decreasing the Physicians were in great repute and the Astrologers were cast out of favour except two or three of the most skilful Sha-Soliman before his coming to the Crown had convers'd with none but Women and black Eunuchs from whom he could not learn the art of Ruling At present he only divertizes himself with his Wives in going a hunting very rarely troubling himself with business but relying wholly upon his Ministers of State He will not be seen for ten or twelve days together all which time there are no Petitions to be preferr'd nor Complaints to be made CHAP. II. Of certain particular Actions which denote the Vertues and Vices of the Kings of Persia from Sha Abbas the first to Sha-Soliman the present King And first of Sha-Abbas the Great SHa-Abbas who was a passionate Lover of Honour sought all ways imaginable to furnish his Empire with the supports of wealth and good Government He would not suffer any Indian or Banian to live as a Trader in his Dominions they having crept in since under the Reigns of Sha-Sefi the first and Sha-Abbas the second who came very young to the Throne Neither had Sha-Abbas any reason to permit them to trade in his Kingdom for they are worse Usurers than the Jews and seldom it happens but that they have all the Money in the Nation which they take up at nine or ten in the hundred and let out again upon pawns at two and a half per Cent. a month From such devouring Pests and Vipers as these Sha-Abbas thought it but reasonable to preserve his people so that before these Vermin crept into Persia the Money was all in the hands of the Armenians of Zulpha And indeed those Banians have been the ruin of many poor people of which I will only bring one example among many I was at Ispahan in the year 1662 when one of those Banians lent six or seven Tomans per Cent. a month to a poor Persian who had utter'd several pieces of Linnen upon the place Those Banians will have their interest paid every month but the Persian had slipt three or four having no Money to pay in regard his Debtor could not pay him Thereupon the Banian dunn'd him perpetually and threaten'd to have him drub'd till he pay'd it according to the Persian custom The Mother of the Persian troubl'd to see her Son haunted in that manner one morning as he was going to the Meydan bid him if he met the Banian that he should be sure to bring him home and she would pay him his interest and some of the principal with some Money that she had sav'd of her own Toward evening the Banian met his Debtor whom he readily follow'd home upon promise of payment The Mother desir'd him to set upon the Coursi which is the place where they make their fires it being cold snowy weather and set fruits before him to eat While he thus eat and warm'd himself night came on apace and the woman putting him in hopes of payment spun out the time so long that the Banian not being unaccustom'd to cold weather and late hours was easily perswaded to stay all night at the Persians House When 't was time to go to bed the Banian threw himself upon one Quilt and the Persian upon another About two hours after midnight the Mother comes sostly into the Chamber with a sharp Razor in her hand intending to have cut off the Banians head but unfortunately mistaking kill'd her own Son instead of the Banian The Banian having had such an escape stole cunningly out of the House and declaring the murther to the Divan-bequé or the Chief Justice He caus'd the woman to be apprehended and brought before him who confessing the fact he commanded her to be ty'd to the tail of a young Mule and to be dragg'd about the City till the Mule had kick'd her to death In the year 1667 eight or ten days before I departed from Ispahan there was a Banian found buri'd in a Street near the Capuchins house they had cut off his arms and legs and so put him into the hole but buri'd him so shallow that the Dogs scrap'd away the Earth and discover'd him but who committed the fact was not then known Sha Abbas was not only willing that all the trade should be in the hands of his Subjects to make profit thereby and to draw the Money into his Kingdom but he would not suffer it to be transported when it was brought in He saw that the Pilgrimages of his Subjects to Mecca their Expences and Presents carry'd out abundance of his Ducats of Gold therefore more politick than religious he strove to hinder those Pilgrimages as much as in him lay and going himself in person to Meshed in Pilgrimage to the Tomb of Iman-rez already spoken of over which one of the Legs of Mahomets Camel hangs as a a great Relict and upon his return relating and giving out strange Miracles of Iman-rez on purpose to divert his Subjects from going to Mecca Among the rest of the cunning knacks that Sha-Abbas made use of to know how squares went in his Kingdom without trusting too much to his Ministers he oft'n disguis'd himself and went about the City like an ordinary inhabitant under pretence of buying and selling making it his business to discover whether Merchants us'd false weights or measures or no. To this intent one evening going out of his Palacein the habit of a Countryman he went to a Bakers to buy a Man of Bread and thence to a Cook to buy a Man of Rost-meat a Man is six Pound sixteen Ounces to the Pound The King having bought his Bargains return'd to Court where he caus'd the Athemadoulet to weigh both the Bread and the Meat exactly He found the Bread to want fifty-seven Drams and the Meat forty-three The King seeing that fell into a great chase against three or four of them that were about him whose business it was to look after thos things but especially against the Governour of the City whose Belly he had caus'd to have been ript up but for the intercession of certain Lords Besides the reproaches that he threw upon them for being so negligent in their Employments and for their little affection to the publick good he laid before them the injustice of false weights and how sadly the cheat fell upon poor men who having great Families and thinking to give them eight hundred Drams of Bread by that fraud depriv'd them of a hundred and forty three Then turning to the Lords that were present he demanded of them what sort of justice ought to be done those people When none of them daring to open their mouths while he was in that passion he commanded a great Oven to be made in the Piazza together with a Spit long enough to roast a man and that the Oven should be heated all night and that they should make another fire to be kindl'd hard by the Oven The next morning the
appointed for that Divertisement Thus have you in few words an account of whatever relates to the principal Charges of the Seraglio possess'd by those who have pass'd through the Chambers of the Ichoglans The Black or Negro-Eunuchs of whom I have but a word more to say additionally to what I have intimated before are appointed to guard the Appartment of the Women and they make choice for that Office of the most deform'd and the most Aesopical that can be found They are all cut even with the belly ever since the time of Solyman the Second who being one day in the fields and seeing a Gelding offering to leap a Mare inferr'd thence that the Eunnchs who kept his Wives might likewise endeavour to satisfie their passions for which he bethought himself of a present remedy by ordering them to have all cut off and his Successors have since observ'd that Rule There is a great number of those Negro-Eunuchs and they have their variety of Chambers and their Regulations as the white ones have I say nothing here of their different Employments and the Reader will find in the Chapter concerning the Appartment of the Women all can be known that 's certain upon that Subject The Kislar-Agasi or as others name him the Kuezer-Agasi which is as much in The credit and wealth of the Kislar-Agasi who keeps the Appartment of the Women our Language as to say the Guardian of the Virgins is the chiefest of all the Negro-Eunuchs and is of equal authority and credit with the Capi-Aga who is the Supreme of the white Eunuchs The former is the Overseer of the Appartment of the Women has the Keys of the Doors in his custody and has access to the Emperor when he pleases himself The charge he is possess'd of brings him in Presents from all parts and there are not any such made to the Sultannesses by the Bassa's and other Persons who stand in need of their favour in reference to the Sultan but there comes along with it one to himself which makes him one of the richest and most considerable Officers belonging to the Seraglio I come now to the Azamoglans who make the second Order of young Lads wherewith the Seraglio is replenish'd and out of whose number they take such as are design'd for mean Officers of whom I shall give you the List. The Azamoglans as well as the Ichoglans are as I said before Tributary Children taken away from the Christians or made Captives by Sea or Land They make choice of the handsomest the best shap'd and most robust for the Seraglio and they have neither wages nor allowances of any profit unless they be advanc'd to some small Employments Nor can they attain those till after many years Services and what is then allow'd them does not amount to above four Aspers and a half per diem As for those who are brought up in other places under the simple denomination of Azamoglans and are not receiv'd into the Seraglio at Constantinople their fortune can amount no higher than to become Zanizaries When these young Boys are brought up to Constantinople the first distribution which is made of them is into the Seraglio's or Royal Houses of the Grand Seignor there are some of them left in the City to be put to Trades and others are sent to Sea to serve for Seamen and so gain experience in Navigation by which means they capacitate themselves for some Employments But to confine our discourse to the Azamoglans receiv'd into the great Seraglio they are employ'd in several Offices and some of them are made Bostangis some Capigis some Atagis some Halvagis and some Baltagis which terms I shall explicate to the Reader in as few words as I can The Bostangis are they who are employ'd in the Gardens of the Seraglio out of whose number they take out those who are to row in the Grand Seignor's Brigantines when he has a mind to divert himself in fishing or take the air upon the Canal They who thus serve in the Brigantines and row on the right hand may be advanc'd to the charge of Bostangi-Bachi which is one of the most cousiderable places of the Seraglio But they who row on the left hand are capable only of the mean Employments which are bestow'd in the Gardens If it happen that any one of them break his Oar by strength of rowing in the Grand Seignor's presence his Highness immediately orders him a gratuity of fifty Crowns and there is also a certain distribution made of some Money to the others as the Grand Seignor takes his diversion in the Brigantine Their greatest Pay after they have served some years is seven Aspers and a half per diem besides clothing and diet which they all equally have The Bostangi-Bachi has the general Intendency or Oversight of all the Grand Seignor's Bostangi-bachi one of the nob'est Charges of the Port. Gardens as well those of Constantinople as those of the neighbouring Villages aud commands above ten thousand Bostangis who are employ'd in the culture of them Though he be taken out of the meanest rank of the Azamoglans yet his power is very great and his Employment one of the noblest and most considerable about the Court. That gives him access to the Prince's Person to whom he may speak familiarly when he carries him by Sea for he has his Seat at the Helm of the Brigantine wherein the Grand Seignor is who most commonly makes use of him to carry his Orders to some Bassa when he would have his Head All the Grandees of the Port stand in awe of him and endeavour to gain his affection by their Presents because it lies in his power to do them either good or bad Offices about the Prince whom he can dispose as he pleases when he has him abroad upon the Water For being as 't were at his elbow and having the whip of the Rudder in his hand with the priviledge of sitting in his presence that he may the more easily govern it he has then the opportunity to entertain him with affairs of State and the conduct of the Bassa's and answerably to his passion or interest clearly to acquaint him how things pass or turn and disguise them as he pleases In fine if he be highly in favour he may obtain one of the great Governments and become Bassa of Buda Babylon or Cairo nay haply Grand Vizir which is the most eminent Charge of the Empire The Capigis are the Porters or Keepers of the Gates of the Seraglio that is to say of the first and second Courts for the third Gate which gives entrance into the inner Seraglio is kept by Eunuchs The Chief of the Capigis is call'd Capigi-bachi who has under him other Officers bearing the same Name and whom the Grand Seignor makes use of to carry his Orders The Capi-Aga is above all The Attagis are the Cooks of the Seraglio over whom as well as over the Halvagis the Kilargi-bachi has full Power
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
Inhabitants whereof are for the most part Greeks These Mountains are very high and extend themselves along the Road for two days journey They are full of several sorts of Trees which are streight and tall like Firr-trees and divided by so many Torrents which it would be hard to pass over were it not for the Bridges that the Grand Visier Kuprigli caus'd to be built In regard the soil of these Mountains is very fat there would be no drawing for the Horses after great Rains or the melting of the Snow had not the same Visier caus'd all the Ways to be Pav'd and Pitch'd even as far as Constantinople A Work of great Charge in regard there is not a Flint in any part of the Mountain and for that the Stone is to be fetch'd a great way off There are abundance of Pigeons as big as Hens and of an excellent tast which not only pleas'd our Appetites but afforded us very good Pastime to shoot them Between the City and the Mountain there is a Plain about two Leagues in length near to which there glides a River that waters it and very much contributes to its fertility It is an excellent Soil and produces all things necessary for Humane Life Upon each side of the way I counted above twenty Churchyards For it is the custom of the Turks to bury near the Highway believing that the Travellers pray for the Souls of the deceas'd Upon every Tomb there is to be seen a Marble Pillar half fix'd in the Earth of which Pillars there are so great a number of various Colours that it is from thence conjectur'd that there were a very great number of Christian Churches in Polia and the parts thereabouts They assur'd me likewise that there were a vast quantity of these Pillars in the Villages up and down in the Mountains which the Turks every day pull down to set upon their Tombs Bendourlour is a Village in the Mountains where there is one Inn. Gerradar is beyond the Mountains where there are two Inns. Cargâ—slar has two Inns and lyes in a good Country Caragalan is a Town where there are two Inns. Cosizar is a Village with one Inn. Tocia is a great City situated upon rising Hills that joyn to very high Mountains Upon the Winter West there appears a fair Champain Country water'd by a Stream that falls into a River of a greater bigness call'd Guselarmac Upon the highest of the smaller Hills toward the East there is a Fortress where a Basha resides and in the Town is one of the fairest Inns upon the Road. The greatest part of the Inhabitants are Christian Greeks who have the advantage to drink excellent Wine with which the Country furnishes them in abundance Agisensalou stands upon a River and there is an Inn and a fair Mosquee in it Ozeman is a little City seated at the foot of a Hill upon which there stands a strong Castle and below two very commodious Inns. The River Guselarmac broad and deep washes the South side of the City which you cross over one of the fairest Bridges that ever was seen It consists of fifteen Arches all of Free-stone and is a Work that shews the Grandeur of the Undertaker Somewhat at a distance from the Bridge stand six Corn-Mills all together with little wooden Bridges to go from one to another This River falls into the Euxin Sea about eight days journey from Ozeman Azilar is a great Town where there are two Inns. Delekiras is a great Village with one Inn. These Four Days Journeys are very dangerous by reason that the Ways are narrow and commodious for Robbers They are very numerous in this Country and therefore understanding that we were way-laid we sent and desir'd a Convoy of the Basha who lent us fifty Horsemen Amasia is a great City built upon an ascent in the hollow of a Mountain It has no prospect but only from the South over a fair Plain The River that runs by it comes from Tocat and throws it self into the Black Sea four days journey from Amasia You cross it over a wooden Bridge so narrow that not above three persons can go a-brest To bring fresh Water to the City they have cut a League into Rocks as hard as Marble which was a prodigious Labour On the West-side upon a high Mountain stands a Fortress where they can come by no other Water than what they preserve in Cisterns when it rains In the middle of the Mountain is a fair Spring and round about it are several Chambers cut out of the Rock where the Dervichs make their abode There are but two Inns and those very bad ones in Amasia But the Soil is good and bears the best Wine and Fruits in all Natolia Ainabachar is the name of an Inn distant a quarter of a League from a great Town where they fetch their Provisions Turcall is a great Town near to a Mountain upon which there stands a Castle The River that comes from Tocatt washes the Houses and we caught excellent Fish in it In that place is another of the fairest Inns upon the Road. From Turcall you may travel in one day to Tocatt where the Road from Smyrna to Ispahan meets Tocat is a good fair City built at the foot of a very high Mountain spreading it self round about a great Rock that stands almost in the midst of the Town upon the top whereof a high Castle commands the neighbouring parts with a good Garrison in it It is very ancient and the remainder of three others that stood there in former times The City is very well inhabited with Turks who are the Lord Controllers Armenians Greeks and Jews The Streets are very narrow but the Houses are indifferent well built and among several Mosquees there is one very magnificent which seems to be newly rear'd There was also a very fair Inn going up which when I last travell'd that way was not quite finish'd There is one thing more particular and more commodious at Tocat which is not to be found in any Inns upon the Road That round about all the Caravansera's in the Town there are Lodgings which they let out to Merchants that desire to be by themselves out of the noise and hurry of the Caravans whiles they stay at Tocat Besides that in those private Lodgings you have your liberty to drink Wine and provide for the rest of your Journey which is not so easily done in the publick Inns where the Turks will have an eye upon the Merchants to draw Money out of their pockets The Christians have twelve Churches at Tocat and there resides an Archbishop that has under him seven Suffragans There are also two Monasteries for Men and two for Women and for fourteen or fifteen Leagues round Tocat the Country is all inhabited by Armenian Christians but very few Greeks being intermix'd among them The greatest part of these Christians are Tradesmen and for the most part Smiths A fair River runs about half a quarter
