their Faces are as white as the fairest Jasmin that they commonly carry on their Heads And I never saw in any Country Women that had so much beauty and charmingness in the Face I say in the Face for their Breasts are scorched with the Sun and black at which I have often wondred seeing they take no more care to keep their Faces than their Breasts For my part I could not but Quarrel with them sometimes that they covered not their Breasts with some Handkerchief or other Linnen for if they did nothing could be more lovely Their Habit contributes much also to set off their Beauty for they are always very Neat in their Dress wearing on their Heads very white Linnen shaped like a little Capucins Hood squatted at the end Besides all these External Charms they have something that is more solid for they have a brisk and merry Wit that renders them the most taking Women in the World but if they be Pretty they are also extreamly Vain and that is a Vice inseparable from the Sex. They wear the finest Stuffs that they can get and yet it is nothing now to what it has been formerly for the meanest of them even to the Coblers Wife would needs have lovely Velvet-Shoes that cost five or six Crowns Neck-laces and Bracelets of Gold and their Fingers full of Rings but they payed dâ—â—r one day for their Vanity The Church of St. John is a Musket-shot without the Town A story of the Braveries of the Chiots upon the Sea-side on the Vigil of that Saints Day there is a great Concourse of People at that Church all the Island are there and the Women and Girls strive who shall be finest This Day being come they opened their Coffers and brought out all the rich and fine Things they had and such as had no Ornaments of their own went and borrowed of their Friends When they had Drest themselves to the best Advantage they could they went after Dinner to St. Johns now near the Gate by which they go to that Church there is a Tower on the top thereof was the Captain Basha who beheld them as they passed by which did not a little puff them up When the Service was over they stopt before the Tower as they came back and there fell a Dancing before the Captain Basha who seemed to be much taken with it but next day the Basha demanded an Hundred thousand Piastres of the Citizens saying That he stood in need of it against the coming of the Grand Signior They made excuse The Chiots fined for their Vanity pretending that they had it not but he stopt their Mouths with this reply That they could find enough to load their Wives and Daughters with Gold and all they could do was to compound with the Captain Basha and pay him Fifty thousand Piastres After that both the Greeks and Latins with common consent got their Bishops to charge the Women under pain of Excommunication not to wear any Jewel Gold or Silver about them but they not enduring to lay aside their Ornaments slighted and laught at the Excommunication until at length they procured one from the Pope since that time they have not worn any The Chiots are much given to Dancing both Men and Women and on Sundays and Holydays in the Evening they fall all a Dancing promiscuously together in a Ring which continues all Night not only in the City but Villages and a Stranger newly come who neither knows nor is known of any may freely put in with the rest and take the fairest by the Hand without any Scandal more or less than in our Country Towns in France And I know no other difference betwixt the Chiots and Genoese but that the former are not at all Jealous For though they be in a Country where a Woman dares not shew her self to a Man unless she would be taken for a Strumpet Yet the Women of this Isle have retained so great Liberty both in the City and Villages that the Maids spend commonly the Days and Evenings at their Doors talking and playing with their Neighbours or Singing and looking on those that pass by And a Stranger who had never seen them before may without scandal stop and talk to her he likes best who will entertain him and Laugh as freely as if she had known him for many Years But to have the greater Diversion it is necessary that one should smatter a little in the vulgar Greek for though several of them understand Italian yet their usual Language is the vulgar Greek which is for the most part but the literal Greek corrupted A Jesuit of Chio told me that Pietro Della Valle a Roman Gentleman who published his Travels being at Chio observed two things there which he wondred to find together to wit great Mirth and Slavery As to Slavery I think they have no more of that but the Name and certainly there is less Slavery there than in any other place of Turkie As for their Mirth An impertinent thought of the Italians I wonder not at all that it seemed strange to that Gentleman who was of a Country where the Men are fully persuaded that a Woman who Converses with a Man is ready to grant him all that he can desire of her it is also true that at that time they made a great deal Merrier at Chio than when I was there for seeing in my time they were very apprehensive of the Venetians after the Battel of the Dardanelles Four Bashas with their Attendants were come there and Lodged all in the Citizens Houses who were forced to leave them to the Turks The fourth of these Bashas arrived at Chio whilst I was there and seeing the Magistrates of the Town had assigned him a Quarter for himself and Men they whose Houses were appointed for the Turks making difficulty to open their Doors because they were in hopes to get off by delaying the Turks that were to Quarter there broke open their Doors with Hatchets and all over that Quarter where we Lodged there was nothing to be heard but a horrid noise of blows of Hatchets and the cries of Women who were in the Houses within Those who were less obstinate removed their Goods quickly to the Houses of their Friends because they were obliged to give them no more but the bare Walls but it was a sad sight to see People forced to leave their Houses to Men that they knew not without knowing where to go and Lodg themselves and it seemed to me to be a faint representation of a Town taken by Storm The House of our Vice-Consul A Present sent to a Basha that came to Chio. was exempted from such Guests by the means of some good Friends that he had Next day after that Basha arrived the Consuls of the City sent him the usual Present which consisted of two Baskets full of Bread eight white Wax-Tapers of an ordinary bigness five Sugar-Loaves three Pots of Honey three Pots of
was slain by the Knight Deodat de Gozon Deodat de Gozon as may be seen in the History of the Knights of St. John the Head of the Dragon was heretofore upon that Gate but some Years since the Turks removed it to the Water-gate On this side it was also that the Traytor Andrea d'Amaral shot secretly from the House of the Great Master that looks that way a Letter fastned to an Arrow into the Camp of the Turks wherein he gave the Turks notice that they could not take the Town but on that side by filling up the Ditches with the Earth of a Hill that was close by which they did and so took Rbodes from the same place the Traytor continued to acquaint the Grand Signior with the resolutions of the Council Near to this Gate within the Town are the Pits where the Knights put their Corn such as they have at present in Malta for the same use As you enter the Town by the Water-gate you go first through a little Gate over which are two Escutcheons of two Crosses the one plain and the other Anchred then to the Left hand you enter by a great Gate over which is the Dragons Head which is much Thicker Broader A Dragons head at Rhodes and Longer than a Horses Head the Jaws of it are slit up to the Ears with very great Teeth on each side it is flat above hath Eyes somewhat bigger than those of a Horse the hole of the Nostril full round and the Skin of a greyish White Colour perhaps because of the Dust that sticks to it and appears to be very hard There are three Escutcheons over that Gate also as there are many others on several places of the Walls but one dares not stop to look at them One of these Escutcheons bears a plain Cross and the other a Cross Anchred and betwixt these two there is a third bearing the Arms of France On the very top of this Gate there are three Statues in their Niches with three Lines written underneath them whereof I could only read the first Word which is D. Petrus and under that Inscription are the three above-mentioned Escutcheons This Gate is betwixt two great Towers well planted with Faulcons The Streets of the Town are pretty broad all Paved with little Stones and for the most part covered with Pent-houses which the Turks have made these Pent-houses jet out so far into the Street that they almost touch one another in the middle of it There are several fair Buildings in it but all built in time of the Knights St. John's Church is still to be seen there but it is at present a Mosque There is a little Nich over the great Gate of it that hath a round cover and upon that cover the Figures of our Saviour the Blessed Virgin and St. John holding the Cross are cut in bas relief The Gate is of Wood pretty well carv'd and on the left hand as you come out of the Church into which no Christian is now suffered to enter is the street of the Knights where all of them I believe lodged for there are several Coats of Arms upon the houses of that street out of which there is still a gate to go into St. John's This is a long streight street and mounts upwards it is paved with small Stones and in the middle of the street there is a line of white Marble a foot broad which reaches from one end to the other at the upper end of it is the Palace of the great Master but no body now lives in it None but Turks and Jews live in the City of Rhodes for Christians are not suffered to be there though they keep Shops in the Town but at night they must retire to the Villages in the Countrey about being only allowed to come to Town in the day-time CHAP. LXXIV Of the Voyage from Rhodes to Alexandria Departure from Rhodes WE stay'd at Rhodes till Christmas having all the while very bad weather great Rains and much Thunder At length on Monday Christmas-day the five and twentieth of December the wind turned North-west but because it was still close and cloudy weather our Captain would not put out that day though a great many Saiques set sail On St. Stephen's-day being Tuesday the six and twentieth of December it clearing a little up and the North-west-wind continuing we set out from Rhodes after twelve a clock making sail only with our Fore-sail that we might not leave the Island before night for fear of Corsairs The Countrey of Chares After Sun-set we spread our Main-sail and in a short time left Lindo the Countrey of Chares who made the Colossus of Rhodes a stern of us it is a little Rock at a point of the Isle of Rhodes threescore miles from the Town Scarpanto There is a small Town on it with a very good Fort. When it was two or three hours in the night we came over against the Isle of Scarpanto fifty miles from Lindo Gulf of Satalia which we left to the star-board then we entered into the Gulf of Satalia where for two or three hours time we had a rowling Sea because the Current of that Gulf makes an Eddy with the Currents of the Gulf of Venice and other places to the Westward which is the cause that the Sea is a little rough there This Passage was heretofore so dangerous that many Vessels were cast away in it but the Sea-men say that St. Helena returning from Jerusalem threw one of the Nails of our Saviour's Cross into it and that since the danger has been less After that about mid-night it began to blow so fresh from North-north-west that we reckoned our running to be ten miles an hour though we carried only our Main-sail that we might not leave a Callion or Turkish Ship that was our Consort and was a great way a stern of us She came with us from Chio and was also bound for Alexandria That wind lasted all Wednesday the seven and twentieth of December St. John the Evangelist's-day and at night it slackened a little and then changed to the North-east but so easie a gale that we got a head but little or nothing during the whole night and all next day which was St. Innocent's-day the twenty eighth of December That day towards the evening the wind blew a little fresher but shortly after was calmed by a shower of Rain About midnight it blew again so hard that Friday the nine and twentieth of December by break of day we made the Land of Aegypt Boukery and the wind chopping about to West-north-west we stood away towards Boukery five hundred miles distant from Rhodes but the wind cast us so far to the lee-ward that shortly after we found ourselves below Alexandria where we endeavoured to put in Arrival near to Alexandria beating to and again all day long but in the evening we were fain to come to an anchor five or six miles
An Orphan adopted and made King of Viziapour The King who Reigns in Viziapour at present was an Orphan whom the late King and the Queen adopted for their Son and after the death of the King the Queen had so much interest as to settle him upon the Throne but he being as yet very young the Queen was declared Regent of the Kingdom Nevertheless there has been a great deal of weakness during her Government and Raja Sivagy hath made the best on 't for his own Elevation CHAP. III. Of Goa Goa THe Town of Goa with its Isle of the same name which is likewise called Tilsoar borders upon Viziapour directly Southward it lies in the Latitude of fifteen degrees and about forty minutes upon the River of Mandona which discharges it self into the Sea two Leagues from Goa and gives it one of the fairest Harbours in the World some would have this Countrey to be part of Viziapour but it is not and when the Portuguese came there it belonged to a Prince called Zabaim who gave them trouble enough nevertheless Zabaim Prince of Goa Albuquerque made himself Master of it in February One thousand five hundred and ten through the cowardize of the Inhabitants who put him into possession of the Town and Fort and took an Oath of Allegiance to the King of Portugal This Town hath good Walls with Towers and great Guns and the Isle it self is Walled round with Gates towards the Land to hinder the Slaves from running away which they do not fear towards the Sea because all the little Isles and Peninsules that are there belong to the Portuguese and are full of their Subjects This Isle is plentiful in Corn Beasts and Fruit and hath a great deal of good water The City of Goa is the Capital of all those which the Portuguese are Masters of in the Indies The Arch-Bishop Vice-Roy and Inquisitor General have their Residence there and all the Governours and Ecclesiastick and secular Officers of the other Countries subject to the Portuguese Nation in the Indies depend on it The death of Albuquerque The death of St. Francis of Xavier Albuquerque was buried there in the year One thousand five hundred and sixteen and St. Francis of Xavier in One thousand five hundred fifty two The River of Mendoua is held in no less veneration by the Bramens and other Idolaters than Ganges is elsewhere and at certain times and upon certain Festival days they flock thither from a far to perform their Purifications It is a great Town and full of fair Churches lovely Convents and Palaces well beautified there are several Orders of Religious both Men and Women there and the Jesuits alone have five publick Houses few Nations in the World were so rich in the Indies as the Portuguese were before their Commerce was ruined by the Dutch but their vanity is the cause of their loss and if they had feared the Dutch more than they did they might have been still in a condition to give them the Law there from which they are far enough at present There are a great many Gentiles about Goa some of them worship Apes and I observed elsewhere that in some places they have built Pagods to these Beasts Most part of the Gentiles Heads of Families in Viziapour The way of the Banians dressing their Victuals dress their own Victuals themselves he that do's it having swept the place where he is to dress any thing draws a Circle and confines himself within it with all that he is to make use of if he stand in need of any thing else it is given him at a distance because no body is to enter within that Circle and if any chanced to enter it all would be prophaned and the Cook would throw away what he had dressed and be obliged to begin again When the Victuals are ready they are divided into three parts The first part is for the Poor the second for the Cow of the House and the third Portion for the Familie and of this third they make as many Commons as there are Persons and seeing they think it not civil to give their leavings to the poor they give them likewise to the Cow. CHAP. IV. Of the Kingdom of Golconde Of Bagnagar THe most powerful of the Kings of Decan next to Viziapour is the King of Golconda His Kingdom borders on the East side Golconda upon the Sea of Bengala to the North upon the Mountains of the Countrey of Orixa to the South upon many Countries of Bisuagar or Ancient Narsingue which belongs to the King of Viziapour and to the West upon the Empire of the Great Mogul by the province of Balagate where the Village of Calvar is which is the last place of Mogolistan on that side There are very insolent collectors of Tolls at Calvar Calvar and when they have not what they demand Li li li. they cry with all their force their Li li li striking their Mouth with the palm of their Hand and at that kind of alarm-bell which is heard at a great distance naked Men come running from all parts carrying Staves Lances Swords Bows Arrows and some Musquets who make Travellers pay by force what they have demanded and when all is payed it is no easie matter still to get rid of them The bounds of Mogulistan Mahoua The boundaries of Mogulistan and Golconda are planted about a League and a half from Calvar They are Trees which the call Mahoua these mark the outmost Land of the Mogul and immediately after on this side of a Rivulet there are Cadjours or wild Palm-trees planted only in that place to denote the beginning of the Kingdom of Golconda wherein the insolence of collectors is far more insupportable than in the confines of Mogolistan for the duties not being exacted there in the Name of the King but in the Name of private Lords to whom the Villages have been given the Collectors make Travellers pay what they please We found some Officers where they made us give fifty Roupies in stead of twenty which was their due and to shew that it was an Extortion of the Exactors they refused to give us a note for what they had received 16 Officers in 23 Leagues and in the space of three and twenty Leagues betwixt Calvar and Bagnagar we were obliged with extream rigour to pay to sixteen Officers Bramens are the Collectors of these Tolls and are a much ruggeder sort of People to have to do with than the Banians The Road from Calvar to Bagnagar Malaredpet 3 or 4 Leag from Calvar Bouquenour a Town Mellinar 6 Leag from Malaredpet Dgelpeli 6 Leag from Mellinar Marcel 3 Leag from Degelpeli Bagnagar 4 Leag from Marcel In our way from Calvar to Bagnager we found no other Town but Buquenour but there are others to the right and left we passed by eighteen Villages The Nadab or Governour of the Province lives in the little Town of Marcel and we
