were erected in a commemoration of their admirable fidelitie in loue But now they are commonly called the Castles of Gallipoly yea or rather the strength of Constantinople betwéene which no ship may enter without knowledge of the Captaines And at their returne they must stay thrée dayes before they are permitted to goe through Betwixt the Castles and Constantinople is about fortie leagues Here I left the two Frenchmen with a Greeke Barbour and imbarked for Constantinople in a Turkish Frigato The first place of any note I saw within these narrow Seas was the auncient Citty of Gallipolis the second seate of Thracia which was first builded by Caius Caligula and sometimes hath béene inhabited by the Gaules It was the first Towne in Europe that the Turkes conquered As we sailed betwéene Thracia and Bithinia a learned Grecian that was in my company shewed mee Colchis whence Iason with the assistance of the Argonautes and the aid of Medeas skill did fetch the golden fléece This Sea Hellespont tooke the name of Helles and of the Countrey Pontus ioyning to the same Sea wherein are these thrée Countries Armenia Colchis and Cappadocia After wee had fetcht vp the famous Citie of Calcedon in Bithinia on our right hand I beheld on our left hand the prospect of that little world the great Citie of Constantinople which indéed yeeldeth such an outward splendor to the amazed beholder of goodly Churches stately Towers gallant Stéeples and other such things whereof now the world make so great account that the whole earth cannot equall it Beholding these delectable obiects wee entred in the Channell of Bosphorus which diuideth Perah from Constantinople And arriuing at Tapanau where all the munition of the great Turke lieth I bade farewell to my company and went to a lodging to refresh my selfe till morning A briefe Description of the renowned Citty of Constantinople together with the customes manners and religion of the Turkes their first beginning and the birth of MAHOMET and what opinion the Mahometanes haue of Heauen and Hell COnstantinople is the Metropolitan of Thracia so called of Constantine the Emperour who first enlarged the same It was called of old Bizantium but now by the Turkes Stambolda which signifieth in their language a large Citty It was also called Ethuse and by the Greekes Stymbolis This Citty according to ancient Authors was first sounded by the Lacedemonians who were conducted from Lacedemon by one Pausanias about the yeare of the world 3294 which after their consultation with Apollo where they should settle their abode and dwelling place they came to Bithinia and builded a Cittie which was called Calcedon But the commodity of fishing falling out contrary to their expectation in respect the fishes were afraid of the white bankes of the Citty the Captaine Pausanias left that place and builded Bizantium in Thracia which first was by him intituled Ligos By Pliny Iustine and Strabo it was surnamed Vrbs Illustrissima because it is repleat with all the blessings earth can giue to man yea and in the most fertile soile of Europe Zonaras reporteth that the Athenians in an ambitious and insatiable desire of Soueraigntie wonno it from the Lacedemonians they thus being vanquished suborned Seuerus the Romane Emperour to besiege the same but the Cittie Bizantium being strongly fortified with walles the Romans could not take it in vntill extreame famine constrained them to yeeld after thrée yeares siege And Seuerus to satisfie his cruelty put all to the sword that were within and razed the walles giuing it in possession to the neighbouring Perinthians This Citie thus remained in calamitie till Constantine resigning the Citie of Rome and a great part of Italy to the Popish inheritance of the Roman Bishops reedified the same and translated his Imperiall seate in the East and reduced all the Empire of Greece to an vnite tranquility with immortall reputation which the Parthians and Persians had so miserably disquieted But these disorders at length reformed by the seuere administration of iustice for the which and other worthy respects the said Constantine sonne of S. Helen and Emperour of Rome which after the Popes vsurped was surnamed the Great He first in his plantation called this Citie New Rome but when hee beheld the flourishing and multiplying of all things in it and because of the commodious situation thereof he called it Constantinopolis after his owne name This Emperour liued there many prosperous yeares in a most happy estate Likewise many of his successors did vntill such time that Mahomet the second of that name and Emherour of the Turkes liuing in a discontented humor to behold the great and glorious dominions of Christians especially this famous Citie that so flourished in his eyes by moment all circumstances collected his cruell intentions to the full height of ambition whereby hee might abolish the very name of Christianity and also puft vp with a presumptuous desire to enlarge his Empire went with a maruellous power both by Sea and Land vnto this magnificent mansion The issue wherof was such that after diuers batteries and assaults the irreligious Infidels broke downe the walles and entred the Citle where they made a wonderfull massacre of poore afflicted Christians without sparing any of the Romane kinde either male or female In the mercilesse fury of these infernall Impes the Emperour Constantine was killed whose head being cut off was carried vpon the poynt of a Launce through all the Citie and Campe of the Turkes to the great disgrace and ignominy of Christianitie His Empresse Daughters and other Ladies were put to death after a strange forme of new deuised torments By this ouerthrow of Constantinople this Mahomet tooke twelue kingdomes and two hundred Cities from the Christians which is a lamentable losse of such an illustrious Empire Thus was that Imperiall Citie lost in the yeare 1453. May 29. when it had remained vnder the gouernment of Christians 1198 yeares It is now the chiefe abode of the great Turke Sultan Acomet the 15 Grand Can of the line of Ottoman liuing at this day who is about 23 yeares of age a man more giuen to venery then martiality which giueth presently a greater aduantage to the Persians in their instant warres The forme or situation of this Citie is like vnto a triangle the South part whereof and the East part are inuironed with Hellespontus and Bosphorus Thraicus and the North part adioyning to the firme land It is in compasse about the Walles estéemed to be 18 miles in one of these triangled points standeth the Palace of the great Turke called Seralia and the Forrest wherein he hunteth which is two miles in length The speciall obiect of antiquity I saw within this Citie was the incomparable Church of S. Sophia whose ornaments and hallowed vessels were innumerable in the time of Iustinian the Emperour who first builded it but now conuerted to a Mosque and consecrate to Mahomet after a Diabolicall manner I saw also the famous
that the Chappell of Loretta was such a thing I answered I did not beléeue it affirming it was onely but a diuellish inuention to deceiue the blind-folded people and to fill the Coffers of the Romane Priests Now thou bottomlesse gulfe of Papistry here I forsake thee no winter blasting Furies of Satans subtill stormes can make ship-wracke of my faith on the stony shelues of thy deceitfull déepes In the time of our staying here the Emeere or Lord of the Towne sent sixe women conducted by twelue of his seruanes to an Armenian Prince that was a Pilgrime in our company to be vsed by him and others whom so he would elect to be his fellow labourers which indéed he did kindly accept and inuited me to that feast but I gaue him the refusall little regarding such a friuolous commodity He and some of the chifest Pilgrimes entertained them for the space of thrée houres and sent them backe giuing to their Conductors 15 Piasters in a reward Truely if I would rehearse the impudency of these whoores and the brutishnesse of the Armenians as it is most ignominious to the actors so no doubt it would bee very loathsome to the reader Such is the villanie of these Orientall Christian-flaues vnder the Turkes that not onely by conuersing with them learne some of their damnable Ethnicke customes but also going beyond them in beastly sensuality become worse then bruit beasts but God in his iust iudgments that same night threatned to haue punished both the doers and the whole company for their sakes for we hauing resolued to trauell all that night and also because the way was rocky and hard to be knowne and perillous for Arabs we hired a Christian Guide named Ioab and agréed with him to take vs to Lidda which was two dayes iourney But before we tooke horse Ioab had sent a priuy messenger before vs to warne about 300 Arabs who had their abode on the South side of mount Carmel to méet him at such a place as he had appointed giuing them to know wée were potent and rich and that hee should render vs into their hands to be made the miserable obiect of their cruelty This being done and vnknowne to vs we marched riding faster then an ordinary pace which our guide suspecting that by our celerity we should goe beyond the place appointed for his treacherous plot began to crosse vs grieuously leading vs vp and downe amongst pooles and holes whither hee listed where many of our Cammels and Asses were lost and could not bee recouered because wee all beganne to suspect and feare which was the cause that the owners durst not stay to relieue their perishing Beasts In the end the Captaine and Ianisaries en treated him earnestly to bring vs in the right way but the more they requested the more obdurate was his heart replying hee was mistaken and could not finde it till day light vpon the which wordes the company was stayed and in the meane while there came a Turke one of our Souldiers vnto the Captaine saying Hee saw the guide before our departure from Nazareth send a Moore before him for what respect he knew not being long at priuate conference Wherupon they straight bound him with ropes on a horse backe threatning him with death to cause him confesse the truth In the midst of this tumult I hauing got sight of the Northstarre considered thereby that the villaine had led vs more to the Southward then to the Westward which was our way to Ierusalem Whereupon I entreated the Carauan to turne our faces Northward otherwise we should bee cut off and that suddenly for although said I it may peraduenture be that we are 3 or 4 miles short of the place intended for our massacre yet they missing vs wil like rauening Wolues hunt here and there wherefore if wee incline to the North God willing wee shall preuent their bloudy designes To which aduice being duly pondered they yeelded and so I became their guide in the darks night till morning for none of them knew that starre neither the nature of it At last this desperate wretch considering that either by our vanquishing or the enemies victory he could not escape sith his treason was reuealed began to beg pardon of the Carauan saying that if he could haue any surety of his life hee would sufficiently informe vs how to escape these imminent dangers The Captaine being distracted with feare replied hee would and thereupon swore a solemne oath so did the Ianisaries sweare by the head of Mahomet for the like effect which being done he was vntied and confessed that if we had continued in our way he led vs we had beene all put to the edge of the sword and falling downe on his knees cryed oft with teares mercy mercy mercy All that night wee went with that starre and against morning wee were in Palestina neere vnto Tyrus called now Sur which Alexander had so much adoe to conquer being then separated from the maine Continent by the Sea but now ioyned to the firme Land and before you come to the Citie there lieth a great banke of Sand where it is likely the sea hath beene in Alexanders time though now as time altereth euery thing the sea be fled from that place which maketh that ruinous Towne more desolate Aurora no sooner appeared but we were all encouraged for the light of day lends comfort The Captaine sending backe that false Iudas for so was hee sworne to doe sent a Post to Tyrus for a new Guide who came forthwith and brought vs in our way to Mount Carmell for by it we behoued to go Great are the mercies of God! for as he hath made man an excellent creature so hath he also indued him with two great powers in his minde the one a wise power of vnderstanding by which hee penetrateth into the knowledge of things the other a strong power of dexterous resoluing whereby he executeth things wel vnderstood for we hauing iudged the worst resolued the best and by his Almightie prouidence were fréed from that apparant danger although the former dayes whoredome vnnaturall vices deserued a iust punishment This I intimate to all trauellers in generall that if they would that God should further them in their attempts blesse their voyages and grant them a safe returne to their natiue Countries without the which what contentment haue they for all their paines that they would constantly refraine from whoredome drunkennesse and too much familiarity with strangers For a traueller that is not temperate and circumspect in all his actions although hee were headed like that Herculean Serpent Hydra yet it is impossible hee can returne in safety from danger of Turkes Arabs Moores wilde beasts heate hunger thirst and cold Approching to mount Carmell I beheld a farre off vpon the top of the hill the place where Elias ascended to heauen when he left his Cloke behind him to Elizeus his Disciple This mountaine is foure miles of
way as we returned our Dragoman shewed vs on the banke of Nylus where a Crocodile was killed by the ingenious policie of a Venetian Marchant being licentiated by the Soldan The match whereof for bignesse and length was neuer seene in that riuer whose body was 22 foote and in compasse of the shoulders 8 foot This cruell beast had deuoured aboue 46 men and women besides other creatures and in his belly were found more then 60 rings of gold and siluer which the miserable bodies had worne in their noses through their cheeks and vnder lips for such is the custome of the people to weare their iewels And if the baser sort cannot attaine to such like then they counterfeit their betters with rings of brasse and lead wearing also on their armes and ankles broade bands of Iron continually The garden wherein the onely and true Balsamo groweth is inclosed with a high wall and daily guarded by Turkes who hardly will suffer any Christian to enter within much lesse the Iewes for not long agoe they were the cause that almost this Balme was brought to confusion The tree it selfe is but of three foot height which keepeth euermore the coloor greene hauing a broad thrée poynted leafe and twice in the yeare it being incised yeeldeth a red water which is the naturall Balsamo Not farre hence there is a place caled Mommeis lying in a sandy desart where are innumerable Caues cut forth of a rock wherunto the corps of the most men in Cayro are carried and interred which dead bodies remaine alwayes vnputrified neither yeeld they any stinking smell Grand Cayro is an admirable great Citie and larger of bounds then Constantinople but not so populous neither so wel builded It was of old caled Memphis was the furthest place that Vlysses in his trauels visited so well memorized by Homer yet a voyage now of no such estimation as that Princely Poet accounted it for his trauels are not comparable to some of these dayes wherein we liue It is situate in a pleasant plaine and in the heart of Aegypt being distant from Nylus about an English mile It was called Cayro Babylonia for there are two Babylons one in Assyria which by the Turks is called Bagdat and the other is this which ioyneth with Cayro nouo The circuit of new Cayre is about 22 miles not speaking of Cayre de Babylon Medin Boulak the great Towne of Caraffar being as Sub-vrbs of many smals maketh vp a little world the length whereof in all is thought to be 28 miles of bredth 14. The principal gates are these Babeh Mamstek which is toward the Wildernesse of the red sea Bebzavillah toward Nylus and Babell Eutuch toward the fields The stréetes are narrow being all of them almost couered and the foundation of their buildings is raised vpon two Stages height to kéepe the people from the parching heate The Bazar or exchange beginneth at the gate of Mamstek and endeth at a place called Babesh At the corners of chiefe places there are horses to be hired that for a small matter a man may ride where so he will to view this spacious spred Citie and change as many horses as he listeth hauing the maisters which owe them to conuoy them There is a great commerce here with all Nations vnder the heauens For by their concurring thither it is wonderfully peopled with infinite numbers Such a multitude and the extreme heate is the cause why the pest is euermore in it insomuch that at some certaine times 10000 persons haue dyed thereof in one day In this Towne you shall euer finde all these sorts of Christians Italians French Greekes Almaines Georgians Aethiopians Iacobines Armenians Syrians Nestorians Amaronites Nicolaitans Abessenes Nubians Slauonians Gofties Ragusans and some captiue Hungarians the number of which is euer thought to bee beyond an hundred thousand people besides all other sorts of Infidels as Turkes blacke and white Moores Musilmans Persians Tartars Indians Iewes Arabians Barbarres and Sarazens From the Castle wherein the Soldan habitateth which is builded on a pretty hill you haue the prospect of the whole Citie the Gardens and Uillages bordering on Nylus and of the most part of the plaine and fertile places of Egypt Aegypt bordereth with Aethiopia and the Desarts of Libia on the South on the North with the sea Medirerrene the chiefest ports whereof are Alexandria and Damietta Toward the Occident with the great lake of Bouchiarah and a dangerous Wildernesse confining therewith so full of wilde and venemous beasts which maketh the West part vnaccessable On the East with a part of the red Sea and desarts of Arabia through which the people of Israel passed In all the land of Egypt which is a great kingdome there is no Well or Fountaine saue onely the riuer Nylus neither doe the inhabitants know what raine is because they neuer sée any This floud irriguateth all the low Plaines of the land once in the yeare which inundation beginneth vsually in Iuly and continueth to the end of August which furnisheth with water all the Inhabiters There is a dry Pond called Machash in the midst whereof standeth a Pillar of eightéene brasses height being equall with the profundity of the ditch whereby they know his increasing and if in the yeare following they shall haue plenty or scarsity of things For when the water beginneth to flow aboue the ordinary course it falleth downe incontinently in this place where it ariseth euery day vpon the pillar sometimes a spanne a foote or two foote At the time of his inunding there are certaine people appointed to watch the limites of his growth For when the water wareth to fiftéene brasses it is a signe that the next yeare shall bee fertile If if amounteth but to twelue that yeare shall be indifferent and it surpasse not nine brasses it presageth a great dearth and famine and if it shall happen to flow to the top all the countrey of Egypt is in danger to bee destroyed From Nylus are many ditches drawne along to the scattered villages in the plaines the water whereof entring in these narrow channels the people haue cisternes made of purpose wherein they receiue it and conserue the same till the next inundation At which time also they make great feastings and rare solemnities dauncing eating drinking singing tâ—uking of drummes sounding of trumpets and other oftentations of ioy There are infinite venemous creatures bred in this riuer as Crococodiles Scorpions vgly mis-shapen wormes and other monstrous things which annoy oft the inhabitants and also those who traâ—â—ck on the water This famous floud beginneth vnder the Equinoctiall line in Aethiopia whence it bringeth the full growth downe into Egypt and in a place of the Aethiopian Alpes called Catadupa the fall and roaring of this Nyle maketh the people deafe who dwell néere thereunto The common opinion is that Prester Iehan may impede the course of Nyle to runne through Egypt which bréedeth the cause wherefore the great Turke payeth
