Of the great Friendship betwixt Damon and Pithias two Pythagorean Philosophers 271. Another of Christian Friendship 272. The admirable love and affection betwixt Titus and Gisippus two Noble Young men the one of Rome the other of Athens 273. Of Mount Aetna and the fiery irruption there in the year 1669. 287. HISTORIES AND OBSERVATIONS Domestick and Foreign The miraculous and strange Adventures and Deliverances of one Andrew Battel of Leigh in Essex IN the Year of our Lord 1589 one Andrew Battel of Leigh in Essex accompanied with Abraham Cock of Lime-house and accommodated with two Pinnaces of 50 Tuns apiece intending a Voyage to the River of Plate upon the Coast of Brasil were much necessitated for Victuals so that returning Northwards upon the Isle of S. Sebastian going on Land he with four others were taken Prisoners by certain Negro's belonging to the Portugals who sent him to Angola in Africa where he continued in their Service several years when desirous of freedom he attempted an Escape in a Holland Ship but being discovered he was clapt in Prison for two months and then banished to the Fort of Massangano where he lived a miserable life for the space of six years But this nothing daunting his Resolution he with ten other banished men practised an Escape having gotten a Canoo for that purpose and furnished with Musquets Powder and Shot wandering in great misery several days through the extremity of Heat and want of Victuals and Water being forced divers times to make their way through their Opposers with Musquet shot yet e're they could get into a place of security the Captain of the City from whence they came overtook them to whom they were forced to yield and being carried back again for their welcom home were clapt up in Prison with Collars of Iron and great Bolts upon their Legs After three months hard Imprisonment he with four hundred more banished Portugals were by Proclamation for ever destined to the Wars and accordingly he served in many bloudy Fights where whosoever gained all that fell to his share was onely Penury Hardship Wounds and Scars Having thus had his share in Land Service he with sixty more Souldiers were sent in a Frigat with Commodities to Bahia de Tare twelve degrees Southward to trade with the Savages and having made a prosperous Voyage were sent out the second time to the Morro or Cliff of Benguala where they lighted into the hands of the Gaga's a most warlike People and the greatest Canibals or Man-eaters in the world yet by reason of their Commodities and for that they helped the Gaga's against their Enemies they in five moneths space made three gainful Voyages from thence to the City of San Paulo but coming the fourth time the Gaga's were gone up far higher into the Country Being loth to return without Trade they determined that fifty of their Company should follow them and the rest stay with their Ship in the Bay of Benguala Amongst those fifty was Andrew Battel one who marching up the Country were by a great Negro Lord detained whilest such time as the Gaga's were gone clear away into another Land Then did he force them to march with him against his Enemies untill he had clean destroyed them Nor would he then suffer them to depart but upon promise to come again and leave one of their company in pawn with him untill their return Hereupon it was determined to draw Lots who should stay but upon further thoughts they agreed amongst themselves to leave the Englishman and to shift for themselves fearing to be all detained Captives So Battel was fain to stay per force having with him a Musquet Powder and Shot they promising the Negro Lord to come again in two moneths for his redemption But that time expired and none of them returning the Chief of the Town would have put Battel to death and in order thereto stripped him naked and were ready to cut off his Head when one of the chief amongst them interposing his Execution was deferred upon hopes of the Portugals coming and he set loose to walk at liberty But finding no security of his life amongst them he resolved to run away to the Camp of the Gaga's and having travelled a whole night the next day he came to a great Town called Cushil which stood in a mighty overgrown Thicket the People whereof great and small came round about him to wonder at him having never seen a White Man before Here he sound some of the great Gaga's Men with whom he went to their Camp at a place called Calicausamba The Captain of the Gaga's welcomed him kindly continuing in that place for four moneths together with great abundance and plenty of Cattel Corn Wine and Oyl and great triumphing drinking dancing and banquetting with Mans flesh for as I told you before these Gaga's are the greatest Canibals or Man-eaters in the world Their Captain warreth all by Inchantment and taketh the Devils counsel in all his Exploits Such of his Souldiers as are faint-hearted and turn their backs to the Enemy are presently condemned and killed for Cowards and their Bodies eaten They neither sow nor plant nor bring up any Cattel more than they take by Wars When they take any Town they keep the Boys and Girls of thirteen or fourteen years of age as their own Children but the Men and Women they kill and eat These little Boys they train up in the Wars and hang a Collar about their Necks for a disgrace which is never taken off till he proveth himself a Man and brings his Enemy's Head to the General and then it is taken off and he is a Freeman and is called Gonzo or Souldier This maketh them desperate and forward to be free and counted Men. When their chief Captain undertaketh any great Enterprize against the Inhabitants of any Country he maketh a solemn Sacrifice to the Devil in the morning before the Sun riseth He sitteth upon a Stool having on each side of him a Man Witch then he hath forty or fifty Women which stand round about him holding in each hand a wild Horses Tail wherewith they do flourish and sing Behind them are great store of Drums and other Instruments which always play In the midst of them is a great Fire upon the Fire an Earthen Pot with white Powders wherewith the Men-witches do paint him on the Forehead Temples and thwart the Breast and Belly with long Ceremonies and Inchanting Terms Thus he continueth till Sun is down then the Witches bring him his Weapon which is fashioned like a Hatchet and put it into his Hand bidding him be strong against his Enemies for his Mokiso which is the Devil is with him Presently there is a Man-child brought which forthwith he killeth then are four Men also brought before him two whereof as it happeneth he presently striketh and killeth the other two he commandeth to be killed without the Fort. When they bury the dead they make a Vault in the ground and
day they were in a like Sleep conveyed to their Irons again after which he caused them to be brought into his Presence and questioned where they had been which answered by your Grace in Paradise and recounted all the Particulars before mentioned Then the old man answered this is the Commandment of our Prophet That whosoever defends his Lord he makes him enter into Paradise and if ye will be obedient to me and hazard your Lives in my Quarrel ye shall have this Grace This so animated them that they swore to be obedient to his Commands and he was thought happy whom the old man would command any thing though it cost him his Life so that other Lords and his Enemies were slain by these his Assassines which exposed themselves to all Dangers and contemned their Lives These men the Italians call Assassines whence we use the Phrase to Assassinate the name importing as much as Thieves or Cut-throats such a one was he who murdered the Count of Tripolis in the Wars for the Holy Land and such a one was he who so desperately wounded our Edward the First at the Siege of Acon with a poysoned Knife whose Venome could by no means be asswaged till his vertuous Wife proposing herein a most rare Example of conjugal Love sucked out the Poyson which her love made sweet to her delicate Pallate so sovereign a Medicine is a Wife's Tongue anointed with the Vertue of lovely Affection and indeed it is no wonder that Love should do Wonders which is it self a Wonder This Aladine thus playing the Tyrant and robbing all which passed