yields very good Turpentine Of the ISLAND of NAXIS THere is not one Port belongs to this Island the Vessels that are Bound thither for Trade being forc'd to stay in the Haven of the Isle of Paros call'd Derion six miles from Naxis which is one of the best Havens in the Archipelago able to contain a thousand Ships There are the ruines of a Wall still to be seen that made a Mole where four or five Galleys might ride There are also the ruines of several Houses of the ancient Dukes the Stables standing almost whole all Arch'd and built of Marble These Dukes were also Lords of twelve other Islands As for the Island it self it is well stor'd with Villages and has three good Cities Barequa Qüsa and Falet Near this Island within a stones throw there is a curious piece of Antiquity still to be seen It is a flat Rock as big about in compass as the ancient Court of the Louvre In the middle of this Rock it was that the Temple of Bacchus was built all of Marble of which there is nothing but the Foundations that remain The Gate is still standing made of three Stones whereof two make the sides and the third lies across From the Isle to this Rock there is a fair Stone Bridge of Free-stone upon each side whereof are to be seen the Pipes that convey'd the Wine into the Temple that was drank at the Feast of Bacchus Naxis also is the Island that produces the best Emeril As to the Inhabitants themselves if the Husband or Wife happens to dye the Survivor never stirs out of the House in six Months after upon any business how urgent soever no not to hear Mass. There are both Latins and Greeks in the Island but the latter are the most numerous There is a Latin Arch-bishop and Canons belonging to the Metropolitan Church with two Religious Houses one of Capuchins and the other of Jesuites The Greeks also have their Arch-bishop The Island of Naxis is sixscore miles in compass being one of the fairest and pleasantest Islands in the Archipelago The ancient Dukes made it their residence whence they command the greatest part of the Cyclades There is great plenty of White Salt made in Naxis and it produces excellent Wine both White and Claret which caus'd the Inhabitants to build a Temple to Bacchus who according to their ancient Tradition chose that Island for his Habitation The Island produces excellent Fruits feeds great store of Cattle and abounds in several other things necessary for human support There are also in it large Woods full of small Deer and frequented by a great number of Eagles and Vultures Here follow the names of the Cyclades as the people of the Country pronounce them 1. Deloa or Sdilis 2. Giaroa 3. Andros 4. Paros 5. Nicaria 6. Samoa 7. Pathmoa 8. Olearoa 9. Sitino 10. Rhena 11. Miconoa 12. Tenoa or Tino 13. Sciroa or Sira 14. Subiuma 15. Syphnus or Sifante 16. Nixcia 17. Chios or Scio. 18. Astypalea 19. Amorgus or Amorgo Of the Islands of Zea of Milo of Paros and other Islands of the Archipelago ZEA is an Island wherein there is nothing remarkable and from whence there is nothing to be Exported but Valanede to dye Leather withall Neither are there any Goods Imported into it but what the Pirates bring in which are very few in regard the Islanders are careful to provide themselves otherwhere Milo affords nothing but Millstones to grind Wheat which are carry'd to Constantinople Paros where there is no Trade neither has nothing remarkable in it but one Greek Church very well built all of Marble call'd Our Lady's Church As for the Islands of Sifante and Miconoa in regard there is nothing of Trade in either but only with the Pirates who sometimes touch there if there be any Consuls that live there it is only to buy their stol'n Goods Of the City of Athens Corinth Patras Coron and Modon THE City of Athens is about four miles distant from the Sea and contains two and twenty thousand Inhabitants twenty five thousand Greeks five or six thousand Latins and a thousand Turks Among all the Antiquities that yet remain those in the Castle are the best preserv'd The Castle stands upon a Hill upon the North descent whereof some part of the City stands It encloses a very fair and spacious Temple built all of white Marble from the top to the bottom supported by stately Pillars of black Marble and Porphiry In the front are great Figures of Armed Knights ready to encounter one another Round about the Temple except upon the Roof which is all of flat Marble Stones well order'd are to be seen all the famous Acts of the Greeks in small carving every Figure being about two foot and a half high Round about the Temple runs a fair Gallery where four persons may walk a-brest It is supported by sixteen Pillars of white Marble upon each of the sides and by six at each end being also pav'd and cover'd with the same Stone Close to the Temple stands a fair Palace of white Marble which now falls to decay Below the Castle and at the point of the City toward the East stand seventeen Pillars