Neither may they stay within all night vnder the paine of imprisonment Dalmatia was called so of Mauritius the Emperour The foure principall Prouinces whereof are these Atheos Senebico Spallato and Tragurio A part of which belongeth to Venice another part to the Duke of Austria and the third part vnto the Turkes Zara is distant from Venice 200 miles From Zara I embarked in a small Frigot bound for Lesina with fiue Slauonian Mariners who sometimes sailed and sometimes rowed with their oares In our way we past by the I le of Brazza which is of no great quantity but fertile enough for the Inhabitants and kept by a Gentleman of Venice It lieth in the mouth of the gulfe Narento that diuideth Dalmatia from Slauonia Many conceiue in effect that these two kingdomes are all one but I hold the contrary opinion both by experience and by ancient Authors Hauing passed Capo di Costa which is the beginning of Slauonia I saw vpon my right hand a round rocke of a great height in forme of a Pyramide It is cognominated by Easterne Mariners Pomo anciently Salyro for the good Faulcons that are bred therein It standeth in the middest of the gulfe betweene Slauonia and Italy A little beyond that rocke I saw the thrée Iles Trimiti the chiefest whereof is called Teucria but they are vulgarly called the Iles of Diomedes who was King of Etolla They are right opposite to Mount Gargano now called S. Angelo and distant from the maine land of Pulia in Italy about nine miles The poore Slauonians beeing fatigated in their hunger-starued-Boat with extraordinary paines for wee had thrée dayes calme which is not vsually séene in these seas were inforced to repose all night in the barren I le of Saint Andrew this I le is of circuit foure miles but not inhabited The excessiue raine that fell in the euening made vs goe on shore to séeke the couerture of some rocke which found wee lay all night on hard stones and with hungry bellies for our prouision was spent The breach of day giuing comfort to our distressed bodies with fauourable windes at the Garbo è ponente we set forward and about mid-day we arriued in the port of Lesina of which the Ile taketh the name This I le of Lesina is of circuit 150 miles and is the biggest Iland in the Adriaticke sea it is excéeding fertile and yéeldeth all things plentifully that is requisitite for the sustenance of man This Citie is vnwalled and of no great quantitie but they haue a strong fortresse which defendeth the towne the Hauen and the vessels in the road The Gouernor who was a Venetian after he had enquired of my intended voyage most courteously inuited mee three times to his table in the time of my fiue dayes staying there And at the last méeting hée reported the Story of a maruellous mis-shapen creature borne in that Iland asking if I would go thither to sée it Wherewith when I perfectly vnderstood the matter I was contented the Gentleman honoured mee also with his company and a horse to ride on where when wee came the Captaine called for the father of that Monster to bring him forth before vs. Which vnnaturall childe being brought I was amazed in that sight to behold the deformitie of Nature for below the middle part there was but one body and aboue the middle there was two liuing soules each one separated from another with seuerall members Their heads were both of one bignesse but different in Phisnomy the belly of the one ioyned with the posterior part of the other and their faces looked both on one way as if the one had carried the other on his back and often before our eyes he that was behinde would lay his hands about the necke of the formost Their eyes were excéeding bigge and their hands greater then an infants of three times their age the excrements of both creatures issued forth at one place and their thighes and legges of a great growth not semblable to their age being but sixe and thirty dayes old and their féet were proportionably made like the foote of a Cammell round and slouen in the middest They receiued their food with an insatiable desire and continually mourned with a pittifull noyse that sorrowfull man told vs that when the one slept the other awaked which was a strange disagréement in nature The Mother of them bought déerely that birth with the losse of her owne life and as her husband reported vnspeakable was the torment she endured in that woefull-wrestling paine I was also informed afterwardes that this one or rather two-fold wretch liued but a short while Leauing this monstrous shapen Monster to the owne strange and almost incredible natiuity we returned to Lesina But by the way of our backe-comming I remember that worthy Gentleman shewed mee the ruines of an old house where the noble King Demetrius was borne and after I had yéelded my bounden and dutifull thankes vnto his generous minde I hired a Fisher-boat to go ouer to Clyssa being 12 miles distant This I le of Clyssa is of length twenty and of circuit thréescore miles it is beautified with two profitable Sea-ports and vnder the Seigniorie of Venice There are indifferent good commodities therein vpon the South-side of this Iland lyeth the Ile Pelagusa Departing from thence in a Carmoesalo bound to Ragusa wee sailed by the thrée Iles Brisca Placa Igezi and when we entred in the gulfe of Cataro we fetched vp the sight of the I le Melida called of old Meligna Before wee could attaine vnto the Hauen wherein our purpose was to stay all night we were assailed on a sudden with a deadly storme In so much that euery swallowing waue threatned our death and bred in our breasts an intermingled sorrow of feare and hope The windes becomming calme and our desired safety enioyed we set forward in the gulfe of Cataro and sailed by the I le Curzola In this Iland I saw a Walled Towne called Curzola which hath two strong fortresses to guard it It is both commodious for the traffique of Merchandise they haue and also for the fine wood that groweth there whereof the Venetian Shippes and Gallies are made An Iland no lesse delightfull then profitable and the two Gouernors thereof are changed euery eightéene moneths by the State of Venice It was of old called Curcura Melana and of some Corcira nigra but by the Modernes Curzola Continuing our course we passed by the Iles Sabionzello Torquolla and Catza Augusta appertaining to the Republicke of Ragusa They are all three well inhabited and fruitfull yeelding cornes wines and certaine rare kinds of excellent fruits It is dangerous for great vessels to come neere their coasts because of the hidden shelues that lye off in the Sea called Augustini where diuers shippes haue been cast away in foule weather vpon the second day after our loosing from Clyssa we arriued at Ragusa Ragusa is a Common-weale gouerned by Senators and a Senate
Councell it is wonderfull strong and also well guarded being situate by the sea side it hath a fine hauen and many goodly ships thereunto belonging The greatest traffique they haue is with the Genueses Their territorie in the firme land is not much in respect of the neighbouring Turkes but they haue certaine commodious Ilands which to them are profitable And notwithstanding of the great strength and riches they possesse yet for their better safegard and liberty they pay a yeerely tribute vnto the great Turke amounting to foureteene thousand Chickenes of Gold yea and also they pay yeerely a tributarie pension vnto the Venetians for the Iles reserued by them in the Adriaticall Gulfe The most part of the ciuill Citizens haue but the halfe of their heads bare but the baser sort are all shauen This Citie is the Metropolitan of the Kingdome of Slauonia Slauonia was first called Liburnia next Iliria of Iliro the son of Cadmus But lastly named Slauonia of certaine slaues that came from Sarmatia passing the riuer Danubio in the time of the Emperour Iustinian So much as is called Slauonia extendeth from the Riuer Arsa in the West the Riuer Drino in the East on the South bordereth with the Gulfe of Venice and on the North with the Mountaines of Croatia These Mountaines diuide also Ragusa from Bosna The next two speciall Cities in that Kingdome are Sabenica and Salona The Slauonians are of a robust nature martiall and valiant fellowes and a great helpe to maintaine the right and liberty of the Venetian state From Ragusa I embarked in a Tartareta loaden with cornes and bound to Corfu being thrée hundred miles distant In all this way we found no Iland but sayled along the maine Land of the Ilirian shore hauing passed the Gulfe of Cataro and Capo di Fortuna I saw Castello nouo which is a strong Fortresse situate on the top of a Rocke wherein one Barbarisso the Captaine of Solyman starued to death foure thousand Spaniards Hauing left Iliria and Valona behind vs wee sayled by Capo di Polone This high land is the furthest part of the Gulfe of Venice and opposite against Capo di Sancta Maria in Pulia each one in sight of an other and foureteene leagues distant Continuing our nauigation we entred into the Sea Ionium and sayled along the coast of Epire which was the famous Kingdome of the Epirotes This is the first land of Greece and vpon the sixt day after our departure from Ragusa wée arriued at Corfu Corfu is an Iland no lesse beautifull then inuincible It lyeth in the Sea Ionean the inhabitants are Greekes and the Gouernours Venetians This Ile was much honoured by Homer for the pleasant Gardens of Alcino which were in his time It is of circuit one hundred and twenty and fifty miles in breadth The Citie Corfu from which the Ile hath the name is situate at the foote of a Mountaine whereupon are builded two strong Fortresses and inuironed with a naturall Rocke The one is called Fortezza noua and the other Fortezza Vechia They are well gouerned and circumspectly kept least by the instigation of the one Captaine the other should commit some treasonable effects And for the same purpose the Gouernours of both Castles at their election before the Senatours of Venice are sworne neither priuately nor openly to haue mutuall conference nor to write one to another for the spare of two yeares which is the time of their gouernement These Castles are inaccessible and vnconquerable if that the Keepers bee loyall and prouided with naturall and martiall furniture They are vulgarly called The Forts of Christendome by the Greekes but more iustly The strength of Venice For if these Castles were taken by the Turkes the Trade of the Venetian Marchants would bee of none account yea the very meane to ouerthrow Venice it selfe From thence I embarked in a Greekish Carmoesalo with a great number of passengers Greekes Slauonians Italians Armenians and Iewes that were all mindfull to Zante and I also of the like intent being in all forty eight persons hauing roome winds and a fresh gale in foure and twenty houres wee discouered the Ile Cephalonia In this meane while the Captaine of the Uessell espied a Saile comming from the Sea hee presently being moued therewith sent a Mariner to the top who certified him she was a Turkish Gally of Biserta prosecuting a straight course to inuade our Barke Which sudden affrighting newes ouerwhelmed vs almost in dispaire Resolution being by the amazed Maister demanded of euery man what was best to do some replyed one way and some another Insomuch that the most part of the passengers gaue counsell rather to render then fight being confident their friends would pay their ransome and so releiue them But I the wandring Pilgrime pondring in my pensiue breast my solitary estate the distance of my Country and Friends could conceiue no hope of deliuerance Upon the which troublesome and fearefull appearance of slauery I absolutely arose and spoke to the Maister saying The halfe of the Carmoesalo is your owne and the most part also of the loading all which hée had told mee before Wherefore my counsell is that you prepare your selfe to fight and goe encourage your passengers promise to your Mariners double wages make ready your two peeces of Ordinance your Muskets Powder Lead and halfe-pikes For who knoweth but the Lord may deliuer vs from the thraldome of these Infidels My exhortation ended hee was greatly animated therewith and gaue me thankes whereupon assembling the passengers and Mariners hee gaue good comfort and large promises to them all So that their affrighted hopes were conuerted to a couragious resolution seeming rather to giue the first assault then to receiue the second wrong To performe the plots of our defence euery man was busie in the worke some below in the Gunner-roome others cleansing the Muskets some preparing the powder and Balles some dressing the halfe-pikes and others making fast the dores aboue for so the Maister resolued to make combate below both to saue vs from small shot and besides for boording vs on a sodaine The dexterous courage of all men was so forward to defend their liues and liberty that truely in my opinion wee seemed thrise as many as we were All things below and aboue being cunningly perfected and euery one ranked in order with his Harquebuse and Pike to stand on the Centenall of his owne defence wee recommended our selues into the hands of the Almighty and in the meane while attended their fiery salutations In a furious spleene the first Hola of their courtesies was the progresse of a martiall conflict thundring forth a terrible noise of Gally-roaring péeces And wee in a sad reply sent out a backe-sounding eccho of fiery-flying shots which made an equiuox to the clouds rebounding backe-ward in our perturbed breasts the ambiguous sounds of feare and hope After a long and doubtfull fight both with great and small shot night parting vs