that way Vlan in the Year 1262. sent and besieged his Castle which after three years Siege they took slew him and ruined his Paradise not being able for want of Victuals to hold out longer Paulus Venetus reporteth that in a City called Samarchan subject to the Nephew of the Great Cham of Tartary the Brother of the Great Cham named Zagatai governed that Country who being persuaded to become a Christian the Christians thorough his Favour built a Church in honour of St. John Baptist with such Cunning that the whole Roof thereof was supported by one Pillar in the midst under which was set a square Stone which by favour of their Lord was taken from a Building of the Saracens Zagathai's Son succeeded after his Death in the Kingdom but not in the Faith from whom the Saracens obtained that the Christians should be compelled to restore that Stone and when they offered a sufficient valuable Price the Saracens refused to receive any other Composition than the Stone but the Pillar lifted up it self that the Saracens might take away their Stone and so continued About the Year of our Lord 400. one Agilmond was King of the Lombards inhabiting Pannonia now called Hungary This King one morning going a hunting as he was riding by a Fish-pond he spied seven Children sprawling for Life which one as saith Paulus Diaconus or it may be many Harlots had been delivered of and most barbarously thrown into the Water The King amazed at this Spectacle put his Boar-spear or Hunting-pole among them one of the Children's hands fastned to the Spear and the King softly drawing back his Hand wafted the Child to the Shore This Boy he named Lamissus from Lama which in their Language signified a Fish-pond He was in the King's Court carefully brought up where there appeared in him such Tokens of Vertue and Courage that after the Death of Agilmond he was by the Lombards chosen to succeed him In the time of the Emperour Frederick Barbarossa Anno 1161. Beatrix the Emperour's Wife coming to see the City of Millain in Italy was by the irreverent People first imprisoned and then most barbarously handled for they placed her on a Mule with her Face towards the Tail which she was compelled to use instead of a Bridle and when they had thus shewn her to all the Town they brought her to a Gate and kicked her out To revenge this Wrong the Emperour besieged and forced the Town and adjudged all the People to die save such as would undergo this Ransome Between the Buttocks of a skittish Mule a bunch of Figs was fastened and such as would live must with their hands bound behind run after the Mule till with their Teeth they had snatched out one or more of the Figs. This Condition besides the hazard of many a sound Kick was by most accepted and performed Since which time the Italians when they intend to scoff or disgrace one use to put their Thumb between two of their Fingers and say Ecco la fico which is counted a Disgrace answerable to our English Custom of making Horns to that Man whom we suspect to be a Cuckold Giraldus Cambriensis who wrote an History of Ireland reporteth that in his time in the North of England a knot of Youngsters took a Nap in the fields As one of them lay snorting with his Mouth gaping as though he would have caught Flies it happened that a Snake or Adder slipt into his Mouth and glided down into his Belly where harbouring it self it began to roam up and down and to feed on the young man's Entrails The Patient being sore distracted and above measure tormented with the biting pangs of this greedy Guest incessantly prayed to God that if it stood with his gracious Will either wholly to bereave him of his Life or else of his unspeakable mercy to ease him of his Pain The Worm would never cease from gnawing the Patient's Carcass but when he had taken his repast and his Meat was no sooner digested than it would give a fresh onset in boring his Guts Divers Remedies were sought as Medicines Pilgrimages to Saints but all could not prevail Being at length schooled by the grave Advice of some sage and expert Father who willed him to make his speedy repair to Ireland where neither Snake nor Adder would live He presently thereupon would tract no time but busked himself over Sea and arrived in Ireland He had no sooner drank of the Water of that Island and eaten of the Victuals thereof but forthwith he killed the Snake avoided it downward and so being lusty and lively he returned into England When David Bruce was King of Scotland in the beginning of his Reign for the better proof of exercising Justice among them that coveted to live by truth and to have more ready occasion to punish others that meant the contrary he commanded that Saddles and Bridles with all other such Instruments and Stuff as pertained to Husbandry should be left abroad both day and night without the doors and if it chanced that any of them were stollen or taken away the Sheriff of the Shire should either cause the same to be restored again or else to pay for it out of his own Purse During the time whilst such strait punishment was executed against Offenders it fortuned that a Carle of the Countrey because he durst not steal other mens goods stole his
own Plow-Irons that he might have the value of them recompenced to him by the Sheriff but such diligence was used in the search and tryal who had the Plow-Irons that finally the truth came to light whereupon for his crafty falshood the Party guilty was hanged as he had well deserved Heliogabalus being chosen Emperour of Rome assumed the name of Antonine His Apparel was extreme brave and gorgeous and yet he never wore one Garment twice His Shoos were embellished with Diamonds and Oriental Pearls of the greatest price His Seats were strewed with Musk and Amber His Beds were covered with Cloth of Gold tissued on Purple and embossed with Gems of inestimable value His Way was strewed with filings of Gold and Silver His Vessels even of basest use were of the purest Gold His Lamps burned with precious Balms and Gums of India and Arabia His Fish-Ponds were filled with Rose-water His Ships in their Theatrical Sea-fights floated in Rivers of Wine His Baths most magnificently built when he had once used them were pulled down and new built His Plate was of refined massy Gold but never served twice to his Table His Rings and Jewels infinitely rich yet never worn twice His Concubines numberless yet never lain with twice Every Supper in his Court cost a thousand pound Sterling When he lay near to the Sea he would eat no Fish when he was farthest in the Continent he would eat no Flesh Whole meals were furnished with Tongues of singing Birds and Brains of the rarest Creatures All Asia Europe and Africa with the adjacent Islands in a word the whole Globe of Earth and Sea whereof he was Lord Paramount was not able to fill this Gulph In his Progresses he was attended with six hundred Chariots fraught with Concubines Catamites and Panders for whom he built a Seraglio in his Court where himself in the Habit of a Courtezan used to make solemn Speeches unto them terming them his brave Fellow-souldiers and Companions in Arms. He caused to be gathered in Rome ten thousand weight of Spiders ten thousand Mice and a thousand Pole-cats which he exhibited to the Roman Peers and People in a Publick Show and Solemnity professing that now he perfectly understood how mighty a City Rome was Lastly he summoned a Parliament of Women to consult about Tires Fashions Dresses Tinctures and the like weighty and important Affairs In the Province of Chamul belonging to the Cham of Tartaria the Inhabitants are Idolaters have a peculiar Language and seem to be born for no other purpose but to apply themselves to Sporting Singing Dancing Writing and Reading after their fashion playing on Instruments and to give themselves to delight When any Traveller passing by turneth into any man's House for entertainment the Master of the Family receiveth him with great Joy and commandeth his Wife and all the Family that they as long as he will abide with them obey him in all things In the mean space he departeth not to return so long as the Guest remaineth in his House and mean while he lieth with the Wife Daughter and the rest as with his own Wives The Women of that Countrey are beautiful and ready to obey all