carry'd one along with him to Vienna where having had the good fortune not to displease the Prince he testify'd to me at his departure that he should be glad to see me at Mantua where he would not forget the services I had done him This presently infus'd into me a desire of seeing Italy especially upon the opportunity that offer'd it self not long after For Monsieur de Sabran the King of France's Envoy to his Imperial Majesty being to go for Venice and desirous of one that understood the German Language to bear him Company I laid hold of the occasion so that in eight days we got to Venice While we stay'd at Venice I took a view to my great satisfaction of that most Celebrated City and in regard it is in many things like to Amsterdam as in Situation Greatness Magnificence Commerce and Concourse of Strangers my being there did but still reinforce my inclination to Travel From Venice I went to Mantua with Monsieur de Sabran where the Prince being glad to see me again gave me my choice of an Ensign or of a place in the Company of the Ordonnance of the Duke his Father I accepted the latter as being glad to be under the Command of the Conde de Guiche who was then Captain At the Siege of Mantua I had like to have been slain but for the goodness of a Cuirass which I had chosen out of the Princes Magazin being hit with two Bullets above and upon the left pap which had enter'd had not my Arms been excellent proof So that after I was recover'd of my Bruises a longer stay at Mantua did not agree with my desire to travel Therefore some time after the Siege was rais'd I took leave of the Prince who gave me an honourable Pass by vertue whereof five or six Horse-men bore me Company back to Venice From Venice I went to Lauretta from Lauretta to Rome from Rome to Naples from whence returning to Rome again I stay'd there ten or twelve days After that I went to see Florence Pisa Ligorn and Genoa from whence I Embark'd for Marseilles From Marseilles I hasted to Paris where I could not stay long for being desirous to see Poland I pass'd once more into Germany through Switzerland after I had tak'n a survey of the principal Towns of the Cantons I went by the Rhine by Water to visit Strasburgh and Brisack thence by Land crossing Suabia I passed through Ulme and Auspurgh to go to Munich There I saw the Magnificent Palace of the Dukes of Bavaria which William the fifth began and which Maximilian his Son finish'd in the heat of the Wars that troubl'd the Empire From thence I went the second time to Norimbergh and Prague and leaving Bohemia I enter'd into Silesia and pass'd the Oder at Bâ—eslaw From Breslaw I went to Cracovia one of the greatest Cities of Europe or rather a Town compos'd of three Cities the ancient Seat of the King of Poland From thence keeping the Vistula upon the left hand I went to Warsaw and saw there the Court of King Sigismund which is a noble and splendid Habitation From Warsaw I return'd to Breslaw taking the Road toward the Lower Silesia designing to visit one of the principal Officers of the Emperours Houshold who was my particular acquaintance But about two Leagues from Glogaw meeting with Colonel Butler a Scotch Gentleman Colonel of one of the Emperours Regiments of Horse who afterwards kill'd Walesteyne in pursuance of the Orders he receiv'd I gave over my first intended journey His Wife was a great lover of the French so that being earnestly oblig'd by both together I could not withstand the testimonies of their kindness There I understood that the Emperour was going to Ratisbone with his Son Ferdinand the Third to Crown him King of the Romans so that I who had seen the Coronations of the Kings of Hungary and Bohemia being desirous to see the third Solemnity also took leave of my Colonel and hasted to Ratisbone At that time arriv'd to Ratisbone several Jewellers one of which came to his end by an accident so tragical that all the whole Court pity'd his untimely fate He was the only Son of one of the riohest Merchants of Europe that liv'd in Frankfort whose Father had sent him with Jewels to sell at the Coronation For fear of being Robb'd he had conveigh'd them before into the hands of a Jew in Ratisbone his Correspondent to be deliver'd to his Son at his coming This young man arriving at Ratisbone went to the Jew who told him that he had receiv'd a small Casket of Jewels from his Father which he might take away when he pleas'd At the same time the Jew invited the young man to drink and carry'd him to a publick House upon the Key of the City where they continu'd 'till about an hour after day was shut in At this time both going out together the Jew led the young man through a private Street where few people pass'd by and there having stabb'd him five or six times in the Belly with a Dagger left him wallowing in his Blood A while after one of the Emperour's Trumpets going that way in the dark stumbl'd at the Legs of the unfortunate youth who still breath'd and fell upon his Body At first feeling his hands wet he thought it had been some drunken fellow that had eas'd his stomach but upon second thoughts imaging it might be some wounded person he ran and call'd the Officers who coming with Lanthorns beheld the tropick spectacle of a young man weltring in his own gore Thereupon the Officers carrying the Body to the same publick House as being next at hand his face was no sooner wash'd but the Woman and Maid of the House knew him to be the same young man that had been there drinking with the Jew not long before But as for the young man he presently expir'd without being able to make the least discovery However the Jew was seiz'd that evening and being seiz'd cofess'd the Crime The Imperial Laws ordain that a Jew for killing a Christian should be hung upon a Gibbet by the Heels and that two fierce Dogs should be hung by him in the same manner to the end that the Dogs in their madness should tear out his Bowels But the Jews made such presents to the Empress that the Sentence was chang'd though the punishment was not much less rigorous For his flesh was torn with red hot Pincers from several parts of his body in several Streets of the City and boyling Lead pour'd into the raw wounds after which he was broken alive upon the wheel at the publick place of Execution Being upon my departure from Ratisbone I met with Father Joseph Resident there for the King of France who knowing me in Paris propos'd to me to go along with the Monsieur the Abbot of Chapes Brother of the Marshal de Aumont and Monsieur St. Liebau who were then intending for Constantinople and so for Palestine I
only to entertain The impossibility of having an exact account of the Womens Appartment the Reader with the impossibility there is of having a perfect knowledg of it or getting any exact account either what the accommodations of it are or how the Persons who are confin'd therein behave themselves There is not in all Christendome any Monastery of Religious Virgins how regular and austere soever it may be the entrance whereof is more strictly forbidden to men than is that of this Appartment of the Women insomuch that my white Eunuch who has supply'd me with so particular a description of the inner part of the Seraglio could give me no certain information of this Quarter of it where the Women are lodg'd All I could get out of him was That the Doors of it are kept by Negro-Eunuchs and that besides the Grand Seignor himself and sometimes the Physician in case of great necessity there never enters any man into it no nor Woman besides those who live in it and they are never permitted to go out of it unless it be in order to their confinement in the Old Seraglio But we must except out of that number the Sultanesses and their Maids or Ladies of Honour whom the Grand Seignor allows when he pleases to come into the Gardens of the Seraglio and whom he sometimes takes abroad with him into the Country yet so as that they cannot be seen by any person whatsoever Four Negro-Eunuchs carry a kind of Pavilion under which is the Sultaness and the Horse upon which she is mounted all save only the head of the horse which is seen on the out-side of the Pavilion the two fore-pieces of which taking him about the Neck are close fasten'd above and below And as to the Physician he is never admitted as I said but in case of extream hecessity into the Appartment of the Women and with such precautions that he can neither see the person who is indispos'd nor be seen by her but to feel her Pulse through a piece of Lawn all the other Women having retir'd from her Bed-side and the Negro-Eunuchs having taken their places Thus you see what precautions they use to deprive the Women of the Seraglio of all means of having any access to Men or indeed so much as a sight of them And if it happen that some Jewess has entrance into their Quarter to Trade with them and to sell them some little Rarities they are strictly search'd by the Negro-Eunuchs lest there should happen to thrust in some Man disguis'd in Woman's Cloaths in which case immediate death would ensue And when the Couriosity of some Christian Ladies has inclin'd them to see the Sultanesses they seldome escap'd without the receiving of some affront and I could produce some examples of it did I think it convenient It might be imagin'd that by the relation of the Jewesses it were possible to have The Commerce between the Jewesses and the Sultanesses some account of the embellishments of the Halls and Chambers of the Appartment of the government of that Female Republick But it is to be noted That these Jewesses are not permitted to go far into it for there is a Chamber appointed for the management of their Traffick and the Negro-Eunuchs are the Brokers between them and the Sultanesses They take cognizance of all and what the Princesses have a mind to buy passing through their hands they make them pay double and treble what the things are worth and so heap up Wealth though they have but little occasion or opportunity to make use of it But I do not expect any one should wonder at that great exactness of not permiting any man no not even a White Eunuch to approach the Appartment of the Women The doleful Story of Two Famous Wrestlers after an Accident which happen'd at Adrianople in the Year of our Lord M. DC XXXIX and which I shall here insert in few words Amurath at his return after the taking of Bagdet came and made his abode for some time at Adrianople He had a Page belonging to the Treasury who was a Native of Tocat in Natolia and from the place of his birth they gave him the name of Tocateli He was a well-set Young man robust skilful in Wrestling and upon that account the Grand Seignor had made Chief of the Wrestlers It happen'd that one of the most Famous for that Exercise came about that time to Adrianople out of the Confines of Muscovy and in all the Cities through which he travell'd he had alwaies been too hard for those who had presented themselves to Wrestle with him His Reputation was spread all over the Empire where he had not met with any Wrestler who acknowledg'd not himself inferiour to him Which Report coming to the Page of the Treasury he conceiv'd so great an emulation at the Fame of that Man whom all the World so highly celebrated that he sent one of the Halvagis to carry him a Civil Challenge from him and to acquaint him That he was desirous to have a Tryal of Skill with him in the Grand Seignor's Presence He sent him word withal That before his Highness had any notice of it 't were convenient they made some tryal of their strength And that no body might know any thing of it he would send him a Bostangi's Garment and Cap by which means he might come into the Seraglio When the Grand Seignor is not within the Seraglio where ever it be the Bostangis are permitted to come into and to go out of it by the Garden-Gate and there being a great number of them it is no hard matter to get a man in under their accoutrements By this contrivance did the Muscovian Wrestler get into the Seraglio the next day upon the sollicitation of the Page who sent him what was requisite the Grand Seignor being that day gone a Hunting They both put on Drawers of Leather well liquor'd with some fat or oyly stuff all the rest of the body being stark naked and liquor'd in like manner and after a long dispute the Page had the better whether he got it fairly by his own strength and skill or that the other yielded the victory out of complaisance This Action pass'd in the midst of the place which is before the Garden in the presence of the Mutes and all the Pages of the Seraglio and the Grand Seignor being return'd from Hunting the Superintendent of the Treasury told him That there was come into the City a Pehlivan a Muscovite by Country robust and of a good meen of great strength and well experienced in Wrestling and that if his Highness pleas'd he should have the satisfaction to see him engag'd in that Exercise The Grand Seignor commanded he should be brought into the Seraglio the next day and that Torcateli should have notice to be ready to entertain him Being both come to the place and in a condition ready to close the Grand Seignor came into a Gallery attended
THE SIX VOYAGES OF JOHN BAPTISTA TAVERNIER BARON of AUBONNE THROUGH Turky INTO Persia AND THE EAST-INDIES For the space of Forty Years GIVING An Account of the present STATE of those Countries Viz. Of the RELIGION GOVERNMENT CUSTOMS and COMMERCE of every Country and the Figures Weight and Value of the MONEY currant all over ASIA TO WHICH IS ADDED A new Description of the SERAGLIO Made English by J. P. ADDED LIKEWISE A VOYAGE INTO THE INDIES c. By an English Traveller never before Printed Publish'd by Dr DANIEL COX LONDON Printed by WILLIAM GODBID for ROBERT LITTLEBURY at the King's Arms in Little Britain and MOSES PITT at the Angel in S t Paul's Church-yard 1677. THE SIX VOYAGES OF JOHN BAPTISTA TAVERNIER BARON of AUBONNE THROUGH Turky INTO Persia AND THE EAST-INDIES For the space of Forty Years GIVING AN Account of the Present STATE of those Countries viz. Of the RELIGION GOVERNMENT CUSTOMS and COMMERCE of every Country and the Figures Weight and Value of the MONEY currant all over ASIA To which is added The Description of the SERAGLIO Made ENGLISH by J. P. ADDED LIKEWISE A VOYAGE INTO THE INDIES c. By an English Traveller never before Printed LONDON Printed and sold by Robert Littlebury at the King's-Arms in Little Britain and Moses Pit at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-yard 1678. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE S r Thomas Davies K t Lord Mayor of the City of LONDON My Lord IT cannot be thought that the Author of these Travels had he verily believ'd that thereby he had eminently serv'd his King and Country would have adventur'd a Dedication to so great a Monarch as the King of France Wherein he presumes to tell him that he was the person that had brought him from the Indies the fairest Jewels that at present adorn his Crown for which several other services done the Kingdom His M ty honoured him with the Title of Noble And indeed it is not probable that a Potentate so wise and so discerning had he not been convinc'd of the merit and good service of his Subject would have receiv'd him with that esteem or have honour'd him with that Title which he bestow'd upon him As for the Truth of what is here compriz'd there is his own Asseveration to his Prince of the Exactness which he has observ'd in that particular which there is the less reason to misdoubt in regard he has been publick in the World for some time with-not the least blemish of Contradiction Be pleas'd then My Lord to consider the quality of this Work and as you are in high Dignity governing that Famous City which has so great a share in the Traffick of the Oriental world vouchsafe it your acceptance as it is now made serviceable to this City and the whole Nation by My Lord Your Lordships most obedient Servant J Phillips TO THE MOST ACCOMPLISH'D AND EMINENTLY LEARNED D R. DANIEL COX Doctor of PHYSICK Sir SInce 't is the Mode of the Age that no Book comes forth without a Dedication I hope I shall not be blam'd for addressing these Travels to your Self as being the Person that has contributed so much to the Ornament and Perfection of the whole Work Hereby have I sav'd the labour of making Encomiums upon an Author of whom You have testifi'd your Approbation by the Encouragement You gave the Publisher Nor is it reasonable that TAVERNIER coming into England should prefer others before a person that hath shew'd him particular kindnesses For my part after I had tak'n a Prospect of your personal Candor I knew not where to give so choice a Stranger better Accommodation not without some regard to my self since I could not think that he who had been so kind to the Original Author would be an Enemy to his Interpreter Upon which score as I presum'd at first I hope You will pardon the farther presumption of styling my self SIR Your most Humble Servant J. PHILLIPS THE DESIGN OF THE AUTHOR Where he gives a brief Relation of his first Travels through the best parts of Europe as far as Constantinople IF the effect of Education may be liken'd to a second Birth I may truly say that I came into the World with a desire to travel The daily discourses which several Learned men had with my Father upon Geographical subjects which my Father had the reputation of understanding very well and to which though very young I was with much delight attentive inspir'd me betimes with a design to see some part of those Countries which were represented to me in the Maps from which I never could keep off my Eyes By two and twenty years of Age therefore I had seen the fairest Regions of Europe France England the Low Countries Germany Switzerland Poland Hungary and Italy and I spake indifferently well the Languages most necessary and most generally spoken My first sally was into England where at that time Reigned King James from thence I pass'd into Flanders to see Antwerp my Father 's Native Country and so into the Low Countries where my inclination to travel became the stronger by reason of the great concourse of Strangers which I met at Amsterdam that crouded thither from all parts of the World Having seen what was most considerable in the united Provinces I pass'd into Germany and when I came to Norimbergh by the way of Frankfort and Auspurgh the noise of the Armies that were marching into Bohemia to retake Prague instill'd into me a desire to go to the Wars where I might learn something that might be useful to me in the series of my travels I was not above a days journey from Norimbergh when I met a Colonel of Horse whose name was Hans Brener the Son of Philip Brener Governour of Vienna who engag'd me to follow him into Bohemia Sometime after I bore the same Colonel company to Vienna who presented me to the Governour of Raab his Uncle then Viceroy of Hungary also who receiv'd me into his Family as one of his Pages For it is a usual thing in Germany for Gentlemen's Sons to serve in that quality 'till five and twenty years of age and seldom to quit that service 'till they have a Commission for a Cornet or Ensigns place Four years and a half I serv'd the Viceroy when the Prince of Mantua came to Vienna to engage the Emperour in certain designs of his own without success At that time the Count of Arc whose Sister the Viceroy had Marry'd was chief Minister to the Prince of Mantua and coming to visit the Viceroy at Javarin I was appointed to attend him during his stay there Upon his departure he told the Viceroy that the Prince of Mantua had no person about him that understood the Language and that therefore he might be sure that the Prince would take it for a great kindness to permit me to attend his person during his stay at the Emperours Court This was a thing easily granted to the Count of Arc who thereupon
lik'd the proposition well and immediately put my self into the Society of those two Gentlemen from whom I never separated 'till they departed for Syria from Constantinople But before we left Germany we resolv'd to see the Court of Savony whither we got in a few days By the way we pass'd through Freybergh a small City but well worth seeing for the beauty of the Electors Tombs and most splendid and magnificent both for Materials and Workmanship in all Europe From thence we went and view'd the stately Castle of Augustburgh seated upon a high Mountain wherein among other things there is a great Hall adorn'd from top to bottom with nothing but Horns fasten'd to the Wall among the rest is the Head of a Hare with two Horns sent the Elector by the King of Denmark for a great Rarity In one of the Courts of the Palace stands a Tree so large in Body and spreading out the Branches at so wide a distance that they will cover three hundred sixty five Tables with their shade And that which makes this Tree more wonderful is that it is only Birch that rarely grows to that Immensity Dresde is the Residence of the Elector a little City but a very near one and well fortify'd with a Stone Bridge over the Elbe that parts the Old and New Town The Palace is one of the largest and fairest in Germany But it wants a Piazza before it the principal Gate standing just at the bottom of a narrow Lane From Dresde we went to Prague which was a third time that I saw that great and fair City or rather three Cities together only separated by the Molda that throws it self into the Elbe some five or six Leagues below Having travers'd Bohemia and touch'd upon the corner of Moravia we enter'd Austria and came to Vienna resolving there to Embark with all speed because the Winter came on We stay'd one day at Presburgh to see the great Church and some Relicks which they shew'd us and from thence fell down to Altenburgh Altenburgh is a City and Province belonging to the Count of Arach It was the Childs part of one of the Queens of Hungary who upon her death-bed bequeathed it to one of the Lords of her Court upon condition that he and his Successors should always keep such a number of Peacocks for defect whereof the Territory should revert to the Crown Thence we came to Signet from whence I took a little Boat and hasted to Raab where I did my Devoirs to the Viceroy who was glad to see me and gave noble entertainment to the Messieurs de Chapes and de St. Liebau Here we stay'd eight or ten days for the Basha of Buda's Answer whether he would give liberty to two French Gentlemen to pass with their Train through his Garrison or no which being return'd such as we could desire we Embark'd at Comorra in a sort of Brigantines well fitted for defence and convenience From Vienna to Javarin we laid three days upon the water by reason of the great turnings and windings of the Dunaw Leaving Javarin we lay at Comorra and from Comorra we row'd to Buda in two days For the Road by Land is seldom travell'd in regard that the Frontiers of both Empires are full of Thieves and Boothaylers In fair weather you may go from Bada to Belgrade in less than eight days but we were forc'd to stay longer upon the Water in regard of the Cold weather It is the custom in Hungary that in all Roads little frequented by Strangers not to take any Money of the Traveller For the Burghers lodge and entertain them civilly for which the Burgo Master at the years end repays them out of the publick stock But besides that they are not troubl'd with many passengers Hungary which is one of the best Countries in Europe affords provision at so cheap a rate that to Belgrade it costs us not above two Crowns a day for fourteen people Buda stands upon the right hand of the Danaw about half an hours travelling from the River The Basha being advis'd of our arrival sent his Squire with led Horses and several Slaves in very good Liveries to conduct us to the Town And though we stay'd twelve days before we could speak with him by reason of his being sick at that time yet he allow'd us a fair provision of Mutton Pullets Rice Butter and Bread and two Sequins a day for small expences He was a comely person and of a handsom carriage and at our departure he sent six Caleshes with two Spahi's to conduct us to Belgrade with order to defray our expences which would by no means be accepted Coming to Belgrade we found the Sangiai as rude as we had found the Basha civil before For he made a ridiculous demand of two hundred Ducats a Head and for fifteen days prolong'd the contest But at length I so terrify'd him by threatning to send our Complaints to the Ottaman Port of his ill usage of two Gentlemen kinsmen to the Embassador of France that he was contented with fifty Ducats for all Belgrade is scituated upon a point of Land where two great Rivers the Danaw and the Sava meet and is furnish'd with Wine Bread and all sorts of provisions at a cheap rate From Belgrade we took some Saddle Horses some Coaches for Adrianople as every one lik'd best We pass'd through Sophia a large and well peopl'd City the Metropolis of the ancient Bulgarians and the residence of the Basha of Romeli In it stands a fair Mosquee which hath been a Christian Church built with so much Art that three men may go up to the top of the Steeple and not see one another From Sophia we came to Philippoli between which Town and Adrianople we met with two Troops of Tartars well mounted When they saw us they made a Lane for us to pass through them with a design most certainly to have fall'n upon us since they could not hope to do any good upon us but by surprize and number for they were ill provided of Weapons and we rarely well Arm'd Thereupon we alighted and Barricado'd up our selves with our Chariots In the mean time we sent our Spahi's to the Commander of those Tartars to tell them we would not stir 'till they were gone and that being Souldiers as they were they could not hope for any booty from us The Commander answer'd that he had divided his men in that manner only to do us Honour but since we desir'd they should be gone they requested us but to send them a little Tobacco A boon which we readily granted them and so we pass'd on We came to Adrianople the three and twentieth day after we parted from Belgrade Adrianople takes its name from the Emperour Adrian being formerly call'd Orestes It is pleasantly situated at the mouth of three Rivers that throw themselves into the Archipelago The old Town is not very big but the Turks dayly enlarge the Suburbs being a place which the
time 146 Chap. XIX Observations upon the fairest and largest Diamonds and Rubies which the Author has seen in Europe and Asia represented according to the Figures in the Plates as also upon those which the Author sold to the King upon his last return from the Indies with the Figure of a large Topaz and the fairest Pearls in the World 148 Chap. XX. The forms of twenty Rubies which the Author sold to the King upon his last return from the Indies The first part of the Plate shews the weight extent and thickness of every Stone 149 Chap. XXI Of the Coral and yellow Ember and the places where 't is found 151 Chap. XXII Of Musk and Bezoar and some other Medicinal Stones 153 Chap. XXIII Of the places where they find their Gold both in Asia and America 156 Chap. XXIV The Relation of a notable piece of Treachery whereby the Author was abus'd when he Embark'd at Gomrom for Surat 157 The Third BOOK of the INDIAN Travels Chap. I. OF the particular Religion of the Mahometans in the East-Indies Pag. 159 Chap. II. Of the Faquirs or poor Mahometan Volunteers in the East-Indies 160 Chap. III. Of the Religion of the Gentiles or Idolatrous Indians 161 Chap. IV. Of the Kings and Idolatrous Princes of Asia 163 Chap. V. What the Idolaters believe touching a Divinity 164 Chap. VI. Of the Faquirs or poor Volunteers among the Indians and of their Penances 165 Chap. VII Of the Idolaters Belief touching the State of the Soul after Death 167 Chap. VIII Of the Custom among the Idolaters to Burn the Bodies of their Dead 168 Chap. IX How the Wives are Burnt in India with the Bodies of their deceas'd Husbands 169 Chap. X. Remarkable Stories of Women that have been Burnt after their Husbands decease 171 Chap. XI Of the most Celebrated Pagods of the Idolaters in India 173 Chap. XII A Continuation of the Description of the principal Pagods of the Indian Idolaters 177 Chap. XIII Of the Pilgrimages of the Idolaters to their Pagods 179 Chap. XIV Of divers Customs of the Indian Idolaters Ibid. Chap. XV. Of the Kingdom of Boutan whence comes the Musk the Good Rhubarb and some Furs 182 Chap. XVI Of the Kingdom of Eipra 186 Chap. XVII Of the Kingdom of Asem 187 Chap. XVIII Of the Kingdom of Siam 189 Chap. XIX Of the Kingdom of Macassar and the Ambassadors which the Hollanders sent into China 191 Chap. XX. The Author pursues his Travels into the East and Embarks at Mengrelia for Batavia The danger he was in upon the Sea and his arrival in the Island of Ceylan 194 Chap. XXI The Authors departure from Ceylan and his arrival at Batavia 195 Chap. XXII The Author goes to visit the King of Bantam and relates several Adventures upon that Occasion 196 Chap. XXIII The Author's return to Batavia His Revisiting the King of Bantam And a Relation of several extravigancies of certain Faquirs in their return from Mecca 199 Chap. XXIV Of the War of the Hollanders with the Emperour of Java 202 Chap. XXV The Author Buries his Brother and is again quarrell'd withall by the General and his Council 203 Chap. XXVI The Author Embarks in a Dutch Vessel to return into Europe 204 Chap. XXVII The Holland Fleet arrives at St. Helens The Description of the Island 207 THE FIRST BOOK OF MONSIEUR TAVERNIER's Persian Travels Containing the several ROADS From PARIS to ISPAHAN the Chief City of PERSIA Through the Northern Provinces of TURKY CHAP. I. Of the Roads from France to the hither parts of Asia and the Places from whence they usually set out for Ispahan A Man cannot travel in Asia as they do in Europe nor at the same Hours nor with the same ease There are no weekly Coaches or Wagons from Town to Town besides that the Soil of the Countries is of several natures In Asia you shall meet with several Regions untill'd and unpeopl'd either through the badness of the Climate and Soil or the sloth of the Inhabitants who rather choose to live miserably than to work There are vast Deserts to cross and very dangerous both for want of Water and the Robberies that the Arabs daily commit therein There are no certain Stages or Inns to entertain Travellers The best Inns especially in Turkie are the Tents which you carry along with you and your Hosts are your Servants that get ready those Victuals which you have bought in good Towns You set up your Tent in the open Field or in any Town where there is no Inn and a good shift too in temperate weather when the Sun is not too hot or that it does not rain In the Carvansera's or Inns which are more frequent in Persia than in Turkie there are persons that furnish you with Provisions and the first come are best served As for Turkie it is full of Thieves that keep in Troops together and way-lay the Merchants upon the Roads and if they be not very well guarded will certainly rob them nay many times murder them A mischief prevented in Persia by the well order'd convenience which is provided for Travellers To avoid these dangers and inconveniences you are oblig'd to stay for the Caravans that go for Persia or the Indies which never set out but at certain times and from certain places These Caravans set out from Constantinople Smyrna and Aleppo And it is from one of these Cities that a Traveller must set out that intends for Persia whether he keeps company with the Caravan or will hazard himself alone with a Guide as once I did I will begin with Constantinople from whence you may go either by Land or Sea and either by Land or Sea there are two ways to go The first of these by Land is that which I took with Monsieur Chapes and Monsieur St. Liebau By the way take notice that Vienna is the half-way near upon between Paris and Constantinople The second Read is less frequented but is less inconvenient and less dangerous for there are no need of the Emperour's Pasports which he does not grant very freely besides that here is no fear of the Pirates of Tunis or Argier as when you embarque from Marseilles of Ligorn If you intend this way you must go to Venice from Venice to Ancona from whence several Barques are bound every Week for Ragusa From Ragusa you sail along by the Shore to Durazzo a Sea-Port of Albania from whence you travel the rest of the way by Land From Durazzo to Albanopolis distant three days journey from thence to Monestier just as far from Monestier you may either take the left hand through Sophia and Philippopolis or the right through Inguischer three days journey from Monestier and ten from Adrianople from whence in five days you reach Constantinople through Selivrea This last way is part by Sea and part by Land but there are two other ways altogether by Land above and below Italy according to the distinction which Antiquity made of the two Seas that
Inhabitants whereof are for the most part Greeks These Mountains are very high and extend themselves along the Road for two days journey They are full of several sorts of Trees which are streight and tall like Firr-trees and divided by so many Torrents which it would be hard to pass over were it not for the Bridges that the Grand Visier Kuprigli caus'd to be built In regard the soil of these Mountains is very fat there would be no drawing for the Horses after great Rains or the melting of the Snow had not the same Visier caus'd all the Ways to be Pav'd and Pitch'd even as far as Constantinople A Work of great Charge in regard there is not a Flint in any part of the Mountain and for that the Stone is to be fetch'd a great way off There are abundance of Pigeons as big as Hens and of an excellent tast which not only pleas'd our Appetites but afforded us very good Pastime to shoot them Between the City and the Mountain there is a Plain about two Leagues in length near to which there glides a River that waters it and very much contributes to its fertility It is an excellent Soil and produces all things necessary for Humane Life Upon each side of the way I counted above twenty Churchyards For it is the custom of the Turks to bury near the Highway believing that the Travellers pray for the Souls of the deceas'd Upon every Tomb there is to be seen a Marble Pillar half fix'd in the Earth of which Pillars there are so great a number of various Colours that it is from thence conjectur'd that there were a very great number of Christian Churches in Polia and the parts thereabouts They assur'd me likewise that there were a vast quantity of these Pillars in the Villages up and down in the Mountains which the Turks every day pull down to set upon their Tombs Bendourlour is a Village in the Mountains where there is one Inn. Gerradar is beyond the Mountains where there are two Inns. Cargâ—slar has two Inns and lyes in a good Country Caragalan is a Town where there are two Inns. Cosizar is a Village with one Inn. Tocia is a great City situated upon rising Hills that joyn to very high Mountains Upon the Winter West there appears a fair Champain Country water'd by a Stream that falls into a River of a greater bigness call'd Guselarmac Upon the highest of the smaller Hills toward the East there is a Fortress where a Basha resides and in the Town is one of the fairest Inns upon the Road. The greatest part of the Inhabitants are Christian Greeks who have the advantage to drink excellent Wine with which the Country furnishes them in abundance Agisensalou stands upon a River and there is an Inn and a fair Mosquee in it Ozeman is a little City seated at the foot of a Hill upon which there stands a strong Castle and below two very commodious Inns. The River Guselarmac broad and deep washes the South side of the City which you cross over one of the fairest Bridges that ever was seen It consists of fifteen Arches all of Free-stone and is a Work that shews the Grandeur of the Undertaker Somewhat at a distance from the Bridge stand six Corn-Mills all together with little wooden Bridges to go from one to another This River falls into the Euxin Sea about eight days journey from Ozeman Azilar is a great Town where there are two Inns. Delekiras is a great Village with one Inn. These Four Days Journeys are very dangerous by reason that the Ways are narrow and commodious for Robbers They are very numerous in this Country and therefore understanding that we were way-laid we sent and desir'd a Convoy of the Basha who lent us fifty Horsemen Amasia is a great City built upon an ascent in the hollow of a Mountain It has no prospect but only from the South over a fair Plain The River that runs by it comes from Tocat and throws it self into the Black Sea four days journey from Amasia You cross it over a wooden Bridge so narrow that not above three persons can go a-brest To bring fresh Water to the City they have cut a League into Rocks as hard as Marble which was a prodigious Labour On the West-side upon a high Mountain stands a Fortress where they can come by no other Water than what they preserve in Cisterns when it rains In the middle of the Mountain is a fair Spring and round about it are several Chambers cut out of the Rock where the Dervichs make their abode There are but two Inns and those very bad ones in Amasia But the Soil is good and bears the best Wine and Fruits in all Natolia Ainabachar is the name of an Inn distant a quarter of a League from a great Town where they fetch their Provisions Turcall is a great Town near to a Mountain upon which there stands a Castle The River that comes from Tocatt washes the Houses and we caught excellent Fish in it In that place is another of the fairest Inns upon the Road. From Turcall you may travel in one day to Tocatt where the Road from Smyrna to Ispahan meets Tocat is a good fair City built at the foot of a very high Mountain spreading it self round about a great Rock that stands almost in the midst of the Town upon the top whereof a high Castle commands the neighbouring parts with a good Garrison in it It is very ancient and the remainder of three others that stood there in former times The City is very well inhabited with Turks who are the Lord Controllers Armenians Greeks and Jews The Streets are very narrow but the Houses are indifferent well built and among several Mosquees there is one very magnificent which seems to be newly rear'd There was also a very fair Inn going up which when I last travell'd that way was not quite finish'd There is one thing more particular and more commodious at Tocat which is not to be found in any Inns upon the Road That round about all the Caravansera's in the Town there are Lodgings which they let out to Merchants that desire to be by themselves out of the noise and hurry of the Caravans whiles they stay at Tocat Besides that in those private Lodgings you have your liberty to drink Wine and provide for the rest of your Journey which is not so easily done in the publick Inns where the Turks will have an eye upon the Merchants to draw Money out of their pockets The Christians have twelve Churches at Tocat and there resides an Archbishop that has under him seven Suffragans There are also two Monasteries for Men and two for Women and for fourteen or fifteen Leagues round Tocat the Country is all inhabited by Armenian Christians but very few Greeks being intermix'd among them The greatest part of these Christians are Tradesmen and for the most part Smiths A fair River runs about half a quarter
of Christ was pierc'd the Figure whereof I caus'd to be drawn upon the Place The Armenians have this Lance in great Veneration saying that it was brought thither by St. Matthew Five Leagues from Erivan towards the South-East begins the Mountain Ararat which will be always famous for being the resting-place of Noah's Ark. Half a League from that Mountain where the Plain begins to grow level stands a Church upon a little Hillock close by which are several Pits like Wells They report that it was into one of these Wells that Cerda an Armenian King caus'd St. Gregory to be thrown because he would not Worship his false Gods Between this Church and Erivan are to be seen the Ruines of the Ancient Artaxate the Seat of the Kings of Armenia which demonstrate that it has been a great City besides there appear the Ruines of a fair Palace Erivan lyes in 64 Degrees 20 Minutes of Longitude 41 Degrees 15 Minutes of Latitude in a most plentiful Country of all things necessary for Humane Life but especially abounding in good Wine It is one of the best Provinces of all Persia and yields the King a very large Revenue as well by reason of the goodness of the Soil as for being the great Thoroughfare of the Caravans The yearly Revenue of the Governour only otherwise call'd the Kan of Erivan amounts to above 20000 Tomans which make 840000 Livres This City lying upon the Frontiers of both Empires has been taken and retaken by the Turks and Persians several times By which means the old City being ruin'd they have built a new one 800 Paces on this side upon a Rock at the foot whereof upon the West-side runs a rapid Stream it is call'd by the Name of Sangui-Cija and in many places it is deep and full of Rocks You cross it over a fair Bridge of three Arches in which are built little Chambers where the Kan retires in the heat of the day It is full of Fish especially Trouts which nevertheless are dear enough This River comes from a Lake called Gigaguni about 25 Leagues from Erivan toward the North and falls into the Aras that runs not above three Leagues off to the South Though this City be fortified to the West by the River yet it is never the stronger by reason of the Hills on the other side which command it and in regard it is built upon a Rock the Moats of the Fort are not above three or four Foot deep In some places the City is secur'd with a double Wall with several Towers but the Walls being only of Earth as are most of the Houses the Rain does more mischief than the Cannon would do That part of Erivan to the North-West is a kind of Suburb but far better inhabited than the City for there live all the Merchants and Artificers together with the Christian Armenians who have four Churches there with a Monastery And of late years they have built also a very fair Inn in the same Quarter In the City there only lives the Kan with the Military Officers and Souldiers the Kan's Lodgings lying upon the River The Governour is a Person of great Power and has always sufficient Forces about him to guard the Frontiers The Summer being very hot at Erivan he lyes in Tents upon the Mountains during the Heat When a Caravan arrives he is forc'd to give the King advice thereof and if any Ambassador come thither he is bound to maintain him at his own Expence and to cause him to be conducted to the Territories of the next Governour who is oblig'd to do the same So that Ambassadors are not bound to be at any Expences in the Territories of the King of Persia. Four Leagues from the City are high Mountains where the Natives that inhabit the hot and Sun-burnt Countries toward Chaldea come twenty thousand together to seek out good Pasturage for their Cattel and about the end of Autumn return again into their own Country I cannot compare this Mountainous Tract whether for its Valleys and Rivers or for the nature of the Soil to any Part that I have seen better than to that portion of Switzerland which is call'd the Country of Vaux and there is a Tradition among the Natives That certain People that inhabited between the Alpes and Mount Jura and which compos'd a Squadron of Alexander's Army having serv'd him in his Conquests seated themselves in this part of Armenia which they found so like their own Country From Tocat to Tauris the Inhabitants are for the most part Christians Which large Tract of Ground being that which the Ancients call'd the Province of Armenia 't is no wonder to meet with fifty Armenians for one Mahometan There are many ancient Armenian Families in Erivan which is their native Country but they are ill us'd by the Governours who being far distant from the Court do what they please This City not being far remote from the Province from whence the Silks come is the place where all the Buyers and Sellers resort But neither in Erivan nor in any other part of Persia are the Merchants put to open their Bales at the Custom-Houses as in Turkie They only pay certain Duties toward securing the Highways which Duties they call Raderies and those that gather them Raders The Kans or Governours of Provinces in Persia are civil to Strangers especially to those that they like or that shew them any thing of Curiosity The first time that I went into Persia I took a young Watch-maker with me and coming to Erivan I carried him to the Kan who was then Governour It was at a time when Watches were very rare in Persia and the Kan understanding what Trade the Young Man was of told us he was the first Watch-maker that ever had been in Persia Thereupon he brought the Young Man a Watch to mend and that he might have the pleasure of seeing him work he lodg'd us in a Chamber next his own and made us drink with him every day for he was a true Toper and compell'd us to drink with him from four in the Afternoon 'till near Midnight in a place which he had made on purpose in his Garden to take off his Glasses This was he that having deliver'd Erivan to Sultan Amurat went along with him to Constantinople and became his Favourite for teaching him to Drink Amurat left a Garrison of 22000 Men in the City but Sha-Sefi the Persian King begirt it presently with a strong Army and planting himself securely under one of the Hills that command the City he batter'd it incessantly with eight Pieces of Cannon the fourth day he made a Breach and though he had the repute of a Coward he was the first at the Assault and took the City and because they would not yield at his Summons he put all the Garrison to the Sword For which Amurat was quit with Sha-Sefi afterwards though not in so noble a way for entring a Victor into Bagdat he put all the Persians