Hypprodome and the Theater whereon the people stood when the Emperours vsed to run their horses and make their Princely shewes on solemne dayes which is now altogether decayed There is a great Columne in that same place in the which all those things memorable that haue béene done in this Hyppodrome are superficially carued Upon the West corner of the Citie there is a strong Fortresse fortified with seuen great Towers and well furnished with munition called by Turkes Iadileke In this Presoun are Bashaws and Subbashaws imprisoned and also great men of Christians if any offence be committed Their place of exchange is called Bezastan wherein all sorts of commodities are to bee sold as Sattins Silkes Ueluets Cloth of Siluer and Gold and the most exquisitly wrought handkerchiffes that can be found in the world with other infinite commodities the relation of which would be tedious I haue séene men and women as vsually sold here in markets as horses and other beasts are with vs. The most part of which are Hungarians Transiluanians and Bohemians captiues and of other places besides which they ouercome Whom if no compassionable Christian will buy or or relieue then must they either turne Turke or bee addicted to perpetuall slauery In Constantinople there haue happened many fearefull fires which often haue consumed to ashes the most part of the rarest monuments there and the beauty of infinite palaces as Zonoras the Constantinopolitan Historiographer in his Histories mentioneth And now lately in the yeare 1607. October 14. there were burned aboue 3000 houses of which I saw a number of ruines as yet vnrepaired It is subiect also to diuers earthquakes which haue often subuerted the Towers Houses Churches and walles of the Citie to the ground Especially in the yeare 1509. in the reigne of Baiazeth the ninth Emperour of the Turkes in which time more then 13000 persons were all smothered and dead and laid vp in heapes vnburied And commonly euery third yeare the pestilence is excéeding great in that Citie and after such an odious manner that those who are infected before they dy haue the halfe of their one side rot and fall away so that you may easily discerne the whole intrailes of their bodies It is not licentiated that any Christian should enter in a Turkish Moskée without the conduct of a Ianisary the tryall whereof I had when I viewed S. Sophia Perah is ouer against Constantinople called of old Cornubizantium but by the Turkes Galata It is the place at which Christian ships touch and where the Embassadours of Christendome lie From thence I went to the blacke sea but commonly called Mare Euxinum where I saw Pompeis pillar of marble standing néere to the shore vpon a rocky Iland and not farre from hence is a Lanthorne higher then any stéeple whereon there is a pan full of liquor that burneth euery night to giue warning vnto ships how néere they come to shore It is not much vnlike these Lanthornes of Lighorne and Genua The water of this sea is neuer a whit blacker then other seas but it is called black in respect of the dangerous euents in darke and tempestuous nights which happen there and because of the rockes and sands which lie a great way from the maine shore vpon which many vessels are cast away The blacke sea is not farre from Galata for I both went and returned in one day The Turkes haue no bels in their Churches neither the vse of a clocke nor numbring of houres but they haue high round Stéeples for they contrafact and contradict all the formes of Christians when they goe to pray they are called together by the voyce of crying men who go vp on the bartizings of their Stéeples shouting and crying with a shrill voyce La illa Eillala Mahomet Rezul alla that is God is a great God and Mahomet is his Prophet or otherwise there is but one God In Constantinople and many other places of Turky I haue séene thrée Sabboth dayes together in one wéeke the Friday for the Turkes the Saturday for Iewes and the Sunday for the Christians but the Turkes Sabboth is worst kept of all for they will not spare to doe any labour vpon their holy day They haue méetings at their publicke prayers euery day fiue seuerall times the first is before the rising of the Sunne the second is a little before mid-day the third is at three of the clock afternoone the fourth is at Sun-setting Summer and Winter Fifthly the last houre of praier is alwaies two or thrée houres within night Many of them will watch till that time and not sléepe and others sléeping will awake at the voyce of the Crier and go to Church In signe of reuerence and in a superstitious deuotion before they goe into their Mosquées they wash themselues in a Lauatoire beginning at the priuy members next their mouthes faces féet and handes And entring they incline their heads downeward to the earth and falling on their knées doe kisse the ground thrée times Then the Talasumany which is the chiefe Priest mounteth vpon a high stone where he maketh many Orations to Mahomet and the rest to assist him continne a long time shaking their heads as though they were out of all naturall vnderstanding repeating oft this word Haylamo Haylamo and after that will sigh grieuously saying Houpek And sometimes will abruptly sing the Psalmes of Dauid in the Arabick tongue but to no sense nor verity of the Scriptures And at their deuotion they will not tolerate any women in their company lest they should withdraw their mindes and affection from their present zeale The Church-men are called Hadach Casseis or Daruises who weare on their heads gréene Shashes to make distinction betwéene them and others for they are accounted to bee of Mahomets kindred They hold all madde men in great reuerence as Prophets or Saints and if they intend any farre iourney priuate purposes or otherwise before they goe to battell they come to craue counsell of these Santones to know if they shall prosper or not in their attempts And whatsoeuer answere these Bedleem Prophets giue it is holden to be so credible as if an Oracle had spoken it The Turkish Priests are for the most part Moores whom they account to bee a base people in respect of themselues calling them Totseks All Turkes doe detest the colour of blacke and thinke those that weare it shall neuer enter into Paradice But the colour of greatest request among them is greene wherewith if any Christian shall be apparrelled hee shall bee sure of Bastinadoes and other punishments Neither may hee vse the name of their Prophet Mahomet in his mouth vnder the paine of a cruell censure to bee inflicted vpon him whom they so much adore and honour This Mahomet was borne Anno Dom. 591. in Itraripia a beggarly village in Arabia whose father was Abdallas an Ismalite and his mother Cadiges a Iew both different in religion and also of diuers
water The confusion of this multitude was not onely grieuous in regard of the extreme heate prouiding of victuals at poore Uillages and scarcity of water to fill our bottles made of boare skinnes but also amongst narrow and stony passages thronging we oft fell one ouer another in great heapes in danger to be smothered yea and oftentimes we that were Christians had our bodies well beaten by our conducting Turkes At our accustomed dismounting to recreate our selues and refresh the beasts I would often fetch a walke to stretch my legs that were stifled with a scumbling beast wherewith the Turkes were mightily discontented and in derision would laugh and mucke me For they cannot abide a man to walke in turnes or stand to eate their vsage being such that when they come from the Horse backe presently sit downe on the ground folding their feete vnder them when they repose dine and sup So do also their Artizans and all Turkes in the world sit alwaies crosse-legged wrongfully abusing the commendable consuetudo of the industrious Taylors In their houses they haue no bed to lie on nor chaires to sit on nor Tables to eate on but a bench made of Boords along the house side of a foote height from the floore spread ouer with a Carpet whereon they vsually sit eating drinking sléeping resting and doing of manuall exercises all in one place They neuer vncloth themselues when they go to rest neither haue they any bed-cloathes saue onely a couerlet aboue them I haue seene hundreds of them after this manner lie ranked like durty swine in a beastly stie or loathsome Iades in a filthy stable Upon the ninth day leauing Cotafa behind vs on the Mountaines wee entred in a pleasant plaine of thrée leagues in length adorned with many Uillages Gardens and Riuers and arriuing at Damascus we were all lodged some in Chambers wanting beds and others without on hard stones in a great Cane called Heramnen where we stayed one day Damascus is the capitall Citie of Syria called by Turkes Shamma and is scituated on a faire plaine and beautified with many Riuers on each side especially Pharpar and Abdenah excellent Orchards and all other naturall obiects of elegancie That for situation Artizens all manner of commodities and variety of fruits in all the Asiaticall Prouinces it is not paralelled By Turkes it is called the Garden of Turkie Some hold this Citie was built by Eleazar the seruant of Abraham others say it is the place where Cain slew Abel But howsoeuer I perswade thee it is a pleasant and gallant Citie well walled and fortified with a strong Castle the most part of the stréetes are couered so that the Citizens are preserued in Summer from the heate and in Winter from the raine The like commodity but not after that forme hath Padua in Lumbardie Their Bazar or market place is also couered so are commonly all the Bazars in Turkie The best Carobiers Adams Apples and Grenadiers that grow on the earth is heere Néere vnto the Bazar there is a Moskie called Gemmah wherein is as my guide said the Sepulchre of Ananias and the Fountaine where he baptized Paul In another street I saw the house of Ananias which is but a hollow Cellar vnder the ground and where the Disciples let Paul downe through the wall in a basket In the stréete where they sell their Viano my Interpretor shewed mee a great gate of fine mettall which he said was one of the dores of the Temple of Salomon and was transported thence by the Tartarians who conquered Ierusalem about three hundred and eighty yeares age I saw such aboundance of Rose-water here in barrels to bee sold as beere or wine is rife with vs. For the custodie of the aforesaid Castle and neighbouring Countries there are two thousand Ianisaries appointed insomuch that the Bashaw of Damascus is the greatest in authority of all the other Bashaws in Asia for vnder his commandement in behalfe of the great Turke hee detaineth Syria Phoenicia Samacia Galilee Ierusalem and all Palestina euen to the Desarts of Arabia The meanes of the preseruation of so great a state is onely by an induced confidence vpon the power and force of those Ianisaries who as well haue their pay in time of tranquility as warres to defend these Countries from the incursions of the wiloe Arabs which euermore annoy the Turkes and also Strangers and can not possibly bee brought to a quiet and well-formed manner of liuing but are continuall spoylers of these parts of the Turks Dominions That mischiefe daily increaseth rather then any way diminisheth They taking example from the beastly Turkes adde by these patternes more wickednesse to the badnesse of their owne dispositions So that euery one of these Sauages according to his power dealeth with all men vnciuily and cruelly euen like a wildernesse full of wilde beasts liuing all vpon rapine wanting all sense of humanity more then an outward shew of appearance Whereby combining themselues in strength together doe tyrannize ouer all euen from the red Sea to Babylon Thus they in that violent humour inuading also these of Affricke hath caused Grand Cayro to be furnished with fiftéene thousand Ianisaries which defend the frontiers of Egypt and Gozan Leauing all the Turkes at Damascus saue onely our Ianisaries and Soldiers within the space of two houres after our departure from thence trauelling in our way to Ierusalem the whole company of the Armenians fell on the ground kissing it and making many sincere demonstrations of vnwonted deuotion At the which I being amazed stood gazing asking my Trouchman what newes who replyed saying it was the place where Saint Paul was conuerted which they had and all Christians should haue in great regard Three daies were wee betwixt Damascus and the East part of Galile which is the beginning of Canaan in two of which thrée wee encountred with Marishes and Quagmires being a great hinderance to vs This barren and marish Countrey is a part of Arabia Petrea comming in with a point betweene Galile and Syria It is vndoubtedly a most théeuish way for as we trauelled in the night there were many of vs forced to carry burning Lights in our hands and our soldiers had their harquebuzes redy to discharge al to affray the bloud-thirsty Arabians who in holes caues and bushes lie obscured waiting for the aduantage vpon trauellers Truely with much difficulty and greater danger passed we these Petrean iournies Here I remarked a singular qualitie and rare perfection in the carefull conduction of our Captaine who would when he came to any dangerous place giue the watch-word of S. Iohanne meaning as much thereby that none should speake or whisper after that warning vnder the paine of a Harquebusado And no more wee durst vnlesse hee had stretcht out his hand making vs a figne when occasion serued of liberty lest by tumultuous noyse in the night our enemies should haue the fore-knowledge of our comming and knowing also
of the most High It was in this Chamber my Mother Anna conceiued me nourished me and brought me vp in singing Psalmes Hymnes and Prayses to the glory of God and also I kept in this roome the blessed Infant Iesus very God and very Man without any grieuance or paine brought him vp with all dilligent obseruation And when cruell Herod sought the Babes life by the aduertisement of the Angell I and my husband Ioseph who neuer knew my body fled with him downe to Egypt And after his passion death and ascension to Heauen to make a reconciliation of humane nature with the Court Celestiall I stayed in this house with Iohn and the other Disciple Who considering after my death what high mysteries had beene done in it consecrated and conuerted the same to a Temple for a comemoration of Christ sufferings the chiefe of Martyres Also that resplending image thou seest was made by Saint Luke my familiar for eternizing the memory of my portraiture as I was aliue by the commandement of him who doth all things and shall conserue this sacred Image to the worlds end That Crosse of Cedar which standeth at the side of the little westerne Window was made by the Apostles These Cindars in the Chimney touch not because they are the fragments of the last fire I made on earth And that Shelfe whereon my linnen cloathes and prayer Bookes lay let no man come neere it For all these places are sanctified and holy Wherefore my sonne I tell thee Awake and go recite the same which I haue told thee vnto others and to confirme thy beliefe therein the Queene of heauen giueth thee freely thy health Frier Alexander being rauished say they with this Uision went and reported it to Nicholas Frangipano Lord of that Country And incontinently hee sent this Prior and other foure Friers to Nazareth whereby he might know the truth thereof but in that iourney they dyed The Uirgin Mary perceiuing their incredulity caused Angels the second time to transport the house ouer the gulfe of Venice to a great wood neere by the sea side in the Territorie of Riginati Which when the Countrey-men had found and remarking the splendor of the illuminating Image dispersed these newes abroad And the Cittizens of Riginati hauing seene what great miracles was daily done by the vertue of this Chappell imposed to it this name Madonna di Loretta A little while after the people resorting to it with rich giftes there haunted in the Wood many Theeues and Cut-throates who robbed and murdered the Pilgrimes Which innocent spilt bloud pricking her to the heart shee made the Angels transport it the third time and set it on the toppe of a little Mountaine belonging to two brethren in heritage But they vpon a day quarrelling and discording about the vtilitie of the Offerings to this House the Angels did remoue it the fourth time and placed it in a high broad way where it standeth vnremoued to this day This was confirmed by the Papall Authoritie to bee of an vndoubted truth after a hundred and fifty thrée yeares deliberation Loe as briefly as I could haue I laid open to thy iudicious eies the Transportations Originall and Papisticall Opinions of Loretta Protesting I haue added nothing to the Authors description but onely collected these speciall Warrants omitting other infinite foolish toyes conceiued for their blind-folded credulitie O strange and wonderfull frailetie of men what damnable imperfections domineere ouer their braine-sicke knowledge Sathan thou Prince of darknesse hast so ouer-sylled the dimmed eyes of their wretched soules that notwithstanding Gods eternall word ordained to call them through the spotlesse bloud of Christ Iesus to bee the heires and adopted Sonnes of Saluation yet thou all-abhominable enemy of mankind ouerthrowest both their spirituall and naturall vnderstanding in a bottomelesse Ocean of darke ignorance promising to thy obdurate souldyers to build Castles in the Aire and contrarywise are busie digging downe dungeons to welcome thy hellish eternized guests with horrible torments and neuer-ceasing flames of euerlasting fire What wilfull-hearted man can be so apt to beleeue that our blessed Lady had such estimation of morter and stones as to haue although shee had had power caused Angels to transport a rotten house so often No I say beléeue it who so will questionlesse the iudgements of God in the truth of his all-seeing Iustice shall reward their too credulous minds accordingly Then shall they know their foolish and superstitious errours Leauing this and returning to my purpose I embarked at Ancona in a Frigato And by Accident heere I encountred with a most curteous and discrete Gentleman Iames Arthur whose company was to mee most acceptable our acquaintance being first made at the beginning of the same voyage vpon the Mountaines of Terrara in Burgundy Hee had also beene at Rome and bound to visite Venice in his returning home to his natiue Countrey of North Britaine This Citie of Ancona in the time of Traianus the Emperour flourished mightily in fame and reputation and yet a gallant place to this day Contemnunt omnes Anconae moenia Turcas Along this Adriaticke Coast I saw no remarkeable thing saue the two Citties Rimini and Rauenna which were famous in the daies of Octauius Caesar but now somewhat impouerished in regard of diuers incursions sustained Sayling by the mouth of Rubicon called now Pissatello which Iulius Caesar passed ouer against the ordinance of the Senate and afterward seazed vpon Rome putting Pompeius to flight I saw the place where the bloudy battell was fought betweene the French and Spaniards Anno Domini one thousand fiue hundred and twelue but the victorie fell to the Gaules with the losse of nineteene thousand men on euery side and they haue erected singular Monuments there in a perpetuall memory thereof After three daies sayling hauing passed by Malamucko which is the Hauen of the great Venetian shippes wee arriued at Saint Markes place in Venice Cingitur vrbs Venetum pelago ditissima nummis Venice is a Garden of riches and worldly pleasures the chiefe floure of Common-weales and the perfite mirrour of Ciuill and Politicke Gouernement This sequestrat Citie is scituate in the bosome of Neptune and diuided from the world with a part of his maine body which inuironeth the Iland The prouision of their magnificent Arsenall Artillerie Munition and Armour the diuision of stréets with Channels the innumerable Bridges of Stone and Timber their accustomable kinde of liuing apparell curtesies and conuentions and finally the glory of Gallants Galleries Gallies Galleasses and Gallouns were a thing impossible for me briefly to relate Wherefore since the scituation thereof and the decorements of their beautifull Palaces are so well knowne by the better sort I desist concluding thus this incomparable mansion is the onely Paragon of all Cities in the world In the time of my staying heere I went forth to Lumbardy and visited the famous Cities of Padua Verona and Ferrara The commendation of which