the remainder of three hundred where anciently they say stood the Palace of Theseus first King of the Athenians These Pillars are of a prodigious bigness every one eighteen foot about They are proportionable in height but not all of a piece being thwarted most of them by Stones of white Marble one end whereof rests upon one Pillar and the other upon that which follows it which was the support of the whole building Upon the Gate which is yet entire are to be seen these words upon the front without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The City of Athens was assuredly the City of Theseus Within-side of the same City these other words are Engrav'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The City of Athens is the City of Adrian and not of Theseus There are in Athens several other pieces of Antiquity which are well worthy to be seen Corinth which formerly made such a noise in the world is now a Village of some five or six and twenty houses but all of them the Habitations of rich Greeks The Town lies at the foot of the Castle which is seated upon an inaccessible Rock guarded by the Greeks commanded by an Aga. Corinth Exports great quantities of Currants Patras does the same which is all the Trade of those two places Coron and Modon drive a Trade in Sallet-Oyl which is so good and so plentiful that several English Dutch and other Ships are load'n away with it from thence every year There are Consuls in Athens Patras Coron Modon and Napoli of Romania The Athenian Merchants buy up Tissues Velvets Satins and Cloth with which they serve other Countries adjoyning The Commodities which Foreigners export from thence are Silks Wool Sponges Wax Cordivan-Leather and Cheese Which is all that can be said in few words of the Trade
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
under the Jurisdiction of a Bey Having past the Tigris all the Country between that and Tauris is almost equally divided between Hills and Plains the Hills are cover'd with Oaks that bear Galls and some Acoms withal The Plains are planted with Tobacco which is transported into Turkie for which they have a very great Trade One would think the Country were poor seeing nothing but Galls and Tobacco but there is no Country in the World where there is more Gold or Silver laid out and where they are more nice in taking Money that is in the least defective either in weight or goodness of Metal For Galls being a general Commodity for Dying and no where to be found so good as there bring a vast Trade to the Country wherein there are no Villages yet it is over-spread with Houses a Musquet-shot one from another and every Inhabitant has his quarter of his Vineyard by himself where they dry their Grapes for they make no Wine From Geziré to Amadié days 2 Amadié is a good City to which the Natives of a great part of Assyria bring their Tobacco and Gall-nuts It is seated upon a high Mountain to the top whereof you cannot get in less than an hour Toward the middle of the Rock three or four large Springs fall down from the Cliffs where the Inhabitants are forc'd to water their Cattel and fill their Borachio's every morning there being no Water in the City It is of an indifferent bigness and in the middle is a large Piazza where all sorts of Merchants keep their Shops It is under the Command of a Bey that is able to raise eight or ten thousand Horse and more Foot than any other of the Beys by reason his Country is so populous From Amadié to Giousmark days 4 From Giousmark to Alback days 3 From Alback to Salmastre days 3 Salmastre is a pleasant City upon the Frontiers of the Assyrians and Medes and the first on that side in the Territories of the Persian King The Caravan never lyes there because it would be above a League out of the way but when the Caravan is lodg'd two or three of the principal Merchants with the Caravan-Bashi according to custom go to wait upon the Kan The Kan is so glad that the Caravan takes that Road that he presents the Caravan-Bashi and those that go with him with the Garment of Honour or the Calaat the Bonnet and Girdle which is the greatest Honour that the King or his Governour can do to Strangers From Salamastre to Tauris days 4 In all thirty-two days journey this way from Aleppo to Tauris But though this be the shortest cut and where they pay least Customs yet the Merchants dare hardly venture for fear of being ill us'd by the Beys Teren whose Capital City the Persians call Cherijar is a Province between Mazandran and the ancient Region of the Persians known at this day by the name of Hierac to the South-East of Ispahan 'T is one of the most temperate Countries that has nothing in it of the contagious Air of Guilan where the King goes for the purity of the Air and for his sport of Hunting besides that it produceth excellent Fruits in many places The Capital City whereof which some call by the name of the Province is of a moderate compass but