that many times Vessels are carried upon the Rocks and there perish The Antients called this Sea Pontus Euxinus a Name that hath been changed and soft'ned from that of Axinos which in Latin signifies Inhospitabilis one that uses his Guests unkindly as in Italy the the City which was since called Malventum was named Beneventum If you go a-shore on the side of Europe you 'll see a very fine Countrey full of Gardens and good Pasture Ground and in this Countrey there are several Villages inhabited by Greeks A little further up in the Countrey on the same side there are very lovely Aqueducts that carry water to Constantinople CHAP. XXII Of the Shape and Strength of the Turks Of their Apparel Way of Saluting And of their Manners I Have given but a short account of all the places of Constantinople that I have seen because many others have treated largely of them I shall now say something of the Shape Strength Cloathing Customs and Manners of the Turks according to what I could observe and learn. The Shape of the Turks The Turks are commonly well shaped having a well proportioned body and are free from many defects which are more common in other Countries of Europe for you see neither Crooked nor Criples amongst them and it is not without reason that it is said As strong as a Turk they being for the most part robust and strong Their Habit is fit to make them seem proper The Turks Habit advantagious and it covers defects far more easily than the Canons or Pantaloons of France next their skin they wear a pair of Drawers which shut alike behind and before their Shirt which hath sleeves like our Womens Smocks and is slit in the same manner comes over their Drawers they have a Doliman above their Shirt Doliman which is like a close-bodied Cassock that reaches down to the heels and hath streight sleeves ending in a little round flap that covers the back of their hands these Dolimans are made of Stuff Taffeta Sattin or other neat striped Stuffs and in Winter they have them quilted with Cotton over the Doliman they gird themselves about the small of the waste with a Sash that may serve them for a Turban when it is wreathed about the head or with a leathern Belt two or three fingers broad adorned with Gold or Silver Buckles Cangiar At their girdle they commonly wear two Daggers which they call Cangiars and are properly knives in a sheath but the handles and Sheaths are garnished with Gold or Silver and sometimes with Precious-stones or else the handles are only of the Tooth of a Fish which they esteem incomparably more than Ivory and sell a pound of it very dear They carry two Handkerchiefs at their girdle one on each side and their Tobacco-pouch hangs also at it their Purse being in their bosom as many things else are to wit their Papers and foul Handkerchiefs for they use their bosoms as we do our pockets Feredge Over the Doliman they wear a Feredge which is like our Night-gown having very wide sleeves and about as long as the arm though they hang not always so far down this serves them for a Cloak and in the Winter-time they line it with rich Furrs and such as are able Samour willingly lay out four or five hundred Piastres for a Lining of Sables which they call Samour Their Stockins are of Cloth the length of the leg the feet whereof are socks of yellow or red Leather according to their quality sewed to the Stockins Mestes they call these Socks Mestes Their Shoes are of the same colour and made almost like Slippers the heel is equal to the rest of the sole only it is shod with a piece of Iron made purposely half-round and these Shoes they call Paboutches Paboutches Their head is covered with a crimson Velvet Cap without brims gilded in the in-side and round that they wreath a white or red Turban Turban This Turban is a scarf of Linnen or Silk stuff many Ells long and the whole breadth of the stuff which they turn several times about their head and they wreath it in many fashions so that the condition or quality of the Man may be known by the way he wears the Turban and other head-attire whereof we shall speak hereafter Some fashions of them are very difficult to be made and there are people whose trade and profession is to make them up as Dressers are with us As for the Kindred of Mahomet whom they call Scherifs they wear a green Turban the word Scherif signifies Noble and none but those of that Race dare take to themselves this Title or wear green on the head there being no other way to distinguish them but by their colour These Blades who have only an imaginary Nobility are very numerous and for the most part Beggars if you except some Princes which they have still in some States of Arabia and Africa of whom we shall treat in another place These Scherifs give it out that they have this particular vertue in themselves That throw them into a fiery Furnace they 'll come out without any hurt The Women of this Race are also to be known by a piece of green stuff which they have fastened to their Veil on the fore-part of their head But to return to the Turks Apparel I look upon it to be very commodious and indeed it is the Habit most generally used in the World if you except some Northern and Western Provinces The Hair and Beards of the Turks The Turks shave their heads and think it strange that the Francks suffer their Hair to grow for they say that the Devil nestles in it so that they are not subject to that filth and nastiness which breed among our Hair if we be not careful to comb it well But they let their Beard and Mustachios grow except those who are brought up and have Offices in the Serraglio for none there but the Grand Signior and the Bostangi Basha suffer it to grow and they have a great esteem for a Man that hath a lovely Beard it is a great affront to one to take him by the Beard unless it be to kiss him as they often do they swear by their Beard as also by the Head of their Father of the Grand Signior and such like Oaths When they salute one another The Turkish way of saluting they uncover not the head and to do so would be an affront but only laying their hand upon the breast and bowing a little they say Sela meon aleicom which is asmuch as to say Peace be with you and he that is saluted does the like and answers Aleicom esselam ve rahhmet vllah which is to say Peace be with you and God's Mercy also and such other Benedictions In fine that way of saluting is very grave and was indeed the ancient way of Salutation as appears by Holy Scripture The left hand is
Saints day This Church is called Tasiarchi it is well built and beautified hath large Revenues and as they say several Mad-men recover their Senses in it but the Inhabitants are very vicious Catharacti is a Castle Catharacti built with great Judgment on a Hill by the Genoese when they were Masters of that Island it was commanded by the Signiors Della Rocca Signiors Della Rocca Didima Oxodidima Merminghi Tholopotami Dimite Scamandee as may be seen by their Arms upon it The Inhabitants may be about Fifteen hundred People who have sixteen Churches and a Monastery of Monks dedicated to the Virgin there are Nuns there also who are not very austere I shall say nothing of some other Villages as Didima Oxodidima Merminghi Tholopotami containing an Hundred and fifty Two hundred and Three hundred Inhabitants In most of these Villages are made the Stuffs which they call Dimite and Scamandee that is to say double and single Stuff which are much used in the Island and Exported also to other places And in fine Why so many Castles in the Isle of Chio. that the Reader may know why heretofore they built so many Castles and Towers I shall here give the Reason of it The Fields of Chio being full of Mastick-Trees there was a necessity of having People to watch them and gather the Gum in the seasons wherefore there were little Villages dispersed up and down the Country some containing thirty some fifty and some an hundred Inhabitants but being infested by the Turks of Anatolia which is but about eighteen Miles distant who came and carried away both Men and Goods all these Villages resolved to joyn three or four together and to build Castles or Towers to defend them from these Pirates and for guarding the Trees and Villages they built Towers round the Island at three or four Miles distance one from another And each neighbouring Village sent thither two Men to Watch who when they saw any Boats Ships or Galleys gave the Allarm to the Country and either retired or defended themselves CHAP. LXIV Of the Isle of Chio and its Inhabitants Chio. CHIO called by the Turks Sakisadasi that is to say the Isle of Mastick is a famous Island of the Archipelago about an hundred miles from Smyrna though it would not be so far if one kept a streight course but one must go round a Hill Xamos or Sousambogazi which the Greeks call Xamos the Turks Sousambogazi that runs a great way out into the Sea. This Island belonged heretofore to the Justiniani Genoese Lords with the title of a Principality but it was taken in the year 1566. by a Captain Basha named Pialis and subjected to the Turks The Isle of Chio is fourscore Miles in Circuit and very Populous having a City and above threescore Towns and Villages inhabited for the most part only by Christians and the whole Land is full of Country Habitations consisting of a little spot of Ground and a little Tower-house with two or three Rooms so that it seems to be a Town in the Fields like the Country about Marseilles It is an Island much subject to Earth-quakes and would be very Fertile if it were not so Stony and had more Water for it Rains so little there that every Spring they are fain to make Processions through the City for obtaining Rain from Heaven The Turks first make theirs next the Greeks then the Latines and lastly the Jews The Turks are very little concerned which of all these Prayers be heard Justiniani provided they have what they ask but notwithstanding the Hilliness and dryness of the Island yet it has all things necessary in sufficient quantity and good It yields Corn plenty of very good Wine but so thick that many do not like it because as they say they must both eat and drink it All things are very cheap there and excellent good Partridges may be had for little or nothing Partridges cheap and how they are bred but it is curious to see how they breed up those Birds at Chio For there are Peasants like publick Keepers who are paid by all that have Partridges for feeding them and these Men having called them all about them in the Morning with a Whistle lead them out into the Fields as one drives Turkies and so soon as they are come to the side of a Hill where he drives them they scatter and feed where they can best and in the Evening he who hath the care of them coming to the Hill falls a Whistling very loud and then all his Partridges gather about him and return Home to their several Masters none ever staying behind These Creatures understand so well the call of him who commonly feeds them that let another Whistle never so much they will not come to him When I was at Chio I could not have that Diversion for then it was not the Season Tame Partridges I have seen of these Partridges more tame than any Pullets for they would let any body touch them and stroke them without stirring from their place The sole Isle of Chio hath preserved its Liberty This is the only Island among the Turks that hath preserved its Liberty for the Inhabitants live as they think fit professing and exercising their Religion with all imaginable freedom only they are Subjects to the Turks and pay him Tribute but they are in no ways molested nor burthened with Impositions The Chiots are generally Christians and there are very few Turks among them a good part of these Christians are Roman Catholicks and the rest are of the Greek Church All the Inhabitants both Greeks and Latins Families of the Justiniani have much of the Humour of the Genoese who formerly Governed them There are several Families still in that Island who derive themselves from the House of the Justiniani for they still make a distinction betwixt the Gentlemen who are pretty numerous and the Plebeians The manners of the Chiots the Chiots are Apparelled after the Geonese Fashion they are ugly and though their Persons be proper and well shaped yet their looks would scare a body they are very proud and nevertheless Gentlemen and all go to Market and buying what they want carry it openly along the Streets without any shame They love the Spaniards better then the French but had rather be under the Government of the Turks than Christians The Chiots make much Damask Sattin Taffetaes and other Silk Stuffs and drive a great Trade in many places with their Saiques Such as neither Work nor Travel abroad spend whole days Sitting and Talking together under Trees Letters are in no vogue in that Country and perfound Ignorance reigns among them nevertheless they have naturally a sharp Wit and are indeed so great Cheats that one hath need of both Eyes to deal with them They are much given to their Pleasures and Drunkenness and in a word they are Greeks The Women are very Beautiful and well Shaped
little too low against the wall of that Hall hang ten wooden Bucklers a fingers breadth thick a piece all joyned together and pierced through by a Javelin about five foot long with an iron Head about a good foot in length this Iron pierces through all these Bucklers and reaches a hands breadth farther The strength of Sultan Amurat Sultan Amurat as they say threw that Javelin wherewith he pierced the Bucklers through and sent them to Caire sticking thereon as they are to be seen at present to shew his strength to the Aegyptians this is kept as a Miracle and covered with a Net. Sultan Amurat was indeed the strongest Man of his time and marks of that are to be seen in several places In this Appartment of the Basha there is a very large court or place called Cara Meidan at the end of which are his Stables where the Aqueduct which comes near Boulac A most lovely Castle in Caire and conveyeth the water of the Nile discharges itself for the use of his Horses This Castle might pass for a great Town and is the finest that ever I saw not only for Strength but also for the stately Buildings that are in it The Castle of Caire ancient the lovely Prospects and good Air In a word it is a work worthy of the ancient Pharaoh's and Ptolomy's who built it and corresponds very well with the magnificence of the Pyramides This Castle looks great also on the out-side but chiefly on the side of the four Gates which they call Babel Carafi and which enter all four into the Romeile On that side the Castle Walls are very high and strong being built upon the Rock which is two mens height above ground These walls are very entire and look as if they were new Near to that all along from the first of the four Gates to the last and not far from the Castle there are fair Burying-places The Fountain of Lovers The Fountain of Lovers is within the City It is a great oval Bason or rather Trough made of one entire piece of black Marble six foot long and about three foot high and all round it there are Figures of Men and Hieroglyphicks rarely well cut The People of the Countrey tell a great many tales of this Fountain of Lovers and say that in ancient times Sacrifices were offered at it Not far from thence Calaat el Kabh there is a great Palace called Calaat el kabh that is to say the Castle of Turpitude it seems to have been formerly a neat Building but at present it falls to decay several lovely Pillars are to be seen in it They say that Sultan Selim lodged in that Palace after that he had made himself Master of Caire and many very ancient Fables they tell of it A few steps from thence is the Garden of Lovers Garden of Lovers Sesostris whereof the Moors relate the same thing that Diodorus Siculus reports of Sesostris the Second King of Aegypt