is celebrated in these verses Extollit Paduam iuris studium medicinae Verona humanae dat singula commoda vitae Exhaurit loculos Ferrarea ferrea plenos I commend the deuotion of Venice and Genua beyond all the other Cities in Italy For the Venetians haue banished the Iesuites out of their Territories and Ilands And the Genueses haue abandoned the society of Iewes and exposed them from their iurisdiction The Iewes and the Iesuites are brethren in blasphemies for the Iewes are naturally subtill hatefull auaritious and aboue all the greatest calumniators of Christs name And the ambitious Iesuites are Flatterers Bloudy-gospellers treasonable Tale-tellers and the onely railers vpon the sincere life of good Christians Wherefore I end with this verdict the Iew and the Iesuite is a Pultrone and a Parasite A Description of the Adriaticall and Ionean Ilands how they haue beene first named and now gouerned of Istria Dalmatia Slauonia Epire Peloponnesus and Athens of a Monster borne in Lesina and what dangers befell him in his voyage to Creta AFter 24 dayes attendance and expecting for passage I imbarked in a Carmoesalo being bound to Zara Noua in Dalmatia Scarcely had we lost the sight of Venice but wee incountred with a deadly storme at Seroco è Leuante The maister had no compasse to direct his course neither was hee expert in Nauigation because they vse commonly either on the South or North sides of the Gulfe to hoyse vp sailes at night and against breake of day they haue full sight of land taking their directions from the topped hilles of the maine continent The tempest increasing and the windes contrary wee were constrained to seeke vp for the Port of Parenzo in Istria Istria was first called Giapidia according to Pliny Cato affirmeth that it was Istria of one Isiro but by the moderne writers l'ultima regione di Italia By Ptolomeus it is said to be of length 120 miles and 40 large That part which bordereth with the sea belongeth to the Venetians but the rest within land holdes of the Emperour and the Archduke of Austria The countrey it selfe aboundeth in Cornes Wines and all manner of fruits necessary for humane life Néere to this hauen wherein we lay expecting roome windes I saw the ruines of old Iustinopoli so called of Iustinian the Emperour who builded it vpon an Iland of a miles length three acres broad And to passe betwixt the Citie and the firme land there were seuen bridges made It was anciently strong but now altogether decayed The principall Cities in Istria at this day are these Parenzo Humago Pola Rouigno The winds fauouring vs we weighed anchors and sailed by the Iles Brioni so much estéemed for the fine stones they produce called Istriennes which serue to beautifie the Uenetian Palaces About mid-day I saw Mount di Caldaro on the foot of which the ancient Citie of Pola is situated hauing a harbour wherein small shippes may lie True it is this Port is not much frequented in respect of a contagious Lake neere to it which infecteth the aire with a filthy exhalation I saw hard by this place the ruines of the Castell Di Oriando the Arke triumphant and the reliques of a great Amphitheater This Pola was called by Pliny Iulia pietas and it standeth on the South-east part of Istria Continuing our course wee passed the perilous gulfe of Carnaro and sailed close by the I le Sangego called formerly Illirides This I le is of circuit foure score and of length thirty miles Our fresh water waxing scant and the windes falling out contrary to our expectation we sought in to Valdogosta in the I le of Osero which is a safe hauen for ships and Gallies This Osero was first named Asphorus and then Absirtites of a captaine Absertus who came from Colchos accompanied with many people to bring backe Medeas to his father Acetus Whose purpose being frustrated staied still and inhabited this land as witnesseth Apollonius Rhodius A fit opportunity obtained vpon the eight day we arriued in the roade of Zara in Dalmatia for there the Carmoesalo stayed and I was exposed to séeke passage for Ragusa By the way I recall the great kindnesse of that Dalmatian Master for offering my condition I found him more then courteous and would haue no more but the halfe of that which was his bargaine at Venice Besides this hee also entertained mee three dayes with a most bountifull and kinde acceptance My solitary trauelling he oft bewailed wishing me to desist and neuer attempt such a voyage but I giuing him absolute and constant answeres appeased his imagined sorrow The affable dealing of this stranger made me remember the kindnesse of my aforesaid Countrey-man M. Arthur whose externall shew for that time wee trauelled sociably together gaue me the déepe measure of his internall affection for as man oweth no lesse to his natiue Countrey then what his breath and bloud are worth so I for many weighty considerations and especially for that high respect indeuoured my selfe to the vtmost of my power to attempt this fastidious wandring whereby I might manifest to my natiues that zeale I bore in vndertaking such dangers as it were for that neuer-conquered kingdomes sake leauing him to bee the last witnesse of that innated duety which I did owe vnto my deerest Nation whether I returned or died in my atchieuements I also recall our discontented parting at Venice ingendred diuers languishing conceits which I stroue to mitigate by odde deuised merriments yet notwithstanding could not well expell his melancholy for often at our encontrings before into Italy and France I haue heard him sigh in a most melancholious humour which as I did coniecture was for some loue-sicke passion or some such like male-contentment that had enforced him in pilgrimage two times to crosse the snowy Alpes Zara is the Capitall Citie of Dalmatia called of old Iadara The inhabitants are gouerned by a Camarlingo in the behalfe of Venice the walles whereof are strongly rampired with earth surpassing the toppes of the stone-worke and fortified also with high Bulwarkes and planted Canons on eleuated rampires of earth which are aboue forty cubits higher then the walles and bulwars standing in the foure seuerall corners of the Citie There lie continually in it a great garrison of Soldiers to defend the Towne and Citizens who are maintained by the Duke of Venice for he is Seignior thereof They haue endured many inuasions of the Turkes especially in the yeare 1570 when for the space of fouretéene Moneths they were daily molested and besieged but the victory fell euer to the Christians If the Turkes could winne this place they might easily command the Adriaticall Seas in regard of that faire hauen which is there to receiue Shippes and Gallies which maketh the Venetians not a little fearefull Yet they licentiate the neighbouring Infidels to traffique with them but when they enter the gates they must deliuer their Weapons to the Corporall of the squadron company
the Turkes retired till morning and then were mindefull to giue vs the new rancounter of a second Alarme But as it pleased him who neuer faileth his to send downe an vnresistable tempest about the breake of day we escaped their furious designes and were enforced to seeke into the bay of Largostolo in Cephalonia both because of the violent weather and also for that a great leake was stricken into our ship In this fight there were of vs killed three Italians two Greekes and two Iewes with eleuen others deadly wounded and I also hurt in the right Arme with a small shot But what harme was done by vs amongst the Infidels wee were not assured thereof saue onely this we shot away their middle Mast and the hinder part of the Puppe For the Greekes are not expert Gunners neither could our Harquebusadoes much annoy them in respect they neuer boorded But howsoeuer it was being all disbarked on shore we gaue thankes to the Lord for our vnexpected safety and buried the dead Christians in a Greekish Church-yard and the Iewes were interred by the Sea-side This Bay of Lorgostolo is two miles in length being inuironed with two little Mountaines vpon the one of these two standeth a strong Fortresse which defendeth the passage of the narrow Gulfe It was here that the Christian Gallies assembled in the yeare 1571 when they came to abate the rage of the great Turkes Armado which at that time lay in Peterasso in the firme land of Greece and had made conquest the yeare before of noble Cyprus from the Venetians This I le of Cephalonia was formerly called Ithaca and greatly renowmed because it was the heretable Kingdome of the worthy Vlysses who excelled all other Greekes in eloquence and subtlety of wit Secondly by Strabo it was named Dulichi And thirdly by ancient Authours Cephalonia of Cephalo who was Captaine of the Army of Cleobas Anfrittion The which Anfrittion hauing conquered the Iland gaue it in a gift to Cephalo The Land it selfe is full of Mountaines yet excéeding fertile yeelding Maluasie Muskadine Vino Leatico Raisins Oliues Figges Hony Sweet-water Pine Molbery Date and Chypre-trees and all others forts of fruits in aboundance The commodity of which redounds yearely to the Veneians for they are Signiors thereof Leauing this weather-beaten Carmoesalo laid vp to a full Sea I tooke purpose to trauell through the Iland In the first daies iourney I past by many fine Uillages and pleasant fields especially the vale Alessandro where the Greekes told me their Ancestors were vanquished in battell by the Macedonian Conquerour They also shewed me on the top of Mount Gargasso the ruines of that Temple which had beene of old dedicate to Iupiter And vpon the second day I hired two Fisher-men in a little Boat to carry mee ouer to Zante being twenty fiue miles distant The I le of Zante was called Zachinthus because so was called the son of Dardanus who raigned there And by some Hyria It hath a Citie of a great length bordering along the Sea side and on the top of a Hill aboue the Towne standeth a large and strong Fortresse not vnlike to the Castle of Milaine wherein the Prouiditore dwelleth who gouerneth the Iland This Citie is subiect yearely to fearefull Earth-quakes especially in the months of October and Nouember which oftentimes subuert their houses bringing harme and domage to them This I le produceth good store of Raisin de Corinth commonly called Currance Oliues Pomgranates Cytrones Orenges Lemmons Granadiers and Mellones The Ilanders are Greekes a kind of subtile people and great dissemblers but the Signiory thereof belongeth to Venice And if it were not for that great prouision of Corne which is daily transported from the firme Land of Greece to them the Inhabitants in a short time would famish Bidding farewell to Zante I embarked in a Frigato going to Peterasso in Morca which of old was called Peloponnesus And by the way in the Gulfe Lepanto which diuideth Etolia and Morca The chiefest Citie in Etolia is called Lepanto from thence Westward by the Sea-side is Delphos famous for the Oracle of Apollo wee sayled by the Iles Echinidi but by the Moderne Writers Curzolari where the Christians obtained the victorie against the Turkes for there did they fight after this manner In the yeare 1571 and the sixth of October Iohn Duke of Austria Generall for the Spanish Gallies Marco Antonio Colonna for Pope Pio Quinto and Sebastiano Venieco for the Uenetian Army conuened altogether in Largostolo at Cephalonia hauing of all 208 Gallies sixe Galleasses and fiue and twenty Frigotes After a most resolute deliberation these thrée Generals went with a valiant courage to encounter with the Turkish Armado on the Sunday morning the seuenth of October who in the end through the helpe of Christ obtained a glorious victorie In that fight there was taken and drowned 180. of Turkish Gallies and there escaped about the number of sixe hundred and fifty Shippes Gallies Galeots and other Uessels There was fiftéene thousand Turkes killed and foure thousand taken prisoners and twelue thousand Christians deliuered from their slauish bondage In all the Christians loosed but eleuen Gallies and fiue thousand slaine At their returne to Largostolo after this victorious battell the thrée Generals diuided innumerable spoyles to their well-deseruing Captaines and worthy Souldiers After my arriuall in Peterasso the Metropolitan of Peloponnesus I left the turmoyling dangers of the intricated Iles of the Ionean and Adriaticall Seas and aduised to trauaile in the firme Land of Greece with a Carauan of Greekes that was bound for Athens But before hee admitted mee into his company hee was wonderfull inquisitiue for what cause I trauelled alone and of what Nation I was To whom I soberly excused and discouered my selfe with modest answeares Which pacified his curiosity but not his auaritious minde for vnder a pretended protection he had of mee he extorted the most part of my money from my purse without any regard of conscience In the first second and third daies iournying wee had faire way hard lodging but good cheere and kinde entertaiment for our money But on the fourth day when we entred in the Hilly and barren Country of Arcadia where for a daies iourney we had no village but saw aboundance of Cattell without keepers In this Desart way I beheld many singular Monuments and ruinous Castles whose names I knew not because I had an ignorant guide But this I remember amongst these Rockes my belly was pinched and wearied was my body with the climing of fastidious Mountaines which bred no small griefe to my breast Yet notwithstanding of my distresse the remembrance of those sweete seasoned Songs of Arcadian Shepeheards which pregnant Poets haue so well penned did recreate my fatigated corps with many sugred suppositions These sterile bounds being past wee entred in the Easterne plaine of Morea called aunciently Sparta where that sometimes famous Citie of Lacedemon flourished but now
sacked and the lumps of ruines and memory onely remaines Marching thus we left Modena and Napoli on our right hand toward the Sea-side and on the sixt day at night wee pitched our Tents in the disinhabited Uillages of Argo and Micene from the which vnhappy Helene was rauished Heere I had the ground to be a pillow and the world-wide-fields to bee a Chamber the whirling-windy-skies to bee a roofe to my Winter-blasted lodging and the humide vapours of cold Nocturna to accompany the vnwished-for-bed of my repose In all this Country I could find nothing to answere the famous relations giuen by ancient Authors of the excellency of that Land but the name onely the barbarousnesse of Turkes and Time hauing defaced all the Monuments of Antiquity No shew of honour no habitation of men in an honest fashion nor possessours of the Country in a Principalitie But rather prisoners shut vp in prisons or addicted slaues to cruell and tyrannicall Maisters So deformed is the state of that once worthy Realme and so miserable is the burthen of that afflicted people Which and the apparance of that permanency grieued my heart to behold the sinister working of blind Fortune which alwaies plungeth the most renowmed Champions and their memory in the profoundest pit of all extremities and obliuion Departing from Argo vpon the seuenth day we arriued at Athens Athens is still inhabited standing in the East part of Peloponnesus neere to the Frontiers of Macedon It was first called Cecropia and lastly Athens of Minerua This Citie was the mother and wel-spring of all liberall Artes and Sciences but now altogether decayed The circuit of old Athens hath béen according to the fundamentall walles yet extant about sixe Italian miles but now of no great quantity nor many dwelling houses therein They haue aboundance of all things requisite for the sustenance of humane life of which I had no small proofe for these Athenians or Greekes exceeding kindly banquetted me foure dayes and furnisht me with necessary prouision for my voyage to Creta And also transported me by sea in a Brigandino fréely to Serigo being foure and fortie miles distant After my redounded thankes they hauing returned the contemplation on their curtesies brought me in remembrance how curious the old Athenians were to heare of forraigne newes and with what great regard and estimation they honored trauellers Serigo is an Iland in the sea Cretico it was anciently called Cytherea of Cythero the sonne of Phaenise and of Aristotle Porphyris or Schotera in respect of the fine marble that is got there It is of circuit 60 miles hauing but one Castle called Capsallo which is kept by a Venetian Captaine Here it is said that Venus did first inhabit and I saw the ruines of her demolished Temple on the side of a mountaine yet extant A little more downward below this Temple of Venus are the reliques