there is nothing worthy observation in it only a League from it are to be seen the Ruines of a great City which had been two Leagues in Circuit There were abundance of Towers all of burnt Brick and Pieces of the Wall standing There were also several Letters in the Stones which were cemented into the Walls but neither Turks Persians nor Arabians could understand them The City is round seated upon a high Hill at the top whereof stood the Ruines of a Castle which the Natives say was the Residence of the Kings of Persia. CHAP. V. The Road from Aleppo to Ispahan through the small Desert and through Kengavar I Will describe this Road as if I were to return from Ispahan to Aleppo This Road lies through Kengavar Bagdat and Anna where you enter into the Desert which I call The little Desert because you get over it in far less time than the great Desert that extends Southwards to Arabia the Happy and where you may often find Water all the whole Journey being not far distant from the River Euphrates A man that is well mounted may ride this way from Ispahan to Aleppo in three and thirty days as I have done and perhaps in less if the Arabian whom you take for your guide at Bagdat knows the shortest cut through the Wilderness The Horse Caravans travelling from Ispahan to Kengavar are fourteen or fifteen days upon the Road but being well mounted ten or twelve in a Company you may Ride it in five or six days The Country through which you travel is very fertile in Corn and Rice it produces also excellent Fruits and good Wine especially about Kengavar which is a large Town and well peopl'd From Kengavar to Bagdat I was ten days upon the Road. The Country is not so fertile but very stony in some parts And it consists in Plains and small Hills there being not a Mountain in all the Road. Now for a man that travels quick the Road lies thus From Ispahan to Consar From Consar to Comba From Comba to Oranguié From Oranguié to Nahoüand From Nahoüand to Kengavar Fron Kengavar to Sahana From Sahana to Polisha or the Bridge-Royal being a great Stone Bridge From Polisha to Maidacht From Maidacht to Erounabad From Erounabad to Conaguy From Conaguy to Caslisciren From Caslisciren to Iengui-Conaguy From Iengui-Conaguy to Casered From Casered to Charaban From Charaban to Bourous From Bourous to Bagdat There are some who instead of passing through Kengavar take Amadan one of the most considerable Cities of Persia in their way and so from thence to Toucheré but the way is longer and according to the Road which I have set down you are to leave Amadan to the North upon the right hand Between Sahana and Polisha you leave the only high Mountain in all the Road to the North. It is as steep and as straight as a Wall and as high as you can see you may observe the Figures of men clad like Priests with Surplices and Censors in their hands and yet neither can the Natives tell you nor any person imagin the meaning of those Sculptures At the foot of the Rock runs a River over which there is a Bridge of Stone About a days journey beyond the Mountain you meet with a little City whose situation the Streams that water it the good Fruits that grow there and particularly the excellent Wine which it affords render a most pleasant Mansion The Persians believe that Alexander when he return'd from Babylon dy'd in this place what-ever others have writt'n that he dy'd at Babylon All the rest of the Country from this City to Bagdat is a Country of Dates
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
are Officers pay'd by the King and never work unless they please themselves commanding all that are under their Jurisdiction As for Carpenters and Joyners work the Persians know little what belongs to it which proceeds from the scarcity of Wood that does not allow them materials to work upon So that for Chairs Tables and Bedsteads there are no such things to be seen in Persia the Joyners business being only to make Doors and Frames for Windows which they make very neatly of several pieces of wood join'd together so that a man can hardly put a Tennis Ball through the holes where they put the glass Nor can it be expected that the Persians should work like other Europeans having no other Tools then a Hatchet a Saw and a Chizzel and one sort of Plainer which a Frenchman brought among them Their nobler Arts are Writing for Printers they know none All their Books are writt'n which is the reason they so much esteem that Art There was an Armenian who had set up a Printing-Press at Ispahan and had Printed the Epistles of St. Paul the seven Penitential Psalms and was going about to Print the whole Bible but not having the way of making good Ink and to avoid the ill consequences of the Invention he was forc'd to break his Press For on the one side the Children refus'd to learn to write pretending they wrote the Bible themselves only to get it the sooner by heart on the other side many persons were undone by it