who having lost his Sight and been told by the Oracle that he should not recover it if he did not wash his face with the Urine of a Woman that had never known Man beside her own Husband he washed with his Wife's water then tried several others without recovering his Sight and at length having washed with the water of a Gardener's Wife who was Master of this Garden his sight came to him again whereupon he married that Woman and caused all the rest who had been adulterous to be burnt CHAP. X. Of the Palaces Streets and Bazars of Caire HAving seen all the places that I have mentioned before no more remains but to walk through the City and see the lovely Mosques and fair Palaces and if you could have any occasion to go into the Houses of the Beys there you would see brave Appartments large Halls paved all with Marble with Water-works and Seelings adorned with Gold and Azure You would see likewise neat Gardens As to the Frontispieces of Houses there is not one that looks well and as I have said already the finest Houses are but dirt without Locks and Keys of wood in Caire All their Locks and Keys are of wood and they have none of iron no not for the City Gates which may be all easily opened without a Key The Keys are bits of timber with little pieces of wire that lift up other little pieces of wire which are in the Lock and enter into certain little holes out of which the ends of wire that are on the Key having thrust them the Gate is open But without the Key a little soft paste upon the end of one's finger will do the job as well There are some fair Streets in Caire the Street of Bazar or the Market Bazar is very long and broad and the Bazar is held there on Mondays and Thursdays There is always such a prodigious croud of people in this street but especially on Market-days that one can hardly go along All sorts of things are sold in this street and at the end of it there is another short street but something broad wherein the shops on each side are full of rich Goods this is called Han Kalil that is to say the little Han. Then at the end of that short street Han Kalil there is a great Han in which there is a large Piazza or Square and very high Buildings White Slaves are sold there aswel Women and Girls Slaves sold in a Market as Men and Boys A little farther there is another Han where are great numbers of Black Slaves of both Sexes There is a little street near Han Kalil where on Market-days that is to say Mondays and Thursdays there are Slaves standing in ranks against a wall to be sold to them that have a mind to buy and every body may look upon them touch and feel them like Horses to see if they have any faults The Hospital and Mosque of Mad People The Hospital and Mosque of Mad People Morestan is very near Han Kalil they are chained with heavy iron chains and are led to the Mosque at Prayer-time This is one of the largest Mosques in the City as far as I could see going by the doors of it The Hospital is called Morestan and it serves also for the sick Poor who are well entertained and look'd after in it It seems worth one's curiosity too to see them make Carpets for a great many fine ones are made at Caire and are called Turkie-work Carpets Turkie-work Carpets made at Caire Many People are employed in that work among whom are several little Boys who do their business so skilfully and nimbly that one could hardly believe it their Loom stands before them and in their left hand they have several ends of round bottoms of Woorstead of many colours which they place in their several places in the right hand they hold a Knife wherewith they cut the Woorsted at every point they touch
about it all the while with West-north-west and North-winds Our Mates told us that they were always a long time in doubling that Cape and sometimes spent three Weeks about it About five a Clock in the Evening we Sailed betwixt the Isle of Zimbre and an Isle or Rock that is almost mid-way betwixt the Main-land and Zimbre Zimbre Zimbre is Inhabited has convenient Anchorage by it and good Water in it From Zimbre it is but forty Miles to Goletta Having passed Zimbre we stood off from Land intending not to enter Goletta till next day because of the many Flats that are on that Coast Friday night and Saturday morning the eighth of March we had greater gusts of Wind and Rain than before and if we had not doubled the Cape we must have been a long time still before we could have done it considering the Weather that happened afterward During these storms a Moor on board of us died who had been ill of a Bloody Flux almost ever since the beginning of our Voyage and next morning he was thrown over-board At length on Saturday the eighth of March about seven a Clock in the Morning we came into the Port or rather the Road of Goletta for it is not a Harbour but a Road that lies open to the South east Wind and in all Barbary there are but two good Ports to wit Porto Farina Porto Farina Porto Stera Biserta Vtica and Porto Stera The Harbour for the Galleys of Tunis is Biserta a little Town threescore Miles from Tunis Biserta was formerly called Vtica and here it was that Cato killed himself wherefore he was called Cato Vticensis We came to an Anchor near a Point of Land where the Sepulchre of Dido is The Sepulchre of Dido Marabout and a Marabout or Sheick is Interred there So soon as we had dropt Anchor Don Philippo sent ashoar one of his Men who having informed a poor Moor whom he met that Don Philippo was arrived the poor Man ran with all the speed he could to the Town to carry the news to Don Philippo's Mother who was overjoyed thereat and gave him twenty Crowns for a Reward he was no more expected at Tunis and it was thought he was gone back again into Christendom having been absent almost two Years Sunday the ninth of March we went ashoar and when Don Philippo left the Ship they fired fifteen Guns He found several Men on Horse-back and amongst them all his Brothers who were come out to receive him CHAP. LXXXIX Of Goletta and our Arrival at Tunis Goletta GOletta is no more but two Castles whereof the one was built by the Emperour Charles the fifth and the other by Ahmet Dey the Father of Don Philippo who perceiving that the Galleys of Malta came and took ships in the Road without any damage from the Guns of the Castle built this last which is very low and has seven or eight great Gun-holes two foot above the Water by which the Guns play level with the surface of it This Castle is round on the side next the Sea and that of Charles the fifth is almost square Between these two Castles there are three Houses one belonging to the Family of Don Philippo the other to the Bey and the other to Schelebi the Son of Hisouf Dey who is called barely Schelebi because he was Born during the time his Father Reigned When we had refreshed our selves a little in the House of Don Philippo we took Boat and went to Tunis by the Canal or rather Lake which in the beginning is very narrow there being many Canes fixed all round in the bottom of the Water for catching of Fish afterwards it grows very wide It is not commonly above five span deep in Water then it was very shallow and had many dry places in it which with the least Wind are quickly covered and that very high with Water Don Philippo went by Land with his company mounted on a stately Horse that was brought him The first thing we saw upon that Water was a Hill to the left hand very near the Sea-side where there are natural Baths of Water almost boyling hot There is a Bagnio built there and it is called Hamarmulf Hamarmulf Zagouam then a little further on upon the same side they shewed us a high Hill called Zagouam which is a great way from this Lake and a days Journey distant from Tunis there there is a little Town of Tagarins or Andalaous called also Zagouam When the Christians possessed that Countrey there were Aqueducts that brought Water from thence to the City of Carthage at present they are broken but some Arches with the Fountains and Cisterns still remain to be seen As we came near to Tunis we saw a great many Olive-Trees and abundance of other Trees which denote a good Countrey In four hours time we arrived at Tunis though with a little wind they go it many times in two hours but we were many times imbayed By Land it is eighteen miles from Goletta to Tunis If they pleased they might make a good Port at Tunis but then the Town would not be so strong or at least not so secure From the place where you Land it is a mile still to the Town where being arrived we went to lodge at the House of Monsieur Le Vacher a Perisian Priest and Father of the Mission who was then Consul for the French and he received us very Affectionately CHAP. XC Of the Countrey-Houses and other places that are to be seen about Tunis TWO days after our arrival Don Philippo sent for us to shew us a Countrey-House he had half a League from the Town The Countrey about Tunis is full of these Countrey Houses which are built like the Bastides about Marseilles Don Philippo's is very pretty it is built in form of a square Tower and higher than any about it from the Hall to the top of the Tower there are an hundred and eleven steps up and from thence there is an excellent Prospect which discovers on all hands a lovely Plain reaching out of sight full of Olive-Trees In it there is a great Hall open above with covered Galleries round it which have the Roof supported by several Pillars In the middle of this open place there is a great reservatory of Water which serves for several Water-works All this place is adorned with Marble as also all the Halls and Chambers which are beautified with Gold and Azure and very pleasant Plaister-work there being Fountains every where that play when one pleases One should also see the Bardes which are three Houses built by the Bey for his three Sons a League from Tunis This Bey is as it were the Basha's Farmer to whom he gives so much of the Revenue due to the Grand Signior in the Countrey which he gathers and the rest he keeps to himself He was not at that time Bey but Basha and his eldest Son was Bey In these Houses
is very light In that Canal there is plenty of Fish which none dare take for the Turks will not suffer it saying that if any eat of them they fall sick They may be seen playing in the Water which is so clear that one may easily see to the Bottom this place is shut with a very thick Stone-gate whose Pivots are of one piece with the Gate and turn above and below in the Lintel and Threshold The Castle of Aleppo reaches in length from North-East to South-West and is of an oval Figure aswell as the Town which must be seen from Mount Angeletti a quarter of a League to the Westward of it From thence you have a fair prospect thereof and may perceive that it reaches from North-East to South-West This hill is called by the Francks Monte Della Angeletti because there are many little Birds there Angeletti called by the Arabs Meeez and by the Turks Pendgeali All the Houses of Aleppo are better built than in any other place of Turkey that I have seen There are a great many fair Mosques in it The great Mosque of Aleppo and amongst others the great Mosque which is to be seen from the great field from which it bears betwixt North and East It hath a large Court almost square paved with lovely black and white Marble towards the middle there is a great Bason covered with a Dome rough cast over supported by six Marble-Pillars and on the side towards the South there is a Fountain covered with a Dome in the same manner but less which is also supported by six Marble-Pillars A Gallery or very wide vaulted Porch runs all round the Court and that Gallery hath seventeen Arches in length and eleven in breadth under which they who have performed the Abdest or other purification say their Prayers this Gallery is terrassed over-head On the North side in the middle of the front is the Chair or Pulpit of St. John Damascene wherein he Preached and it is upon the side of the Terrass This Chair is of Stone covered with a Dome of the same they enter it from the Terrass under an Arch on each side before it there is a round Stone-Balcony pierced through and wrought in the sides and over-head a Pent-house of Stone to keep the Preacher from the Rain The Entry into this Mosque is on the East and West sides on the West side there is a Court joyning the Mosque into which they go from the great Mosque by a little door in the middle of this Court there is a Bason and from the Court there is an Entry into a little Mosque covered with a Stone-Dome rough cast This Mosque with the Court was anciently the Church of St. John Damascene and there is a Crucifix painted on the inside still to be seen but the Vaults that covered the Court have been demolished There is another Mosque near the great Khan towards the West covered with a Dome of excellent Architecture it is of a very great circumferrence and on the outside hath butteresses of most delicate structure to strengthen the Walls The Adelie a Mosque this Dome is covered with Lead The Mosque is called the Adelie from the Name of its Founder and its Minaret hath been beat down by Thunder There is also another fair Mosque near the great Khan betwixt the East and South which hath a lovely Court where two ranges of Pillars support and make two very good Porticos This Mosque hath a very high fair Dome covered with Lead as all the other Domes of the Mosques of this City are The great Khan of Aleppo There are many fair Khans in Aleppo and amongst others the great Khan where the Consuls of England and France and many Merchants lodge The Portal of it is very lovely and hath Roses cut upon it as delicately as can be done in any place of Christendom It hath two great Iron-gates covered all over with Nails and though they be half a foot thick yet there is a hole quite thorough which they say was made by a Musket-shot fired by one of the Soldiers of Asan Basha when he was in rebellion against the Grand Seignior By these Gates you enter into a very large Court in the middle whereof there is a little Mosque in figure of a Dome covered with Lead the truth is this Mosque does some Injury to the beauty of the Khan There is a vast number of Domes in Aleppo and it seems that way of building hath had its Original in this City for most part of the Inhabitants build all their houses Dome-ways Houses Dome-ways wherein they succeed extraordinarily well nay even their Villages are all Domes though they be of Earth and a little sharp pointed They also build Stone-minarets very high and slender and give very good proofs that they are not ignorant of Architecture To say the truth the People of Aleppo are very industrious and ingenious and easily imitate whatever they see and whatever is brought to them from Christendom There are very fair Bazars and very beautifull houses in Aleppo you 'll see lovely Halls there with Fountains in the middle and three Divans cross-ways and all of Mosaick work even to the top or at least built of white Free-stone and certain Black-stones that are found near to Aleppo which are layed alternately one after another Checker-ways There are other Divans encompassed with very high Marble-Pillars Divans and most of these Divans have large Windows before which there are Matts to set on for the convenience of prospect and fresh Air. Since Aleppo is a City of great trade it will not be amiss to say somewhat of the Value of Weights and the Moneys that are most current there Weights and Moneys Rottle The weights that are used in that Countrey for gross Commodities are the Rottle and the Oque The Rottle weighs commonly six hundred Drachms or five hundred Pound weight of Marseilles The Rottle of Persian Silk contains six hundred and fourscore Drachms or five Pound and a third of Marseilles weight the Rottle of Aleppo is of seven hundred and twenty Drachms or five Pound weight and a half of Marseilles Oque The Oque contains four hundred Drachms or three Pounds of Marseilles and so it is at Damascus At Aleppo the Piastre of Ryals is worth fourscore Aspres the Boquelle threescore and ten the Schaied is worth five Aspres sixteen Schaieds go for a Piastre and fourteen for a Boquelle At Aleppo and Damascus they rub all the Roots of the Vines with a kind of Asphaltum A Remedy against Worms in Vines which they purposely melt to anoint the Vines with from the Root a foot and a half high and that prevents the Grapes from being eaten by certain Worms which otherwise would destroy all That stuff is of a shining black almost transparent and very light it is brought to Aleppo from Damascus and is called Kfr it is got out of the Earth near