those Commandments of their Husbands who are so besotted vvith this folly that they think it a glorious thing for them and acceptable to their Idols for vvhich they prosper vvith plenty of all things Mangu Can having heard of this Folly commanded them to observe this detestable Custom no longer which they did about three Years and then seeing not their wonted Fertility and troubled with some domestical Crosses sent Ambassadors to the Cham and earnestly entreated that he would revoke so grievous an Edict and not abolish that Tradition which they had received from their Elders The Cham answered Seeing you desire your Reproach and Shame 〈◊〉 it be granted you go and do herein after your wont The Messengers returning with this Answer brought great Joy to all the People This Custom is observed in that Country to this day In another Province called Tebeth likewise under the Great Cham they had a Custom that no Man married a Wife who was a Virgin for when Travellers and Strangers coming from other parts pass thorough this Country and pitch their Pavillions the Women of that place having marriageable Daughters bring them unto Strangers desiring them to take them and enjoy their Company as long as they remain there thus the prettier are chosen and the rest return home sorrowful And when they will depart they are not suffered to carry any away with them but faithfully restore them to their Parents the Maiden also requireth some Toy or small Present of him who hath defloured her which she may shew as an Argument and Proof of her deflouring And she that hath been loved and abused of most men and shall have many such Favours and Toys to shew to her Wooers is accounted more noble and may more easily and honourably be married and when she will go gallantly attired she hangeth all her Lovers Favours about her Neck and the more acceptable she was to many of so much the more Honour is she adjudged worthy But when they are once married to Husbands they are now no more suffered to be coupled with strange men and the men of this Country are very wary that they offend not one another in this matter In China such there as be imprisoned for Debt lye there until it be paid the Taissu or head Officer of that place calling him many times before him by vertue of his Office who understanding the cause wherefore they do not pay their Debts appointeth them a certain time to do it within the Compass whereof if they discharge not their Debts being Debters indeed then they be whipped and condemned to perpetual Imprisonment If the Creditors be many and one is to be paid before another they do contrary to our manner pay him first of whom they last borrowed and so ordinarily the rest in such sort that the first Lenders be the last Receivers The same order is kept in paying Legacies the last named receiveth his Portion first In the same Country all such Thieves as are taken are carried to Prison from one place to another in a Chest upon mens Shoulders hired therefore by the King the Chest is six handfuls high the Prisoner sitteth therein upon a Bench the Cover of the Chest is two Boards amidst them both a Pillory-like hole for the Prisoner's Neck there sitteth he with his head without the Chest and the rest of his Body within not able to move or to turn his Head this way or that way nor to pluck it in the Necessities of Nature he voideth at a hole in the bottom of the Chest the Meat he eateth is put into his Mouth by others There abideth he day and night during his whole Journey if haply his Porters stumble or the Chest do jog or be set down carelesly it turns to such great Pains unto him that all
a place called Etvora that is to say the Stone-house a very strong thing for it is a great huge Rock and it hath an Entrance like a great Door within it as any Hall in England The Indians say that there St. Thomas did preach to their Fore-fathers Hard by standeth a Stone as big as four great Canons and it standeth upon the ground upon four Stones little bigger than a man's Finger like Sticks the Indians say it was a Miracle which the Saint shewed them and that that Stone had been Wood. Likewise by the Sea-side there are great Rocks upon which are store of Prints of the footing of bare Feet all which Prints are of one Bigness they say they are the print of the Foot-steps of that Saint when standing upon the Rocks he called to the Fishes of the Sea and they heard him At the Antillus in Brasil they have a Bird which for the rareness and strangeness thereof deserveth to be had in Remembrance It is the finest Bird that can be imagined it hath a Cap on his Head to which no proper Colour can be given for on whatsoever side ye look on it it sheweth red green black and more Colours all very fine and shining and the Breast is so fair that on whatsoever side ye take it it sheweth all the Colours especially a yellow more finer than Gold the Body is gray it hath a very long Bill and the Tongue twice the length of the Bill they are very swift in Flight and in their Flight they make a noise like the Bee and they rather seem Bees in their Swiftness than Birds for they always feed flying without sitting on a Tree even as the Bees do fly sucking the Honey from the Flowers They have two beginnings of their Generation some are hatch'd of Eggs like other Birds others of little Bubles and it is a thing to be noted a little Buble to begin to convert it self into this little Bird for at one Instant it is a Buble and a Bird and so converts it self into this most fair Bird a wonderful thing and unknown to the Philosophers seeing one living Creature without Corruption is converted into another Also in this Country of Brasil a certain Tree groweth in the Fields and the Main of the Bay in dry places where no Water is very great and broad it hath certain Holes in the Branches as long as an Arm that are full of Water that in Winter nor Summer never runneth over neither is it known whence this Water cometh and drink as many or drink few of it it is always at the same stay and so it serveth not only for a Fountain but also for a great main River and it happeneth five hundred Persons to come to the Foot of it and there is harbour for them all they drink and wash all that they will and they never want Water it is very savory and clear and a great Remedy for them that travel into the Main when they can find no other Water John Lerius a French-man who lived in Brasil for some time writeth That the Barbarians much wondered to see French-men and other Strangers coming far off from remote Countries to take so much Pains to carry back their Ships laden with Brasil or Red Wood and therefore one of the ancientest of them questioned him in this manner concerning that matter What meaneth it that you Mair and Peros that is French-men and Portugals come so far to fetch Wood Doth your Country yield you no Wood for the Fire Then said I It yieldeth Fewel surely and that in great Plenty but not of that kind of Trees such as yours are especially Brasil which our men carry from hence not to burn as you suppose but for to dye Here he presently excepting But have you said he need of so great plenty of that Wood yea surely said I for seeing even one Merchant with us possesseth more Scarlet Cloaths more Knives and Scissers and more Looking glasses alledging known and familiar Examples unto him than all those which were ever brought hither unto you he only will buy all the Brasil to the end that many Ships might return laden from hence Ah! saith the Barbarian you tell me strange and wonderful things Then presently remembring what he had heard he proceeded to demand further Questions of me But saith he That great rich Man of whom you make Report doth he not die He dieth said I as also other men do Who then said he is Heir of those Goods which this man leaveth when he dieth His Children said I if he have any if he have none his Brethren Sisters or his next Kindred When I had said this Surely saith that my discreet old Fellow hereby I easily perceive that you Mair that is French-men are notable Fools for what needeth you so greatly to tire and turmoil your selves in sailing over the Sea in passing whereof as being here arrived you report to us you sustain so many Miseries Is it forsooth that you might get riches for your Children