in Gardens There are three Inns with Market-places round about one of the three being large and commodious It is inhabited altogether by Mahometans or if there be any Christians they are very few The Soil about Casbin produces Pistaches The Tree that bears them is never bigger than a Walnut-tree of ten or twelve years old The great quantity of Pistaches that are exported out of Persia come from Malavert a little City twelve Leagues from Ispahan toward the East These are the best Pistaches in the World and the Country being of a large extent produces them in such abundance that it furnishes all Persia and the Indies Leaving Casbin you come to a little Village where there is but one Inn and you travel that day six Leagues through Countries fertil enough and well water'd The next day you travel through a good Country and in nine or ten hours you come to Denghé This is a great Village at the foot of a Hill through which there runs a fair River It abounds with excellent both White and Claret Wine where the Travellers take care to replenish their Bottles But generally they never lye here being desirous to go a League farther for a good Inn's sake which makes it a handsom Stage At this Town of Denghé it is where the two Roads from Tauris to Ispahan meet the first through Ardeüil and Casbin I have already describ'd Hither also come the Caravans that go for the Indies through Meshéhed and Candahar and where they leave Ispahan Road to take the left-hand Way which carries them Eastward CHAP. VI. The ordinary Road from Tauris to Ispahan through Zangan Sultanie and other places WE must now return again to the Lake six Leagues beyond Tauris where they that will take the ordinary short way through Zangan and Sultanie leave the left hand way of Ardeüil and Casbin This Lake is usually full of large red Ducks which are very good Meat From thence after twelve or thirteen hours travel in which time you meet with three Inns you come to Karashima a large Town in a deep Valley that seems to be well manur'd There is in it only a small Inn built of Earth the Doors whereof are so low that the People are forc'd to creep upon their knees to get in The next day you come to another large Village call'd Turcoma where the Soil is fertil though it be very cold There are several Caravansera's built like a long Alley cover'd which are only of Earth the Men lying at one end and the Horses at another The next day you travel over an uneven and desert Country and in eight hours time you come to Miana a little City situated in a Marsh where you pay a Toll for Guarding the Highways In this City is one of the fairest Inns in all Persia. Two hours after you leave Miana you must cross a River over a fair Bridge which runs to decay the Arches whereof are hollow within it is built of Brick and Free-stone being near as long as Pont neuf in Paris This Bridge stands almost at the foot of a Mountain call'd Kaplenton Sha-Abas caus'd all the way to be Pav'd because the Land is so fat and sloughy that when it thaws or that the least Rain falls it is impossible for the Caravan to pass Besides there are a sort of Camels in Persia that when it comes to rain in a deep Soil are not able to keep their Legs nay through the weight of the Burthens which they carry their very Quarters will rive from their Shoulders and their Bellies will burst So that before the way was pav'd they were forc'd to spread Carpets in the most slippery ways where those Camels were to pass which must be still done in some places where the Pavement is worn away At the lower part of the descent toward Ispahan upon the knap of a Hill which stands by it self appears an old forsak'n Fortress it is near the Highway and a River which falls into the Caspian Sea after it has cross'd the Province of Guilan where it is cut into several Channels But generally the Corn and Fruits which grow in Persia by the help of Water forc'd into Channels are of little esteem and much cheaper than those that grow in the Provinces whose Fertility is not Artificial Moreover that sort of forc'd Grain will not keep above a Year and if you keep it longer it breeds a Vermin that eats it 'T is the same thing if the Corn be grownd and more than that there breeds a Worm in the Flowr that makes it so bitter that t is impossible to eat it On this side the Mountain Kaplenton appear at a distance two others very high one toward the North call'd Saveland another toward the South call'd Seharâ—â—â— there is a third which cannot be seen in Ispahan-Road being too far out of the way near the City of Hamadan These three Mountains are full of Springs from whence most of the Streams do fall that water Persia And the Persians do say that formerly there were many more of these Springs but that about a hundred Years ago several of them have been dry'd up or otherwise no body can tell what is become of them There are several Villages near the Mountain that pay nothing to the King but are oblig'd to send him a certain quantity of Rice and Butter for the use of the Mosquee at Ardeüil They have also one great Priviledge That if a Man commits a Murther and flyes to any of these Villages he cannot be apprehended nor can the King himself punish him Leaving the River that runs at the foot of the Mountain Kaplenton you come to a fair Inn call'd Tshamalava built some years ago and for thirteen hours after travelling over a very barren Country you meet with another Inn which is call'd Sartcham standing in a very desert place which makes the Raders that lye there to secure the Highways very insolent finding themselves so far from any Towns or Villages From Sartcham you come to a River by the Banks whereof you travel a good while till you come to an Inn which is call'd Digbé near a large Village The Structure is very handsom the lower part being of Free-stone undulated with red and white and very hard The next day you travel a very uneven Country till you fall into a deep Valley at the end whereof you meet with Zangan a great Town and ill built However it has a very fair Inn which when I went last to Ispahan was so full that I had like to have lain abroad in the Rain but for the Courtesie of two Armenians From Zangan you go to an Inn where you must pay the Duties due to the Kan of Sultanie Sultanie is a very large City which you leave half a Mile from the Road near to a Mountain Formerly it had in it very beautiful Mosquees as may be easily conjectur'd by the Ruines that remain Many Christian Churches also were converted into Mosquees and if
There are an abundance of Silk-Weavers in Cachan that are very good Workmen which make all the best purfl'd Sattins mix'd with Gold and Silver that come out of Persia. There they also coyn Money and make Copper-vessels which they vend in great quantities at a good distance off The Market-houses are very fair ones and well vaulted the Inns large and convenient but there was one among the rest which was very magnificent near the King's Gardens at the entry of the City As well the Inn as the Gardens were made by the order of Sha-Abas the first of that Name who was at a vast charge The Inn is above a hundred Paces square built of Brick two Stories high containing twenty-six vaulted Chambers of a reasonable bigness It was a Structure too fair to be so little regarded as now it is being much faln to decay In the middle of the Court was a Fountain to receive Water which is spoil'd The Persians and Turks are of that bad humor rather to build new Houses than to repair old Buildings For which reason they have since built at Cachan four or five Inns as fair and commodious as that of Sha-Abas This Custom is grown to that height that the Children are so far from taking care to repair the old Houses where their Parents liv'd that they will not so much as live in them after their decease covetous of the honour of building Houses for themselves Before we leave Cachan you must take notice that as you travel from that City to Guilan you cannot avoid travelling thorough Plains for twelve hours together which are all pure Salt and there is nothing to be met with by the way but one Cistern nor can the Water which is in it be otherwise than very bad Leaving Cachan you cross a Plain of three Leagues after which you enter in among the Mountains where you come to a very fair Inn of Brick From thence you descend a pleasant Vale where you travel a long time by the side of a River over a very narrow way At the end of the Valley you meet a great Wall which crosses it and joyns the two Mountains together This Wall is above a hundred Paces long above thirty Foot thick and fifty high It was the Work of the Great Sha-Abas whose design it was to stop the Waters that fall from the Mountain and to make a Receptacle for Water in that place to serve his occasions At the foot of the Wall there is a Sluce which being let down keeps in the Water but is pull'd up to let out the Water over all the neighbouring Lands to the Plain of Cachan From this Receptacle to Corou is about two hours travel Corou is a very large Village and well peopl'd in a Soil environ'd with high Mountains and planted with great store of Walnut-trees The Houses consist but of one low Story being built of Flint-stones but the Inn therein is very fair and commodious This Village consists but of one Street but it is almost half a League long and very troublesom in the Winter by reason of a great River that runs through it and the great quantity of Stones that lye in the way All about this Village as in several other places of Persia there are a great number of Shacales which are a kind of Foxes that in the night time make an ugly noise for if but one cry all the rest will make answer and set up a howling From Corou you must travel three Leagues between Mountains after which you have but twelve Leagues to Ispahan It is a continued Plain that extends it self beyond the City and in many places the Soil is very good At every three Leagues end you meet with Inns. The first is call'd Achaha-Agakamala the second which is the half-way between Corou and Ispahan is call'd Michiacour This place consists not only of one Inn for there are many others so that it resembles a large Village From Michiacour you come to Aganura another Inn but ill built and from Aganura after you have travel'd three Leagues through a fat and fertil Country you come to Ispahan CHAP. VII Of the Road from Smyrna to Ispahan through Natolia SMyrna is at this day for Trade whether it be by Sea or Land one of the most celebrated Cities of all the Levant and the greatest Market for all sorts of Commodities which are transported out of Asia into Europe or out of Europe into Asia Hither all the Western Fleets are most regularly bound that came formerly no farther than Ligorn and from whence at times most regularly appointed the fairest Caravans set out This City lyes in 50 Degrees of Longitude and 38 Degrees 45 Minutes of Latitude at the bottom of a Gulf in the Archipelago which is seven Leagues in length upon the right side of the Isthmus which begins to form the Peninsula of Clazomene right against the Iland of Schio It lyes in that part of the Lesser Asia which the Greeks possess'd under the Name of Iconium at a distance almost equal between Ephesus and Sardis and was one of the seven Churches mention'd in the Revelation of St. John It is at this day a great City built like an Amphitheater upon the descent of a Hill that looks toward the Summer-West But it is neither so great nor so beautiful as formerly it was as may be easily conjectur'd by the Ruines of certain Edifices that remain upon that Hill which from the middle to the top where the ancient City stood are altogether uninhabited There are also to be seen the Walls of a fair Castle and above that the Ruines of an Amphitheater where they say St. Polycarp was expos'd to fight with Lions This Amphitheater was not in the form of those other which are usually round for it contain'd but half a Circle being left open to the Sea-side The Turks have almost quite destroy'd it making use of the Stones to build a Fort two Leagues from the City upon the Gulf where the passage is very narrow which the Ships are forc'd to salute as they enter in and to speak with when they sail out Moreover that they might not be put to send for Stones a-far off they consulted whether they might not make use of the Stones of the Christians Monuments as also of those of the Jews which are near the Shore But they took very few whether out of kindness to the Tombs or whether they did not think them so proper for use as the Stones of the Amphitheater This Castle had not been long built but upon an occasion very remarkable In the last Wars of the Turks with the Venetians the Ottoman Fleet having been beaten in the Archipelago the Grand Signor resolv'd to re-fit another to Sea and thereupon sent to all the parts of his Empire where he knew any English or Holland Vessels usually were wont to ride to solicit them to serve him for his Pay More particularly he aim'd at those Vessels which were in Smyrna where there
were generally more than in any other Port. But the Captains who rejected his Proposition of fighting against the Venetians believing that he would put some force upon them suddenly hois'd Sail and got away it being at a time when he could not keep them in having no Castle then built to command them The Grand Visier nettl'd at the refusal of the Captains as an affront done to his Master and to see that the Ships could come in and go out without any let or molestation bethought himself to the end he might keep them for the future under subjection of building a Fort upon the Gulf in such a part where the Vessels must necessarily touch where now there lye great Cannons level with the Water which no Vessel can escape Ever since the Convoys will not come to Smyrna as they were wont to do but lye out at Sea out of the reach of the Fort. Near to the Sea are yet to be seen some Remains of a Church two sides whereof seem to have been distinguish'd into Chappels by little Walls which are yet standing But the Natives doubt whether they be the Ruines of a Church dedicated to St. Polycarp or of an ancient Temple of Janus Smyrna has been oftentimes ruin'd either by the Wars or by the Earthquakes which often happen there One time that I staid there there happen'd one which did not last long but was very terrible About sixty Paces from the Sea are to be discern'd the Ruines of great Walls two Foot under Water and at the end of the City that looks toward the Winter-West near to the Sea appear the Ruines of a Mole and certain ancient Magazins The English Merchants have dig'd among the Ruines of Smyrna and have found great store of fair Statues which they transported into their own Country There are still found some or other every day but when the Turks find any they disfigure them presently It may be conjectur'd that there was one of a prodigious bigness by a great Toe broken off of some one and for which I paid sufficiently out of the desire I had to buy it I sent it to Paris to a Person of Quality who look'd upon it as a great Curiosity This Toe was of a hard white Stone and well shap'd and by the proportion whereof the Figure could not be judg'd to be less than the Colossus of Rhodes Upon that side of the City where the Mole was stands an old Castle of no defence at the foot whereof the Sea makes a small Creek where sometimes the Gallies of the Grand Signor lye The City is well peopl'd containing no less than fourscore and ten thousand Souls There are reckon'd no less than 60000 Turks 15000 Greeks 8000 Armenians and about six or seven thousand Jews As for the European Christians that Trade there their number is very small Every one of these Nations has the exercise of their Religion free to themselves The Turks have in Smyrna fifteen Mosquees the Jews seven Synagogues the Armenians but one Church the Greeks two and the Latins three There are also French Jesuits and Italian Observantins or a sort of Grey Franciscans The Turks the Greeks the Armenians and Jews live upon the Hill but all the lower part toward the Sea is inhabited only by the European Christians English French Hollanders and Italians The Greeks have also in the same Quarter an old Church and some few small Houses where Sea-men make merry All these different People of Europe are generally known in Smyrna by the Name of Franks Every Nation has its Consul and the French Consul has two Vice-Consuls under him the one at Scalanova the other at Chio. Scalanova or the New Port is two Leagues beyond Ephesus and being a good Haven the Vessels were wont to unlade there but the Turks would not permit it any longer For that Place being the Dowry of the Grand Signor's Mother the Vice-Consul agreed with the Governour of Scalanova who permitted the Transportation of Goods to Smyrna which is not above three little days journey with the Caravan A thing that spoil'd the Trade of the City and injur'd the Officers of the Custom-House Whereupon they Petition'd the Grand Signor that no more Goods might be unladed at Scalanova so that now no more Vessels go thither unless it be to take in fresh Victuals Chio is one of the greatest Ilands in the Archipelago of which in another place but the Vice-Consul that lives there has no more business there than the other at Scalanova for the Vessels that touch there neither unlade nor export any Goods from thence The Quarter of the Franks is only a long Street one side whereof lyes upon the Sea and as well for the Prospect as for the convenience of Unlading Goods the Houses upon the Sea are much dearer than those that lye upon the Hill The Soil about Smyrna is fertil and abounds in all things necessary for humane support but particularly in good Oyl and good Wine There are Salt-Pits also half a League from the City toward the North. The Sea affords great store of good Fish Fowl is very cheap and in a word Smyrna is a place of great plenty There is a lovely Walk all along the Sea to the Salt-Pits where generally abundance of People walk in the Summer-time to take the fresh Air and there being more liberty at Smyrna than in any other part of Turkie there is no necessity of taking a Janisary along when a man goes abroad If a man loves Fowling it is but taking a Boat which lands him two or three Leagues from the City toward the Mountains where there is so much Game that he can never return empty For the value of three Sous you may buy a red Partridge at Smyrna and all other Fowl is proportionably cheap But if Smyrna have these great advantages it has also its inconveniences the Heats are very excessive in Summer and indeed they would be insupportable were it not for the Breezes that come off the Sea these Breezes rise about ten in the Morning and continue till the Evening but if they fail t is very bad for the Inhabitants Besides there hardly passes a Year but the City is infested with the Plague which however is not so violent as in Christendom The Turks neither fear it nor flie it believing altogether in Predestination Yet I believe if the Inhabitants of Smyrna would take care to drain away the standing Puddles that gather in the Winter about the City they would not be so frequently molested with the Plague as they are It is most rife in May June and July but the malignant Fevers that succeed it in September and October are more to be fear'd more People dying of them than of the Pestilence In all my Travels I never was in Smyrna at these unfortunate Seasons There is no Basha in that City it being govern'd only by a Cady who is not so severe to the Christians as in other places For should he
abuse his Office Constantinople is at hand where you may complain to the Mufti and have relief who for some good Present may be easily perswaded to depose the Cady as being glad of the opportunity to displace him and to put another in his room The Customs of Smyrna yield a great Revenue to the Grand Signor being paid there very exactly But were there a certain Rate put upon Commodities the Merchants who would otherwise be losers would not study so many ways as they do to deceive the Customers For those Customers lay what Price they please upon Commodities valuing that at a thousand Crowns which perhaps is not worth three hundred being absolute Masters of the Rate In my last Voyage to Smyrna four Dutch Women that went thither in our Ship from their own Country carry'd a-shoar under their Coats whatever I had of rich Merchandize for the Turks have such a respect for that Sex that they will not so much as offer to search them If a man be tak'n in stealing Customs there is no other punishment than to pay double The Trade of Smyrna is very great and the principal Merchandizes which the Franks transport from thence are raw Silk which the Armenians bring out of Persia Chamlet-yarn and Chamlet or Goats-hair which come from a little City call'd Angouri fifteen or sixteen days journey from Smyrna Cotton twisted Skins and Cordovans of several colours Calicuts white and blew great quantities of Wool for Mattresses Tap'stries quilted Coverlets Soap Rhubarb Galls Valanede Scammony and Opium which four last Commodities are to be had in the Countries near to Smyrna but not in great quantities The Caravans come generally to this Town in the Months of February June and October and depart again to the Countries from whence they came the same Months Ephesus not being above a day and a halfs journey from Smyrna on Horse-back I took an opportunity to go thither There were twelve of us that joyn'd together Franks and Hollanders who took three Janisaries along with us and three Horses to carry our Provision We travel'd this little Journey in the Summer and setting out of Smyrna about three of the Clock in the Afternoon we rode through a Country part Plains and part Hills till we came to a great Viliage where we sup'd After we had staid there three hours we took Horse and travel'd till Midnight to avoid the Heats By the way we met with nine or ten Arches very narrow which we could not conjecture to be any thing else than the Ruines of some Aqueduct From thence to Ephesus the way is very pleasant through little Thickets watred with Rivulets A quarter of a League from Ephesus you meet with another Mosquee which was formerly a Christian Church built out of the Ruines of the Temple of Ephesus This Mosquee stands enclos'd with Walls and you must ascend up to it by two Ascents of twelve Steps a-piece which bring you to a large Passage From thence you enter into a large Cloyster the Arches whereof are sustain'd with Marble Pillars of several colours delicately wrought and the lower part of the Gallery which runs along three of the sides that consists of great Squares of Stone The Mosquee takes up the fourth side upon the left hand the Gate being in the middle The Mosquee it self is a wide Arch supported by five Columns all of most exquisite Work There are four of Marble and every one of a different Colour but the fifth is a most rare piece being of Porphyry and the bigness of it makes it so much the more to be admir'd Ephesus does not look like a City being so absolutely ruin'd that there is not a House standing It was built upon the descent of a Hill in a situation not much unlike that of Smyrna at the foot whereof runs a Rivulet after it has made a thousand Maeanders in the Meadows The City seems to have been very large for you may discern upon the top of the Gates the compass of the Walls with several square Towers some of which are still standing and there is one very remarkable having two Chambers in it one of which is a very fair one the Walls and Pavement whereof are Marble The famous Temple of Diana stood at the bottom of the Hill near one of the Gates of the City There remains nothing of it at present but the great Portal which is entire The Vaults of the Arches under ground stand to this day and are very large but all full of nastiness We went in with Lanthorns and though you must creep to get in by reason that the Wind has almost stopt up the Hole by gathering the Dust about it yet when you are in you may go upright for the Arches are high and fair and little the worse Near the Gate lye four or five Columns upon the Ground and near to that a Fountain ten Foot in Diameter and two deep The People of the Country report that it was the Fountain wherein St. John Baptiz'd the Christians For my part as I have seen in the Indies several Pagods and Edifices much more beautiful than ever the Temple of Ephesus could be I believe it rather to have been a Basin wherein the People put their Offerings of which there are several such that belong to the Indian Pagods The Greeks and Armemenians but above all the Franks when they go to Ephesus always endeavour to break off some piece of that Basin to carry it away with 'em as a Relick but the Stone is so hard that they can break off but very little at a time Not far from the Temple appears another Gate of the City over which there lyes a great Stone seven or eight Foot square with an emboss'd Figure of Q. Curtius that Famous Roman who threw himself Horse and Arms into the gaping Earth for the good of his Country Many Merchants have offer'd Money for liberty to carry it away but cannot obtain leave About five hundred Paces from Ephesus is the Grotto which they call the Seven Sleepers at the bottom of the same Hill where the City was built From Ephesus we went to Scalanova which is not above two Leagues off By that time you come half the way the little River that runs by Ephesus falls into the Sea in the mouth whereof there are always a great number of Greek Barks fishing for Sturgeon Of the Spawn of this Fish they make Gaveare and drive a great Trade in it in those Parts then they take the most delicate and smallest Entrails of that Fish which they fill with the same Spawn of which they make a kind of a flat Pudding as long as a Bisket which they call Botargo This they dry in the Smoak and cut it afterwards in slices to eat Upon this and the Cuttle-fish the Greeks generally feed during their Lent which is very austere Scalanova is a Port of which I have already spoken and thither we came by seven a Clock in the Evening where the
Governour of the Place more civil than usually the Turks are accustom'd to be made us very welcom In the Evening one of our Janizaries had quarrel'd with one of our Servants who thereupon had beaten him and therefore he complain'd to the Fellow's Master who not giving him that satisfaction which he desir'd thereupon the Turk study'd to be reveng'd upon the whole Company For this reason upon some pretence or other he went before the better to bring about his design We staid till the Morning and then departed early from Scalanova and by Noon we came with good Stomachs to the Mosquee near Ephesus where we had been the day before And some of the Company thought it a very convenient place to dine in i' the shade thereupon we sent for our Provisions with a Boracho of Wine and another of Water and fell to eating in the Passage into the Mosquee not dreaming any harm We had not been long at it when we perceiv'd two or three Turks about two hundred Paces off who came from a Village very near to the Mosquee I knowing the custom of the Country better than they told them that they were certainly coming to pick a quarrel with us and therefore caus'd them to hide the Bottle of Wine immediately for it was then the Turks Ramezan or Lent during which time Wine is strictly forbidden These two ill-contriv'd and ill-clad Fellows were the Janizaries of the place whom the Cadi had sent upon the information of our Janizary who knowing we had eaten in the same place before as indeed we had done made no question but we would do so again thinking to surprize us as we were drinking Wine in a place which they esteem Sacred and by consequence was among them accounted an act of Sacriledge Christian Dogs cry'd they when they came near us to eat and drink in a Mosquee and profane a holy place as you do at a time that renders the offence more criminal No cry'd I answering for the rest we drink no Wine we drink nothing but Water and you may tast it said I to him that was the most busie with that I caus'd a Glass to be pour'd out and giv'n him and I gave one of the Turks a private wink who understanding it was a promise of gratuity turn'd about to his Comrades and cry'd 'T is very true they drink no Wine However in regard they had Orders to bring us before the Cady there was no contending Thereupon I and three others undertook to and answer for all the rest The Cady revil'd us as bad as the Janizary at first but he was not only surpriz'd but very much troubl'd when they all unanimously affirm'd that we drank no Wine believing they were confederates with us But I had cunningly slipt eight Ducats into the Hand of the Turk to whom I had made a sign with my Eye who over-joy'd at so plentiful a gratuity had over-perswaded his Comrades not to say any thing against us The Cady though he did not like their Testimony yet call'd for Coffee for us according to the custom of the Country and sent us to his Lieutenant who having been often greas'd in the Fist by the Smyrna-Merchants receiv'd us very kindly and told us that the Cady was but newly come to his Place and was needy however a small matter would content him Thereupon we gave the Lieutenant twenty-five Ducats who most certainly went snips with the Cady and so return'd us to our Company who were much afraid we would not have come off so We were resolv'd to return to Smyrna not the same way we came and so we took another Road which was a very pleasant way partly over firm Sands and partly thorough Meadows where we met with several narrow Dikes very well Pav'd Then we cross a rugged high Mountain and lay in a Mahumetan Barn The next day we return'd to Smyrna having finish'd our small Journey to Ephesus in five days When we told the Consuls how the Janizary had betray'd us they made their Complaint to the Janizary Aga and the Cady who for his punishment put him out of the Consul's service which is an advantageous Employment For besides that the Consul's Janizaries are exempt from the Duties of War they are well plac'd for there is never a Merchant that is not beneficial to them some way or other especially at good times as New-years-day and other Festivals Nor could the Janizary have been more severely punish'd for the Turks love Money above all things in the World But to return to our matter The Rendezvouz of all the Caravans is generally two Leagues from the City near a Town call'd Pongarbachi The day of their setting out being fix'd every one provides himself for his Journey and meets the Evening before at the place appointed to be ready at the hour From Smyrna to Tocat is thirty-five days journey with the Caravan and the last time I went we made it thirty-eight from Pongarbachi The first day we travel'd eight hours through a Country whose prospect was not unpleasing leaving some Villages more than a League from the Road and we lodg'd in a Park near the River Pactolus which is a small River the Sand whereof shines and is of several colours Which caus'd Antiquity to call Pactolus Golden-Sanded It falls from the Mountain Tinolus and after it has water'd the Territory of Sardis mixes with the River Hermus that throws itself into the Archipelago through the Gulf of Smyrna The Mouth of it is not above two or three Leagues from the City toward the North. The next day in six hours we came to Durgout a little City in a Plain All Christians that live not in the Territories of the Grand Signor and pass that way once a Year pay Carrage or a Tribute of four or five Crowns but the Franks are exempt both at Durgout and over all Turkie There resides a Basha in this City and we were constrain'd to stop there a whole day because the Caravan that comes from Persia arriv'd at that time so that they were forc'd to change their Camels The third day after five hours travel in extremity of Heat we came to lodge near a paltry Village The fourth day we travel'd six hours and stop'd near to a small River In the Morning we pass'd over the Ruines of the ancient Sardis the Capital City of Lydia and Seat of King Croesus There were still to be seen the Ruines of a large Palace and two fair Churches with a great number of Pillars and Corniches of Marble This City having held out six Years against the Army of Temur-leng who besieg'd it so soon as he had taken it in revenge he utterly destroy'd it There is a Village near Sardis of the same Name where stood the City which was one of the Seven Churches mention'd in the Revelation The fifth day we rode for seven hours through a Country but ill manur'd and took up our Stage in a Plain upon the side of a
which time has not defac'd From Shaquemin you come to dine at a Village call'd Angare where every Traveller isentertain'd for his Piaster as at the other Stages Between the other Villages it is ten hours journey but between Angare and Aleppo but three We alighted at the French Consul's House at what time the Customers came presently to search our Cloak-bags after which we went to the Quaissery which is a place where all Strangers are at the expence of half a Crown a day for themselves and a quarter so much for every Servant and are well entertain'd CHAP. II. The Description of Aleppo now the Capital City of Syria A Leppo is one of the most famous Cities in all Turkie as well for the bigness and beauty of it as for the goodness of the Air and plenty of all things together with the great Trade which is driv'n there by all the Nations of the World It lyes in 71 Deg. 41 Min. of Longitude and 36 Deg. 15 Min. of Latitude in an excellent Soil With all the search that I could make I could never learn how it was anciently call'd Some would have it to be Hierapolis others Beroea and the Christians of the Country agree with the latter The Arabian Historians that record the taking of it call it only Aleb not mentioning any other name Whence this Observation is to be made That if the Arabians call it Aleb others Alep the reason is because the Arabians never use the Letter P in their Language This City was tak'n by the Arabians in the fifteenth Year of the Hegyra of Mahomet which was about the Year of CHRIST 637 in the Reign of Heraclius Emperour of Constantinople The City is built upon four Hills and the Castle upon the highest that stands in the middle of Aleppo being supported by Arches in some places for fear the Earth should tumble and moulder away from it The Castle is large and may be about five or six hundred Paces in compass The Walls and Towers though built of Free-stone are of little defence There is but one Gate to enter into it from the South over a Draw-bridge laid over certain Arches cross a Moat about six or seven Fathom deep There is but one half of it full of Water and that a standing Puddle to boot the rest is a meer dry Ditch so that it cannot be accounted a wholsom place However there is Water brought into the Castle through a large Pipe from the Fountains in the City and there is a strong Garrison kept in it The City is above three Miles in circuit and the best half of it is unmoated that Moat there is not above three Fathom deep The Walls are very good and all of Free-stone with several square Towers distant one from the other about fourscore Paces between which there are others also that are less But these Walls are not all of them of an equal height for in some places they are not above four Fathoms from the Ground There are ten Gates to enter into the City without either Moat or Draw-Bridge under one of which there is a place that the Turks have in great veneration where they keep Lamps continually burning and report that Elisha the Prophet liv'd for some time There is no River that runs through Aleppo and but only a small one without the City which the Arabians call Coïc. However though indeed it be but properly a Rivulet yet it is very useful to water the Gardens where grows an abundance of Fruit particularly Pistaches much bigger and better tasted than those that comes from the parts near Casbin But though there be no River yet there are store of Fountains and Receptacles of Water which they bring from two places distant from the City The Edifices neither publick nor private are very handsom but only withinside the Walls are of Marble of several colours and the Cieling of Foliage Fret-work with Inscriptions in Gold'n Letters Without and within the City there are six and twenty Mosquees six or seven whereof are very magnificent with stately Duomo's three being cover'd with Lead The chiefest and largest of all was a Christian Church which they call'd Alhha or Listen'd unto which is thought to have been built by St. Helen In one part of the Suburbs also stands another Mosquee which was formerly a Christian Church In that there is one thing worthy observation In the Wall upon the right side of the Gate there is a Stone to be seen two or three Foot square wherein there is the figure of a handsom Chalice and a Sacrifice over the hollow of it with a Crescent that covers the Sacrifice the two Horns whereof descend just upon the brims of the mouth of the Chalice One would think at first that those Figures were in Mosaïc-Work but it is all Natural as I have found with several other Franks having scrap'd the Stone with an Iron Instrument when the Turks were out of the way Several Consuls would have bought it and there has been offer'd for it 2000 Crowns but the Basha's of Aleppo would never suffer it to be sold. Half a League from the City lyes a pleasant Hill where the Franks are wont to take the Air. On the side of that Hill is to be seen a Cave or Grotto where the Turks report that Haly liv'd for some few days and for that there is an ill-shap'd figure of a Hand imprinted in the Rock they farther believe it to be the Hand of Haly. There are three Colledges in Aleppo but very few Scholars though there be Men of Learning that belong to them who have Salaries to teach Grammar and their odd kind of Philosophy with the Grounds of their Religion which are the Principal Sciences to which the Turks apply themselves The Streets of the City are all pav'd except the Bazar's where the Merchants and Handicraft-Tradesmen keep their Shops The chiefest Artists and the most numerous are Silk and Chamlet-Weavers In the City and Suburbs there are about forty Inns and fifty publick Baths as well for Women as for Men keeping their turns 'T is the chiefest Pastime the Women have to go to the Baths and they will spare all the Week long to carry a Collation when they go at the Weeks end to make merry among themselves in those places of privacy The Suburbs of the City are large and well peopl'd for almost all the Christians have their Houses and Churches there Of which Christians there are four sorts in Aleppo I mean of Eastern Christians that is to say Greeks Armenians Jacobites or Syrians and Maronites The Greeks have an Archbishop there and are about fifteen or sixteen thousand in number their Church is dedicated to St. George The Armenians have a Bishop whom they call Vertabet and are about twelve thousand in number their Church is dedicated to the Virgin The Jacobites being about ten thousand have a Bishop also and their Church is likewise dedicated to the Virgin as is that of the Armenians
Eyes of those that beheld them There are some of these Dervies that will turn in that manner for two hours together and glory in that which we account folly While the Grand Signor staid at Aleppo the Basha of Cayro came thither with a thousand Janizaries And indeed there never was a sight of Men more active or better order'd Every one of them had Scarlet Breeches that reach'd down to their Ancles with a Turkie-Robe of English Cloth and a Wast-coat of Calicut painted with several Colours The most part had Buttons of Gold and Silk and as well their Girdles as their Scimitars were adorn'd with Silver The Basha march'd at the Head of this Magnificent Regiment in a modest Garb but the Harness of his Horse was as rich as his Habit seem'd to be careless having spar'd for no Cost to appear before the Grand Signor in a stately Equipage There is a necessity for a Man to stay some time at Aleppo as well to dispose of his Affairs and in expectation 'till the Caravan be ready unless he will venture himself alone without a Guide which I have done more than once And thus much for Aleppo next to Constantinople and Cayro the most considerable City in all the Turkish Empire CHAP. III. Of several Roads in general from Aleppo to Ispahan and particularly of the Road through the great Desert THere are five principal Roads from Aleppo to Ispahan which being added to those other Roads which I have describ'd through Natolia make seven Roads into Persia parting from Constantinople Smyrna or Aleppo The first of the five Roads setting out from Aleppo is upon the left hand toward the Summer-East through Diarbek and Tauris The second directly East by Mesopotamia through Moussul and Amadan The third upon the right hand toward the Winter-East through Bagdat and Kengavar The fourth somewhat more to the South crossing a little Desert through Anna Bagdat and Balsara The fifth through the great Desert which is an extraordinary Road never travel'd but once a year when the Merchants of Turkie and Egypt go to buy Camels Of these Roads I intend to treat distinctly and in several Chapters And first of the Road through the great Desert The Caravans that go to Balsara this way never set out 'till the Rains are fal'n that they may not want Water in the Desert and the Rain seldom holds up 'till December This Caravan with which I travel'd set out upon Christmas-day consisting of about six hundred Camels and four hundred Men Masters and Servants together the Caravan-Bashi being only on Horse-back and riding before to find Water and convenient places to lodge in I must confess I had the convenience my self to ride my own Horse which I kept all the while I was at Aleppo A liberty permitted the Franks only at Constantinople Smyrna and Aleppo for at Damas Seyde or Cayro none but the Consuls are suffer'd to keep Horses others can only keep or hire Asses which stand ready in the publick Streets at all times The next day we dislodg'd by day-break and by noon we came to a place where there were five Wells about five hundred Paces distant one from the other The Water was excellent and eaus'd us to replenish our Borache's and about four a Clock in the Afternoon we lay at a place where there was no Water The next day near noon we met with two Wells but the Water was not good and only the Camels drank of it there we also lodg'd that night Having now travel'd two days in the Desert I will describe it in a few words You begin to enter upon it two or three Leagues from Aleppo where by degrees you meet with nothing but Tents instead of Houses It stretches out to the Winter-East all along the Euphrates to Balsara and the Shoar of the Gulf of Persia and upon the South to the Chain of Mountains that divides it from Arabia Petraea and Arabia the Happy These Deserts are almost quite thorough nothing but Plains of Sand which in some places lye looser than in others and are hardly passable 'till the Rains are but newly fal'n and have knit the Sands together 'T is a rare thing to meet with a Hill or a Valley in these Deserts if you do there is as surely Water and as many Bushes as will serve to boyl a little Rice For throughout the whole Desert there is no Wood to be found and all the Bavins and Charcoal that you can load upon Camels at Aleppo will not last above eight or ten days Therefore you must take notice that of six hundred Camels that pass through the Desert there are searce fifty laden with Merehandize which is generally course Cloth some little Iron Ware but chiefly black and blew Calicuts which the Arabians make use of without ever whitening them All the other Camels are only laden with Provision and all little enough so many People being to travel for so many days through so long a Tract of Ground where there is nothing in the World to sustain Life and Soul together For the first fifteen days travel we met with Water but once in two days and sometimes not above once in three days The twentieth day after we set out from Aleppo the Caravan lay at a place where there were two Wells and the Water very good Every one was glad of the convenience of washing his Linnen and the Caravan-Bashi made account to have staid there two or three days But the News that we receiv'd caus'd us to alter our Resolutions For we had no seener giv'n order to dress our Suppers when we saw a Courier with three Arabs all mounted upon Dromedaries who were sent to carry the news of the Taking of Babylon to Aleppo and other Cities of the Empire They stop'd at the Wells to let their Beasts drink and immediately the Caravan-Bashi and the principal persons of the Caravan made them a small Present of dry'd Fruits and Granates Who thereupon were so kind as to tell us that the Camels which carry'd the Baggage belonging to the Grand Signor and his Train being tyr'd his Officers would be sure to seize upon ours if they should chance to meet with us they advis'd us moreover not to come near Anna lest the Emir should stop us Upon this news we departed three hours after midnight and keeping directly to the South we put our selves into the midst of the Desert Eight days after we came to lye at a place where were three Wells and three or four Houses We staid there two days to take fresh Water and we were just setting forward again when thirty Horsemen well mounted came from one of the Emirs to tell the Caravan-Bashi that he must stop his Caravan We staid impatiently for him three days and at length he came and was presented by the Caravan-Bashi with a piece of Satin half a piece of Searlet Cloth and two large Copper Cauldrons Now although those Cauldrons could not but be very acceptable to an