that got their living by writing The Persians use three sorts of hands the first is call'd Nestalick or the Set-hand the second Shakeste or Divanni which is their Court-hand the third Neskre or the Running-hand very like the Arabic They write with small Indian Reeds and say that to write well a man ought to lean so slightly upon his Pen that should a fly stand upon the other end it would fall out of his hand When they write they hold their Paper in one hand to turn it according to the motion of the Pen otherwise they could not make their dashes large and free as the Character requires They make their Paper of Cotton Fustian very course brown and of no strength for the least folding tears it They sleek it with a sleek stone and then rub it over to make it more sleek Their Ink is made of Galls and Charcoal pounded together with Soot The Persians reck'n four Languages among ' em The Persian call'd Belick that is sweet and pleasing The Turkish call'd Sciascet or the Rodomontado Language The Arabian to which they give the Epithite of Feschish or Eloquent and the fourth call'd Cobahet or the Speech of the Country people The Persian in use among the Gentry is compos'd almost of all Arabic words by reason that the Persian is very barren But the Gibbrish of the Country people is so corrupt that they in the City can hardly understand ' em The Arabian is the Language of the Learned in which tongue their Books are written The Language of the Court is Turkish but much more soft and elegant then at Constantinople As for the Persian Language it is spoken in the Courts of the Great Mogul and the Kings of Golconda and Visapour in all which Courts a Noble man would take it for an affront to be spok'n to in the Indian Language As for their Painters they only paint in miniature and for Birds and Flowers they will draw them indifferently well But for figures and stories they know not what belongs to any such thing The Persians are most excellent Artists for manufactures of Gold Silk and Silver of which their rich Carpets and Tissues are made nor do their Gold and Silver Manufactures ever grow black or loose their luster by long wearing or lying by There are abundance that work in Silk stuffs of all sorts and others that make Bonnets and Girdles of Gold and Silk Others there are whose business it is to fast'n flowers of Gold and Silver to their Taffata's with gum water of which the women make Shifts and Drawers And now they begin to make such large quantities of Taffata's that they care not for the stuffs which are brought out of India though they be much finer They also make great quantities of Linnen Cloth of all sorts of colours upon which they fast'n several flowers with gum water and some figures though the Law forbid it Which they learnt to do upon the Armenians carrying out of Europe some ill-favour'd cuts and pieces in distemper which they bought here without judgment these pieces they hang before their doors and those hollow places in the walls where they put their Quilts and Carpets when they rise The Persians are excellent Artists at Damasquing with Vitriol or engraving Damask-wise upon Swords Knives and the like But the nature of the Steel which they make use of very much contributes to their Art in regard they cannot perform the same work neither upon their own nor ours This steel is brought from Golconda and is the only sort of steel which can be damasqu'd For when the workman puts it in the fire he needs no more then to give it the redness of a Cherry and instead of quenching it in the water as we do to wrap it in a moist Linnen cloth for should he give it the same heat as to ours it would grow so hard that when it came to be wrought it would break like glass I speak this to undeceive those people who think our Scimitars and Cut-lasses are made of steel of Damascus which is a vulgar error there being no steel but that of Golconda that can be Damask'd The Persians are also excellent Artists at making Bows and Arrows and such other weapons as are us'd in that Country As for Bridles and Saddles their Artists far exceed ours especially in their sowing which they do so neatly and with so much art with a kind of back-stitch that it looks almost like an embroidery There are an infinite number that live by dressing Seal-skins and Goat-skins the first to make boots for the Gentry and better sort of Merchants the latter for the poor people There is also a sort of earthen ware made at Kerman which is very fine and being brok'n looks as white within as without It does not endure hear so well as Porcellane which has this quality that if you powre never so hot liquor into a Porcellane cup neither the foot nor the brims a-top will be any thing the warmer There are abundance of poor people that get their living by mending glass Tobacco-pipes for when they are brok'n they join them together again with a certain mastic made of lime and the white of an egg then with a Diamond-pointed piercer they make holes in the glass and bind the pieces together with a thin Latten-wire The most considerable commodities of Persia are the Silks which come out of the Province of Guilan But there is not so much transported out of Persia as