called Sertschehan of which several panels of Wall still stand About eight of the Clock we found some Tents of the Curds and then crossed at least twelve Canals one after another which discharge their Water at Nisibin where we arrived three quarters of an hour after eight and encamped beyond the Bridge which consists of eleven small Arches under which a great Water runs which is divided into three by plowed Fields that reach even to the Bridge and render three of its Arches useless They call all these the Waters of Nisibin for ask them the Name of a River in what manner you please they 'll give you no other but the Name of the place it runs by This water comes from the Mountains and before it reach Nisibin they cut it into several Channels for watering of their grounds that are planted with Cotton rice and other things which require Water That 's a heavy and unwholsome Water and so is the Air which is so bad that I was told that if one sleep in it by day or by night he runs a great risk of being sick and that is the reason why the People of the Countrey are so tawny as they are Nisibin Nisibin was formerly a great Town at present it is divided into two quarters separated by a plowed field and both these quarters make but an ordinary Village Mar-Jacob Heretofore it had a Church dedicated to Mar-Jacob that 's to say St. James who is called the Brother of our Lord It was very large but at present there is nothing to be seen but the Arches of the doors and a small space which was as I think the end of the Church walled up by the Syrians where they and the Armenians at present celebrate Mass The Customer of Nisibin came and demanded his dues of our Caravan though Nisibin depend on the Basha of Merdin the Customer of which had already taken his dues at Kodgiasar but he took nothing from me because he thought I was a Greek We parted from Nisibin next day being Tuesday the two and twentieth of July about one a Clock in the Morning by Star-light and passed another Canal a strong North-Wind blew then which hardly cooled the Air. About five of the Clock we began to see on our right hand the Mountains Sendgiar which reach from North-West to South-East Mountain Sendgiar but they were about two days Journey distant from us Half an hour after seven we crossed a water half an hour after eight another and a quarter after nine we passed a third which was very lovely Dgerrahhi Soui and called Dgerrahhi Soui We thought to have encamped near it as is usual but because the Mules must have been sent to grase on the other side and that it would have been troublesome to make them cross it back again in the Evening we went farther and encamped near to a Spring of good Water Kimarlick in a place called Kimarlick from which we parted about eleven of the Clock at Night and crossed a great Water where our Caravan was a long time in passing it because of the dark and of the many great Stones that are in the Water when we passed it we stood away Eastwards Wednesday the three and twentieth of July about two a Clock in the Morning we found another Water and another again about four a Clock and three quarters of an hour after a very pleasant little River which turns and winds through a small plain encompassed with hills Three quarters after five we saw by the way to our left a Hillock on the top of which there is a Dome under which lies buried one Imam Ahmed Imam-Ahmed for whom the Turks have great Veneration and this is a place of Pilgrimage About seven a Clock we passed by a sorry Village called Candgi Candgi and half an hour after we encamped near a Spring of good Water in a plain called by the Name of the Village The Inhabitants thereabouts are so given to thieving that they stay not for the Night as others do but come into the Camp in the day-time under pretext of selling Corn for the Horses and walking up and down if they perceive any thing not well looked after they fail not to lift it We parted from thence the same day about half an hour after seven of the Clock at Night and marched East-South-East It was extreamly hot till about two a Clock next Morning that the Air grew cooler We marched without finding Water or Habitation untll half an hour after six that we came and encamped in a plain called Adgisou because of a water that runs there among the reeds and is bitter according as I had been told that from Candgi to Mosul there was neither habitation nor good water which made me provide my self before hand nevertheless having tasted it I did not find it to be so bitter Friday the five and twentieth of July we parted from Adgisou half an hour after three in the Morning for we were not willing to travel in the Night-time for fear of the Arabs We marched South and about eight of the Clock crossed a Brook of bitter water half an hour after we crossed another whose water was pretty good upon a hillock close by there stands a wall which seems to have been the Wall of a Castle whereof there is no more remaining Half an hour after nine we crossed a great Brook of brackish Water and three quarters after eleven a small River that runs under a Bridge of four Arches of which two are broken and indeed they seem to be useless for the breadth of the water reaches but to the two that are whole and it must needs be very high when it passes through the other two which stand upon a pretty high ground This Bridge is below a little ruinous Castle standing upon a hillock it hath been square but there is nothing remaining but the four Walls and a little round Tower in a corner We encamped close by this Castle all scorched with the Sun and stewed in Sweat that place is called Kesick-Cupri that 's to say broken Bridge Kesick-Cupri and the Water is called Cupri-Sou that 's to say the Bridge-water and no other Names of Rivers are to be got from them I informed my self of the source of that River An errour in Geography which Sanson seems to have confounded with that of Nisibin and I was told that it was another and that the source is not far from that Bridge This water is not very good but it is not bitter as I had been told and close by it there is a Fountain of far worse water We left that place the same day three quarters after seven at Night and took our way East-ward About eleven a Clock we passed by a Village called Wlhayat Wlhayat which is wholly forsaken because of the Tyranny of the Turks At midnight we had a great Allarm but we found it onely to
he takes a Camel or a Buffle he lays him on his Back and easily carries that Load but that he cannot do so with an He-Buffle nor a Sheep for he dares not set upon an He-Buffle because he would certainly be killed by him As to a Sheep that he can very well take and kill it though he cannot carry it but is obliged to drag it and the reason is because heretofore the Lion taking a Buffle or Camel said I carry it in the strength of God A Fable of the Lion. knowing that it was above his power but having found a Sheep he said I 'll carry this well enough by my own strength and therefore God punished his Presumption by disabling him to carry it This they have got from the Fables of damned Calilve They affirm moreover that the Lion understands what a man says and weeps when a man speaks The Arabs are not afraid of Lions The Arabs are not afraid of Lions and provided an Arab have but a stick in his hand he 'll pursue a Lion and kill him if he can catch him This evening about nine a clock one of the men of our Keleck with a Hook took a great Fish it was above five foot long A Fish as big as a man. and though it was as big as a man yet he told me it was a young one and that commonly they are much bigger The Head of it was above a foot long the Eyes four inches above the Jaws round and as big as a brass farthing the mouth of it was round and being opened as wide as the mouth of a Cannon so that my head could easily have gone into it about the mouth on the out-side it had four white long Beards of Flesh as big as ones little finger it was all over covered with scales like to those of a Carp it lived long out of the water died when they opened the Belly to skin it and was a Female the flesh of it was white tasted much like a Tunny and was as soft and loose as Flax. We embarked again next day the twelfth of August in the dawning and about two a clock after noon came to Tikri which is in Mesopotamia Tikri and the sixth Lodging of the Caravans from Mosul there we spent the rest of the day I endeavoured twice to go thither but could not because in ten or twelve places there is danger of breaking ones neck so that I rested satisfied to see the Houses which are to the water-side and are well enough built for that Countrey being all of rough Stone I understood that heretofore it had been a great Town but at present it is no more but ruins and hardly to be reckoned a good Village and indeed we had much ado to find Bread in it and to have a little Meat it behoved me to buy a whole Sheep It is built upon a very high Rock because of the overflowings of the Tygris which happens in the Spring for then it swells so considerably that it seems to be a little Sea and is deeper than in Summer by above four or five Pikes length as I might easily observe by the marks that remain on the Hills We had no Lions to be afraid of in that place but Robbers we had Wednesday the thirteenth of August we parted from thence about break of day Imam-Muhammeddour and about eight a clock saw to the left hand a Village called Imam-Muhammeddour from the name of a Mosque where they pay great Devotion all that I could observe in passing was a square Minaret that spires into a Pyramid About noon we saw many forsaken houses some ruinous and others not and that during the space of above two hours way but at distances one from another Eski-Bagdad they call that Eski-Bagdad the ancient Bagdad About two in the afternoon we stopt on the left hand because the wind was high At that time some of our company having gone a-shoar to sit under a Tree they had hardly made one step when they returned with all speed because they found that the wind was Samiel and told me that they felt the Air as it had been fire We staied there about two hours and then went on our way but the wind still continuing and being apprehensive that it might force us upon some Bank half an hour after we put a-shoar on the same side We were presently visited by the Arabs who told us that in the morning a Lion had carried away one of their Buffles I asked one of them if he run away when he met a Lion God forbid answered he a Man should never flie from a Lion seeing if a Lion perceive that he is resolute it will be sure to run first We kept Guard all night long against the Arabs and Lions whose roarings we heard every minute as well as the noise of the Karacoulacks the yelping of the Chakales and the barking of the Arabs Dogs Karacoulacks The Karacoulacks are Beasts somewhat bigger than Cats and much of the same shape they have long black ears almost half a foot long and from thence they have their name which signifies black-ear They are the Chiaoux of the Lions as the people of the Countrey say for they go some steps before them and are as it were their guides to lead them unto those places where there is Prey and have a share for their reward When that Beast calls the Lion it seems to be the voice of a Man calling another though the voice of this be a little shriller I was told that the Karacoulack and the Leopard were one and the same thing Chakales The Author was in that mistake in his first Travels The Chakales are as big as Foxes and have something of a Fox and something of a Wolf but are not Mongrels begot of them as many have said We were obliged then to keep Guard both towards the Land and Water as well against Men as Beasts Several told stories how that many Lions had come to Caravans and carried away men no body scarcely perceiving it because when a Lion swims he hides all his Body under water except the Nose so that he comes on so softly that he is not heard and when he is a-shoar he snatches a man and jumping into the water with him carries him over to the other side Whenever we heard a Fish stir in the water we took the allarm and that obliged us to make a fire and shoot off several Musquets because they say the Lion is afraid of fire About midnight we heard the voice of a Chakale near to us but when we spake it was silent and we all thought it was an Arab who had counterfeited the noise of a Chakale that seeing him afterwards come creeping upon all four we might not have been allarmed for they have the cunning to do so A little before day a real Chakale came within Musquet-shot of us but finding it self discovered fled These Chakales are
very thieving Beasts not only of what is fit for eating but of any thing else they find carrying away even Turbans sometimes they howl almost like Dogs one making the Treble another the Basse and a third the Counter-Tenor and so soon as one cries the rest cry also so that all together they make a noise which may truly be called Dogs Musick Thursday the fourteenth of August we parted from that place at break of day Aaschouk Maaschouk and a little after saw on our right hand a Village called Aaschouk and to the left another called Maaschouk The people of the Countrey say that these places are so called because in each of those two Villages there was in former times a Tower in one of which lived a Man who was in love with a Woman that lived in the Tower of the other Village and was in like manner beloved of her This place is the seventh Lodging of the Caravans that come from Mosul to Bagdad About half an hour after six we saw to the left hand a Village called Imam-Samerva Imam-Samerva Hedgiadge Elhan Digel About eleven a clock we passed by another Village called Hedgiadge which is in Mesopotamia Three hours after we saw another on the same side named Elhan and besides it some Houses all that Land being called Digel Half an hour past six in the evening we put a-shoar on our left hand where I was told of another-guess prowess of a Lion than what I had been told of that of Kizil-Han They said then that not long before a Caravan passing by that place a Lion came who setting upon a young Boy mounted on an Ass that came after the rest carried away both Boy and Ass in view of the whole Caravan After Supper we went upon the water again about nine of the clock at night and for the space of half an hour heard on our right hand many Chakales very near us which called the Lions and after that we saw no more Woods We began then to make the best of our way by night as well as by day because there are no more Banks and the River is very broad but also so still that it can hardly be discerned which way it runs We past by several Villages most of which were on Mesopotamia-side Next day being Friday the fifteenth of August we saw about noon many Boats near the shoar which have Masts like Saicks and serve to carry Corn to Bagdad from the neighbouring Villages We then discovered several Palm-Trees and many of those Wheels they call Dollab which serve to draw water out of Wells as at Mosul Half an hour after six in the evening we stopt at a Village called Yenghige on the left hand there are many Gardens there where they sold us good Figs Pomegranats and very big long Grapes At that place we were not altogether safe from Lions seeing the people of the Countrey told us that they come often into their Gardens and that one morning a Lion came to the very Suburbs of Bagdad that lies on the Desart-side where it seized a man who had risen too early Nevertheless betwixt Yenghige and Bagdad there are several Villages with a great many Gardens Yenghige We parted about nine a clock at night and next day being Saturday the sixteenth of August at two a clock in the afternoon passed by a Village called Imam-Mousa which is on the right hand It is a place of Pilgrimage Imam-Mousa whither people resort from afar and the Women of Bagdad go thither every Friday it being only an hours march by Land. A little after we saw another Village on our left hand called Imam-Aazem Imam-Aazem which is likewise a place of Pilgrimage and about five of the clock in the evening we arrived at Bagdad In that Voyage they speak every where Turkish The Turkish Language towards Bagdad but it is Persian Turkish which differs somewhat from that of Greece and the nearer Bagdad the more the Turkish Language differs from that of Constantinople CHAP. XIV Of Bagdad and of the Road from Bagdad to Mendeli the last Place the Turks have on the Confines of Persia BAGDAD is a long Town lying upon the River-side Bagdad the first thing one sees in arriving is the Castle on the side of the River to the left hand which on the outside appears to be pretty strong It is built of lovely white Stone but I was told that there was nothing within but Huts Below that Castle upon the water-side also stands the Serraglio of the Basha which hath fair Kiochks from whence they have a good Prospect and fresh Air. Next you find a Bridge of about forty Boats on which they cross into Mesopotamia where there is a Town also or rather a Suburbs of Bagdad but the Houses of it are ill built Every night they undo that Bridge It requires at least two hours to make the round of Bagdad which is not very strong on the Land-side There are fair Bazars and lovely Bagnio's in this Town built by the Persians and generally all that is goodly in it hath been built by them It is but ill peopled considering the bigness of the place and indeed it is not compactly built for there are a great many empty places in it where there 's not one Soul to be found and except the Bazars where there is always a great confluence of people the rest looks like a Desart The Soldiers here are very licentious and commit all imaginable Insolencies their Officers not daring scarcely to punish them Some weeks before I arrived there they had put the Basha to death by poyson because of his Tyrannies and it was said the Aga had a share in it though he kept not his bed but was in a languishing condition Besides the Turkish Militia there are a great many Christians in the Grand-Signior's Pay to fight against the Arabs when they are commanded It is very hot in this Town and that 's the reason the people sleep upon the Terrasses The degrees of heat at Bagdad The eighteenth of August at noon the heat was at the thirty seventh degree by my Thermometre and nevertheless it blew a cool breeze of wind The Capuchins to whom I went as soon as I entred Bagdad very charitably practise Physick there The water of the Tygris Opposite to Bagdad the Tygris is very broad the water whereof they draw and put into great Jars of Clay that is not burnt and through these Jars the water transpires and percolates into an earthen Vessel underneath in the same manner as at Aleppo they call this River Chav-Bagdad that 's to say the River of Bagdad but wanting skill to make Water-mills upon it they are forced to grind all their Corn with Horse-mills or Hand-mills Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is very desart every thing being ruined there by the Tyranny of the Turks but the places that are inhabited are well peopled It bears few or no Trees
