging to the Kingdom of Siam From Denouserin to the Capital City which is also call'd Siam is thirty-five days journey part by Water part by Land by Waggon or upon Elephants The way whether by Land or Water is very troublesome for by Land you must be always upon your guard for fear of Tigers and Lions by Water by reason of the many falls of the River they are forc'd to hoise up their Boats with Engines All the Countrey of Siam is very plentiful in Rice and Fruits the chiefest whereof are Mangos Durions and Mangustans The Forests are full of Harts Elephants Tigers Rhinocero's and Apes where there grow also large Bambou's in great abundance Under the knots of these Bambou's are Emets nests as big as a mans head where every Emet has his apartiment by himself but there is but one hole to enter into the nest They make their nests in these Canes to preserve themselves from the rains which continue four or five months together In the night time the Serpents are very busie There are some two foot long with two heads but one of them has no motion There is also another creature in Siam like our Salamander with a forked tail and very venomous The Rivers in this Kingdom are very large and that which runs by Siam is equally as large as the rest The water is very wholesome but it is very full of Crocodiles of a monstrous bigness that devour men if they be not very careful of themselves These Rivers overflow their banks while the Sun is in the Southern Tropick which makes the fields to be very fertile as far as they flow and it is observ'd that the Rice grows higher or lower as the floods do more or less increase Siam the Capital City of the Kingdom where the King keeps his Court is wall'd about being about three of our Leagues in circuit it is situated in an Island the River running quite round it and might be easily brought into every street in the Town if the King would but lay out as much Money upon that design as he spends in Temples and Idols The Siamers have thirty-three Letters in their Alphabet But they write from the left to the right as we do contrary to the custom of Japon China Cochinchina and Tunquin who write from the right to the left All the Natives of this Kingdom are slaves either to the King or the great Lords The women as well as the men cut their hair neither are they very rich in their habits Among their complements the chiefest is never to go before a person that they respect unless they first ask leave which they do by holding up both their hands Those that are rich have several Wives The Money of the Country is already describ'd The King of Siam is one of the richest Monarchs in the East and stiles himself King of Heaven and Earth though he be Tributary to the Kings of China He seldom shews himself to his Subjects and never gives Audience but to the principal Favourites of his Court He trusts to his Ministers of State for the management of his affairs who sometimes make very bad use of their authority He never shews himself in publick above twice a year but then it is with an extraordinary magnificence The first is when he goes to a certain Pagod within the City which is guilded round both within and without There are three Idols between six and seven foot high which are all of massie Gold which he believes he renders propitious to him by the great store of Alms that he distributes among the poor and the presents which he makes to the Priests Then he goes attended by all his Court and puts to open view the richest Ornaments he has One part of his magnificence consists in his train of two hundred Elephants among which there is one that is white which the King so highly esteems that he stiles himself King of the White Elephant The second time the King appears in publick is when he goes to another Pagod five or six Leagues