Foot square the Bars whereof are round and knob'd in those places where they cross each other it is lighted by several Lamps of Gold and Silver which altogether is very pleasing to the Eye The inside of the Mosquee to the elevation of the Angles that support the Duomo is compos'd of square Tiles varnish'd over with divers Colours and the Cupola of the Duomo as also the Vault of the Portico of the Mosquee is a Moresco piece of Painting in Or and Azure Upon each side of the Mosquee and near the side where the Tomb of Sidi-Fatima stands appears a great Hall where the Royal Alms are distributed to the Poor which consist of Pilaw and other diet very well drest From this Tomb you turn to the left hand toward an Ascent distant five and twenty or thirty Paces and at the top of this Ascent is a Door over which there an is Inscription in Honour of Sha-Abas the Second The Door being open'd shews you the place where the Body of that King reposes and through another Door with a Grate in it you may discover under a small Duomo the Tomb of Sha-Sefi his Father which is cover'd with a Carpet of Cloth of Gold They were continually at work upon the Tomb of Sha-Abas which they said they would make very famous I had not been two hours in Kom but a multitude of People ran by the Inn Gate all in extraordinary hast Asking what the matter was they answer'd me that it had been a day long design'd for the two Prophets to fight Thereupon I went to the Piazza which was so crowded that I had much ado to get to see In the first place a sufficient number of Tumblers and Puppet-players divided into two Bands kept the middle of the Piazza and made a sufficient Ring for the Combat Each Band held a Bull by the Horns one of which they call'd Mahomet and the other Haly and whether it were by accident or by the cunning of the Bull-Masters after an obstinate Combat wherein the Beasts foam'd again with heat and rage Mahomet at length quit the Field and yielded Haly the Victory Then all the People shouted for joy and all the Piazza was fill'd with the noise of Flutes and Hautboys and every one coming as if it were to adore Haly cry'd out Behold the Works of God that Haly has made At length they bring the Bull Haly under a Gate with his Head turn'd toward the People where after they have rub'd him to refresh him after a Combat so courageously maintain'd every one sends him Presents which are all the Tumblers profit The Kan or Governour of Kom who was present with a hundred Horses richly trap'd to behold the Sight sent the Bull a Present of 50 Tomans or 750 Crowns They who accompany'd him and the chief Inhabitants of Kom gave him some a Garment others a Girdle Neither did the meanest of the People spare to send or carry him Fruits or other things according to their abilities The Kan was a Lord who was very civil and there was no Stranger that did not commend his behaviour in regard he was so obliging So soon as I came to the place whether it was that he perceiv'd me with a Dutchman that I had brought along from Constantinople or whether any one had inform'd him that there were Strangers near him he sent for us and after he had ask'd us some Questions concerning the occasion of our Travelling he sent for a Seat and caus'd us to sit down Then he ask'd us whence we came and what we did at Ispahan to which when we had answer'd him that we went to wait upon the King he approv'd our Intention complaining that we had not given him advice of our Arrival In the Evening he sent us several Delicacies among the rest six fair Melons and four Bottles of excellent Wine He appear'd to me so brave and generous a Person that I was very much troubled afterwards for his being in dis-favour with the King and his death which ensu'd For this Kan finding the Walls of the City which were only of Earth and the Bridge over the River to be out of repair without writing to the King of his own head laid a slight Imposition upon every Basket of Fruit that was brought into the City Now there are in all the Cities of Persia persons who are hir'd to take an account every Week what the Commodities may be worth and to take care that no more than such a Toll be laid upon any thing which they tax among themselves and when they have set the Rate they cause it to be cry'd at the beginning of every Week Sha-Sefi then reign'd it being the year 1632. The King being inform'd by these people of the Impost which the Kan had set upon Fruit without his knowledge was so enrag'd against him that he caus'd him to be brought in Chains to Ispahan where he us'd him with a strange severity For at that time the Son of the Kan stood at the King's Elbow it being his Office to give him his Pipe and his Tobacco which is a very honourable Employment in Persia. When the Kan came the King caus'd him to be carry'd to the Gate of the Palace in the presence of all the People and then commanded his Son to pull the Hair of his Father's Mustaches by the roots from his Skin After that he commanded him to cut off his Nose and his Ears after that to put out his Eyes and lastly to cut off his Head When he had done the Execution according to the King's pleasure he commanded him to go and take possession of his Father's Government and allowing him an experienc'd Old Man for his Lieutenant he sent him to Kom with these words If thou govern'st no better than this dead Dog has done I will put thee to a more cruel death than this Leaving Kom for four hours you travel over a fair Champain Country after which you come to a fair Village with five or six Inns in it Beyond that is nothing but Sand till you come to a place call'd Abschirim or Fresh-water where there are three Inns at a distance from any Villages From Abschirim to Cachan is six hours journey through a Corn Country and stor'd with great Villages Cachan is a large City well peopl'd and furnish'd with all things necessary for humane subsistance There is an old Wall about it which is faln down in many places so that there is no need of seeking for Gates to get into the City On that side which looks toward Ispahan the Soil is good and produces great store of Fruit and Wine which the Jews take care to make It is reckon'd that there are in Cachan a thousand Families of Jews in Ispahan about six hundred but in Kom there are not above nine or ten Not but that there are many Jews in Persia but those that live in Ispahan Cachan and Kom boast themselves particularly of the Tribe of Judah
abuse his Office Constantinople is at hand where you may complain to the Mufti and have relief who for some good Present may be easily perswaded to depose the Cady as being glad of the opportunity to displace him and to put another in his room The Customs of Smyrna yield a great Revenue to the Grand Signor being paid there very exactly But were there a certain Rate put upon Commodities the Merchants who would otherwise be losers would not study so many ways as they do to deceive the Customers For those Customers lay what Price they please upon Commodities valuing that at a thousand Crowns which perhaps is not worth three hundred being absolute Masters of the Rate In my last Voyage to Smyrna four Dutch Women that went thither in our Ship from their own Country carry'd a-shoar under their Coats whatever I had of rich Merchandize for the Turks have such a respect for that Sex that they will not so much as offer to search them If a man be tak'n in stealing Customs there is no other punishment than to pay double The Trade of Smyrna is very great and the principal Merchandizes which the Franks transport from thence are raw Silk which the Armenians bring out of Persia Chamlet-yarn and Chamlet or Goats-hair which come from a little City call'd Angouri fifteen or sixteen days journey from Smyrna Cotton twisted Skins and Cordovans of several colours Calicuts white and blew great quantities of Wool for Mattresses Tap'stries quilted Coverlets Soap Rhubarb Galls Valanede Scammony and Opium which four last Commodities are to be had in the Countries near to Smyrna but not in great quantities The Caravans come generally to this Town in the Months of February June and October and depart again to the Countries from whence they came the same Months Ephesus not being above a day and a halfs journey from Smyrna on Horse-back I took an opportunity to go thither There were twelve of us that joyn'd together Franks and Hollanders who took three Janisaries along with us and three Horses to carry our Provision We travel'd this little Journey in the Summer and setting out of Smyrna about three of the Clock in the Afternoon we rode through a Country part Plains and part Hills till we came to a great Viliage where we sup'd After we had staid there three hours we took Horse and travel'd till Midnight to avoid the Heats By the way we met with nine or ten Arches very narrow which we could not conjecture to be any thing else than the Ruines of some Aqueduct From thence to Ephesus the way is very pleasant through little Thickets watred with Rivulets A quarter of a League from Ephesus you meet with another Mosquee which was formerly a Christian Church built out of the Ruines of the Temple of Ephesus This Mosquee stands enclos'd with Walls and you must ascend up to it by two Ascents of twelve Steps a-piece which bring you to a large Passage From thence you enter into a large Cloyster the Arches whereof are sustain'd with Marble Pillars of several colours delicately wrought and the lower part of the Gallery which runs along three of the sides that consists of great Squares of Stone The Mosquee takes up the fourth side upon the left hand the Gate being in the middle The Mosquee it self is a wide Arch supported by five Columns all of most exquisite Work There are four of Marble and every one of a different Colour but the fifth is a most rare piece being of Porphyry and the bigness of it makes it so much the more to be admir'd Ephesus does not look like a City being so absolutely ruin'd that there is not a House standing It was built upon the descent of a Hill in a situation not much unlike that of Smyrna at the foot whereof runs a Rivulet after it has made a thousand Maeanders in the Meadows The City seems to have been very large for you may discern upon the top of the Gates the compass of the Walls with several square Towers some of which are still standing and there is one very remarkable having two Chambers in it one of which is a very fair one the Walls and Pavement whereof are Marble The famous Temple of Diana stood at the bottom of the Hill near one of the Gates of the City There remains nothing of it at present but the great Portal which is entire The Vaults of the Arches under ground stand to this day and are very large but all full of nastiness We went in with Lanthorns and though you must creep to get in by reason that the Wind has almost stopt up the Hole by gathering the Dust about it yet when you are in you may go upright for the Arches are high and fair and little the worse Near the Gate lye four or five Columns upon the Ground and near to that a Fountain ten Foot in Diameter and two deep The People of the Country report that it was the Fountain wherein St. John Baptiz'd the Christians For my part as I have seen in the Indies several Pagods and Edifices much more beautiful than ever the Temple of Ephesus could be I believe it rather to have been a Basin wherein the People put their Offerings of which there are several such that belong to the Indian Pagods The Greeks and Armemenians but above all the Franks when they go to Ephesus always endeavour to break off some piece of that Basin to carry it away with 'em as a Relick but the Stone is so hard that they can break off but very little at a time Not far from the Temple appears another Gate of the City over which there lyes a great Stone seven or eight Foot square with an emboss'd Figure of Q. Curtius that Famous Roman who threw himself Horse and Arms into the gaping Earth for the good of his Country Many Merchants have offer'd Money for liberty to carry it away but cannot obtain leave About five hundred Paces from Ephesus is the Grotto which they call the Seven Sleepers at the bottom of the same Hill where the City was built From Ephesus we went to Scalanova which is not above two Leagues off By that time you come half the way the little River that runs by Ephesus falls into the Sea in the mouth whereof there are always a great number of Greek Barks fishing for Sturgeon Of the Spawn of this Fish they make Gaveare and drive a great Trade in it in those Parts then they take the most delicate and smallest Entrails of that Fish which they fill with the same Spawn of which they make a kind of a flat Pudding as long as a Bisket which they call Botargo This they dry in the Smoak and cut it afterwards in slices to eat Upon this and the Cuttle-fish the Greeks generally feed during their Lent which is very austere Scalanova is a Port of which I have already spoken and thither we came by seven a Clock in the Evening where the
River The sixth day we pass'd by the Walls of the ancient Philadelphia call'd at present Allachars which was also one of the Seven Churches of Asia There is something of Beauty still remaining in those Walls and the City is very large but ill peopl'd It is situated upon four little Hills at the foot of a high Mountain over-looking a fair Plain to the North that produces excellent Fruit. To witness its Antiquity there is yet the Ruines of an Amphitheater with certain Sepulchers from whence the Inhabitants report that the European Christians took out the Bodies that were buried there and transported them into Europe believing them to be the Bodies of Saints It is now all destroy'd but re-built of Earth by the Turks after their mode It was formerly one of the principal Cities of Mysia and in regard it was alway very subject to Earthquakes the most part of her Inhabitants liv'd in the Country The last time I travel'd that way in the year 1664 the seventeenth of June the Turks were feasting and rejoycing upon the News as they said which they had receiv'd of the defeat of the Christians in Candy But the News was false and only contriv'd to encourage the People for the Grand Signor was then making Levies in those Parts We lodg'd that day after seven hours travel upon the Bank of a small River a League and a half from Philadelphia The seventh day we travel'd eleven hours over a Mountain where those Trees plentifully grow that bear Galls and Valanede which is the shell or rind of an Acorn that Curriers make use of to dress their Leather We lodg'd in a Meadow on the top of a Mountain which is call'd Ijagli-bogase or The Mountain of Robbers The eighth day we continu'd our Journey over the same Mountain which is a very barren Country where there is no Provision to be had We travel'd but six hours and lodg'd near a River in a Plain call'd Sarrouc abaqui The ninth day the Caravan travel'd thorough dry Lands where there is not one Village to be seen and lodg'd near a Bridge built over a River call'd Copli-sou in the Plain of Inahi The tenth day after we had travel'd eight hours over an uneven and barren Country we stopt in a Valley near a River call'd Bana-sou the Water whereof is not good In the Night there arose a Tempest that put us all in a disorder and the Rain that fell was as cold as is it had been in the depth of Winter We were wet to the Skins and were forc'd to throw Coverlets over the Bales to keep the Goods from being spoyl'd The eleventh day we travel'd through a pleasant Country between Vales adorn'd with a most delightful Verdure and we were in view as we pass'd along of certain hot Baths though very little regarded We lodg'd upon the Banks of a small River by the side whereof we had travel'd for some hours The twelfth day we continu'd our Road for six hours between the same Vallies and lodg'd by a River The thirteenth day we travel'd eight hours and stop'd near to a Village in a Country call'd Doüagasse The fourteenth after a Journey of seven hours we pass'd by the Walls of Aphiom-Carassar that is The Black City of Aphiom or Opium because it has a Prospect over a fair and large Country well cultivated where they sow great store of Poppies whence they draw their Opium or Aphiom as the Turks call it Aphiom-Carassar is a great City dirty and ill built the ancient Name whereof I could never learn for the Greeks and Armenians are very ignorant But according to all probability and the situation of the place it ought to be the ancient Hierapolis situated upon the Maeander a famous River of the Lesser Asia that winds and turns the most of any River in the World And indeed we are the more to seek in regard the Turks change the ancient Names according to their own custom and pleasure and give no other Names to Rivers than that of the principal City through which they pass or else deriving their Names from the Colour of their Sands There is to be seen in that City an ancient Castle of Free-stone upon the Point of a high Rock separated from the Mountains that are next it toward the South which make a Semicircle All the Armenian Christians Subjects to the King of Persia passing thorough Aphiom-Carassar must there pay Carage from which they are not exempted though they have paid it before at Erzerom or elsewhere The Caravan does not stop at Aphiom-Carassar as well for that there are no Inns but what are ruin'd as for that about a League farther there is a place where you have excellent Fish and very cheap and they of the City bring Barley Straw and other things which the Caravan wants The Caravan therefore that day lodges upon the Banks of Maeander which is to be cross'd over a Bridge not far distant from a small Village In this River are great store of Crawfish and Carps and the Fishermen will be sure to attend upon the Caravan I have seen some Carps there above three Foot long The fifteenth our Caravan began to part it self some for Tocat some for the Road to Aleppo the one part taking the right-hand Road toward the Winter-East for Syria the other the left-hand Road North-East for Armenia After we were parted we travel'd two or three hours in sight of one another They that go to Aleppo fall into Tarsus where St. Paul was born and from Tarsus to Alexandretta But we continu'd our Road to Tocat and after we had cross'd a great Plain having travel'd six hours we lodg'd in a Mershy place near a small Village There is one thing remarkable in this Road as in many others which manifests the Charity of the Turks For in most of the high Roads that are far from Rivers they have set up Cisterns whither when the Rains fail the neighbouring Villages bring Water for the Travellers who would else be very much distress'd The sixteenth we travel'd eight hours through a very even Country but ill manur'd where we saw a little City call'd Boulavandi There are some Mosquees which the Turks have built out of the Ruines of the ancient Greek Churches from which they have taken Pillars of Marble and other pieces of Architecture to adorn their Sepulchers without any order at all which you meet with very often upon the high Roads the number is the greater because they never lay two Bodies in one Grave There is also in this City an Inn cover'd with Lead which is all the Beauty of it nor do Travellers make any use of it but only in foul weather We lodg'd a League and a half from the City and staid there all the next day The seventeenth we travel'd eleven hours through a mix'd and uneven Country and came to lodge in a Village where there are not above three or four Houses though there be excellent Pasturage about it There is
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
every leaf they are like our Lilly's but much bigger And to drink the infusion of the Roots of these Lilly's especially those whose Leaves are blackest for fifteen days together is a most Soveraign remedy against the Pox. Not long after came a Person of a goodly Aspect who seem'd to be an Arabian but he spoke the Persian Language whom Solyman Kan had sent to Compliment the Ambassador He carry'd us to the Tent which the Governour had caus'd to be set up in a Garden near the Town where he also Lodg'd the Capuchins The Ambassador also sent to Compliment the Kan by my interpreter and when the hour was come that we were to set forward he gave order to six of the Captains of his Cavalry to accompany the Ambassador The House where the Governour liv'd in was one of the most beautiful in Persia. And as for the Governour himself we found him in a Gallery that look'd upon the Garden the Floor being all spread over with a Tapestry of Gold and Silk with large Cushions of Cloth of Gold all along the Wall After some Questions and discourse concerning the Affairs of Europe they serv'd in Supper which consisted of several Dishes but no Wine was to be had our drink being only Sherbet and the juice of Granates with Sugar for those that desir'd it We were a long time at Supper for 't is the custom of Persia that when one man rises another takes his place and falls too in so much that the Master of the Feast must have the Patience to stay 'till several have tak'n their turns and when every one has done the Cloth is tak'n away without any more to do Here the Ambassador committed an absurdity for there are no Silver or Gold Spoons in Persia but only long Wooden Ladles that reach a great way Now the Ambassador reaching his Ladle to a Purslane-Dish full of Pottage that was scalding hot clap'd it presently into his mouth but finding it so hot that he could not endure it after several scurvy faces he threw it out of his mouth again into his hand in the presence of all the Company After we had stay'd five days at Sneirne the Caravan-Bashi signifi'd his desire to pursue his Journey Thereupon the Ambassador took his leave of the Governour presenting him with a Watch and a pair of Pistols who in retaliation presented the Ambassador with a stately Horse and a Colt of two years old The next day we dislodg'd and pursu'd our Road to Amadan which is not above three days Journey from Sneirne Amadan is one of the largest and most considerable Cities of Persia seated at the foot of a Mountain where do arise an infinite company of Springs that water all the Country The Land about it abounds in Corn and Rice wherewith it furnishes the greatest part of the neighbouring Provinces Which is the reason that some of the Persian States-men hold it very inconvenient for the King of Persia to keep Bagdat as well by reason of the vastness of the Charge as also for that it draws from Amadan that which should supply other Provinces On the other side it is easie for the Grand Signor to hold it by reason of the neighbourhood of Mesopotamia Assyria and the Arabs Enemies to the Persians by which means Provisions are very cheap which the people would not know where to put off if the King of Persia were Lord of Bagdat We staid