last day of our being in the Desert we met after some time with the ruines of some houses on both sides the way which made us conjecture that some great City had stood formerly in that place At length we came to Balsara which I shall describe in another place While I stay'd at Balsara which was about three weeks an Ambassador from the Great Mogul arriv'd there who from Constantinople went to Bagdat to congratulate the Grand Signor for the Conquest of that City which he had taken in so short a time The Emperour presented him with three stately Horses and a little Watch the Case whereof was set with Diamonds and Rubies But the Ambassador not knowing what belong'd to that little Engin winding it up the wrong way broke the string Coming to Balsara he sent to the Carmelites to desire them to mend his Watch for he fear'd the loss of his head should he return to his Master and not shew him the Watch entire It wat at their House that I then lay and therefore not knowing what to do with it they desir'd me to shew my skill Thereupon I put on a new string But the Ambassador when he understood to whom he was beholding though it were but a trifle profer'd me all the service and kindness imaginable Thereupon the Carmelites and Augustin Fryars desir'd me to request of the Ambassador in their behalf that he would obtain the Great Turks protection for them in case he took Balsara that their Houses and Churches might be preserv'd which I did and obtain'd by his means full protection from the Grand Visier But they had no need of it for the Turks did not make any attempt upon Balsara hearing that the Persians were advancing besides that the rainy season was at hand which will not permit an Army to keep the Field So that had Bagdat held out eight days longer the Grand Signor would have been constrain'd to have rais'd the Siege Having spoken of the Arabian Horses I must needs say that there are some that are valu'd at a very high rate The Mogul's Ambassador gave for some three four and six thousand Crowns and for another he offer'd eight thousand Crowns but the Horse would not be sold under ten and so he left it When he was got home into the Indies and had presented the Mogul those Horses which he had carry'd along with him being very lovely Creatures he told his Master how he had offer'd eight thousand Crowns for a Horse more beautiful than any of them but because the Owner would not let him go under ten he left him The King incens'd that his Ambassador had stood for so small a Sum when it was for one of the greatest Monarchs in the World upbraided the poorness of his Spirit and banish'd him for ever from his presence into a Province far distant from the Court Thereupon the King wrote to the English to buy him the Horse who accordingly did so and brought him to Surat where the Governour re-paid them their Money But the Horse dy'd at Brampour Nor must I forget that while I was at Balsara twice there flew by such a prodigious number of Locusts that a-far-off they appear'd like a Cloud and darkn'd the Air. They pass by Balsara four or five times in the year the Wind carrying them into the Desert where they alight and most certainly dye Should they not be thus wind-driv'n there could nothing live upon the Earth in some parts of Chaldea They swarm all along the Persian Gulf and when the Vessels come to Ormus at the time of the year there are little Shops where people sell Locusts fry'd in Butter to those that love that sort of Diet. Once I had the curiosity to open the Belly of a Locust six Inches long and found therein seventeen little ones that stirr'd whence it is easie to guess how those Insects come to be so numerous especially in hot Countries There are several Barks that go from Ormus to furnish both sides of the Persian Gulf where the people eat neither Bread nor Rice I agreed with the Master of one of these Barks and made my agreement that the Bark should not be above half laden for generally they lade them too deep and in foul weather they are forc'd to throw half the Freight over-board to save the rest From Balsara to the mouth of the River Euphrates it is reck'nd to be twenty Leagues of Fresh-water We staid seven whole days for a Wind which proving favourable we came to Brander-ric in forty-eight hours This is the place where you must land if you intend for Persia unless you are bound for Ormus Brander-ric consists only of five or six little Fishers Hutts which Hutts are only Hurdles set one against another and cover'd over where they and their Families live To the same place come Asses lad'n with Dates which I was forc'd to hire for want of Horses We were six days upon the Road from thence to Cazerom This is a Mountainous Country where there is Wood enough but you must lodge in the Fields for there are no Inns upon the Road. The way is pleasant in some places along the Banks of several Rivulets and through verdant Groves stor'd with great quantities of Turtles We kill'd a good many which we eat part with Pilaw instead of Henns some we rosted making Sticks to serve for Spits Cazerom is a little City ill built where there is but one Inn and that none of the most inviting to Strangers neither From Cazerom to Schiras it is five days journey The Road lyes over very craggy Mountains which had been impassable but for the Liberality of Ali-Couli-Kan Governour of Schiras He made Ways where there were none before and joyn'd Mountains together by Bridges in Countries which otherwise had been inaccessible In the midst of the Mountains is a wide gap or discontinuance from whence a Plain extends it self of about twenty Leagues in circuit It is inhabited by Jews only who are Silk-Weavers In these Mountains you meet with Tents where the Chaldeans sojourn that come for cool Air and Pasturage in the Summer Coming to Schiras I took Horse there for Ispahan where I arriv'd in nine days The Country over which you travel between these two Cities is part Plains part Mountains part wild and part manur'd Three days journey from Schiras you pass the Mountain of Mayen a little City where there is nothing worthy observation Two days journey from thence you enter upon the Plains of the Province of Cuscuzar where the King of Persia keeps his Race-Horses The next day I arriv'd at Yesdecas where the best Bread in Persia is made This is a little City upon a Rock wherein there is a very fair Inn at the foot whereof runs a little River that glides into the Valley wherein grows that excellent Corn which is utter'd in Bread from that City In three days I went from Yesdecas to Ispahan This was the first Road from Aleppo to Ispahan
days journey you shall see no other green Herb upon the Ground but only Pimpernel the Roots whereof are so large that there are some a Foot and a half in diameter The next day the Fields are cover'd with a large thick Leaf the Root whereof is bulbous and as big as an Egg. There are also great store of yellow red and violet Flowers Tulips of several colours Emonies and single Daffadillies But in general Mesopotamia is a very barren Country and there are very few places that can be better'd by Art or Industry Nesbin is only the Shadow of the ancient Nisibis being now only a large Village the Inhabitants whereof are Christians both Armenians and Nestorians Our Caravan lodg'd a little beyond in a Church-yard adjoyning to one of the Armenian Churches The next day hearing people sing I went to the Church with the two Capuchins where I saw an Armenian Bishop with his Miter and a wooden Crosier accompany'd with several Priests and a good Congregation When Service was done after some few Compliments between us he led us down under the Church into a Chappel where he shew'd us the Sepulcher of St. James Bishop of Nisibis In the Church-yard is a Stone about a Foot thick and six high upon which were laid several Candles of Wax and Tallow which the Poor Offer in their Necessities but especially in their Sicknesses They believe that Stone to have been the Pedestal for the Statue of some Saint which the Turks have defac'd so that they give the same Honour to the Pedestal as they would have giv'n to the Statue There are also some Roman Characters to be seen but half worn out and spaces brok'n off in some parts so that I could not learn in Honour of whom that Statue was erected Half a League from Nisbin runs a River which you cross over a Stone-Bridge In the way to the River are several pieces of Wall with an Arch which made me conjecture that formerly the City extended as far as the River Twice Musket-shot from the River you meet with a Stone half buried upon which are written certain Latin Words whereby it appears that it was the Tomb-stone of the General of an Army that was a French-man but I could not read his Name which time had desac'd The same Bishop inform'd us that formerly the Moors having besieg'd the City there came such a prodigious company of strange Flyes and did so torment both Men and Horses that they were forc'd to raise the Siege You must pay the same Toll at Nisbin as in other places that is two Piasters and a half for every Mule or Horses Load We lay there three days together to furnish our selves with Provisions 'till we came to Moussul which is five days journey from Nisbin the Country between being altogether desert and uninhabited There is no Water to be found but in two places and that not very good neither near to which you shall see some few Herdsmen grazing their Cattel The first of April we departed from Nisbin and after we had travel'd eleven hours we lay near to a River whither certain Shepherds brought us Hens to sell. The second we travel'd ten hours and lay at a paltry Town where we met with nothing to eat The third we travel'd thirteen hours and lodg'd by a pitiful Fountain the Water whereof was hardly good enough for our Horses The fourth we travel'd ten hours and came to lodge by the Bank of a little River near to which appear'd the Ruines of a Bridge and a Castle The fifth we travel'd eleven hours to reach Moussul which is not far from the ancient Niniveh Moussul is a City that makes a great shew without the Walls being of Free-stone but within it is almost all ruin'd having only two blind Market-places with a little Castle upon the Tigris where the Basha lives In a word there is nothing worth a Man's sight in Moussul the place being only considerable for the great concourse of Merchants especially the Arabians and Curds which are the Inhabitants of the ancient Assyria now call'd Curdistan where there grows great plenty of Galls and for which there is a great Trade There are in it four sorts of Christians Greeks Armenians Nestorians and Maronites The Capuchins had a pretty Dwelling upon the Tigris but the Basha laying a Fine upon them because they went about a little to enlarge it they were forc'd to quit it The City is govern'd by a Basha that has under him part Janizaries part Spahi's about three thousand Men. There are only two scurvy Inns in Moussul which being full when we came I caus'd my Tent to be set up at the Meydan or great Market-place Now to say something in general of the difference of the two Rivers Tigris and Euphrates in reference to their Course and Waters I observ'd that the Water of Euphrates appear'd somewhat red and that the Stream was not so swift as that of Tigris which seem'd to be whitish like the Loire As for its Course Euphrates runs a far longer way than Tigris But now let us cross the Tigris over a Bridge of Boats to view the sad Ruines of a City that has made such a noise in the World though there be now scarce any appearance of its ancient splendour Niniveh was built upon the left Shoar of the Tigris upon Assyria-side being now only a heap of Rubbish extending almost a League along the River There are abundance of Vaults and Caverns uninhabited nor could a man well conjecture whether they were the ancient Habitations of the people or whether any houses had been built upon them in former times for most of the houses in Turkie are like Cellars or else but one Story high Half a League from Tigris stands a little Hill encompas'd with Houses on the top whereof is built a Mosquée The people of the Country say 't was the place where Jonas was bury'd and for that place they have so great a veneration that no Christians are suffer'd to enter into it but privately and for Money By that means I got in with two Capuchin Fryars but we were forc'd to put off our Shooes first In the middle of the Mosquée stood a Sepulchre cover'd with a Persian Carpet of Silk and Silver and at the four corners great Copper Candlesticks with Wax Tapers besides several Lamps and Ostridge-Shells that hung down from the Roof We saw a great number of Moores without and within sat two Dervi's reading the Alcoran About a Musket-Shot from Moussul toward the North-East stands a great Ruin'd Monastery enclos'd with high Walls the greatest part whereof is still to be seen We stay'd ten days at Moussul and having provided all things ready for the rest of our Journey we set forward for Ispahan CHAP. V. A Continuation of the Road from Nineveh to Ispahan Together with the Story of an Ambassador call'd Dominico de Santis HAving pass'd the Tigris we stay'd three quarters of an hours Journey from Nineveh for some
and usually there are about three thousand in the City and the Towns adjoyning The Keys of the Gates of the City and the Bridge-Gate are in the custody of another Aga who has under him two hundred Janizaries There are also six hundred Foot-men who have their particular Aga and about sixty Cannoneers who were at that time commanded by an expert Artist that went by the name of Signor Michaël who pass'd for a Turk though he were born in Candy He put himself into the Grand Signor's service when he went to besiege Bagdat in the year 1638. Though the Turk had the good fortune to carry the City in a small time not so much by virtue of the Breach which Signor Michaël had made in the Wall as the Sedition and Revolt that happen'd at the same instant the Story whereof was thus in short The Kan that sustain'd the brunt of the Siege at first was originally an Armenian and his name was Sefi-couli-Kan He had commanded the City a long time and had defended it twice from the Army of the Turks who were not able to take it before But the King of Persia having sent one of his Favourites to command in his room who had enter'd upon his Command before the Cannon had made the Breach the old Kan finding himself displac'd by the Commission of the new Governour rather chose to dye than survive the Affront which was put upon him To which purpose he sent for his Servants the Officers of the Army his Wife and Son and taking three Cups of Poyson in his Hand he commanded his Wife if ever she lov'd him now to shew the marks of her affection by generously dying with him He gave the same exhortation to his Son and so all three together drank up the Poyson which procur'd their speedy death The Souldiers who had a great love for their Governour having beheld so dismal a Spectacle and knowing the Grand Signor was preparing for a general Assault would not obey their new Kan but began to act like Revolter's and to that purpose they agreed to deliver up the City upon condition they might march away with their Arms and Baggage but the Turks did not keep their words For so soon as the Turks were got into the City the Basha's told the Grand Signor that to weak'n the force of the Persian it was necessary for him to put to the Sword all the Souldiers that were in the City and thereupon there were above twenty thousand massacr'd in cold Blood The Turks had seiz'd upon the Capuchins Mansion but Signor Michaël chief of the Canoneers got it to be restor'd them again As to the Civil Government of Bagdat there is none but a Cady who does all acting even the Mufti with a Shiekelaslon or Tefterdar who receives the Revenues of the Grand Signor There are in it five Mosquees of which two are indifferently well built and adorn'd with Duomo's cover'd with varnish'd Tiles of different colours There are also ten Inns all ill built except two which are reasonably convenient In general the City is ill built there being nothing of beauty in it but the Bazars which are all arch'd else the Merchants would not be able to endure the heats They must also be water'd three or four times a day for which office several poor people are hir'd upon the publick charge The City is full of Trade but not so full as it was when in the hands of the King of Persia for when the Turk took it he kill'd most of the richest Merchants However there is a great confluence thither from all Parts whither for Trade or for Devotions sake I cannot tell because they that follow the Sect of Haly do believe that Haly liv'd at Bagdat Besides all they that are desirous to go to Mecca by Land must pass through Bagdat where every Pilgrim is forc'd to pay four Piasters to the Basha You must take notice that there are in Bagdat two sorts of Mahometans the first are call'd Rafedi's or Hereticks the second Observers of the Law in all things like those at Constantinople The Rafedi's will by no means eat or drink with a Christian and very hardly with the rest of the Mahometans or if they do happ'n to drink out of the same Cup or to touch them they presently wash themselves as believing themselves unclean The others are not so scrupulous but eat and drink and converse with all the World In the year 1639 after the Grand Signor had tak'n Bagdat a Rafedi who was a Carrier of Water not only refus'd to give a Jew to drink who desir'd it of him in the Market-place but abus'd him also in words Thereupon the Jew complain'd to the Cady who immediately sent for him and caus'd his Boracho and his Cup to be brought along with him when he came before him he ask'd for his Cup and gave the Jew to drink and then made the Porter drink also out of the same Cup After that he order'd the Rafedi to be Bastinado'd and this Lesson to be taught him while he was chastising That we are all God's Creatures as well Mahometans as Christians and Jews This has made them less zealous in their Superstition though they are the chiefest part of the Inhabitants of the City As to their Funerals I have particularly observ'd that when the Husband dyes the Wife pulls off all her Head-gear and lets her Hair fall about her Ears then she all besmears her Face with the Soot of a Kettle and having so done frisks and leaps about after such a ridiculous manner as from others would rather produce laughter than tears All the kindred friends and neighbours meet at the House of the deceas'd and stay for the Celebration of the Funeral At what time the Women strive to out-vie one another in a thousand Apish tricks clapping their Cheoks yelling like mad people and then of a sudden setting themselves to dance to the sound of two Drums like those which the Tabor-and-Pipe-Men carry upon which the Women beat for a quarter of an hour Among them there is one more accustom'd to this fool'ry than the rest that fills your Ears with mournful Dinns to which other Women make answer by redoubling their Cries which may be heard at a great distance It would then be a vain thing to seek to comfort the Children of the deceas'd for they seem to be so much beside themselves that they are not in a condition to hear any thing And they are oblig'd to carry themselves in that manner unless they intend to run the reproach of not having any kindness for their Parents When the Corps is carry'd to the Grave abundunce of poor people go before with Banners and Crescents at the ends of Sticks singing most dismal Dirges all the way The Women are not to be at the Interrment who are not to go abroad but only upon Thursdays when they go to the Sepulchers to Pray for the Dead And because that by their Law the
shall have it The twenty-sixth of September we departed from Erivan and the ninth of November we came to Tauris taking the ordinary Road. At Erivan two of my Servants the one a Watch-maker the other a Gold-smith dy'd I left them sick there but caus'd them to be buried in the Church-yard belonging to the Armenians One of them dy'd in fifteen days of a Gangrene which eat out his Mouth and Throat being the Disease of the Country Though had the Armenians known that one of them had been a Protestant they would never have allow'd him to have been bury'd in their Church-yard Here observe the exact justice wherewith the Persians preserve the Goods of Strangers For the Civil Judge hearing of the death of the Watch-maker caus'd his Chamber to be seal'd up to the end the Goods might be preserv'd for the kindred of the deceas'd if they came to demand them I return'd to Tauris a twelve-month after and found the Chamber close seal'd up We staid twelve days at Tauris during which time I resolv'd to attend the Kan of Shamaqui a frontler Town of Persia toward the Caspian Sea but I found him not there in regard it was Harvest season at what time he goes to gather the King's and his own Duties Two days journey on this side Shamaqui you pass the Aras and for two days journey you travel through a Country all planted with white Mulberry-Trees the Inhabitants being all Silk-Weavers Before you come to the City you must cross over several Hills But I think I should rather have call'd it a great Town where there was nothing remarkable but a fair Castle which the Kan built himself I speak of the time past For as I return'd from this present Voyage of which I now write when I came to Tauris I understood that there had happen'd such a terrible Earthquake in the Town as had laid all the Houses in a heap none escaping that dismal subversion but only one Watch-maker of Geneva and one more who was a Camel-driver I had several times design'd to return into France through Muscovy but I durst never adventure being certainly inform'd that the Muscovite never permitted any person to go out of Muscovy into Persia nor to come out of Persia into Muscovy So that it was by particular connivence that that favour was granted to the Duke of Holstein's Ambassadors This last time I was resolv'd to have try'd whether I could have open'd a Passage from Persia through Muscovy into France but the Ruine of Shamaqui deterr'd me We departed from Tauris the twenty-second of November from whence to Cashan we met with nothing considerable but only one of the Muscovite Ambassadors upon his return into his own Country with a small Retinue of sixty his Companion dying at Ispahan Upon Sunday the fourteenth of December taking Horse by three of the Clock in the morning the Ice bearing very well we came to Ispahan about noon but in regard it was slippery before day and very plashy after the Sun was up the Journey was both tedious and troublesom CHAP. III. The Road from Aleppo to Tauris through Diarbequir and Van. THere are two Roads more remaining to be describ'd one through the North part of Turkie the other through the South The first through Diarbequir and Van and so to Tauris the second through Anna and the small Desert leading to Bagdat I will describe the first of these Roads and make a skip at the first leap to Bi r whither I have already led you in the Road from Aleppo From Bi r or Beri you travel all along the River Euphrates to Cachemé From Cachemé you come to Milesara where you pay the Customs of Oursa when you do not pass through the City which amounts to four Piasters for every Horse-load From Milesara you come to the River Arzlan-chaye or the Lion River by reason of the rapidity of the Stream which falls into Euphrates From Arzlan-chaye you go to Seuerak This is a City water'd by a River that also falls into Euphrates It is environ'd with a great Plain to the North the West and South The way which the Horses Mules and Camels keep is cut through the Rock like a Channel two Foot deep where you must also pay half a Piaster for every Horse-load From Seuerak you come to Bogazi where there are two Wells but not a House near and where the Caravan usually lodges From Bogazi you come to Deguirman-Bogazi and from Deguirman-Bogazi to Mirzatapa where there is only an Inn. From Mirzatapa you come to Diarbequir which the Turks call Car-emu Diarbequir is a City situated upon a rising ground on the right side of Tigris which in that place forms a Half-moon the descent from the Walls to the River being very steep It is encompass'd with a double Wall the outward Wall being strengthned with sixty-two Towers which they report were built in Honour of the sixty two Disciples of JESUS CHRIST The City has but three Gates over one of which there is an Inscription in Greek and Latin that makes mention of one Constantine There are in it two or three fair Piazza's and a magnificent Mosquee which was formerly a Christian Church It is surrounded with very decent Charnel-houses near to which the Moullah's Dervi's Book-sellers and Stationers do live together with all those other people that concern the Law About a League from the City there is a Channel cut out of Tigris that brings the Water to the City And in this Water are all the red Marroquins wash'd that are made at Diarbequir surpassing in colour'all others in the East which Manufacture employs a fourth part of the Inhabitants of the City The Soil is very good and yields according to expectation there is excellent Bread and very good Wine nor is there any better Provision to be had in any part of Persia more especially there is a sort of Pigeons which in goodness excel all the several kinds that we have in Europe The City is very well peopl'd and it is thought there are in it above twenty thousand Christians The two thirds are Armenians the rest Nestorians with some few Jacobites There are also some few Capuchins that have no House of their own but are forc'd to lodg◠in an Inn. The Basha of Diarbequir is one of the Viziers of the Empire He has but an inconsiderable Infantry which is not much requisite in that Country the Curds and Arabs which infest that Country being all Horse-men But he is strong in Cavalry being able to bring above twenty thousand Horse into the Field A quarter of an hours riding on this side Diarbequir there is a great Town with a large Inn where the Caravans that go and come from Persia rather choose to lye than at Diarbequir in regard that in the City-Inns they pay three or four Piasters for every Chamber but in the Country-Inns there is nothing demanded At Diarbequir you cross the Tigris which is always fordable unless when the Snow
Turkish Adrianople Edrené Burse Brousa Belgrade Beligrade Buda Boudim Grand Caire Mesr. Alexandretta in Egypt Iskendrié Mecca Meqquie Balsara Basra Babylon Bagdat Nineveh Moussoul Nisibis Nisbin Edessa Ourfa Tiqueranger Diarbequir Eva-togea Tokat Teve Toupolis Erzerom Shamiramager Van. Jerusalem Koutsheriff Damas Cam. Tripoli in Syria Cam Taraboulous Aleppo Haleb. Tripoli in Barbary Taraboulous Tunis Tunis Algier Gezaiir Candy Guirir Rhodes Rodes Cyprus Kebres Chio Sakes Methelin Medilli Smyrna Izmir Troy Eski Istamboul Lemnos Limio Tenedos Bogge-adasi Negropont Eghirbos The Dardanels Bogaz-ki Athens Atina Barut Biroult Seyde Saida Tyre Sour St. John of Dacres Acra Antioch Antexia Trebizond Tarabozan Sinopus Sinap In the Fortress of Sinopus at the lower part of the Wall there is a Stone to be seen where there is an Inscription in Latin abbreviated with the word Rome in it whence some conjecture may be made that the Romans built it The Mediterranean Sea Akdeniis The Ocean Derijay Mouhiit The Black Sea Kara-Deniis CHAP. VIII Remarks upon the Trade of the Island of Candy and the principal Isles of the Archipelago as also upon some of the Cities of Greece adjoyning with a particular Relation of the present Condition of the Grand Signor's Galleys belonging as well to the Isles as to the Continent Of the ISLAND of CANDY OUT of the Island of Candy Strangers export great store of Wheat and Sallet-Oyl all sorts of Pulse Cheese yellow Wax Cottons Silks but more especially Malmsey wherein consists its chiefest Trade When Vintage draws near the Country-people that are to gather the Grapes wrap their Feet in a piece of a Boar's Skin which they tye together upon the upper part of the Foot with a piece of Pack-thred to preserve their Feet from the violent heat of the Rocks upon which they are to tread Those Skins are brought out of Russia by the Russes that bring Botargo and Caviare to Constantinople where they have a vast vent for it all over Turkie Persia and Ethiopia where they that follow the Greek and Armenian Church eat little or nothing else all the Lent By the way take notice that the Turks make a certain Glew out of Sturgeon which is the best in the World so that whatever is fasten'd with it will rather break in another place than where it is glew'd They make it thus When they have caught a Sturgeon they pull out his Guts and then there remains a Skin that covers the Flesh this Skin they take off from the head to the belly It is very clammy and about the thickness of two Sheets of Paper which they roll as thick as a Man's Arm and let it dry in the Sun When they use it they beat it with a Mallet and when it is well beat'n they break it into pieces and steep it in Water for half an hour in a little Pot. When the Venetians were Masters of Candy they that had committed any Crime which deserv'd Death if they could get out of the Island before they were apprehended went directly to Constantinopole to beg their pardon For you must know that no person but the Ambassador of the Commonwealth of Venice had the Priviledge to pardon Crimes committed in Candy For example when Signor Dervisano was Ambassador for the Commonwealth of Venice at Constantinople a Candiot having a desire to lye with a Woman by force she told him she would sooner eat her Child's Liver than yield to his Lust. Whereupon the Villain enrag'd he could not compass his design took his opportunity kill'd the Child cut out the Liver and made the Mother eat it and then slew the Mother also Upon this he fled to Constantinople to beg pardon of the Ambassador and obtain'd it there But the Ambassador at the same time wrote word to the Governour of Candy to put him to death at his return having only granted him his Pardon to preserve his Priviledge And indeed to speak truth the Candiots are the most wretched people under Heaven Of the ISLAND of CHIO THE City of Chio which gives the Island its Name contains about thirty thousand Inhabitants where there are little less than fifteen thousand Greeks eight thousand Latins and six thousand Turks Among the several Greek and Latin Churches the last of which hath continu'd ever since the time that the Genoeses possess'd the Island there are some indifferent handsom Structures The five principal Latin Churches are the Cathedral and the Churches belonging to the Escolantines the Dominicans the Jesuites and the Capuchins The Turks have also their Mosquees and the Jews their Synagogue Four Miles from the City near to the Sea-side is to be seen a vast Stone which was cut out of some Rock it is almost all round only the upper part which is flat and somewhat hollow round about the upper part and in the middle are places like Seats cut into the same Stone of which there is one higher than the rest like a School-master's Chair and Tradition reports that this was Homer's School where he taught his Scholars In this Island there is such an infinite number of Partridges that the like is not to be found in any part of the World But that which is a greater Rarity is this that the Natives breed them up as we do our Poultry but after a more pleasant manners for they let them go in the fields all the day long and at night every Country-man calls his own sevèrally home to Roost by a particular Note whither they return like a Flock of so many Geese There are great quantities of Damasks and Fustians wrought in the Island of Chio which are transported to Grand Cairo and to all the Cities upon the Coast of Barbary Natolia and particularly to Constantinople Three Leagues from the Island of Chio upon a Mountain to the South there grows a peculiar sort of Trees the Leaves are somewhat like a Myrtle their Branches so long that they creep upon the ground but which is more wonderful that when they are down they rise again of themselves From the beginning of May to the end of June the Inhabitants take great care to keep the Earth under the Tree very clean for during those two Months there issues out a certain Gum from the joynts of the Branches which drops upon the ground this is that which we call Mastick and the Turks Sakes according to the Name which they give the Island The Island produces great store of this Mastick which is spent in the Seraglio of Constantinople where the Women continually chew it to cleanse and keep their Teeth white When the Mastick Season draws near the Grand Signor every year sends a certain number of Bestangi's to take care that it be not exported but be preserv'd for the use of the Seraglio If it be a plentiful year for Mastick the Bestangi's that cull out the lesser sort to sell put it into little Bags and seal it up which Bags being so seal'd are never question'd by the Custom-house Officers The Island also
Cirkassians Tartars and Muscovites live altogether by rapine and continual In-roads into one anothers Countries There are another sort of people which are call'd Kalmouchs that inhabit upon the Coast of the Caspian Sea between the Muscovites and the Tartars The men are strong but the most deformed under Heaven Their faces are so flat and broad that there is the bredth of five fingers between each Eye Their Eyes are very small and that little Nose they have is so flat that there is nothing to be seen but two little holes instead of Nostrils Their Knees also and their Feet turn inward When they go to the Wars they carry their Wives and their Daughters if they be twelve years of age along with them who fight as couragiously as the men themselves Their Arms are Bows Arrows and Skains with a great wooden Mace at the Pummel of their Saddles their Horses being the best in all Asia Their Captain is of some ancient Family but they more particularly choose him for his valour The Duke of Muscovia sends them presents every year to preserve their friendship which presents consist in Cloth And he grants them free passage through his Territories when ever they have a mind to invade the Mengrelians Georgians or Cirkassians at which sport they are much more dexterous than the lesser Tartars Sometimes they advance into Persia as far as the Province of the Usbekes which is a part of Great Tartary ranging up as far as Caboul and Candahar Their Religion is particular to themselves but they are great Enemies to the Mahumetans As for the Comouchs or people of Comania they are Mahumetans and very precise ones too They are under the protection of the King of Persia who makes great account of them in regard they defend the Passes into his Country on that side against the Kalmouchs They are habited both men and women like the Lesser Tartars fetching all the Silk and Calicut which they use out of Persia for as for Cloth they are contented with what they make in their own Country which is very course Circassia is a pleasant good Country and full of variety There are Plains Forrests Hills and Mountains abounding in Springs some of which are so large that some of them will serve seven or eight of the neighbouring Villages But on the other side in all the Rivers that proceed from these Springs there is not a fish to be seen Flowers they have in abundance especially fair Tulips There is a sort of Strawberry also with a short stalk of which five or six grow in a bunch the least are as big as a small Nut of a pale yellow Colour The Soil is so fertile that it brings forth without any great trouble a vast plenty of all sorts of Fruits Nor do the people need any other Gardens than their Fields which are cover'd with Cherry-trees Apple-trees Pear-trees Walnut-trees and all other useful Trees of the same nature but their chiefest Wealth consists in Cattel but especially in well-shap'd Horses not much unlike the Spanish Gennets They have also an abundance of Goats and Sheep whose Wool is as good as that of Spain which the Muscovites fetch away to make Felts They neither sow Wheat nor Oats but only Barley for their Horses and Millet to make Bread nor do they ever sow twice in the same place not but that the Land is good enough to bear Wheat but because they love Bread made of Millet better They have very good Fowl and Venison and Wild-Fowl more than they know what to do withal which they never hunt with Dogs nor fly their Hawks at for their Horses are so swist and so good that they will tire the Beast and force him to lye down and yield Ev'ry Horse-man has a Rope with a sliding-knot ready at the Pummel of his Saddle which they are so dextrous to throw about the neck of the Beast that begins to be weary that 't is twenty to one if they miss him When they have kill'd a Dear they cut off the legs and breaking the Bones eat the Marrow which they say is the best thing in the World to strengthen the Body When they go to steal Cattel they carry along with them great Cows-horns stuft with boyl'd Tripes cut in small pieces then watching their times when the Herdsmen are asleep when the Dogs begin to bark they throw to ev'ry one a Horn with which the Dog presently runs away and so while the Shepherds are asleep and the Dog is busie to get the Meat out of the Horn which is there ramm'd in on purpose the Thieves drive away what they please The Drink of the Sherkes is Water and Bosa Bosa is a Drink made of Millet as intoxicating as Wine which they want in the Country The Men and the Women Boys and Girls go habited all alike and their Habit is a colour'd Robe of Fustian with a kind of large Petticoat underneath with this they wear a little pink'd Wastcoat that reaches down to their Thighs and over that a Cassock of course Cloth that reaches down to their Knees girt about their Wasts with a Cord. The Sleeves of the Cassock are op'n below and above and sometimes they pin them behind their Backs They wear no Beards 'till they are sixty years of age And as for their Hair neither Men nor Women Boys nor Girls ever wear it longer than the tips of their Ears The Men both young and old shave the middle of their Heads about the bredth of two Fingers from the Forehead down to the Nape of the Neck and then instead of Hats or Head-clothes both Men and Women wear only a little Bonnet of the same Cloth as the Cassock made like a Night-cap 'T is true when the Maids come to be marry'd there is some distinction upon their Heads for then they fast'n to the hinder part of their Heads a round piece of Felt which they cover with a white Veil very artificially pleated Their Breeches are ty'd below their Knees and reach to their Ancles their Shooes which are of Cordovan both upper and under Leather have but one seam upon the upper part of the Foot being light and cut like a pair of Pumps As for their Beds they take several Sheep-skins and sow them together and then stuffing them full of Millet-leaves make a kind of Quilt Now when they beat the Millet the Leaf comes to be as small as the Chaff of Oats so that when the person rises off from the Quilt the Quilt rises and swells again of it self Their Cushions are of the same Make only sometimes they are stuft with Wool The People are neither Christians nor Mahometans all their Religion consisting in some Ceremonies which they perform with the greatest Solemnities which they can imagin for at that time old and young of all Ages and Sexes and all the whole Town must be there at the place appointed unless impotency or sickness excuses them I call them Villages for in all these Countries
least prone to Jealousie By the way take notice that the Nogaies though they live almost after the same manner as the Tartars and are under the same Prince yet they perfectly hate them reproaching them for effeminate because they live in Houses and Villages whereas the true Souldier should live in Tents as they do to be ready upon all occasions They that run a-foot as well in these Countries as in Persia when they are weary take Walnuts and bruise them and then rub the Soles of their feet with them before the fire as hot as they can endure it which presently makes them fresh again Having thus done with all the several Roads here follows an Alphabetical Table of the Longitudes and Latitudes of all the Principal Cities of the whole Empire of Persia. THE LONGITUDES and LATITUDES OF THE Principal Cities of PERSIA according as the Geographers of those Countries place them A. A Amoul is in 72 Degrees 20 Min. of Longitude 36 deg of Latitude The Lands about this City abound in Prunes Abeher in 74 deg 20 min. Long. 36 deg 15 min. Lat. 12 Leagues from Casbin a small City but the Land is good about it Absecun in 79 deg 15 min. Long. 37 deg 10 min. Lat. A small City in an excellent Soil Abdehil in 60 deg 20 min. Long. 36 deg 24 min. Lat. The Inhabitants are most Christians and there are many ancient Churches in it It depends upon Sultany Ahwaz 70 deg 15 min. Long. 31 deg 15 min. Lat. A small City half ruin'd in the Province of Belad-Cowreston in a Soil that yields excellent Fruits Arbella 69 deg 50 min. Long. 36 deg 20 min. Lat. A small Champaign City where Provisions are Cheap Ardevil 62 deg 30 min. Long. 38 deg 15 min. Lat. Ardeston 77 deg 10 min. Long. 33 deg 7 min. Lat. Famous for the Copper Vessels that are there made Arion 74 deg 32 min. Long. 32 deg 25 min. Lat. One of the three places where Olives grow in all Persia. Assed-Abad 63 deg 40 min. Long. 34 deg 50 min. Lat. A small City toward Amadan Ava 75 deg 10 min. Long. 34 deg 40 min. Lat. This is a very small place Azadkar or Yevin 82 deg 15 min. Long. 36 deg 32 min. Lat. A City in a great Plain where there are above four hundred Channels under-ground B. Bab El Abab or the Gate of Gates call'd also Demir-capi or the Gate of Iron The Tartars call it Monjou 75 deg 15. min. Long. 45 deg 15 min. Lat. It has been formerly a strong place Badkeist 85 deg 32 min. Long. 35 deg 20 min. Lat. A small but most pleasant City and well built Baste 80 deg 15 min. Long. 29 deg 15 min. Lat. A City in the Province of Kerman where in Summer the Mornings are very cold the Afternoons hot yet the Air very good Bafrouche see Mahmeter Beylagon 63 deg 52 min. Long. 41 deg 20 min. Lat. A City toward the Caspian Sea in a Country abounding in Corn and Fruit. Balk 91 deg 36 min. Long. 38 deg 10 min. Lat. Three days journey from Moultan Bem or Bembe 74 deg 15 min. Long. 28 deg 20 min. Lat. Thought to have been built by Caliph Mouktadar near the great Desert of Bersham Berdoe 63 deg 15 min. Long. 35 deg 30 min. Lat. It lyes surrounded with Pasture-grounds which breed great store of Cattel Berzendé 63 deg 14 min. Long. 37 deg 40 min. Lat. Here are made a sort of course Druggets for ordinary people Beston 79 deg 15 min. Long. 37 deg 20 min. Lat. It lyes in a Country abounding in Corn and Fruits Bimonoheer 74 deg 10 min. Long. 37 deg 30 min. Lat. Here is great Trade for Silk Bost 91 deg 28 min. Long. 32 deg 16 min. Lat. A great City to which belongs the fairest and strongest Castle in all Persia. Bourou-Jerdé 74 deg 30 min. Long. 34 deg 20 min. Lat. Famous for Saffron and for being the native City of many Learned Men. C. Chemkon 63 deg 15 min. Long. 41 deg 15 min. Lat. Chiras 78 deg 15 min. Long. 29 deg 36 min. Lat. Chirvan or Erivan 63 deg 15 min. Long. 38 deg 32 min. Lat. Here all the Silk Caravans rendevous and it is one of the richest Kanats or Governments in Persia. D. Dankon 78 deg 15 min. Long. 30 deg 15 min. Lat. A bad Town in a bad Soil Darabguired 80 deg 15 min. Long. 30 deg 15 min. Lat. In several parts round about this City they meet with Salt of several colours as red and green black and white Here they also make long-neck'd Glass-Bottles which are very curious work nor are they without Sider to fill those Bottles in regard of the great plenty of Apples thereabouts Near to the City there is a Sulphur-Mine and great store of Mummy very much esteem'd in Persia. Debeston 80 deg 15 min. Long. 38 deg 15 min. Lat. This is not properly a City but a great many Villages joyn'd together Deras 79 deg 30 min. Long. 31 deg 32 min. Lat. Devinmaat 62 deg 5 min. Long. 38 deg 40 min. Lat. Din Ver 63 deg 15 min. Long. 35 deg Lat. A City in a fruitful Soil stor'd with Mosquees Doulad 74 deg 15 min. Long. 37 deg 50 min. Lat. The Country about is full of black Mulbery trees Dourak 74 deg 32 min. Long. 32 deg 15 min. Lat. Here they make the loose Cassocks without Sleeves which the Arabians wear Near to this City the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates meeting at a place call'd Hellá make a Marsh where grow the Reeds of which the Eastern people make their Pens E. Elalbetem 87 deg 15 min. Long. 37 deg 15. min. Lat. Eltiib 70 deg 15. min. Lon. 32 deg 15. min. Lat. Enderab 93 deg 15 min. Long. 32 deg 15 min. Lat. Erivan see Chirvan Espharaïen 81 deg 40 min. Long. 37 deg 15 min. Lat. The Country about it abounds in Pears and Apples Estakré 78 deg 30 min. Long. 30 deg 15 min. Lat. The ancient City in the Province of Fars properly Persia in a Soil abounding in Vines and Date-trees Esterabat 75 deg 35 min. Long. 36 deg 50 min. Lat. F. Ferah 18 deg 15 min. Long. 39 deg 15 min. Lat. Built by Abdalla the Son of Taher in the time of Maimon Reshid Caliph of Berni-Abbas Ferouzabad 82 deg 32 min. Long. 30 deg 10 min. Lat. Anciently call'd Hourbecthion G. Girefte 73 deg 40 min. Long. 31 deg 10 min. Lat. One of the biggest Cities in the Province of Kerman The Trade of the City consists in Hones and Wheat Girrcadegon vulgarly Paygon 75 deg 35 min. Long. 34 deg 15 min. Lat. Goutem 74 deg 46 min. Long. 37 deg 20 min. Lat. A little City full of Silk-Twisters H. Hamadan 75 deg 20 min. Long. 34 deg Lat. The Country about it breeds great store of Cattel Hasn-Eltaf or The Center of Beauty