of that Palace wherein Menelaus did dwell who was King of Sparta and Lord of this I le The Greekes of the I le told mee there were wilde Asses there who had a stone in their heads which was a soueraigne remedy for the falling sicknesse and good to make a woman be quickly deliuered of her birth In the time of my abode at the village of Capsalo being a hauen for small barkes and situate below the Castle the Captaine of that same fortresse kild a Seminary Priest whom he had found in the night with his whoore in a Brothel-house for the which sacrilegious murther the Gouernor of the I le deposed the Captaine and banished him causing a boat to be prepared to send him to Creta O if all the Priests which do commit incest adultery and fornication yea and worse Il peccato carnale contra natura were thus handled and seuerely rewarded what a sea of Sodomiticall irreligious bloud would ouer-flow the halfe of Europe to staine the spotted colour of that Romane Beast Truly and yet more these lasciuious Friers are the very Epicures or off-scourings of the earth for how oft haue I heard them say one to another Allegre allegre mio caro fratello chi ben mangia ben beue c. that is Be cheerful be cheerful deere brother he that eateth wel drinketh wel he that drinketh wel sleepeth wel he that sleepeth wel sinneth not he that sins not goeth straight through Purgatory to Paradice This is all the care of their liuing making their tongues to vtter what their hearts do thus prophanely thinke Ede bibe dormi post mortem nulla voluptas In the aforesaid boate I also embarked with the Captaine and sailed by the I le Serogota Leauing Capo di Spada on our left hand wee arriued at Carabusa with extreame fortune being fiercely pursued by thrée Turkish Galliots A Description of the Kingdome of Creta of his dangers and hard fortunes amongst the Iles Syclades of Thessaly Mecadonia the hill Pernassus Achaia Tenedos Troy Phrygia Colchos Sestos and Abidos the Gulfe of Hellespont and of his voyage to Constantinople THe I le of Candy was called Creta It is a most famous and ancient Kingdome By Moderne Writers it is Quéene of the Iles Mediterrene It had of old a hundred Cities whereof it had the name Hecatompolis but now onely foure Candia Canea Rhethimos and Schythia the rest are but Uillages and Bourges It is of length to wit from Capo Ermico in the West called by Plinie frons arietis and Capo Salomone in the East 240 miles large thréescore and of circuit 650 miles This is the chiefest dominion belonging to the Venetian republicke In euery one of these foure Cities there is a Gouernour and two Counsellors sent from Venice euery two yeares The Countrey is diuided into foure parts vnder the iurisdiction of the foure Cities for the better administration of iustice and they haue a General who commonly remaineth in the Citie of Candy like to a Uiceroy who deposeth or imposeth Magistrates Captaines Souldiers Officers and others whatsoeuer in the behalfe of Saint Marke or Duke of Venice The Venetians detaine continually a strong guard diuided into Companies Squadrons and Garisons in the Cities and Fortresses of the Iland which do extend to the number of twelue thousand Souldiers kept not only for the incursion of Turks but also for feare of the Cretans or inhabitants who would rather if they could render to the Turke then to liue vnder the subiection of Venice This I le produceth the best Maluosey Muscadine and Leaticke that supposedly are in the world It yeeldeth Orenges Lemmons Mellons Cytrons Grenadiers Adams Apples Raisins Oliues Dates Honey Sugar Vua di tre volte and all other kindes of fruit in aboundance But the most part of their Cornes are brought yearely from Archipelago and Greece Thus much of the I le in generall and now in respect of my trauelling two times through the boundes of the whole Kingdom which was neuer before atchieued by any Traueller of Christendome I will as briefly as I can in
in visiting other do not vse to come empty handed neither will they suffer a stranger to depart without both gifts and conuoy Candy is a large and famous Citie situated on a plaine by the sea side hauing a goodly hauen for ships and a faire Arsenall wherein are 36 Gallies It is excéeding strong and daily guarded with 2000 Souldiers and the Walles in compasse are about three leagues Candy is distant from Venice 1300 miles from Constantinople 700. from Famagosta in Cyprus 600. from Alexandria in Egypt 500. and from the Citie of Ierusalem 900 miles The Candeots through all the Iland make muster euery eighth day before the Sergeant-Maiors or Officers of the Generall and are well prouided with all sorts of Armour yea and the most valourous people that hight the name of Greekes It was told me by the Rector of Candy that they may raise in Armes of the inhabitants not reckoning the Garrisons aboue sixtie thousand men all able for warres with 54 Gallies and 24 Galleots for the sea In all my trauels through this Realme I neuer could sée a Greek come forth of his house vnarmed and after such a martiall manner that one his head he weareth a bare stéele Cap a Bow in his hand a long sword by his side a broad ponyard ouerthwart his belly and a round target hanging at his girdle They are not costly in apparrell for they were but linnen cloathes and vse no shooes but Bootes of white leather by nature they are crafty and subtill as Paul mentioneth Titus 1.12 Their haruest is our Spring for they manure the ground and sow the séed in October which is reaped in March and Aprill Being frustrate of my intention at Candy I was forced to returne to Canea where I staied 25 dayes before I could get passage for I purposed to view Constantinople I trauelled on foot in this I le more then 400 miles and vpon the 50 day after my first comming to Carabusa I embarked in a fisher-boat that belonged to Milo being a hundred miles distant which had beene violently driuen thither with stormy weather Milo was called by Aristotle Melada and by others Mimalida Melos And lastly Milo because of the fine Mill-stones that are got there which are transported to Constantinople Greece and Natolia This I le is one of the Iles Cyclades or Sporades but more commonly Archipelago or the Arch-ilands and standeth in the beginning of the Aegean sea The inhabitants are Greekes but slaues to the Turke and so are all the 53 Iles of the Cyclades saue onely Tino which holdeth of the Venetians From Milo I came to Zephano an Iland of circuit about twenty miles The inhabitants are poore yet kind people There are an infinite number of Partridges within this I le of a reddish colour and bigger then ours in Britaine they are wilde and onely kild by small shot but I haue seene in other Ilands flockes of them feeding in the fields and vsually kept by children some others I haue seene in the stréetes of villages without any kéeper euen as Hennes do with vs. I saw fountains here that naturally yéeld fine oyle which is the greatest aduantage the Ilanders haue From thence I embarked and arriued at Angusa in Parir This I le is forty miles long and six miles broad being plentifull enough in all necessary things for the vse of of man In Angusa I stayed 16 dayes storme-sted with Northerly windes and in all that time I neuer came in bed for my lodging was in a little Church without the village on hard stones where I also had a fire and dressed my meate The Greekes visited me oftentimes and intreated me aboue all things I should not enter within the bounds of their Sanctuary because I was not of their Religion These miserable Ilanders are a kinde of silly poore people which in their behauiour shewed the necessity they had to liue rather then any pleasure in their liuing From thence I arriued in the I le of Mecano where I but onely dined so set forward to Zea. Zea was so called of Zeo the son of Phebo and of some Tetrapoli because of the foure Citties that were there of old Symonides the Poet and Eristato the excellent Physition were borne in it The next I le of any note wee touched at was Tino This Iland is vnder the Signorie of Venice and was sometimes beautified with the Temple of Neptune By Aristotle it was Idrusa of Demosthenes and Eschines Erusea It hath an impregnable Castle builded on the top of a high Rocke so that the Turkes by no meanes can conquer it From this I le I came to Palmosa sometime Pathmos which is a Mountanous and barren Iland It was heere that Saint Iohn wrote the Reuelation after hée was banished by Domitianus the Emperour Thence I embarked to Nicaria and sailed by the I le Scyro which of old was the Signory of Licomedes and in the habit of a woman was Achilles brought vp heere who in that time begot Pyrhus vpon Deidamia the daughter of Licomedes and where the crafty Vlysses did discouer this fatall Prince to Troy As we fetched vp the sight of Nicaria wee espied two Turkish Galleots who gaue vs the Chace and pursued vs straight vnto a bay betwixt two Mountaines where we left the loaded Boat and fled to the Rockes But in our flying the Maister was taken and other two old men whom they made captiues and slaues and also seized vpon the Boat and all their goods The number that escaped were nine persons This Ile Nicaria was anciently called Doliche and Ithiosa and is somewhat barren hauing no Sea-port at all It was heere the Poets feigned that Icarus the son of Dedalus fell when as hee took flight from Creta with his borrowed wings of whom it hath the name Expecting certaine daies heere in a vilage called Lephantos for passage to Sio at last I found a Brigandino bound thither that was come from the fruitfull I le of Stalimene of old Lemnos wherein I embarked and sailed by the I le Samos which is opposite to Caria in Asia Minor It is of circuit one hundred and sixty and of length forty miles It was of old named Driâ—sa and Melanphilo in which was Phythagoras the Phylospher and Lycaon the excellent Musitien borne As wee left the I le Veneco on our left hand and entred in the Gulfe betweene Sio and Eolida there fell downe a deadly storme at the Greco è Leuante which split our Mast carrying Sailes and all ouer-board Whereupon euery man looked as it were with the stampe of death in his pale visage The Tempest continuing our Boat not being able to keepe the Seas we were constrained to seeke into a creeke betwixt two Rockes for safety of our liues where when wee entred there was no likely-hood of reliefe for wee had a shelfie shore and giuing ground to the Ankors they came both home The sorrowfull Maister seeing nothing but shipwracke
one part there is a bridge that passeth betwéene the I le and the maine continent and vnder it runneth a marueilous swift current or tyde Within halfe a mile of the bridge I saw a Marble columne standing on the top of a little rocke whence as the Ilanders told mee Aristotle leaped in and drowned himselfe after that he could not conceiue the reason why this Channell so ebbed and flowed This I le bringeth forth in aboundance all things requisite for humane life and decored with many goodly Uillages From thence I arriued at a Towne in Macedonia called Salonica but of old Thessalonica where I staied fiue daies and was much made of by the Inhabitants It is a Citie full of rich commodities and is the principall place of Thessaly which is a place of Macedon together with Achaia and Myrmedon which are the other two Prouinces of the same There is an Uniuersity of the Iewes heere who professe onely the Hebrew tongue About this Citie is the most fertile Country in all Greece Greece of all the Kingdomes in Europe hath beene most famous and highly renowmed for many notable respects It was first called Helles next Grecia of Grecus who was once King thereof The Greekes of all other Gentiles were the first conuerted Christians and are wonderfull deuout in their professed Religion The Priests weare the haire of their heads hanging ouer their shoulders Those that bee the most sincere Religious men abstaine alwaies from eating of flesh contenting themselues with water herbes and bread They differ much in ceremonies and Principles of Religion from the Papists and the Computation of their Kalender is as ours They haue foure Patriarkes who gouerne the affaires of their Church and also any ciuill dissentions which happen amongst them viz. one in Constantinople another in Antiochia the third in Alexandria and the fourth in Ierusalem It is not néedfull for mee to penetrate further in the condition of their estate because it is no part of my intent in this Treatise In Salonica I found a Germe bound for Tenedos in the which I embarked As we sayled along the Thessalonian shoare I saw the two topped Hill Pernassus where it was said the nine Muses haunted but as for the Fountaine Helicon I leaue that to be searched and seene by the imagination of Poets For if it had béene obiected to my sight like an insatiable drunkard I should haue drunke vp the streames of Poesie to haue enlarged my poore Poeticall veine The Mountaine it selfe is somewhat steepe and sterile especially the two toppes the one whereof is dry and sandy signifying that Poets are alwaies poore and needy The other toppe is barren and rocky resembling the ingratitude of wretched and niggardly Patrones the vale betweene the toppes is pleasant and profitable denoting the fruitfull and delightfull soyle which painefull Poets the Muses Plow-men so industriously manure A little more Eastward as wee fetcht vp the Coast of Achaia the Maister of the Uessell shewed mee a ruinous Uillage and Castle where hee said the admired Citie of Thebes had beene Upon the third day from Salonica wee arriued in the roade of Tenedos which is an Iland in the Sea Pontus or Propontis It hath a Citie called Tenedos built by Tenes which is a gallant place hauing a Castle and a faire Hauen for all sorts of Uessels It produceth good store of Wines and the best supposed to bee in all the South-east parts of Europe The Iland is not big but exceeding fertile lying thrée miles from the place where Troy stood as Virgill reported Aenid 2. Est in conspectu Tenedos notissima fama insula In Tenedos I met by accident two French Merchants of Marseills intending for Constantinople who had lost their ship at Sio when they were busie at venereall tilting with their new elected Mistresses and for a second remedy were glad to come thither in a Turkish Carmoesalo The like of this I haue séene fall out with Sea-faring men Merchants and Passengers who buy sometimes their too much folly with too déere a repentance They and I resoluing to view Troy did hire a Ianisarie to bee our conductor and protector and a Greeke to be our Interpreter Where when we landed wee saw heere and there many relicts of old walles as wee trauelled through these famous bounds And as we were aduanced toward the East part of Troy our Greek brought vs to many Toombes which were mighty ruinous and pointed vs particularly to the Toombes of Hector Aiax Achilles Troylus and many other valiant Champions with the Toombs also of Hecuba Cresseid and other Troian Dames Well I wot I saw infinite old Sepulchres but for their particular names and nomination of them I suspend neither could I beléeue my Interpreter sith it is more then thrée thousand and odde yeares ago that Troy was destroyed He shewed vs also the ruines of King Priams palace and where Anchises the father of Aeneas dwelt At the North-east corner of Troy which is in sight of the Castles of Hellesponte there is a gate yet standing and a péece of a reasonable high wall vpon which I found thrée péeces of rusted money which afterward I gaue to the two yonger brethren of the Duke of Florence Where the pride of Phrygia stood it is a most delectable plaine abounding now in cornes fruites and wines and may be called the garden of Natolia yet not populous for there are but onely fiue scattered Uillages in all that bounds The length of Troy hath béene as may bee discerned by the fundamentall walles yet extant about twenty miles the ruines of which are come to that Poeticall Prouerbe Nunc seges est vbi Troia fuit Leauing the fields of noble Ilium wee crossed the Riuer of Simois and dyned at a Uillage named Extetash I remember discharging one couenant with the Ianisary who was not contented with the former condition the Frenchmen making obstacle to pay that which I had giuen the wrathfull Ianisary be laboured them both with a cudgel till the bloud sprung from their heads and compelled them to double his wages This is one true note to a Traueller whereof I had the full experience afterward that if hee can not make his owne part good hee must alwaies at the first motion content these rascals otherwise he wil be constrained doubtlesse with strokes to giue twice as much for they make no account of conscience nor ruled by the law of compassion neither regard they a Christian more then a dogge but whatsoeuer extortion or iniurie they vse against him he must be French-like contented bowing his head and making a counterfet shew of thankes and happy too oftentimes if so he escape Hence wee arriued at the Castles called of old Sestos and Abydos which are two Fortresses opposite to other the one in Europe the other in Asia being a mile distant They stand at the beginning of Hellesponte and were also cognominate the Castles of Hero and Leander which