at Amadan about ten days by reason of the Rains during which time the Caravans cannot travel While we tarry'd there we were visited by several Babylonian Christians who were glad to see that we had escap'd the Clutches of the Basha of Bagdat who had giv'n order to the Basha of Karkou and the Bey of Sharassou that commands the Frontiers of Turkie to seize us and carry us back to Bagdat For which we might have thank'd the Ambassador and a malicious Rabbi that came along with us in the Caravan from Aleppo who finding the Feast of the Tabernacles to be at hand and that we had a great way to Ispahan left us at Niniveh to keep the Festival with the Jews of Babylon Where that he might insinuate himself into the Basha's favour he inform'd him that there was a Fringuiz in the Caravan whom he look'd upon as a Spy and that he was an Envoy into Persia from the Commonwealth of Venice for he carry'd no Merchandize but had three Chests full of rich Habits and several other things which he took for Presens to the Persian King For out of vanity or folly the Venetian had several times open'd his Chest and expos'd his Gallantry to view And yet he was so clutch-fisted and niggardly in every thing that when there was any occasion to reward the Kan's Servant or any of the Country-men that brought us the Dainties of the place it came all out of my Pocket So that I left him to my Interpreter and the two Capuchins and with three Servants and a Guide after I had staid at Amadan three days I took Horse for Ispahan When I came there the Nazar or Master of the King's Houshold hearing I had left an Ambassador behind me with the Caravan enquir'd of me what manner of Person he was but I pretended I had had little converse with him unwilling to discover his mean Spirit The Evening before his Arrival the Nazar sent to give the Fringuiz notice in the King's Name that they should be ready to go meet the Ambassador the next day which we did and brought him into the City and through Ali's Gate that joyns to the King's Palace Now 't is the custom for all Ambassadors to salute that Gate by reason of a white Marble Stone made like an Asses back and which serves for a Step being as they report brought anciently out of Arabia where Ali liv'd So soon as you have strid over that Stone without touching it which were a great crime you enter into a kind of a Gallery where there are Rooms on each side which serves for a Sanctuary for Criminals which the King himself cannot fetch out of that place That day that the new King receives his Ensigns of Royalty he goes to stride over that Stone and if by negligence he should chance to touch it there are four Guards at the Gate that would make a shew of thrusting him back again But now the Master of the Ceremonies being ready to conduct the Ambassador to the Apartment alotted him as an Ambassador that came from three great Monarchs and a potent Commonwealth he desir'd to lodge at the House of one Pietro Pentalet descended from Venetian Parents whereupon the Master of the Ceremonies conducted him thither and caus'd his Dinner to be brought him While we were eating I counted thirteen Languages spoken at the Table Latin French High-Dutch English Low-Dutch Italian Portuguez Persian Turkish Arabic Indian Syriac and Malaye which is the Language of the Learned that is spoken from the River Indus to China and
are a great number of Boys and Servants to guide the Ships of the Sun and Moon Besides they have the Picture of a Barque which they say belong'd to the Angel Becan whom God sends to visit the Sun and Moon to see whither they move right or no and keep close to their duty In reference to the other World and life to come they believe there is no other World but where Angels and Devils the Souls of good and bad reside That in that World there are Cities Houses and Churches and that the Evil Spirits have also Churches where they pray singing and rejoycing upon Instruments and Feasting as in this World That when any one lies at the point of death three hundred and sixty Demons come and carry his Soul to a place full of Serpents Dogs Lyons Tygres and Devils who if it be the Soul of a wicked man tear it in pieces but being the Soul of a just man it creeps under the bellies of those Creatures into the presence of God who sits in his seat of Majesty to judge the World That there are Angels also that weigh the Souls of Men in a Ballance who being thought worthy are admitted immediately into Glory That the Angels and Devils are Male and Female and beget Children That the Angel Gabriel is the Son of God engender'd upon Light and that he has a Daughter call'd Souret who has two Sons That the Angel Gabriel has several Legions of Demons under him who are instead of Souldiers and others that are his Officers of justice whom he sends from Town to Town and from City to City to punish the wicked In reference to Saints they hold that Christ left twelve Apostles to Preach to the Nations That the Virgin Mary is not dead but that she lives somewhere in the World though there be no person that can tell where she is That next to her St. John is the chiefest Saint in Heaven and next to them Zacharias and Elizabeth of whom they recompt several miracles and Apocryphal tales For they believe that they two begat St. John only by embracing that when he came to be of age they Marry'd him and that he had four Sons which he begat upon the waters of Jordan That when St. John desir'd a Son he pray'd to God who drew him one out of the water so that St. John had no more to do with his Wife but only to give her the Child to bring up That he dy'd a natural death but that he commanded his Disciples to Crucifie him after his death that he might be like Christ. Lastly that he dy'd in the City of Fuster and that he was bury'd in a Chrystal Tomb brought by miracle to the City and that this Sepulchre was in a certain House near the River Jordan They highly honour the Cross and sign themselves with it but they are very careful of letting the Turks observe them and during their Ceremonies they set a Watch at their Church doors for fear the Turks should enter and lay some unjust Fine upon them When they have ador'd the Cross they take it in two pieces which they never put together again 'till their Service rebegins The reason why they so adore the Cross is drawn out of a Book which they have Entitul'd The Divan Where it is written that every day early in the Morning the Angels take the Cross and put it in the middle of the Sun which receives his light from it as the Moon also doth hers They add that in the same Book are Pictur'd two Ships one of which is nam'd the Sun the other the Moon and thaâ— in every one of these Ships there is a Cross full of Bells And moreover that if there were not a Cross in those two Ships the Sun and Moon would be depriv'd of Light and the Ships would suffer Shipwrack Their chief Festivals are three The one in Winter that lasts three days in memory of our first Parent and the Creation of the World The other in the Month of August that also lasts three days which is call'd the Feast of St. John The third which lasts five days in June during which time they are all re-baptiz'd They observe Sunday doing no work upon that day They neither Fast nor do any penance They have no Canonical Books but a great number of others that treat of nothing but Witchcraft in which they believe their Priests to be very crafty and that the Devils are at their beck They hold all Women to be unclean and that it is not at all available for them to come to the Church They have one Ceremony which they call the Ceremony of the Hen of which they make great Accompt which is not lawful for any to perform but a Priest Born of a Virgin at the time of her Marriage When a hen is to be kill'd the Priest puts off his ordinary habit and puts on a Linnen Cloth girding his waste with a second and throwing a third about his shoulders like a Stole Then he takes the Fowl and plunges it in the water to make it clean after which he turns toward the East and cuts off the head holding the Body in his hand 'till it has bled out all the blood While the Hen bleeds with his Eyes lifted up to Heaven as if he were in an extasie he repeats in his own Language these words following In the name of God may this flesh be profitable to all that eat of it They observe the same ceremony when they kill Sheep For first they cleanse the place very carefully where the Sheep is to be kill'd washing it with water and strewing it with boughs nor is the number of people small that assists at this Ceremony as if it were at some solemn Sacrifice If you ask them why it is not lawful for the Laity to kill Fowls They answer that it is no more lawful for them to kill than to consecrate them and that is all the reason which they bring They eat of nothing drest by the Turks and if a Turk ask them for drink so soon as he has drank they break the Cup. And to make the Turks more hateful they Picture Mahomet like a great Gyant shut up in Prison in Hell with four more of his Parents and they say that all the Turks are carry'd into the same place full of wild Beasts to be there devour'd They pretend all to Salvation For say they after the Angel Gabriel had fram'd the World by the command of God he thus discours'd him Lord God said he behold I have built the World as thou didst command me It has put me to a great deal of trouble and my Brethren also to raise such high Mountains that seem to sustain Heaven And who indeed was able to make way for Rivers through Mountains without vast labour and to give every thing its proper place Moreover great God by the aid of thy powerfull Arm we have brought the World to so much perfection that
shall have it The twenty-sixth of September we departed from Erivan and the ninth of November we came to Tauris taking the ordinary Road. At Erivan two of my Servants the one a Watch-maker the other a Gold-smith dy'd I left them sick there but caus'd them to be buried in the Church-yard belonging to the Armenians One of them dy'd in fifteen days of a Gangrene which eat out his Mouth and Throat being the Disease of the Country Though had the Armenians known that one of them had been a Protestant they would never have allow'd him to have been bury'd in their Church-yard Here observe the exact justice wherewith the Persians preserve the Goods of Strangers For the Civil Judge hearing of the death of the Watch-maker caus'd his Chamber to be seal'd up to the end the Goods might be preserv'd for the kindred of the deceas'd if they came to demand them I return'd to Tauris a twelve-month after and found the Chamber close seal'd up We staid twelve days at Tauris during which time I resolv'd to attend the Kan of Shamaqui a frontler Town of Persia toward the Caspian Sea but I found him not there in regard it was Harvest season at what time he goes to gather the King's and his own Duties Two days journey on this side Shamaqui you pass the Aras and for two days journey you travel through a Country all planted with white Mulberry-Trees the Inhabitants being all Silk-Weavers Before you come to the City you must cross over several Hills But I think I should rather have call'd it a great Town where there was nothing remarkable but a fair Castle which the Kan built himself I speak of the time past For as I return'd from this present Voyage of which I now write when I came to Tauris I understood that there had happen'd such a terrible Earthquake in the Town as had laid all the Houses in a heap none escaping that dismal subversion but only one Watch-maker of Geneva and one more who was a Camel-driver I had several times design'd to return into France through Muscovy but I durst never adventure being certainly inform'd that the Muscovite never permitted any person to go out of Muscovy into Persia nor to come out of Persia into Muscovy So that it was by particular connivence that that favour was granted to the Duke of Holstein's Ambassadors This last time I was resolv'd to have try'd whether I could have open'd a Passage from Persia through Muscovy into France but the Ruine of Shamaqui deterr'd me We departed from Tauris the twenty-second of November from whence to Cashan we met with nothing considerable but only one of the Muscovite Ambassadors upon his return into his own Country with a small Retinue of sixty his Companion dying at Ispahan Upon Sunday the fourteenth of December taking Horse by three of the Clock in the morning the Ice bearing very well we came to Ispahan about noon but in regard it was slippery before day and very plashy after the Sun was up the Journey was both tedious and troublesom CHAP. III. The Road from Aleppo to Tauris through Diarbequir and Van. THere are two Roads more remaining to be describ'd one through the North part of Turkie the other through the South The first through Diarbequir and Van and so to Tauris the second through Anna and the small Desert leading to Bagdat I will describe the first of these Roads and make a skip at the first leap to Bi r whither I have already led you in the Road from Aleppo From Bi r or Beri you travel all along the River Euphrates to Cachemé From Cachemé you come to Milesara where you pay the Customs of Oursa when you do not pass through the City which amounts to four Piasters for every Horse-load From Milesara you come to the River Arzlan-chaye or the Lion River by reason of the rapidity of the Stream which falls into Euphrates From Arzlan-chaye you go to Seuerak This is a City water'd by a River that also falls into Euphrates It is environ'd with a great Plain to the North the West and South The way which the Horses Mules and Camels keep is cut through the Rock like a Channel two Foot deep where you must also pay half a Piaster for every Horse-load From Seuerak you come to Bogazi where there are two Wells but not a House near and where the Caravan usually lodges From Bogazi you come to Deguirman-Bogazi and from Deguirman-Bogazi to Mirzatapa where there is only an Inn. From Mirzatapa you come to Diarbequir which the Turks call Car-emu Diarbequir is a City situated upon a rising ground on the right side of Tigris which in that place forms a Half-moon the descent from the Walls to the River being very steep It is encompass'd with a double Wall the outward Wall being strengthned with sixty-two Towers which they report were built in Honour of the sixty two Disciples of JESUS CHRIST The City has but three Gates over one of which there is an Inscription in Greek and Latin that makes mention of one Constantine There are in it two or three fair Piazza's and a magnificent Mosquee which was formerly a Christian Church It is surrounded with very decent Charnel-houses near to which the Moullah's Dervi's Book-sellers and Stationers do live together with all those other people that concern the Law About a League from the City there is a Channel cut out of Tigris that brings the Water to the City And in this Water are all the red Marroquins wash'd that are made at Diarbequir surpassing in colour'all others in the East which Manufacture employs a fourth part of the Inhabitants of the City The Soil is very good and yields according to expectation there is excellent Bread and very good Wine nor is there any better Provision to be had in any part of Persia more especially there is a sort of Pigeons which in goodness excel all the several kinds that we have in Europe The City is very well peopl'd and it is thought there are in it above twenty thousand Christians The two thirds are Armenians the rest Nestorians with some few Jacobites There are also some few Capuchins that have no House of their own but are forc'd to lodg◠in an Inn. The Basha of Diarbequir is one of the Viziers of the Empire He has but an inconsiderable Infantry which is not much requisite in that Country the Curds and Arabs which infest that Country being all Horse-men But he is strong in Cavalry being able to bring above twenty thousand Horse into the Field A quarter of an hours riding on this side Diarbequir there is a great Town with a large Inn where the Caravans that go and come from Persia rather choose to lye than at Diarbequir in regard that in the City-Inns they pay three or four Piasters for every Chamber but in the Country-Inns there is nothing demanded At Diarbequir you cross the Tigris which is always fordable unless when the Snow
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
where there is no Custom to be paid From Ourshaye to Akerman days 4 Here they never open the Bales but they take Four in the Hundred From Akerman to Ozou days 3 Here they never open the Bales but the Custom amounts to Two per Cent. From Ozou to Precop days 5 Neither do they here open the Bales but trust to the Merchant's word and the Customs amount to Two and a half per Cent. From Precop to Kaffa days 5 Nor are the Bales open'd here but the Custom comes to Three per Cent. Thus from Warsow to Kaffa the Journey takes up one and fifty days in the Wagon which is the manner of Carriage in those Countries All the Customs amount to Eighteen and a half per Cent. to which you must add the Carriage and Passage by Sea to Trebizond where you pay three Piasters for every Mules-load and four for every Camels-load Observe by the way that the Armenians do not usually take shipping at Trebizónd but go to another Port more to the West upon the same Coast where they never pay above a Piaster and a half for a Camels-load This Port call'd Onnie is a very good Haven and there is another a little farther off call'd Samson which is no bad one but the Air is unwholsom and dang'rous There is also another Road from Warsow to Trebizond shorter by three days journey From Warsow to Yashé according to the Road already set down days 31 From Yashé to Galas days 8 All Merchandize is Tax'd at this place and the Duties are tak'n at Galas according to the Note which the Merchant brings from Galas Galas is a City of Moldavia From Galas to Megin days 1 The Bales are not open'd here but the Merchant pays three and a half or four per Cent. From Megin to Mangalia days 8 This is one of the four Ports to the West upon the Black Sea and the best of all The three others toward the South upon the Coast are Kavarna Balgik and Varna At Mangalia they demand but half a Piaster for every Bale Crossing from thence to Trebisond you have five days Journey to Erzerom Now to the Road of Muscovy which having been exactly describ'd by Olearius going into Persia I will describe it returning out of Persia. Having led the Reader to Shamaqui I will return home from thence From Shamaqui to Derbent days 7 Derbent which the Turks call Demir-Capi is the last City within the Jurisdiction of the Persians by which there runs a River which is call'd Shamourka From Derbent to Tetarck days 8 By this Town runs a River which is call'd Bocan From Tetark to Astracan they hire small Barks with a dozen Oars All along the shoar the Osiers grow so very thick that they afford shelter for the Barks in fowl weather If the Wind serve they will put up a little Sail and be at Astracan in four or five hours but if they only Row they cannot be there in nine When you Embark upon the Caspian Sea where you only creep along by the shore you must provide your self with Water for the three first days in regard the Water is bitter and ill tasted all along the Coast all that while but for the rest of the Voyage it is very good If you carry heavy Goods you may hire large Boats to save charges When you come to Astracan you unlade your Goods at what time the Officer comes and sealing up every Bale causes them to be sent to the Merchants lodging Three days after the Customer comes to op'n the Bales and takes five per Cent. If the Merchant hap'n to want money and takes it up at Astracan to pay again at Moscow he pays sometimes thirty per Cent according to the rate of Gold Ducats If a Merchant have any Diamonds or any other Jewels and let it be known he pays five per Cent. But if a Merchant have any Jewels or any other rarities and tells the Governour that he intends to carry them to the Grand Duke the Governour sends a Convoy with him either by Land or Water that costs him nothing and moreover sends a Courrier before to the Court to give notice of his coming There is very good Wine at Astracan but better at Shamaqui where I advise the Traveller to provide himself From Astracan to Moscow you take Shipping in great Barques that make use both of Oars and Sails rowing against the Tide and weigh what ever you put aboard to a very Coverlet Generally you pay for every pound fourteen Caya or three Abassi's and a half and an Abassi makes eighteen Sous and three Deniers In Muscovy they reck'n the way neither by leagues nor miles but by Shagerons five of which make an Italian mile From Astracan to Courmija Shagerons 300 From Courmija to Sariza sha. 200 From Sariza to Sarataf sha. 350 From Sarataf to Samarat sha. 200 From Samarat to Semiriskat sha. 300 From Semiriskat to Coulombe sha. 150 From Coulombe to Casan sha. 200 This is a great City with a stout Fortress From Casan to Sabouk-sha sha. 200 From Sabouk-sha to Godamijan sha. 120 From Godamijan to Niguina sha. 280 Niguina is a large and well Fortifi'd Castle From Niguina to Mouron sha. 300 From Mouron to Casin sha. 100 From Casin to Moscow sha. 250 So that from Astracan to Moscow they count it sha. which makes 590 Italian miles 2950 At Sarataf you may go ashore and so by Land to Moscow When the Snow is gone you travel in Wagons but when the Snow lies in Sledges If a man be alone and that his Goods weigh not above two hundred pounds Paris weight they put them into two Bales and laying them upon the Horses back set the man in the middle paying for Carriage as much as from Astracan to Moscow From Sarataf by Land to Inserat days 10 From Inserat to Tymnek days 6 From Tymnek to Canquerma days 8 From Canquerma to Volodimer days 6 Volodimer is a City bigger than Constantinople where stands a fair Church upon a Mountain in the City having been formerly the residence of the Emperours themselves From Volodimer to Moscow days 5 In all days 35 Observe by the way that they never go ashore at Serataf but in case of necessity when the River begins to be Frozen For from Serataf to Inserat is a Journey of ten days in all which time there is nothing to be had either for Horse or Man The Custom is the same at Moscow as at Astracan that is Five per Cent. All the Asiaticks Turks Persians Armenians and others lodge in a sort of Inns but the Europeans lie in a place by themselves altogether The Names of some Cities and places belonging to the Empire of the Grand Signor as they are vulgarly call'd and in Turkish COnstantinople after it was taken by Mahomet the second the twenty-seventh of May 1453. was call'd by the Turks Istam-Bol Istam signifying Security and Bol Spacious large or great as much as to say Great Security Vulgar