72 deg 32 min. Long. 34 deg 40 min. Lat. At this day almost ruin'd Hawas 75 deg 40 min. Long. 33 deg 15 min. Lat. Heaye 74 deg 35 min. Long. 31 deg 50 min. Lat. Helaverde 91 deg 30 min. Long. 35 deg 15. min. Lat. Built by Abdalla before mention'd Herat 85 deg 30 min. Long. 36 deg 56 min. Lat. A City in the Province of Carassan where Sultan Heussein-Mirza founded several Colledges for Youth Hesn-Medi 78 deg 45 min. Long. 32 deg 5 min. Lat. Hessne Ebneamadé 70 deg 45 min. Long. 26 deg 20 min. Lat. Hurman 85 deg 15 min. Long. 32 deg 30 min. Lat. A small City in a bad Air. I. Jemnon 78 deg 15 min. Long. 36 deg 40 min. Lat. The Trade of it is in Copper Manufactures Jend-Babour 75 deg 5 min. Long. 31 deg 15 min. Lat. A very strong place famous for the Tomb of Melek-Yakoub-Sha King of Schiras Irson 80 deg 35 min. Long. 36 deg 50 min. Lat. Ispahan or Hispahan 86 deg 40 min. Long. 32 deg 40 min. Lat. K. Kaar 78 deg 40 min. Long. 42 deg 32 min. Lat. Kashan 76 deg 15 min. Long. 34 deg 40 min. Lat. Kafre-Chirin 71 deg 50 min. Long. 34 deg 40 min. Lat. Built by Noushirevon-Aadel surnamed the Just and upon the acts and deeds of this King is all the Morality of the Persians founded Kaien 83 deg 20 min. Long. 36 deg 32 min. Lat. Said to breed the choicest Wits of all Persia. Kalaar 76 deg 25 min. Long. 37 deg 25 min. Lat. One of the chiefest Cities in Guilan Kalin 87 deg 5 min. Long. 35 deg 35 min. Lat. In an excellent Soil for Cattel and Fruit. Karkoub 74 deg 45 min. Long. 32 deg 15 min. Lat. Kasbin 75 deg 40 min. Long. 36 deg 15 min. Lat. Kasre-le-lehous or Kengavat 76 deg 20 min. Long. 33 deg 35 min. Lat. Kazeron 88 deg 30 min. Long. 28 deg 30 min. Lat. The Country about produces Oranges Limons and Cypress-trees Kerah 86 deg 40 min. Long. 34 deg 15 min. Lat. Kerman or Kirman 81 deg 15 min. Long. 29 deg 50 min. Lat. Kervak 87 deg 32 min. Long. 34 deg 15 min. Lat. Kirmonsha 63 deg 45 min. Long. 34 deg 37 min. Lat. Kom 75 deg 40 min. Long. 35 deg 35 min. Lat. Kouh de Mavend 74 deg 15 min. Long. 36 deg 15 min. Lat. the smallest now which was once the largest City in Persia. Koucht 83 deg 40 min. Long. 33 deg 20 min. Lat. In a soyl excellent for Corn and good Fruits Koy 60 deg 40 min. Long. 37 deg 40 min. Lat. Kevachir or Verdechir 80 deg 30 min. Long. 28 deg 15 min. Lat. L. Lahijon 74 deg 25 min. Long. 37 deg 15 min. Lat. The Trade of the Town consists in Stuffs half Silk half Cotton call'd Teftile Loussek see Toussea M. Maameter or Barfrouche 77 deg 35. min. Long. 36 deg 50 min. Lat. Mehrouyon or Behbehon 75 deg 15 min. Long. 39 deg 35 min. Lat. Meraqué 71 deg 20 min. Long. 37 deg 40 min. Lat. It stands in one of the Gardens of Persia. Merend 63 deg 15. min. Long. 37 deg 37 min. Lat. Mervasaé 87 deg 32 min. Long. 34 deg 15 min. Lat. in a fertile Country for Corn and Fruit. Merverond 88 deg 40 min. Long. 34 deg 30 min. Lat. in a fertile Country Mesched look Touss Moukon or Derbent 20 Leagues from the Caspian Sea 63 deg 15 min. Long. 37 deg 40 min. Lat. Mourjan 84 deg 15 min. Long. 37 deg 15 min. Lat. A City well peopl'd wherein there are several Mosquées and fair Piazza's N. Nacksivan or Nachevan 61 deg 32 min. Long. 39 deg 40 min. Lat. Natel 77 deg 40 min. Long. 36 deg 7 min. Lat. in a fertile Country for Pasturage Nehavend or Nahoüand 73 deg 45 min. Long. 34 deg 20 min. Lat. The Country people aver this City built before the Loufon or the Flood Neher-Terij 75 deg 00 min. Long. 32 deg 40 min. Lat. Nessah 84 deg 45 min. Long. 38 deg 40 min. Lat. Nichabar 80 deg 55 min. Long. 36 deg 20 min. Lat. O. Oujon 61 deg 35 min. Long. 32 deg 24 min. Lat. To this City finely seated belongs a fair Castle R. Rachmikdon 87 deg 34 min. Long. 35 deg 15 min. Lat. Rem-hormous 74 deg 45 min. Long. 31 deg 45 min. Lat. In this City Selmon Haly's Foster Father was born Rey 76 deg 20 min. Long. 35 deg 35 min Lat. In the best Soil of all Persia for Wheat Fruit and Pasturage Roudbar 75 deg 37 min. Long. 37 deg 21 min. Lat. in the Province of Guilan Royon 71 deg 36 min. Long. 36 deg 15 min. Lat. in the Province of Mazandran S. Saassour 86 deg 20 min. Long. 35 deg 15 min. Lat. Saron 76 deg 20 min. Long. 36 deg 15 min. Lat. In the Province of Guilan Sary 78 deg 15 min. Long. 36 deg 40 min. Lat. Seated among the Copper-Mines Sebzevoar 81 deg 5 min. Long. 36 deg 15 min. Lat. Near this City the people gather great quantities of Manna Semiron 71 deg 30 min. Long. 34 deg 40 min. Lat. A pleasant City stor'd with good Water and Fruits Serijr-el-lan 63 deg 15 min. Long. 45 deg 50 min. Lat. Serkess or Serakas 85 deg 35 min. Long. 36 deg 15 min. Lat. A pleasant City for Scituation and plenty of Waters Sermeghon 87 deg 37 min. Long. 37 deg 32 min. Lat. In a fertile Soil yet not very plentiful Serveston 78 deg 15 min. Long. 29 deg 15 min. Lat. In a Soil abounding with Gardens Servon 79 deg 15 min. Long. 32 deg 15 min. Lat. In a Soil abounding with Wine and Dates Surjon 74 deg 40 min. Long. 30 deg 20 min. Lat. Where the best Persian Carpets are made and Shaads or Girdles of Goats Hair curiously wrought Sohreverede 73 deg 36 min. Long. 36 deg 5 min. Lat. Ssouss 73 deg 45 min. Long. 32 deg 15 min. Lat. Sultanie 76 deg 15 min. Long. 39 deg 40 min. Lat. Where the Mornings and Evenings are very cold all the rest of the day very hot T. Taberon 80 deg 34 min. Long. 35 deg 20 min. Lat. Talikon 88 deg 15 min. Long. 36 deg 32 min. Lat. In a Country plentiful in Corn Fruit and good Water Tauris otherwise call'd Ssernerdehi 63 deg 15 min. Long. 39 deg 10 min. Lat. Tebess 80 deg 40 min. Long. 38 deg 15 min. Lat. Teflis 60 deg 15 min. Long. 43 deg 15 min. Lat. Toukon 82 deg 45 min. Long. 38 deg 40 min. Lat. Touss or Meshed 82 deg 30 min. Long. 38 deg 40 min. Lat. Toussea otherwise call'd Loussek 85 deg 40 min. Long. 37 deg 50 min. Lat. Y. Yesd 79 deg 15 min. Long. 32 deg 15 min. Lat. Yevin see Azadkar Z. Zemma 89 deg 14 min. Long. 38 deg 35
Edzerbaijan is very cold but very healthy The Air of Mazandran is very unwholsom for being a low fenny Country and full of Insects when the Waters dry up in the Summer the Insects also dye and infect the Air. Sometimes those bad Waters over-flow the Country in so much that the Inhabitants receive a tincture in their Complexions from the colour of the Earth The Province of Guilan is included in the Province of Mazandran and the Air is so unwholsom that the People cry of him that is sent to command there Has he robb'd stol'n or murther'd that the King sends him to Guilan At Ispahan which is almost in the middle of Persia there are six months of hot and six months of cold weather The Snow falls three or four times in a season and sometimes so very thick that there is hardly any travelling upon the Road. About a League from the City toward the Mountain there stands a Stone about two or three Foot high which when the Snow hap'ns to cover prognosticates a plentiful Year and the first Country-man that carries the news thereof to the King receives a hundred Tomans As for Rain there is very little falls there unless it be in April and then it sometimes rains very hard In the Southern Provinces the heats are very excessive and kill abundance of our Europeans especially those that are giv'n to drink All Persia is water'd with little Rivers but there is not one navigable River through the whole extent of it unless it be Aras or the Araxes of the Indians which carries some few flat-bottom'd Boats The other Rivers instead of growing bigger the farther they keep their course from the Springs grow shallower for want of Water by reason of the infinite number of Kreises or Channels which they cut out of the Rivers to water the Lands which would not bring forth so much as only Grass without the help of those Cuts unless it be in the Province of Mazandran which from September to March seems a kind of Terrestrial Paradise through the pleasing variety of Herbs and Fruits However Persia in general being thus water'd is a most fruitful Country though it be true that many of their Springs and Channels are lost and brok'n And Mirza-Ibrahim Governour of the Province of Edzerbaijan told me one day that in the very Territory of Tauris there were above two hundred Springs utterly lost either by accident or negligence As for their Gardens they water them with Well-water by the help of a Wheel and an Ox but the running Water is much better as not being so cold and more fatning to the Earth And therefore the Fruits that grow in the Mountains which are only water'd by the Rain or by the Dews are much better tasted and keep longer Persia is a mountainous Country but for the most part the Mountains are very dry and barren As for Woods there are none in all the Country Travellers are also forc'd to go a great way out of their Road to find a Spring and sometimes they shall ride ten or twelve Leagues before they meet with any Water but what they carry in their Bottels There are some Mountains out of which they dig Salt as Stones out of a Quarrey There are also Plains where the Sand is nothing but Salt though it be not so savoury as our Northern Salt Of late several Copper-Mines have been found out of which the Natives make all sorts of Kitchen-Housholdstuff Their Lead comes from Kerman their Iron and Steel from Corasan and Kasbin though not so good as that of Spain Their Steel is very fine with a smooth grain and grows very hard in the Water but it is as brittle as Glass Neither will this sort of Steel agree with the Fire so that if the Fire have not more than a double heat when the Steel is forg'd it will look just like a piece of burnt Charcoal The Steel which we call Damas-Steel comes from the Indies and the Persians call it Gauherdar There are also some Mines of Gold and Silver in Persia wherein it appears that they have anciently wrought Sha-Abas also try'd again but found his expence to be more than his profit whence it is become a Proverb in Persia Nokre Kerven dehkrarge nohhassel The Silver-Mine of Kerven where they spend ten to get nine which is the reason that all the Gold and Silver of Persia comes out of Forein Countries CHAP. II. Of the Flowers and Fruits of Persia of Turquoises and Pearls THE Flowers of Persia are nothing comparable to our European Flowers neither for variety nor beauty For having pass'd the Tigris in the Road to Persia you meet with nothing but Roses and Lillies and some other Fruits peculiar to the Country As for Roses they have great store which they distil as they do Orange-flowers and transport the Waters into all the Eastern parts of Asia I never left the Court of Persia but some of the Lords especially four of the white Eunuchs beg'd of me to bring them some Flowers out of France for they have every one a Garden before their Chamber door and happy is he that can present the King with a Posie of Flowers in a Crystal Flower-Pot There are in Persia Apples Pears Oranges Granates Prunes Cherries Apricots Quinces Chesnuts Medlers and other sorts of Fruit which is not generally so well-tasted as ours Their Apricots indeed especially the lesser sort are better than ours When you op'n this Apricot the Stone cleaves in two and then the Kernel which is only a small Skin as white as Snow is more pleasing to the tast than if it had been preserv'd As for their Melons they are most excellent and very plentiful neither is it so dangerous to eat them to excess as ours There have been some that have eat'n six and thirty pound in a day and have never been the worse There is a prodigious quantity of them sold in Ispahan where they are brought to Market from midnight 'till four a Clock in the afternoon Those Melons which are first in season and are call'd Guermez are insipid and tast of nothing but Water However the Physicians advise you to eat them saying that they plump up the Flesh and renew the habit of the Body The next to the Guermez are better than they and they increase in goodness 'till they come to be quite out of season the last of which they keep all the Winter long Though they have such vast plenty yet they never leave but one Melon upon a stalk and when it is as big as a Nut the Gard'ner or his Wife or his Children lye down upon the ground and lick off the Down which they say keeps the Melon from being sweet and rip'ning kindly The Persians have also a particular sort of Quince-Pepin but not so good as ours which they fry unpar'd casting great store of Salt in the Pan to excite thirst and then present them to their Friends at their Collations They have also Almonds and Figs
the lowermost Those Buildings which are made of Brick bak'd in the Sun are very handsom and after the Wall is rais'd the Mason plaisters it over with a Morter made of Potter's Clay mingled with Straw so that the defects of the Building being cover'd the Wall appears very firm and close Then the Work-man plaisters the Morter over again with a Lime mixt with Muscovy-Green which he pounds with a certain Gum to render the Lime more glutinous and then rubbing the Wall over with a course Brush it becomes as it were damask'd and silver'd and looks like Marble The poor are contented with only bare Walls or some course daubing that costs little The middle of the House consists of a large Portico twenty or thirty Foot square and in the middle of the Portico a Fountain full of Water It is all open upon one side and from the Portico to the Pond or Fountain all cover'd with Carpets At every corner of the Portico is a Room to sit and take the fresh Air and behind another large Room the floor whereof is spread with Carpets Mattresses and Cushions according to the quality of the Master of the House Upon the two sides of the Portico are two other Chambers and doors to go from one Chamber to another and thus are the Houses of the great Lords built but only they are more spacious For their Houses consist of four great Parlours that look toward the our corners of the World and every Parlour has two Chambers upon each side which make eight Chambers that surround a great Hall in the middle The King's Palace is also built after the same fashion and generally the Persian Houses are very low it being a rare thing to see one three Stories high Yet all their Chambers and Rooms are arch'd wherein the Persian exceeds us For without all that trouble and time that we spend they will presently raise an Arch so broad and high as easily demonstrates the skill of the Work-man The tops of their Houses are flat and terrass'd being plaster'd with Earth mixt with Straw chopt very small and well temper'd which they bind together with a layer of Lime beat'n for seven days together which makes it as hard as Marble and if they want Lime they pave the Terrass with square Tiles bak'd in an Oven so that the Rain can do no harm But they are very careful to shovel off the Snow for fear it crack the Terrass with lying Without the Houses show nothing but within they are curiously painted with Birds and Flowers wherein the Persians are no bad Artists They take great delight to have several little Chambers with several Doors and Lattice-windows the quarrels whereof are of Glass of various colours This sort of glazing serves generally and indeed more properly for the Apartments where the Women may come For they might have Crystal-windows if they pleas'd but they glaze the void spaces in this manner that their Women may not be seen after they have fram'd the op'n place that gives light like a Flower-Pot with several Flowers in it which the Glass of several colours imitates to the life whereby it is impossible that the Windows should be peer'd through besides that it is pleasant to the Eye The Doors of their Houses are of Tchinar-Wood which is very noble and their Wainscoting is as neat The Persians that love ostentation always display their rich Carpets Mattresses Cushions Coverlets and all the most costly Furniture they have in the fore part of their dwellings For the Haram or the Women's Quarter is but meanly adorn'd in regard they are never visited by any men but their Husbands In some of their Rooms they have very narrow Chimnies for the Persians set all their Wood upright which they burn because of the Smoak besides they make but small Fires in regard they have so great a scarcity of Wood. When they would go to sleep they lye down upon a Plank cover'd with a Carpet and wrap themselves in a quilted Blanket In the Summer they sleep in the open Air upon their Terrasses and in regard the Women lye there too there is an order obtain'd that the Moullahs that sing upon the Mosquèes shall not presume to go up in the morning because it might be their hap to see the Women as they lay it being one of the highest pieces of infamy imaginable for a Woman to be discover'd with her Face op'n There are some Houses that belong to great Lords that have a square place before their Doors where they that come to visit them may put their Horses to the end the Street should not be pester'd If you look upon the Front of their Houses there is little ornament to be seen unless it be upon some which have been lately built CHAP. V. A Description of Ispahan the chief City of the Kingdom and Dominions of the King of Persia. ISpahan Sphahan or Sphaon as the Persians pronounce it which some Travellers have too unwarily affirm'd to be a fine City lyes in the Province of Hierac which composes some part of the ancient Kingdom of the Parthians It is the Capital City of all Persia and a very large place where the King usually keeps his Court. The Records of the Persians declare that formerly it was two contiguous Towns one part whereof belong'd to Haider and the other to Neamed-Olahi two parts of Ispahan still retaining those two names which has occasion'd great quarrels and debates among the people while they have both been eager to prefer their own quarter Nor indeed could Ispahan be accompted other than a Village before Sha-Abas had conquer'd the Kingdoms of Lar and Ormus But then observing so fair a Situation where he might as well be near the Provinces which he had newly conquer'd as for the design which he had to extend his Dominions to the East and West as he had enlarg'd them to the South he quitted Casbin and Sultany to reside at Ispahan as in the center of his Empire This City is seated in a vast plain which extends it self three ways fifteen or twenty Leagues Upon the South about two Leagues from Ispahan rises a very high Mountain on the top whereof toward the West are to be seen the remains of a very strong Fortress where Darius kept himself when Alexander gave Battle to him in that Plain In the side of the Rock is a Grotto either natural or artificial or both out of which issues a natural Spring of excellent Water where a Dervis usually inhabits The Circuit of Ispahan taking the Suburbs all in is not much less than that of Paris but the number of Inhabitants is ten times greater at Paris than at Ispahan Nor is it a wonder that a City should be so large and yet so ill peopl'd where every Family has its particular House and every House its particular Garden What ever way you come to it you may discover first the Towers of the Mosquees and then the Trees that environ the Houses so
at the end of the Bazar is a fair Inn where all the Merchants live that sell Musk Russia Leather and Furrs I have in another place observ'd that the King has a great Revenue out of the Bazars and Inns which he has caus'd to be built which is particularly laid out in provision for his Table For the Law of Mahomet forbidding Princes to impose Taxes or Customs upon the people they do not believe that the money which arises from thence is fit to be employ'd or laid out for the necessaries of life believing that their food so purchas'd would do them no good By virtue of this prohibition of Mahomet it is that the Merchants take all the liberty they can to deceive the King of his Customs believing that they cannot offend the Prince while they transgress not the Law Besides that if they should pay all the King's Duties the price of Goods would rise so high so as to spoil the whole Course of Trade and Commerce Neither would the Revenue of the Caravansera's Bazars and Gardens suffice for the Kings Kitchin were not the several Kans or Governours of Provinces oblig'd to supply that expence every Week in their turns whereby those expences cost the King little or nothing Upon the North-Front of the Meydan are made under the Portico's separations for Chambers that look upon the Piazza where people go to smoak Tobacco and drink Coffee The Seats of those Rooms are plac'd as in so many Amphitheaters and in the midst of every one stands a large Vessel full of running Water wherewith their Pipes be cleans'd when they are over-fowl All the Persians that haveany spare time fail not every day to resort to those places between seven and eight in the Morning where the Owner of the Room presently brings them every one their Pipe and their Dish of Coffee But the Great Sha-Abas who was a man of a great understanding finding those places were only so many Meeting-houses where men assembl'd to talk and prattle of State-affairs a thing which no way pleas'd him to break the neck of those petty Cabals he order'd that a Moullah should be sure to be betimes at every place before the rest of the people came thither and that he should entertain those Tobacco-whiffers and Coffee-quaffers sometimes with a Point of the Law sometimes with History sometimes with Poetry This custom is still observ'd so that after this entertainment has lasted two or three hours the Moullah rising up crys to every one in the Coffee-Room Come my Masters in good time let 's all now retire every man to his business Straight every one retires upon the Moullah's words who is liberally entertain'd all the while by the Society In the midst of the North-Front stands a great Portal with a large Dial over it which Sha-Abas brought from Ormus when he took it from the Portugals But the Dial is of no use nor is ever like to be Round the Tower of that Portal runs an op'n Gallery with a kind of a Cieling over head supported with Pillars from whence every Evening about Sun-set and at Midnight a noise of Drums and Trumpets is to be heard through the whole City Though the truth is the Musick would never charm a curious Ear. Out of some parts of the Gallery are contriv'd little Dormitories where the chiefest of the Court lye In all the Cities where the Kans reside is the custom of making this ratling noise of Drums and Trumpets observ'd and not elsewhere On each side of the Portal under the Horologe are five or six Banks of Jewellers who there put to sale certain parcels of Pearls Emralds Granats and Turquoises which are not of any great value every parcel being set by it self in a Dish and the whole Stall cover'd with a silk Net to preserve the Stones from being stoln Just against the same Portal going toward the South-Front you meet with two little Goals five or six Foot high and sev'n or eight distant one from the other Here the men play at Pall-mall on horse-back the Horse-man being to strike the Ball running at full speed between the two Goals Through that Portal you enter into an Enclosure much like the place where the Fair of St. Germans is kept and there it is that the Merchants of Gold and Silver-Tissues and other rich Stuffs with all your finest sorts of Calicuts and Linnens keep their Shops The Court side of the Meydan which is upon the East and which answers to the grand Front where the King's House stands is thus appointed In the middle stands a Duomo cover'd with a kind of bak'd Earth and as well the Duomo as the Portal which is very high are all varnish'd over You ascend nine or ten steps the Port of Haly facing it on the other side of the Piazza From the end of the Portico's that touch the North side of the Mosquee live the Shop-keepers that sell sowing-Silk and small Manufactures of Silk as Ribands Laces Garters and other things of the same nature From the Mosquee to the other end are all Turners that make Cradles for Children and Spinning-Wheels There are also some Cotton-beaters that make quilted Coverlets Without the Portico's are none but Smiths that make Scyths Hammers Pincers Nails and such like things with some few Cutlers This is all that can be said of Ispahan and that great Piazza which some perhaps have set out in better colours But I have represented all things as they are as being one that have seen them oftner and beheld them a longer time than ever any Frank that Travel'd into Asia CHAP. VI. Of Zulpha a little City separated from Ispahan by the River Senderou ZUlpha which others call Julpha and Giolpha is distant from Ispahan toward the South half an hours walk the River Scnderou running almost at an equal distance between the two Cities The way that leads from one City to another is a Walk some fifteen hundred Paces long and seventy broad almost equally divided by the River It begins from a Pavilion or Tabernacle forty Foot square which joyns to the hinder part of the King's House with a double Story to which several Windows give light clos'd with wooden Lattices very artificially wrought None but the King and his Houshold pass that way into the Walk For they that go from Ispahan to Zulpha find the way into the Walk through a Gate which is close adjoyning to the Tabernacle This Walk is call'd the Street of Tcharbag or the Street of Four Gardens A Channel runs all along the Walk from the Tabernacle where a little Rivulet falls into it and fills it as far as the great Bridge The two sides of the Channel which are pav'd with Stone and are two or three Foot broad make one way which Passengers may and many times do take for the usual way both for Horse and Foot lyes upon each side of the Walk behind the Trees which are planted in a streight line to the very Walls of
all put on the Habit the same Moullah return'd to his Chair and made a Prayer for the health of the King and the prosperity of his Kingdom All these Ceremonies lasted from seven in the Morning 'till Noon at what time the King retir'd into his Haram As for the People they carry their Biers up and down the City and where-ever two Companies meet whether it be for the upper hand or to get formost they presently fall together by the Ears and knock one another down for they are not permitted to carry any other Arms than good big Clubs almost as big as Levers Some time after the Feast of Hussein and Hocen the Persians celebrate another Festival which they call the Feast of the Camel in remembrance of Abraham's Sacrifice They have a great reverence for this Festival saying that it was a Camel and not a Ram which God sent to reprieve Ishmael affirming that Ishmael was to have been sacrific'd and not Isaac They choose out for this Ceremony one of the fairest Camels they can meet withal and adorn and dress him up with several Plates of counterfeit Gold and Silver and then leäd him without the City to a place which is before a Mosquee on the other side of the River of Ispahan upon Zulpha side the Deroga or Provost accompanying the people The King was formerly wont to be at this Feast accompany'd with his Nobility and I have seen him there but of late years he never goes the Deroga supplying his place When the King went thither several Moullahs pray'd for half an hour after which the King took a kind of a Jav'lin and darted it against the Camel but now in the absence of the King the Deroga gives the first stroak At the same time they fling the Camel to the ground with Ropes ty'd to his legs and cutting off his head and neck together they divide the rest of the Body into eleven parts more to the end all the twelve Companies may have every one their share Every Company carries their share to the Master of the Companies House who is generally the ancientest among them Which part is kept and salted up 'till the next Feast and the piece the year before so 'till then preserv'd is then boyl'd with Rice and is the foundation of the Feast for the chief of the Company who take it for an honour to eat of it For the rest they boyl Rice with Mutton and Hens and besides that distribute large Alms to the Poor CHAP. VIII Of the Religion of the Gaurs the Relicks of the ancient Persians adorers of Fire THere are no men in the world so scrupulous of discovering the Mysteries of their Religion as the Gaurs so that I was forc'd to frequent their company very much in most of my Travels to pick out what I have here to deliver Of the present Condition of the Gaurs AFter the Persians began to persecute the Gaurs great numbers of them retir'd to Surat and others into the Province of Guzerat Now the King of Persia lets them live in quiet and there are now above 10000 in Kerman where I staid three Months in the year 1654. All that live in India are Tradesmen and for the most part Turners in Ivory those in Kerman deal in Wool Four days journey from whence stands their principal Temple where their Chief Priest resides whither they are once in their lives oblig'd to go in Pilgrimage There are some of these Gaurs live near Ispahan Of their Original and their Prophets THey say that the Father of their Prophet was a Frank by Nation whose Name was Azer and a Carver by Trade That he left his own Country to live in theirs which at that time was the City of Babylon where he took a Wife who call'd her self Doghdon That one night his Wife dreamt that God had sent an Angel from Paradise to visit her who brought her very rich Cloathes which she put on That a Celestial Light presently over-spread her Face and render'd her as beautiful as the Sun and that when she wak'd she found her self with Child which Child prov'd to be the Prophet Ebrahim-zer-Ateucht That the Astrologers of that time by their skill in the Stars knew of the Birth of that Infant sent by God who was to govern Men and reign in their Hearts That those Astrologers went and declar'd the same thing to the King telling him that there was a Child suddenly to be born that would one day deprive him of his Crown Whereupon the said King call'd Neubrout and a great Tyrant caus'd all the Women with Child to be put to death through the whole extent of his Dominions But by a Miracle the big Belly of the Mother of their Prophet not appearing she remain'd undiscover'd and brought forth a Son Her Husband who knew nothing of this Mystery fearing he should lose his head if he did not discover the business to the King before he found it out another way went and confess'd that he had a Child born but that he knew nothing of her being with Child Now you must know that contrary to the custom of other Children that cry so soon as they come out of the Mothers womb this Child laugh'd so soon as he was born For being to triumph over the Hearts of the people he was to shew signs of joy so that the people began already to rejoyce in their future felicities This being signifi'd to the King he call'd his Astrologers together to tell him the meaning of so extraordinary a thing and what would become of the Infant But the Astrologers not being able to satisfie him he sent for the Infant and would have slain him with a Sword with his own hand but God dry'd up his Arm immediately so that he could not However not terrifi'd with so great a punishment transported with Choler he caus'd a great Fire to be kindled and commanded the Infant to be thrown into it But by the power of God the Fire which he had prepar'd to consume the Infant turn'd into a Bed of Roses where the Child most sweetly repos'd They who from that hour began to honour the little Prophet took away some of that Fire which has been preserv'd to this time They keep it say they in honour of so great a Miracle and they have it in great veneration because it discover'd the merit of their Prophet Nevertheless the King stop'd not there but still obstinate in his impiety notwithstanding all these Miracles he prepar'd new torments for the little Infant but God chastis'd his incredulity and that of his people very severely by sending such an infinite number of Flies and that of such a pestiferous nature that who-ever were stung with them dy'd without remedy unless they immediately came and worship'd the Prophet and kiss'd his Feet in testimony of their repentance As for the King who still continu'd in his impenitency an exemplary fate befel him For one of those Flies stinging him in one of his Ears
Candahar who presently made answer that it would be very easie if he could find such another Traytor as he had been But to return to Sha-Sefi his Reign was very violent of which I will give you this Example One day the King returning from the Kelonters House in Zulpha having drank to excess commanded that the Sultaness should come to him who understanding that he was in drink made no great haste so that the King in the mean time fell asleep But waking again soon after and not seeing the Queen he call'd for her a second time of which when she had notice she came immediately When she came into the Chamber she perceiv'd the King asleep and in expectation of his waking hid her self in a Nich behind the Hangings where generally the Mattresses and Coverlets are laid by The King waking and not yet perceiving the Sultaness in a great chafe demanded why she was not yet come The Queen-Mother who was a Georgian Slave and mortally hated the young Sultaness who was the Daughter of the King of Georgia and therefore disdain'd by her took an occasion to put her out of the Kings favour and having first spok'n ill of her made a sign to the King to let him understand that the young Queen was hid in such a Nich. Upon that the King rising in a great fury stab'd the poor Princess with his Dagger four or five times in the belly and hardly knowing what he had done went to bed again The next day forgetful of the fact he call'd for the Queen but when they told him what had happen'd he began to be deeply sensible of his error and sorrow'd excessively and at the same time sent an express order through his Territories that no man should drink Wine and that the Governours should break all the Wine-Vessels wherever they found any and spill the Wine But this order did not last above a year During the Reign of Sha-Sefi the Kan of Erivan sent him a Colt which I saw which was begot by a Mule Not long after the King dy'd of a Surfet with excess of drink ing after he had reign'd fourteen years Sha Abbas the second was set upon the Throne at Casbin with the usual Ceremonies at the end of the year 1642 and made his entry into Ispahan in the beginning of the year following Upon the day of the Solemnity all the Citizens were order'd to be in Arms and to march out of the City where they were fil'd off upon each side of the Road. In the same manner were all the standing Infantry and Cavalry rang'd for five Leagues together All the Road for two Leagues together without the City was cover'd with Tissues of Gold and Silver with Carpets of Silk and other rich Stuffs all which costs the King nothing For the Sha-Bander who is like our Mayor takes care to tax every one what he is to furnish toward that Solemnity The English and Hollanders went also forth to meet the King among whom I was one When we came near the King Jani-Kan General of the Cavalry gave the King notice who we were Whereupon we all alighted and the King holding his Leg stretcht out of his Stirrup we all kiss'd his Boot When he came where the way began to be spread with rich Carpets he found the Grand Mufti and the Grand Cadi attended by a great number of Moullahs who made a Prayer after their manner Prayers being ended the King rode on the Athemadoulet being on the left hand which is the most honourable and the General of the Cavalry on the right yet not even with him but so as that their Horses heads reach'd to the Crupper of his There was no person but the King that rode over the Tissue that Honour belonging to him alone nor is the way spread above the breadth of the Stuff and as soon as the King is pass'd over it the people fall to scrambling and carry away every one what they can get for themselves About a quarter of a League from Ispahan is a Garden with a Great Room over the Gate where the King made a halt thinking to have made his Entry into the City But an Astrologer came to him and told him that the hour was past and that he must tarry three days before the hour would prove propitious again So that he was constrain'd to betake himself to the Garden of Hezardgerib till the time came whither the Nobility also were all forc'd to come betimes in the morning and to stay till the evening The day that the King made his Entry the way from the Garden to the City was also spread with Carpets For three days together the Fire-works play'd in the Meydan and round the Piazza from top to bottom were lights hung out and in the principal Inns the richest Merchants had adorn'd the Doors and Windows of their Chambers according to the Mode of the Country and I believe it cost the Chief of the Holland Company above nine hundred Tomans In the year 1643 came the Prince of the Usbecks in person to desire aid of Sha Abbas against his Children who had caus'd his own Subjects to rebel and make war against him His eldest Son first took Arms and getting the advantage of a Battel the other Brother treacherously took part with him which nothing dismay'd the Father to whom the chief of the Nobility still adher'd Toward the end of the year 1642 the Prince lost another Battel and his left eye which was shot thorough with an Arrow which constrain'd him so soon as he was cur'd of his wound to come and crave succour from the King of Persia which he easily obtain'd Sha Abbas designing to receive him honourably sent above ten thousand Horse as far as Cashan which is four days journey from Ispahan and five or six thousand Foot two days journey from thence to meet him Every day he was attended by different Officers Every day they set him up a new Tent and spread new Carpets and every day chang'd the twelve Horses that were led before him whose furniture was all over cover'd with Jewels For a League and a half from the City the way was spread with all sorts of Silk Stuffs to the very Palace and the King of Persia went himself to meet him as far as where the Stuffs were begun to be laid Though Sha Abbas was very young yet he was resolv'd to shew that he look'd upon himself as a potent King in the peaceable possession of his own Dominions and that he went to meet a dethron'd Prince that came to desire his Aid For so soon as he perceiv'd the King of the Tartars he made a shew of spurring on his Horse and being come up to his Horses head he put his foot out of the Stirrup as if he intended to have alighted but did not The Tartarian Prince as old as he was presently leap't to the ground from his Saddle to salute the Persian King who return'd him some slight Compliments
that were at Casbin were call'd The three Sons of Iman-Kouli-Kan were of the number but the Father excus'd himself as well by reason of his age as also representing to his Majesty that it better befitted him to employ his time in taking care of his affaires and in praying for his Majesty however if it were his Majesties express command he would not fail to obey to which the King return'd for answer that the Kan of Schiras was at his liberty to do as he thought fit The third day of the Feast the King rose from his Seat and going out of the Hall without speaking a word to any person went into a Room hard by Half an hour after three sturdy resolute Fellows with some other Ragamuffin attendants entring the Hall with their Scimeters drawn seiz'd upon the Kans three Sons and cut off their heads They were put into a Gold Bason and presented to the King who commanded the Fellows to carry them to their Father and as soon as he had seen them to take off his head to make the fourth The Assassinates found him at his prayers but being interrupted to see the heads of his three Sons he desir'd leave only to conclude which having done with a countenance undisturb'd and without any other words or expressions in his mouth than what is usually said among the Persians Let the Kings will be done he submitted to a death which he might have easily avoided The four heads were brought back to the King to be sent into the Haram to his Mother So soon as he had taken off the heads of the Father and the three Sons the King dispatch'd away certain Chappars or Courriers with order to the Lieutenant of the Kan to put to death all the rest of the Children The command was obey'd and they were all put to death but only two that were at Nurse whom their Nurses so well conceal'd that never any tidings could be heard either of the Nurses or of the Children After the death of Iman-Kouli-Kan the Province of Schiras with its dependances has been govern'd by a Vizir who agrees with the King what Rent to pay him yearly In the years 1665 and 1666 the Vizir gave him fifty thousand Tomans a year But in the year 1667 the King abated him eight thousand Tomans in regard he had taken from him a small part of his Government to pleasure a Favourite Besides what the Governour of Schiras pays to the King in ready Money he is oblig'd every year to send him a present of all the rarities that grow on are bred in the Province These Presents consist in Horses of which there is the best breed of any Province of Persia. In Granates Oranges and Lemons sweet Oils and Waters of several sorts especially Oil of Roses with which the women rub their bodies and heads and the water of a certain Flower that grows upon a tree not much unlike our Willows which water is call'd Arak-Bilmitshe which is a great refreshment to those that use it besides other Oils and Essences which the Governour is oblig'd to present Yet were he only oblig'd to present the King the expence might be born well enough but for fear of being displac'd by any other Favourite he is constrain'd to make Friends of all the other great Lords and Favourites at Court which there is no way to do but by continual presents Whereas the ancient Kans who were a kind of petty Soveraigns in their Governments were only wont to send a few Baskets of new Fruits in their season for the service of the Kings Table To defray this expence the Governours are forc'd to tyrannize over the people who when they come as many times they do two or three Villages together to complain to the King are forc'd after long waiting to return with empty Purses home again by reason that they who should give them admission are the only persons that debar them from it and patiently to submit to the Extortions of the Vizir which is a piece of policy practis'd likewise by all the other Kans and Governours of the Persian Provinces As for Sha-Sefi himself he was very severe and one whose punishments oft'n amounted to acts of cruelty One day being a hunting a poor Countryman appear'd from behind a Rock with a paper in his hand being deputed by the Village to make some complaint to the King But while the poor man cry'd for justice the King without making any answer shot two arrows into his body and slew him That which mov'd Sha-Sefi to this act of cruelty was because he had some of his Wives with him in company For then there is no mercy to those poor people that happ'n to be in the way where the King chances to pass by no not for them that are in the Country round about where the Eunuchs have order to kill all men they meet When the King gives notice of his intention to carry his Wives into the Country this is call'd Courouk and there is nothing more troublesome nor more inconvenient in the world to the poor people that live in the Villages through which these women are to pass for upon notice giv'n them they must leave their Houses for a League or two of either side When there is a Courouk at Ispahan let the weather be never so bad the people must leave their Houses and if they have no Friends in some distant quarter to retire to they have no way but to repair to the Mountains Such is the excess of the jealousie of the Kings of Persia which indeed derives it self to all his Subjects who will not permit their women to be seen by any but their own Husbands The Persians both men and women are so addicted to take Tobacco that to take their Tobacco from them is to take away their lives So that if the King should prohibit Tobacco for any time he would lose a good part of his revenue However Sha-Sefi in a humor having once forbidd'n Tobacco to be taken in any part of his Dominion his Spies that are in every City found in the Indian Inn two rich Merchants of that Nation smoaking their noses Immediately they were seiz'd bound and carry'd to the King who commanded forthwith that Justice should be done upon them in the Meidan which was that they should pour melted lead down their throates till they were dead The people thought the King had only intended to have scar'd them and would have repriev'd them upon the place Insomuch that four Banians went to the Athemadoulet and offer'd to pay two thousand Tomans into the Kings Treasury so that he would be pleas'd to spare the two Merchants lives The chief Minister made the proposal but the King falling into a passion and asking the Atbemadoulet whether those Indian Dogs thought that a King of Persia would sell justice sent a second order for the execution of the Merchants without delay The same Sha-Sefi having giv'n command that the Eyes of a young