or living Kinsfolk Is not the Earth which hath nourished us sufficient also to maintain them We surely have both Children and Kinsfolk and them as you see we love dearly but seeing we confidently hope that it shall come to pass that after our death the same Earth which nourished us shall also relieve and cherish them therein we repose our selves and rest content One of these Islands on the South-part of the Streights is called Baldivia which took its name of a Spanish Captain so called whom afterwards the Indians took Prisoner and it is said they inquired of him the reason why he came to molest them and to take their Countrey from them having no Title or Right thereunto He answered to get Gold which the Barbarians understanding caused Gold to be molten and poured down his Throat saying Gold was thy desire glut thee with it When the Spaniards first began to inhabit the West-Indies Sancta Domingo was an Island as full of Indians as any place of that bigness in all America but by the cruelty of the Spaniards in their excessive labour in the Mines they were most of them destroyed which labour was so grievous that many of the surviving Indians would rather kill themselves than endure it It happened on a time that a Spaniard called certain of them to go work in the Mines which rather than they would do they proffer'd to lay violent hands on themselves which the Spaniard perceiving he said unto them Seeing you will rather hang your selves than to go and work I will likewise hang my self and go with you because I will make you work in the other World but the Indians hearing this said We will willingly work with you because you shall not go with us so unwilling they were of the Spaniards company so that of all the Inhabitants of this Island there was none escaped Death but only these few which was by the means of this Spaniard or else they would
by the English Consul stayed a time to gain the Company of a Caravan which consists of a great mix'd multitude of People from divers parts which get and keep together travelling those parts for fear of the Incursions and Violences by Thieves and Murtherers which they would undoubtedly meet withal if they travelled single or but few together with these he set forwards to that City anciently called Nineveh in Assyria which we find in the Prophecy of Jonah was sometimes a great and excellent City of three days Journey Jonah 3. 3. but now so exceedingly lessen'd and lodg'd in Obscurity that Passengers cannot say of it This was Nineveh which hath now it's old Name changed and is called Mozel From hence they journeyed to Babylon in Chaldaea scituated upon the River Euphrates once likewise so great that Aristotle called it a Country not a City but now it is very much contracted and is called Bagdat From this place they proceeded thorough both the Armenia's where he saw the Mountain Ararat where the Ark of Noah rested after the Flood Gen. 8. From hence they went forward towards the Kingdom of Persia to Uzspahan the usual place of Residence for that great King then called Sha Abbas or King Abbas a victorious Monarch and though of a bloody and tyrannick Disposition yet very kind and respectful to the English Next they went to Seras anciently call'd Sushan where the great King Ahasuerus kept his Royal and most magnificent Court as you may read in Esther 1. From hence for you must think his Shoos were made of running Leather he journeyed to Candahor the first Province North-East under the Subjection of the Great Mogol and so to Lahore the chiefest City but one belonging to that great Empire and afterwards to Agra the Mogol's Metropolis or chief City And here it is very observable that from Lahore to Agra it is 400 English miles and that the Country betwixt both these great Cities is rich being a pleasant and flat Campania and the Road-way on both sides all this long distance planted with great Trees which are all the year cloathed with Leaves exceeding beneficial unto Travellers for the Shade they afford them in those hot Climes This very much extended length of way 'twixt these two places is called by Travellers the Long walk very full of Villages and Towns for Passengers every where to find Provision At Agra our Traveller made an Halt being there lovingly received in the English Factory where he stayed till he had gotten to his Turkish and Morisco or Arabian Languages some good Knowledge in the Persian and Indostan Tongues in which Study he was always very apt and in little time shewed much Proficiency The first of these two the Persian is the more quaint the other the Indian the vulgar Language spoken in East-India in both these he suddenly got such a Knowledge and Mastery that it did exceedingly afterwards advantage him in his Travels up and down the Mogol's Territory he wearing always the Habit of that Nation and speaking their Language In the first of these viz. the Persian Tongue he terwards made an Oration to the Great Mogol which for the rareness of the Language and the honour of our great perambulating Traveller we have transcribed verbatim as followeth HAzaret Aallum pennah salamet fooker Daruces ve tehaungeshta hustam kemia emadam azwellagets door ganne az mulk Inglizan ke kessanaion pethee mushacas cardand ke wellagets mazcoor der akers magrub bood ke mader hamma iezzaerts dunmast Sabebbe amadane mari mia boosti char cheez ast an valbe dedane mobarreckdeedars Hazaret ke seete caramat ba hamma Trankestan reesedast ooba tamam mulk Musulmanan der sheenedan awsaffe Hazaret daveeda amadam be deedane astane akdus musharaf geshtam duum bray deedane feelhay Hazaret kin chumn iauooar der heech mulk ne dedam sen in bray deedane mamwer daryaee shumma Gauga ke Serdare hamma daryaha dumiest Chaharum een ast keyer fermawne alishaion amayet fermayand ke betwanam der wellayetts Uzbeck raftan ba Shahre Samarcand bray zeerat cardan cabbre mobarrec Saheb crawncah awsaffe tang oo mosacheere oo der tamam aallum meshoor ast belkder wellagotte uzber eencader meshoor neest chunan che der mulc Inglisan ast digr bishare eshteeac daram be dedane mobarrec mesare Saheb crawnca bray een Saheb The awne samanche foeheer de shabr stambol boodam ycaieb cohuu amarat deedam dermean yecush bung nasdec shaht mascoor coia che padshaw Eezawiawn che numesh Manuel bood che Saheb crawnca cush mehmannec aseem carda bood baad as gristane Sulteri Baiasestra iange aseem che shuda bood nos dec shahere Bursa coimache Saheb crawn Sultan Baiasetra de Zenicera tellaio bestand oo der cases nahadond een char chees meera as mulche man ium baneed ta mia as mulc Room oo Arrac peeada geshta as door der een mulc reseedum che char hasorr pharsang raw dared beshare derd oo mohuet casheedam che heech ches der een dunmia een cader mohuet ne casheedast bray deedune mobarrec dedaret Hasereret awn roos chee be tacte shaugh ne shaughee musharaf fermoodand The same in English LOrd Protector of the World all hail to you I am a poor Traveller and World-seer which am come hither from a far Country namely England which ancient Historians thought to have been scituated in the farthest Bounds of the West and which is the Queen of all the Islands in the World The cause of my coming hither is for four Respects first to see the blessed face of your Majesty whose wonderful Fame hath resounded over all Europe and the Mahometan Countries when I heard of the fame of your Majesty I hastened hither with speed and travelled very chearfully to see your glorious Court secondly to see your Majesties Elephants which kind of Beasts I have not seen in any other Country thirdly to see your famous River Ganges which is the Captain of all the Rivers of the World the fourth is this to entreat your Majesty that you would vouchsafe to grant me your gracious Pass that I may travel into the Country of Tartaria to the City of Sarmacand to visit the blessed Sepulchre of the Lord of the Corners viz. Tamberlain whose Fame by reason of his Wars and Victories is published over the whole World perhaps he is not altogether so famous in his own Country of Tartaria as in England Moreover I have a great desire to see the blessed Tomb of the Lord of the Corners for this cause for that when I was at Constantinople I saw a notable old Building in a pleasant Garden near the said City where the Christian Emperour that was called Emanuel made a sumptuous great Banquet to the Lord of the Corners after he had taken Sultan Bajazet in Fetters of Gold and put him in a Cage of Iron These four causes moved me to come out of my Native Country thus far having travell'd on foot through Turky and Persia so