a rasour whereupon those who haue not committed hainous offences may passe ouer to hell but those who haue done buggery as the most part of them do and homicide shall fall headlong from it to the profoundest pit in Hell where they shall sometimes burne in fire and sometimes be cast into hote boyling water to be refreshed And for the greater punishment of the wicked say they God hath planted a trie in Hell named Saiaratash or Roozo Saytanah that is the head of the Deuill vpon the fruit of which the damned continually feed Mahomet in one of the chapters of his Alcoran calleth this trie The trie of Malediction They also thinke the tormented soules may one day bee saued prouiding they doe indure the scorching flames of Hell patiently Thus as briefly as I could haue I laid open the opinion of the Turkes concerning their Hell and Heauen before the eyes of these who peraduenture haue neuer beene acquainted with such a Ghostly Discourse The originall of the Turkes is said to haue béene in Scythia from whence they came to Arabia Petrea and giuing battell oft to the Sarazens in the end subdued them and so they multiplyed and mightily increased the apparence of their further increasing is very euident except God of his mercy towards vs preuent their bloud-sucking threatnings with the vengeance of his iust iudgements The Sarazens are descended of Esau who after he had lost the blessing went and inhabited in Arabia Petrea and his posterity striuing to make a cléere distinction betweene them the Ismalites and Iewes called themselues as come of Sara Sarazens and not of Hagar the handmaid of Abraham of whom came the Ismaelites neither of the race of Iacob of whom came the Iewes But now the Sarazens being ioyned with the Turkes their Conquerours haue both lost their name and the right of their descent The puissance of the great Turke is admirable yet the most part of his Kingdomes in Asia are not well inhabited neither populous but these parts which border with Christians are strongly fortified with Castles People and Munition If Christian Princes could concord and consult together it were a easie thing in one yeare to subdue the Turkes and roote out their very names from the earth yea moreouer I am certified that there are more Christians euen slaues and subiects to the great Turke which doe inhabite his Dominions then might ouerthrow and conquer these Infidels if they had worthy Captaines Gouernours and furniture of Armes without the helpe of any Christian of Christendome Amongst the Turkes there is no Gentility nor Nobility but are all as ignoble and inferiour members to one maine body the great Turke lineally descended from the house of Ottoman whose magnificence puissance and power is such that the most eloquent tongue cannot sufficiently declare his thousands of Ianisaries Shouses and others daily attending him his hundreds besides his Quéene of Concubines hourly maintained by him his Armies Bashaws Garrisons and forces here and there dispersed amongst his dominions would bee impossible for me briefly to relate The inhumane policy of the Turkes to auoyd ciuill dissention is such that the seed of Ottoman al except one of them are strangled to death wherefore as Augustus Cesar said of Herod in the like case It is better to bee the great Turkes dogge then his sonne His daughters or sisters are not so vsed but are giuen in marriage to any Bashaw whom so they affect yet with this condition the King saith to his daughter or sister I giue thée this man to be at all times thy slaue and if he offend thée in any case or bee disobedient to thy will here I giue thée a dagger to cut off his head which alwayes they weare by their sides for the same purpose The Persians differ much from the Turkes in nobility humanity and actiuity and especially in poynts of religion who by contention thinke each other accursed and notwithstanding both factions are vnder the Mahometanicall Law Neither are the sonnes of the Persian Kings so barbarously handled as theirs for all the brethren one excepted are onely made blinde wanting their eyes and are alwayes afterward gallantly maintained like Princes And it hath oftentimes fallen out that some of these Kings dying without procreate heires there haue of these blinde sonnes succéeded to the Empire who haue restored againe the séed of that royall family A Description of his Trauels into Asia Maior Cyprus and the Carpathian Iles the reason why he was disappoynted of his purpose being so neere Babylon of the beauty of Damascus of the nature of Arabians and of his returne to Ierusalem DEparting from Constantinople I came to Cenchrea being 300 miles distant where S. Paul cut his haire after his vow was performed Act. 18.18 From thence I went to Smyrna in Carmania a famous Kingdome in Asia the lesser This Citty was one of the seuen Churches mentioned Reuel 2.8 It is a goodly place hauing a faire hauen for shippes they haue great Trafficke with all Nations especially for the fine Silke Cotten-wooll and Dimmetie brought to it by the Country Peasants which strangers buy from them Truely neere vnto this Citie I saw such a long continuing Plaine abounding in Corne Wines all sorts of fruitfull Herbage and so infinitely peopled that me thought Nature séemed with the peoples industry to contend the one by propagating creatures the other by admirable agriculture Thiatyra now called Tiria one also of the seuen Churches is not farre hence From this Citie I embarked in a Turkish Carmoesalo bound for Rhodes In our sayling along the coast of Asia Minor the first place of any note I saw was the ruinous Citie of Ephesus yet somewhat inhabited and pleasantly adorned with Gardens faire Fields and gréene Woods of Oliue trées which on the sea doe yeeld a delectable prospect It was one of the seuen Churches Reuel 2.1 Ouer-against this Citie is the I le of Lango anciently called Coos wherein the great Hippocrates was borne and Apelles the most excellent Painter It is both fertile and populous and of circuit about foure score miles There is a kind of Serpent said to be in it so friendly vnto the inhabitants that when the men are sleeping vnder the shadow of trees they come crawling and will linke or claspe themselues about their neckes and bodies without doing any harme neither when they awake are the beasts afraide And néere to Lango is the Ile Nixa of old Strangoli and by some Dionisa and Naxus an Iland both fruitfull and delightfull As we failed by the West part of the I le a Greeke passenger shewed me the place where as hee said Ariadne was deceiued of Theseus which is not farre from the irriguate plaine of Darmille Continuing our nauigation I saw a little Ile called Ephdosh where the Turkes told me that all the Ilanders were naturally good swimmers paying no more tribute to their great Lord the Turke saue onely once in the yeare there
are certaine men and women chosen by a Turkish Captaine who must swimme a whole league out-right in the sea and goe downe to the bottome of the waters to fetch thence some token they haue got ground And if they shall happen to faile in this the Iland will bee reduced againe to pay him yearely rent This I saw with mine eyes whiles we being calmed there came a man and two women swimming to vs more then a mile of way carrying with them dry aboue the water baskets of fruit to sell the which made me not a little to wonder Contenting them for their ware vpon the ninth day after our departure from Smyrna wee arriued at the Citie of Rhodes so called of the Iland wherein it standeth Rhodes lieth the Carpathian sea It was of old called Ithrea Telchino and Phiula Plinie saith it was called Rhodes because there were certaine fieldes of roses in it for Rhodes in the Greeke tongue signifieth a floure Not farre from the Citie I saw the reliques of that huge and admiredly-erected Idell named Colossus from the which Saint Paul tearmed the inhabitants Colossians It was builded by the worthy Canete Lindo others haue said of Callasses the disciple of Lisippus taking the name Colossus of him and it was thought worthy to bee one of the seuen earthly wonders and so it might iustly haue béene The quantitie whereof as yet may amaze the minde of the beholder This I le belonged once to the Knights of Malta and were then surnamed Knights of the Rhodes but they came first out of Acre in the Holy Land who were called Knights of Saint Iohn The Citie hath two strong Fortresses in one of which these Knights who were about fiue hundred onely and fiue thousand Rhodians who assisted them were besieged with an Army of two hundred thousand Turkes and three hundred Gallies for the space of sixe moneths The chiefe obstacle and impeaching of so great an Army from taking it was onely the resolute valour of the defendants But in the end the Caualieri di Rhodo wanting furniture to their munition and being penurious of victuals were constrained to render vpon the conditionall safety of their liues goods and transportation and remained a long time without any habitation till the King of Spaine gaue thē the barren I le of Malta to inhabite This I le of Rhodes was lost by the Maltazes Anno Dom. 1522. and euer since is in the fruition of Turks The Fortresse of Rhodes and that Fortresse of Famagosta in Cyprus are the two strongest holds in all the Empire of the great Turke After I had contented the Master for my fraught and victuals who as he was an Infidell vsed me with an extraordinary exaction I found a Barke of the Arches purposed to Cyprus with the which I embarked being 400. miles distant Hauing past the gulfe of Sattelia we boorded close along the firme land of fruitfull Pamphilia and on the fifth day thereafter wee fetched vp the coast of Cilicia sustaining many great dangers both of tempestuous stormes and inuasions of damnable Pirates Twelue dayes was I betwéene Rhodes and Limisso in Cyprus where arriued I receiued more gracious demonstrations from the Ilanders then I could hope for or wish being farre beyond my merit or expectation onely contenting my curiosity with a quiet minde I redounded thankes for my embraced curtesies The second day after my arriuall I tooke with me an Interpreter and went to sée Nicosia which is placed in the midst of the kingdome But in my iourney thither extreame was heate and thirst I endured both in respect of the season and also want of water And although I had with me sufficiency of wine yet durst I drinke none thereof being so strong and withall hath a taste of pitch and that is because they haue no barrels but great Iarres made of earth wherein their wine is put Nicosia is the principall Citie of Cyprus is inuironed with mountaines like vnto Florence in Aetruria wherein the Uizier Bashaw remaineth The second is Famagosta the chiefe strength and sea-port in it Selina Lemisso Paphos and Fontana Morosa are the other foure speciall Townes in the Iland This I le of Cyprus was of old called Achametide Amatusa and by some Machara It is of length 210 and large 60. and of circuit 600 miles In this I le was Venus greatly honored It yéeldeth infinite Canes of Sugar strong Wines and Cotten-wooll besides all other sorts of fruit in abundance The Dukes of Sauoy were once kings of Cyprus but the inhabitants vsurping authority elected kings to themselues of their owne generation so it continued till the last king of Cyprus marrying the daughter of a Venetian died without children the Venetians taking the opportunity of time brought home his wife to Venice and sent Gouernors there to beare the sway in their behalfe It was vnder their iurisdiction 120 yeares more till that the Turks who euer oppose themselues against Christians finding a fit occasion in the time of peace and without suspition in the Venetians tooke it in with a great Armado in the yeare 1570. and so till this day by them is detained Oh great pitty that the vsurpers of Gods word and the worlds great enemy should maintaine without feare that famous kingdome being but 1500 Turkes in all who are the keepers of it vnspeakeable is the calamity of that poore afflicted Christian people vnder the terrour of these Infidels who would if they had Armes or assistance of any Christian Potentate easily subuert and abolish the Turks without any disturbance yea and would render the whole Signiory thereof to such a noble Actor I doe not see in that small iudgement which by experience I haue got but the redemption of that Countrey were most facile if that the generous heart of any Christian Prince would be moued with condigne compassion to relieue the miserable afflicted inhabitants In which worke he should reape questionlesse not onely an infinite treasure of worldly commodities that followeth vpon so great a Conquest but also a heauenly and eternall reward of immortall glory The which deliuerance the Duke of Florence thought to haue accomplished hauing purchased the good will of the Ilanders with fiue Gallounes and fiue thousand Souldiers who being mindfull to take first in the Fortresse of Famagosta directed so their course that in the night they should haue entred the Hauen dis-barke their men and scale the walles But in this plot they were farre disappointed by an vnhappy Pilot of the Uice-Admirall who mistaking the Port went into a wrong Bay which the Florentines considering resolued to returne and kéepe the sea till the second night but by a dead calme they were frustrated of their aimes and on the morrow discouered by the Castle whereupon the Turkes went presently to Armes and charged the Inhabitants to come defend that place But about foure hundred Greekes in the West part at Paphos rebelled thinking that
time had altered their hard fortunes by a new change but were they preuented and euery one cut off by the bloudy hands of the Turkes This massacre was committed in the yeare 1607. Such alwayes are the torturing flames of Fortunes smiles that he who most affecteth her she most and altogether deceiueth But they who trust in the Lord shall be as stable as Mount Sion which cannot be remoued and questionlesse one day God in his all-eternall mercy will relieue their miseries and in his iust iudgements recompence these bloudy oppressors with the heauy vengeance of his all-séeing iustice In my returne from Nicosia to Famagosta with my Trouchman we encountred by the way with foure Turkes who néedes would haue my horse to ride vpon which my Interpreter refused But they in a reuenge pulled me by the héeles from the horse backe beating me most pittifully and left me almost for dead In this meane while my companion fled and escaped the sceleratenesse of their hands and if it had not beene for some compassionable Greekes who by accident came by and relieued me I had doubtlesse immediatly perished From Famagosta I imbarked in a Germe and arriued at Tripoly Tripoly is a Citie in Siria standing a mile from the marine side néere to the foote of Mount Libanus since it hath béene first founded it hath thrée times béene situated and remoued in thrée sundry places First it was ouerwhelmed with water Secondly it was sacked with Cursares and Pirates Thirdly it is now like to be ouerthrowne with new made mountaines of sand There is no Hauen by many miles neere vnto it but a dangerous rode where often when Northerly winds blow ships are cast away The great trafficke which now is at this place was formerly at Scanderona a little more Eastward but by reason of the infectious aire that corrupteth the bloud of strangers procéeding of two high mountaines who are supposed to bee part of mount Caucasus which with-hold the prospect of the Sunne from the In-dwellers more then thrée houres in the morning So that in my knowledge I haue knowne dye in one ship and a moneths time twenty Mariners for this cause the Christian Shippes were glad to haue their commodities brought to Tripoly which is a more wholsome and conuenient place The daily interrogation I had here for a Carauans departure to Aleppo was not to me a little fastidious being mindfull to visite Babylon In this my expectation I tooke purpose with thrée Venetian Marchants to go sée the Cedars of Libanon which was but a dayes iourney thither As we ascended vpon the mountaine our ignorant guide mistaking the way brought vs in a labyrinth of dangers insomuch that wrestling amongst intricate paths of rocks two of our Asses fell ouer a banke and brake their neckes And if it had not beene for a Christian Amaronite who accidentally encountred with vs in our wilsum wandring we had béen miserably lost both in regard of rockes and heapes of snow we passed and also of great torrents which fell downe with force from the steepy toppes wherein one of these Marchants was twice almost drowned When we arriued to the place where the Cedars grew we saw but 24 of all growing after the manner of Oke trées but a great deale taller straighter and greater and the branches grow so straight out as though they were kept by Art Although that in the dayes of Salomon this mountaine was ouer-clad with forrests of Cedars yet now there are but onely these and 9 miles Westward thence 17 more The nature of that tree is alwaies gréene yéelding an odoriferous smell and an excellent kind of fruit like vnto Apples but of a swéeter taste more wholesome in digestion The roots of some of these Cedars are almost destroyed by shepheards who haue made fires thereat and holes wherein they sléepe yet neuerthelesse they flourish gréene aboue in the toppes and branches The length of this mountaine is about fortie miles reaching from the West to the East and continually Summer and Winter reserueth snow on the toppes It is also beautified with all the ornaments of nature as herbage tillage pastorage fructiferous trées fine fountaines good Cornes and absolutely the best wine that is bred on the earth The Signior thereof is a free-holder by birth a Turk and will not acknowledge any superior but the most part of the inhabited Uillages are Christians called Amaronites or Nostranes quasi Nazaritans and are gouerned by their owne Patriarke There are none at this day do speake the Syriack tongue saue onely these people of Mount Libanus in that Language the Alcoran of Mahomet is written The kind Amaronite whom we met and tooke with vs for our best guide in descending from the Cedars shewed vs many caues and holes in rockes where Coliers religious Sirens and Amaronites abide Amongst these austere Cottages I saw a faire Toombe all of one stone being seuentéene foote of length which as he said was the sepulchre of the valiant Ioshua who conducted the people of Israel in the land of promise The Mahometans esteeme this to bee a holy place and many resort to it in pilgrimage to offer vp their Satanicall prayers to Mahomet I saw vpon this Mountaine a sort of fruit called Amazza franchi that is the death of Christians because when Italians or others of Europe eate any quantity thereof they presently fall into the bloudy fluxes or else ingender some other pestilentious feuer whereof they die The Patriarke did most kindly entertaine vs at his house so did also all the Amaronites of the other Uillages who met vs in our way before we came to their Townes and brought presents with them of Bread Wine Figges Oliues Sallats Capons Egges and such like as they could on a suddaine prouide About the Uillage of Eden is the most fruitfull part of all Libanus abounding in all sorts of delitious fruites True it is the variety of these things maketh the silly people thinke the Garden of Eden was there By which allegeance they approue the apprehension of such a sinistrous opinion with these arguments that Mount Libanus is sequestrate from the circum-iacent Regions and is inuincible for the height and strengths they haue in rockes that Eden was still re-edified by the fugitiue inhabitants when their enemies had ransacked it Also they affirme before the deluge it was so nominate and after the floud it was repaired againe by Iaphet the sonne of Noah who builded Ioppa or Iaphta in Palestina Loe these are the reasons they show strangers for such like informations There are with this one other two supposed places of this earthly Paradise the one is by the Turkes and some ignorant Georgians holden to bee at Damascus for the beauty of faire fields gardens and excellent fruites there especially for the trée called Mouslee which they beléeue hath growne there since the beginning of the world Indéed it is a rare and singular Tree for I saw it at Damascus