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
Stone a League and a half from the City toward the Mountains running in that time six and thirty of our common Leagues or a hundred and eight Miles While he runs there is Kourouk in the Meydan and upon all the Road where he runs and three or four Horse-men that continually ride to and fro to see that there be no deceit in the Chater's Race who when he approaches near the City ride before to give notice of his coming Every time he starts and returns the Drums and Trumpets sound at the end of the Race there stand several persons with Arrows in their Hands and ev'ry time he comes to the Stone they give him an Arrow which he carries back every course to Ali-Capri Every time he returns the Curtisans rub him and make much of him All the time he runs he eats nothing but drinks Sherbet now and then If he acquit himself well which appears by the number of Arrows brought back he is admitted a Master by the approbation of the King's Foot-men who are superior to all the rest The Kans or Governours of Provinces run their own Chaters with the same Ceremonies and in the same manner The Fortress of Ispahan is nothing at all considerable It joyns to the Wall upon the South side of the City and is twice as long as broad but without any defence in the world unless it be of some pitiful Towers made of Earth Here it is that the King keeps all the Rarities which he has purchas'd or that has been presented to him For as to his main Treasure I believe it consists chiefly in Gold-Plate Within the Fortress there is a large Field sow'd every year with Rice and Corn hard by which stands the House of the Capuchin-Friars Ispahan in general unless it be the Meydan and some few arch'd Streets where the Merchants live is more like a great Village than a City the Houses standing at a distance one from the other with every one a Garden but ill look'd after not having any thing in it perchance but only one pitiful Tree true it is that they begin to build better of late days but it is without the City As for the Women 't is not a pin matter whether they live out of the City or within in regard they never stir out of doors and as seldom go a-foot The Meydan or great Piazza of Ispahan was the contrivance of the great Sha-Abas who had never done it if a great Prince of the ancient Race of the Kings of Persia had not refus'd him the old Meydan with several Priviledges and the House that stood by it Thereupon he design'd this new Piazza to draw off the Merchants and to spoil the old Market-place by their departure from that quarter of the City which is less inhabited at this day It is not far from this old Meydan that the Austin-Friars on the one side and the Carmelites on the other have their Habitations There are also two sides of that Meydan entire under the Portico's where sit only such people as sell Herbs Fruit and Victuals the other two sides are almost faln to decay but when it was all standing it was as handsom as the new one and it is to be wonder'd that the Prince who built it did not choose the place where Sha-Abas has built his as being near the Water and consequently far more convenient The great Meydan then is a place about seven hundred Paces long and between two and three hundred broad It has Buildings upon all the four sides it lyes in length directly North and South the Fronts are every one Portico'd and Terrass'd at the top and on the City-side are little Chambers nine or ten Foot high which fall very much to decay being only built of Brick bak'd in the Sun They are inhabited the greatest part of them by the most infamous Curtisans of the City At some Paces distance from the Portico's is a Channel which is pav'd with stone and runs round about the Piazza Sha-Abas caus'd several Trees to be planted by the side of it but both the Channel and the Trees being altogether neglected are faln to decay besides that the smell of the Water in the Summer time is very noysom In the midst of the Piazza stands a kind of a May-Pole or Mast of a Ship where the people exercise shooting at Birds When the King comes to shoot they set a Cup of Gold upon the top of the Mast which he is to strike down with an Arrow To which purpose he must ride full speed nor is he permitted to shoot 'till after he has past the May-Pole turning himself upon the crupper of his Horse a remain of the ancient custom of the Parthians that kill'd their Enemies flying The Cup belongs to him that strikes it down and I have seen Sha-Sefi Grandfather of the present King in five Courses strike down three Cups From this Mast or May-Pole down to the great Mosquee they sell nothing but Wood and Charcoal from the same Pole to the Sun-Dial upon the North-side are none but such as sell old Iron-Tools old Harness for Horses old Coverlets and other old Brokery-ware as in our Long-Lane From the Pole to another Mosquee to the South just against the Sun-Dial is the place for all the Poulterers The rest of the Piazza toward the Palace is always kept clean without any Shops because the King comes often abroad in the Evening to see Lions Bears Bulls Rams Cocks and all other sort of Creatures fight which are brought thither The people of Ispahan as in many other Cities are divided into two parts the one call'd Hedari the other Nametlai and upon all the Combats of Beasts before-mention'd there are always very considerable Wagers laid between these two Tribes The King who is a neuter gives to the Master of the Beast that gets the upper hand sometimes five sometimes ten sometimes twenty Tomans according to the value of the Wager laid and he that wins the Wager presents the Master of the the Beast likewise They have also a Sport at breaking of Eggs by knocking the ends one against another some of which Eggs come to three or four Crowns The Hens that lay them are bred in a Country which they call Sausevare about a hundred leagues from Ispahan toward the Province of Karason the Cocks of which Country are bigger and stronger than other Cocks and cost some of them a hundred Crowns There are a sort of Tumblers also that after Dinner set up their Stages in the Meydan and toward the Evening they that play the Maid-Marians come and encompass a square place with a course piece of Calicut and then through another very fine Cloth the Wenches shew a thousand tumbling Tricks and antick Postures When they have done they come and ask the Spectators for Money who give them every one what they think fit Every Friday which is as it were Market-day the Country-folks bring to Town what they have made in the
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
which extends it self from the Ocean toward the Province of Kerman and in several places is inaccessible It is possess'd by three petty Princes the one a Mahumetan the other two toward the East both Idolaters The first is the most potent of the three and nearest to the Province of Ormus He also assumes the title of Prince of Jasque as his Ancestors did before him Now after Sha-Abbas the first had conquer'd Ormus he went about to have made himself master of all the coast that extends it self beyond Cape Jasque but meeting with resistance he only obtain'd that the Prince of the Country should acknowledge the King of Persia for his Lord and that as his Vassal he should pay him an annual tribute And indeed during the raign of Sha-Abbas who knew how to make himself fear'd the Prince of Jasque pay'd his tribute very orderly But Sha-Sefi succeeding his Grandfather very young this tributary Prince shook off his yoak and refus'd to pay Which not being regarded in the raign of Sha Sefi the Prince of Jasque thought to do the same in the raign of Sha Abbas the second But at length after he had refus'd to pay for some years the Kan of Ormus pretending the Country to be under his Jurisdiction and that the Kings honour was concern'd in the Princes refusal incited Sha Abbas to send forces against him to reduce him to obedience The King granted the Commission to him that had undertaken the business who presently gathering together an Army of 20000 men the most part Horse thought to have surpriz'd his Enemy To which purpose that he might take the nearest way he march'd directly toward Cape Jasque But as it was the shortest cut it was the most dangerous insomuch that the Kan who hunted all the way he march'd according to the custom of Persia had the misfortune to fall into a bogg where he was stifl'd together with 20 or 30 horsemen more The death of the Kan being divulg'd the Army retreated back again but as soon as the King receiv'd the news he sent the Brother of the deceas'd Kan to succeed him In the mean while the Rebel Prince believing within himself that he was not to be thus at quiet and expecting to be attack'd by the new Kan stood upon his guard And indeed the new Kan march'd with all the speed he could and enter'd the territories of the rebellious Prince but being beat'n was forc'd to make more haste back again to Ormus with the loss of an abundance of men The Prince of Jasque puft up with this success did not believe that the Persians would be so hasty to come again and thereupon he resolv'd upon a Voyage for Mecca to give the Prophet thanks for his Victory To which end he embarqu'd at the nearest place he could to Cape Jasque thence to make fail toward Arabia But the Governor of Kan understanding his design by his spies way-laid him by Sea took him and brought him to Ormus At that time the heats being excessive the Governour was retir'd according to custome to the Mountains some ten or twelve Leagues from the City whither the Prince was carry'd and brought to the Kans tent But while the Kan was expecting the return of the Messenger which he had sent to the King for orders what to do with the Prisner the Princes wife hearing of her husbands misfortune and being a woman of a manlike courage taking along with her about five or six hundred horse with little noise and by long marches she at length fell unawares upon the Kan about midnight kill'd him with her own hand cut in pieces the greatest part of his men whom she found asleep carry'd away ten or twelve of his wives and set her husband at liberty in spite of the Persians who had not time to rally themselves The news of this defeat coming to Court the King being highly incens'd sent away the third Brother to be governour of Ormus with special command to the Governours of Schiras Lar and Kerman forthwith to raise 30000 horse to revenge affront and reduce the Rebel The Kan of Ormus march'd at the head of that Army and gave Battel but the Prince being succour'd by the other two Idolatrous Princes his neighbours the Persians were again beaten Only the Prince of Jasque lost his Lieutenant General a valiant Captain and a very good Souldier The King understanding that the Lieutenant General was the Kans Prisner gave him leave to do with him what he would in revenge of his Brothers death who thereupon devis'd the most cruel torments that ever were heard of For he first caus'd the body of the Lieutenant General to be larded with lighted Candles and then setting him upon a Camel order'd him to be led softly about the streets every day in the very heat of noon A torment almost insufferable which the heroic Indian nevertheless endur'd with an invincible courage After the Kan had tormented him in this manner three days together the chief of the Holland Company and other strange Merchants abhorring so much cruelty begg'd of the Kan to surcease his rigour who readily granted them their request CHAP. VIII Observations upon the raigne of Sha Soliman the present King ALi-Couli-Kan had bin three or four times exil'd from the Court for speaking with two much liberty For he was bold and could not keep his tongue between his teeth For which reason he was call'd the Kings Lyon who was wont to chain him up when he had no occasion for him and to let him loose when he had any business for him to do The last time he was exil'd he was kept five or six years in a Fortress out of which he had never stirr'd but one day having a smooth tongue he overperswaded the Commander to give him leave to go a hunting with him When he return'd with the help of some of his servants he fell upon the Commander and gave him so many Bastinadoe's upon the feet that he had like to have kill'd him telling him withall that it was to teach him his duty not to let a man go that the King had committed to his charge Sha Sephi though very young hearing of this and desirous to see Ali-Couli-Kan notwithstanding all the endeavours of the Grandees to hinder his return commanded him to be set at liberty and that he should have a better allowance to live upon Two or three days after the King sitting in Council the whole Assembly was amaz'd to see Ali-Couli-Kan enter who approaching his Majesty with a profound reverence told him that the Lyon being now let loose was humbly come to kiss his hands Thereupon the King fell a laughing and casting a favourable glance upon him told him he had done well Nor was it long ere the King finding him no less pleasant in conversation then a valiant and expert Captain made him Generalissimo of his Armies as he had bin in the raigne of Sha Abbas When the Court saw Ali-Couli-Kan so well
left-hand way is a dangerous passage and a kind of a continu'd Labyrinth among Rocks and Precipices The right-hand way which is the best is all upon the sand to Bander-Abassi and is usually a days journey You meet with two Inns by the way the last of which is call'd Bend-Ali built by the Sea-side From Ben-Ali to Bander-Abassi is but a little more then two leagues through a Countrey abounding in Palm-trees CHAP. XXIII Of the Island of Ormus and of Bander-Abassi ORmus is an Island in 92. d. 42. m. of Longitude and in 25. d. 30. m. of Latitude It lies at the mouth of the Persian Gulph two good Leagues from the firm Land There is neither tree nor herb that grows in it for it is all over cover'd with Salt which is very good and as white as snow And as for the black shining Sand-dust of Ormus it is very much us'd for standishes Before the Portugueses came to Ormus there was a City where the Kings of Ormus who were also Kings of Larr resided When the Portugals took it there were in it two young Princes Sons of the deceased King whom they carri'd into Spain Where in regard they were handsomely proportion'd though somewhat swarthy the King entertain'd them very kindly and gave them an honourable allowance One day that he had shew'd them the Escurial and all the chief pieces of Architecture in Madrid the King ask'd them what they thought of living in Spain To whom they answer'd that they had seen nothing but what was worthy admiration but then fetching a deep sigh and perceiving the King desirous to know the meaning of it they gave him to understand that it was for grief that they must never more sit under their own Tree For near to the City of Ormus was a Bannians tree being the only tree that grew in the Island The Portugals being masters of the Island from an ill-built City rear'd it to that hight of Magnificence which that Nation admires so that the very barrs of their doors and windows were all guilt The Fortress was a noble thing and in good repair and they had also a stately Church dedicated to the Virgin where they were also wont to walk For other place of promenading they had none Since the Persians took it the Castle indeed stands in good repair with a Garrison in it but the City is gone to ruine for the Dutch carried most of the stones away to build Battavia Between the Island of Ormus and the Continent the Sea is not very deep for the great ships that sail in and out of the Gulf pass by the other side of the Island As for the Fortress which stands upon a poynt of the Island it is almost encompass'd with the Sea and lyes right over against Persia. Bander Abassi so call'd because the great Sha-Abbas the first brought it into reputation is at present a City reasonably well built and stor'd with large warehouses over which are the lodgings of the Merchants While the Portugueses kept Ormus though they liv'd in the City all the trade was at Bandar-Abassi as being the most secure Landing-place upon all the Coast. About 15 years ago it was an op'n town but because it was an easie thing then to get into the Town and rob the Custome-house in the night it has bin since enclos'd with walls To this place come all the ships that bring Commodities from India for Persia Turkie or any part of Asia or Europe And indeed it would be much more frequented by the Merchants from all Regions and Countries But the Air of Bander is so unwholesome and so hot that no strangers can live there in probability of health unless it be in the months of December January February and March though the Natives of the Country may perhaps stay without prejudice to the end of April After that they retire to the cooler Mountains two or three days journey off for five or six months where they eat what they gain'd before They that venture to stay at Gomron during the hot weather get a malignant Fever which if they scape death is hardly ever cur'd However it bequeaths the yellow Jaundies during life to the party March being pass'd the wind changes and blowing at west south west in a short time it grows so hot and so stifling that it almost takes away a mans breath This wind is by the Arabians call'd El-Samiel or the poysonous wind by the Persians Bade-Sambour because it suffocates and kills presently The flesh of them that are thus stifl'd feels like a glewie fat and as if they had been dead a month before In the year 1632. riding from Ispahan to Bagdat I and four more Persian Merchants had bin stifl'd but for some Arabians that were in our Company For when they perceiv'd the wind they caus'd us to light lye down upon our bellies and cover our selves with our Cloaks We lay so for half an hour and then rising we saw our horses were in such a sweat that they were hardly able to carry us This happen'd to us two days journey from Bagdat But this is observable that if a man be in a Boat upon the water when the same wind blows it does no harm though he were naked at the same time Sometimes the wind is so hot that it burns like Lightning And as the Air of Gomron is so bad and dangerous the soil is worth nothing For it is nothing but Sand nor is the water in the Cisterns very good They that will be at the charge fetch their water from a fountain three leagues from Bander call'd the water of Issin Formerly there was not an herb to be seen but by often watering the ground Lettice Radish and Onions have begun to grow The People are swarthy and wear nothing about them but only a single shirt Their usual dyet is dates and fish Which is almost the dyet of their Cattel for when they come home from browsing the barren bushes they give them the heads and guts of their fish boyl'd with the kernels of the Dates which they eat The Sea of Bander produces good Soles good Smelts and Pilchards They that will have oysters must have 'em caught on purpose for the people eat none Upon Land they want neither for wine of Schiras nor Yesd nor for Mutton Pigeons and Partridge which are their ordinary dyet There are two Fortresses one upon the East the other toward the West The Town increases in trade and building and fills with inhabitants who build their houses with the remaining ruins of Ormus The reason why the Trade is settl'd rather at Bander Abassi then at Bander Congo where the Air is good and the Water excellent is because that between Ormus and Congo lie several Islands which make the passage for ships dangerous besides that the often change and veering of the wind is requir'd neither indeed is there water enough for a Vessel of 20 or 25 guns Then the way from Congo to Lar is very