the House is very long and at twelve of the clock it is full of Noblemen they sit upon Carpets on the ground the House is always full of People till midnight The last King Gembe never used to speak in the day but always in the night but this King speaketh in the day howbeit he spendeth most of the day with his Wives And when the King cometh in he goeth to the upper end of the House where he hath his Seat as it were a Throne and when the King is set they clap their hands and salute him saying in their Language Byam Pemba Ampola Moneya Quesinge On the South side of the Kings Houses he hath a Circuit or Village where his Wives dwell and in this Circuit no man may come on pain of death He hath in this place an hundred and fifty Wives or more and if any man be taken within this Circuit if he be with a Woman or do but speak to her they be both brought into the Market-place and their Heads be cut off their Bodies quartered and lie one day in the Streets The last King Gymbe had four hundred Children by his Women When the King drinketh he hath a Cup of Wine brought and he that bringeth it hath a Bell in his Hand and as soon as he hath delivered the Cup to the King he turneth his Face from him and ringeth the Bell then all that be there fall down upon their Faces and rise not till the King have drunk And this is very dangerous for any Stranger that knoweth not the fashions for if any seeth the King drink he is presently killed whatsoever he be There was a Boy of twelve years old which was the Kings Son this Boy chanced to come unadvisedly when his Father was a drinking presently the King commanded he should be well apparelled and Victuals prepared so the Youth did eat and drink afterwards the King commanded that he should be cut in quarters and carried about the City with Proclamation that he saw the King drink Likewise for the Kings Dyet when it is Dinner-time there is a House on purpose where he always eateth and there his Dyet is set upon a Bensa like a Table then he goeth in and hath the door shut and when he hath eaten he knocketh and cometh out so that none see the King eat nor drink for it is their belief that if he be seen eating or drinking he shall presently die This King is so honoured as though he were a God amongst them and is called Sambe and Pongo that is God and they believe that he can give them Rain when he listeth so once a year when it is time to rain which is in December the People come to beg it and bring their Gifts to the King for none come empty Then he appointeth the day and all the Lords far and near come to that Feast with all their Troops as they go in the Wars and when all the Troops of Men be before the King the greatest Lord cometh forth with his Bow and Arrows and sheweth his skill with his Weapons and then he hath a merry Conceit or Jest that he speaketh before the King and kneeleth at his feet and then the King thanketh him for his Love and in like manner they do all The King sitteth abroad in a great place and hath a Carpet spread upon the ground which is some fifteen Fathoms about of fine Eufacks which are wrought like Velvet and upon the Carpet his Seat which is a Fathom from the ground Then he commandeth his Dembes to strike up which are Drums so great that they cannot carry them He hath also eight Pongos which are his Waits made of the greatest Elephants Teeth and are hollowed and scraped light which play also so that with the Drums and Waits they make a Hellish noise After they have sported and shewed the King pleasure he ariseth and standeth upon his Throne and taking a Bow and Arrows into his Hand shooteth to the Sky and that day there is a great rejoycing because sometimes they have Rain which when it happens is a great Confirmation of their Folly Here is sometimes born in this Country White Children which is very rare among them for their Parents are Negroes and when any of them are born they are presented unto the King and are called Dondoes These are as white as any white man and are made the Kings Witches being brought up in Witchcraft and always wait on the King There is no man that dares meddle with these Dondoes if they go to the Market they may take what they list for all men stand in awe of them the King of Longo hath four of them This King is also a Witch and believeth in two Idols which are in Longo the one is called Mokisso a Longo the other is called Checocke This last is a little black Image and standeth in a little House at a Village that is called Kinga which standeth in the Landing-place of Longo The House of Checocke standeth in the High-way where all that go by clap their hands which is the courtesie of the Country Those that be Craftsmen as Fishermen Hunters and Witches do offer to this Idol that they may have good luck This Checocke doth sometimes in the night come and haunt some of his best beloved sometimes a Man sometimes a Boy or a Woman and then they befrantick for the space of three hours whatsoever the frantick Person speaketh that they think is the will of Checocke making a great Feast and Dancing at his House There is another Mokisso which is also in Ringa and it is called Gomberi it is the name of a Woman and is in an house where an old Witch dwelleth and she is called Ganga Gomberi which is the Priest of Gomberi Here once a year is a Feast made and Ganga Gomberi speaketh under the ground and this is a common thing every year I have asked the Negroes what it was and they told me it is a strong Mokisso that is come to abide with Chacocke There is a place two Leagues from the Town of Longo called Longeri where all their Kings be buried and it is compassed round about with Elephants Teeth pitched in the ground as it were a Pale being ten Roods in compass These People will suffer no white man to be buried in their Land and if any Stranger or Portugal come thither to trade and chance to die he is carried in a Boat two miles from the shore and cast into the Sea There was once a Portugal Gentleman that came to trade with them and had his House on shore thiâ— Gentleman died and was buried four moneths thaâ— year it did not rain so soon as it was wont which beginneth about December so that they lacked Rain some two months Then their Mokisso told them that the Christian which was buried must be taken out of the Earth and cast into the Sea and so he was taken up and cast into the Sea and
within three days it rained which made them have a great belief in the Devil Nineteen Leagues from Longo is the Province of Mayombe which is all Woods and Groves so overgrown that a man may travel twenty days in the shadow without any Sun or Heat Here is no kind of Corn or Grain nor any kind of tame Cattel nor Hens so that the People live onely upon Plantans and Roots of sundry sorts very good and Nuts But they have great store of Elephants flesh which they highly esteem also they have many kinds of wild Beasts and great store of Fish The Woods are so covered with Baboons Monkeys Apes and Parrots that it will fear any man to travel in them alone Here is also two kinds of Monsters which are common in these Woods and very dangerous the greatest of these two Monsters is called Pongo in their Language and the lesser is called Eugeco This Pongo is in all proportion like a man but more like a Giant in stature for he is very tall and hath a Mans face hollow cyed with long Hair upon his Brows His Face and Ears are without Hair as also his Hands his Body is full of Hair but not very thick and it is of a Dunnish colour He differeth not from a Man but in his Legs for they have no Calf He goeth always upon his Legs and carrieth his Hands clasped on the nape of his Neck when he goeth upon the ground They sleep in the Trees and build shelters for the Rain They feed upon Fruit that they find in the Woods and upon Nuts for they eat no kind of Flesh They cannot speak and have no understanding more than a Beast The People of the Country when they travel in the Woods make Fires where they sleep in the nights