at Ispahan but fairer and better and which keep better there by reason of the dryness of the Country-Air which makes Fruit keep a whole Year The Melons are far better there than with us as likewise the Peaches which are very big and the Grapes that are of Nine or Ten sorts Their Wines are White Wines of Ispahan and made of Grapes which they call Kismisch most men believe that that kind of Grape hath no Stones because they are so small as not to be discerned in Eating but they are easily enough to be seen in the Fat when the Wine worketh They make Wine also of other sorts of Grapes which is neither so good nor keeps so well They have some Red Wine but little and to make it they only put some Black Grapes into White Wine to give it a colour if it were made of Black Grapes it would not keep we must except the Wine of Schiras which is Red very good and Stomachical Schiras Wine but it is only brought in Bottles and one must have Friends for that too if nevertheless an Armenian hath got any of it he sells it at eight Abassis and at the least at six They keep the Wine commonly in very great Earthen-Jars for the draught would make all Casks leakey and these Jars hold above a third part of a Tun. No use made of Casks Though the Persians as I have now said have all the kinds of Fruit that we have yet they have not the several sorts of them They have for example several sorts of very good Grapes but they have not the Muscadine Grape The Persians have no Muscadine Grapes Grapes upon the Vine till Christmass No Strawberries in Persia They leave the Grapes on the Vines sometimes till Christmas putting each bunch into a Bag to keep them from the Birds and only gather them as they have occasion to Eat them They have also good Apricots small sharp Cherries Apples and many sorts of Pears but they have no Straw-berries They Eat Melons almost all the year round not only because they take much pains in Cultivating of them but also by reason of the Nature of the Air that I have spoke of which nevertheless excuses not those who would preserve their Melons well from having always a Candle burning in the Room where they lay them whether it be to keep them from the damp or from being Frozen In this manner they Cultivate them in the first place they make use of a great deal of Pigeons Dung The raising of Melons keeping Pigeons only for that purpose which they put into the Ground where they Sow the Melons and that Dung is sold by weight When the Melons are above Ground and begin to be shaped into a Stalk that will carry sometimes twenty they take off three or four and leave those which thrive best ten or twelve days after they again take off those that thrive worst which although they are so little sell very well about Town for there are those who Eat them and in this manner they always ease the Stem leaving only those which thrive best till at length there remain no more but one It is to be observed that every time they open a little with their Nails the Earth that is about the Root they fill it up with Pigeons Dung to give it new nourishment then they put water to it by means of some little Channels that have many turnings which water the Roots without weting the Fruit. They use all these ways with them three or four times for having watered them they let them alone eight or ten days without giving them any more water at length when the remaining Melon begins to grow big they put the end of it to their mouth and having wet it a little with their Spittle cover it with a parcel of Earth and they say that this Ceremony preserves them from the bitings of some Flies that else would spoil them In Persia they Eat Melons till the month of April nay some also in May which is about the time they begin to Eat new ones at least in July they begin to have them Ripe but they are small round Melons most of them white within soft like Cotton and of no relish those that are good are not fit to be Eaten before August they are of another kind and most part long I have described them before The Cultivating of the Palm-Tree Amongst the Trees of Persia is the Palm-Tree which they carefully Cultivate when it is Young and before it bear Fruit they dig at the Root of it eight or ten Fathom deep in the Earth more or less until they have found water but that Pit is not made all round the Tree for that would make it fall they only dig on one side and then fill up that hole with Pigeons Dung whereof they have always provision in that Country because in the Villages they purposely keep a great many tame Pigeons and I was told by the people of the Country that if they took not that course with the Palm-Trees they would not bear good Fruit but there is a very curious thing besides to be observed in the Cultivating of this Tree and that is that every year when the Palm-Trees are in Blossome they take the Blossomes of the Male Palm-Tree and put two or three Branches of them into the Matrix of each Female Palm-Tree when they begin to Blow else they would produce Dates with no more but Skin and Stone I call the Matrix that Bud which contains the Flowers from which in process of time the Dates spring the time of making that inoculation is about the end of November Not but the Males also bear Fruit but it is good for nothing and therefore they take all their Blossoms to Graft the Females with As to Dates it is worth the takeing notice of that the use of them is very dangerous during the Heats in hot Countries because they make the whole Body to break out in Botches and Boils and spoil the sight There is a Shrub called in Persian Kerzehreh that is to say Asses Gall because as they say it is as bitter as the Gall of an Ass Kerzehreh a shrub This Shrub is a Frutex that grows sometimes as high as a tall man the Trunk of it many times is as big as a man from which issue forth stems as big as ones Leg that send forth several Branches the least whereof are as big as ones Finger This Tree looks of a whitish green it hath a pretty thick Bark under which the Stem which is lignous is White The leaves of it are as thick as those of the Laurel Rose-Tree much broader almost as long and in a manner Oval with Veins running along them these Leaves grow by pairs the one opposite to the other but not all of a side for the pair below makes a cross with the pair above in the same manner as Balm does and that regularly
where one may take the Air under the shade of Orange-Trees which are prodigiously big and bear much Fruit. There they have plenty also of Limon Pomegranate Date and other Fruit-Trees of all sorts nay and Vines also and the River runs in a bottom by the back of the Village in short it is a very agreeable place especially to those who have Travelled over large barren and dry Countries this Village is three Agatsch from Paira We left that pleasant Quarter Friday the Twentieth of March half an hour after one a Clock in the morning keeping still South-Eastwards in our way but a little toward the South in a fair even and smooth Road about four of the Clock we crossed a large Brook of running water which comes from the River of Paira below Chafer and a little after we crossed a Canal of running water over a little Bridge We afterwards crossed several other little Brooks having always to our Right Hand a great many Villages about break of day it behoved us to pass one large Brook more and about six a Clock in the Morning we found a little House where Rahdars lived about two or three Musket-shot from thence at the foot of a Hill Tadivan there is a Village call Tadivan where the River of Paira loses it self and ends Families of Arabs Upon that Road we met several Arabs with their Wives and Children on Camels which carried all their baggage also they were driving their Flocks of Sheep and Goats Since our departure from Schiras we dayly met such and they came from about Gomron and Lar. These Arabs Lodge under black Tents and have vast Flocks wherein consists the greatest part of their substance and that is partly the reason that they have no fixed Habitation and that they even remove from one Country into another in the different seasons of the Year just as some Birds doe For in the Spring they leave the Country of Lar and other places thereabout where the Heat is too great and packing up bag and baggage betake themselves with their whole Families towards Couchouzer which is a Village I have mentioned with very good Land about it and when Winter begins to draw nigh they pack up their Houses again and with their Flocks return towards Lar and Gomron where it is never Cold. It is not only the Heat that in the Summer-time drives them out of the hot Countrys but also the scarcity of water for they need a great deal for their Flocks They are almost all Black both men and women have long black Hair and cover not their Faces About Nine a Clock in the Morning we entered into stony way where we kept marching till half an hour after Ten that we arrived at a little Kervanseray called Mouchek Mouchek standing by it self and built in stony ground surrounded with Hills about some hundred paces behind this Kervanseray there is a great round Cistern four or five Fathom in Diametre and is very deep it is covered with a great Dome of rough stone that hath six Entries by so many Doors that are round it by which they go in to draw water which in the Spring-time is so high that it comes almost up to the Doors swelling so high by the Rain-water in the Winter-time by means of a Trench that comes from a neighbouring Hill at each Door there are steps to go down to the bottom when the water is low for there is no other water in that place They make Cisterns besides in those Quarters Cisterns after another manner they are of an Oblong Square covered with a long Convex Vault shaped much like the Roof of a Coach with a Door at each end and one of these ways are all the Cisterns from that place to Bender built We parted from that Kervanseray which is six Agatsch distant from Chafer Saturday the one and twentieth of May half an hour after Two a Clock in the Morning and had stony way till about Four after that we found a good Road which led us full South about half an hour after Five we past by the Walls of a ruinated Kervanseray with a Cistern adjoyning it about Seven a Clock we found some Brooks and then Travelled amongst good Corn-Fields until half an hour after Ten when having passed by a great many Gardens we arrived at a large Kervanseray Dgiaroun which is about an hundred paces from a little Town called Dgiaroun and is hardly worth a good Village however there is a fair Bazar in it This Town is on all Hands encompassed with Gardens full of Palm-Trees which there are so numerous and grow so near one another that they make a great Forrest and to say the truth I never saw so many together in one place Tamarisks besides the Tamarisks which are likewise plentiful in that place They have many Wells there and draw their water with Oxen as in all the rest of Persia in the manner I have described when I treated of Mosul There is a Cistern near the Kervanseray like to that of Mouchek but it is bigger having at least seven or eight Fathom in it Diametre it has a little house belonging to it which consists of a Kitchin and a Lodging-Room for the use of such as will not Lodge in the Kervanseray or cannot when it is full this place is five Agatsch distant from Mouchek there we began to feel the heat though in the Mornings a little before Sun rising we had pretty cold Winds before the Gate of the Kervanseray there is one of those Ox Wells with a great trough for watering the Horses but it is not good for men who in the Town drink running-water We stayed there all that day and the following and departed Monday the three and twentieth of March half an hour after midnight we took our way Westward by a very stony Road about an hour after we found a Cistern covered with a steep Roof half an hour after two we began to ascend the Hill of Dgiaroun The Hill of Dgiaroun to the South it is very high and the ascent not difficult save only that the way is full of stones but the higher one goes the worse it is and besides there is danger from Precipices that are on one side of it the truth is they have built little breast-walls about two foot high in some places to keep the Mules from falling down there one may see wild bitter Almond-Trees and other Trees of the Mountains We went up three or four times and down as often and the Sun found us in this exercise about five a Clock we came to a Cistern covered with a Dome and an hour after to another with a steep Roof Half an hour after seven we were passed our up Hills and down Hills but the way was still stony and bad at length about nine of the Clock we came to a little Kervanseray standing all alone near to which are two Cisterns the one covered with
Adjoyning to this Kervanseray there is another very little one through which the same water runs and a little farther there is a third which is bigger but somewhat ruinous This place is five Agatsch from Hhormont We parted from thence Monday the sixth of April half an hour after Midnight at first for above an hour we had very bad stony way but it proved pretty good afterward about two in the Morning we passed by a little covered Kervanseray called Berkei Dobend and about four a Clock by another called Dgei Hhon Berkei Dobend Dgei Hhon at break of day we entered into bad way again where we clambered up and down for above an hour among stones and then we found the way better till we came to a covered Kervanseray called Kor Bazirghion Kor Bazirghion that is to say the Merchants Ditch where we arrived about eight a Clock This Kervanseray is of the same bigness as the other where we Lodged the day before it is built much after the same manner having in each Corner three Chambers of which the one which is on the inside is open by Arches on two sides and the other two have their Door without the Kervanseray this place is five Agatsch from Tengbidalan We parted from thence about half an hour after one a Clock in the Morning during a large quarter of an hour we had bad stony way and about half an hour after five we passed by a little covered Kervanseray Berkei Soltouni called Berkei Soltouni about three quarters of an hour after seven we came to such another near to a great Village called Coureston Coureston four Agatsch from Kor Bazirghion we left the Caravan at this place because our Carriers took Camels to finish the Journy with and resolved to Travel only by day and to be four days longer by the way I therefore took a Camel to carry my man and baggage and a guide to shew us the way which from thence to Bender is so difficult that he who hath Travelled it fifty times may lose himself there in so that it is absolutely necessary to take a man of the Country if one would not wander out of the way We parted about eleven a Clock at Night and presently entered into a great sandy Plain which nevertheless is peopled and hath a great many Villages that are to be seen here and there this is occasioned by the abundance of Palm-Trees that this Country is full of the Soil being proper for them though very barren for any thing else About an hour after Midnight we passed by a little covered Kervanseray Dobrike called Dobrike which is an Agatsch and a half from Coureston and a little after we passed over an Aqueduct which is level with the Ground and called Pariabzahed Aly Pariabzahed Aly. this Aqueduct brings water from a Spring at the Foot of the Hills that are to the Left Hand towards the North in digging it was discovered and the water of it is very good Betwixt three and four of the Clock we went over a very high and fair Bridge above three Fathom broad and betwixt seven and eight hundred common Paces long it is well Paved and has a side-Wall on each side about a Foot and a half high under this Bridge runs a River above nine or ten Fathom broad which is heard at a great distance by reason of the noise it makes in its course there is no drinking of the water of it for it is Salt and it discharges it self into the Sea about six hundred Paces from thence Rohhouna The name of that River is Rohhouna that is to say the running River and that is the name they give to all great Rivers it comes from Kermont Pouli Seugh the name of the Bridge is Pouli Seugh that is to say Stone-Bridge or otherwise Pouli Coreston before this River comes to the Bridge it runs by the Foot of the Hills on the Left Hand Northwards and there it begins to be Salt when it comes to this Bridge which indeed is only upon the side of it finding it so runs along the side of it and discharges but part of its water underneath in passing which running under the Arches and finding the Ground lower on the other side of the Bridge falls with great impetuosity and that makes the rumbling noise that is heard at such a distance the rest of the water running along by the Bridge turns afterwards towards the South and loses it self in the Sea. Being over the Bridge we went a long a Causey above two Fathom broad and all Paved about a thousand Paces in length which hath a good Parapet or Breast-Wall about a Foot and a half high Wednesday the eighth of April about six of the Clock in the Morning we came to a covered Kervanseray called Ghetschi Ghetschi six Agatsch from Coureston There is another besides close by which is not covered but like the rest in all things else and a little ruinous There were several Tents of black Goats hair thereabout and as soon as we arrived a great many Women and Girls came out of them to visit us they were cloathed with blew streakâ—d Drawers and a blew Shirt over them their Noses Ears Arms and Feet were full of Silver Copper Bone or Glass-Rings every one of them held an Earthen Porringer full of Yogourt or Sower Milk and a little Vessel full of the same under their Arms and to invite us to buy some of them in our presence dabbed four Fingers and a Thumb into their Budgets and pulled out Butter full of Straws which they mingled with the Milk that was in their Porringers and then poured out more Sower Milk out of the same Borrachy their Husbands are all Fishermen and both men and women are Inhabitants fit for such a Country We parted from that place the same day half an hour after six in the Evening and continued our Journy along the sandy Plain about eight a Clock we passed a narrow streight betwixt little Hills and having kept turning about half a quarter of an hour we found two ways the one to the Left Hand over a pretty high Hill and the other to the Right which hardly appeared we followed this last leaving that to the Left Hand which is very dangerous if we may believe the people of the Country for they would needs persuade us that on that Hill there were Dgius who killed all Passengers by that word Dgius they understand evil Spirits Dgius which they say are of a middle Nature betwixt Angels and Men. This imagination then they have and give it out for a very certan thing that in that Hill there is a Tlisim or Charm by vertue whereof the Dgius prevail Tlisim and that they make Cauldrons there the sound whereof may be heard for they all agree that some men have been there and come safe back again who related all these things but they say that none but such