is very little among them If you receive one false Roupie in a Bagg from any particular person 't is better to cut it to pieces and lose it than to speak of it for if it should come to be known there might be danger in it For you are commanded by the King's Law to return the Bagg where you received it and to return it from one to another till you can find out the Counterfeiter who if he be apprehended is only sentenc'd to lose his hand If the Counterfeiter cannot be found and that it be thought that he who paid the Money is not guilty he is acquitted upon some small amercement This brings great profit to the Changers For when there is any Summ of Money received or paid the Merchants cause him to look it over and for their pains they have one sixteenth of a Roupie in the hundred As for the Money which is paid out of the Sarquet or King's Exchequer there is never any found that is counterfeit For all the Money that is carried in thither is exactly view'd by the King's Bankers The Great Lords have also their particular Bankers Before they put up the Money into the Treasury they throw it into a great Charcoal-fire and when the Roupies are red-hot they quench the fire by throwing water upon it and then take out the Money If there be any Piece that is white or that has the least mark of Alloy it is presently cut in pieces As often as these Roupies are carried into the Treasury they mark the Pieces with a Puncheon which makes an hole but not quite through and there are some Pieces that have seven or eight holes made in that manner to shew that they have been so many times in the Exchequer They are all put a thousand Pieces together in a bagg seal'd with the Seal of the great Treasurer and the number of years superscrib'd since they were coin'd And here you are to take notice whence the Treasurers profit arises as well that of the King's Treasurer as that of the particular Treasurers of the Great Lords of the Kingdom When there is any bargain made they agree for new Roupies coin'd the same year but when they come to receive the payment the Treasurers will make it in old Roupies wherein there is a loss of six per Cent. So that if they will have new Silver the Merchants must compound with the Treasurer In my fift Voyage I went to visit Cha-Est-Kan according to my promise to let him have the first sight of what I brought along with me So that as soon as I arrived at Suratt I sent him word and received his Orders to meet him at Choupart a City in the Province of Decan to which he had laid Siege Coming to him in a little time and a few words I sold him the greatest part of what I had brought along with me out of Europe And he told me that he expected every day that Money should be sent him from Suratt to pay the Army and to pay me also at the same time for what he had bought of me I could not imagin however that so great a Prince as he that commanded so great an Army had not store of Money by him but rather conjectur'd that he had an intention to make me some abatement upon those Pieces which he would put upon me in payment as he had serv'd me before It fell out as I faresaw But for Provisions for my self my Men and my Horses he took such order that there was great plenty brought me night and morning and for the most part he sent for me my self to his own Table Ten or twelve days thus past away and not a word of the Money that I expected So that being resolv'd to take my leave of him I went to his Tent. He appeared to be somewhat surpriz'd and looking upon me with a frowning-brow wherefore will you be gone said he before you are paid or who d' you think shall pay you afterwards if you go away before you receive your Money Upon these words with a countenance as stern as his my King replied I will see me paid For his goodness is such that he causes all his Subjects to be paid that have not received satisfaction for such Goods as they sell in forreign Countries And what course will he take answer'd he in a great choler with two or three stout Men of War said I which he will send either to the Port of Suratt or toward the Coasts to wait for the Ships that come from Mocca He seemed to be netled at that reply but not daring to give any more way to his choler he ordered his Treasurer immediately to give me a Letter of Exchange to Aurengabad I was the more glad of that because it was a place through which I was to pass in my way to Golcanda besides that it would spare me the carriage and the hazards of my Money The next day I had my Bill of Exchange and took leave of the Prince who was nothing displeased but told me that if I return'd to the Indies I should not fail to come and see him which I did in my