But when they know how to make any gaine by strangers O what a dissimulate ostentation shall appeare in these detestable villaines About two of the clocke in the after-noone wee arriued at Berah called of old Beersheba being eleuen miles distant from Ierusalem Hauing a little reposed we embraced our mountainous way as cheerefully as we could for we were excéeding faint and trauelled that day aboue three and forty miles whereby we might arriue at Ierusalem before the gates were shut sustaining drouth heate hunger and not a few other inconueniences At last we beheld the prospect of Ierusalem which was not onely a contentment to my wearied body but also being rauished with a kind of vnwonted reioycing the teares gushed from mine eies for too much ioy In this time the Armenians began to sing in their owne fashion Psalmes to praise the Lord and I also sung the 103 Psalme all the way till we arriued neere the walles of the Citie where wee ceased from our singing for feare of the Turkes The Sunne being passed to his nightly repose before our arriuall wee found the gates locked and the Keyes carryed vp to the Bashaw in the Castle which bred a common sorrow in the company being all both hungry and weary yet the Carauan entreated earnestly the Turkes within to giue vs ouer the walles some victuals for our money shewing heauily the necessity wee had thereof but they would not neither durst attempt such a thing In this time the Guardian of the Monastery of Cordeleirs who remaineth there to receiue Trauellers of Christendome hauing got newes of our arriuing came and demanded of the Carauan if any Franks of Europe were in his society And he said onely one Then the Guardiano called mee and asked mee of what Nation I was and when I told him he seemed to bee exceeding glad yet sorrowfull for our misfortune He hauing knowing my distresse returned and sent two Friers to mee with bread wine and fishes which they let ouer the wall as they thought in a secret place but they were espied and on the morrow the Guardiano payed to the Bashaw a great fine otherwise he had béene beheaded for the Turkes alledged he had taken in munition from the Christians to betray the Citie This they do oft for a lesser fault then that was onely to get bribes and money from the Grey Friers Aprill the foureteenth day vpon Palme-sunday in the morning we entred into Ierusalem and at the gate wee were particularly searched to the effect wee carried in no furniture of Armes nor poulder with vs and the Armenians notwithstanding they are slaues to Turkes behoued to render their weapons to the Keepers such is the feare they haue of Christians The gates of the Citie are of yron outwardly and aboue each gate are brasen Ordinance planted for their owne defence Hauing taken my leaue of the Carauan and the company who went to lodge with their owne Patriarke I kept my way to the aforesaid Monastery and at the entry of the house the whole Friers met me receiuing me ioyfully and reioyced that a Christian had come from such a farre Countrey to visit Ierusalem I found here ten Franks newly come from Christendome and nine others which dwelt in Syria and Cyprus who were all glad of me shewing thesemlues so kind so carefull so louing and so honourable in all respects that they were as kinde Gentlemen as euer I met withall such is the loue of strangers when they méet in forraigne Countries they had also in high respect the aduentures of my trauell beyond Ierusalem troubling me all the while we were together to tell them newes and were alwaies in admiration that I had no fellow-pilgrime in my long peregrination A Description of Ierusalem and the memorable things he saw there and in Iudea of the Holy Graue Sodome and Gomorha Iordan the Desarts Grand Cayro Egypt the Riuer Nylus and of his returne to Christendome IERUSALEM is now called by the Turkes Kuddish which signifieth in their Language a Holy Citie It was first called Moriah of Moria one of the seuen heads of Sion where Abraham would haue sacrificed Isaac Genesis 22.2 and vpon his offring it was called Ierusalem Gen. 14.18 It was also named Salem where Sem and Melchisedech dwelt and Ierusalem was also callled Iebus 2. Sam. 24.16 And it is the place where Salomon was commanded to build the Temple 2. Chron. 3.1 which afterward was termed Heiron Salomonis whence came by corruption that word Hierosolyma Dauid also in his Psalmes gaue it diuers names Ierusalem standeth in the same place where old Ierusalem stood but not so populous neither in each respect of bredth or length so spacious for on the South side of Ierusalem a great part of Mount Syon is left without which was anciently the heart of the old Citie and they haue taken on the North side now both Mount Caluarie and the holy Graue within the walles which were built by Sultan Selim So that thereby the difference of the situation is not so great though a part thereof be remoued but a man may boldly affirme that the most part of this Citie is builded on that place where the first Ierusalem was As may truely appeare and is made manifest by these Mountaines mentioned in the Scriptures whereupon Ierusalem is both situate and inuironed about who reserue their names to this day and are still seene and knowne by the same as Mount Syon Mount Caluarie Mount Moriah and Mount Oliuet The forme of the situation of Ierusalem is now like to a Hart or Triangle the one point whereof looketh East extending downeward almost to the valley of Iehosaphat which diuideth Ierusalem and Mount Oliuet The second head of point bendeth out South-west vpon Syon bordering néere to the Ualley of Gehinnon The third corner lyeth on Mount Moriah toward the North and by-West hauing the prospect to the buriall place of the Kings of Israel The walles are high and strongly builded with Saxo quadrato which adorne Ierusalem more then any thing within it the holy Graue excepted It is of circuite about thrée miles and a halfe of our measure As touching the former glory of this Citie I will not meddle withall nor yet describe sith the Scriptures so amply manifest the same and concerning the lamentable destruction of it I referre that to the famous Historiographer Iosephus who largely discourseth of many hundred thousands famished and put to the sword within this multi-potent Citie by Vespasian and Titus his sonne being the messengers of Gods iust iudgements which by his computation amount beyond the number of eleuen hundred thousands This Citie hath béene oft conquered by enemies first by Nebuchodonosor the Assyrian King Secondly by the Greekes and Alexander the Great and also maruellously afflicted by Antiochus Thirdly it was taken in by Pompeius Fourthly destroyed of Vespasian and Titus Fiftly it was re-edifyed by Adrian the Emperrour and wonne againe by Gosdroes the Persian King Sixthly
lying wonders these flattering Friers bring strangers into a wonderfull admiration and although I rehearse all I saw there yet I will not beléeue all onely publishing them as things indifferent some whereof are friuolous and other somewhat more credible but as I said before I will make no or very small distinction in the relation From thence we came without the Easterne gate vnto an immoueable stone vpon the which they said S. Stephen was stoned to death and néere to that we saw Porta aurea that is the golden port called in former times the beautifull Gate of the Temple which the Turkes haue filled vp with stones because of a Prophesie viz. That the Citie was once wonne there and shall bee wonne againe at the same place As we returned to the Couent they brought vs to mount Moriah and shewed vs the place where Abraham offered vp Isaac which is in the custody of Nigroes or Aethiopians Next the place where Iesus said Daughters of Ierusalem mourne not for me c. And néere vnto this where the virgin Mary fell into an agony when Iesus passed by carrying his Crosse. Also not facre hence we beheld the place where as they say Iesus said Mother behold thy Sonne Ascending more vpward they shewed vs the house of Veronica Sancta and said that our Sauiour going by her doore all in a sweate to mount Caluary she brought him a napkin to wipe his face which he receiued and gaue it her againe in which say they the print of his face remaineth to this day and is to be séene at Rome It is also said to be in a Towne in Spaine wherefore I beléeue the one as well as the other As touching the Temple of Salomon which was destroyed there is another great Temple builded in the same place reserued by Turkes for that affection they carry to Salomon néere the which no Christian may come vnder the paine of loosing his head These are all the monuments which in one day I saw within Ierusalem but as for Mount Caluary and the Holy Graue I saw them afterward which in their owne place shall be orderly touched As we were spending that day in these sights the Guardian had prepared an hundred Souldiers sixty Horsmen and forty foot-men to take with him the day following for his conduction to Iordan and the Mountaine in the Wildernesse whore Christ fasted which is his vsuall custome once euery yeare betwéene Palme-sunday and Easter returning againe before Good-Friday These places cannot be viewed saue onely at that time neither may a Pilgrime goe along with the Souldiers vnlesse hee giue the value of seuen French Crownes as a propyne vnto the Lieuetenant that same night after supper the Guardian demanded of vs Trauellers if we would go with him to sée these memorable and singular things vpon the former condition To whom we answered in a generall consent Wée would Early vpon Tuesday morning being all of vs both Friers and Pilgrimes well mounted and Mulets laden for our prouision wee departed from the Citie with our Souldiers and trauelled all that day through a barren and desart Countrey till sun-setting where wee reposed by a standing well till an houre within night After that the Captaine had cried Catethlanga that is march away wee set forward being well guarded round about with our kéepers because we entred into a dangerous way In all this deformed Countrey we saw neither house nor village for it is altogether desartous and inhabited onely by wilde beasts and naked Arabians Before we came néere to Sodome and Gomorha by seuen miles for so we behoued to passe by the East end of it before we could ariue at that place of Iordan which we intended wee I say encountred with such deepe sandy ground that the Mulets were not able to carry vs through whereupon wee all dismounted wrestling and wading aboue the middle part of our bodies and sometimes falling in ouer our heads we were in great danger of perishing Euen in the middest of this turmoyling paine the night being darke the vnwelcomed Arabs inuironed and inuaded vs with a storme of arrowes which they sent from the tops of little hard hils whereupon they stood for knowing the aduantage of the ground they tooke opportunity to giue the more fearfull assaults yet they preuailed nothing although they wounded some of our Souldiers such was the resolute courage of our valorous defendants True it is that in all my trauels I was neuer so sore fatigated or fearfully indangered as I was that night A little after midgnight we left this troublesome way and marched along the Lake of Sodome This Lake is called Mare Mortuum the dead sea for of it selfe it is vnmoneable such is the stability of the water It is also called so because if a bird flie ouer it she presently falleth downe therein dead and as Salomon reporteth of it Wisd. 10.7 it smoaketh continually from whence proceed filthy vapours which deforme the fields lying about for certaine mils as it were blasted scorched and made vtterly barren This smoake I take onely to be but the exhalation of Iordan for this riuer falling into it and there ending his course the two contrary natures cannot agree the one being a filthy puddle and the other a pure water as I shall more approbably record This Lake is eighty miles in length and sixe in bredth being compassed with the rocks of Arabia Petrea on the South on the North with the sandy hils of the wildernesse of Iudea on the West with the steepy Mountaines of Arabia deserta and on the East with the plaine of Iericho How commeth it to passe therefore that the fresh running flood of Iordan falling euermore into this bounded sea that the Lake it selfe neuer diminisheth nor increaseth but alwaies standeth at one fulnesse neither hath it any issuing forth nor reboundeth backwards on the plaine of Iericho which is one of the greatest wonders in the world Wherefore as I haue said it must néeds either exhale to the clouds or otherwise runne downe to Hell for if it ranne vnder the rockes and so burst forth in the desarts it would soone be knowne but in all the bounds of Arabia deserta which betwixt this Lake and the red Sea extend to three hundred miles there is no such matter as brooke or strand much lesse a riuer It bréedeth nor reserueth no kind of fishes and if by the swelling of Iordan any fishes be carryed to it they immediatly die Although Iosephus witnesseth that in his time there was an Apple grew vpon the bankes thereof like to the colour of gold and within was rotten and would consume to powder yet I affirme now the contrary for there is not such a thing whatsoeuer hath béene in his daies as either trees or bushes grow néere to Sodome by many miles such is the consummation of that pestiferous gulfe Diuers Authors haue reported that nothing will sinke into it of any reasonable weight as dead men or carkasses