good very pleasant Destberm Half an hour after five we came to a Lodge of Rahdars which is at the end of the Plain and is called Destberm commonly they make it a Menzil or days Journy from Chadgegih to Destberm because of the trouble of climbing over the Mountain which extreamly tires the Mules There being no water in that place but what is taken out of a beastly open Cistern we gave the Rahdars some Casbeghis and so went on A quarter of an hour after we found a Sepulchre in form of a square Chappel covered with a Dome and pretty near it two Cisterns We went downwards afterwards Chotal Ouscheneck by a very rugged descent called Chotal Ouscheneck in former times it was more rugged and I believe that neither Men nor Beasts could pass it but the Mother of Imam-Couli-Chan Governour of Schiras called Voli Naamet caused the passage to be made as now it is The Rock in many places is cut in the fashion of steps in other places it is Paved and all over where the way is so narrow that Beasts making a false step were in danger of tumbling into a Precipice there is a Parapet made of stone about a Foot and a half high and a Foot thick so that now it is passable though a great way of it one must alight and lead being come to the bottom of that descent for near three quarters of an hour we had very stony way and then came to a lovely Spring of water which spreads so over the Country that with its waters it covers a very large Plain it is called Abghine We saw that water the day before Abghine from Mount Andgira though there be a great Hill betwixt them We passed it at a narrow place upon a Bridge of two Arches which is all ruinous and is called Poul-Abghine Poul-Abghine Having Travelled on two hours and a half more over a barren Plain about half an hour after ten we came to Karzerum six Parasanges and a half from the last Stage Karzerum Karzerum is a Town of many Houses but all so miserable that in our Country the greatest Compliment that could be put upon it would be to call it Bourg or Village because it has a Market-place it depends on the Vizir of Schiras and is Commanded by a Kelonter there are two or three good Kervanserays it it and the water they drink there is brought above half a League from the Town but both in it and the Kervanserays there is water good enough for Beasts and the Kitchin. Here they would have seized our Mules to carry Provisions for the King to Ispahan but the Reverend Father Provincial going to wait upon the Kelonter to represent to him that we were Franks so soon as the Kelonter saw him he ordered that our Mules should not be taken because we were strangers They have a great many Grapes and Melons here and make Wine that may be made use of We parted from Karzerum Friday the second of October at two of the Clock in the Morning and Travelled on still Westwards in very good way Half an hour after four we passed by a sorry Village called Dris Dris where they have no water to drink but what is taken out of a little Lake About six a Clock we passed by a little River that runs in a bottom and there is a way along the side of it we took not that way but leaving both it and the River struck off to the Left Hand by a very stony way about seven a Clock we began to go up Hill in bad way and a quarter of an hour after found a Lodge of Rahdars to whom we made a Present of some Casbeghis and kept on mounting upwards till about eight a Clock and then having descended a little we came into a very even Plain but which produces nothing though there be not one stone in it Having Travelled therein an hour we passed by a Village called Kangh Turkon Kangh Turkon Kamaredge and still kept on in the same Plain till we came to a Village called Kamaredge at the farther end of it This Village is six Parasanges from Karzerum we arrived there half an hour after nine and Lodged in a House that was lent us for some small Gratuity the water we drank there is taken out of a Well close by We parted from that Village Saturday the third of October half an hour after three a Clock in the Morning A little after we passed by a Kervanseray called Kervanseray Khodgia Belfet it is not opened but in the Winter-time Khodgia Belfet when it Rains or Snows the rest of the Year it is shut and no body Lodges in it We continued going Westward but the way was very bad about four a Clock the way was so narrow that only one Mule could pass at a time it lyes betwixt two Hills that are very near one another but it is not above an hundred paces long immediately after we entered into another narrow pass among the Hills where the way is no broader and we went down Hill in very bad way until three quarters of an hour after four there we found a Caravan of several Mules and Camels which were coming from Bender Rik and we met with several others afterward every day Then we went up Hill for about a quarter of an hour and afterwards went down Hill again till six of the Clock in very irksome way and amongst dreadful Precipices being steep black Rocks where one is often forced to alight for fear of tumbling headlong After that we had good way but still amongst Hills until half an hour after six that we found a great broad and deep River Roudchone Bouschavir called Roudchone Bouschavir the water of which tasts a little sweetish the source of it is near the Town called Scheleston Scheleston which is a days Journy from Karzerum Northwards and it loses it self in the Sea towards Bender-Rik we Coasted along it at first in a Plain for the space of an hour and after that mounting during a quarter of an hour we continued our Journy by a flat way for another quarter and then lost fight of the River for the space of half an hour going up Hill all the while until about half an hour after nine we joyned it again and Travelled on along the sides of it an hour and a half in very good way There are many Villages thereabouts and much Cultivated Land some of which bears Tobacco I also saw in several places that fatal Shrub Kerzebreh About ten a Clock we Foarded over a large Brook that falls into the River of Bouschavir Bouschavir Sirt This may very well be the River which Sanson marks in his Map by the name of Sirt we Foarded it again a quarter of an hour after and then five times an end so that in less than half an hours time we crossed it six times having the water always up
and glittering Throne with those others that are carried about in progresses which are likewise adorned with Jewels The fairest Elephants decked with the richest Trappings Decked Elephants are from time to time brought out before the King and the loveliest Horses in their turns also and since the first Mogul Kings introduced a custom of being weighed in a Balance to augment the pleasure of the solemnity the King in being The King is weighed never fails to do so The Balance wherein this is performed seems to be very Rich. The Balance wherein the King is weighed They say that the Chains are of Gold and the two Scales which are set with Stones appear likewise to be of Gold as the Beam of the Balance does also though some affirm that all is but Guilt The King Richly attired and shining with Jewels goes into one of the Scales of the Balance and sits on his Heels and into the other are put little bales so closely packt that one cannot see what is within them The People are made believe that these little bales which are often changed are full of Gold Silver and Jewels or of Rich Stuffs and the Indians tell Strangers so when they would brag of their Country then they weigh the King with a great many things that are good to eat and I believe that what is within the Bales is not a whit more Pretious However when one is at the Solemnity he must make as if he believed all that is told him and be very attentive to the Publication of what the King weighs for it is published and then exactly set down in writing When it appears in the Register that the King weighs more than he did the year before all testifie their Joy by Acclamations but much more by rich Presents which the Grandees and the Ladies of the Haram make to him The presents of the Festival when he is returned to his Throne and these Presents amount commonly to several Millions The King distributes Trifles given by the King. first a great quantity of Artificial Fruit and other knacks of Gold and Silver which are brought to him in Golden Basons but these knacks are so slight that the profusion which he makes in casting them promiscuously amongst the Princes and other Great men of his Court who croud one another to have their share lessens not the Treasure of his Exchequer for I was assured that all these trifles would not cost one hundred thousand Crowns And indeed Auran-Zeb is reckoned a far greater Husband Auran-Zeb a great Husband than a great King ought to be during five days there is great rejoycing all over the Town as well as in the Kings Palace which is exprest by Presents Feastings Bonefires and Dances and the King has a special care to give Orders Publick rejoycing that the best Dancing-women and Baladines be always at Court. Play at Dice The Gentiles being great lovers of Play at Dice there is much Gaming during the five Festival days They are so eager at it in Dehly and Benara that there is a vast deal of Money lost there and many People ruined And I was told a Story of a Banian of Dehly who played so deep at the last Festival that he lost all his Money Goods House Wife and Children At length he that won them taking pity of him gave him back his Wife and Children but no more of all his Estate than to the value of an hundred Crowns To conclude The Province of Dehly hath no great extent to the South-East which is the side towards Agra but is larger on the other sides especially Eastwards The Ground of Dehly where it hath a great many Towns The Ground about it is excellent where it is not neglected but in many parts it is The ground about the Capital City is very fertile Wheat and Rice grow plentifully there They have excellent Sugar also and good Indigo Chalimar one of the Kings Country Houses especially towards Chalimar which is one of the Kings Countrey-houses about two Leagues from Dehly upon the way to Lahors All sorts of Trees and Fruit grow there also but amongst others the Ananas are exceeding good I shall speak of them in the Description of the Kingdom of Bengala The Yearly Revenue of Dehly It is specified in my Memoire That this Province pays the Great Mogul yearly between thirty seven and thirty eight Millions CHAP. XXVII Of the Province and Town of Azmer The Road from Agra to Azmer THE Province of Azmer lies to the North-East of Dehly the Countrey of Sinde bounds it to the West It hath Agra to the East Multan and Pengeab to the North and Guzerat to the South This Province of Azmer It is Six Leagues from Agra to Fetipout 6 Leag to Bramabad 7. Leag to Hendouen 7 Leag to Mogul-serai 6 Leag to Lascot 7 Leag to Chafol 4 Leag to Pipola 7 Leag to Mosa-ban 5 Leag to Bender-Sandren 6 Leag to Mandil 1 Leag to Azmer hath been divided into three Provinces of Bando Gesselmere and Soret and the Capital City at present is Azmer which is distant from Agra about sixty two Leagues The Situation of Azmer This Town lies in twenty five Degrees and a half North Latitude at the foot of a very high and almost inaccessible Mountain There is on the top of it an extraordinary strong Castle to mount to which one must go turning and winding for above a League and this Fort gives a great deal of reputation to the Province The Town hath Stone-Walls and a good Ditch without the Walls of it there are several Ruins of Fair Buildings which shew great antiquity King Ecbar was Master of this Province before he built Agra And before it fell into his hands it belonged to a famous Raja Raja Ramgend or Raspoute called Ramgend who came to Fetipour and resigned it to him and at the same time did him Hommage for it This Raja was Mahometan as his Predecessors had been and besides a great many ancient marks of Mahometanism that were in that Country in his Time Cogea Mondy the famous Cogea Mondy who was in reputation of Sanctity amongst the Mahometans was reverenced at Azmer and from all Parts they came in Pilgrimage to his Tombe It is a pretty fair Building having three Courts paved with Marble whereof the first is extreamly large and hath on one side The Sepulchre of Cogea Mondy several Sepulchres of false Saints and on the other a Reservatory of Water with a neat Wall about it The second Court is more beautified and hath many Lamps in it The third is the loveliest of the three and there the Tomb of Cogea Mondy is to be seen in a Chappel whose door is adorned with several Stones of colour mingled with Mother of Pearl There are besides three other smaller Courts which have their Waters and Buildings for the convenience and lodging of Imans who are entertained to
Grand Signiors Gate Capidgi comes from Capi which signifies Gate These Men keep the Gates of the Serraglio and stand round the Grand Signior when he gives Audience it being their part also to introduce others into the Princes presence and hold them by the arms so long as they are there When the Grand Signior has a mind to have the Head of any Man that is out of Constantinople he sends a Capidgi for it they are in all three thousand and have a Head called the Capidgi Basha though sometimes they have more than one according as the Grand Signior pleases Their Head-attire is a Cap The Head-attire of the Capidgis Solaques old Soldiers who ought to succeed to the Officers with a Cone half a foot long fastened to it before The Solaques are also of the Infantry and are the Grand Signior's Garde du corps or Life-guard for they attend the Grand Signior when he goes abroad in the City These Blades when they march in Ceremony wear a Doliman with Hanging-sleeves tuckt up under the Girdle so that one may see their Shirts which are always clean and neat their Cap is of a pretty stuff ending in a point in which they stick Feathers in form of a Crest they have a Bow hanging over their Arm and the Quiver full of Arrows on the right Shoulder always ready to draw an Arrow if it be needful They are called Solaques that is to say left-handed Men because when they are to shoot their Arrows Solaque a Left-handed Man. those who are on the Grand Signior's right Hand draw the Bow-string with the left that they may not turn their back upon him But the chief of the Infantry are the Janizaries who are partly Children of Tribute Janizaries though they take but a few at present brought to Constantinople where the wittiest are shut up for seven years time in the Serraglio to learn their Exercises and according as they have Parts and Courage they are preferred to Places but the duller sort are made Janizaries Aagemoglans or Bostangis Every fifth year this Tribute is collected The Janizaries are then partly Children of Tribute partly Volunteer Renegadoes who are very numerous and some few natural Turks This Militia was first instituted by Othoman or Ozman Son of Ortogule The Institution of the Janizaries the first Emperour of the Turks It is a body of Men so powerful not only for their number for besides the Janizaries of the Port who are twelve thousand and are dispersed over all the Provinces of the Empire there are others in very great numbers but also for the Privileges anciently given to them and the great Union that is among them calling one another Brothers and not suffering the least injury to be done to the meanest of their Body who do whatsoever they please and none but their Officers dare to lift up a hand against them upon pain