sixt and last Voyage When I came to Suratt he was at Bengala where I sold him all the rest of my Goods that I could not put off either to the King of Persia or the Great Mogul But to return to the payment of my Money I was no sooner arrived at Aurenggabat but I went to find the great Treasurer who no sooner saw me but he told me he knew wherefore I came that he had received Letters of advice three days before and that he had already taken the Money out of the Treasury to pay me When he had brought me all the Baggs I caused my Banker to open them who saw them to be Roupies by which I was to lose two in the hundred Upon that I thank'd the Treasurer very heartily telling him I understood no such dealing and that I would send and complain of him to Cha-Est-Kam and declare to him that he should either give order that I should be paid in new Silver or else let me have my Goods again which I presently did But not receiving an answer so soon as I knew I might have done I went to the Treasurer and told him I would go my self and fetch away my Goods I believe he had received order what to do for seeing I was resolved to go he told me he was very unwilling I should put my self to so much trouble and that it would be better for us to agree among our selves After many contests about the two in the hundred which he would have made me lose I was contented to abate one and had lost the other had I not happily met with a Banker who wanted Silver and had a Bill of Exchange to pay at Golconda so that he was glad to make use of mine and gave me a Bill to be paid at Golconda being my full Summ
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
Lakabaron to Coulour especially when you come near to Coulour is very rocky so that I was forc'd in some places to take my Coach off the Carriages which was presently done If you meet with any good Earth between those Rocks there you shall find Cassia-Trees that bear the best Cassia and the most laxative in all India Which I found by its working with my men that eat of it by the way There runs a great River by the Town of Coulour which falls into the Gulf of Bengala neer Mastipatan From Coulour or Gani to Kah-Kaly costes 12 From Kah-Kaly to Bezouar costes 6 Near to Bezouar you must repass the River of Coulour From Bezouar to Vouchir costes 4 From Vouchir to Nilimor costes 4 About half the way between Vouchir and Nilimor you must cross a great River upon a Float-boat of Timber there being no other kind of Boat in that place From Nilimor to Milmol costes 6 From Milmol to Mastipatan costes 4 Mastipatan is a great City the Houses whereof are only of Wood built at a distance one from another The place it self which stands by the Sea is famous for nothing but the Road for Ships which belongs to it which is the best in the Gulf of Bengala and from hence they set Sail for Pegu for Siam for Aracan for Bengala for Cochinchine for Mecca and for Ormus as also for the Islands of Madagascar Sumatra and the Manille's You must take notice that from Golconda to Mastipatan there is no travelling by Waggons by reason of the high Mountains Lakes and Rivers that make the Road very streight and impassable 'T is a very difficult thing to carry a little Coach thither for I was forc'd to have my own taken off the Carriages and so to have it lifted out of the bad way The Road is every jot as bad between Golconda and Cape-Comorin a Waggon being hardly so much as made mention of all the way for that there is no other way to travel or for the carriage of Goods than with Horses and Oxen. But instead of Coaches they have the convenience of Pallekie's wherein you are carried with more speed and more ease than in any part of India CHAP. XII The Road from Surat to Goa and from Goa to Golconda through Visapour YOu may go from Surat to Goa partly by Land and partly by Sea But the Road being very bad by Land generally Travellers go by Sea and hiring an Almadier which is a Barque with Oars they go by the Shoar to Goa though sometimes the Malavares or Indian Pirats are very much to be fear'd all along those Coasts as I shall tell you in due place The way from Surat to Goa is not reckon'd by Costes but by Gos one of which makes four of our common Leagues From Surat to Daman gos 7 From Daman to Bassain gos 10 From Bassain to Chaoul gos 7 From Chaoul to Daboul gos 12 From Daboul to Rejapour gos 10 From Rejapour to Mingrela gos 9 From Mingrela to Goa gos 4 In all from Surat to Goa gos 61 The great danger which you run along the Coast is the hazard of falling into the hands of the Malvares who are violent Mahumetans and very cruel to the Christians I saw a bare-foot Carmelite-Friar who had been taken by those Pirats This Friar to get his ransom the sooner they put to that kind of torture that his right-arm was shorter by one half then his left and so it was with one leg The Captains do not give above six Crowns to every Souldier for the whole six months that they