and in the morning when they are gone the Pongoes will come and sit about the Fire till it goeth out for they have no understanding to lay the Wood together They go many in company and kill divers Negroes that travel in the Woods Many times they fall upon the Elephants which come to feed where they be and so beat them with their clubbed Fifts and pieces of Wood that they will run roaring away from them These Pongoes are never taken alive because they are so strong that ten men cannot hold one of them but yet they take many of their young ones for the young Pongo hangeth on his Mothers Belly with his Hands fast clasp'd about her so that when any of the Country people do kill the Female with their poisoned Arrows they easily take the young one so hanging about her When they die among themselves they cover the dead with great heaps of Boughs and Wood which is commonly found in the Forest One of these Pongoes took a Negro Boy of the Authors which lived a month with them for they hurt not those which they surprise at unawares except they look on them which he avoided He said their height was like a Mans but their bigness twice as great The Morombes use to hunt with their Country Dogs and kill many kinds of little Beasts and great store of Pheasants But their Dogs be dumb and cannot bark at all they hang wooden Clappers about their Necks and follow them by the rattling of their Clappers The Huntsmen have Petes which they whistle their Dogs withall The European Dogs are highly esteemed there because they do bark one of them having been sold up in the Country for 30 l. In the Town of Mani-Mayombe is a Feâ—isso or Idol called Maramba and it standeth in a high Basket made like a Hive and over it a great House This is their House of Religion for they believe onely in him and keep his Laws carrying his Reliques always with them They are for the most part Witches and use their Witchcraft for hunting and killing of Elephants Fishing helping of Sick and Lame men and to forecast Journies whether they shall speed well or evil By this Maramba are all Thefts and Murders tried for in this Country they use to bewitch one another to death therefore when any dieth their Neighbours are brought before Maramba and if it be a great man that dieth the whole Town cometh to swear The Order is when they come before Maramba to kneel and clasp the Idol in their Arms and to say Emeno eyge bembet Maramba that is I come to be tried O Maramba And if any of them be guilty they fall down stark dead for ever The same way of Tryal also they have for any other matter In this Country of Mayombe did Battel continue the space of twelve moneths going from thence to Mani-kesock North-east of which place live a kind of little people called Matimbas which are no bigger than Boys of twelve years old but very thick and live onely upon Flesh which they kill in the Woods with their Bows and Darts Several other places in Angola did he also see at last desirous to return to his Native Country he embarqued and arrived safely in England where he lived a long time after leaving in writing behind him at his death the Relation of these his Miraculous Travels and Deliverances A strange Deliverance of an English-man from a Desolate Island near to Scotland wherein he had long continued in extream penury and misery IN the Year 1616 a Flemming named Pickman who was well known in England and Holland for his Art and dexterity in getting out of the Sea the great Guns of that Spanish Fleet which was forced upon the Coasts of Scotland and Ireland in the Year 1588. This man coming from Dronthem in Norway in a Vessel loaden with Boards was overtaken by a Calm during which the Current carried him upon a Rock or little Island towards the Extremities of Scotland where he was in some danger to have been cast away To avoid a Wrack he commanded some of his men to go into the Shallop and to tow off the Ship They having done so would needs go up into a certain Rock to look for Birds Eggs But as soon as they were got up into it they at some distance perceived a man whence they imagined that there were others lurking thereabouts and that this man had made his escape thither from some Pyrats who if not prevented might surprise their Ship and therefore they made all the haste they could to their Shallop and so returned to their Ship But the Calm continuing and the Current of the Sea still driving them upon the Island they were forced to get into the Long-boat and to tow her off again The man whom they had seen before was in the mean time come to the Brink of the Island and made signs with his hands lifted up and sometimes falling on his knees and joyning his hands together begging and crying to them for relief At first they made some difficulty to go to him but at last being overcome by his lamentable signs they went nearer the Island where they saw something that
Plimouth called the George Bonaventure of seventy Tun Burden or thereabout which by reason of her Greatness beyond the other I will name the Admiral and John Rawlin's Bark shall if you please be the Vice-Admiral These two according to the time of the Year had a fair Passage and by the eighteenth of the same month came to a place at the entring of the Streights named Trafflagar but the next morning being in the sight of Gibralter at the very Mouth of the Streights the Watch descryed five Sail of Ships who as it seemed used all the means they could to come near us and we as we had cause used the same means to go as far from them yet did their Admiral take in both his Top-Sails that either we might not suspect them or that his own Company might come up the closer together at last perceiving us Christians they fell from Devices to apparent discovery of Hostility and making out against us we again suspecting them Pirates took our course to escape from them and made all the Sail we possibly could for Terriff or Gibralter but all we could do could not prevent their approach for suddenly one of them came right over against us to Wind-ward and so fell upon our Quarter another came upon our Luffe and so threatned us there and at last all five chased us making great speed to surprize us Their Admiral was called Callfater having upon her main Top-Sail two top-gallant Sails one above another But whereas we thought them all five to be Turkish Ships of War we afterwards understood that two of them were their Prizes the one a small Ship of London the other of the west-West-Country that came out of the Quactath laden with Figs and other Merchandise but now subject to the Fortune of the Sea and the Captivity of Pirates But to our business three of these Ships got much upon us and so much that e're half the day was spent the Admiral who was the best Sailer fetch'd up the George Bonaventure and made Booty of it The Vice-Admiral again being nearest unto the lesser Bark whereof John Rawlins was Master shewed him the force of a stronger Arm and by his Turkish Name called Villa-Rise commanded him in like sort to strike his Sails and submit to his Mercy which not to be gain-sayed nor prevented was quickly done and so Rawlins with his Bark was taken although the Rear-Admiral being the worst Sailer of the three called Reggiprise came not in till all was done The same day before night the Admiral either loth to pester himself with too much Company or ignorant of the Commodity was to be made by the Sale of English Prisoners or daring not to trust them in his Company for fear of Mutinies and exciting others to Rebellion set twelve Persons who were in the George Bonaventure on the Land and divers other English whom he had taken before to try their Fortunes in an unknown Country But Villa-Rise the Vice-Admiral that had taken John Rawlins would not so dispence with his Men but commanded him and five more of his Company to be brought aboard his Ship leaving in his Bark three men and his Boy with thirteen Turks and Moors who were questionless suffic'ent to over-master the other and direct the Bark to Harbour Thus they sailed directly for Argier but the Night following followed them with a great Tempest and foul Weather which ended not without some effect of a Storm for they lost the sight of Rawlins's Bark called the Nicholas and in a manner lost themselves though they seemed safe