of death so that they seem to be sacred and really I know no Order of Militia in the World that is so much respected for love nor money cannot save the life of a Man that hath beaten a Janizary Seeing they can beat any man upon a just ground and no body dare touch them Ambassadours and Consuls entertain some of them to march before them and when a Frank would go into the City or Countrey without fear of being abused he takes one of the Ambassadour's Janizaries with him or the first he finds who for some Aspres to be pay'd him at his return goes before with a Cudgel in his hand wherewith he soundly drubs those that offer but to cast a cross look at the Frank. Head-attire of the Janizaries The Habit of the Janizaries differs not from that of other Turks but they have another kind of Head-attire for on their head they wear a Cap hanging down behind and shaped like the Sleeve of a Casaque in one end of which they put their head and the other hangs down their back like a large Livery-hood on the forehead they have a Cone half a foot long fastened to this Cap which is of Silver gilt and set with counterfeit Stones This Cap is called Zercola Zercola a Cap of Ceremony for the Janizaries and is their Cap of Ceremony but commonly they wear a woollen Cap wreathed about with a Turban in a manner peculiar to themselves Their Pay is two three four five or six Aspres a day some more and some less The Janizaries Pay. and besides their Pay they have a Piece of Cloth yearly Every new Grand Signior adds an Aspre to their Pay. The Janizaries of the Port The Janizaries Lodgings who as I said before are twelve thousand in number live in two Inns or Colleges containing an hundred and threescore Chambers and they are thirty forty or fifty in a Chamber those who would lodge elsewhere may but they are still of such a Chamber so that they are divided into Chambers which they call Oda Oda Oda Basha Chorbagi Vikil Hardge and every Chamber hath three Officers an Oda Basha that is to say Chief of the Chamber a Chorbagi who is a Captain and a Vikil Hardge which is to say the Steward The Chorbagis wear a Cap of fine Stuff with fair large plumes of Feathers placed in form of a Crest just like the Solaques Kiaya Bey Lieutenant General of the Janizaries That Aga of Janizaries is the General of the Foot. The way of punishing a Janizary Azapes over this is the Kiaya Bey or Lieutenant General of the Janizaries and over him the Aga of the Janizaries who is General of the whole Body and is a Muteferaca but he has no power to punish any one in his Lodging only when Justice is demanded against a Janizary he enquires what Chamber he belongs to then sends for his Oda Basha into whose hands he delivers him and he carries him to his Chamber where he causes him to be punished in the Night-time for Soldiers can neither be beaten nor put to death in publick If he hath not deserved death he has blows on his feet and if he be guilty of death he is strangled then put into a Sack and thrown into the Sea All Soldiers are served in this manner There are also the Azapes who are as it were the old Troops and are indeed Pioniers they were instituted before the Janizaries though they be inferiour to them There are many more Foot-Soldiers Dgebegis Topdgis Chiaoux as the Dgebegis or Cuirassiers Topdgis or Gunners and others but having spoken of the chief I shall now proceed to the Horse and first to the Chiaoux who are much like the Exempts des gardes in France their Office is very honourable for they execute most part of the Grand Signior's Commands and of his Bashas and are sent on Embassies to Foreign Princes they wear Caps above a foot in diameter and yet they are not round but long and flat above This kind of Cap is the Cap of
thirty Marble Pillars The Dome is full of Pictures in Mosaick work and the Church is kept in so good repair that it seems to be new built Behind the High Altar is that miraculous Image of the Virgin painted on wood and the place where the Tree that carried it was planted that place being taken into the Church They tell of many Miracles wrought in that Church and of these I shall only relate one which is represented on the Altar-piece of the Altar before which it was wrought They say that one day when they were celebrating the Festival of that Church and all the Altars were deck'd as well as possibly they could be some Moors came in and would have robb'd the Ornaments of one Altar who going to it at a time when there was no body there one of them dropt something of iron which striking against the pavement made so great a fire that it burnt them to ashes in the same place and in the floor they shew a little hole which they say was made by the same iron St. John Baptist's Thumb They shew'd me a Thumb of St. John Baptist which seems to be of the same Hand that is kept in Malta And then a piece of the true Cross These Reliques are richly enchased The Convent of Niamoni rich Having taken a full view of the Church I went into the Convent which is very spacious and built in form of a Castle no Women ever enter it There are commonly two hundred Calloyers in that Convent governed by an Abbat and they never exceed that number When there are any vacant Places such as would supply them and be Calloyers pay an hundred Piastres and carry with them what Estate they have which they enjoy during life but after their death it belongs to the Convent and they cannot dispose in favour of a Relation or any body else but of a third of their Estates and that too upon condition that the Heir make himself a Calloyer in the same Convent and so they lose nothing of the Stock The Convent gives to every Calloyer daily black Bread Wine that is none of the best and rotten Cheese for the rest they must provide themselves as well as they can Such of them as are rich make good chear and live well at their own charges nay there are some that have good Horses to ride about on and take the air when they have a mind and the rest must make a shift with their commons yet they eat all together in their Refectory on Sundays and great Festivals When they die they are carried in their habit to a Church dedicated to St. Luke which is without the Convent where they lay them on an Iron-Grate and if any of the dead Bodies do not corrupt the rest of the Calloyers say it is a sign that they are excomunicated This Convent pays to the Grand Signior Five hundred Piastres a Year but it has above Threescore thousand Piastres of yearly Revenue and they have a Treasury where they keep above a Million of Gold They confessed to me themselves that almost two Thirds of the Island belonged to them for most People that die leave them some Houses some Lands and some Money which shews that it is not only among Roman Catholicks that Monks enjoy the Estates of several Houses and Families Bells at Niamoni and in other places of the Isle They have two great Bells in this Convent which pleased me a little when I heard them Ring because for a long time I had not heard the sound of any the Turks allowing them to Christians no where else but in the Island of Chio where there are little ones in every Village Without the Convent there is an Aqueduct of very good Water for the use of the Caloyers After I had sufficiently Reposed my self in that Convent I took my way to the Town and a little wide of the way to the Right Hand I saw the Church called the Incoronata which belongs to the Dominicans Another day I went to see Homer's School which is by the Sea-side Homer's School about a Mile from Chio it is a Rock somewhat rising and thereon as it were a square Altar about three Foot every way cut out of the same Rock and round it there are some Beasts represented in relief I observed an Ox a Wolf and such others and that is it they call the School of Homer Not far from thence there is Village called Ananato where they make Charcole and Pitch it contains about an Hundred and fifty Inhabitants and those of Chio say that Homer was born there Near to it there is a Vineyard that produces very good Wine which is commonly called Homer's Vineyard though there are others who say that it is near a Village called Cardamila ten Miles distant from the other and two Miles from the Sea where there is a good Harbour CHAP. LXIII Of some Villages of the Isle of Chio. HEre I shall mention the chief Villages of the Isle of Chio which I did not see but according as a Manuscript Relation that came to my Hands Written by one who lived several Years in that Island has informed me The Village of Cardamila which we just now mentioned Cardamila contains about Five hundred Inhabitants the Country about it is beautified by many fair Water Springs and is very Fertile yielding Yearly about an Hundred and sixty or seventy Tuns of Wine Some years ago several pieces of Gold Silver and Copper Money of the Emperour Constantine were found there Five Miles from that Village there is a lovely Valley half a Mile long A lovely Valley in the Isle of Chio. and therein a Spring of Water to which one goes down by a Stair-case of thirty lovely Marble steps At the farther end of this Valley there was a Temple built all of pieces of Ash-coloured Marble eight Hands breadth long and six broad which were well fastned together with Iron and Lead but the Country People have broken these fine Stones to get out the Mettal That place is called Naos that is to say Temple Naos Vichi the Gentlemen of Chio go commonly there for their Diversion Beyond that there is a Village called Vichi inhabited by Three hundred Souls and hath a Church dedicated to the Virgin. Farther on is Cambia containing an hundred Inhabitants Cambia this place lies amongst Rocks Hills and Woods of wild Pine-trees and there it is that they Fell the Timber for Building of Galleys there are several Churches here and there among the Mountains Below this Village is a Valley where there is a little Castle built upon a Rock that is almost Inaccessible The Inhabitants of the place say that formerly there was a Dragon found under that Castle The Mount of St. Elias Over against that place is the Mount of St. Elias which is the highest place of all the Island and may even be seen from Tenedo which is many Miles more than an
hundred distant from Chio on the top of this Mount there is a Church dedicated to that Saint This is so high a place that it is always covered with Mists and Snow In the middle of the Mountain there is so large and copious a Spring that it Waters all the Fields about which are fertile and abound in all sorts of Fruits Spartonda In a Wood hard by there is a Village called Spartonda where about fifty Persons only all Shepherds live but it is a delightful place affording good Water Calandre Coronia and excellent Fruits Betwixt the Village of Calandre that stands upon a Hill and Coronia consisting of about an Hundred and fifty scattering Houses there is a Bath of Sulphur by the Sea-side under extraordinary big Oaks this Bath is called Hayasma which signifies Holy or Blessed Water because the Water of it being drank Cures many Diseases but it Kills a great many People too by the violence of its Operation Three Miles from the Sea St. Helenas Town at the farther end of the Island is the Town St. Helena built upon a Rock and containing Two hundred Inhabitants it hath two Churches and a Chappel built just about the middle of the Hill where being hollow there hangs in the middle of it a point of a Rock from which Water contially drops and this Water they also call Hayasma Holy or Blessed Water This Water comes from the Mountain impregnated with Rain-Water or the vapours that rise from a deep Valley underneath where runs a Water that drives some Mills The Inhabitants of this place firmly believe that if a dead Body do not in forty days time corrupt Zorzolacas Hobgoblins it turns to a Hobgoblin which they call Zorzolacas or Nomolacas A dead body whose Ghost wandred about the Village in the Night-time And the Author of the Manuscript from whence I had this says That Travelling that way in the Month of April 1637. he found a Priest reading over a dead Body which he had caused to be raised after it had been fifty days in the Grave and was nevertheless still sound there being no sign of Corruption about it but a Worm that crawled out of the Eye The Priest told the Man who reports this that that Body or rather its Ghost went all Night about the Village knocking at the Doors and calling the People by their Names and that such as made answer died within two or three days after and that the Worm that came out of his Eye was but a Trick of the Devils to make it believed he was rotten This place is about thirty Miles from the City and they are all poor Shepherds that live there The Chappel in the aforesaid Rock is highly esteemed by all the Villages about From thence one goes to Volisso Volisso which is a great Village seated on a Hill with a Castle built by Belisarius General to the Emperour of Constantinople who going somewhere else by Sea was by a Storm forced to put on Shoar in that place in that Castle there is a Church with several Houses and Cisterns the Village contains about Three hundred Houses and about Fifteen hundred Inhabitants with several Churches The Country about it is very Pleasant Spacious and Fruitful and the Inhabitants make Five thousand Weight of Silk yearly with the Money whereof they pay their Tribute They are very vicious and it is thought they lie under a Curse of being almost always destitute of Bread. There is a place Varvariso The transformation of St. Marcella called Varvariso where there is a Church dedicated to St Marcella who as the Inhabitants of that place say was converted into Stone in a Grotto by the Sea-side whither she fled to escape from her Father who would have Defloured her and they say that on the day when the Church celebrates the Festival of that Saint Milk is seen to drop from the Breasts that are on the Rock Panagirio This with them is a solemn Feast which they call Panagirio the Priests singing praises to her all Night long Three Miles from that Village there is a Monastery dedicated to St. John and near to that Monastery is a Village called Fitta Fitta below which there is a great Valley corresponding to the Country about Volisso wherein there is a running Water that drives eight Mills which serves all the Villages about though every Peasant has a Hand-mill in his House wherewith the Women grind the Corn. From thence one goes to Sieronda Sieronda which is a very ancient spacious Tower inhabited by fifty Souls Lecilimiona all Shepherds who have a Church there a little further is the Village of Lecilimiona containing an Hundred and fifty Inhabitants with a Church There begin the Mastick-Trees About two Miles from thence there is a Village called Elata Elata whereof all the Inhabitants are addicted to the taming of Partridges Further on is the Village of Armolia Armolia where all the Earthen Ware that is used in the Island is made it contains about Five hundred Inhabitants and several Churches and lies in a Plain full of Mastick-Trees Over against this Village there is a Castle standing upon a very high Hill and is called Apolieno built by one Nicholas Justiniani in the Year 1440. Apolieno as may be seen upon the Gate of it It is of an Oval Figure with a double Wall and contains Threescore and two Rooms with two Cisterns one of which is Threescore Foot long and Forty Foot broad This Castle is very strong to resist the Corsares and has a Church in the middle of it The Village of Mesta exceeds all the rest in Strength and good Building Mesia it is of a Triangular figure lying in a Plain and containing Three hundred Inhabitants with several Churches About two Miles from thence there is a Harbour called Ayadinamy and another named San Nichita Ayadinamy San Nichita Pirgi this last is nearer the Village of Pirgi than Mesta Pirgi is a great Village with a Tower containing Two thousand Inhabitants and thirty Churches And this being all I had to say of the Villages that are among the Hills I shall now speak of others and first of Calamoty which hath several Churches Calamoty and about Seven hundred Inhabitants but no considerable House Chiny Vessa St. George Flacia Vono Nevita no more than Chiny inhabited by Three hundred People Vessa by Two hundred St. George and Flacia Vono is a great Village with a square Castle it hath about Five hundred Inhabitants and several Churches Over against this Village there is another called Nevita which is very great and hath a very high Tower an hundred Hands broad this place contains Two thousand five hundred Inhabitants and thirty Churches with two Monasteries one of Monks and the other of Nuns Without the Village there is also a Church dedicated to St. Michael the Arch-angel which is mightily crowded with People on that