pleasant news or other to tell the King his Majesty was pleas'd to ask him what the people said of Jafer-Kan adding withall that he had made him Governour of several Provinces and had never heard any complaint of him before but that now he was accus'd of strangely tyrannizing over the people The Musick Master being a meer flatterer and knowing that Jafer-Kan was extreamly belov'd by the King confidently averr'd that the Governour was falsly accus'd and that he had always known him apter to give than to receive There was at the same time in the Room an Agis call'd Manouchar-Kan lately return'd from a Pilgrimage to Mecca him the King also ask'd what was his opinion of Jafer-Kan and his Government being a person that had been long acquainted with him to whom the Agis thinking to please the King return'd the same answer that the Musick Master had giv'n Whereupon the King who had been well inform'd of the Kans behaviour turning toward the Lords that were present What think you said he of these two Flatterers that absolutely know the contrary to what they speak And at the same time commanded two of the Musick Masters teeth to be pull'd out of his mouth and to be driv'n into the head of the Agis which had like to have cost him his life being a very old man As for Jafer-Kan he was disgrac'd for a time but being a person endow'd with noble qualities valiant generous and pleasing in conversation he was recall'd to Court and knew so well how to make his tale good that his Majesty gave him the Government of Shemeloubostan of which Semeran is the Capital City Shemeloubostan signifies a Country manur'd to bear fruit Nor is there any Province in Persia that so abounds in Pastures and Castles that daily fall to ruine Jafer-Kan being restor'd to favour the King sent for several Lords of the Court to come and drink with them He also commanded five French Artificers which he had in his service to wait upon him a Goldsmith nam'd Sain two Watchmakers Lagis and Varin and two Musket-makers Marais and Bernard After they had heated themselves a little with Wine the King drew a Ruby out from off his finger which I sold for him a hundred Tomans and a Diamond Jewel worth thirteen or fourteen hundred Tomans which he gave to Jafer-Kan with whom he was whispering at the same time Now though the Nazar were at a distance yet without doubt somewhat of the discourse was heard insomuch that the Wine emboldning him he told the King aloud that if he would let him have but four thousand Horse he would cut all that Rabble to pieces The King bid him hold his tongue and go to sleep testifying his displeasure at his discourse For the Nazar conjectur'd that the King was talking to Jafer-Kan about the incursions which the Usbeck Tartars often made from Meshed side As for the Franks three of the five were gone home to sleep Sain Lagis and Bernard Maras and Varin stay'd behind in the Room But Marais being of a humor that when he was drunk he could not hold his tongue and having heard what the Nazar said he likewise took upon him to tell the King that if the King wanted a General there was none fitter to make a General than Jafer-Kan and presently began a long repetition of his praises The King commanded him to hold his tongue which he did for awhile but then falling again into his former impertinencies the King commanded him to be dragg'd out of the Room by the feet and that they should rip up his belly Thereupon Marais was seiz'd upon by the Meter who having a great kindness for the Franks and knowing that the King had a singular love for Marais delay'd the execution of the Kings command pulling his Cloathes off very slowly and finding that the King did not rise to go into his Haram which is the sign of no pardon to be given he caus'd him to be dragg'd as near the person of the King as he could thereby to try whether the King would have compassion on him or no while certain Lords took the boldness to implore the Kings mercy in his behalf At last when the King saw him dragg'd along he commanded the Officers to let him go and withall order'd him to put on his Cloathes again and resume his place The King of Persia's eldest Son comes very raw to the Throne and his first divertisement is to make short journeys into the Provinces thereby by little and little to gain the knowledge of such things as concern him Above all things he never fails to visit the principal Church of the Armenians at Zulpha That which makes him so curious is his desire to see the Armenian women who are very handsom being also further incited thereto by the Sultanesses who are glad of any recreation And then he has a Courouk through all Zulpha at what time all the men must retire to Ispahan or to their Friends at a distance Sha-Abbas the second went several times in that manner to Zulpha and one day among the rest upon the report of the beauty of the Wife of the Kelonter Gorgia Sasras Son of Kelonter Gorgia Nazar the King having seen her lik'd her very well and desir'd her to go along with the Sultanesses who carry'd her into the Haram where she continu'd fifteen days and then return'd home with a fair Neck-Lace of Pearls which the King gave her when she went away To say the truth of Sha-Abbas the second he was a man too much given to drink and too much govern'd by his passion otherwise he was a lover of justice and very magnificent and generous to Strangers CHAP. VI. Of the misfortune of Mahomet Beg in the raigne of Sha-Abbas the second MAhomet Beg was born at Tauris the Son of a Taylor who bred him a Scholar He had a quick apprehension and was naturally enclin'd to vertue and being desirous to advance himself in the world he had the good luck to obtain the employment of Major-Bashi or chief of the Essayers and Refiners of Money who has a power to visit all places where money is coyn'd After that he became acquainted with the Aila Verdi Beg or Mr. Godsgift the Kings chief Huntsman by the title of Mert-Shekar-Bashi who gladly presented him to the King to whom the King was very thankful so soon as he had found the noble Qualities of the person he had presented Thereupon so soon as Mahomet Ali-Beg grand Master of the Kings House dy'd the King bestow'd that Employment upon Mahomet Beg who not only gain'd the favour of his Majesty but the good will of all the Lords of the Court He had a great respect for them all without medling with any of their employments and supprest his revengeful spirit not finding it seasonable as yet to disclose his passions Kalise Sultan at that time Athemadoulet hapning to dye the King conferr'd that place upon Mahomet Beg who at first behav'd himself
which extends it self from the Ocean toward the Province of Kerman and in several places is inaccessible It is possess'd by three petty Princes the one a Mahumetan the other two toward the East both Idolaters The first is the most potent of the three and nearest to the Province of Ormus He also assumes the title of Prince of Jasque as his Ancestors did before him Now after Sha-Abbas the first had conquer'd Ormus he went about to have made himself master of all the coast that extends it self beyond Cape Jasque but meeting with resistance he only obtain'd that the Prince of the Country should acknowledge the King of Persia for his Lord and that as his Vassal he should pay him an annual tribute And indeed during the raign of Sha-Abbas who knew how to make himself fear'd the Prince of Jasque pay'd his tribute very orderly But Sha-Sefi succeeding his Grandfather very young this tributary Prince shook off his yoak and refus'd to pay Which not being regarded in the raign of Sha Sefi the Prince of Jasque thought to do the same in the raign of Sha Abbas the second But at length after he had refus'd to pay for some years the Kan of Ormus pretending the Country to be under his Jurisdiction and that the Kings honour was concern'd in the Princes refusal incited Sha Abbas to send forces against him to reduce him to obedience The King granted the Commission to him that had undertaken the business who presently gathering together an Army of 20000 men the most part Horse thought to have surpriz'd his Enemy To which purpose that he might take the nearest way he march'd directly toward Cape Jasque But as it was the shortest cut it was the most dangerous insomuch that the Kan who hunted all the way he march'd according to the custom of Persia had the misfortune to fall into a bogg where he was stifl'd together with 20 or 30 horsemen more The death of the Kan being divulg'd the Army retreated back again but as soon as the King receiv'd the news he sent the Brother of the deceas'd Kan to succeed him In the mean while the Rebel Prince believing within himself that he was not to be thus at quiet and expecting to be attack'd by the new Kan stood upon his guard And indeed the new Kan march'd with all the speed he could and enter'd the territories of the rebellious Prince but being beat'n was forc'd to make more haste back again to Ormus with the loss of an abundance of men The Prince of Jasque puft up with this success did not believe that the Persians would be so hasty to come again and thereupon he resolv'd upon a Voyage for Mecca to give the Prophet thanks for his Victory To which end he embarqu'd at the nearest place he could to Cape Jasque thence to make fail toward Arabia But the Governor of Kan understanding his design by his spies way-laid him by Sea took him and brought him to Ormus At that time the heats being excessive the Governour was retir'd according to custome to the Mountains some ten or twelve Leagues from the City whither the Prince was carry'd and brought to the Kans tent But while the Kan was expecting the return of the Messenger which he had sent to the King for orders what to do with the Prisner the Princes wife hearing of her husbands misfortune and being a woman of a manlike courage taking along with her about five or six hundred horse with little noise and by long marches she at length fell unawares upon the Kan about midnight kill'd him with her own hand cut in pieces the greatest part of his men whom she found asleep carry'd away ten or twelve of his wives and set her husband at liberty in spite of the Persians who had not time to rally themselves The news of this defeat coming to Court the King being highly incens'd sent away the third Brother to be governour of Ormus with special command to the Governours of Schiras Lar and Kerman forthwith to raise 30000 horse to revenge affront and reduce the Rebel The Kan of Ormus march'd at the head of that Army and gave Battel but the Prince being succour'd by the other two Idolatrous Princes his neighbours the Persians were again beaten Only the Prince of Jasque lost his Lieutenant General a valiant Captain and a very good Souldier The King understanding that the Lieutenant General was the Kans Prisner gave him leave to do with him what he would in revenge of his Brothers death who thereupon devis'd the most cruel torments that ever were heard of For he first caus'd the body of the Lieutenant General to be larded with lighted Candles and then setting him upon a Camel order'd him to be led softly about the streets every day in the very heat of noon A torment almost insufferable which the heroic Indian nevertheless endur'd with an invincible courage After the Kan had tormented him in this manner three days together the chief of the Holland Company and other strange Merchants abhorring so much cruelty begg'd of the Kan to surcease his rigour who readily granted them their request CHAP. VIII Observations upon the raigne of Sha Soliman the present King ALi-Couli-Kan had bin three or four times exil'd from the Court for speaking with two much liberty For he was bold and could not keep his tongue between his teeth For which reason he was call'd the Kings Lyon who was wont to chain him up when he had no occasion for him and to let him loose when he had any business for him to do The last time he was exil'd he was kept five or six years in a Fortress out of which he had never stirr'd but one day having a smooth tongue he overperswaded the Commander to give him leave to go a hunting with him When he return'd with the help of some of his servants he fell upon the Commander and gave him so many Bastinadoe's upon the feet that he had like to have kill'd him telling him withall that it was to teach him his duty not to let a man go that the King had committed to his charge Sha Sephi though very young hearing of this and desirous to see Ali-Couli-Kan notwithstanding all the endeavours of the Grandees to hinder his return commanded him to be set at liberty and that he should have a better allowance to live upon Two or three days after the King sitting in Council the whole Assembly was amaz'd to see Ali-Couli-Kan enter who approaching his Majesty with a profound reverence told him that the Lyon being now let loose was humbly come to kiss his hands Thereupon the King fell a laughing and casting a favourable glance upon him told him he had done well Nor was it long ere the King finding him no less pleasant in conversation then a valiant and expert Captain made him Generalissimo of his Armies as he had bin in the raigne of Sha Abbas When the Court saw Ali-Couli-Kan so well
the year 1381 and he purchas'd that great esteem among the Persians for having compos'd a great Book of Morality and for that he was also one of the best Poets of his time He has left one great Poem behind him in the praise of good Wine which has caus'd many to aver that Hougia-Hafiz was no good Mussul-man in regard he has so highly prais'd a thing which is so strictly forbidd'n by the Law of Mahomet Neer to the Church-yard is a fair Garden which men go to see for the beauty of the Cypress-trees which are its chief ornament They are to be admir'd for their height and bigness among which there is one that was planted by the hand of Sha-Abbas the Great himself in the year 1607 and it may well deserve to have been planted by the hand of a Monarch for it was bigger then the rest that had been planted above a hunder'd years before Without the City upon the North-side at the foot of the Mountain is a Garden belonging to the ancient Kings of Persia call'd Bag-Firdous It is full of Fruit-trees and Rose-trees in abundance At the end of the Garden upon the descent of a Hill stands a great piece of Building and below a large Pond affords it water The rich Inhabitants of Schiras have been formerly very curious to have fair Gardens and have been at great expences to that purpose But neither at Schiras nor at Ispahan is there any thing that may compare with those lovely Paradises of France and Italy There are many Inns in Schiras but the Franks generally lodg at the Convent of the Carmelite Friars and they that would be more private lodg at another House that belongs also to the same Friars which they would fain sell as being a charge to 'em at this time CHAP. XXII A continuation of the Road from Ispahan to Ormus from Schiras to Bander-Abassi THE sixth of March by eight of the Clock in the morning I departed from Schiras and after six hours travel through the plain that continues fertil for a league together beyond the City I came to an Inn call'd Badaadgi The water is bad being as it were luke-warm Here cold weather begins to cease The next day I set out by break of day and came to a large and well-built Inn only it stood remote from any Town It is call'd Mouzaffert and is the only place in Persia where I met with black Saligots or Water-nuts as big and as good as ours in Dauphine The Countrey breeds nothing but Goats and Sheep and about two leagues off runs a River along by the Mountain to the West The 18 th I departed by day-break and travell'd eleven hours through a stone-Countrey cover'd with bitter Almond and Turpentine-Trees I lodg'd in a fair Inn call'd Paira neer to a River that comes from the West and makes the Countrey fertil There is some Wood in the Valleys and some Villages appear on the other side of the River toward the South The 19 th I set out by four of the Clock in the morning and travell'd along a Valley wherein were many Villages receiving the benefit of the River last mention'd About eight in the morning I stopt at an Inn built in an Octogonal form a good league from the River with several Villages between The name of the Inn is Kaffer The 20 th I set out two hours after midnight and travell'd till ten in the morning through a dry Valley By the way I met several Shepherds and Herdsmen who were forsaking the hot Countreys and driving toward Schiras for coolness They that travel upon their own Horses and would see one of the richest parts of Persia and some Antiquities setting out from Kaffer instead of following the Caravan-road take the right-hand way by the side of the River that runs a league and a half from the same Inn. When you have past the River the way is very streight and lies for two leagues together through a steep Rock the Mountain upon the right and the River upon the left where there is not room in some places for two Horses to ride a-brest All along this way toward the top of the Mountain are little paths that lead to Caverns some of which are so large that they will contain two or three thousand men Having past this way you come into a Plain call'd Dadivan four or five leagues in circuit the greatest part of which is planted with Orange-trees Citrons and Granats Some of these Orange-trees two men can hardly fathom being as high as our Walnut-trees and this is one of the most delicious situations in all Persia. I have travell'd through it several times and sometimes only to divertise my self The rest of the Plain is sow'd with Rice and Wheat You set up your Tents under these Trees and then the Countrey people bring Provision of several sorts especially Partridges Hares and wild Goats The River that crosses the Plain is full of Carps Barbels Pikes and Crey-Fish I remember one time a Countrey-man carri'd me down to the water and before my face took up a Fish with his hand He was so nimble at it that having caught one which he did not think big enough he threw it back again and took up another Now in regard that Travellers generally stay about ten or twelve days in that place the Tumblers that live there-abouts fail not to come and give you a Visit to shew ye some of their tricks and to tast your Schiras Wine The English and Hollanders usually spend the end of the Summer in this Plain for the benefit of the River and the Trees which become so large and fair by means of the River which the Countrey-men bring in by Canals and shut it up in Ponds among the Trees to water their Grounds which is all the good this River does in Persia for all the rest of its course is through cragged Rocks and salt Marshes The 20 th of March by ten in the morning I came to an Inn which was call'd Moushek which is a-lone-House at the foot of a Rock There is a Spring about five hunder'd paces from it but the water is hot and has a sulphury tast so that the Cattel will hardly drink it Therefore you must go to a Cistern about two Musquet-shot from the Inn where there is one newly set up instead of another that was there before into which a Jew once chanc'd to fall in and was therefore broken by the superstitious Mahometans Three quarters of a league from Moushetz are two roads that lead to Lar the one for the Camels the other for the Horses and Mules The first is the longest by three days journey and is call'd the Road of the Desert for after you have past a great Town inhabited only by Camel-Masters where you lye the first night between that and Lar you shall meet with nothing of Houses but only Herdsmens Tents that feed sometimes in one place sometimes in another Upon the Camels Road there are
a North-east-wind which carries them from Suratt to Ormus in fifteen or twenty days Then veering a little to the North it serves as well for those that are bound for Suratt as those that are bound from thence Then the Merchants generally provide for a Voyage of thirty or five and thirty days But if they would Sail from Ormus to Suratt in fourteen or fifteen days they must take Shipping either in March or at the beginning of April for then the Western-wind blows full in their Stern The Vessels which Sail from Ormus run within sight of Mascate upon the Coast of Arabia bearing off to Sea for fear of coming too near the Persian Coast. They that come from Suratt do the same thing to make the Entry of the Gulf. But neither the one nor the other touch at Mascate to avoid paying Customs to an Arabian Prince who took that place from the Portugals Mascate is a City situated just by the Sea-side over against three Rocks that make the Entry into the Harbour very difficult and at the foot of a Mountain upon which the Portugals have three or four Forts It is observed that Mascate Ormus and Balsara are the three places in the East where the heat is most insupportable Formerly only the Hollanders and English understood this Course of Navigation but some years after the Armonians Mahometans Indians and Banians have built them Vessels But it is not so safe to Embark in them for they neither understand the Sea so well nor are they so good Pilots The Vessels that Sail to Suratt which is the only Part in the Empire of the Great Mogul Sail within fight of Diu and the Point of St. John and come to an Anchor afterwards in the Road of Couali which is not above four Leagues from Suratt and two from the Mouth of the River toward the North They transport their Wares from one place to another either by Waggons or in Boats For great Vessels cannot get into the River of Suratt till they have unladen by reason of the Sands that choak it up The Hollanders return as soon as they have landed their Wares at Couali and so do the English it not being permitted to either to enter into the River But some years since the King has given the English a place to Winter in during the rainy Seasons Suratt is a City of an indifferent bigness defended by a pittiful Fortress by the foot whereof you must pass whither you go by Land or by Water It has four Towers at the four Corners and in regard there are no Platforms upon the Walls Guns are planted upon woodden-Scaffolds The Governour of the Fort only commands the Souldiers in the Fort but has no Power in the City which has a particular Governour to receive the King's Customs and other Revenues through the Extent of his Province The Walls of the Town are only of Earth and the generality of the Houses like Barns being built of Reeds plaistered with Cow-dung to cover the void spaces and to hinder them without from discerning between the Reeds what is done within In all Suratt there be but nine or ten Houses which are well built whereof the Cha-bander or chief of the Merchants has two or three The rest belong to the Mahumetan Merchants nor are those wherein the English and Hollanders dwell less beautiful every President and every Commander being careful to repair them which they put upon the account of their Companies However they do but hire those Houses the King not suffering any Frank to have an House of his own for fear he should make a Fortress of it The Capuchin Friars have built them a very convenient Convent according to the Model of our European Houses and a fair Church for the building of which I furnish'd them with good part of the Money But the Purchase was made in the Name of a Maronite Merchant of Aleppo whose Name was Chelebi of whom I have spoken in my Persian Relations CHAP. II. Of the Customs Money Exchange Weights and Measures of the Indians TO avoid Repetitions which cannot be shunn'd in the Course of long Travels it behoves me to let the Reader understand what belongs to the Custom-houses Money Exchange Weights and Measures of the Indians When your Commodities are unladen at Suratt you must carry them to the Custom-house adjoyning to the Fort. They are very severe and very exact in searching the people Particular Merchants pay from four to five per Cent at the Custom-house for all sorts of Ware But for the English and Holland-Company they pay less But I believe if they did but cast up what it costs them in Deputations and Presents which they are oblig'd every year to send to the Court they would not pay much less for their Wares than particular Merchants Gold and Silver pay two in the Hundred and when it is brought into the Custom-house the Master of the Mint comes and takes it and Coins it into the Money of the Countrey They agree with him upon the day wherein he will undertake to return the new Pieces And for so many days as he makes them stay after that he pays them Interest according to the proportion of the Silver which he receives The Indians are very subtil and crafty in matters of Money and Payments three or four years after the Silver is coin'd it loses half per Cent. and goes at the same rate as old Silver for say they it is impossible but that it should lose in passing through so many hands You may carry all sorts of Silver into the Dominions of the Great Mogul For in all the Frontier Cities there is a Mint where it is purified to the highest perfection as is all the Gold and Silver in India by the King's Command and coin'd into Money Silver in Bars or old Plate which is bought without paying for the fashion is the Silver by which you shall lose least For as for coin'd Silver there is no avoiding the loss of the Coinage All their bargains are made with a condition to pay in coin'd Silver within the present year .. And if you make payment in old Silver you must resolve to lose according to the time since it was first-coin'd In all places far remote from Cities where the vulgar people have no great knowledge in Silver and where there are no Changers they will not receive a piece of Silver without putting it in the fire to try whether it be good or no And this is the common practice at all Ferries and passages over Rivers In regard their Boats are only made of Ofier covered over with an Ox-hide and by consequence are very light they keep them in the Woods and will not take them upon their shoulders till they have received their Money As for their Gold the Merchants have so many cunning tricks to hide it that it seldom comes to the knowledg of the Customers They do all they can to shift off paying the Customs and that so
much the rather because they do not run so much hazard as at the Custom-houses of Europe For in the Indian Custom-houses if a man be caught in the fraud he is quitted by paying double ten in the hundred instead of five The King comparing the venture of the Merchant to a game at Hazard where he plays quit or double The King had granted to the English Captains that they should not be search'd when they came a-shore But one day one of the English Captains going to Tata one of the greatest Cities in India a little above the Mouth of the River Indou as he was going to pass the River he was stopp'd by the Officers of the Custom-house who search'd and rifl'd him what-ever he could alledg to the contrary They found Gold about him of which he had already carried off several quantities at several times that he had gone from his Ship to the City but they quitted him upon paying the usual Custom The English-man vex'd at such an affront resolv'd to revenge himself which he did after a very pleasant manner He caus'd a sucking-pig to be roasted and putting it together with the dripping and sawce in a China-platter covered with a linnen-cloath he gave it a Slave to bring along after him to the City imagining what would fall out As it pass'd before the Custom-house while the Governors or the Cha-bander and the Mint-Master were sitting in the Divan they fail'd not to stop him and as the Slave went forward with the Plate cover'd they told his Master that he must come into the Custom-house and that they must see what he carried The more the English-man cry'd that the Slave carried nothing that paid any duties the less he was believ'd so that after a long debate he took the Plate from his Slave and carried it himself into the Divan the Governour and the Cha-bander gravely ask'd him why he would not be obedient to the Laws Upon which the English-man replying in a great heat that he carried nothing which paid any duty threw the Pigg among them with such a fury that the Sawce and Pigg flew all upon their Garments Now in regard that Swines-flesh is an abomination to the Mahometans who believe every thing defil'd that touches it they were forc'd to change their Clothes take down the Tapestry of the Divan to pull down the Divan it self and build another not daring to say any thing to the English-man for the Cha-bander and Mint-master are very observant to the Company by whom they reap a great deal of profit As for what concerns the Heads of the Companies as well English as Dutch and their Associates they have so great a respect for them that they never search them at all when they come a-shore though they will not stick to conceal their Gold like particular Merchants and to carry it about them The Trade of Tata formerly very great begins now to decay because the Mouth of the Rivers grows more dangerous and full of shallows every day more than other the Sand-hills having almost choak'd it up The English finding they had learn'd the trick of rifling their Clothes studi'd out other little ways and contrivances to conceal their Gold And the fashion of wearing Perriwigs being newly come out of Europe they hid their Jacobus's Rose-Nobles and Ducats in the net of their Perriwigs every time they came a-shore There was a Merchant that had a mind to convey some boxes of Coral into Suratt without the knowledg of the Customers He swam then into the Town some days before the Ship was unladed when it might be done securely before the Customers had any suspition of any thing But the Merchant repented him afterwards the Commodity being spol'd For the water of Suratt River being always thick and muddy there clung to the Coral which had lain a long time in the water a slime like a white crust or skin which was difficult to be got off so that after the Coral was polish'd he lost by it above twelve per Cent. I come now to the Money which goes for currant through the whole extent of the Great Mogul's Dominions and to all the sorts of Gold and Silver which is carri'd thither in Ingots to make profit thereof In the first place you must observe that it is very profitable to buy Gold and Silver which has been wrought to melt it into Ingots and to refine it to the highest purity For being refin'd you pay not for the portage of the Alloy which was mix'd with it before And carrying the Gold and Silver in wedges you pay neither to the Prince nor to the Mint what they exact for Coinage If you carry coin'd Gold the best pieces are Jacobus's Rose-Nobles Albertus's and other ancient Pieces as well of Portugal as of other Countreys and all sorts of Gold that have been coin'd in former Ages For by all those old Pieces the Merchant is sure to gain You may also reckon for good Gold and which is proper to be carri'd thither all the Ducats of Germany as well those coin'd by the several Princes as by the Imperial Towns together with the Ducats of Poland Hungary Swedeland and Danemark and indeed all sorts of Ducats are taken to be of the same goodness The Venetian Ducats of Gold formerly pass'd for the best and were worth four or five of our Sous more than any others but about a dozen years ago they seem to have been alter'd not going now for any more than the rest There are also Ducats which the Grand Seignior coins at Cairo and those of Sally and Morocco But these three sorts are not so good as the others and are not worth so much as they by four Sous of our Money Over all the Empire of the Great Mogul all the Gold and Silver is weigh'd with weights which they call Tolla which weigh nine Deneers and eight grains of our weights When they have any quantity of Gold and Silver to sell the Indians use yellow Copper-weights with the King's mark to avoid cousenage And with these weights they weigh all the Gold and Silver at once provided it amount not to above a hunder'd Tolla's For the Changers have no other weights but from one Tolla to a hunder'd and a hunder'd Tolla's come to 38 Ounces 21 Deneers and 8 Grains As for the Gold and Silver which is not coin'd if there be much they essay it and having put it to the touch they bid to the utmost value to out-vye one another In regard there are some Merchants that have above forty or fifty thousand Ducats at a time the Indians weigh them with a weight which is just the weight of a hunder'd Ducats which is also mark'd with the Kings Mark and if the hundred Ducats weigh less than the weights they put in so many little stones till the Scales are even and after all is weigh'd they make good to the Changer the weight of those little stones But before they weigh these Gold-Coins whether they
ours yet are not hung But in my last Travels I caus'd one to be made after our manner and the two Oxen that drew it cost me near upon six-hundred Roupies Nor is the Reader to wonder at the price for there are some of these Oxen that are very strong and that will travel upon the trot twelve or fifteen leagues a-day for sixty days together When they have gone half the days journey they give them two or three Balls as big as one of our two-penny-loaves of Wheat kneaded up with butter and black-sugar The hire of a Coach comes to a Roupie a-day more or less From Suratt to Agra is forty days journey and you pay for the whole journey from forty to forty-five Roupies From Suratt to Golconda being almost the same distance the same price is observed and by the same proportion you may travel over all the Indies They who have more to spend for their own ease make use of a Pallanquin wherein they travel very commodiously This is a sort of little Couch six or seven foot long and three broad with balisters round about it A sort of Cane call'd Bambouc which they bend like an Arch sustains the covering of the Pallanquin which is either of Satin or Cloath of Gold and when the Sun lies upon one side a Slave that goes by the side takes care to pull down the covering Another Slave carries at the end of a long stick a kind of Target of Osier covered over with some gentile stuff to preserve the person that is in the Pallanquin from the heat of the Sun when he turns and lies upon his face The two ends of the Bambouc are fastned on both sides to the body of the Pallanquin between two sticks join'd together like a Saltir or St. Andrews-cross every one of those two sticks being five or six foot long There are some of these Bambouc's that cost two-hundred Crowns I my self have paid an hundred and twenty Three men for the most part apply themselves to each of these two ends to carry the Pallanquin upon their shoulders some on the right and some on the left and they go swifter than our Sedan-men and with a much more easy pace as being that which they practice from their youth You give to every one for all things not above four Roupies a Month but it stands you in above five if the journey be long and exceed sixty days labour Whether it be in Coach or Pallanquin he that will travel honourably in the Indies must take along with him twenty or thirty armed men with Bows and Arrows some others with Musquets and they have the same rate with those that carry the Pallanquin Sometimes for more magnificence they carry a Banner as the English and Hollanders do for the honour of their Companies These Souldiers are not only for shew but they watch for your defence keeping Centinels and relieving one another and are very studious to give content For you must know that in the Towns where you take them into service they have a Chieftain that is responsible for their fidelity who for his good word has two Roupies a-piece of every one In the great Villages there is generally a Mahumetan that commands of whom you may buy Mutton Pullets or Pidgeons But where there live none but Banians there is nothing but Flower Rice Herbs and Milk-meats to be had The great heats in India enforcing the Travellers that are not accustomed to them to travel by night and rest in the day-time when they come into any fortified Towns they must be gone before Sun-set if they intend to travel that night For night coming on and the Gates being shut the Commander of the place who is to answer for all the Robberies that are committed within his Jurisdiction will let no person stir forth telling them that it is the King's order to which he must be obedient When I came to any of those Towns I bought my Provisions and went out again in good time and staid in the Field under some Tree in the fresh air till it was time to set forward They measure the distances of places in India by Gos and Costes A Gos is about four of our common leagues and a Coste one league It is now time to travel from Surat for Agra and Janabat and to observe what is most remarkable upon the Road. CHAP. IV. The Road from Surat to Agra through Brampour and Seronge I Am no less well acquainted with all the principal Roads that lead to the chief Cities of India than those of Turkey and Persia for in six times that I have travell'd from Paris to Ispahan I have gone twice for one from Ispahan to Agra and many other places of the Great Mogul's Empire But it would be tiresome to the Reader to carry him more than once the same way on purpose to make a relation of every particular journey and the accidents that accompany them And therefore it will suffice to give an exact description of the Roads without particularizing the distinct times that I went There are but two Roads from Surat to Agra one through Brampour and Seronge the other through Amadabat The first shall be the Subject of this Chapter From Surat to Barnoly costes 14 Barnoly is a great Borough-Town where you are to ford a great River and this first days journey you cross a mixt Countrey part Wood part through Fields of Wheat and Rice From Barnoly to Bahor costes 10 Bahor is also a large Village upon a Lake about a league in compass Upon the side whereof is to be seen a good substantial Fortress though there be no use made of it Three quarters of a league on this side the Village you ford a small River though not without great difficulty by reason of the Rocks and Stones that hazard the over-turning of the Coach This second days-journey you travel almost altogether through Woods From Balor to Kerkoa or as it is call'd at this day Carvansera de la Begum costes 5 This Carvansera or Inn is very large and commodious being built out of Charity by Begum-saheb the Daughter of Cha-jehan For formerly the journey from Balor to Navapoura was too great And this place being upon the Frontiers of those Raja's that sometimes will not acknowledg the Great Mogul whose Vassals they are there was no Caravan that past by which was not abused besides that it is a wooddy-Countrey Between Carvansera and Navapoura you ford a River as also another very neer to Navapoura From Kerkoa to Navapoura costes 75 Navapoura is a great Town full of Weavers but Rice is the greatest Commodity of that place There runs a River through the Countrey which makes it very fruitful and waters the Rice that requires moisture All the Rice which grows in this Countrey has one peculiar quality that makes it more particularly esteem'd The grain of it is less by one half than the grain of the common Rice and when it is boil'd no
snow is whiter but besides all that it smells of Musk and all the Grandees of the Indians eat no other When they would make an acceptable Present to any one in Persia they send him a sack of this Rice This River which passes by Kerkoa and those other places I have mention'd empties it self into the River of Surat From Navapoura to Nasarbar costes 9 From Nasarbar to Dol-medan costes 74 From Dol-medan to Senquera costes 7 From Senquera to Tallener costes 10 At Tallener you are to pass the River which runs to Baroche where it is very large and empties it self into the Golf of Cambaya From Tallener to Choupre costes 15 From Coupre to Senquelis costes 13 From Senquelis to Nabir costes 10 From Nabir to Badelpoura costes 9 At Badelpoura it is where the loaded Waggons pay the duties of Brampour but the Waggons that carry nothing but Passengers pay nothing From Badelpoura to Brampour costes 5 Brampour is a great City very much ruin'd the Houses being for the most part thatch'd with straw There is also a great Castle in the midst of the City where the Governour lies the Government of this Province is a very considerable command and is only conferr'd upon the Son or Unckle of the King And Aureng-zeb the present King was a long time Governour of this Province in the Reign of his Father But since they came to understand the strength of the Province of Bengala which formerly bore the Title of a Kingdom that Province is now the most considerable in all the Mogul's Countrey There is a great Trade in this City and as well in Brampore as over all the Province there is made a prodigious quantity of Calicuts very clear and white which are transported into Porsia Turkey and Muscovia Poland Arabia to Grand Cairo and other places There are some which are painted with several colours with flowers of which the Women make Veils and Scarfs the same Calicuts serve for Coverlets of Beds and for Handkerchiefs There is another sort of Linnen which they never dye with a stripe or two of Gold or Silver quite through the piece and at each end from the bredth of one inch to twelve or fifteen in some more in some less they fix a tissue of Gold Silver and Silk intermix'd with Flowers whereof there is no wrong-side both sides being as fair the one as the other If these pieces which they carry into Poland where they have a vast utterance want at each end three or four inches at the least of Gold or Silver or if that Gold or Silver become tarnish'd in being carried by Sea from Surat to Ormus and from Trebizan to Mangala or any other parts upon the Black-Sea the Merchant shall have much ado to put them off without great loss He must take care that his goods be packt up in good Bales that no wet may get in which for so long a Voyage requires great care and trouble Some of these Linnens are made purposely for Swathbands or Shashes and those pieces are call'd Ornis They contain from 15 to 20 Ells and cost from an hunderd to an hunderd and fifty Roupies the least not being under ten or twelve ells Those that are not above two ells long are worn by the Ladies of Quality for Veils and Scarfs of which there is a vast quantity vended in Persia and Turkey They make at Brampour also other sorts of Cotton-Linnen for indeed there is no Province in all the Indies which more abounds in Cotton When you leave the City of Brampoure you must pass another River besides that which I have mention'd already There is no Bridge and therefore when the water is low you ford it when the rains fall there are Boats attending From Surat to Brampour it is 132 Costes and these Costes are very short in the Indies for you may travel one of them in a Coach in less than an hour I remember a strange tumult at Brampoure in the year 1641 when I returned from Agra to Surat the cause whereof was thus in short The Governour of the Province who was the King's Nephew by the Mother's-side had among his Pages a young Boy that was very beautiful and of a very good Family who had a Brother in the City that liv'd as a Dervich and for whom all the Town had a very great veneration One day the Governour being alone in his Chamber did all that lay in his power by vertue of Gifts and Caresses to have had the use of his Body but the Boy detesting his abominable purpose made his escape from him and came and told his Brother The Dervich without deliberating what Councel he had to give his younger Brother gave him a Sword such a one as he might easily hide under his Garment and told him that if the Governour urg'd him any more that he should make a shew of complying with him but that when he went about to do the fact he should be sure to run him into the Guts The Governour who knew nothing of what the Page had reveal'd to his Brother ceas'd not every day to court him to consent to his infamous lust and being one day alone with him in a small Apartment of a Banquetting-House at the lower end of his Garden he sent for his Page to fan him and to keep off the Flies after the fashion of the Country for it was about noon when every one goes to sleep Then did the Governour begin again to press the young Page and finding that he made no resistance he thought he should suddenly accomplish his design But the Page seeing him ready to commit the act stab'd him three times into the Belly before he could open his mouth to cry out for help That done the Page went out of the Palace without any disturbance In his countenance so that the Guards believ'd that the Governour had sent him out upon some errand The Dervich understanding by his Brother what had pass'd to save him from the fury of the people and to discover the Infamy of the Governour caus'd the rest of the Dervichs his Companions to take the Banners of Mahomet that were planted round the Mosquee and at the same time with loud cries encourag'd all the rest of the Dervichs Faquirs and others that were good Mahumetans to follow him In less than an hours time he had got together an infinite multitude of the Rabble and the Dervich marching at the head of them they made directly to the Palace crying out with all their might Let us dye for Mahomet or let us have that infamous person deliver'd up into our hands to the end the Dogs may eat him after his death not being worthy to be enterr'd among the Musselmen The Guard of the Palace was not in a condition to resist so great a Multitude so that they must have been forced to have yeilded to their fury had not the Deroga of the Town and some five or six Lords found a way to make themselves to be