in Arabia and at Balsara nevertheless from Bragdatt to the Island of Ceylan they traffick altogether with the Larin and all along the Persian Golf where they take 80 Larins for one Toman which is 50 Abassi's The Money currant under the Dominions of the Great Mogul ALL the Gold and Silver which is brought into the Territories of the Great Mogul is refined to the highest perfection before it be coined into Money The Roupy of Gold weighs 2 Drams and a half and 11 Grains and is valued in the Country at 14 Roupies of Silver We reckon the Roupy of Silver at 30 Sous So that a Roupy of Gold comes to 21 Livres of France and an Ounce of Gold to 58 Livres and 4 Deneer's This Gold is like that which we buy at 54 Livres an Ounce And if you bring this Gold in Ingots or Ducats of European Gold you shall have always 7 and a half profit if you can scape paying any thing to the Custom-houses The Half-Roupy comes to 10 Livres 10 Sous and the Quarter-Roupy to 5 Livres 5 Sous As I have said you must reckon the Silver Roupy at 30 Sous though it weigh not above 3 Drams whereas our pieces of 30 Sous weigh 3 Drams and half 4 grains but the Roupy is much the better Silver In a word they that understand Traffick well and carry hence Gold or Silver to the Territories of the Great Mogul get always 7 or 8 per Cent. profit provided they take care to shun the Custom-houses For if you pay them the 7 or 8 per Cent. which you might make profit goes to them and so the Roupy comes to 30 Sous the Half to 15 and the Quarter to 7 and a half the Eighth part to 3 Sous and 9 Deneers As for their Copper Money sometimes 't is worth more sometimes less as Copper comes to the Mint But generally the biggest sort is worth 2 Sous of our Money the next 1 Sous the next to that 6 Deneers As for their Shell Money the nearer you go to the Sea the more you give for a Pecha for they bring them from Maldives Fifty or 60 of these make a Pecha which is that piece of Coin that is worth but 6 Deneer's For their Money of Mamoudi's half Mamoudi's and Almonds all that sort of Money is only currant in the Province of Guzeratt the principal Cities whereof are Surat Barocha Cambaya Broudra and Amadabat Five Mamoudi's go for a Crown or a Real For small Money they make no use of these Shells but of little Almonds which are brought from about Ormus and grow in the Desarts of the Kingdom of Larr If you break one of the Shells it is impossible to eat the Almond for there is no Coloquintida so bitter so that there is no fear least the Children should eat their small Money They have also those little pieces of Copper which are call'd Pecha 6 Deneer's in value They give 20 for a Mamoudi and 40 Almonds for a Pecha sometimes you may have 44 according to the quantity which is brought For some years the Trees do not bear and then the price of this sort of Money is very much raised in that Country and the Bankers know how to make their benefit Fig. 1. The Roupy of Gold Fig. 2. The Half-Roupy of Gold Fig. 3. The Quarter-Roupy of Gold Fig. 4. The Roupy of Silver Fig. 5. Another Roupy of Silver Fig. 6. The Half-Roupy of Silver Fig. 7. The Quarter-Roupy of Silver Fig. 8. The Eighth part of the Roupy of Silver Fig. 9. Four Pecha's of Copper Fig. 10. Two Pecha's of Copper Fig. 11. One Pecha Money of Arabia Larin halfe Larin Money of y e Great Mogull The Money of a King and two Rajas Fig. 12. The Shells Fig. 13. A Silver-Mamoudi which is the Money of Guzerat Fig. 14. Half a Mamoudi Fig. 15. The Almond I have mark'd two sorts of Roupies the one square the other round The square one is as they coin'd it anciently the round ones are as they make them at this day The Money of a King and two Raja's all three Tributaries to the Great Mogul MAton-cha is a Tributary to the Great Mogul yet he has power to coin Monev When you are at Agra the Territories of this King lye to the North and before you can come at them you must pass over very high and cragged Mountains 'T is a good Country where are all things necessary for the support of humane life except Rice which is a great inconvenience to the Inhabitants who being all Idolaters are depriv'd thereby of their chiefest delicacies in regard they feed upon nothing so heartily as upon Rice They have excellent Corn and Grapes but they make on Wine though they make some Aqua Vitae They want neither Oxen nor Cows but their Horses are little weak and ill-shap'd All the Trade which these people have with their Neighbours is in Copper whereof they have two extraordinary Mines from whence they furnish the greatest part of the Mogul's Territories out of which they have Salt in Exchange not having any of their own This Salt costs them dear in regard it is four months travel to the place where they fetch it that is to say from the Territories of Maton-cha to the Indian Coast towards Bacaim They travel upon Oxen and the same Oxen carry their Copper There must be also some Mines of Lapis-Lazuli and Garnets in that Country in regard they bring several from thence Fig. 1 and 2. is the Money of Maton-cha Fig. 1. is the Silver-Money which weighs not above one dram and 19 grains and is of the same goodness as the Roupy The half-Roupy goes for 15 Sous and this for 16 Sous which is six and a half per Cent. more But certain it is that the more Northward you travel that way Gold and Silver is more scarce Fig. 2. These pieces of Copper go for the value of a Pecha of the Great Mogul they are heavier by half but the Copper is not so good as that of Pegu or Japan Fig. 3 and 4. is the Money of the Raja of Parta Jajoumola The Raja of Parta Jajoumola is one of the great Raja's on the other side of the Ganges His Territories are directly North of Patna night to the great Mogul's to whom he is Tributary and bordering upon the King of Bantam He is bound every year to send an Embassador with twenty Elephants to the Governour of Patna who sends them to the Great Mogul The greatest part of his revenue consists in Elephants Musk and Rhubarb He lays also a great Imposition upon Salt as well that which is spent by his own Subjects as upon that which is carried abroad This is all Sea-coast Salt which comes from the Territories of the Great Mogul and is brought from the Sea-coast to Ganges and so over Ganges is carried as far as the fiftieth and five and fiftieth Degree They lade above 150000 Oxen and for every burthen they
much the rather because they do not run so much hazard as at the Custom-houses of Europe For in the Indian Custom-houses if a man be caught in the fraud he is quitted by paying double ten in the hundred instead of five The King comparing the venture of the Merchant to a game at Hazard where he plays quit or double The King had granted to the English Captains that they should not be search'd when they came a-shore But one day one of the English Captains going to Tata one of the greatest Cities in India a little above the Mouth of the River Indou as he was going to pass the River he was stopp'd by the Officers of the Custom-house who search'd and rifl'd him what-ever he could alledg to the contrary They found Gold about him of which he had already carried off several quantities at several times that he had gone from his Ship to the City but they quitted him upon paying the usual Custom The English-man vex'd at such an affront resolv'd to revenge himself which he did after a very pleasant manner He caus'd a sucking-pig to be roasted and putting it together with the dripping and sawce in a China-platter covered with a linnen-cloath he gave it a Slave to bring along after him to the City imagining what would fall out As it pass'd before the Custom-house while the Governors or the Cha-bander and the Mint-Master were sitting in the Divan they fail'd not to stop him and as the Slave went forward with the Plate cover'd they told his Master that he must come into the Custom-house and that they must see what he carried The more the English-man cry'd that the Slave carried nothing that paid any duties the less he was believ'd so that after a long debate he took the Plate from his Slave and carried it himself into the Divan the Governour and the Cha-bander gravely ask'd him why he would not be obedient to the Laws Upon which the English-man replying in a great heat that he carried nothing which paid any duty threw the Pigg among them with such a fury that the Sawce and Pigg flew all upon their Garments Now in regard that Swines-flesh is an abomination to the Mahometans who believe every thing defil'd that touches it they were forc'd to change their Clothes take down the Tapestry of the Divan to pull down the Divan it self and build another not daring to say any thing to the English-man for the Cha-bander and Mint-master are very observant to the Company by whom they reap a great deal of profit As for what concerns the Heads of the Companies as well English as Dutch and their Associates they have so great a respect for them that they never search them at all when they come a-shore though they will not stick to conceal their Gold like particular Merchants and to carry it about them The Trade of Tata formerly very great begins now to decay because the Mouth of the Rivers grows more dangerous and full of shallows every day more than other the Sand-hills having almost choak'd it up The English finding they had learn'd the trick of rifling their Clothes studi'd out other little ways and contrivances to conceal their Gold And the fashion of wearing Perriwigs being newly come out of Europe they hid their Jacobus's Rose-Nobles and Ducats in the net of their Perriwigs every time they came a-shore There was a Merchant that had a mind to convey some boxes of Coral into Suratt without the knowledg of the Customers He swam then into the Town some days before the Ship was unladed when it might be done securely before the Customers had any suspition of any thing But the Merchant repented him afterwards the Commodity being spol'd For the water of Suratt River being always thick and muddy there clung to the Coral which had lain a long time in the water a slime like a white crust or skin which was difficult to be got off so that after the Coral was polish'd he lost by it above twelve per Cent. I come now to the Money which goes for currant through the whole extent of the Great Mogul's Dominions and to all the sorts of Gold and Silver which is carri'd thither in Ingots to make profit thereof In the first place you must observe that it is very profitable to buy Gold and Silver which has been wrought to melt it into Ingots and to refine it to the highest purity For being refin'd you pay not for the portage of the Alloy which was mix'd with it before And carrying the Gold and Silver in wedges you pay neither to the Prince nor to the Mint what they exact for Coinage If you carry coin'd Gold the best pieces are Jacobus's Rose-Nobles Albertus's and other ancient Pieces as well of Portugal as of other Countreys and all sorts of Gold that have been coin'd in former Ages For by all those old Pieces the Merchant is sure to gain You may also reckon for good Gold and which is proper to be carri'd thither all the Ducats of Germany as well those coin'd by the several Princes as by the Imperial Towns together with the Ducats of Poland Hungary Swedeland and Danemark and indeed all sorts of Ducats are taken to be of the same goodness The Venetian Ducats of Gold formerly pass'd for the best and were worth four or five of our Sous more than any others but about a dozen years ago they seem to have been alter'd not going now for any more than the rest There are also Ducats which the Grand Seignior coins at Cairo and those of Sally and Morocco But these three sorts are not so good as the others and are not worth so much as they by four Sous of our Money Over all the Empire of the Great Mogul all the Gold and Silver is weigh'd with weights which they call Tolla which weigh nine Deneers and eight grains of our weights When they have any quantity of Gold and Silver to sell the Indians use yellow Copper-weights with the King's mark to avoid cousenage And with these weights they weigh all the Gold and Silver at once provided it amount not to above a hunder'd Tolla's For the Changers have no other weights but from one Tolla to a hunder'd and a hunder'd Tolla's come to 38 Ounces 21 Deneers and 8 Grains As for the Gold and Silver which is not coin'd if there be much they essay it and having put it to the touch they bid to the utmost value to out-vye one another In regard there are some Merchants that have above forty or fifty thousand Ducats at a time the Indians weigh them with a weight which is just the weight of a hunder'd Ducats which is also mark'd with the Kings Mark and if the hundred Ducats weigh less than the weights they put in so many little stones till the Scales are even and after all is weigh'd they make good to the Changer the weight of those little stones But before they weigh these Gold-Coins whether they
is very little among them If you receive one false Roupie in a Bagg from any particular person 't is better to cut it to pieces and lose it than to speak of it for if it should come to be known there might be danger in it For you are commanded by the King's Law to return the Bagg where you received it and to return it from one to another till you can find out the Counterfeiter who if he be apprehended is only sentenc'd to lose his hand If the Counterfeiter cannot be found and that it be thought that he who paid the Money is not guilty he is acquitted upon some small amercement This brings great profit to the Changers For when there is any Summ of Money received or paid the Merchants cause him to look it over and for their pains they have one sixteenth of a Roupie in the hundred As for the Money which is paid out of the Sarquet or King's Exchequer there is never any found that is counterfeit For all the Money that is carried in thither is exactly view'd by the King's Bankers The Great Lords have also their particular Bankers Before they put up the Money into the Treasury they throw it into a great Charcoal-fire and when the Roupies are red-hot they quench the fire by throwing water upon it and then take out the Money If there be any Piece that is white or that has the least mark of Alloy it is presently cut in pieces As often as these Roupies are carried into the Treasury they mark the Pieces with a Puncheon which makes an hole but not quite through and there are some Pieces that have seven or eight holes made in that manner to shew that they have been so many times in the Exchequer They are all put a thousand Pieces together in a bagg seal'd with the Seal of the great Treasurer and the number of years superscrib'd since they were coin'd And here you are to take notice whence the Treasurers profit arises as well that of the King's Treasurer as that of the particular Treasurers of the Great Lords of the Kingdom When there is any bargain made they agree for new Roupies coin'd the same year but when they come to receive the payment the Treasurers will make it in old Roupies wherein there is a loss of six per Cent. So that if they will have new Silver the Merchants must compound with the Treasurer In my fift Voyage I went to visit Cha-Est-Kan according to my promise to let him have the first sight of what I brought along with me So that as soon as I arrived at Suratt I sent him word and received his Orders to meet him at Choupart a City in the Province of Decan to which he had laid Siege Coming to him in a little time and a few words I sold him the greatest part of what I had brought along with me out of Europe And he told me that he expected every day that Money should be sent him from Suratt to pay the Army and to pay me also at the same time for what he had bought of me I could not imagin however that so great a Prince as he that commanded so great an Army had not store of Money by him but rather conjectur'd that he had an intention to make me some abatement upon those Pieces which he would put upon me in payment as he had serv'd me before It fell out as I faresaw But for Provisions for my self my Men and my Horses he took such order that there was great plenty brought me night and morning and for the most part he sent for me my self to his own Table Ten or twelve days thus past away and not a word of the Money that I expected So that being resolv'd to take my leave of him I went to his Tent. He appeared to be somewhat surpriz'd and looking upon me with a frowning-brow wherefore will you be gone said he before you are paid or who d' you think shall pay you afterwards if you go away before you receive your Money Upon these words with a countenance as stern as his my King replied I will see me paid For his goodness is such that he causes all his Subjects to be paid that have not received satisfaction for such Goods as they sell in forreign Countries And what course will he take answer'd he in a great choler with two or three stout Men of War said I which he will send either to the Port of Suratt or toward the Coasts to wait for the Ships that come from Mocca He seemed to be netled at that reply but not daring to give any more way to his choler he ordered his Treasurer immediately to give me a Letter of Exchange to Aurengabad I was the more glad of that because it was a place through which I was to pass in my way to Golcanda besides that it would spare me the carriage and the hazards of my Money The next day I had my Bill of Exchange and took leave of the Prince who was nothing displeased but told me that if I return'd to the Indies I should not fail to come and see him which I did in my sixt and last Voyage When I came to Suratt he was at Bengala where I sold him all the rest of my Goods that I could not put off either to the King of Persia or the Great Mogul But to return to the payment of my Money I was no sooner arrived at Aurenggabat but I went to find the great Treasurer who no sooner saw me but he told me he knew wherefore I came that he had received Letters of advice three days before and that he had already taken the Money out of the Treasury to pay me When he had brought me all the Baggs I caused my Banker to open them who saw them to be Roupies by which I was to lose two in the hundred Upon that I thank'd the Treasurer very heartily telling him I understood no such dealing and that I would send and complain of him to Cha-Est-Kam and declare to him that he should either give order that I should be paid in new Silver or else let me have my Goods again which I presently did But not receiving an answer so soon as I knew I might have done I went to the Treasurer and told him I would go my self and fetch away my Goods I believe he had received order what to do for seeing I was resolved to go he told me he was very unwilling I should put my self to so much trouble and that it would be better for us to agree among our selves After many contests about the two in the hundred which he would have made me lose I was contented to abate one and had lost the other had I not happily met with a Banker who wanted Silver and had a Bill of Exchange to pay at Golconda so that he was glad to make use of mine and gave me a Bill to be paid at Golconda being my full Summ