Westward in the way of Egypt the Castle of the Prophet Elisha Descending on the South side of the same Hill we arriued at Philips fountaine in which he baptized the Eunuch of Ethiopia standing full in the way of Gaza Here we paid some certaine Madins vnto the Moores of the village so did wee also for the sight of euery speciall Monument in Iudea At night we lodged in Bethleem in a Monastery of the same Franciscans of Ierusalem after supper we went all of vs hauing Candles to the place where our Sauiour was borne ouer the which there is a magnificent Church builded But before wee came where the Crubbe had béene wee passed certaine difficile wayes where being arriued we saw no Monument thereof saue onely they did demonstrate the place which is adorned with Marble Saphyre and Alabaster Stones Not farre from that they shewed vs the place ouer the which the starre stayed that conducted the thrée Wisemen from the East From thence they brought vs to a Caue without the Towne wherein say they the Uirgine Mary was hid when Herod persecuted the Babes life from which also being warned by the Angell Shee and Ioseph fled downe into Egypt with the Childe The earth of this Caue is white as snow and hath this miraculous operation that a little of it drunke in any liquor to a woman that after her childe-birth is barren of milke shall foorthwith giue aboundance which is not onely aualieable to Christians but also Turkish Moorish and Arabianish women who will come from far Countries to fetch of this earth I haue séene the nature of this dust practised wherefore I may boldly affirme it to haue the force of a strange vertue Wednesday following wee hired foure and twenty Moores to conduct vs vnto Salomons fish ponds which are onely thrée being neuer a whit decayed And to Fons Segnatus whence commeth the water in a stone Conduit along the Mountaines that serueth Ierusalem which worke was done by Salomon Returning thence and kéeping our way Southward we passed through the Ualley of Hebron where Iacob dwelt and entred into the fields of Sychem where Iacobs sonnes kept their fathers sheepe and not farre hence they shewed vs a dry pit which they called Iosephs pit that was at Dothan wherein hee was put by his brethren before they sold him to the Ismaelites In our backe comming to Bethleem we saw a Caue in the Desart of Ziph wherein Dauid hid himselfe when hee was persecuted by King Saul and the field Adra where the Angels brought the glad tydings of saluation vnto the Shepeheards Bethleem is the pleasantest Uillage in all Iudea situated on a pretty hill and fiue English miles from Ierusalem It produceth commodiously an infinite number of Oliue and Figge-trees some Cornes and a kind of white wine wherewith wee were furnished all the time of our abode there also in and about Ierusalem In our way as we came backe to the Citie the Viccario shewed vs a little Moskee kept by Turkes in which said he was the Toombe of Rachell Iacobs wife who dyed in that place as she was trauelling from Padan-Aram with her husband Iacob The foundation also of a house where Habacuck the Prophet dwelt a Trée growing yet by the way side vnder the which say they the Uirgin Mary was wont to repose her her selfe in trauelling Wee saw also a naturall rocke in the high way whereon say they Elias oft slept and is not ashamed to say that the hollow dimples of the stone was onely made by the impression of his body as though the tender flesh of man could leaue the print of his portraiture on a hard stone And not farre from this they shewed vs the place where the Starre appeared to the Wise-men after they had left Herod to seeke for the Sauiour of mankind Approaching Mount Sion wee saw a quadrangled dry pond wherein say they Beershaba the wife of Vrias was washing when Dauid looked forth at his window and was bewitched by her beauty Ouer against this place on the North side of Gehinnon we saw the ruines of a Palace wherein Dauid dwelt which hath béene one of the angles of the ancient Citie and standeth at the diuision of the valley Ennon which compassed as a ditch the North part of Mount Sion euen to the valley of Iehosaphat being now filled vp with fragments of old walles and the valley of Gehinnon lying West and East bordering along the south side of Sion til it ioyne also with the valley of Iehosaphat which inuironeth the East and deualling parts of Ierusalem Néere to this demolished Tower wee sawe the habitation of Simeon who hauing seene the blessed Messias said Now Lord let thy seruant depart in peace for mine eyes haue seene thy saluation Aprill 25. and the twelfth day of my abode there early on Thursday morning the Guardiano twelue Friers and Iohn Baptista because that was the last day of seeing any more Monuments or was to bee seene there accompanied vs as wee issued at the South gate of the Citie we came to a place on the skirt of Sion where say they Peter after his denyall of Christ wept bitterly Descending by the side of that same Hill we crossed the valley Gehinnon and came to Acaldema the Potters field or field of bloud which is a little foure-squared roome three parts whereof are inuironed with a naturall rocke and the fourth square bordering with the valley is made vp of stone worke The top is couered and hath thrée holes where-through they let the dead Christians fall downe for it is a buriall place of Pilgrimes to this day As I looked downe I beheld a great number of dead corpes some whereof had white winding sheetes newly dead lying one aboue another in a lumpe yeelded a pestilent smell by reason they were not couered with earth saue onely the architecture of a high vault which maketh that in a long time the corpes cannot putrifie and rot Neere vnto this Campo wee entred into a darke Caue where say they the Apostles hid themselues when Christ was taken At the foote of the same Ualley wee came to Ponto Nehemia in which place the Iewes did hide the holy fire when they were taken captiues to Babylon walking more downe-ward toward the valley of Iehosaphat wee saw a darke cellar vnder the ground without windowes wherein said the Guardian the Idolatrous Iewes made a sacrifice of their children vnto a brasen Image called Moloch which being made hote they inclosed them in the hollownesse thereof and so slew them and least their crying should haue moued any compassion towards them they made a thundring noyse with drummes and other instruments whereupon the place was called Tophet mentioned in Ier. 7.31 Hence wee came to the Poole of Siloam in which we washed our selues the water whereof falleth downe through a Rocke from the Citie aboue running strait to the valley of Iehosaphat and there we saw also the remnants of that sacked
Tower of Siloam Neere to this we saw a Fountaine where say they the Uirgin Mary vsed often to wash the Babes cloathes and linnen clowts From thence we crossed the Brooke Cedron which of old ran through the valley of Iehosaphat but now is dry and came to the Toombes of Absolom and Zacharias and the Caue wherein S. Iames was wont to hide himselfe from the persecuting Iewes Ascending more vpward on the hill in the way of Bythania we saw these places where Iudas hanged himselfe the withered fig-trée grew and the house of Simon the Leper Arriuing at Bythania we saw a Castle and Toombe of Lazarus on whom Christ shewed a miracle in raising him from the graue after hee had béene foure daies dead Not farre thence in the same Uillage we saw the decaied house where Martha and Mary Magdalen inhabited and the stone whereon Christ sate say they when hee said to Martha Mary hath chosen the better part Returning thence wée left Bethphage on our left hand and about mid-day arriued on the top of Mount Oliuet where we dined and procéeded in our sights From this place we had the full prosspect of Ierusalem For the Citie standing vpon the edge of a hill cannot bee seene all at one sight saue on this Mountaine which is thrée times higher then Mount Sion These are the Monuments shewen vs vpon the Mount of Oliues First the print of the left foote of our Sauiour in an immoueable stone which he made when hee ascended to heauen The Guardiano told vs further that the right footes print was taken away by Turkes and detained by them in the Temple of Salomon But who can thinke our Sauiour trode so hard at his Ascension as to haue left the impression of his feet behind him Next the place where hee foretold the iudgement to come and the signes and the wonders should bee séene in the heauens before that dreadfull day Thirdly the place where the Symbolum Apostolorum was made which is a fine chamber vnder the ground like a Church hauing twelue pillars to support it Fourthly where Christ taught his Disciples the Pater noster and where hee fell in an agony when hee sweate bloud and water Fiftly where Peter Iames and Iohn slept whiles our Sauiour prayed and returned so oft to awake them and also below that where the other Disciples were left Sixthly the Garden of Gethsemane where Christ vsed commonly to pray in the which place he was apprehended by the officers of the high Priests and was also where Iudas kissed him and the Sergants fell backward on the ground Seuenthly they shewed vs a stone marked with the head feete asd elbowes of Iesus in their throwing of him downe when as they bound him after he was taken aad euer since say they haue these prints remained there And lastly at the foote of Mount Oliuet in the valley of Iehosaphat we descended by a paire of staires of 43 steps and 6 paces large in a faire Church builded vnder the ground where say they the monument of the assumption of the virgin Mary is whom they thinke was borne in Ierusalem dwelt at Bethleem and Nazareth and died vpon Mount Sion I saw also there the Sepulchres of Ioseph her husband Ioachim her father and of Anna her mother The valley of Iehosaphat is two miles of length lying South and North. Lo I haue plainely described the whole Monuments I saw within and about Ierusalem by the order of these 12 seuerall daies the like heretofore was neuer by any Pilgrime so liuely manifested But as I said in the beginning of my description so say I now also at the conclusion some of these things are ridiculous some of manifest vntruths some also doubtfull and others somewhat more credible and of apparant truth The recapitulation whereof is onely by me vsed as I was informed by Gaudentius Saybantus the Padre Guardiano Laurenzo Antonio il Viccario and the Trouchman Iohn Baptista After this wandring vp and downe Iudea I stayed in Ierusalem thrée daies both reposing my selfe and also preparing my necessaries for a new voyage being determined to go downe to Egypt with a Carauan of Grand Cayro In the last night of my staying at Ierusalem which was at the holy Graue I remembring that bounden duty and louing zeale which I owe vnto my natiue Prince whom I in all humility next and immediate to Christ Iesus acknowledge to be the supreme Head and Gouernour of the true Christian and Catholique Church by the remembrance of this obligation I say I caused one Elias Bethleete a Christian inhabitour of Bethleem to ingraue on the flesh of my right arme The Neuer-conquered Crowne of Scotland and the now Inconquerable Crowne of England ioyned also to it with this inscription painefully carued in letters within the circle of the Crowne Viuat Iacobus Rex For the which the old Frier was mightily discontented and railed vpon me that I should as he said haue endured so much paine for such an Arch-enemy of the Romane Church but he not knowing how to mend himselfe in the end I quenched and abated his calumnies by a recitation of the incomparable vertues of our dread Soueraigne who for his bounty wisedome learning and gouernment was not equaled nor paragonized amongst all the Princes of the earth which he déepely conceiuing was stricken in admiration and began to intreat me if I liued to returne to my natiue Soile that I would make it knowne vnto his Maiesty the great tribulation and oppression they sustained vnder Infidels to preserue the memory of these Monuments especially of the holy Graue for the maintaining whereof said he that great Monarch gaue neuer any allowance nor supported the poore afflicted Christians at Ierusalem which indeed I promised to doe and also performed his request For after my first arriuall in England most humbly did I report it to his Highnesse in the priuy Garden of Greenewich who indeed gaue me a most gracious and compassionable answere saying They neuer sought any help of him and if they had hee would haue supported their necessity Aprill 29. and the 16. day of my staying there I and other ten Frankes made couenant with the Carauan of 900 persons bound for Egypt for ninetéene Piasters the man to furnish vs with Camels or Dromidories to ride on to exoner vs of all Caffars and tributes in our voyage to Cayro By which condition we had the aduantage of two commodities first it freed vs from the wrongs and extortions of sauage Rascals by the way Next we preuented all cosening and deceitfull dealing that might from the Captaine haue procéeded whose fidelity in him or such like is seldom sufficiently to strangers approued In the beginning of this iourney greatly was I animated with the company of these Franke Pilgrimes which I found in Ierusalem but alas no sooner was their society déere and acceptable to me but as soone by death was I robd of all the ten such was the will of the
him a yearely Tribute least by a malignant hatred hee should turne the maine Channell another way and so bring Egypt to desolation This Kingdome produceth no Wines neither is garnished with Uine-yards but that which strangers doe make vse of are brought from Candy Cyprus and Greece In Cayro I stayed seuen dayes and embarked at Boullacque in a Boate and as I went downe the Riuer I saw these Townes Salomona Pharsone Foua an Abdan In these parts there is a stone called Aquiline which hath the vertue to deliuer a Woman from her paine in Childe-birth In all this way the greatest pleasure I had was to behold the â—â—re beautie of certaine Birds called by the Turkes Ellocâ—e whose Feathers being beautified with the diuersitie of â—â—rest colours yéeld a farre off to the beholder a delectable shew hauing also this property the néerer a man approcheth them the more they loose the beautie of their Feathers by reason of the feare they conceiue when they sée any man Upon the fourth day I landed at Rosetta and came ouer land with a company of Turkes to Alexandria Alexandria is the second Port in all Turkie It was of old a most renowned Citie and was built by Alexander the great but now is greatly decayed as may appeare by the huge ruines therein It hath two Hauens the one whereof is strongly fortified with two Castles which defend both it selfe and also Porto vechio The fieldes about the Towne are sandy which ingender an infectious aire especially in the moneth of August and is the reason why strangers fall into bloudy fluxes and other heauy sicknesses In my staying here I was aduised by a Christian Consull to keepe my stomacke hot to abstaine from eating of fruit and to liue soberly with a temperate diet The rule of which gouernement I stroue diligently to obserue so did I also in all my trauels prosecute the like course of a small dyet and was often too small against my will by the meanes whereof praised be God I fell neuer sicke till my returne into France Twelue dayes abode I in Alexandria and on the thirtéenth I embarked in a ship belonging to Ragusa in which I was kindly vsed and Christian like entertained The windes somewhat at the beginning fauouring vs wee weighed anchors and set forward to Sea In the time of our nauigation there died seuentéene of our Mariners and Passengers which bred no small griefe and feare to the rest being cast ouer-boord in a boundlesse graue to féede the fishes Fiue sundry times were we assailed by Cursaires of Tunneis Argeire and Biserta yet neuer captiuated or seazed vpon such was the pleasure of God and the resolute minds of the Ragusans which are a kinde of martiall people Fifty daies were we crossed with contrary winds tackling and boording in all this time we saw no land And as Ouid said in the like case Nil nisi pontus aer Our fresh water being spent we were constrained to beare into the I le of Malta where hauing giuen ground to the ankers I dis-barked and bade farewell to the Captaine and shippes company Malta was called Melita mentioned Acts 28.1.2 where the Uiper leaped on Pauls hand I saw also the Créeke wherein he was ship wracked This Iland may properly be tearmed the Fort of Christendome yet a barren place and of no great boundes for their Cornes and their Wines come dâ—â—ly â—â— Barkes from Sycilia But it yéeldeth good store of Pâ—â—â—â—granates Cittrons Cottons Orenges Lemmons â—â—â—es Mellons and other excellent Fruits The chiefe Citie is called Malta from which the Iland hath the name hauing a goodly hauen and fortified with an impregnable caâ—â—â— The Maltazes had their beginning at Acre in Palestâ—â— from thence to the Rhodes now exposed to this Rocky I le They are pertinacious Enemies to Infidels continually making warre and incursions against them to their power being strengthned also with many souldiers and their Captaines are surnamed Knights of Malta and so through a great part of Christendome it is a most honourable Order From thence I embarked in a Frigato and arriued at Syracusa in Sycilia Sycilia hath bene famous in all former Ages for by Diodorus Siculus it was cognominated the paragon of Iles by Titus Liuius the Garden of Italy The Greekes haue celebrated much commendation to this I le It also was anciently called the Grange of the Romanes and is neuer a whit decayed to this day It excelleth in all sorts of graine as cornes wheat wine sugar rice all kinds of fruit wholesome hearbs sweete hony excellent good silke and the best Corrall in the world is found heere growing vnder the water greene and tender but when arising aboue it becommeth red and hard The like whereof is said to bee found in the red Sea and gulfe of Persia. The chiefe Cities contained therein are these Polermo in which is the residence of the Uizeroy a Spaniard The second is Messina wherein standeth the statue of Iohn Duke of Austria for that notable victory God gaue him in the gulfe Lepanto against the Turkes The third is Syracusa lying in the South-east part toward Malta And the fourth is Trapundy which yeeldeth surpassing fine salt that is transported to Venice Italy Dalmatia and Greece made onely by heating of the Sunne being drawne into certaine pooles That sulphurean mount Gebello called of old Aetna burneth continually therein yéelding a terrible smoake and fire which by the nature of the thundring noyse and heate congealed in that Vulcans furnace it throweth from the horrible vents huge stones of naturall brimstone insomuch that no people may resort neere thereby I saw also there a fountaine that a dog being cast therein will presently die but being taken forth dead and slung into an other poole shall forth-with reuiue The I le is of circuit six hundred and large fifty miles It was sometimes vnder the subiection of the Gaules but now vnder subiection to King Phillip of Spaine It is the onely Girnelle of Malta and a great help to the Napolitan State The length of the Iland lyeth West and East and is distant from Napolis fifty leagues so much also from Sardinia and fortie leagues from Malta The Sycilians are very industrious much giuen to labour and Mechanicke Arts. Sycilia Candie and Cyprus are almost all of one quantity being the most commodious and noble Iles within the straights of the Mediterranean Sea From Polermo I embarked and sailed close aboard the Coast of Calabria and on the third day I arriued in Italy at a Towne neere vnto Ostia called Ciuitta-vechio where hauing thanked God for my safe returne to Christendome I vndertooke a new Land-voyage The speciall Cities I surueyed in Italy after my backe-comming are these Siena Florence Luka Pisa Genua Bullogna Parma Pauia Pâ—acenâ—a Mantua Milane and Torino The commendation of which is inuolued in these verses Iullustrat Saenas patriae facundiae linguae Splendida solertes nutrit Florentia ciues Libera Luca tremit ducibus vicina