are usually out at Sea Then the Souldiers may return home and if their Captains will have them stay longer they must allow 'em more pay They seldom venture out above 20 or 25 leagues at Sea which is no great hazard of the Vessel But sometimes the Portuguese's snap them and then they either hang 'em up presently or throw 'em over-board These Malavares carry sometimes 200 sometimes 250 men and they sail together in Squadrons of ten or fifteen Barques to attack a great Vessel not caring a rush for the great Guns They come board and board so suddenly and cast such a quantity of Pots of Artificial Fire upon the deck that if there be not speedy remedy appli'd they will presently do a world of mischief Generally our Seamen knowing the custom of these Pirats when they come within ken presently shut up the Scuttles and fill the deck with water to hinder the Fire-Pots from doing execution An English Captain whose name was Mr. Clark coming from Bantam to Surat not far from Cochin met a Squadron of these Malvares consisting of 25 or 30 of these Barques Who came board and board and vigorously attack'd him The Captain seeing he could not withstand their first Fury put fire to some Barrels of Powder and blowing up the deck blew a great number of the Pirats into the Sea Nevertheless the rest were nothing discourag'd but boarded the Ship a second time The English Captain seeing there was no help put his men into two Shallops and staying behind in his Cabin where the Pirats could not enter so suddenly he set fire to a Train which he had laid that reach'd to all the rest of the Powder and at the same time leaping into the Sea was taken up by his own men In the mean time the Ship being all a-fire the Pyrats leapt into the Sea also But for all this the two Shallops wherein there were about forty English were taken by the rest of the Malvares that were Fresh-men and I was then at breakfast with the English President Mr. Fremelin when he receiv'd a Letter from Captain Clark that he was a Slave to Samorin who is the most considerable King all along the Pirats Coast. The Prince would not leave the English in the hands of those Scoundrels knowing that they would have been in great danger of their lives by reason that above twelve-hunder'd Women had lost their Husbands in the two times that the Ship had been fir'd However the King found a means to appease them promising to each of them that had lost their Husbands two Piasters every Piaster being four shillings a piece which came to above two thousand four hundred Crowns besides four thousand which were to be paid for the Ransom of the Captain and the other Sea-men immediately the President sent the Money and I saw them at their return some in health others in violent Feavers The Malavares are a People so superstitious that they never touch any thing that is foul or soyl'd with their Right Hands but only with the Left the Nails of which Fingers they let grow and use instead of Combs for they wear their Hair long like the Women tying it about their Heads in wreaths and binding it with a Linnen cloath with three corners Since I have mention'd Daman I will tell you in a few words how that City was besieg'd by Aureng-Zeb the present Great Mogul Some are of
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
the Alms of Rice Millet and other Grains which the charitable bestow upon them The Bramin marks the forhead of all both Men and Women that come to pray in the Pagod with a kind of Vermillion wherewith he also besmears the Idol for being thus mark'd they believe the evil Spirit cannot hurt them as being then under the protection of their God Number I is that part where the Bramins paint their Idols such as Mamaniva Sita Madedina and others whereof they have a great number Numb 2 is the figure of Mamaniva which is in the Pagod Numb 3 is another Pagod neer the former There stands a Cow at the door and within stands the figure of their God Ram. Numb 4 is another Pagod into which the Faquirs that do Penance often retire Numb 5 is another Pagod dedicated to Ram. Numb 6 is a Hut into which a Faquir makes his retirement several times a year there being but one hole to let in the light He stays there according to the height of his devotion sometimes nine or ten days together without either eating or drinking a thing which I could not have believ'd had I not seen it My curiosity carri'd me to see one of those Penitents with the President of the Dutch-Company who set a Spy to watch night and day whether any body brought him any victuals But he could not discover any relief the Faquir had all the while fitting upon his Bum like our Taylors never changing his posture above seven days together not being able to hold out any longer by reason that the heat and stench of the Lamp was ready to stifle him Their other sorts of Penance out-doing this might be thought incredible were there not so many thousand witnesses thereof Numb 7 