at fifteen days fight The Changers to try their Silver make use of thirteen little pieces one half Copper and the other Silver which are their Sayes The manner how their thirteen Say-pieces are fil'd the upper-half being Copper and the lowerhalf Silver These thirteen pieces differing all in goodness they never make use of them but when any question arises concerning a small quantity of Silver or of any wrought Silver For they refine all their great quantities All that kind of Silver is bought by the weight which they call Tolla which weighs nine Deneers and eight Grains or 32 Val's 81 Val's making an Ounce So that an hundred Tolla's make 38 Ounces 21 Deneers and 8 Grains See here the differences of the thirteen Goodnesses of Silver THE first which is the lowest in goodness they take at fifteen Pecha's to the Tolla which makes of our Money nine Sous two Deneers The second at eighteen Pecha's which make ten Sous two Deneers The third at ten Pecha's which make twelve Sous six Deneers The fourth at thirteen Pecha's which make fourteen Sous six Deneers The fift at sixteen Pecha's which make fifteen Sous ten Deneers The sixt at nineteen Pecha's which make seventeen Sous six Deneers The seventh at thirty-three Pecha's which make nineteen Sous two Deneers The eighth at thirty-five Pecha's which make twenty Sous ten Deneers The ninth at thirty-eight Pecha's which make twenty-two Sous six Deneers The tenth at forty Pecha's which make twenty-four Sous two Deneers The eleventh at forty-three Pecha's which make twenty-five Sous ten Deneers The twelfth at forty-six Pecha's which make twenty-seven Sous six Deneers The thirteenth at forty-nine Pecha's which make nineteen Sous two Deneers Here it will not be amiss to give you an hint how far the cunning extends not only of the Cheraffs or Changers but of all the Indians in general and it shall suffice to give you one example which is very particular and of which our Europeans make no account Which is this that of all the Gold which remains upon the stone upon which they make the Essay and of which we make no reckoning they are so far from losing the least atome of that small matter that they fetch it all off by means of a Ball made half of Black-pitch and half of Soft-wax with which they rub the stone that carries the Gold at the end of some years the Ball will shine and then they get our all the Gold that sticks to it This Ball is about the bigness of one of our Tennis-Balls and the Stone is such a one as our Goldsmiths generally use Thus much of the Custom-houses and Money currant among the Indians It remains to speak of their manner of Exchange As all the Goods which are made in the Empire of the Great Mogull and some part of the Kingdoms of Golconda and Visapour are brought to Suratt to be transported into several parts of Asia and Europe the Merchants when they go from Surat to buy Commodities in the several Cities where they are made as at Lahor Agra Amadabat Seronge Brampour Daca Patna Banarou Golconda Decan Visapour and Dult ab at take up Money at Surat and are discharg'd at the places where they go by giving kind for kind But when it happens that the Merchant is short of Money in those places and that there is a necessity for him to take up Money to compleat his Markets he must then return it at Suratt within two Months paying monthly for the Change From Lahor to Suratt the Exchange goes at six and a quarter per Cent. From Amadabat from one to one and an half From Seronga at three From Brampour from two and an half to three From Daca at ten From Banarou at six From the three last places they make their Bills of Exchange only to Agra and at Agra they make others for Suratt the whole at the same price as I have set down From Golconda from four to five And for Goa the same From Decan at three From Visapour at three From Dultabat from one to one and an half Some years the Exchange rises from one to two per Cent. by reason of certain Raja's or petty Vassal Princes that disturb Trade every one pretending that the Merchandizes ought to pass through his Countrey and pay Toll There are two particularly between Agra and Amadabatt the one called the Raja of Antivar and the other the Raja of Bergam who very much molest the Merchants for this very cause But you may avoid passing through the Territories of these Princes taking another road from Agra to Suratt thorough Seronge and Brampour But they are fertil Lands divided with several Rivers without Bridges or Boats and it is impossible to go that way till two months after the rains are fallen Which is the reason that those Merchants who must be at Suratt when the season permits them to take the Sea are forc'd to pass through the Territories of these two Raja's because they can pass that way at all times even in the time that the rains fall which only knit and harden the Sand. Nor are you to wonder that the Exchange runs so high for they that trust out their Money run the hazard by obligation of losing their Money if the Merchants should be robb'd When you come to Suratt to Embarque there is Money enough For it is the greatest Trade of the Grandees of the Indies to venture their Money by Sea from thence for Ormus Balsara and Mocca nay even as far as Bantam Achen and the Philippine Islands For Mocca and Balsara the change runs from 22 to 24 per Cent. And to Ormus from 16 to 20. And to the other places which I have named the change runs proportionable to the distance I have but one word to say of their Weights and Measures I have given you in the Margin the fift part of an Ell of Agra and the fourth part of an Ell of Amadabat and Suratt As for their Weights the Men is generally 69 Pound and the Pound 16 Ounces But the Men which they weigh their Indico withal is but 53 Pound At Suratt they talk of a Serre which is one and three fourths of a Pound and the Pound is 16 Ounces CHAP. III. Of their Carriages and the manner of Travelling in India BEfore we set forward upon the road it will be convenient to speak of their Carriages and the manner of travelling in India which in my opinion is more commodious than any thing that has been invented for ease in France or Italy Quite otherwise it is in Persia where they neither make use of Asses Mules or Horses but transport all their Wares to the Indies upon Oxen or in Wains their Countreys being so near to one another If any Merchant carries an Horse out of Persia 't is only for shew or to walk in his hand or to sell to some Indian Prince They will lay upon an Oxes back 300 or 350 pound weight And it is
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
the attempt which is accounted among them a most abominable sacriledg seiz'd upon the Merchant and all his Money to the value of 300000. Roupies and tying him to a Tree whipt him in so terrible a manner for three days together that the man dy'd From Cambaya you go to a little Village distant some three Costes where there is a Pagod to which all the Indian Curtisans come to make their Offerings This Pagod is full of a great number of naked Images among the rest there is a large Figure of one that seems to resemble Apollo with his privy parts all uncover'd When the old Curtisans have got together a good sum of Money in their youth they buy young Slaves whom they teach to Daunce and sing wanton Songs and instruct in all the mysteries of their infamous Art And when these young Girls are eleven or twelve years old their Mistresses send them to this Pagod believing it will bring them good fortune to offer and surrender up themselves to this Idol From this Pagod to Chiidabad you have six Costes This is one of the fairest Houses of the great Mogul with a wide Enclosure wherein he has vast Gardens and large Ponds with all the pleasures and curiosity whereof the Genius of the Indians is capable From Chiidabad to Amadabad you have but five Costes and so I return to Baroche and the common Road. From Baroche to Broudra Costes 22 Broudra is a great City standing in a fertil Soil wherein there is a vast Trade for Calicuts From Broudra to Neriade costes 18 From Neriade to Amadabat costes 20 Amadabat is one of the greatest Cities in India and where there is a mighty Trade for Silk-Stuffs Hangings of Gold and Silver and others mix'd with Silk for Saltpeter Sugar Ginger candid and raw Tamarins Mirobolans and flat Indigo which is made at a great Town not far from Amadabat called Sarquess There was in that place a Pagod which the Mahumetan's have pull'd down and built a Mosquee in the place Before you enter into it you must cross three large Courts pav'd with Marble and encompast with Galleries nor must you enter into the third Court till you have pull'd off your shooes The inside of the Mosquee is adorn'd with Mosaic-work the greatest part whereof is of Agats of divers colours which they fetch from the Mountains of Cambaya not above two days journey off There are several Sepulchres of the ancient Idolatrous Kings that look like little Chappels of Mosaic-work built upon a Vaut that is under the Sepulchre There runs a River from Amadabat toward the North-west which during the rainy-seasons that continue three or four Months together is very wide and rapid and does much mischief every year It is so with all the other Rivers in India and after the rains are fallen you must stay six weeks or two months before you can ford Amadabat-River where there is no Bridg. There are two or three Boats but they are of no use when the stream is so swift so that you must stay till the waters are fall'n But the people of the Countrey will not stay so long for to cross from one River to another they only make use of Goat-skins which they blow up and fill with wind and then tye them between their stomacks and their bellies Thus the poor men and women swim cross this River and when they would carry their children along with them they put them in certain round pots of Earth the mouth whereof is four-fingers wide and drive the Pots before them This puts me in mind of a Passage when I was at Amadabat in the year 1642 which is too remarkable to be omitted A Countrey-man and a Countrey-woman one day past the River as I have related and having a child about two years old they put it into one of these Pots so that there was nothing but the head appear'd Being about the middle of the River they met with a little bank of Sand where there lay an huge Tree which the stream had carri'd thither whereupon the Father shov'd the Pot toward that part to rest himself a-while When he came near the Tree the trunk whereof lay somewhat above the water a Serpent leapt out from among the roots into the Pot where the Infant was The Father and the Mother frighted at the accident and having almost lost their senses let the Pot go a-drift where the stream carri'd it and lay almost dead themselves at the bottom of the Tree About two leagues lower a Banian and his Wife with a little Infant were washing themselves in the River before they went to eat They descry'd the Pot a-far-off with the half of the Infant's-head that appear'd above the hole The Banian immediately swims to the relief of the child and having stopp'd the Pot drives it to the shoar The Mother follow'd by her own comes presently to take the other child out of the Pot at what time the Serpent that had done no harm to the other child shoots out of the Pot and winding about hers stings it and infuses its venom into the Insant so that it dy'd immediately However the accident being so extraordinary did not trouble those poor people who rather believ'd it to have happen'd by the secret disposal of their Deity who had taken from them one child to give them another for it with which opinion they presently comforted themselves Some time after the report of this accident coming to the ears of the first Countrey-man he comes to the Banian to tell him how the mischance had happen'd and to demand his child of him the other Indian affirming that the child was his and that his God had sent it him in the place of that which was dead To be short the business made so loud a noise that it was at length brought before the King who order'd that the child should be restor'd to the Father At the same time there happen'd another very pleasant accident in the same City of Amadabat The Wife of a rich Merchant Banian nam'd Saintidas never having had a child and manifesting her eager desire to have one a servant of the House took her a-side one day and told her that if she would but eat that which he would give her she should be with child The woman desirous to know what she was to eat the servant told her it was a little fish and that she should eat but three or four Now the Religion of the Banians forbidding them to eat any thing that has life she could not resolve at first to yield to his proposal but the servant having promised her that he would so order the matter that she should not know whether it were fish or no that she eat she resolv'd to try his receit and went the next night to lie with her Husband according to the instruction which she had received from the servant Some time after the woman perceiving that she was big her Husband happen'd to die and the kindred
I made five journeys more in my Travels in the year 1653. And I also took another Road from Piplenar where I arriv'd the eleventh of March setting out from Surat the sixth The twelfth to Birgam The thirteenth to Omberat The fourteenth to Enneque-Tenque a strong Fortress that bears the name of two Indian Princesses It stands upon a Mountain steep every way there being but one ascent to it upon the East-side Within the enclosed compass of the Walls there is a large Pond and Ground enough to sow for the maintenance of five or six-hunder'd men But the King keeps no Garrison therein so that it falls to ruine The fifteenth to Geroul The sixteenth to Lazour where you are to cross a River upon which about a Cannons-shot from the fording place are to be seen several large Pagods of the Countrey whither great numbers of Pilgrims repair every day The seventeenth to Aureng-abad The eighteenth to Pipelgan or Piply The nineteenth to Ember The Twentieth to Devgan The one and twentieth to Patris The two and twentieth to Bargan The three and twentieth to Palam The four and twentieth to Candear a large Fortress but upon one side commanded by an high Mountain The five and twentieth to Gargan The six and twentieth to Nagooni The seven and twentieth to Indove The eight and twentieth to Indelvai The nine and twentieth to Regivali Between these two last places there is a little River which separates the Territories of the Great Mogul from the Dominions of the King of Golconda The thirtieth to Masapkipet The one and thirtietieth to Mirel-mola-kipet To go from Agra to Golconda you must go to Brampour according to the Road already describ'd from Brampour to Dultabat which is five or six days journeys off and from Dultabat to those other places before set down You may also take another Road to go from Surat to Golconda that is to say through Goa and Visapour as I shall inform you in the particular relation of my journey to Goa I come now to what is most worthy observation in the Kingdom of Golconda And to relate what happen'd in the last Wars the King maintain'd against his Neighbours during the time that I have known the Indies CHAP. X. Of the Kingdom of Golconda and the Wars which it has maintain'd for some few years last past THE whole Kingdom of Golconda take it in general is a good Countrey abounding in Corn Rice Cattel Sheep Poultry and other necessaries for human life In regard there are great store of Lakes in it there is also great store of Fish Above all the rest there is a sort of Smelt that has but one bone in the middle which is most delicious food Nature has contributed more than Art toward the making these Lakes whereof the Countrey is full which are generally in places somewhat rais'd so that you need do no more than make a little Dam upon the plain-side to keep in the water These Dams or Banks are sometimes half a league long and after the rainy seasons are over they open the Sluces from time to time to let out the water into the adjacent Fields where it is receiv'd by divers little Channels to water particular grounds Bagnagar is the name of the Metropolis of this Kingdom but vulgarly it is call'd Golconda from the name of a Fortress not above two leagues distant from it where the King keeps his Court. This Fortress is about two leagues in circuit and by consequence requires a numerous Guard It is as it were a Town where the King keeps his Treasure having left Bagnagar ever since it was sack'd by the Army which Aureng-zeb brought against it Bagnagar is then the City which they vulgarly call Golconda and it was founded by the Great Grandfather of the present King upon the importunity of one of his Wives whom he passionately lov'd whose name was Nagar Before that it was only a place of Pleasure where the King had very fair Gardens till at length his Wife continually representing to him the delicacies of the situation for the building a City and a Palace by reason of the River he laid the foundations and order'd that it should bear the name of his Wife calling it Bag-Nagar that is to say the Garden of Nagar This City lies in seventeen degrees of Elevation wanting two minutes The Countrey round about is a flat Countrey only neer the City are several Rocks as you see about Fontain-Bleau A great River washes the Walls of the City upon the South-west-side which neer to Maslipatan falls into the Gulf of Bengala At Bagnagar you cross this River over a Bridg no less beautiful than Pont-Neus at Paris The City is little less than Orleans well-built and full of windows There are many fair large Streets but not being well-pav'd they are dusty as are all the Cities of Persia and India which is very offensive in the Summer Before you come to the Bridg you must pass through a large Suburb call'd Erengabad about a league in length where live all the Merchants the Brokers Handicraft-Trades and in general all the meaner sort of people the City being inhabited only by persons of Quality Officers of the King's House Ministers of Justice and Officers of the Army From ten or eleven in the forenoon till four or five in the evening the Merchants Brokers and Workmen come into the City to trade with the Forreign Merchants after which time they return to their own Houses In the Suburb are two or three fair Mosquees which serve for Inns for the Forreigners besides several Pagods in the Neighbouring-parts Through the same Suburb lies the way to the Fortress of Golconda So soon as you are over the Bridg you enter into a large Street that leads you to the King's Palace On the right-hand are the Houses of some Lords of the Court and four or five Inns two Stories-high wherein there are fair Halls and large Chambers to let in the fresh Air. At the end of this Street there is a large Piazza upon which stands one of the sides of the Palace in the middle whereof there is a Balcone wherein the King comes to sit when he pleases to give Audience to the People The great Gate of the Palace stands not upon this Piazza but upon another very neer adjoyning and you enter first into a large Court surrounded with Portico's under which lies the King's Guards Out of this Court you pass into another built after the same form encompast with several fair Apartments the Roofs whereof are terrass'd Upon which as upon those where the Elephants are kept there are very fair Gardens wherein there grow Trees of that bigness that it is a thing of great wonder how those Arches should bear so vast a burthen About fifty years since they began to build a magnificent Pagod in the City which would have been the fairest in all India had it been finish'd The Stones are to be admir'd for their bigness And that
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
you put them to which is the reason that the Portugals keep them so low The natural Inhabitants of the Country about Goa are Idolaters and worship several sorts of Idols which they say are the Resemblance of several that have done good works to whom they ought to give praise by adoring their Portraitures There are many of these Idolaters who worship Apes And therefore in the Island of Salsete there was a Pagod where the Idolaters kept in a Chest like a Tomb the Bones and Nails of an Ape which they said had been mighty serviceable to their Ancestors by bringing news and intelligence to them when any hostile Princes prosecuted them for which purpose they would sometimes swim through the very Sea it self The Indians come from several parts in procession and make Offerings to this Pagod But the Clergy of Goa especially the Inquisitors caus'd the Tomb one day to be taken away and brought it to Goa where it remain'd a good while by reason of the difference which it made between the Ecclesiasticks and the people For the Idolaters offering a great sum of Money to have their Reliques again the people were willing to have restor'd them saying that the Money would do well upon any occasion of War or else to relieve the poor But the Clergy were of a contrary opinion and maintain'd that such a piece of Idolatry was not to be endur'd upon any account whatsoever At length the Arch-Bishop and the Inquisitors by their own Authority took away the Tomb and sending it in a Vessel twenty Leagues out to Sea caus'd it to be thrown to the bottom of the Ocean They thought to have burn'd it but the Idolaters would have rak'd up the Ashes again which would have been but a new food to their Superstition There are in Goa abundance of Clergy-men for besides the Arch-Bishop and his Clergy there are Dominicans Austin-Fryars Franciscans Barefoot Carmelites Jesuits and Capuchins with two Religious Houses whereof the Austin-Fryars are Directors or Governours The Religious Carmelites that came last are the best seated for though they are somewhat at a distance from the heart of the City yet they have the advantage of a fine Air and the most healthy scituation in all Goa It stands upon a rising ground free to the refreshment of the Wind and it is very well built with two Galleries one over the other The Austin-Fryars who were the first that came to Goa were indifferently well seated at the foot of a little rising ground their Church also standing upon a rising ground with a fair Piazza before it but when they had built their Habitation the Jesuits desir'd them to sell that rising ground which was then a void place under pretence of making a Garden in it for the recreation of their Scholars But after they had purchas'd it they built a most stately College upon the same ground which quite stops and choaks up the Austin-Fryars Covent so that they have no Air at all There happen'd several Contests about this business but at length the Jesuits got the better The Jesuites at Goa are known by the name of Paulists by reason that their great Church is dedicated to St. Paul Nor do they wear Hats or Corner-Caps as in Europe but only a certain Bonnet resembling the Skull of a Hat without the Brims somewhat like the Bonnets which the Grand Segnors Slaves wear of which I have given you a description in my relation of the Seraglio They have five Houses in Goa the College of St. Paul the Seminary the Professors House the Noviciate and the Good Jesus The paintings in this House are admirable pieces of Workmanship In the year 1663 the College was burnt by an accident which happen'd in the night so that it cost them near sixty thousand Crowns to rebuild it The Hospital of Goa was formerly the most famous in all India For in regard the Revenues thereof were very great the sick persons were very carefully look'd after But since the change of the Governours there is but very bad accommodation and several of the Europeans that have been put in have never come forth again but in their Coffins However they have lately found out a way to save some by frequent Bloodletting They let Blood sometimes as occasion requires thirty or forty times even as often as any ill-blood comes forth as they did by me one time that I was at Surat Butter and flesh is very dangerous to them that are sick and many times costs them their lives Formerly they made several sorts of well-tasted diet for those that recoverd Now they serve the Patient only with young Beef-broth and a dish of Rice Usually the poorer sort that recover their health complain of drowth and call for water But they that look after them being only Blacks or Mongrels a sort of covetous and pittiless people will not give them a drop unless they put Money in their hands and to colour their wickedness they give it them by stealth pretending what they do to be against the Physitian 's order As for Sweet-meats and Preserves there is no want of them but they are not a diet which contributes overmuch to the restoring of decaid strength especially in those hot Countreys where the body requires rather cooling and refreshing nourishment I have forgot one thing in reference to their more frequent blood-lettings than among us Europeans Which is that to bring their colour again and to restore them to perfect health they order the Patient to drink for twelve days together three glasses of Cow's Urine one in the morning another at noon and another at night But in regard it is a very nauseous sort of drink the Patient swallows as little as he can how desirous soever he may be of his health They learnt this remedy from the Idolaters of the Countrey and whether the Patient will take it or no they never let him stir out of the Hospital till the twelve days are expir'd wherein he ought to drink it CHAP. XIV What the Author did during his stay at Goa the last time he went thither in the year 1648. TWO days before I departed from Mingrela for Goa I wrote to Monsieur St. Amant who was Engineer to send me a Man of War for fear of the Malvares which are upon the Coast which he immediately did I parted from Mingrela the 20 th of January 1648 and arriv'd at Goa the 25 th And in regard it was late I staid till the next morning before I went to visit the Vice-Roy Don Philip de Mascaregnas who had formerly been Governor of Ceylan He made me very welcome and during the two months that I tarri'd at Goa he sent to me a Gentleman five or six times who brought me still to the Powder-House which was without the City where he often us'd to be For he took great delight in levelling Guns wherein he ask'd my advice esteeming very much a Pistol very curiously and richly inlaid which I