a Ship-board by fearful conjecturing what should become of us at last by the 22 of the same month they or we chuse you whether arrived at Argier and came in Safety within the Mould but found not our other Bark there nay though we earnestly enquired after the same yet heard we nothing to our Satisfaction but much matter was ministered to our Discomfort and Amazement For although the Captain and our Over-seers were loth we should have any Conference with our Country men yet did we adventure to inform our selves of the present Affairs both of the Town and the Shipping so that finding many English at work in other Ships they spared not to tell us the danger we were in and the mischiefs we must needs incur as being sure if we were not used like Slaves to be sold as Slaves for there had been five hundred brought into the Market for the same purpose and above a hundred handsome Youths compelled to turn Turks or made subject to more vile Prostitutions and all English yet like good Christians they bid us be of good cheer and comfort our selves in this that God's Tryals were gentle Purgations and these Crosses were but to cleanse the Dross from the Gold and bring us out of the Fire again more clear and lovely Yet I must needs confess that they afforded us Reason for this Cruelty as if they determined to be revenged of our last attempt to fire their Ships in the Mould and therefore protested to spare none whom they could surprise and take alive but either to sell them for Money or torment them to serve their own Turns Now their Customs and Usages in both these was in this manner First concerning the first The Bashaw had the over-seeing of all Prisoners who were presented unto him at their first coming into the Harbour and so chose one out of every eight for a Present or Fee to himself the rest were rated by the Captains and so sent to the market to be sold whereat if either there were repining or any withdrawing back then certain Moors and Officers attended either to beat you forward or thrust you into the sides with Goads And this was the manner of the selling of Slaves Secondly concerning their enforcing them either to turn Turks or to attend their Filthiness and Impieties although it would make a Christians Heart bleed to hear of the same yet must the Truth not be hid nor the Terror left untold They commonly lay them on their naked Backs or Bellies beating them so long till they bleed at the Nose and Mouth and if yet they continue constant then they strike the Teeth out of their Heads pinch them by their Tongues and use many other sort of Tortures to convert them nay many times they lay them their whole length in the Ground like a Grave and so cover them with Boards threatning to starve them if they will not turn and so many even for fear of Torment and Death make their Tongues betray their Hearts to a most fearful Wickedness and so are circumcised with new Names and brought to confess a new Religion Others again I must confess who never knew any God but their own sensual Lusts and Pleasures thought that any Religion would serve their Turns and so for Preferment or Wealth very voluntarily renounced their Faith and became Renegadoes in despight of any Counsel which seemed to intercept them And this
knowledge of Prophecy by their Necromantical Science because every thing came to pass as they had spoken For soon after their Arrival at Court the Thane of Cawder being condemned of Treason against the King his Title Lands Livings and Offices were given of the King's Liberality unto Mackbeth The same Night at Supper Banquho jested with him and said Now Mackbeth thou hast obtained those things which the two former Sisters promised there remaineth only for thee to purchase that which the third said should come to pass Encouraged thus by Banquho's Words but more by assurance of his helping hand he resolved not to be wanting to himself to fulfill the Prophecy of the third Weird his Wife also encouraging him much to the Attempt being very ambitious and burning with unquenchable desire to bear the name of a Queen Hereupon to put his disloyal Thoughts into Execution he murthers the King and by reason of his Command among the Souldiers and common People he succeeded in his Throne and was crowned at Scone the usual place for the Coronation of their Kings and being thus invested in the Regal Chair he for a while used great Justice and Liberality amongst his Subjects whereby he gained the Affections both of the Nobles and Common People But as commonly those who make a Ladder of Mischief to climb up to Promotion are ever jealous of those who may prejudice their unjust Titles so he calling to Mind the Prediction given to his Companion Banquho whom hereupon suspecting as his Supplanter he caused to be killed together with his whole Kindred Fleance his Son only with much difficulty escaping into Wales Glad he was now that he was freed from this Fear but yet for his further Security he built a strong Castle on the top of an high Hill called Dunsinane ten miles from Perth on such a proud height that standing there aloft a man might behold well near all the Countries of Angus Fife Stermond and Ernedale as it were lying underneath him making this his ordinary Seat yet could not his guilty Conscience be still secure but upon new Fears consulting with certain Wizards about his future Estate was told by one that he should never be overcome till Bername Wood which was some few miles distant did come to Dunsinane Castle and by another that he should never be slain by any Man born of a Woman Secure then as he thought he omitted no kind of Libidiousness or Cruelty putting to Death many of his Nobles upon slight pretences thereby to get their Estates into his hands Mackduffe Thane of Fise seeing no end of his Cruelty posted into England to Malcomne Cammore a Prince of the Royal Blood persuading him to take upon him the Crown of Scotland and to free his Country from so detestable a Tyrant and so far he prevailed that Malcomne with Syword Earl of Northumberland and ten thousand well appointed Souldiers marched into Scotland to whom joyned some few Patriots which had not yet felt the Tyrants Sword These marching with as much Privacy as so great an Army could be capable of came one Night to Bermane Wood and early in the Morning marched every Man bearing a Bough in his hand the better to keep them from Discovery toward Dunsinane Castle which they presently took by Scalado Mackbeth escaping was pursued over-taken and urged to fight by Mackduffe to whom the Tyrant half in Scorn replyed that in vain he attempted his death for it was his Destiny never to be slain by any man born of a Woman now then is thy fatal Hour come said Mackduffe for I was never born of a Woman but violently cut out of my Mothers Belly she dying before her Delivery which Words so daunted the Tyrant though otherwise a man of good Performance that he was easily slain and Malcolmne Cammore the true Heir of the Crown seated in the Throne In the mean time whilst these things were acting Fleance the Son of Banquho so thrived in Wales that he grew into great favour and estimation with the Prince of that Countrey and into such familiarity with his Daughter that she of courtesie in the end suffered him to get her with Child which being once understood her Father the Prince conceived such hateful displeasure towards Fleance that he finally slew him and held his Daughter in most vile state of servitude for that she had consented to be on this wise deflowred by a Stranger At the last yet she was delivered of a Son named Walter who within few years proved a Man of greater Courage and Valiancy than any other had commonly been found although he had no better bringing up than by his Grand-fathers Appointment amongst the baser sort of People Howbeit he shewed ever even from his Infancy that there reigned in him a certain stoutness of Stomach ready to attempt high Enterprizes It chanced that falling out with one of his Companions after many taunting Words which passed betwixt them the other to his Reproach objected that he was Illegitimate wherewith being sore kindled in his raging Fury he ran upon him and slew him out of hand then was he glad to flee out of Wales and coming into Scotland to seek some Friendship there