Minasqui-sera to this Bridg costes 8 Not far from this Bridg it is that they view the Merchants Goods that when they come to Agra they may not be deceiv'd of their duties But more particularly to see whether among the Casks of Fruits pickl'd in Vinegar in pots of Glass there be no flasks of Wine From the Bridg Jaoulcapoul to Agra costes So that from Seronge to Agra it is an hundred and six Costes which are ordinary leagues and from Surat to Agra 339. CHAP. V. The Road from Surat to Agra through Amadabat FRom Surat to Baroche costes All the Countrey between these two Cities is full of Corn Rice Millet and Sugar-Canes Before you enter into Baroche you must Ferry over the River which runs to Cambaya and falls into the Golf that carries the same name Baroche is a great City to which there belongs a Fortress of which there is no use made at this time But the City has been always very famous by reason of the River which has a particular quality to whiten their Cottons which are brought thither from all parts of the Great Mogul's Territories where they have not that convenience In this place are made a great quantity of Baffa's or long and large pieces of Cotton These Cottons are very fair and close woven and the price of these pieces is from four to an hundred Roupies You must pay Custom at Baroche for all Goods that are brought in and carri'd out The English have a very fair House in the City and I remember once that coming thither one day in my return from Surat to Agra with the President of the English presently the Mountebanks came about him and ask'd him if he would see any of their tricks The first thing they did was to light a great fire and to heat certain Iron-chains red-hot and wind them about their bodies making as if they felt a great deal of pain but in truth receiving no harm at all Then they thrust a piece of a stick into the ground and ask'd the Company what Fruit they would have One told them he would have Mengues then one of the Mountebanks hiding himself in the middle of a Sheet stoopt to the ground five or six times one after another I was so curious to go up stairs and look out of a window to see if I could spy what the Mountebank did and perceived that after he had cut himself under the armpits with a Razor he rubb'd the stick with his Blood After the two first times that he rais'd himself the stick seem'd to the very eye to grow The third time there sprung out branches with young buds The fourth time the Tree was covered with leaves and the fift time it bore flowers The President of the English had then his Minister with him having brought him from Amadabat to Christen the Commander of the Hollander's Child to which he had promised to be Godfather The English Minister protested that he could not give his consent that any Christian should be a spectator of such delusions So that as soon as he saw that those Mountebanks had of a dry-stick in less than half an hour made a Tree four or five foot high that bare leaves and flowers as in the Spring-time he went about to break it protesting he would not give the Communion to any person that should stay any longer to see those things Thereupon the President was forc'd to dismiss the Mountebanks who wander about the Countrey with their Wives and Children just like Gipsies and having given them to the value of ten or twelve Crowns they went away very well contented They that are curious to see Cambaya never go out of their way above five or six Costes or thereabout For when you are at Baroche instead of going to Broudra you may go directly forward to Cambaya from thence afterwards to Amadabat But whether it be for business or out of curiosity the latter Road is never to be taken not only because it is the longest way but because of the danger in crossing the mouth of the Golf Cambaya is a great City at the bottom of the Golf that bears its name Here it is that they shape those fair Agats that come from the Indies into Cups Hasts of Knives Beads and other sorts of Workmanship In the parts adjacent to the City they also make Indigo of the same nature of that of Sarquess and it was famous for traffick at the time when the Portugueses flourish'd in India There are to be seen at this day in the Quarter next the Sea very fair Houses which they had built with very rich Furniture after the Portugal manner but now they are uninhabited and fall to decay every day more and more There were then such good Orders observ'd in Cambaya that two hours after day was shut in every Street was lockt up with two Gates which are still to be seen and still they continue to lock up the principal Streets as also the Streets that lead into the Town One of the chief reasons why the Town has lost the greatest part of its Trade is because that formerly the Sea run close up to Cambaya so that little Vessels easily anchor'd by it but afterwards the Sea daily lost in that part so that a small Ship could not ride within five or six Leagues of the City There are a great number of Peacocks in the Indies especially in the Territories of Baroche Cambaya and Broudra The flesh of the young ones is white and well-tasted like ours and you shall see vast numbers of them all day in the Fields for at night they roost upon the Trees 'T is a hard matter to come near them in the day for as soon as they perceive themselves hunted they fly away as swift as a Partridg among the Bushes so that it is impossible for any man to follow them without tearing his Cloaths all to rags therefore are they only to be taken in the night time to which purpose they have this invention They approach the Tree with a kind of a Banner upon which there is a Peacock painted to the life on both sides at the top of the stick are fasten'd two lighted Candles the brightness whereof amazing the Peacock causes him to stretch out his Neck toward the end of the stick to which there is a Rope ty'd with a sliding knot which he that holds the Banner draws when he finds that the Peacock has put his Neck into it But you must have a care of killing either Bird or any other Animal in the Territories of which the idolatrous Raja's are Masters which it is nothing dangerous to do in those parts of the Indies where the Governours are Mahometans and give liberty to Fowl or Hunt It happen'd one time that a rich Persian Merchant passing through the Territories of the Raja of Dantivar shot a Peacock upon the road and kill'd it either out of rashness or ignorance of the Customs of the Country The Bannians incens'd at
the attempt which is accounted among them a most abominable sacriledg seiz'd upon the Merchant and all his Money to the value of 300000. Roupies and tying him to a Tree whipt him in so terrible a manner for three days together that the man dy'd From Cambaya you go to a little Village distant some three Costes where there is a Pagod to which all the Indian Curtisans come to make their Offerings This Pagod is full of a great number of naked Images among the rest there is a large Figure of one that seems to resemble Apollo with his privy parts all uncover'd When the old Curtisans have got together a good sum of Money in their youth they buy young Slaves whom they teach to Daunce and sing wanton Songs and instruct in all the mysteries of their infamous Art And when these young Girls are eleven or twelve years old their Mistresses send them to this Pagod believing it will bring them good fortune to offer and surrender up themselves to this Idol From this Pagod to Chiidabad you have six Costes This is one of the fairest Houses of the great Mogul with a wide Enclosure wherein he has vast Gardens and large Ponds with all the pleasures and curiosity whereof the Genius of the Indians is capable From Chiidabad to Amadabad you have but five Costes and so I return to Baroche and the common Road. From Baroche to Broudra Costes 22 Broudra is a great City standing in a fertil Soil wherein there is a vast Trade for Calicuts From Broudra to Neriade costes 18 From Neriade to Amadabat costes 20 Amadabat is one of the greatest Cities in India and where there is a mighty Trade for Silk-Stuffs Hangings of Gold and Silver and others mix'd with Silk for Saltpeter Sugar Ginger candid and raw Tamarins Mirobolans and flat Indigo which is made at a great Town not far from Amadabat called Sarquess There was in that place a Pagod which the Mahumetan's have pull'd down and built a Mosquee in the place Before you enter into it you must cross three large Courts pav'd with Marble and encompast with Galleries nor must you enter into the third Court till you have pull'd off your shooes The inside of the Mosquee is adorn'd with Mosaic-work the greatest part whereof is of Agats of divers colours which they fetch from the Mountains of Cambaya not above two days journey off There are several Sepulchres of the ancient Idolatrous Kings that look like little Chappels of Mosaic-work built upon a Vaut that is under the Sepulchre There runs a River from Amadabat toward the North-west which during the rainy-seasons that continue three or four Months together is very wide and rapid and does much mischief every year It is so with all the other Rivers in India and after the rains are fallen you must stay six weeks or two months before you can ford Amadabat-River where there is no Bridg. There are two or three Boats but they are of no use when the stream is so swift so that you must stay till the waters are fall'n But the people of the Countrey will not stay so long for to cross from one River to another they only make use of Goat-skins which they blow up and fill with wind and then tye them between their stomacks and their bellies Thus the poor men and women swim cross this River and when they would carry their children along with them they put them in certain round pots of Earth the mouth whereof is four-fingers wide and drive the Pots before them This puts me in mind of a Passage when I was at Amadabat in the year 1642 which is too remarkable to be omitted A Countrey-man and a Countrey-woman one day past the River as I have related and having a child about two years old they put it into one of these Pots so that there was nothing but the head appear'd Being about the middle of the River they met with a little bank of Sand where there lay an huge Tree which the stream had carri'd thither whereupon the Father shov'd the Pot toward that part to rest himself a-while When he came near the Tree the trunk whereof lay somewhat above the water a Serpent leapt out from among the roots into the Pot where the Infant was The Father and the Mother frighted at the accident and having almost lost their senses let the Pot go a-drift where the stream carri'd it and lay almost dead themselves at the bottom of the Tree About two leagues lower a Banian and his Wife with a little Infant were washing themselves in the River before they went to eat They descry'd the Pot a-far-off with the half of the Infant's-head that appear'd above the hole The Banian immediately swims to the relief of the child and having stopp'd the Pot drives it to the shoar The Mother follow'd by her own comes presently to take the other child out of the Pot at what time the Serpent that had done no harm to the other child shoots out of the Pot and winding about hers stings it and infuses its venom into the Insant so that it dy'd immediately However the accident being so extraordinary did not trouble those poor people who rather believ'd it to have happen'd by the secret disposal of their Deity who had taken from them one child to give them another for it with which opinion they presently comforted themselves Some time after the report of this accident coming to the ears of the first Countrey-man he comes to the Banian to tell him how the mischance had happen'd and to demand his child of him the other Indian affirming that the child was his and that his God had sent it him in the place of that which was dead To be short the business made so loud a noise that it was at length brought before the King who order'd that the child should be restor'd to the Father At the same time there happen'd another very pleasant accident in the same City of Amadabat The Wife of a rich Merchant Banian nam'd Saintidas never having had a child and manifesting her eager desire to have one a servant of the House took her a-side one day and told her that if she would but eat that which he would give her she should be with child The woman desirous to know what she was to eat the servant told her it was a little fish and that she should eat but three or four Now the Religion of the Banians forbidding them to eat any thing that has life she could not resolve at first to yield to his proposal but the servant having promised her that he would so order the matter that she should not know whether it were fish or no that she eat she resolv'd to try his receit and went the next night to lie with her Husband according to the instruction which she had received from the servant Some time after the woman perceiving that she was big her Husband happen'd to die and the kindred
quantity of Linnen Calicuts which was all transported to Tuta before the Sands had stop'd up the mouth of the River but since that it is carry'd all to Agra and from Agra to Surat as is the greatest part of the Merchandize which is made at Lahor But in regard carriage is so dear very few Merchants traffick either to Multan or at Lahor and many of the Workmen have also deserted those places so that the Kings Revenues are very much diminished in those Provinces Multan is the place whither all the Banians come that trade into Persia where they follow the same Trade as the Jews and out-do them in Usury They have a particular Law among them which permits them to eat Fowl upon certain days in the year and not to have more than one Wife among two or three Brothers the eldest whereof is accounted the Father of the Children This City also breeds abundance of Dancers of both Sexes that spread themselves all over Persia. I come now to the Road from Candahar to Agra through Caboul and Lahor From Candahar to Charisasar costes 10 From Charisafar to Zelate costes 12 From Zelate to Betazy costes 8 From Betazy to Mezour costes 6 From Mezour to Carabat costes 17 From Carabat to Chakenicouze costes 17 From Candahar to Chakenicouze a Frontier Town of the Indies is a Country under the command of several Princes that acknowledg the Persian Emperor From Chakenieouze to Caboul costes 40 In all these forty Costes of way there are but three pitiful Villages where sometimes though very rarely you have Bread and Barley for your Horses but the surest way is to carry provision along with you In the Months of July and August there blows a hot Wind in those parts that takes away a mans breath and kills him upon the place being of the same nature with those Winds of which I have spoken in my Persian Relations that blow at certain seasons near Babylon and Moussul Caboul is a large City very well fortified and is the place where those of Usbek come every year to sell their Horses They reckon that there are bought and sold every year above sixty thousand They bring also out of Persia great numbers of Sheep and other Cattel it being the general Concourse of Persians Tartarians and Indians There is also Wine to be had but Provisions go off at a very good rate Before I go any farther I must take notice of one thing in particular concerning the people call'd Augans who inhabit from Candahar to Caboul toward the Mountains of Balch a sturdy sort of people and great Robbers in the night-time It is the custom of the Indians to cleanse and scrape their tongues every morning with a crooked piece of a root which causes them to void a great quantity of Flegm and Rhume and provokes vomiting Now though those people that inhabit the Frontiers of Persia and India practice the same thing nevertheless they vomit very little in the morning but when they come to eat as soon as they have swallowed two or three bits their lungs begin to swell and they are constrain'd to go forth and vomit after which they return again to their Victuals with a very good appetite Should they not do so they would not live above thirty years and besides they would be troubl'd with the Dropsy From Caboul to Bariabe costes 19 From Bariabe to Nimela costes 17 From Nimela to Aliboua costes 19 From Aliboua to Taka costes 17 From Taka to Kiemri costes 6 From Kiemri to Chaour costes 14 From Chaour to Novechaar costes 14 From Novechaar to Atek costes 19 Atek is a City situated upon a point of Land where two Rivers meet together 'T is one of the best and strongest Garrisons the Great Mogul has into which there is no stranger permitted to enter without a Passport from the King Father Roux the Jesuit and his Companion going this way to Ispahan and not having the King's Passport were forc'd to return back to Lahor where they embark'd upon the River for Scimdi from whence they past into Persia. From Atek to Calapane costes 16 From Calapane to Roupate costes 16 From Roupate to Toulapeca costes 16 From Toulapeca to Keraly costes 19 From Keraly to Zerabad costes 16 From Zerabad to Imiabad costes 18 From Imiabad to Lahor costes 18 Lahor is the Metropolis of a Kingdom built upon one of the five Rivers that descend from the Mountains of the North to swell the River Indus and give the name of Peniab to all the Region which they water This River at this time flows not within a league of the Town being subject to change its Channel and many times does very great mischief to the adjoyning Fields through the rapid deluges which it makes The City is large and extends it self above a league in length But the greatest part of the Houses which are higher than those of Agra and Deli fall to ruine by reason of the excessive rains that have overflowed a great number of them The King's Palace is an indifferent fair one and is not as formerly it was upon the River which is fall'n off above a quarter of a league from it There is Wine to be had at Lahor I must observe by the by that after you have past Lahor and the Kingdom of Kakemir that lies upon it toward the North none of their Women have any hair upon any part of their bodies and the Men but very little upon their chins From Lahor to Menat-kan costes 12 From Menat-kan to Faty-abad costes 15 From Faty-abad to Sera-dakan costes 15 From Sera-dakan to Sera-balour costes 15 From Sera-balour to Sera-dourai costes 12 From Sera-dourai to Serinde costes 17 From Serinde to Sera-Mogoul costes 15 From Sera-Mogoul to Sera-Chabas costes 14 From Sera-Chabas to Dirauril costes 17 From Dirauril to Sera-Crindal costes 14 From Sera-Crindal to Guienaour costes 21 From Guienaour to Dehly costes 24 Before you go any farther you are to take notice that all the way from Lahor to Dehly and from Dehly to Agra is a continual Walk set on both sides with fair Trees an object most pleasing to the sight But in some places the Trees are decaid and there is no care taken to Plant others in their stead Dehly is a great City near the River Gemma which runs from the North to the South afterwards from the West to the East and aftaer it has past by Agra and Kadione empties it self into the Ganges After Cha jaehan had built the new City of Gehanabad which he call'd by his own Name and where he chose rather to keep his Court than at Agra because the Climate is more temperate Dehly is almost come to ruine and indeed is nothing but an heap of Rubbish there being no other Houses remaining but only for poor people The Streets are narrow and the Houses of Bambouc as over all the rest of the Indies Neither are there above three or four Lords of the Court that reside at Dehly where
Besides that his Purse must be continually open to divers Officers of meaner reputation who may be able to serve him I did not mention in my first Volume the Present which I made to him that brought me the Calaat from the King of Persia to whom I gave two hundred Crowns CHAP. IX The Road from Surat to Golconda I Have made several journeys to Golcondan and have taken several Roads sometimes by Sea embarking from Ormus for Malispata sometimes setting out from Agra but most often from Surat which is the chiefest landing-place of Indolstan But in this Chapter I will only speak of the common Road from Surat to Golconda wherein I comprehend that of Agra which Road comes in at Dultabat as I shall afterwards relate making mention only of two journeys which I made in 1645 and 1652 for fear of tiring the Reader I departed from Surat in the year 1645 upon the nineteenth of January and came to ly at Cambari costes 3 From Cambari to Barnoli costes 9 From Barnoli to Beara costes 12 From Beara to Navapour costes 16 This is the place where grows the best Rice in the World that smells like Musk. From Navapour to Rinkula costes 18 From Rinkula to Pipelnar costes 8 From Pipelnar to Nimpour costes 17 From Nimpour to Patane costes 14 From Patane to Secoura costes 14 From Secoura to Baquela costes 10 From Baquela to Discon costes 10 From Discon to Dultabat costes 10 Dultabat is one of the best Fortresses in the Kingdoms of the Great Mogul upon a Mountain every way steep the only way to it being so narrow that but one Horse or one Camel can go at a time This City is at the foot of the Mountain very well wall'd And this place of such importance which the Mogul's lost when the Kings of Golconda and Visapour revolted from them was retaken in the Reign of Jehan-guire by a subtle stratagem Sultan Courom who was afterwards call'd Cha-jehan commanded in Decan the Army of the King his Father and Ast-Kan Father in Law to Cha-Est-Kan who was one of the Generals gave the Prince some sort of language which so highly offended him that immediately sending for one of his Papouche's or Shoo 's he caus'd him to have six blows given him upon the Bonnet which among the Indians is the highest indignity can be put upon a man after which he is no more to appear in the Prince's presence This was done by consent between the Prince and the General to deceive the World more especially any Spies which the King of Visapour might have in the Prince's Army The report of Ast-Kan's disgrace was immediately spread abroad and he himself flying for Sanctuary to the King of Visapour who had not cunning enough to discern the imposture was welcom'd by the same King and assur'd of his protection Ast-Kan seeing himself so wellreceiv'd begg'd leave of the King that he might retire with ten or twelve of his Women and as many of his Servants into the Fortress of Dultabat which was granted He enter'd the Town with eight or ten Camels the two Cajava's or Litters on each side of the Camel being close shut to keep the Women from being seen But instead of Women he had put into every Cajava two Souldiers all bold and resolv'd men as were also every one of the suppos'd Eunuchs that led the Camels so that he had no great difficulty to cut the Garrison in pieces not being upon their guard and to make himself Master of the place which has been ever since under the Power of the Great Mogul There are in the place a great number of excellent Pieces of Cannon and the Cannoniers are generally English or Hollanders True it is that there is one little Mountain higher than the Fortress but there is hardly any way to it but through the same Fortress There was a Dutch-Engineer who after he had serv'd the King fifteen or sixteen years desir'd leave to be gone and the Holland-Company it self that had recommended him to the Service did all they could to obtain it but they could never procure it because he was an excellent Cannonier and very skilful in making Fire-works The Raja Jesseing who is the most Potent of all the Idolatrous Princes of India and who was most powerfully Instrumental to put the Crown upon Aureng-zeb's Head was sent as Generalissimo of the Army of this King against the Raja Seva-gi and passing by the Fortress of Dultabat this Dutch-Cannonier went to wait upon him all the Cannoniers of the Army being Franguis as well as he The Hollander laying hold of this opportunity told the Raja that if he would procure him a Licence to depart he would shew him a way to get up Cannon and to mount them upon that Mountain which commanded the Fortress for they had already wall'd it about and put Souldiers upon it to keep it secure The Raja pleas'd with his proposal assur'd him that he would procure him the King's Licence if he perform'd what he had propos'd Thereupon the Hollander undertaking and accomplishing his design the Raja was as good as his word and obtain'd of the King to dismiss the Dutch-Cannonier who came to Surat when I was there about the beginning of the year 1667 whence he embark'd for Holland From Dultabat to Aureng-abat costes Aureng-abat was formerly but a Village till Aureng-zeb made it a City though it be not wall'd It grew to be thus enlarg'd as well by reason of a Lake two leagues about upon which the Village is built as for the Memorys-sake of his first Wife who is dead by whom he had his Children She is Interr'd toward the end of the Lake upon the West-side where the King has built a Mosquee with a stately Monument and a fair Inn. The Mosquee and the Monument were rear'd at a great expence being cover'd with white-Marble which is brought from Lahor by Waggon being a journey of four Months Going one time from Surat to Golconda I met five days journey from Aureng-abat more than three-hunder'd Waggons laden with this Marble the least whereof was drawn by twelve Oxen. From Aureng-abat to Pipoli costes 8 From Pipoli to Aubar costes 12 From Aubar to Guisemner costes 10 From Guisemner to Asti costes 12 From Asti to Sarver costes 16 From Sarver to Lesona costes 16 From Lesona to Nadour costes 12 At Nadour you must cross a River which runs into Ganges and pay for every Waggon four Roupies besides that you must have a pass from the Governor From Nadour to Patonta costes 9 From Patonta to Kakeri costes 10 From Kakeri to Sataepour costes 10 From Satapour to Sitanaga costes 12 From Sitanaga to Satanagar costes 10 At Satanagar you begin to enter upon the Territories of the King of Golconda From Satanagar to Melvari costes 16 From Melvari to Girballi costes 12 From Girballi to Golconda costes 14 So that from Surat to Golconda there are costes 324 All this I travell'd in twenty-seven days
wherein the Nich is made which is on that side where they say their Prayers is an entire Rock of such a prodigious bulk that it was five years before five or six-hunder'd men continually employ'd could hew it out of its place They were forc'd also to rowl it along upon an Engine with wheels upon which they brought it to the Pagod and several affirm'd to me that there were fourteen-hunder'd Oxen to drawit I will tell you hereafter the reason it remains imperfect For had it been finish'd in all reason it had excell'd all the boldest Structures of Asia On the other side of the City as you go to Maslipatan there are two great Lakes being each about a league in compass wherein there ride several Pinks richly adorn'd for the King's Pleasure and upon the Banks are several fair Houses that belong to the Principal Lords of the Court. Upon three sides of the City stands a very fair Mosquee wherein are the Tombs of the Kings of Golconda and about four in the afternoon there is a Dole of Bread and Pilau to all the Poor that come If you would see any thing that is rare you must go to view these Tombs upon a Festival-day For then from morning till night they are hung with rich Tapestry As for the Government and Policy which is observ'd in this City In the first place when a Stranger comes to the Gates they search him exactly to see if he have any Salt or Tobacco about him for those Commodities bring the King his greatest Revenue Sometimes a Stranger shall wait a day or two before he shall have leave to enter For a Souldier first gives notice to the Officer that commands the Guard and then he sends to the Deroga to know what he shall do Now because it many times happens that the Deroga is busy or gone to take a walk out of the City or else for that sometimes the Souldier himself pretends he cannot find the Deroga only to create himself more errands to get the more Money a Stranger is forc'd to endure all this delay sometimes as I have said before for a day or two When the King sits to do Justice I observe that he comes into the Balcone that looks into the Piazza and all that have business stand below just against the place where the King sits Between the People and the Walls of the Palace are fix'd in the ground three rows of Poles about the length of an Half-Pike to the ends whereof they tye certain ropes a-cross one upon another Nor is any person whatsoever permitted to pass beyond those bounds unless he be call'd This Bar which is never set up but when the King sits in Judgment runs along the whole bredth of the Piazza and just against the Balcone there is a Bar to open to let in those that are call'd Then two men that each of them hold a Cord by the end extended all the bredth of the passage have nothing to do but to let fall the Cord for any person that is call'd to step over it A Secretary of State sits below under the Balcone to receive all Petitions and when he has five or six together he puts them in a Bag and then an Eunuch who stands in the Balcone neer the King lets down a string to which the Bag being ti'd he draws it up and presents it to his Majesty Every Munday the chiefest of the Nobility mount the Guard every one in their turn and are never reliev'd till at the eight days end There are some of these Lords that have five or six thousand men under their command and they lye encamp'd in their Tents round about the City When they mount the Guard every one goes from his own Habitation to the Rendevouz but when they are reliev'd they march in good order over the Bridg thence through the long Street into the Piazza where they draw up before the Balcone In the first place march ten or twelve Elephants more or less according to the quality of the Captain of the Guard There are some of these Elephants that carry Cages which in some sort resemble the Body of a little Coach there are others that have but one man to guide them and another in the Cage who carries a Banner After the Elephants follow the Camels by two and two sometimes to the number of thirty or forty Every Camel carries a kind of Packsaddle upon which is fasten'd a little Culverine which a certain Engineer clad in a skin from head to foot and sitting upon the Crupper of the Camel with a lighted Match in his hand dextrously manages from one side to another before the Balcone where the King sits After them come the Coaches attended by the Domestick Servants of the Commander Next to them follow the lead-Horses and then the Lord appears to whom all this Equipage belongs attended by ten or twelve Curtisans that stay for him at the end of the Bridg and skip and dance before him to the Piazza Behind him the Cavalry and Infantry march in good order Which being a shew wherein there was much of delight and state all the while I staid at Bagnabar which was about four Months I had the divertisement to see them out of my Lodging in the great Street every week as they march'd by The Souldiers wear no other Clothes than only three or four ells of Calicut with which they cover half their Bodies behind and before They wear their hair very long and tie it up in a knot upon the top of the crown like the women who have no other Headgear than only a piece of Linnen with three corners one that comes to the middle of the head and the other two which they tie under their chins The Souldiers do not wear Hangers or Scimitars like the Persians but broad Swords like the Switzers as well for a thrust as a blow which they hang in a Girdle The Barrels of their Muskets are stronger than ours and much neater for their Iron is better and not so subject to break Their Cavalry carry Bows and Arrows a Buckler and a Battel-Ax an Headpiece and a Jacket of Mail that hangs down from the Headpiece over their Shoulders There are so great a number of common Women as well in the City as in the Suburbs and in the Fortress which is like another City that there are generally above twenty thousand set down in the Deroga's Book without which licence it is not lawful for any Woman to profess the Trade They pay no tribute to the King only they are oblig'd to come a certain number of them with their Governess and their Musick every Friday and present themselves before the Balcone If the King be there they dance before him if he intend not to come an Eunuch comes into the Balcone and makes them a sign to retire In the cool of the evening they stand at the doors of their Houses which are for the most part little Huts and when night
Portuguese Christians and several Armenians that came thither to trade But Father Ephraim having a particular Order to go to Pegu could not accept of his Offer yet when he went to take his leave of the Check he presented him with a Calaat the most noble that was in his Wardrobe being the whole habit the Cap the Cabay or large Vest the Arcalou or short Cassock two pair of Drawers two Shirts and two Scarfs which they wear about their necks and over their heads to keep off the heat of the Sun The Friar was surpriz'd at the present and gave the Check to understand that it was not proper for him to wear it however the Check would force him to take it telling him he might accommodate some of his Friends with it Two months after Father Ephraim bestow'd the same Present upon me being at Surat for which I return'd him thanks The Check seeing he could not detain the Father and unwilling he should go a foot from Golconda to Mastipatan oblig'd him to take an Oxe with two Men to lead it and because he could not perswade him to take also thirty Pagods which he presented the Father withall he commanded the two men when they came to Mastipatan to leave the Oxe and the thirty Pagods with him which they did very punctually for otherwise at their return to Golconda they had forfeited their lives I will finish the History of Father Ephraim when I come to the discription of Goa which is the principal place that the Portugals have in the Indies The second Daughter of the King of Golconda was married to Sultan Mahumad the eldest Son of Aurengzeb the occasion whereof was this Mirgimola Generalissimo of the King of Golconda's Army and who had been very serviceable to his Master to settle the Crown upon his head according to the custom left with the King as a mark of his fidelity both his Wife and Children in Hostage for he was sent to reduce certain Raja's in Bengala that were in Rebellion He had several Daughters but only one Son who had a great train and made a great noise at Court The reputation and riches which Mirgimola had gain'd rais'd him up several Enemies who endeavour'd in his absence to ruine him and to put him out of the Kings favour They pretended that the great power of Mirgimola was very much to be suspected that all his designs tended to dethrone him and to settle the Kingdom of Golconda upon his own Son that it behov'd him not to stay till the remedy were past cure but to rid himself of an Enemy so much the more to be fear'd the closer he kept his intentions and that the shortest and best way was to poyson him The King being easily perswaded gave them leave and authority to act as they pleas'd for his security but having miss'd of their design for three or four times together Mirgimola's Son began to smell the plot and immediately gave advice thereof to his Father It is not known what instructions he receiv'd from his Father but so soon as he had his answer he went to the King and spoke boldly to him taxing him with the services which his Father had done him and that without his assistance he had never come to the Crown The young Lord naturally of a fiery disposition kept on this discourse so displeasing to the King till at length his Majesty flung away and the Lords that were present fell upon the young man and basely misus'd him At the same time also he was arrested and committed to prison together with his Mother and Sisters Which action as it made a great noise at Court coming to Mirgimola's ears so incens'd him that having an Army under his command and being belov'd by the Soldiers he resolv'd to make use of the advantages he had to revenge himself for the injury done him He was then not far from Bengala being sent as I said before to reduce certain Raja's to obedience whose Territories lye upon the Ganges and Sultan-Sujah Cha-jehan's second Son being then Governour of Bengala the General thought it his best way to address himself to him as being the next Prince with whom he might join his Forces against the King of Golconda whom he look'd upon now no more as his Master but as one of his most inveterate Enemies Thereupon he wrote to the Prince to this effect That if he would join with him he would give him an opportunity to possess himself of the whole Kingdom of Golconda and that he should not neglect so fair an opportunity to enlarge the Dominions of the Great Mogul the succession whereof might as well concern him as any of the rest of his Brothers But the Answer which Sultan-Sujah sent him was contrary to his expectation who told him that he could not tell how to trust a person who as he went about to betray his King might more easily be drawn to betray a Foreign Prince whom he had inveigl'd only for the sake of his Revenge and that therefore he should not rely upon him Upon Sultan-Sujah's refusal Mirgimola wrote to Aurengzeb who was then in his Government of Brampoure who being not so nice as his Brother accepted of the proposal that was made him Thus while Mirgimola advanc'd with his Troops toward Bagnabar Aurengzeb hasten's toward Decan and both Armies being join'd they came to the Gates of Bagnabar before the King was in a posture to receive them He had only time to retreat into his Fortress of Golconda to which Aurengzeb after he had rifl'd the City of Bagnabar and plunder'd the Palace lay'd a close Siege The King seeing himself thus vigorously press'd sent away to Mirgimola his Wife and Children very honourably For there is vertue and generosity in the Indians as well as in the Europeans of which I will give you an illustrious Example in the person of the King of Golconda Some days after the Enemy had besieg'd the Fortress a Canoneer espying Aurengzeb upon his Elephant riding about to view the Fortifications of the Castle told the King being then upon the Bastion that if he pleas'd he would fetch off Aurengzeb with a Canon-shot and at the same time was about to give fire but the King holding his hand told him he perceiv'd it well enough but that it behov'd Kings to be better Husbands of the Lives of Princes The Canoneer obey'd the King and instead of shooting at Aurengzeb he took off the Head of the General of his Army who was a little before him which put a stop to the Assault they were about to have giv'n the Army being in a confusion upon his death Abdul-jaber-Beg General of the King of Golconda's Army lying not far from the Camp with a flying Army of four thousand Horse understanding the disorder of the Enemy by reason of the loss of their General laid hold of so favourable an opportunity gave them a desperate charge in that confusion and putting them to the rout pursu'd them
you put them to which is the reason that the Portugals keep them so low The natural Inhabitants of the Country about Goa are Idolaters and worship several sorts of Idols which they say are the Resemblance of several that have done good works to whom they ought to give praise by adoring their Portraitures There are many of these Idolaters who worship Apes And therefore in the Island of Salsete there was a Pagod where the Idolaters kept in a Chest like a Tomb the Bones and Nails of an Ape which they said had been mighty serviceable to their Ancestors by bringing news and intelligence to them when any hostile Princes prosecuted them for which purpose they would sometimes swim through the very Sea it self The Indians come from several parts in procession and make Offerings to this Pagod But the Clergy of Goa especially the Inquisitors caus'd the Tomb one day to be taken away and brought it to Goa where it remain'd a good while by reason of the difference which it made between the Ecclesiasticks and the people For the Idolaters offering a great sum of Money to have their Reliques again the people were willing to have restor'd them saying that the Money would do well upon any occasion of War or else to relieve the poor But the Clergy were of a contrary opinion and maintain'd that such a piece of Idolatry was not to be endur'd upon any account whatsoever At length the Arch-Bishop and the Inquisitors by their own Authority took away the Tomb and sending it in a Vessel twenty Leagues out to Sea caus'd it to be thrown to the bottom of the Ocean They thought to have burn'd it but the Idolaters would have rak'd up the Ashes again which would have been but a new food to their Superstition There are in Goa abundance of Clergy-men for besides the Arch-Bishop and his Clergy there are Dominicans Austin-Fryars Franciscans Barefoot Carmelites Jesuits and Capuchins with two Religious Houses whereof the Austin-Fryars are Directors or Governours The Religious Carmelites that came last are the best seated for though they are somewhat at a distance from the heart of the City yet they have the advantage of a fine Air and the most healthy scituation in all Goa It stands upon a rising ground free to the refreshment of the Wind and it is very well built with two Galleries one over the other The Austin-Fryars who were the first that came to Goa were indifferently well seated at the foot of a little rising ground their Church also standing upon a rising ground with a fair Piazza before it but when they had built their Habitation the Jesuits desir'd them to sell that rising ground which was then a void place under pretence of making a Garden in it for the recreation of their Scholars But after they had purchas'd it they built a most stately College upon the same ground which quite stops and choaks up the Austin-Fryars Covent so that they have no Air at all There happen'd several Contests about this business but at length the Jesuits got the better The Jesuites at Goa are known by the name of Paulists by reason that their great Church is dedicated to St. Paul Nor do they wear Hats or Corner-Caps as in Europe but only a certain Bonnet resembling the Skull of a Hat without the Brims somewhat like the Bonnets which the Grand Segnors Slaves wear of which I have given you a description in my relation of the Seraglio They have five Houses in Goa the College of St. Paul the Seminary the Professors House the Noviciate and the Good Jesus The paintings in this House are admirable pieces of Workmanship In the year 1663 the College was burnt by an accident which happen'd in the night so that it cost them near sixty thousand Crowns to rebuild it The Hospital of Goa was formerly the most famous in all India For in regard the Revenues thereof were very great the sick persons were very carefully look'd after But since the change of the Governours there is but very bad accommodation and several of the Europeans that have been put in have never come forth again but in their Coffins However they have lately found out a way to save some by frequent Bloodletting They let Blood sometimes as occasion requires thirty or forty times even as often as any ill-blood comes forth as they did by me one time that I was at Surat Butter and flesh is very dangerous to them that are sick and many times costs them their lives Formerly they made several sorts of well-tasted diet for those that recoverd Now they serve the Patient only with young Beef-broth and a dish of Rice Usually the poorer sort that recover their health complain of drowth and call for water But they that look after them being only Blacks or Mongrels a sort of covetous and pittiless people will not give them a drop unless they put Money in their hands and to colour their wickedness they give it them by stealth pretending what they do to be against the Physitian 's order As for Sweet-meats and Preserves there is no want of them but they are not a diet which contributes overmuch to the restoring of decaid strength especially in those hot Countreys where the body requires rather cooling and refreshing nourishment I have forgot one thing in reference to their more frequent blood-lettings than among us Europeans Which is that to bring their colour again and to restore them to perfect health they order the Patient to drink for twelve days together three glasses of Cow's Urine one in the morning another at noon and another at night But in regard it is a very nauseous sort of drink the Patient swallows as little as he can how desirous soever he may be of his health They learnt this remedy from the Idolaters of the Countrey and whether the Patient will take it or no they never let him stir out of the Hospital till the twelve days are expir'd wherein he ought to drink it CHAP. XIV What the Author did during his stay at Goa the last time he went thither in the year 1648. TWO days before I departed from Mingrela for Goa I wrote to Monsieur St. Amant who was Engineer to send me a Man of War for fear of the Malvares which are upon the Coast which he immediately did I parted from Mingrela the 20 th of January 1648 and arriv'd at Goa the 25 th And in regard it was late I staid till the next morning before I went to visit the Vice-Roy Don Philip de Mascaregnas who had formerly been Governor of Ceylan He made me very welcome and during the two months that I tarri'd at Goa he sent to me a Gentleman five or six times who brought me still to the Powder-House which was without the City where he often us'd to be For he took great delight in levelling Guns wherein he ask'd my advice esteeming very much a Pistol very curiously and richly inlaid which I