to Asouf-Kan his Generalissimo and prime Minister of State who was Protector of the Empire He commanded also all the Officers of the Army to acknowledg him for King as being the lawful Heir declaring Sultan Komrom a Rebel and incapable of the Succession Moreover he made Asouf-Kan to swear in particular that he would never suffer Boulaki to be put to death which way soever affairs went which Asouf-Kan sware upon his Thigh and as religiously observ'd as to the Article of not putting him to death but not as to that of helping him to the Crown which he design'd for Cha-jehan who had married his eldest Daughter the Mother of four Princes and two Princesses The news of the Kings death being known at Court caus'd a general lamentation And presently all the Grandees of the Kingdom set themselves to execute the Kings Will and Testament acknowledging Sultan Boulaki for Emperor who was very young That Prince had two Cousin-Germans who were both of them by the Kings consent turn'd Christians and made publick profession thereof Those two young Princes being very apprehensive perceiv'd that Asouf-Kan Father-in-Law to Cha-jehan and Father of Cha-Est-Kan had no good intentions toward the young King and gave him notice of it which cost them their lives and the King the loss of his Dominions For the young King having no more with than was agreeable to his age openly declar'd to Asouf-Kan what his Cousins had reveal'd to him in private and ask'd the General whether it were true that he had a design to set up his Uncle against him or no. Asuof-Kan immediately accus'd the Reporters of salsity and impudence and protested his fidelity to his King and vow'd to spend the last drop of his blood to preserve him in the possession of the Empire However seeing his Conspiracy discover'd he resolv'd to prevent the punishment to which end having got the two Princes into his possession he put them both to death But before that in regard of his power in the Army and in the Empire he had already brought over to Cha-jehans party the greatest part of the Commanders and Lords of the Court and the better to play his game and deceive the young King he rais'd a report that Cha-jehan was dead and because he had desir'd to be buried near his Father Gehan-guir the body was to be brought to Agra This Stratagem being cunningly manag'd Asouf-Kan himself gave advice of the feign'd death to the King telling the King withall that it would be but a common civility for him to go and meet the Corps when it came within a League or two of the City being an Honour due to a Prince of the Blood of the Moguls All this while Cha-jehan kept himself incognito till coming within sight of the Army that lay about Agra he caus'd himself to be put into a Coffin wherein there was only a hole left for him to breath at This Coffin being carri'd under a moving Tent all the principal Officers who were of the plot with Asouf-Kan came to perform the usual Ceremonies of State to the body of the deceas'd Prince while the young King was upon the way to meet the body But then Asouf-Kan finding it seasonable to execute his design caus'd the Coffin to be open'd and Cha-jehan rising up and shewing himself to the eyes of all the Army was saluted Emperor by all the Generals and other principal Officers who had their Cue ready so that the name of Cha-jehan running in a moment from one mans mouth to another the Acclamation became publick and the Empire was setled upon him The young King hearing the news by the way was so surpriz'd that he thought of nothing but how to save himself by flight being upon a sudden forsaken by all his followers And Cha-jehan not believing it any way necessary to pursue him suffer'd him to wander a long time in India like a Fakir At length he retir'd into Persia where he was magnificently receiv'd by Cha-Sefi who allow'd him a pension fit for so great a Prince which he still enjoys Cha-jehan having thus usurp'd the Crown the better to secure himself and to stifle all Factions that might arise during the life of the lawful Prince whom he had so unjustly despoiled of his right by degrees put to death all those that had shew'n any kindness to his Nephew So that the first part of his Reign was noted for many acts of cruelty that blemish'd his reputation No less unfortunate was the end of his Reign For as he had unjustly depriv'd the lawful Heir of the Empire which belong'd to him he was himself while he yet liv'd depriv'd of his Crown by Aureng-zeb his own Son who kept him Prisoner in the Fortress of Agra For after Dara-Cha had lost the Battel against his two Brothers Aureng-zeb and Morat-Bakche in the Plain of Samonguir and was treacherously abandoned by the principal Officers of the Army he retir'd into the Kingdom of Lahor with all the Treasure which the confusion of his affairs would suffer him to get together In the King to resist the violence of his victorious Sons shut himself up in the Castle of Agra to the end he might not be surpriz'd but have time and leisure to observe how far the insolence of his children would transport them As for Aurengzeb who had Morat Bakche safe enough he enters Agra feigning to believe a report that Cha-jehan was dead that he might have liberty to get into the Fortress where he said one of the Omra's would make it out The more he reported the death of Cha-jehan the more did the King endeavour to let the people know he was alive But finding both Power and Fortune had taken Aureng-zeb's party and being also in great necessity for want of water he sent Fazel-Kan grand Master of his Houshold to assure his Son that he was alive and withal to tell him that it was the King's command that he should retire to his Vice-Roy-ship in Decan without putting him to any more vexation and that upon his obedience he would forgive whatever had past Aurengzeb firm in his resolution return'd for answer to Fazel-Kan that he was certain that the King his Father was dead and that upon that account he had only taken Arms to secure the Crown to himself which he thought he deserv'd as well as the rest of his Brothers That if his Father were living he had too great a respect for him to undertake the least enterprize that should displease him and therefore that he might be certain he was not dead he desir'd to see him and to kiss his feet and having so done he would retire to his Government and punctually obey his Commands Fazel-Kan return'd this answer to the King who declar'd that he should be glad to see his Son and sent back Fazel-Kan to tell him he should be welcome But Aureng-zeb more cunning than Cha-jehan assur'd Fazel-Kan that he would not set his foot in the Castle till the Garrison
for the stalk is worth nothing become like a kind of thick mud This being done they let it settle for some days and when the setling is all at the bottom and the water clear above they let out all the water When the water is all drain'd out they fill several baskets with this slime and in a plain Field you shall see several men at work every one at his own basket making up little pieces of Indigo flat at the bottom at the top sharp like an egg Though at Amadabat they make their pieces quite flat like a small cake Here you are to take particular notice that the Merchants because they would not pay custom for an unnecessary weight before they transport their Indigo out of Asia into Europe are very careful to cause it to be sifted to separate the dust from it which they sell afterwards to the Natives of the Countrey to dye their Calicuts They that sift this Indigo must be careful to keep a Linnen-cloath before their faces and that their nostrils be well-stopt leaving only two little holes for their eyes Besides they must every half hour be sure to drink milk which is a great preservative against the piercing quality of the dust Yet notwithstanding all this caution they that have sifted Indigo for nine or ten days shall spit nothing but blew for a good while together Once I laid an Egg in the morning among the sisters and when I came to break it in the evening it was all blew within As they take the Paste out of the Baskets with their Fingers dipt in Oil and make it into Lumps or Cakes they lay them in the Sun to dry Which is the reason that when the Merchants buy Indigo they burn some pieces of it to try whether there be any dust among it For the Natives who take the Paste out of the Baskets to make it into Lumps lay it in the Sand which mixes with the Paste and fouls it But when the Merchants burn it the Indigo turns to Ashes and the Sand remains The Governours do what they can to make the Natives leave their Knavery but notwithstanding all their care there will be some deceit Salt-Peter GReat store of Salt-Peter comes from Agra and Patna but the refin'd costs three times more than that which is not The Hollanders have set up a Ware-House fourteen Leagues above Patna and when their Salt-Peter is refind they transport it by Water by Ogueli A Mein of refin'd Salt-Peter is worth seven Mamoudi's Spice CArdamom Ginger Pepper Nutmegs Nutmeg-Flowers Cloves and Cinnamon are all the different sorts of Spices known to us I put Cardamom and Ginger in the first place because that Cardamom grows in the Territories of Visapour and Ginger in the Dominions of the Great Mogul And as for other Spices they are brought from other Foreign parts to Surat which is the grand Mart. Cardamom is the most excellent of all other Spices but it is very scarce and in regard there is no great store in the place where it grows it is only made use of in Asia at the Tables of great Princes Five hundred pound of Cardamoms are priz'd from a hundred to a hundred and ten Reals Ginger is brought in great quantities from Amadabat where there grows more than in any other part of Asia and it is hardly to be imagin'd how much there is transported candited into Foreign parts Pepper is of two sorts There is a sort which is very small another sort much bigger both which sorts are distinguish'd into small and great Pepper The larger sort comes from the Coast of Malavare and Tuticorin and Calicut are the Cities where it is brought up Some of this Pepper comes from the Territories of the King of Visapour being vended at Rejapour a little City in that Kingdom The Hollanders that purchase it of the Malavares do not give Money for it but several sorts of Commodities in Exchange as Cotton Opium Vermillion and Quicksilver and this is the Pepper which is brought into Europe As for the little Pepper that comes from Bantam Afchen and some other parts toward the East there is none of it carried out of Asia where it is spent in vast quantities especially among the Mahumetans For there are double the Grains of small Pepper in one pound to what there are of the great Pepper besides that the great Pepper is hotter in the mouth The little Pepper that comes to Surat has been sold some years for thirteen or fourteen Mamoudi's the Mein and so much I have seen the English give for it to transport it to Ormus Balsara and the Red Sea As for the great Pepper which the Hollanders fetch from the Coast of Malavare five hundred pound in truck brings them in not above thirty-eight Reals but by the Commodities which they give in Barter they gain Cent. per Cent. The Nutmeg the Nutmeg-Flow'r the Clove and Cinnamon are the only Spices which the Hollanders have in their own hands The three first come from the Molucca Islands the fourth which is Cinnamon from the Island of Ceylan 'T is observable of the Nutmeg that the Tree which bears it is never planted which has been confirm'd to me by several persons that have liv'd several years in the Country They related to me that the Nutmeg being ripe several Birds come from the Islands toward the South and devour it whole but are forc'd to throw it up again before it be digested The Nutmeg then besmear'd with a viscous matter falling to the ground takes root and produces a Tree which would never thrive were it planted This puts me in mind of making one observation upon the Birds of Paradise These Birds being very greedy after Nutmegs come in flights to gorge themselves with the pleasing Spice at the season like Felfares in Vintage time but the strength of the Nutmeg so intoxicates them that they fall dead drunk to the Earth where the Emets in a short time eat off their Legs Hence it comes that the Birds of Paradise are said to have no Feet which is not true however for I have seen three or four that had Feet and a French Merchant sent one from Aleppo as a Present to Lewis the Thirteenth that had Feet of which the King made great account as being a very lovely Fowl But notwithstanding all the Hollanders Projects you may buy Cloves at Macassar without purchasing them of the Hollander in regard the Islanders buy them of the Dutch Captains and Soldiers which the Hollanders have in those place where the Cloves grow giving them in exchange Rice and other necessaries for the support of life without which they would starve being very sadly provided for When the Natives of Macassar are thus furnish'd of Cloves they barter them in Exchange for such Commodies as are brought them sometimes they give Tortoise-Shells in exchange and Gold Dust by which the Merchant gains six or seven in the hundred being better than the Money of the Island
are no Gallies can reach them There are seven men and a boy to every Barque They never fish above forty miles from the Land where they think there are Rocks for fear of the Pyrats from which they make all the Sail they can when they see them and easily scape them through the nimbleness of their Vessels I have one observation to make concerning Coral in respect of the Eastern-people The Japonners make little account of Jewels or Pearls valuing nothing so much as a good grain of Coral wherewith they pull the string that shuts their Purses such as we had formerly in England So that they strive who shall have the fairest grain of Coral hanging at the end of the Silk-string that draws their Purses For this reason a piece of Coral as big as an egg fair and clean without any flaw will produce what any man will ask in reason for it The Portugueses have assur'd me they would sometimes give 20000 Crowns for such a piece And no wonder they will give so much Money for a piece of Coral who despising all other Jewels and Pearls care for nothing but that which is in no esteem any where else They set a great value upon the Skin of a certain Fish which is rougher than a Seal-skin Upon the back of the Fish there are six little holes and sometimes eight somewhat elevated with another in the middle in the form of a Rose They make Scabberds for Swords of the Skin and the more those holes grow in the form of a Rose the higher value they put upon them having giv'n ten-thousand Crowns for a Skin To conclude the discourse of Coral you must know that the meaner sort of people use it for Bracelets and Neck-laces all over Asia especially toward the Northern Territories of the Great Mogul and all along the Mountains as you go to the Kingdom of Asen and Boutan Yellow-Amber is only found upon the Coast of Prussia in the Baltick-Sea where the Sea throws it upon the Sand when such and such winds blow The Elector of Brandenburgh who is Sovereign of that Coast farms it out for 20000 Crowns a year and sometimes 22000. And the Farmers keep guards on both sides of the shoar in regard the Sea casts it up sometimes upon one side and sometimes upon the other to prevent the stealing of it Amber is nothing but a certain congelation made in the Sea like a certain Gum for you shall find in several pieces Flies Gnats and other insects congeal'd therein I saw seven or eight Flies so congeal'd in one peice In China when any great Lord makes a Feast it is for his Grandeur and Magnificence to cause three or four several sorts of Perfuming-pots to be set upon the Table and to throw into every one of them a vast quantity of Amber for the more it burns and the bigger the pieces are the more magnificent is the Entertainment accounted The reason of this custom is because they adore the fire and besides that the Amber casts forth a scent pleasing to the Chineses there is a kind of Oil in it that flames after a more unusual manner than other materials of fire This wast of Amber makes it the best Commodity that could be imported into China if the Trade were free for Strangers At present the Hollanders have engross'd all this Trade to themselves and the Chineses come all to Batavia to buy it As for Amber-grise there is no person in the World that knows either what it is or where or how it is produc'd But the fairest probability is that it must be only in the Eastern-Sea though some parcels have been found upon the Coast of England and in some other parts of Europe The greatest quantity is found upon the Coast of Melinda but more especially in t he mouth of a River call'd Rio de Sena The Governor of Mozambique gets in the three years of his Government above 300000 Pardo's of Amber-grise every Pardo containing 27 Sous of our Money Sometimes they meet with very large and very considerable pieces In the year 1627 a Portugal setting Sail from Goa to the Manilles after he had past the Streight of Malacca was by tempest driv'n near an unknown Island where they came to an Anchor Several of the Ship's-Company ventring a-shore met with a River and going to bath themselves in it one of them found a great piece of Amber-grise that weigh'd thirty-three pounds but falling together by the ears about their shares the Captain to reconcile them told them 't was pitty to deface it in regard it was a Present fit for the King and therefore advis'd them to present it to the Vice-Roy who would no doubt reward them for their pains By that means the Captain got the parcel out of their clutches and presenting it to the Vice-Roy got a reward for himself and the Party that found it but the rest had nothing at all In the year 1646 or 1647 a Middleburgher of good quality found a piece of forty-two pounds upon the Coast of the Island of St. Maurice where he commanded for the Holland-Company East of the Island of St. Lawrence and sent it to Batavia but there being a mark as if some piece of it were broken off the Zelander was accus'd to have taken half and turn'd out of his Command whatever he could say to justify himself The Best Which yeilds Musk CHAP. XXII Of Musk and Bezoar and some other Medicinal Stones THE best sort and the greatest quantity of Musk comes from the Kingdom of Boutan from whence they bring it to Patna the chief City of Bengala to truck it away for other Commodities All the Musk that is sold in Persia comes from thence And the Musk-Merchants had rather deal with you for Coral and Yellow-Amber than for Gold or Silver in regard the other is more in esteem among the Natives where they live I was so curious as to bring the Skin of one to Paris of which I caus'd the figure to be cut After they have kill'd the creature they cut off the bladder that grows under the belly as big as an egg neerer to the genital parts than to the navil Then they take out the Musk that is in the bladder which at that time looks like clottedblood When the Natives would adulterate their Musk they stuff the bladder with the liver and blood of the Animal slic'd together after they have taken out as much of the right Musk as they think convenient This mixture in two or three years time produces certain Animals in the bladder that eat the good Musk so that when you come to open it there is a great wast Others so soon as they have cut off the bladder and taken out as much of the Musk as that the deceit may not be too palpable fill up the Vessel with little stones to make it weight The Merchants are less displeas'd at this deceit than the former by reason that they do not find the Musk to