is the figure of another Penitentiary over whose head several years have past and yet he never slept day nor night When he finds himself sleepy he hangs the weight of the upper part of his body upon a double-rope that is fasten'd to one of the boughs of the Tree and by the continuance of this posture which is very strange and painful there falls a humour into their legs that swells them very much The Figure of a Penitent as they are represented in little under the Banians great Tree Numb 9 is the posture of another Penitent who every day for several hours stands upon one foot holding a Chasing-dish in his hand into which he pours Incense as an Offering to his God fixing his eyes all the while upon the Sun Numb 10 and 11 are the figures of two other Penitents sitting with their hands rais'd above their heads in the air Numb 12 is the posture wherein the Penitents sleep without ever resting their arms which is certainly one of the greatest torments the body of man can suffer Numb 13 is the posture of a Penitent whose arms through weakness hang flagging down upon his shoulders being dry'd up for want of nourishment There are an infinite number of other Penitents some who in a posture quite contrary to the motion and frame of nature keep their eys always turn'd toward the Sun Others who fix their eyes perpetually upon the ground never so much as speaking one word or looking any person in the face And indeed there is such an infinite variety of them that would render the farther discourse of them more then tedious True it is that I have hid those parts which modesty will not suffer to be expos'd to view But they both in City and Countrey go all as naked as they came out of their Mothers wombs and though the Women approach them to take them by the fingers-ends and to kiss those parts which modesty forbids to name yet shall you not observe in them any motion of sensuality rather quite contrary seeing them never to look upon any person but rowling their eyes in a most frightful manner you would believe them in an extasie CHAP. VII Of the Idolaters belief touching the estate of the Soul after death 'T IS an Article of the Idolaters Faith that the Souls of Men departing out of the body are presented to God who according to the lives which they lead orders them another body to inhabit So that one and the same person is born several times into the World And that as for the Souls of wicked and vicious persons God disposes them into the bodies of contempt'ble Beasts such as Asses Dogs Cats and the like to do Penance for their crimes in those infamous Prisons But they believe that those Souls that enter into Cows are happy presuming that there is a kind of divinity in those creatures For if a man dye with a Cows-tail in his hand they say it is enough to render him happy in the other World The Idolaters believing thus the transmigration of the Souls of men into the bodies of other creatures they abhor to kill any creature whatever for fear they should be guilty of the death of some of their kindred or friends doing Penance in those bodies If the Men in their life-time are famous for their vertuous deeds they hold that their Souls pass into the bodies of some Potent Raja's where they enjoy the pleasures of this life in those bodies as the reward of those good works which they did This is the reason why the Faquirs put themselves to such horrible Penances But because that all are not able to endure so much torment in this World they labour to supply the defect of that cruel Penance by good works And besides they charge their Heirs in their Wills to give Alms to the Bramins to the end that by the powerful effect of their Prayers their God may assign them the body of some Noble Personage In January 1661 the Broaker belonging to the Holland-Company whose name was Mondas-Parek dy'd at Surat He was a rich Man and very charitable giving his Alms very liberally as well to the Christians as to the Idolaters the Capuchins at Surat living one part of the year upon the Rice Butter and Pulse which he sent them This Banian was not sick above four or five days during all which time and for eight days more after he was dead his Brothers distributed nine or ten-thousand Roupies and in the burning of his body they mix'd Sandal-wood and Lignum-Aloes with the ordinary wood believing that by that means the Soul of their Brother transmigrating into another body he would come to be some great Lord in another Countrey There are some that are such fools that they bury their treasure in their life-time as it is the usual custom of all the rich Men in the Kingdom of Asen to the end that if they should be condemn'd to the body of some poor miserable person they might have wherewithal to supply their necessities I remember one day that I bought in India an Agate-Cup half a foot high he that sold it me assur'd me that it had been buried under ground above 40 years and that he kept it to