presented him at my arrival This Pistol the French-Consul at Aleppo gave me the fellow of it being unhappily lost for else the Bair had been presented by the French-Nation to the Basha who might then have boasted himself the Master of the fairest and best-made pair of Pistols in all Asia The Vice-Roy admits no person whatever no not his Children to sit at his Table But there is a little partition in the Dining-room where there is a Cloath laid for the Principal Officers as is usual in the Courts of the German-Princes The next day I went to wait upon the Arch-Bishop and the next day after I design'd to have visited the Inquisition but I understood by one of his Gentlemen that he was busy writing into Portugal there being two Ships ready to weigh Anchon that only staid for his dispatches After the Ships were set sail he sent the same Gentleman to tell me that he expected me at the Inquisition-House about two or three in the afternoon I fail'd not to go thither at the time prefix'd When I came a Page brought me into a large Hall where after I had walk'd a quarter of an hour an Officer came and carri'd me into the Chamber where the Inquisitor was After I had past through two Galleries and some Chambers I enter'd into a little Chamber where the Inquisitor sat at the end of a great Table like a Billiard-Table which as well as the Chairs and Stools in the Chamber was cover'd with green Cloath such as is carri'd out of England He told me I was welcome and after a Complement or two he ask'd me what Religion I was of I answer'd him of the Protestant Religion He ask'd me then if my Father and Mother were of the same Religion and after I had satisfi'd him that they were so He told me again I was welcome calling out at the same time for some other persons to enter Thereupon the Hangings being held up there came in ten or twelve persons out of another room hard-by The first of the Train were two Austin-Friars follow'd by two Dominicans two barefoot-Carmelites and some other of the Clergy whom the Inquisitor told who I was and assur'd them I had brought no prohibited Books for indeed knowing their orders I had left my Bible at Mingrela We discours'd about two hours of several things but particularly of my Travels the whole Company testifying their desire to hear me make some repetitions Three days after the Inquisitor sent for me to dine with him at a fair House about half a league from the City which belongs to the Barefoot-Carmelites It is one of the loveliest Structures in all the Indies and I will tell you in short how the Carmelites came by it There was a Gentleman in Goa whose Father and Grandfather had got great Estates by Merchandizing and he it was that built this House which might well have past for a most noble Palace He had no mind to Marry but being altogether addicted to his devotions he very much frequented the Austin-Friars to whom he shew'd himself so affectionate that he made his Will wherein he gave them all his Estate provided they would bury him on the right-side of the High-Altar where he intended a sumptuous Monument Now according to the common report this Gentleman was a Leaper which some jealous persons endeavour'd to make the World believe seeing he had given away all his Estate to the Austin-Friars Thereupon they told him that the ground on the right-hand of the High-Altar was a place only fit for a Vice-Roy and that a leaprous person was not to be laid there which was the opinion of the generality of the people and of a good part of the Austin-Friars themselves Thereupon some of the Fathers of the Covent coming to speak with the Gentleman on purpose to perswade him to choose some other place in the Church he was so offended at the proposal that he never went more to the Austin-Friars but always went to perform his devotions among the Carmelites who receiv'd him with open arms and accepted the conditions which the other had refus'd Nor did he live long after he had interested himself with that Order so that the Carmelites having magnificently buri'd him enjoy'd all his Estate with this same House where we were splendidly entertain'd with Musick all the time of Dinner I staid at Goa from the twenty-first of January till the eleventh of March departing thence that very day in the evening after I had taken leave of the Vice-Roy I begg'd leave also of the Vice-Roy for a French-Gentleman whose name was Belloy to go along with me which was granted me but through the imprudence of that Gentleman who did not tell me the reason of his coming to Goa he had like to have been taken from me again and it was an even-lay that we had not been both carri'd to the Inquisition This Gentleman had left the place of his Nativity to travel over Holland where having run himself in debt and finding no person that would lend him any Money he resolv'd to go for India Thereupon he listed himself as a private Souldier upon the accompt of the Holland-Company and came to Batavia at the same time that the Hollanders made War against the Portuguezes in Ceylan Being arriv'd they sent him away among the recruits which were sent into that Island and the Holland-General seeing such a reinforcement of stout men commanded by a French-Captain whose name was St. Amant a person of great courage and experience he resolv'd to besiege Negombe a considerable Fort in the Island of Ceylan They made two assaults wherein the French-men behav'd themselves valiantly especially St. Amant and John de Rose who were both wounded The General of the Dutch seeing them to be two such men of courage made a promise that if Negombe were taken one of them two should be Governor The place was taken and the General kept his word with St. Amant but the News being carri'd to Batavia a young Gentleman of kin to the General and but newly arriv'd out of Holland obtain'd to be Governor of Negombe to the prejudice of St. Amant and came with an order from the Council at Batavia to displace him St. Amant incens'd at such ill-usage inveigles to his Party a matter of fifteen or twenty most part French-Souldiers among whom were Monsieur Belloy Marests and John de Rose and revolts to the Portuguezes The Portugals encourag'd by the reinforcement of such a stout though small number of men storm'd Negombe again and took it at the second assault At that time was Don Philip de Mascaregnas Governor of Ceylan and all the places belonging to it under the jurisdiction of the Portugals He liv'd also at the City of Colombo and then it was that having receiv'd Letters from Goa that the Vice-Roy was dead and that the Council and all the Nobility desir'd him to come and succeed in his place he resolv'd to see St. Amant and his
pleasing him he had desir'd my assistance in his return for Europe Three or four days after I bought him an Oxe to carry him to Surat and I gave him a Servant to assist him together with a Letter to Father Zenon a Capuchin wherein I desir'd him to speak to my Broker to pay him ten Crowns a month for his subsistence and to desire of the English President to embark him for Europe with the first opportunity But it fell out contrary to my intentions for Father Zenon carri'd him back again along with him to Goa where he had some business to do for Father Ephraim his Companion of whom I shall speak in the next Chapter Father Zenon without doubt believ'd that Du Belloy making his appearance to the Inquisition and desiring his pardon might have easily obtain'd it 'T is very true he did obtain it but it was after he had been two years in the Inquisition from which he was not discharg'd but with a Sulphur'd Shirt with a St. Andrews Cross upon his Stomack There was with him another Gentleman call'd Lewis de Bar upon the Seine who was us'd in the same manner and they always put them to accompany those who were put to death The Sieur Du Belloy did very ill to return to Goa and worse to appear afterwards again at Mingela where the Hollanders who understanding he had formerly revolted out of their service by the intelligence they receiv'd from their Commander at Surat seiz'd his person and sent him away in a Ship that was going for Batavia They pretended that they sent him to the General of the Company to do with him as he should think fitting But I am in part assur'd that as soon as the Vessel was out at Sea they put the poor Gentleman into a Sack and threw him into the Sea This was the end of the Sieur Du Belloy As for Sieur des Marests he was a Gentleman born in the Dauphinate near to Loriol who having kill'd his Adversary in a Duel fled into Poland where he so far signaliz'd himself that he won the esteem and affection of the General of the Polonian Army At that time the Grand Seignior kept in the Prison of the Seven Towers at Constantinople two Noble Polonians whereupon the Polonian General observing the courage and address of this Des Marests who was a daring Fellow and a good Engineer besides made a proposal to him to go to Constantinople and to endeavour if he could by any means in the world to set those Princes at liberty Des Marests willingly accepted the employment and without doubt he had succeeded in his design had he not been discovered by some Turks who accus'd him for having been too circumspect in viewing the seven Towers seeing him with a Chalk Pencil in his hand ready to take the draught thereof which seem'd to tend to no good design This had been enough to have ruin'd the Gentleman had not Monsieur de Cesy the French Ambassadour stifl'd the further examination of the business by some present which in Turky is the most sovereign remedy upon all accidents of danger telling the Visier that he was only a French Gentleman that travel'd for his pleasure and one that was going for Persia with the first opportunity However it was not Marests design at that time to go very far for he intended to have return'd into Poland so soon as he had us'd his utmost endeavours to set the Princes at liberty but for his own safety it behov'd him to give it out that he was gone to Persia and at length he was constrain'd to go thither indeed As for the Grand Seignior he had resolv'd never to set the two Noblemen at liberty But at length they were so fortunate as to gain the love of a young Turk who was the Son of the Captain of the Seven Towers with whom the Father usually trusted the Keys to open and shut the Gates of the Prison The night appointed for their flight he made as if he had shut some doors the Padlocks whereof he left all open But he durst not do so by the two first Gates near one of which the Captain with a strong Guard lay for fear of being discover'd The young man who had entirely devoted himself to serve the Princes having foreseen this difficulty before had bethought himself of Rope-Ladders to get over the two Walls to which purpose it was necessary to have a correspondence within and without Finding therefore that because the utmost of severity was not us'd toward those Princes they had the liberty to receive several Dishes of Meat from the French Ambassadors Kitchin the Clerk of the Kitchin was made of the plot who thereupon sent them in several Cords in Pasties whereof they made Ladders The business succeeded so well that the escape was made and the young Turk fled with the Polonian Lords into Poland where he turn'd Christian and receiv'd ample rewards both in Employments and Money The same gratitude proportionably was observ'd toward those who had contributed toward the liberty of the Princes who amply acknowledg'd the services which they had receiv'd from every one of them In the mean time the Sieur Des Marests arrives at Ispahan and addressing himself to the Capuchin Fryars they brought him to my Lodging where he had the freedom of my Table and a Chamber He staid some time at Ispahan during which he got acquainted with the English and Hollanders who had a great esteem for him finding him to be a person of merit But it happen'd one day that his curiosity putting him upon a bold attempt had like to have been the ruine of him and all the Franks in Ispahan Near the Inn where we lodg'd there was a large Bath where the men and women by turns take their times to come and bath themselves and where the Queen of Visapour during her stay at Ispahan as she return'd home to Mecca delighted to go and prattle with the French mens wives The Sieur Des Marests having a passionate desire to see what the women did satisfi'd his curiosity by means of a cranny in the Arch of the Vault which he had observ'd when he went thither for having found out a way without side to get up to that Arch through a blind hole that was next to the Inn where we lay the Arch being flat as I have describ'd them in my relations of Persia and the Seraglio he laid himself upon his belly and saw through the cranny what he so much long'd to behold He was at this sport some ten or twelve times and not being able to contain himself he told me one day what he had done I bid him have a care of going there any more for fear of ruining himself and all the French men in the City But he contrary to my advice went thither two or three times after that till at length he was discover'd by one of the women of the Bath that took care of the Linnen and dry
the morning he began the assault with four Companies consisting each of a hundred and fifty men The Hollanders lost abundance of men in this last assault and so did the Portugueses for they defended themselves stoutly being seconded by two hundred Soldiers who were all Dutch-men tho they sided with the Portugueses because their Countrymen had bated them six months and a half pay for the loss of Touan Without the assistance of these Soldiers the City had never held out two months there being among them one of the best Dutch Engineers of his time who had left his Countrymen by reason of their ill usage of him At length the Hollanders having enter'd the Town toward evening on Calivete side and being Masters of the chief Bulwark the Portugals came to a Capitulation and the City was surrender'd The Portugals by their Articles march'd out of Cochin with their Arms and Baggage but when they came out of the City where the Hollanders were drawn up in Battalia they were all forc'd to quit their Arms and to lay them at the Generals feet except the Officers who kept their Swords The General had promis'd the Soldiers the Pillage of the Town but not being able to keep his word for several plausible reasons which he told he promis'd them six months pay which in a few days after was reduc'd to eight Roupies a man Samarin also demanded of him the City of Cranganor according to his promise which the General made good but he caus'd all the Fortifications to be slighted first and left Samarin nothing but the bare Walls For being of a very mean Extraction he was naturally as cruel and barbarous in his disposition One time the Soldiers being so put to it for four days together that they could get no food for money two of them had somewhere taken a Cow and kill'd her for which the General when he came to know of it caus'd one of them to be hang'd immediately and had order'd the other to have run the Gauntlet had not King Perca interceded for him King Perca was a petty King of that Country with whom the General was then in Treaty and the Treaty being at length concluded the General muster'd all his Land and Sea-men to the number of about six thousand men A few days after he sent some Companies to besiege the City of Cananor which surrender'd without any resistance When they return'd the General caus'd a Crown to be made for the new King of Cochin the other being expell'd his Country And upon the day which he had appointed for this most solemn Coronation the General sat upon a kind of a Throne at the foot whereof a Malavare or Pirat being led thither between three Captains of each side fell upon his knees to receive the Crown from the Generals hand and to do homage for a petty Kingdom that is to say the little City of Cochin and its Territories which were very small The King and the King-maker were both alike For no doubt it could not but be a pleasant sight to see a Hollander that had been only the Cook of a Ship crowning a miserable Pirat with those hands that had oft'ner handled a Ladle than a Sword In the mean time the Ships that carried the Inhabitants of Cochin to Goa return'd laden with the spoils of those distressed people for contrary to the Articles of Capitulation the Hollanders were no sooner out at Sea but they took from those poor Creatures whatever they had rifling both men and women without any regard to sex or modesty The General being return'd into Batavia they sent a Governour to Cochin who to make the place the stronger demolish'd a great part of the City But this Governour us'd the greatest rigor imaginable even towards the Soldiers he shut them up in the City as if they had been in a Prison nor could they drink either Wine or Sury or Strong-water by reason of the great Imposts which he laid upon them Sury is a drink which flows from the Palm-trees So that when the Portugueses kept Cochin men might live better for five or six Sous than under the Hollander for ten This Governour was so severe that he would banish a man for the smallest fault in the world to the Island of Ceylan to a place where they made Brick sometimes for five or six years sometimes as along as the party liv'd For it is oftentimes observ'd that when any one is banish'd thither though the sentence be only for a term of years yet the Exile never obtains his freedom afterwards CHAP. XVII The Passage by Sea from Ormus to Maslipatan I departed from Gomron to Maslipatan the eleventh of May 1652 and went aboard a great Vessel of the King of Golconda's which is bound every year from Persia laden with fine Calicuts Chites or Calicuts painted with a Pencil which makes them much more beautiful and dearer than those which are printed The Holland Company are wont to allow to those Vessels which belong to any of the Kings or Princes of India a Pilot and two or three Gunners neither the Indians nor Persians being expert in Navigation In the Vessel where I was aboard there were but six Dutch Mariners at most but above a hundred Natives We sailed out of the Persian Golf with a pleasing and favourable Gale but we had not sail'd very far before we found the Sea very rough and the Winds at South-West so violent though full in our Stern that we were not not able to carry out more than one small Sail. The next day and for some days after the Wind grew more violent and the Sea more boist'rous so that being in the sixteenth Degree which is the elevation of Goa the Rain the Thunder and Lightning render'd the Tempest the more terrible insomuch that we could not carry out any other than our top-sail and that half furl'd We pass'd by the Maldives Islands but were not able to discern them besides that the Ship had taken in very much water in the Hold. For the Ship had lain five months in the Road of Gomron where if the Mariners are not very careful to wash the Planks that lye out of the water they will be apt to gape which causes the Ship to leak when she is loaden For which reason the Hollanders wash the outside of their Ships morning and evening We had in our Vessel five and fifty Horses which the King of Persia had sent as a Present to the King of Golconda and about a hundred Merchants Persians and Armenians together who were Traders to India One whole day and night together there rose a cross Wind so violent that the Water rowl'd in from Stern to Stern and the mischief was that our Pumps were nought By good fortune there was a Merchant that had two Bails of Russia Leather besides four or five Sadlers that knew how to sow the Skins who were very serviceable as well to the whole Ship as to themselves For they made
which caus'd great lamentations among them In this extremity the chiefest of their Priests fat himself down in the midst of them and covering himself with a sheet began to cry out that they who would have any Victuals should come to him when they came he ask'd every one what they would have whether Rice or Meal and for how many persons and then lifting up the corner of the sheet with a great Ladle he distributed to every one that which they asked for so that the whole multitude of four thousand Souls was fully satisfi'd My Servant did not only tell me this story but going several times afterwards to Brampour where I was known to the chief men in the City I enquir'd of several who swore to me by their Ram Ram that it was truth Though I am not bound to believe it The twenty-third we arriv'd at Doupar after we had travel'd eight leagues and cross'd several Torrents The twenty-fourth we travel'd four leagues and came to Tripante where there is a great Pagod upon a Hill to which there is a circular ascent of Free-stone every way the least Stone being ten foot long and three broad and there are several Figures of Damons in the Pagod Among the rest there is the Statue of Venus standing upright with several lascivious Figures about her all which Figures are of one piece of Marble but the Sculpture is very ordinary The twenty-fifth we travel'd eight leagues and came to Mamli The twenty-sixth we travel'd eight leagues more and came to lye at Machels The twenty-seventh we travel'd not above three leagues being to cross a wide River in Boats like Panniers which usually takes up half the day for when you come to the River side there is neither Pannier nor any thing else to cross it There was only one man with whom we bargain'd for our passage who to try whether our Money were good or no made a great fire and threw it into the flame as he does to all others that pass that way If among the Roupies which he receives he meets with any one that turns a little black you must give him another which he presently heats red hot when he finds his Money to be good he calls to his Companions to fetch the Manequin or Flasket-Boat which lay hid before in some other part of the River For these sort of people are so cunning that if they descry any Passengers afar off they will row their Mamequin to the other side because they will not be constrain'd to carry any person over without Money But the Money being paid the man that receives it calls his Companions together who take the Boat upon their Shoulders and when they have launch'd it into the River they fetch their Passengers and goods from the other side The twenty-eighth having travel'd five leagues they came to a place call'd Dabir-Pinta The twenty-ninth after twelve hours travel we came to lye at Holcora The thirtieth we travel'd eight leagues and came to spend our night at Peridera The first of October after we had travel'd ten leagues we came to lye at Atenara This is a House of Pleasure which the present King's Mother caus'd to be built There are many Chambers in a great Piazza belonging to it for the convenience of Travellers You must take notice that in all the Countries where we travel'd as well in the Kingdom of Carnatica as the Kingdoms of Golconda and Visapour there are no Physicians but such as attend Kings and Princes As for the common people after the Rains are fall'n and that it is time to gather Herbs you shall see every morning the good women of the Towns going into the Fields to gather such Simples which they know to be proper for such Diseases as reign in the Family T is very true that in great Cities there may be one or two men that have some common Receipts who go every morning and sit in some known places to give their Remedies to such as enquire for them whether they be Potions or Plasters First they feel their Pulses and then giving them some remedy for which they do not demand the value of six pence they also at the same time mutter certain words between their teeth The second of October we had but four leagues to travel before we came to Golconda We went immediately to the Lodging of a young Dutch Chirurgion belonging to the King whom the Sieur Cheteur Envoy from Batavia had left at Golconda upon the King 's earnest entreaty The King was always very much troubl'd with the head-ach for which reason the Physitians had order'd that he should be let blood in four places under the tongue but there was no person that would undertake to do it for the Natives of the Countrey understand nothing of Chirurgery Now before that Peter de Lan for that was the Dutch-Chirurgion's name was entertain'd in the King's service he was ask'd whether he could let blood To which he answer'd that there was nothing so easy in Chirurgery Some few days after the King sent for him and gave him to understand that he was resolv'd to be let blood the next day in four parts under the tongue as the Physitians had order'd but he should take a care of not drawing away above eight ounces De Lan returning the next day to Court was lead into a Chamber by three Eunuchs and four Old-women who carri'd him to a Bath and after they had undrest him and wash'd him especially his hands they anointed him with Aromatick-drugs and instead of his own European-Clothes they brought him a Robe according to the fashion of the Countrey After that they brought him before the King where he found four little Porringers of Gold which the Physitians who were present had weigh'd In short he let the King blood under the tongue in four parts and perform'd his business so well that when the blood came to be weigh'd it weigh'd but bare eight ounces The King was so satisfi'd with the Operation that he gave the Chirurgion three-hunder'd Pagods which comes to almost seven-hunder'd Crowns The Young-Queen and the Queen-Mother understanding what he had done were resolv'd to be let-blood too But I believe it was rather out of a curiosity to see the Chirurgion than out of any necessity which they had to be let-blood For he was a handsom young-man and perhaps they had never seen a stranger neer at hand for at a distance it is no improbable thing in regard the Women are shut up in such places where they may see but not be seen Upon this de Lan was carri'd into a Chamber where the same Old-women that had waited on him before he let the King blood stript up his arm and wash'd it but more especially his hands which when they were dry they rubb'd again with sweet-Oils as before That being done a Curtain was drawn and the Queen stretching out her arm through a hole was let-blood as was the Queen-Mother afterwards in the
at a great distance too which made them believe he was dead For they are oblig'd by Custom to shew themselves to the people three times in a week or in fifteen days at most Cha-Jehan had six Children four Sons and two Daughters The Name of the eldest was Dara-Cha the second was call'd Sultan Sujah the third Aureng-zeb and the fourth Morad-Bakche The eldest of his two Daughters was call'd Begum-Saheb and the name of the second was Rauchenara Begum Cha-jehan lov'd all his four Sons alike and had made them Governours or Vice-Roys of four of his principal Provinces or Kingdoms Dara-Cha who was the eldest stay'd with his Father in Dehly and had the Government of the Kingdom of Sandi into which he put a Deputy Sultan Sujah had for his share the Government of Bengala Aureng-zeb was Vice-Roy of the Kingdom of Decan and Morad-Bakche of the Kingdom of Guzerat But though Cha-jehan endeavour'd to give equal content to his four Sons their Ambition was not satisfi'd with this division but ruin'd all the good designs which so kind a Father had lay'd to preserve peace among his Children Cha-jehan being thus sick and retir'd into the Womens quarter without shewing himself for many days the report ran that he was dead and that Dara-Cha conceal'd his death to gain time to provide for himself and to secure the Empire True it is that the King believing he should dye commanded Dara-Cha to call together all the Omrahs or Lords and to seat himself upon the Throne which belong'd to him as the eldest of his Brothers He also testifi'd the desire he had to see him quietly setled in the peaceable possession of the Empire And this intention of his was look'd upon as the more just in regard the other three Brothers had been for some time observ'd to have less respect for their Father than Dara-Cha Dara-Cha who honour'd and respected the King with a real tenderness made answer to the King that he desir'd of Heaven nothing more than the preservation of his Majesties life and that so long as Heaven should continue that preservation he should take it to be a greater honour to continue himself a Subject than to ascend the Throne And indeed he was never absent from his Father that he might be the better able to serve him in his sickness and because he would be present upon all occasions he lay by his Fathers Bed-side upon a Tapestry spread upon the ground During the false report of the death of Cha-jehan his three other Sons immediately rebell'd every one laying claim to their Fathers Crown Morat-Bakche the youngest who had the Government of Guzerat sent away Forces immediately to besiege Surat the most considerable Port and most frequented of any other all over India The City made no resistance for the Walls are very weak and broken down in several places But they defended the Cittadel where the Treasure was very stoutly though the young Ambitious Prince did all he could to make himself Master of it Chabas-Kan one of his Eunuchs who was General of his Army an industrious and active person and who carri'd on the Siege with all the experience of an old Captain when he saw he could not carry the Castle by main force caus'd it to be undermin'd in two places by the assistance of an European Engineer which took effect so that upon the twenty-ninth of December 1659 he threw down a good part of the Walls and fill'd up the Moat which very much terrifi'd the besieg'd But they presently recover'd their courage and though they were but a small number they defended themselves for above forty days to the great dammage and slaughter of Morat-Bakche's Army Chabas-Kan provok'd at such a vigorous resistance sought for all the Wives and Children Parents and Kindred of the Canoneers that were within the Castle to place them at the head of his men when they made their approaches He also sent one of the Brothers of the Governor of the place to offer him advantageous conditions But the Governor being a very loyal person and uncertain of the Kings death rejected all his offers The Eunuch perceiving the Resolution of the Governour threaten'd the besieged to kill all their Wives and Children Parents and Kindred if they did not surrender the place the next day But neither did any of those considerations prevail till at length the breach being made wider and the number of defendants decreasing the Governor surrender'd upon honourable conditions which were punctually perform'd by Chabas-Kan who seiz'd upon all the Treasure and carried it to Amadabat where Morat-Bakche was busily employ'd in squeezing the people to get Money The news of the taking Surat being brought to this Prince he presently provided himself a Throne and sitting upon it on the day which was appointed for the Ceremony he caus'd himself to be declared King not only of Guzerat but of all the Dominions of Cha-jehan his Father At the same time he also coin'd Money and sent new Governors into all the Cities But his tottering Throne not being well fix'd fell soon to the Ground and the youngest of all the Brothers for having usurp'd a Scepter that no ways appertain'd to him was confin'd to a severe imprisonment Prince Dara-Cha fain would have reliev'd Surat but it was impossible For besides that he was busied in the assistance of his Father the King his second Brother Sultan-Sujah more powerful than Morat-Bakche found him far more work to do He was already advanc'd into the Kingdom of Lahor having absolutely reduc'd the Kingdom of Bengala All that Dara-Cha could do was to send Soliman Checour his eldest Son with an Army against Sultan Sujah The young Prince having defeated his Uncle and driven him back into Bengala the Frontiers whereof he secur'd with good Garrisons return'd to Dara-Cha his Father In the mean time Morat-Bakche acknowledg'd for King in the Kingdom of Guzerat bends all his Force and Counsels to make himself Emperor of the Indies to destroy his Brothers and to fix his Throne either in Agra or Jehanabat Whiles these things pass'd Aureng-zeb as ambitious but more crafty than his Brothers lets them alone to kindle the first Fires and conceals his own designs which afterwards appear'd so much to the damage of the rest At first he feign'd to lay no claim to the Empire but liv'd a private life like a Dervich or Religious Hermit And the better to act his part he declar'd to his younger Brother Morat-Bakche whom he saw to be so ambitious how willing he should be to assist him in his designs telling him that because he merited the Empire by his Valour he would aid him with his Money and his Forces to overthrow Dara-Cha who only stood in his way The young Prince blinded with the hopes of his good Fortune easily believ'd Aureng-zeb And so joining Forces together he advances towards Agra to make himself Master of that City Dara-Cha marches to meet them but the Battel was as imprudently manag'd
that was in it should be sent away to make room for his men For the Prince was afraid and not without reason if he should adventure into a Fortress where he was not absolute Master himself lest they should seize his person of which the King being apprehensive consented to his proposal not being able to do better at that time Thereupon the Garrison which belong'd to Cha-jehan was sent out of the Castle and another of Aureng-zeb's enter'd commanded by Sultan Mahomet the eldest of his Sons to whom he gave order to secure his Father's person When they were thus got in and his Father safe he delaid seeing his Father from day to day waiting as he gave ou t for excuse a kind opportunity for the enterview and pretending his Astrologers did not presently think it seasonable he retir'd into the Countrey to a House about two or three leagues from Agra which very much displeased the people who waited every day for the fortunate hour from which they expected a conclusion of their miseries by the Father and Son's discourse together But Aureng-zeb who was in no great hast to see his Father took up another resolution which was to seize upon all his Fathers treasure which Dara-Sha had not time to carry away He also shut up in the same Fortress Begum-Saheb his Sister to keep the King company by whom she was entirely belov'd and took into his own hands all the wealth she had got by her Father's liberality Cha-jehan enrag'd to see himself us'd in that manner by his own Son made an attempt to escape and kill'd some of the Guards that oppos'd him which caus'd Aureng-zeb more strictly to confine him In the mean time it was a wonderful thing to see that not one of the Servants of so great a King so much as offer'd to help him that all his Subjects should forsake him and turn their eyes upon the rising-Sun acknowledging only Aureng-zeb for King while they seem'd to have forgotten Cha-jehan though still alive Thus this great Monarch sadly ended his days in Prison and dy'd in the Fortress of Agra in the year 1666 the last time that I was in India During his Reign he had begun to build the City of Jehanabad though he had not quite finish'd it and therefore he desir'd to see it once more before he dy'd but Aureng-zeb would not give him leave unless he would be content to go and come back by water or else to be confin'd to the Castle of Jehanabad as he was at Agra which refusal of his Son did so torment him that it hasten'd his end Which as soon as Aureng-zeb heard of he came to Agra and seiz'd upon all the Jewels whick he had not taken from his Father while he liv'd Begum-Saheb had also a quantity of Jewels which he had not taken from her when he put her into the Castle But now because she had formerly taken her Father's part he found out a way to deprive her of them after a very plausible manner making a shew of bestowing very great Honours and Caresses upon his Sister and taking her along with him to Jehanabad But in a short time after we heard the news of her death which prov'd and all people suspected her to have been poison'd CHAP. IV. Of the Flight of Dara-cha to the Kingdoms of Scindi and Guzerat Of the second Battel which he fought against Aureng-zeb His being taken Prisoner and death DAra-cha having carri'd along with him the best part of the Gold and Silver which was in the Fortress of Agra by his Father's advice and being got into the Kingdom of Lahor was in good hopes to have rais'd an Army in a short time to have stopt the proceedings of his Brother His most faithful Servants and Friends had always accompani'd him in his misfortune And as for his Eldest Son Soliman Shekour he went with the Raja Roup into the Territories of that Raja's own demeans to levy men carrying along with him five-millions of Roupies which make of our Money seven-millions and 500000 Livres But that great Sum opening the Raja Roup's eyes he most treacherously and infamously seiz'd upon it whereupon Soliman Chekour fearing he should proceed farther and make some attempt upon his person fled in all hast into the Kingdom of Sireneguer under the protection of the Raja Nakti-Rani who more foully and basely deliver'd him up sometime after to Aureng-zeb Dara-cha having notice of the Raja Roup's treason and seeing all his friends had forsook him and were revolted to Aureng-zeb quitted Lahor and retir'd into the Kingdom of Scindi Before he left the Fortress he sent all the Gold Silver Jewels and Wealth that was in the Fort away by water to Baker a Fort in the midst of the River Indus To guard all that Wealth he lest an Eunuch and six-thousand men with all provisions necessary for a Siege after that he went to Scindi where he left several great pieces of Cannon Then he march'd through the Territories of the Raja of Kachnagana who made him mountainous promises to no effect then he came into the Kingdom of Guzerat where the people receiv'd him as their lawful King and Heir to Cha-jehan He sent his Orders to all the Cities and particularly to Surat where he appointed a Governor but the Governor of the Fortress who was left there by Morat-Bakche refus'd to submit to Dara-cha so that he was forc'd to let him alone In the mean time Dara-cha receiv'd news at Amadabat that Jessomseing one of the most potent Raja's in all India was fall'n off from Aureng-zeb The same Raja also solicits him to advance with his Army Dara-cha confiding in his words follow'd his counsel and march'd to Emir which was the place of Rendevouz appointed But Raja Jessomseing being regain'd by the perswasions of Raja Jesseing more potent than himself to favour Aureng-zeb never met according to his promise nor did he come till the last push and then only with a design to betray the poor Prince Thus the two Brothers meeting they came to a Battel which lasted three days but in the heat of all the Fight Jessomseing shewing an apparent treachery went over to Aureng-zeb upon which Dara-cha's Souldiers immediately fled Dara-cha having thus lost all his hopes and finding Fortune contrary to all his expectations fled away likewise with his Wives some of his Children and his most faithful Servants in an equipage that drew compassion But coming to Amadabat the Governor having declar'd for Aureng-zeb deni'd him entrance Thereupon he discamp'd in the middle of the night and took the road for Scindi He arriv'd at Scindi with an intention to pass into Persia where Cha-Abas the Second expected him with a magnificent Retinue and a resolution to have assisted him with Men and Money But not daring to trust himself by Sea as he pass'd through the Countrey of the Patanes in the way to Candahar he was unworthily betraid by one of the Lords of the Countrey call'd Gion-Kan who
they are reckon'd to be five or six for one Mahometan It seems a wonderful thing that such a prodigious multitude of men should be cow'd by a handful and bow so easily under the yoak of the Mahometan Princes But that wonder well may cease when we consider that those Idolaters are not in union among themselves for Superstition has introduc'd such a diversity of Opinions and Customs that they can never agree one with another An Idolater will not eat Bread nor drink Water in the House of any one that is not of his Caste though it be more noble and much more superior to his own Yet they all eat and drink in the Bramins Houses which are open to all the world A Caste among the Idolaters is very near the same thing which was anciently call'd a Tribe among the Jews And though it be vulgarly believ'd that there are seventy-two Castes yet I have been inform'd by some of their most ingenuous Priests that they may be all reduc'd into four principal ones from whence all the rest drew their Original The first Caste is that of the Brammins who are the Successors of the ancient Brachmans or Indian Philosophers that study'd Astrology You may also meet with some of their ancient Books in reading whereof the Brammins spend all their time and are so vers'd in their observations that they never fail a minute in the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon And to preserve this knowledg among themselves they have a kind of University in a City which is call'd Benarez where they make all their Exercises in Astrology and where they have Doctors that expound their Law which they very strictly observe But in regard they are so great a number and cannot all come to study at that University they are all very ignorant and consequently very superstitious those that go for the most refin'd Wits being the greatest Sorcerers The second Caste is that of the Raspoutes or Ketris that is to say Warriors and warlike people These are the only Idolatrous Indians that have any courage to signalize themselves in War All the Raja's that I have so oft'n mention'd are of this Caste. These are so many petty Kings whom their disunion has render'd Tributary to the Great Mogul But in regard that the greatest part of them are in his service they are highly recompenc'd by the large Salaries they receive for the small Tribute which they pay These Raja's and the Raspoutes their Subjects are the chiefest support of the Dominions of the Great Mogul for indeed the Raja's Jesseing and Jessomseing were those that lifted up Aureng-zeb to the Throne But you must take notice that all of this second Caste are not Warriors for they are the Raspoutes only that go to War and are all Horsemen But for the Ketris they are degenerated from their Ancestors and of Soldiers are become Merchants The third Caste is that of the Bannians who are altogether addicted to Trade of whom some are Sheraffs or Bankers others broakers employ'd between Merchant and Merchant for buying and selling Those of this Caste are so subtil and nimble in Trade that as I have said before the Jews may be their Prentices They accustom their Children betimes to fly idleness And instead of suffering them to lose their time in playing in the streets as we generally do they teach them Arithmetick which they are so perfect at that without making use either of Pen and Ink or Counters but only of their memories they will in a moment cast up the most difficult account that can be imagin'd They always live with their Fathers who instruct them in Trade and do nothing but what they shew them If any man in the heat of passion chafe at 'em they hear him patiently without making any reply and parting coldly from him will not see him again in three or four days when they think his passion may be over They never eat any thing that has life nay they would rather dye than kill the smallest Animal or Vermin that crawls being in that point above all things the most zealous Observers of the Law They never fight nor go to War neither will they eat or drink in the House of a Raspoute because they kill the Victuals they eat all but Cows which they never touch The fourth Caste is that of the Charados or Soudras who go to War as well as the Raspoutes but with this difference that the Raspoutes serve on Horseback and the Charados on Foot Both of them take it for an Honour to dye in Battel and let him be Horse or Foot that Soldier is accounted infamous that retreats in Fight 't is an eternal blot in his Family Upon which subject I will tell you a story A Soldier who was passionately in love with his Wife and reciprocally belov'd by her had fled from the fight not so much out of any fear of death as out of a consideration of the grief which it would occasion to his Wife should he leave her a Widow When she knew the reason of his flight as soon as he came to the door she shut it against him and order'd him to be told that she could never acknowledge that man for a Husband who had preferr'd the Love of a Woman before his Honour that she did not desire to see him any more as being a stain to the Reputation of her Family and that she would endeavour to teach her Children to have more courage than their Father The Wife continuing firm to her resolution the Husband to regain his Honour and her affection return'd to the Army where he so behav'd himself that he became famous and having highly made amends for his Cowardise the door of his House was again set open and his Wife receiv'd him with her former kindness The rest of the Natives that are not reckon'd in the number of these Castes are call'd Pauzecour These are such as employ themselves in Handicraft Trades among which there is no other distinction but according to the Trades which they follow from Father to Son So that a Taylor cannot prefer his Son but only in his own Calling though he be never so rich nor marry either Son or Daughter but to one of his own Craft By the same rule when a Taylor dies all those of his own Trade accompany the Corps to the place where it is burnt and the same practise is observ'd in all other Trades Among the particular Castes there is one that goes by the name of Alecors whose employment is only to clean Houses for which every Family pays him something once a month according to their proportion and quality If a person of quality in the Indies keeps fifty Servants let him be Mahometan or Idolater there is not one of them will take a Besome in his hand to sweep the House for he would think himself affronted it being one of the greatest scorns you can put upon an Indian to call him Alacor Besides every one of those