Seed can be gather'd but the mischief is that before the Seed is ripe the wind scatters the greatest part which makes it so scarce When they gather the Seed they take two little Hampers and as they go along the Fields they move their Hampers from the right to the left and from the left to the right as if they were mowing the Herb bowing it at the top and so all the Seed falls into the Hampers Rhubarb is a Root which they cut in pieces and stringing them by ten or twelve together hang them up a drying Had the Natives of Boutan as much art in killing the Martin as the Muscovite they might vend great store of those rich Furs considering what a number of those Beasts there are in that Countrey No sooner does that creature peep out of his hole but the Muscovites who lye upon the watch have e'm presently either in the nose or in the eyes for should they hit e'm in the body the blood would quite spoyl the skin The King of Boutan has constantly seven or eight thousand Men for his Guard Their Weapons are for the most part Bows and Arrows Some of them carry Battel-axes and Bucklers 'T is a long time ago since they had the first use of Muskets and Cannons their Gun-powder being long but of an extraordinary force They assur'd me that some of their Cannons had Letters and Figures upon them that were above five-hunder'd years old They dare not stir out of the Kingdom without the Governor 's particular leave nor dare they carry a Musket along with them unless their next Kindred will undertake for them that they shall bring it back Otherwise I had brought one along with me for by the characters upon the Barrel it appear'd to have been made above 180 years It was very thick the mouth of the bore being like a Tulip polish'd within as bright as a Looking-glass Two thirds of the Barrel were garnish'd with emboss'd Wires with certain Flowers of Gold and Silver inlaid between and it carri'd a Bullet that weigh'd an ounce But I could not prevail with the Merchant to sell it me nor to give me any of his powder There are always fifty Elephants kept about the King's House and twenty five Camels with each a Piece of Artillery mounted upon his back that carries half a pound Ball. Behind the Gun sits a Cannoneer that manages and levels the Guns as he pleases There is no King in the World more fear'd and more respected by his Subjects then the King of Boutan being in a manner ador'd by them When he sits to do Justice or give Audience all that appear in his presence hold their hands close together above their forheads and at a distance from the Throne prostrate themselves upon the ground not daring to lift up their heads In this humble posture they make their Petitions to the King and when they retire they go backwards till they are quite out of his sight One thing they told me for truth that when the King has done the deeds of nature they diligently preserve the ordore dry it and powder it like sneezing-powder and then putting it into Boxes they go every Market-day and present it to the chief Merchants and rich Farmers who recompence them for their kindness that those people also carry it home as a great rarity and when they feast their Friends strew it upon their meat Two Boutan Merchants shew'd me their Boxes and the Powder that was in them The Natives of Boutan are strong and well proportion'd but their noses and faces are somewhat flat Their women are said to be bigger and more vigorous than the men but that they are much more troubled with swellings in the throat then the men few escaping that disease They know not what war is having no enemy to fear but the Mogul But from him they are fenc'd with high steep craggy and snowey Mountains Northward there are nothing but vast Forrests and Snow East and West nothing but bitter water And as for the Raja's near them they are Princes of little force There is certainly some Silver Mine in the Kingdom of Boutan for the King coins much Silver in pieces that are of the value of a Roupy The pieces are already describ'd However the Boutan Merchants could not tell me where the Mine lay And as for their Gold that little they have is brought them from the East by the Merchants of those Countries In the year 1659 the Duke of Muscovy's Embassadors pass'd through this Country to the King of China They were three of the greatest Noblemen in Muscovy and were at first very well receiv'd but when they were brought to kiss the Kings hands the custom being to prostrate themselves three times to the ground they refus'd to do it saying that they would complement the King after their manner and as they approach'd their own Emperor who was as great and as potent as the Emperor of China Thereupon and for that they continu'd in their resolution they were dismiss'd with their presents not being admitted to see the King But had those Embassadors conform'd to the custom of China without doubt we might have had a beaten rode through Muscovy and the North part of Great Tartary and much more commerce and knowledge of the Country than now we have This mentioning the Muscovites puts me in mind of a story that several Muscovy Merchants averr'd to be true upon the rode between Tauris and Ispahan where I overtook them of a woman of fourscore and two years of age who at those years was brought to bed in one of the Cities of Muscovy of a Male Child which was carry'd to the Duke and by him brought up at the Court. CHAP. XVI Of the Kingdom of Tipra MOst people have been of opinion till now that the Kingdom of Pegu lies upon the Frontiers of China and I thought so my self till the Merchants of Tipra undeceiv'd me I met with three one at Daca and two others at Patna They were men of very few words whether it were their own particular disposition or the general habit of the Country They cast up their accounts with small Stones likes Agats as big as a mans nail upon every one of which was a Cypher They had every one their weights like a Stelleer though the Beam were not of Iron but of a certain Wood as hard as Brazile nor was the Ring that holds the weight and is put thorough the Beam to mark the weight of Iron but a strong Silk Rope And thus they weigh'd from a Dram to ten of our Pounds If all the Natives of the Kingdom of Tipra were like the two Merchants which I met at Patna I dare affirm them to be notable topers for they never refus'd whatever strong Liquor I gave them and never left till all was out and when I told them by my Interpreter that all my Wine was gone they clapt their hands upon their stomachs and sigh'd These Merchants travell'd
that Bassa be one of those who Commands in the greater Governments the Present which he sends to the Grand Seignor ought not to amount to less than Two hundred Purses that is to say a Hundred thousand Crowns not comprehending what is particularly given to the person who is sent by the Emperour The persons charg'd with this Commission are for the most part such as the The Ceremonies attending the Presents sent by the Grand Seignor to those whom he would honour Grand Seignor is willing to be Munificent to So that all things consider'd the Present is not so much design'd for him who receives it as for him who sends it and the person who carries it And in this consists the artifice of exercising great Liberalities without disbursing any thing The Ceremony perform'd at the delivery of this Present of the Grand Seignor is this He who carries it being come to the place where the Bassa lives to whom it is sent and having advertis'd him of it this latter with the noise of Drums Trumpets and Hawboys assembles the people together some of whom mount themselves on Horse-back to do him the greater honour The Bassa himself marches in the Head of all and they who are not mounted follow afoot together with the Curtezans or common Strumpets of the place who are oblig'd to assist at this Ceremony dancing after a Tabour and putting themselves into a thousand lascivious postures according to the Custome of the Country The Messenger who brings the Present makes a halt in expectation of this Cavalcade in some Garden near the City or in the Fields under a Tent which he had got set up for that purpose After mutual Salutations he casts the Vest over the Bassa's shoulders puts the Sabre by his Side and thrusts the Ponyard into his Sasche before his Breast telling him That the Emperour their Master honours him with that Present upon the good report which had been made to him that he has demean'd himself well that he does not tyrannize over his People and that there is no complaint made of his being defective in the administration of Justice This Complement past the Bassa in the same order and amidst the Joyful Acclamations of the people takes his way and the Grand Seignor's Envoy along with him towards his House where he entertains him at a great Treat and after all is done with a Present which amounts to Ten thousand Crowns at the least For as I told you before if the Present be carried to one of the Bassa's who are in the greater Governments as the Bassa's of Buda Cairo or Babylon they shall not escape under Thirty or Forty thousand Crowns and the Present which is sent to the Sultan ought to amount to a hundred thousand Nay it many times happens that the Grand Seignor appoints what he would have their Present to his Envoy to amount to and that especially when he sends such as he has a particular kindness for and would amply gratifie The Emperour Mahomet the Fourth who now sits on the Throne has a particular inclination to exercise Liberality and to bestow Rewards on those who serve him The particular way us'd by Mahomet IV. to shew himself liberal without any Charge but he does it so as that it costs him nothing and consequently there is no occasion of taking ought out of the Treasury When there is not an opportunity to send the Person whom he has a desire to gratifie into the Country with some Present he has another Expedient which will do the work His Darling-Divertisement is Hunting and he takes but little pleasure in any other Exercise He thereupon orders the Person whom he would recompence to be one at the Sport and having kill'd a Stagg or some other Beast he orders him to go and present it from him to one of the Grandees of the Port whose abode is either at Constantinople or some place near it This Present is receiv'd with great demonstrations of joy real or apparent and the person to whom it is brought is immediately to take order for the sending back of another much exceeding it in value to the Grand Seignor And that consists ordinarily in excellent Horses good pieces of Gold-Brockado or rich Furrs But his work is yet not half over there must be much more done for him through whose hands he has receiv'd the Present and he scapes very well when not accounting what he sends to the Grand Seignor the carriage of it costs him but Ten thousand Crowns Nay many times he is forc'd to double the Summe when he has not been so liberal as the Prince expected he should have been for he presently dispatches away an Officer to reproach him with the slender account he has made of his Present and the small recompence he had receiv'd whom he had employ'd to bring it him To these reproaches he sends him an express Order to make him an additional Reward of Twenty or thirty Purses which is immediately put in execution and as to the Present which the Grand Seignor has receiv'd he commonly makes a distribution of it amongst those who are then about him And these are the Advantages which the Grand Seignor screws out of the Bassa's and other Grandees of the Port whilst they are alive Let us now consider those which accrew to him by their death in order to the recompensing of those whom he favours without being oblig'd to take any thing out of his Coffers When the death of a Bassa is resolv'd upon the Grand Seignor delivers the Commission to him whom he has design'd to be kind to and he finds it much more advantageous to bring him the Sentence of his death than to bring him a Present from the Prince If the Execution is to be done in Constantiuople the ordinary Executioner is the Formalities observ'd at the death of the Bassa's who are strangled by the Prince's Orders Bostangi-bachi who is alwaies about the Grand Seignor's Person and he himself does the Work But if there be a necessity of going into some remote Province 't is commonly either a Kapigi-bachi or one of the principal Bostangis whom the Prince has a mind to shew his kindness to who is sent to perform the Execution He who carries the Order accompany'd by five or six Capigis sometimes manages his Affairs so as to arrive at the place while the Council is sitting But if that cannot be so order'd he goes to the Bassa and commands him in the Grand Seignor's name to call one immediately That Council consists of the Bassa's Lieutenant the Mufti the Cadi the chief Commander of the Janizaries belonging to that place and some other persons concern'd in the administration of Justice who are of the most considerable of the Province The Council being assembled the Capigi-bachi enters attended by his people and presents the Bassa with the Grand Seignor's Letter He receives it with great respect and having put it three several times to his forehead he
Sheck's Tent who appears at the entrance of it and standing upon a low Stool that he may be seen by those who are at the greatest distance from him Prayes and gives his Benediction to all the people putting a period to the Devotion with these words That God would enable them to return in Peace as they came thither From that minute every one must bethink himself that he is to be at his own charge the Sheck gives no more and 't is then that he begins to make great advantages to himself For whatever is sold for the Sustenance of the Pilgrims comes from him and besides he holds a correspondence with the Masters of the Caravans of whom the Pilgrims are forc'd to buy conveniences for their riding back again at more then three times the rate they are worth when the Beasts they had brought out of their own Countries have fail'd them by the way The Caravan of Cairo is the most numerous and the most considerable of all the The Caravan of Cairo Caravans that come to Mecha The Caravan-bachi who is the Captain and Conductor of it makes his gains by it at his return worth him Two hundred thousand Crowns and there is a great competition about his place which is at the disposal of the Bassa of Cairo and commonly carried by the highest bidder for it The Captain of this Caravan is also Master of the Waters which are carried into the Cisterns and it is according to his Orders that they are distributed and whereas that distribution is equal as well in relation to the Poor as to the Rich if the latter would have any beyond the quantity allow'd them they must pay dearly for it and the Captain who sets what imposition he pleases upon it makes a considerable advantage thereby But let us return to the Grand Seignor's Present The Tent and the Carpet which The Present sent from Mecha to the Great Mogul he sends are two Pieces equally precious as well for the excellency of the Stuffe as the additional embellishments hereof The Carpet is design'd for the covering of Mahomet's Tomb and the Tent which is erected hard by the Mosquey is for the Sheck who does not stirr out of it during the Seventeen dayes of Devotion This High Priest of the Mahumetan Law has found out the secret knack of extracting inexpressible Summes of Mony out of that Carpet and Tent which are renew'd every year and when the new Present is arriv'd from the Grand Seignor he sends as 't were out of a singular favour certain pieces of the Curtain of the old Tent to several Mahumetan Princes of whom he receives Magnificent Presents in requital This Curtain which is set up on the out-side of the Tent quite round it to hinder the people from seeing those that are under it consists of several pieces six foot high and of a great length and the Sheck endeavours to perswade those Princes That if they fasten one of those pieces to their Tents when they are going to engage in a War against those whom they account Infidels good fortune will be sure to attend them and it will not be long e're they gain the Victory But if he sends either the whole Curtain or the Tent or Carpet entire it must be to a great Monarch indeed such as the Great Cham of Tartary or the Great Mogul and that he does once in ten or twelve years one while to the one and another to the other Of this we have a late instance in Aureng-zeb who at the present is King of the Indies and whom we otherwise call the Great Mogul For upon his establishment in his Throne the Sheck sent him the whole Curtain belonging to the Tent and great joy there was at his Court that the King had receiv'd so Magnificent a Present from the Holy Place as they call it The Sheck was soon after made sensible of the Royal Liberality of that Great Monarch one of the Richest and most Powerful of the Universe and thus does that Spiritual Head of the Mahumetan Religion who has a kind of Superintendency over all the Members know how to make his advantage of them and has found out the way to enrich himself at the cost of all the Princes and Nations who submit themselves to the Mahumetan Law I question not but that they who have writ of the Religion of the Turks have given some account of the Pilgrimage of Mecha which is one of the most essential parts thereof and therefore as well for that reason as also for that I should digress too much from my subject I ought not to prosecute that matter any farther I shall take occasion here to make three Remarks which I have originally learnt of one of the most learned in the Rubricks of the Mahumetan Law The first is that the Turks by an ancient Tradition believe That Mecha is the place where God commanded Abraham to build him a house and that while he was there all Nations came thronging to visit him and that it is also the same place where Mahomet receiv'd the Alcoran from Heaven The second relates to the Commandement impos'd upon all the Mahumetans to be once in their lives concern'd in the Pilgrimage of Mecha For it is to be observ'd That the obligation does not extend to the poorer sort of people who have hardly wherewithal to live upon and would bring great misery on their Families by their absence as being not able to leave them what is requisite for their sustenance The third Remark is concerning the preference of the two Cities of Mecha and Medina The former is the place of Mahomet's birth which it was his design to honour and make known by that famous Pilgrimage whereto he obliges all those of his Law The latter is the place of his Burial of which there is abundance of fabulous relations Mahomet in his Alcoran does only enjoyn their going to Mecha where there are no other Relicks of that false Prophet then one of his Sandalls And the Doctors of the Law are also of opinion that there is no obligation of going to Medina and that without seeing that City a man satisfies the Command of Mahomet I shall treat at large of the Pilgrimage of Mecha in the last Chapter of this Relation of my Travels and of the different Roads by which the Mahumetans of Europe Asia and Africa are conducted to the Tomb of their Prophet CHAP. XIII Of the Cup-Bearer's Quarter and of divers other Appartments THE PRINCIPAL HEADS The ancient Custome practis'd when the Grand Seignor is presented with any thing to drink between meals A way to quench thirst at meals wholly particular to the Levantines The composition of Treacle A stately service of Gold-Plate Beds according to the Turkish mode Waies to satisfie the necessities of Nature different from ours The Causes of the abominable Sin committed by the Turks who are confin'd within the Seraglio I Have discover'd many things particularly observable concerning