he happened into the Company of such English men as were come thither with Queen Margaret the Sister of Edgar Atheling who was married to Malcolme and now he behaved himself so soberly in all his Demeanour that within a while he was highly esteemed amongst them Not long after by such means attaining to the degree of high Reputation he was sent with a great Power of Men into the Western Isles into Galloway and other parts of the Realm to deliver the same of the Tyranny and injurious Oppression there exercised by divers misgoverned Persons which Enterprize according to his Commission he atcheived with such prudent Policy and Man-hood that immediately upon his Return to the Court he was made Lord Steward of Scotland from which Office the name of Steward became as the Sir-name of all his Posterity From this Walter descended that Robert Steward who was after in Right of his Wife King of Scotland since which time there was successively nine Sovereigns of that Name in Scotland and three in England King James King Charles the First and King Charles the Second And may the Providence above so nourish That Name in England may for ever flourish Of a Costermonger 's Daughter of London how after many strange Adventures she came at last to be chief Sultaness to the Grand Seignior of Constantinople OF all the Passions which possess the Spirits of Men there is none which yields such variety of Admiration and Wonder as those of Love of which I shall give you herein a most notable Example scarcely to be parallell'd in any of our Romantick Stories did not we know the Power of Beauty how it subdues far beyond the Sword by conquering the Conquerours and making all things subject to it In our Metropolitan City of London there lived a
far have I traced the World into this Country that my Pilgrimage hath accomplished three thousand miles wherein I have sustained much labour and toil the like whereof no mortal man in this World did ever perform to see the blessed Face of your Majesty since the first day that you were inaugurated in your glorious Monarchal Throne In answer to this Oration the Mogol told him that concerning his Travel to the City of Samarcand he was not able to do him any good because there was no great Amity betwixt the Tartarian Princes and himself so that his commendatory Letters vvould do him no good also he added that the Tartars did so deadly hate all Christians that they vvould certainly kill him vvhen he came into their Country So that he earnestly dissuaded him from the Journey if he loved his Life and Welfare and at last concluded his Discourse vvith him by a Sum of Money that he threw dovvn from a Windovv out of vvhich he looked into a Sheet tyed up by the four Corners and hanging very near the Ground a hundred Roopas vvhich amounts to the value of tvvelve pounds and ten Shillings of our English Money the Mogol looking upon him as a Derveese Votary or Pilgrim for so he called him and such as bear that name in that Country seem not much to care for Money and that vvas the Reason as vvas supposed that he gave him not a more plentiful Revvard However this Money was very welcom to Mr. Coriat at that time for as he wrote in a Letter to his Mother he had then but twenty shillings sterling left in his purse by reason as he wrote of a mischance he had in one of the Turks Cities called Emert in the Countrey of Mesopotamia where a miscreant Turk stripped him of almost all his Monies So that you see our Pilgrim or World-seer was often-times put hard to his shifts such straights did his curiosity of seeing bring him often unto and all for the itch of a little Fame which engaged him to the undertakings of those very hard long and dangerous Travels For he was a man of a very coveting Eye that could never be satisfied with seeing as Solomon says Eccles 1. 8. though he had seen very much and some were perswaded that he took as much content in seeing as many others in the enjoying of great and rare things He was a man that had got the mastery of many hard Languages as besides the Latin and Greek which he brought out of England with him he attained to the Persian Arabick and Indostan Tongues in which last he was so perfect that when at Agra he lodged at Sir Thomas Row's the Ambassadour's house where there was a Woman a Laundress belonging to the House that was so tongue-valiant that she would sometimes scold brawl and rail from the Sun-rising to the Sun-set one day he undertook her in her own Language and by eight of the clock in the morning he so silenc'd her that she had not one word more to speak Now had he had Wisdom to husband and manage these Languages as he had sklil to speak them he had deserved more Fame in his Generation But his knowledge and high attainments in several Languages made him not a little ignorant of himself he being so covetous so ambitious of praise that he would hear and endure more of it than he could in any measure deserve being like a Ship that hath too much Sail and too little Ballast yet had he not fallen into the smart hands of the Wits of those times he might have passed better since many thousands more and therefore he was not alone in this have entred into strange attempts to be talked of Now as he was very ambitious of Fame so the least seeming undervaluing did much trouble him as when upon a time one Mr. Richard Steel a Merchant and Servant to the East-India Company came from Surat to Mandoa the place then of the Mogol's residence where Mr. Coriat then was with the English Ambassador This Merchant had not long before travelled over Land from East-India through Persia and so to Constantinople and so for England who in his Travel homeward had met with Tom Coriat as he was journeying towards East-India Mr. Steel then told him that when he was in England King James then living enquired after him and when he had certified the King of his meeting him on the way the King replied Is that Foolyet living which when our Pilgrim heard it seemed to trouble him very much because the King spake no more nor no better of him saying That Kings would speak of poor men what they pleased At another time when he was ready to depart from Agra Sir Thomas Row gave him a Letter and in that a Bill to receive ten Pounds at Aleppo when he should return thither The Letter was directed to one Mr. Libbaeus Chapman there Consul at that time in which that which concerned our Traveller was thus Mr. Chapman when you shall hand these Letters I desite you to receive the Bearer of them Mr. Thomas Coriat with Courtesie for you shall find him a very honest poor Wretch and farther I must intreat you to furnish him with ten pounds which shall be repayed c. Our Pilgrim liked the Gift well but the Language by which he should receive it did not at all content him telling the Ambassadour's Chaplain That his Lord had even spoiled his Coursie in the carriage thereof so that if he had been a very Fool indeed he could have said very little less of him than he did to write Honest poor wretch and to say no more of him was to say as much as nothing And furthermore he then told the Chaplain that when he was formerly undertaking his Journey to Venice a Person of Honour wrote thus in his behalf unto Sir Henry Wootton then and there Ambassadour My Lord Good wine needs no Bush neither a worthy man Letters Commendatory because whithersoever he comes he is his own Epistle c. There said he was some Language on my behalf but now for my Lord to write nothing of me by way of Commendation but Honest poor wretch is rather to trouble me than to please me with his Favour And therefore afterwards his Letter was phras'd up to his mind By which may be seen how tender he was to be touched in any thing that might in the least measure disparage him O what pains this poor man undertook to make himself a Subject for present and after Discourse being troubled for nothing at the present unless with the fear of not living to reap the fruit he was so ambitious of in all his undertakings Now for his Religion that he was a true Christian Protestant not tainted with travelling those Pagan and Mahometan Countreys may appear by these two Examples In each great City where there is a Concourse of People their Mosquits or Mahometan Churches at the four corners of them have high and round but