wherein are abundance of Circles and Semicircles Squares Triangles and several sorts of Cifers They also make several Figures upon the ground and when they find that the good hour is come they cry aloud to the people to feed the fish Then there ensues a most horrible din of Drums Bells and great noise of sounding Mettal which they twang one against another And as soon as the victuals are thrown into the River the people are to go in and wash and rub themselves till the Eclipse be over So that in regard the waters were at that time very high for more than three Leagues above and below the City and all the breadth of the River there was nothing to be seen but the heads of the people As for the Bramins they stay ashore to receive the richer sort and those that give most to dry their bodies and to give them dry Linnen to their bellies Afterwards they cause them to sit down in a Chair where the most liberal of the Idolaters have provided Rice Pulse Milk Butter Sugar Meal and Wood. Before the Chair the Bramin makes a place very clean about five foot square then with Cow-dung steep'd in a kind of yellow Bason he rubs all the place for fear any Emet should come there to be burnt For indeed they would never make use of Wood if they could help it and when they do they are very careful that there be no Worms or Insects in it In the place which they have thus cleans'd they draw several Figures as Triangles Ovals Half-Ovals c. Then upon every Figure they lay a little Cows-dung with two or three small sticks of Wood upon every one of which they lay a several sort of Grain after that pouring Butter and setting fire to each by the smoak which rises they judg of the plenty of every sort of Grain that year When the Moon is at the full in March they keep a solemn Festival for their Idol which is in form of a Serpent This Festival continues nine days and when it comes they do nothing but make Holiday all the while as well men as beasts which they beautifie by making Circles about their eyes with Vermillion with which they also colour the Horns and if they have a particular kindness for the beast they hang them with Leaves of guilded Tin Every morning they worship the Idol and the Maids dance about it for an hour to the noise of Fluits and Drums after which they eat and drink and are merry till the evening and then they worship and dance about their Idol again Though the Idolaters never drink any strong drink at other times yet at this Festival they drink Palm-wine and strong water which is made of the same in remote Villages for else their Mahometan Governour would not suffer them to make Wine nor to sell any which might be brought out of Persia. Their strong Water is thus made They take a great Earthen pot well glaz'd within which they call Martavane into one of these Vessels that holds three hundred Paris pints of Palma-wine they put in fifty or sixty pound of brown Sugar unrefin'd which looks like yellow Wax with about twenty pound of a great thick bark of a Thorn not much unlike that which our Leather-dressers use This bark sets the Palma-wine a bubling and working just like our new wines for five or six days together till it becomes of a sweet Liquor as sowre as our Crabs Then they distill it and according to the taste they would give they either put into a Cauldron full a little Bag of Mace or three or four handfuls of Annise-seed They can make it also as strong as they please Being at Agra in the year 1642 an Idolater whose name was Woldas Broaker to the Hollanders about seventy years of age receiving news that the chief Bramin of the Pagod of Matura was dead went to the Hollander and desir'd him to even all accounts for said he the chief Priest being dead it behoves me to dye that I may serve him in the other world Thereupon having ended his accounts he took his Coach with some of his Kindred but having neither eaten nor drank from the time he receiv'd the news he dy'd by the way having famish'd himself for grief The Indian Idolaters have a custom that when any person gives a thing they snap their fingers crying out Gi-Narami remember Narami who was a great Saint among them for fear the Evil Spirit should enter into the body of him that gives Being at Surat in the year 1653 a Raspoute being demanded Custom for three or four pieces of Calicut boldly ask'd the Governour whether a Souldier that had serv'd the King all his life-time ought to pay Custom for two or three pitiful pieces of Calicut not worth four or five Roupies telling him it was only to cloath his Wife and Children The Governour netl'd at his sawciness call'd him Bethico or Son of a Whore adding that if he were Prince he would make him pay his Customs Whereupon the Souldier incens'd at the affront making as if he felt for Money to pay his dues bearing up to the Governor stab'd him in the belly so that he dy'd immediately But the Souldier was presently cut in pieces by the Governors Servants Though the Idolaters are in utter darkness as to the knowledg of the true God however the Law of Nature teaches them Morality in many things When they are married they are seldom false to their Wives Adultery is very rare among them And as for Sodomy I never heard it mention'd They marry their Children between seven and eight years old for fear they should fall into that vice the Ceremonies whereof are these The day before the Nuptials the Bridegroom accompany'd by all his Kindred goes to the House where the Bride lives with a great pair of Bracelets two fingers thick hollow within and in two pieces with a hinge in the middle to open them According to the quality of the Bride those Bracelets are of more or less value sometimes of Gold sometimes of Silver Tin or Latten the poorest sort of all making use of Lead The next day there is a great Feast at the Bridegrooms House whether all the Kindred on both sides are invited and about three a Clock in the afternoon the Bride is brought thither Then the chief of the Bramins that are there of which there are always several laying the head of the Bride to the Bridegrooms pronounces several words sprinkling their heads and bodies all the while with water Then they bring him upon Plates or Fig-leaves several sorts of Meats Calicuts and Stuffs and then the Bramin asks the Bridegroom whether so long as God shall make him able he will let his Wife share with him and whether he will endeavour to maintain her by his labour If he says yes they all set themselves down to the Feast prepar'd for them where every one eats by himself If the Bride be rich
all three through the Kingdom of Arakan which lies to the South and West of Tipra having some part of Pegu upon the Winter West They told me also that it was about fifteen days journey to cross through their Country from whence there is no certain conjecture of the extent to be made by reason of the inequality of the stages They ride upon Oxen and Horses which are low but very hardy As for the King and the Nobility they ride in their Pallekies or upon their Elephants of War They are no less subject to Wens under their throats than those of Boutan insomuch that the women have those Wens hanging down to their Nipples which proceeds from the badness of the waters There is nothing in Tipra which is fit for strangers There is a Mine of Gold but the Gold is very course And there is a sort of very course Silk which is all the Revenue the King has He exacts no Subsidies from his Subjects but only that they who are not of the prime Nobility should work six days in a year in his Mine or in his Silk-works He sends his Gold and his Silk into China for which they bring him back Silver which he coins into pieces to the value of ten Sous He also makes thin pieces of Gold like the Aspers of Turky of which he has two sorts four of the one sort making a Crown and twelve of the other CHAP. XVII Of the Kingdom of Asem IT was never known what the Kingdom of Asem was till Mirgimola had setl'd Aureng-zeb in the Empire For he considering that he should be no longer valu'd at Court after the war was at an end being then General of Anreng-zeb's Army and powerful in the Kingdom where he had great store of Creatures to preserve the Authority he had resolv'd to undertake the Conquest of the Kingdom of Asem where he knew he should find little or no resistance that Kingdom having been at peace above 500 years before 'T is thought these were the people that formerly invented Guns and Powder which spead it self from Asem to Pegu and from Pegu to China from whence the invention has been attributed to the Chineses However certain it is that Mirgimola brought from thence several pieces of Canon which were all Iron Guns and store of excellent Powder both made in that Countrey The Powder is round and small like ours and very strong Mirgimola embark'd his Army in one of the mouths of Ganges and sailing up one of the Rivers that comes from the Lake Chiamay to the twenty-ninth or thirtieth Degree he landed his Army and came into a Country abounding in all humane necessaries still finding the less resistance because the people were surpriz'd Being a Mahumetan he spar'd not the very Pagods but burn'd and sack'd all where-ever he came to the thirty-fifth Degree There he understood that the King of Asem was in the field with a more powerful Army than he expected and that he had several pieces of Canon and great store of fire-works withall Thereupon Mirgimola thought it not convenient to march any farther though the chief reason of his return was the drawing on of Winter which the Indians are so sensible of that it is impossible to make them stir beyond the thirti'th or thirty-fifth Degree especially to hazard their lives Mirgimola therefore turns to the South-west and besieges a City call'd Azoo which he took in a small time and found good plunder therein In this City of Azoo are the Tombs of the Kings of Asem and of all the Royal Family For though they are Idolaters they never burn their dead bodies but bury them They believe that the dead go into another world where they that have liv'd well in this have plenty of all things but that they who have been ill livers suffer the want of all things being in a more especial manner afflicted with hunger and drowth and that therefore it is good to bury something with them to serve them in their necessities This was the reason that Mirgimola found so much wealth in the City of Azoo For many ages together several Kings had built them Chappels in the great Pagod to be buried in and in their life times had stor'd up in the Vaults of their particular Chappels great sums of Gold and Silver and other moveables of value Besides that when they bury the deceas'd King they bury with him likewise whatever he esteem'd most pretious in his life-time whether it were an Idol of Gold or Silver or whatever else that being needful in this might be necessary for him in the world to come But that which favours most of Barbarism is that when he dies all his best beloved Wives and the principal Officers of his House poyson themselves to be buri'd with him and to wait upon him in the other world Besides this they bury one Elephant twelve Camels six Horses and a good number of Hounds believing that all those Creatures rise again to serve their King The Kingdom of Asem is one of the best Countries of all Asia for it produces all things necessary for humane subsistence without any need of foreign supply There are in it Mines of Gold Silver Steel Lead Iron and great store of Silk but course There is a sort of Silk that is found under the the Trees which is spun by a Creature like to our Silk-worms but rounder and which lives all the year long under the trees The Silks which are made of this Silk glist'n very much but they fret presently The Country produces also great store of Gum-Lake of which there is two sorts one grows under the trees of a red colour wherewith they paint their Linnen and Stuffs and when they have drawn out the red juice the remaining substance serves to varnish Cabinets and to make Wax being the best Lake in Asia for those uses As for their Gold they never suffer it to be transported out of the Kingdom nor do they make any Money of it but they preserve it all in Ingots which pass in trade among the Inhabitants but as for the Silver the King coins it into Money as is already describ'd Though the Country be very plentiful of all things yet there is no flesh which they esteem so much as Dogs flesh which is the greatest delicacy at all Feasts and is sold every month in every City of the Kingdom upon their Market-days There are also great store of Vines and very good Grapes but they never make any Wine only they dry the Grapes to make Aqua Vitae As for Salt they have none but what is artificial which they make two ways First they raise great heaps of that green Stuff that swims at the top of standing waters which the Ducks and Frogs eat This they dry and burn and the ashes thereof being boil'd in a Cloth in water become very good Salt The other way most in use is to take the leaves of Adams Fig-tree which they dry and burn the ashes
the first it dismisses which empties it self into the Caspian-Sea having run a course of near 400 miles and received several other Branches from the foresaid River about 7 Leagues East off the main River He had newly began this City at the return of Rubriquis from his Embassage unto Mangu Chan in the year 1246 and called it Serai Which City was enlarged and beautified by all his Successors unto the time of its destruction by Tamerlane which was almost 150 years Bathy was succeeded by Barcah who was the first professed Mahumetan Emperour he by Hocola or Hoctay Contemporary with Hayton the Armenian who hath in his History largely discoursed concerning him I should here mention all the other Emperours interceeding between Hocota and Tucktamisch who was dispossessed by Tamerlane together with their Acts but that I hasten unto that which most immediately concerns our present Design and give some account of this City which as I said was first named Serai which interpreted signifies only a Dwelling or Habitation the beginning of it being a Palace built for Bathy You may see what our Traveller says concerning it Page 112. Besides him I find two Authors who make particular mention thereof the first is in the History of Arabshiade published by Golius This Author represents it as one of the greatest and most populous Cities in the Universe agrees with our Traveller in the situation only he calls that Branch which runs out of the Volga and passes to the South-East Sencle The other is Michovius who wrote his History of the Tartars in the year 1515. He afaffirms That in his time there remained the ruines of 300 Temples besides the Walls of the City and several other Magnificent Structures The Tartars have several times attempted to re-edifie ' it but divisions amongst themselves Wars with the Muscovites and attempts of the Cossacks caused them to retire unto places of greater security But because little mention is made of this great Revolution by any European Writer I shall here present the Reader with an account thereof out of the most Authentick Turkish Arabian and Persian Writers For Calcondilas is greatly mistaken who seems to have received by his confident way of writing most particular information when as nothing can be more remote from the truth than what he affirms viz That Tamerlane after several attempts and two or three Battels was forced to retire and glad to secure his Retreat by a Peace he first made with Tuckthamisch which was by both afterwards kept inviolably which is contrary to the Reports of much more Authentick Historians The Origin Progress and Event of this War was after the ensuing manner Tamerlane being in effect Prince but in name only Courachan the Greeks call it Kurgan that is Viceroy or General over all those Countries which are comprehended between the Oxus and Juxartes wherein Bochara Samarchand and several other famous Cities were contained extended his Conquests towards Balch and Chorasan the Aria of the Antients which progress of his filled Thuetamisch Emperour of Serai the City we have before mentioned with jealousies of his growing Greatness whereupon gathering a numerous Army he resolved to invade him using no formality or so much as pretence he thought to have surprized his Enemy but Tamerlane one of whose Master-pieces was to gain early Intelligence of whatsoever was designed or transacted by neighbouring Princes having timely notice of his intention gathering all his own Forces together with considerable assistance from his Confederates marched directly towards his Enemy and passing the Jaxartes met him to his no small astonishment on the Borders of his own Countrey for the Jaxartes only divided their Territories After a most obstinate bloody fight Tamerlane gained the Victory yet neither absolute nor without great loss but it was sufficient that he had secured his own Dominion After this Success he did for divers years attend other Conquests and having subdued a great part of India all Persia Media Armenia Assyria Mesopotamia Babylonia and Syria he resolved to requite the Invasion of Thuctamish whereupon having drawn together an Army of 500000 men he marched through Media Atropatia then and still called Shervan passed the Portae Caucasiae which the Persians name Derbent thence through Dabestan and the great Desart between that and Astracan then named Gitturchan and having wasted all that spacious Countrey on the West-side of the Volga depopulated and dismantled divers fair Cities the ruines of several being yet visible to those who Navigate the Volga as we are informed by Olearius he passed the Volga and on the East-side encountred Thuctamisch who had collected a mighty Force having besides his own Hords the assistance of the Tartars of Cassan Tumen Kalmuke and Dabestan and his Army by this accession was more numerous than that of his Enemy The Battel was long doubtful and exceeding all that happened in that Age for carnage and cruelty both Parties being full of hatred unto their Adversaries and knowing that this Fight would lose or gain them a mighty Empire They fought three days with little intermission and it could not be discerned which had the advantage But that which is thought chiefly to have occasioned Tamerlane's Victory was the departure of a great Tribe from Thuctamisch whose Prince Ectave pretended he had received some great injury or affront but 't was indeed thought he was corrupted For retreating unto Amurath the Turkish Emperour he after the same manner betrayed Bajazet who soon after succeeded revolting at the beginning of the fight unto Tamerlane Thuctamisch being defeated with great difficulty made his escape leaving his Countrey exposed unto the sury of the Zagataians whom so great a slaughter of their own Friends had highly exasperated They spared nothing that was capable of being spoiled demolished Serai together with Seraichick upon the Jaick and Gitturchan which were the only considerable Cities on the East-side of the Volga and leaving the Countrey a meer Desart killing or captivating the Inhabitants driving away the Cattle they returned into Persia with great Booty This happened in the 791 year of the Hegira A. C. 1388. Serai and Saraichick never regained their former splendour but Giturcan now Astracan did by degrees recover but never arrived to that heighth it attained unto during the Empire of the Chazari and Zavolgensian Tartars For Josaphat Barbaro and Ambrosio Contarini who were both Ambassadors from the Venetians unto Usun Cassan Emperour of Persia and well acquainted with those Parts Barbaro living sixteen years at the City Tana on the mouth of the River Tanais and Contarini being forced in his return from Persia to reside there some months They I say both tell us That this City before its destruction by Tamerlane was a very famous Emporium all the Silks most of the Spices and other Commodities which were afterwards brought down to Syria were then carried by Shipping to Astracan which they both name Citrachan and thence by Land in a few days to Tana whether the Venetians sent
of his Countrey by his General Chan Timur Myrsa retired unto the Cossacks upon the Nepper and having contracted a Friendship with them and the bordering Russes by their assistance he gathered an Army of 40000 Men and marched towards Crim leaving behind him a revolted Ottoman with a Brigade of 3 or 4000 Men who immediately after the departure of Sultan Shaugary marched directly towards Aslamgorod and early in a Morning surprized the Castle then in the possession of the Turks put every Man in Garrison to the Sword slighted the Walls and other Fortifications retired with the Spoyl and marched to joyn Sultan Shaugary who in the interim arrived near Precop where he was met by Chan Timur and totally defeated but by good fortune escaped and by the way of Astracan got to Persia. From the Nepper we will pass unto Crim with which Countrey I am well acquainted having against my will resided there some years Crim is a small Land so near as I can conjecture 200 miles long and 50 miles broad but is wonderfully populous and exceedingly fruitful abounding with Corn and Grass the only scarcity they have is Wood which grows no where but upon the Sea-Coast from Bakessey Seray unto the Town of Crim which in former times was the chief City All the rest of the Land is a Plain where they have no Wood to burn nor any sort of Fewel but Fissheke Fusshane Curay and Stroa The Land is inclosed with the Sea excepting at two places Precop and Arbotka By Precop there is a narrow passage through which you may go to the Nepper Lithuania or Muscovy through the Desarts of Ingul and Ungul and there is a Water comes from the Teine Sea called the shallow Water and goeth along the Desart until it comes to Precop upon West-side of Crim and by North where it turns back on the North-side of Crim is almost surrounded with Water for the Black Sea is on the one side and the Ratten Sea on the other which latter produces nothing but Salt for it is so salt that no Fish can live therein I have reason to know it because I lived in a Village which was called Seekely Otta Mamutachy The Towns round about Crim on the Sea-side are these Precop Cuslowa Crim Caffa Kerse and Arbotka and within the Land Carasu Ackenesh Messheite and Bakessy Seray The Town of Arbotka lieth on the North-East side of Crim between the Black and Ratten Seas which there come so near together that there is no more Land between them than that whereon the Town of Arbotka stands and without Arbotka is a great Field 50 miles long inclosed with Water where the Tartars in Winter do keep their Hergels or Horses which Field goeth to the shallow Waters where I ran away from the Tartars I shall here take my leave of Crim and pass unto the Little Nagoy to Asshowa on the River Don which runs down from Bealla Ossharra through the Country of Russia between Russia and Lithuania until it comes to Peilesboy not far from the Wolga for from Peilesboy to the River Camusshanka is not above 20 miles all level which is called Perewolog where the Cossacks do draw their Strukes or Boats upon Wheels to the River of Camusshanka by which they pass into the Volga whereupon this Place is called Perewolog The Don runs down between the Little Nagoy and the Desarts of Ingel and Ungule so to Asshowa right under the Town and there falls into the Tein Sea This River is full of Fish especially Sturgeons well inhabited by Cossacks for there are seldom less than 10000 upon it besides those that go on Freebooting There are also 16 Gorodkees or strong Skonces well manned and with store of great Guns they being in continual fear of the Turks and Tartars and sometimes also of the Muscovites The Little Nagoy lies between the Tein and Caspian Seas the former on the West the latter on the East Shercassen to South and the Volga on the North and there is never a Town in all this Countrey excepting Asshowa It is inhabited by Tartars who go altogether in Hords their Prince in my Time was Cassay Myrsa whom the Tartars call also Sultan Ulugh or the Great Prince They sowe no Corn but Pross which they sowe upon the Sea-side up unto Asshowa and after sowing they depart with their Hords and graze up and down the Desarts to the Don to Capbane Shurpoha Yedecul Comma and Curray to Masshargorodoke and to Shercassen Land under the Rivers Terigke and Balke and almost to Pettigor and by the River of Cupba and back again unto the Black Sea Thus they ramble all the Summer until their Harvest be ripe and their Pross gathered and put into Yams under ground after which they settle from Asshowa all along the Sea-side amongst the Reeds and leave their Horses to winter in the Desarts So I shall leave the Little Nagoy and pass unto Temerassa in Shercassen Land which is 500 miles from Asshowa Now in all Circassia are but two Towns Temerossa on the Black Sea upon the Gulf that goeth from the Black Sea into the Tein Sea right over against Arbotka The other is Tumein upon the Caspian Sea the distance between them being 1100 miles and all the rest of the inhabited Places are only Cubbacks made in the Woods piled round with Timber Their Houses are very high in the midst whereof they make the Fire Their Men are proper Men very like the Irish both for person and garb for they go in Trowses with short Mantles wear long Hair on both sides of their Heads with a shorn Crown between Their Women are very beautiful and loving to Strangers for if a Stranger come unto their Houses their young Women and Maidens will look Lice in their Shirts and all about them the most private parts not excepted and will allow them the liberty to examine and handle all parts of their Bodies besides their Breasts The Circassians are excellent Horsemen and very couragious but withal exceedingly ignorant and superstitious for when they kill a Goat or Kid they cut off the privy parts and cast it against a Wall if it stick they pray to it if otherwise they cast it away and spread the Skin upon Stakes place it in their Corn-fields and worship it They have no Writing among them yet pretend to be good Christians Do strangely bewail the Dead making great Cryes scratch their Hands and Faces until they draw much Blood knock their Foreheads against the ground until Knobs arise bigger than Plums The Men are notorious Thieves stealing from each other and he that steals most is accounted the bravest Fellow Their Countrey is very fruitful abounding with most sorts of Grain and they have store of excellent Grass They have also much Fruit growing wild many sorts of Beasts as Harts Hinds Kine Eissubrass Hogs and great Adders The considerable Rivers which I know are Cubba which runs from Pettigor between Shercassen Land and the Little Nagoy betwixt
Termerossa and Asshowa 20 miles from Temerossa it falls into the Jein Sea and hath a Course of 500 miles The next is the River of Balke which comes out from Cabardy and falls into the River of Terigke 200 miles from its Source which River of Terigke descends from the Mountains between Shollohofe Knasse and Mundarawa Knasse runs through the Countrey almost due East passes by Goracho Colloda thence to the Shussa and the Shunsa so on to the Weistra and 6 miles from Tumein between Tumein and the Commocks Countrey it falls into the Caspian Sea having a Course of 600 miles There is another River called Tumenka which is a branch of Terigke runs through Tumeine Town and 3 miles beyond it enters the Caspian Sea There is also another River which they call Keeslar which falls out of Terigke and 60 miles from Tumeine is received by the Caspian Sea Having formerly mentioned Pettigor I shall give you some Account thereof Pettigor being interpreted is in English 5 Hills They are five very great and high Mountains distant about 500 miles from the Black Sea and 700 from the Caspian beyond Cabardy I came thus to know them In the year 1618. I was sent with Shiedake Myrsa from Astracan to the Little Nagoy to seize upon Orrake Myrsa who being informed of our coming fled up to Pettigor yet he made not such hast but we overtook him and having fought overcame him and took away his Hords by which means I became acquainted with Pettigor Nevertheless there are higher Hills than Pettigor as Sneesnagore in Cabardy which is incredibly high which is in English the Hill of Snow for upon that and Shadgore which signifies a wonderful high Hill and overtops the former and so along for 100 miles from Cabardy to Shollohofe prodigious quantities of Snow are lodged which it's thought were never dissolved since the Creation I asked a Circassian Whether ever any Man arrived at the top of Shadgore which to me seemed much elevated above the rest who answered me They had a Tradition among them that formerly a Bohatteere whose Name was Hroda attempted to climb it and after two or three days hard labour arrived not unto the middle but after a few days being better accommodated he returned with a resolution if it were possible to see the top but was never afterwards heard of and added That it was to that day customary for the neighbouring Circasstans at a certain season of the year with divers Ceremonies and great Lamentations to bewail his loss The next Countrey to Sheercassen Land is Abassa which is situated between Circassia and Mingrellia and the Inhabitants are a kind of Circassians Mingrellia is under the Dominion of the Turks and lies on the Black Sea Of these two Countreys I have no great knowledge having only coasted them three or four times in Boats when I was among the Cossacks where also we landed divers times taking store of Kine and Sheep but no Prisoners because they affirmed themselves to be Christians They are a proper handsome People but very poor and notorious Thieves for they steal not only Goods but even Women and Children from each other and sell them unto the Turks and Tartars chiefly for Salt which is there very scarce Next unto Mingrellia is Georgia whose Inhabitants are little better than the former only they have a kind of Scripture for they worship Idols or Images yet have Cloisters and a sort of Monks with some Priests of the Greek Belief I once landed in Georgia with an Army of 5000 Men we marched up into the Countrey until we came within a days journey of Deimur Capou or the Iron Gate which is a narrow passage between Georgia and Anatolia with Rocks on each side and a strong Town built in the midst We stayed ten days ravaging the Countrey they told us this Town and Castle belonged to the King of Persia and there is no other passage out of Georgia into Persia but through it The next Countrey unto Georgia is Anatolia where our Traveller resided several years having been sold by the Precopensian Tartars unto a Turkish Spahi or Timariot of which Countrey and the Manners of the Inhabitants he gives a large Description But we being sufficiently informed thereof by divers intelligent Europeans who dwelt long in those Parts shall with our Traveller pass on to those Countreys which are less known But first we will take his Account of the Periplus of the Euxine or Black Sea From Fennara which is at the head of the Strait or Gulf that enters the Black Sea to Precop is 700 miles from thence to Caffa a noted City and Port in Crim 300 miles to Asshowa 500 miles to Temerossa 500 miles to Mingrellia 400 miles to Trebezond 400 miles and from thence unto Constantinople 1000 miles in all 3800 miles Thus much I know of the Black Sea which I have three times coasted by Sea and traced above half by Land so that now it is time to speak concerning the Caspian Sea and shew all the Kingdoms and Countreys which lie upon it beginning at Astracan and proceeding thence Eastwards until I return unto the same City from the South Astracan is placed on a rising ground not far from the mouth of the Volga from which it is not distant above 50 miles it is in an Island on the Great Nagoy side made by the River Volga and a branch thereof having the Caspian Sea on the South The Town or City is secured by a strong Castle furnished with store of great Ordnance and in the midst of the Castle is a Roskade which commands both Castle Town and the Fields round about for above a mile The Tartar's Town is adjoyning placed near unto Cutuma which is a River naturally derived from the Volga or one of its many branches so that the Town is incompassed with Waters having the main body of the Volga on the West and Cutuma on the East Now if you would know whence the Volga comes I will acquaint you with what I have learned from the Muscovites It s utmost Source is said to be at the foot of a great Tree whence it runs unto Jerislave 1000 miles whence it proceeds to Neisna 500 miles and thence unto Cassan 300 miles from Cassan to Samara 500 to Saratoft 350 miles to Saraichena 350 and thence unto Astracan 500 miles from whence it is as we said before unto the Caspian Sea 50 miles in all 3550 miles The Volga is a wonderful great River abounding with divers sorts of great Fish as Sturgeon Bellouke Severuke Shelren Sterleke Som Sassan Suke Soudake Konnee Sablee Lessee Wobla Tarane and many others both great and small which I cannot readily call unto remembrance notwithstanding that I dwelt there ten years The Volga enters the Caspian Sea by 22 mouths and upon each of them is an Oughsuke or Fish-wear for to take Sturgeon every one of which Oughsukes is called by the name of the Water as Soellova Dertullee Bosserigee and
Ruslowa upon the main Wolga Cokelou Beerullee Ewansuke Mansor Argeessan Keessan Camusshuke Naowara Tussockly Collobery Malla Collobery Yamansuke Eirichsha Surka Libessha Bussan Carabussan Bealla Wolloskee In all which Oughsukes or Wears they take no Fish besides Sturgeon They are made of Shigenas or long Poles made sharp at one end and beaten into the ground under Water and a pleiting made of Rods somewhat resembling Osier after the manner of our Matts which are fastned to the Poles and hinder the Fish from passing up the River And Houses are built near the Wears for the Convenience of the Fishers 40 50 more or less according unto the greatness of the Water or resort of Fish and twice every day usually in the morning and evening they set about their Fishery They imploy only long slender Poles with an iron Hook or Cruke in the end baited and do ordinarily take 400 every day in the smaller and 600 in the larger Streams The Sturgeon they take is all salted excepting that wherewith they serve the Town of Astracan where a whole fair Sturgeon may be bought for ten pence English and when the great Caravan comes from Russia it takes off most of their Fish which is conveyed into divers parts of Muscovy but chiefly unto the great City of Mosco They return also with great quantities of Caviar and Salt there being not far from the Volga on the Little Nagoy side great Salt-pits which yield an immense quantity of Salt prepared yearly by the heat of the Sun without any further trouble than taking it off the superficies of the Water where it daily kerns The Volga a little above Seraichena 500 miles from Astrachan dismisses a great Branch named Actabon which passing through the Desarts of the Great Nagoy through Bussane enters the Caspian Sea The remainder of the Volga after having parted with several smaller Branches most of which joyn with the forementioned River divides the Little and Great Nagoy passes under the Town of Astrachan whence it proceeds unto Ruslowa on the South-west side of Crosna Boggar then falls into the Caspian And the distance between the East-side of the Volga near Astrachan and the River Actabon is about 20 miles which is mostly Water and Islands And that the Course of the Volga from its first Source until it doth dis-embogue it self into the Caspian Sea can be no less than what we have asserted is hence confirmed That the Snow which falls abundantly in Russia and begins to be dissolved about the latter end of April and do mightily increase the Waters of the Volga come not unto Astrachan until Midsummer when it so raises the Volga that overflowing the Banks it covers with his Waters all the Islands near Astrachan so that from the Little Nagoy unto Actabon in the Great Nagoy all the Countrey seems excepting a Hillock or two one continued Lake or a great Gulf of the Sea Wherefore they who go in the Spring from Astrachan to fetch Wood having cut it make great Floats which are lifted up when the River overflows and guided each by a few Men until they are brought unto Astrachan or those other places for which they are designed The most remarkable Towns and Habitations upon the Volga between Seraichena and Astrachan which are 500 miles distant from each other are Camena Rokegowa Osshenofka Chornoyar Borisse Offatalka Poollowoy Collmakof Satone Cossoyar Crosnoyar Nassonoyar Satone Yanatavy Daneelofka Perre Ousshake Eillansuke Eiskyborro Crukla Bussan Balsheeke Tollotonygorod Dolgoa Goradocha which was old Astrachan Sharina Bogor which is near Astrachan besides many other Places with whose Names I have not charged my memory We will now pass over the Volga through Astrachan into the Great Nagoy The Great Nagoy may be properly enough divided into Islands and Continent the former are made by the Volga and several Rivers which fall out of it variously mix'd with each other and are all at length emptied into the Caspian Sea Those Rivers or Branches have their several Names those which I remember are Cuttoma Boulda Malla Guellusa Creewantya Busane Actabon and Bereket The Kingdom of the Great Nagoy is all plain and desart 1200 miles in length between Astrachan and Samara 500 miles in breadth from the said Astrachan unto the River of the Yeike or Jaick There is no Wood in all this Countrey except what grows near the Rivers It hath no Towns or fix'd Habitations though it had formerly divers and some among them very considerable as Czarofsgorod or Czarofs Pollate in English the Emperor's Town which formerly must needs have been as its Name imports an Imperial or Capital City I have often viewed it with admiration and cannot compute it to have been less than 20 miles in Circuit I have told fourscore great eminent Buildings which must have been either Moschees Pallaces or Caravanseraies and some of them 6 miles distant from the other The Muscovites are of divers Opinions concerning its Destruction Some say it was ruined by the Cossacks but the Cossacks who are ready enough to brag of their Atchievements know nothing thereof only that they have often dispossessed the Russes when they endeavoured to rebuild part of it For indeed the Situation is very excellent having the Volga on one side the Actabon on the other The Countrey very beautiful healthful and fertile and yet notwithstanding all these encouragements it is not yet inhabited not by the Russes because it standing on the main Land they would be continually exposed unto the Inroads of the Tartars nor by the Tartars because its nearness unto the Rivers would render them obnoxious to the Russes every time the great Caravan passes that way which is at least twice each year Yet the Muscovites do frequently fetch Brick and Stones from this ruined City wherewith they have built a great part of Astrachan and the neighbouring Forts or Towns where such solid Materials are imployed But besides this Serai for so the Tartars call any fix'd Habitation there were in ancient times five or six more down along the Rivers side in each of which formerly dwelt a Chan but Time and Wars have almost entirely ruined them There is also another Serai upon the River Jaick named Seraichika where is said formerly to have been the Residence of a great Myrsa or Chan but 't is now quite ruinated The Tartars who inhabit the Great Nagoy both Men and Women are very proper at least of much taller Stature than many other Tartars but have ill-favoured Countenances broad Faces flat little Noses small Eyes sunk in their Heads all which are common to most of the Eastern Tartars But the Tartars of Crim are more comely which I suppose may partly proceed from their Wives who are many of them Captive Circassians Russes Poles Hungars and of divers other Nations The Nagoy Tartars are also Black or rather Tawny which I Conjecture is not so much natural as proceeding from the heat of the Sun which is in these Parts some Months of the Year much
their is neither Fortress nor City and as for their Villages they are all built after the same Model round with a Piazza in the middle according to the Figure THE PLATFORME OF ONE OF THE VILLAGES OF THE COMOUâ— CHAP. XII Of the Ceremonies and Customs of the People of Comania and Circassia THe Principal of all the Feasts which the Comouchs and Sherkes or Cirkassians make is that which they make at the end of Autumn after this manner Three of the ancientest of the Village are appointed to manage it and to discharge themselves of a Duty impos'd upon them in the company of all the people These three old men take a Sheep or a Goat and having mutter'd certain Prayers over the Beast they cut the throat of it after they have drest it very clean they boil it whole all but the Gathers and them they roast The Sheep being boil'd they set it upon a Table and carry it into a large Barn where the People are appointed to meet There the three old men stand upright before a Table and all the People Men Women and Children behind them When the Table upon which the Meat stands is brought in two of the three old men cut off the Legs and the roasted Gathers and hold them up above their heads and the third holds up a great Cup of Bosa in the same manner to the end the people behind may see them When the people see the Meat and Bosa so lifted up they prostrate themselves upon the ground and so continue till all the rest of the Meat be set upon the lesser Table and that the old men have said some few word Then the two old men that held up the Meat cut off two little pieces and give each of them a piece to him that holds the Cup which being done they take each of them a piece for themselves When they have all three eaten of the meat the old man that holds the Cup drinks first then gives the two old men to drink first to him upon the right hand next to him upon the left never letting go the Cup all the while This first Ceremony being thus accomplish'd the two old men turn toward the Assembly and go and present both of the Meat and the Drink first to their Chief or Lord then to all the people who equally eat their share both men and women That which remains of the four feet is carry'd back to the Table and the three old men eat it This done they go and place themselves at the Table where the Mutton is set where the oldest of the three taking the Head eats a little Morsel after him the second and next to him the third does the same Then the first old man commands the rest to be carry'd to the Lord who receives it with a great deal of respect and after he has giv'n it to his next a-kin or the Friend whom he loves best the Head is giv'n from one to another till it be eat'n up This being done the three old men begin to eat of the Mutton a bit or two and the Lord of the Village is call'd who comes with his Bonnet in his hand in a trembling posture to whom one of the old men presenting a Knife he cuts off a piece of Mutton and eats and having drank a Cup of Bosa he returns to his Seat After him all the people according to their turns in quality do as much and then for the Bones the Children go together by the ears among themselves They have another Feast before they begin to Mow their Meadows at which time all the people of the Village that have wherewithal take every one a Goat for in their Ceremonies they esteem Goats better than Sheep and for the poor they join eight or ten together for a Goat Let them be Goats Sheep or Lambs when they are all brought together they cut their Throats and then flea off the skin leaving the four feet and the Head in it Then they stretch the Skin with sticks that cross from one foot to the other aud set it up on a Pole fix'd in the Earth the top whereof enters into the head of the Beast as is to be seen in the Figure of the Village and as many Beasts as there are kill'd so many Poles are planted in the midst of the Village with every one a particular Skin upon it to which every one that passes by maks a profound obeysance Ev'ry one having boil'd his Goat brings it into the void place in the middle of the Village and sets it upon a great Table with the rest There is the Lord of the Village with his Servants and sometimes the Lord of some other Village is invited Now all this Victuals being upon the Table three of the oldest men of the Village sit down and eat a Bit or two Then they call the Lord of the Town and if there be any other Lord they come both together with some other of the Seniors of the Parish who being set down eat up one of the Beasts which the old men had set apart for them the rest is divided among the people sitting upon the ground There are some Villages where you shall have fifty Goats and Sheep or Lambs and Kids kill'd together at one time As for their Bosa there are some that bring above 200 Pints others more or less according to their quality All the day long they eat and drink and sing and dance to their Flutes a dozen together which are in some measure harmonious as consisting of several parts and decreasing proportionably from the Treble to the Base When the old men have solac'd themselves with eating and drinking they go home and leave the young people Men and Women Boys and Girls to be merry by themselves They stay as long as there is any Drink and the next day they go early to Mowing They have other Ceremonies particular only to their Families Once a year in every House they make a Cross after the Form of a Mallet about five Foot high the two Sticks that compose the Cross being as big as a man's Arm. This the Master of the House sets in the Evening near the Door in his Chamber and calling all his Family together gives them every one a lighted Wax-Candle Then first he fixes his own to the Cross next his Wife sticks hers and so all the Children and Servants If the Children be so young that they cannot do it themselves the Father and Mother do it for them If one of the Candles burn out before it be put out ' tisa Prognostick that he or she that fix'd it there shall not live out their year If the Candle falls then he whose Candle it was shall be robb'd or be forc't to fly for his Life If it thunders all the people run out of the Village and the young people of both Sexes set themselves to singing and dancing in the presence of their Elders And if any one be Thunder-struck they