a low Valley the Garden of the same Salomon Hortus Conclusus The Mount Anguedy called Hortus Conclusus because it is on both sides shut in by two high Hills that serve it for a Wall. Then returning back towards Bethlehem we passed the Mount Anguedy where the Cave is in which David cut off the Skirt of Saul's Garment And about half a League from thence we saw a Castle upon a high Hill called Bethulia which the Franks maintained forty Years after they had lost the City of Jerusalem then we came to the Well where the Virgin desiring to drink when she fled from the Persecution of Herod and the People of the Country refusing to draw Water for her it swelled of it self up to the Wells mouth Next we went to the place where the Shepherds were when the Angel brought them the joyful Tydings saying I bring you good Tydings and Glory be to God on High which with great Devotion we sung there in an old ruinous Subterranean Church built by St. Helen in that place All the Inhabitants thereabouts are to this day Shepherds because it is a fertile Country We returned to Bethlehem about ten a Clock in the Morning and in the Evening went into the Grott where it is said the holy Virgin hid her self with the Child Jesus to avoid the Tyranny of Herod when he put to death the innocent Babes We carried Candles with us thither for you can see nothing unless you have a light with you This is a round Grott cut in the Rock and in it there is an Altar where the Latin Monks sometimes say Mass They say that the Virgin having in this place shed some of her Milk the Stone became white A Stone become white by the Virgins Milk. as it is at present and that by Gods permission it obtained this Vertue That it makes Womens Milk return to them nay the Turks and Arabs give the powder of it in water to their Females which have lost their Milk and that makes it return again About sixty paces from thence is the House where St. Joseph was when the Angel appeared to him bidding him flee into Aegypt with the Virgin and the Child Jesus CHAP. XLVIII Of the Mountains of Judea and of the Convent of Holy-Cross THursday the twenty fifth of April we parted from Bethlehem about seven a Clock in the Morning and went to the Mountains of Judea Mountains of Judea The Town of Sennacherib passing by the Town of Sennacherib so called because the Army of Sennacherib was cut to pieces there in the Night-time by an Angel. Then after we had ascended a little we passed close by Botirella which we left on our left hand and came to the Fountain where St. Philip Baptized the Eunuch of Candaie Queen of Aethiopia the Brook which runs from that Fountain is called in holy Scripture the Brook of Eshcoll Numb 13. That is to say the Brook of Grapes Brook of Eshcoll Vineyard of Sorec because it runs near to the Vineyard of Sorec Leaving that Fountain to the left hand we went near to the said Vineyard of Sorec that is to say Chosen Vineyard where the Spies whom Moses sent to view the Land of Promise Battir The Desart of St. John Baptist took a great cluster of Grapes then we pass'd by the Village of Battir and from thence by very bad way came to the Desart of St. John Baptist where after a pretty long Ascent we found a very old ruinous Building which heretofore was a Monastery under these ruines there is a Cave where that Saint lived and there you see the Bed whereon he lay which is the hard Rock cut in shape of a Bed. The Bed of St. John Baptist This Grott is on the side of a Hill at the foot of which there is a very stony Valley or Precipice then another Mountain which intercepts the View so that it is encompassed round with Hills There is a Spring of excellent water by the side of this Cave and near to it we Dined Being gone from thence we came to the House of St. Elizabeth where are the ruines of a fair Church that was built by S. Helen that is the place where the Virgin visited St. Elizabeth The House of St. Elizabeth and made the Magnificat which we Sung there Then going down about five hundred paces we found on the right hand the Well of St. John where St. Elizabeth washed his Clouts when he was an Infant Keeping on our way we came to a Village wherein is the House of St. Zacharias The House of Zacharias the Father of St. John Baptist which was converted into a Church wherein on the left hand of the Altar that is at the end of it as you enter is the Room where St. John was Born and where his Father at the Birth of that Son who was blessed from the Womb recovered his Speech and made the Benedictus which we sung there on the other side of the Altar to wit on the side of the Epistle there is a little hole where it is said St. Elizabeth kept St. John long hid to avoid the fury of Herod The Arabs lodge their Cattel many times in this Church When we came out from thence The Village of St. John. The Convent of Holy Cross we passed through the Village of St. John Inhabited by Arabs All the ways in the Hilly Country of Judea are very bad We came next to a Convent of Greeks called Holy-Cross built with very strong Walls we went into the Church which is fair very light and full of the pictures of Saints after the Mosaical way and paved also in that manner The place where the Olive-Tree was cut down of which the Coss of our Lord was made It is covered with a Dome There is a great hole under the high Altar where the Olive-Tree grew that was cut down to make the Cross of our Lord of When we had seen all these things we took our way streight to Jerusalem where we arrived about four a clock in the Afternoon We entered by the Castle-Gate called also the Gate of Bethlehem This Gate is called the Castle-Gate because there is a good Castle in that place CHAP. XLIX Of Bethany Bethphage Mount Sion the Houses of Caiaphas and Annas FRiday the twenty sixth of April we went out by the Gate of Bethlehem about seven a Clock in the Morning and saw first on our right hand at the foot of Mount Sion The Fish-ponds of Bathshebah Mount Sion The Palace of David Aceldama the two Fish-ponds of Bathshebah where she bathed her self and very near over against it but about fifty paces higher upon the same Mount Sion is the Palace of David from whence he saw and fell in Love with her then the Field called in holy Scripture Aceldama that is to say The Field of Blood because it was bought for the thirty pieces of Silver which Judas got for betraying of
in the House of Judas They say that the Turks have several times attempted to build a Mosque over that Grott but that all that they had built in the day-time was in the Evening thrown down in an instant You may also go to a little Hermitage two miles from the City where Dervishes live it stands upon a little Hill above a great Village called Salahia Salahia The Cave of the seven Sleepers There you may see the Cave where the seven Sleepers hid themselves when they were Persecuted by Decius who would have made them renounce the Christian Faith and where they slept till the time of Theodosius the Younger This is a very pleasant place and the more that from thence one may see all the Countrey about Damascus Three Leagues from thence towards the way of Baal bel The place where Cain slew his Brother Abel Jobar Elias's Grott is the place where they say Cain slew his Brother Abel and where also they Sacrificed You must also go to a Village called Jobar half a League from the City inhabited only by Jews who have a Synagogue there at the end of which on the right side there is a Grott four paces square with a hole and seven steps cut in the Rock to go down to it They say that this is the place where the Prophet Elias hid himself when he fled from the Persecution of Queen Jezabel The hole by which the Ravens brought him Victuals for the space of forty days The place where Abraham Fought is still to be seen there There are three little Presses in this Grott serving to set three Lamps in A League and a half from thence is the place where as they say the Patriarch Abraham gave Battel to the five Kings who carried away his Nephew Lot Cham. and overcame them Damascus which the Turks call Cham is very well situated seven Rivers run by it and it is encompassed all round almost with two Walls and little Ditches The Houses are not handsome on the out-side being built of Brick and Earth but within they are most Beautiful and have all generally Fountains The Mosques Bagnio's and Coffee-Houses are very fair and well Built But let us return to Nazareth which I passed not hoping to see Damascus by another way as I shall relate hereafter The Reader may find a more ample description of Damascus in the Second Part Of these TRAVELS CHAP. LIX Our return to Acre A Description of Mount Carmel AFter we had seen Nazareth and all that is to be seen about it we took leave of the Father Guardian of Nazareth and parted on Sunday the twelfth of May about two a Clock in the Afternoon Monday the thirteenth of May we parted from Acre about four a Clock in the Evening in a small Bark to go to Mount Carmel ten miles from Acre we had a fair Wind but so high that our Rudder broke which being quickly mended again with some Nails we sailed only with a fore Sail and about six a Clock at night arrived at the Village of Cayphas The Village of Cayphas before which we were taken by the Corsair mentioned before This Village which was formerly a Town stands at the foot of Mount Carmel we went up the Mount and about seven a Clock came to the Convent which is held by barefooted Carmelites The Convent on Mount Carmel There we found two French Fathers and an Italian Brother who had been twenty years there They observe a very severe Rule for beside that they are removed from all Worldly Conversation they neither eat Flesh nor drink Wine and if they need it they must go to another place as the Superiour at that time did for being asthmatick and pining away daily he was forced to go to Acre there to recruit himself for some days Nor do they suffer Pilgrims to eat Flesh in their Convent only they allow them to drink Wine This Convent is not on the top of the Mount where they had a lovely one before the Christians lost the Holy Land the ruines whereof are still to be seen but is a very little one somewhat lower and needs no more but three Monks to fill it who would have much adoe to subsist if they had not some Alms given them by the French Merchants of Acre that go often thither to their Devotions They have possessed this place thirty years since the time they were driven out of it after that the Christians lost the Holy Land it is the place where the Prophet Elias lived and their Church is the very Grott where sometimes he abode which is very neatly cut out of the Rock From this Convent they have an excellent Prospect especially upon the Sea where there is no bounds to their sight About their Convent they have a pretty Hermitage very well Cultivated by the Italian Brother who hath brought all the Earth that is in it thither and indeed it is very pleasant to see Flowers and Fruits growing upon a Hill that is nothing but Rock These good Monks gave us a very neat Collation of nine or ten Dishes of Fruit and then we went to rest in the apartment of the Pilgrims for though it be a very little place yet they have made a small commodious and very neat Lodging for Pilgrims but they must not exceed the number of six Next day the fourteenth of May we performed our Devotions in that holy place and then left the Convent about eight a Clock in the morning that we might go visit the places of Devotion about it Our guide was one of the French Fathers who fearing we might be Robbed by the Arabs made us carry upon our shoulders sticks in the manner of Musquets At a good Leagues distance from the Convent we saw a Well that the Prophet Elias made to spring out of the Ground and a little over it another no less miraculous the waters of both are very pleasant and good The Arabs say that all the while the Monks were absent after they had been Banished from thence they yielded no Water Close by this last Fountain are stately ruines of the Convent of St. Brocard who was sent thither by St. Albert Patriarch of Jerusalem to Reform the Hermites that lived there without rule or community Stone-Melons it hath been a lovely Convent Not far from thence is the Garden of the Stone-Melons and they say that Elias passing that way demanded in Charity a Melon from a man that was gathering some who in contempt answered Elias that they were Stones and not Melons whereupon all the Melons were immediately turned into Stones when I prayed them to conduct me to that Garden They made me answer that they knew not the way but after that they told me privately that they were unwilling to carry me thither because we were too many in company and that there being but few of these Melons there at present if every one took what he listed no more would remain
taken from the Beast he is mistaken for before People come to their Houses they rub the inside of that piece of Flesh with a little Oyl or some such stuff that so the Sweat and it together may make more weight but when no body is present they take it out pure and mingle it afterwards To find out the truth of this I went one day to the House of a Jew that kept Civet Cats without giving him notice before for because I had bought a little of him and promised to come again another time he asked me as often as he saw me what day I would come and having desired him to get me some fresh Civet he told me that it was not the day he used to take it out and having returned without acquainting him before upon one of the days when he said he was accustomed to gather it he refused then also to do it pretending business which confirmed all that had been told me of that maitter In the mean time they hold these Beasts very dear for havihg asked that Jew and others also how much they would have of me for a Civet Cat Dangala Baberins they all told me an hundred Chequins Dangala is the Capital City of Nubia the King of Dangala is King of the Barberins who are a kind of Blacks of the Musulman Religion that came in crouds to Caire to get Services they are somewhat silly but very faithful and serve for a small matter for two Maidins a day or a Maidin and their Diet you may make them do whatsoever you please They wear a blew-Shirt plat all their Hair in Tresses and then rub it over with a certain Oyl to keep their Head from being Lousie At Caire when they have any falling out they go before the Scheiks of their own Nation who make them Friends and if they think It convenient adjudge them to pay a Fine with which they Feast and make merry together They are great lovers of Crocodiles Flesh and when any Frank has got one for the Skin they come and beg the Flesh which they dress with a pretty good Sawce When these blades have scraped together ten or twelve Piastres they return home again wealthy to their own Countrey provided they escape being Robbed by the Arabs upon the way who many times serve them so therefore they commonly return in companies as they came The King of Dangala pays his Tribute to the King of Aethiopia in Cloath The Provinces of Aethiopia are Gouyan where the King keeps a Vice-Roy Beghandir Dambia Amara which is a great Province full of Mountains and good Castles Damoud Tegre and Barnegas Besides there are several Provinces Governed by Princes who are Vassals to the King of Aethiopia In short the Kingdom of Aethiopia comprehends twenty four Tambours or Vice-Roys The Capital City is called Gonthar and is in the Province of Dambia Aethiopia as the Ambassadour told me is as cold as Aleppo or Damascus only the Countries near the Red-Sea and the Countrey of Sennar are hot The King of Aethiopia has above an hundred Wives and keeps no Eunuchs to look after them because they look upon it as a Sin to Geld a Man so that the Women have the same liberty there as in Christendom He is a King of very easie access and the poorest have the freedom to come and speak to him when they please He keeps all his Children on a Mountain called Ouohhni in the Province of Oinadaga which is a Mountain two days Journey distant from Gonthar there is a place like a Cistern on the top of the Mountain into which they are let down every night and taken up again in the day-time and suffered to play and walk about When the King dies they chuse out one of the wittiest of them and make him King without any regard to Birth-right and when he comes to have Children he sends his Brothers Prisoners to some other place and places his Children at Ouohhni The place where the Kings are Buried is called Ayesus and is a kind of Grott where the Aged are laid in one side and the young in the other Heretofore there was a Church there of the same name in time of the Jesuits and in the same place there is an excellent Library where are all sorts of Books in all kinds of Languages in great plenty and may be seen by those who have the Curiosity The Ambassadour assured me that he had been in that Library and I fancy it is the old Library of the Ancient Aethiopians Aethiopia is a good and fertile Countrey producing Wheat Barley c. The greatest Desarts of it are not above three or four days Journey over and nevertheless when the King makes any progress he always lodges in Tents The Houses of the great Lords are like those of Caire that is to say very mean in respect of the Houses of Europe and the rest are only of Mud. The Countrey affords men of all Trades except Watch-makers They have no Camels there but Mules Asses Oxen and Horses All the people of this Countrey eat raw Flesh except the King who has it dress'd and drinks Wine of Grapes the rest drink only Wine made of Millet or Sarasin wheat but as strong as ours and Brandy made of the same Grain They are Cloathed after the fashion of the Franks and wear Cloath Velvet and other Stuffs imported to them by the Red-Sea They have Harquebusses from the Turks and of those People there are not above three or four hundred who serve in the Wars with Harquebusses In Trading they make no use of Coined Money as the Europeans do but their money are pieces of fifteen or twenty Pics of Cloath Gold which they give by weight and a kind of Salt which they reduce into little square pieces like pieces of Soap and these pass for Money They cut out that Salt upon the side of the Red-Sea five or six days Journey from Dangala as you go from Caire and the places where they make it are called Arho Among them is the Nation of the Gaules whom in Aethiopick they call Chava and are a Vagabond people in Aethiopia as the Arabs are in Aegypt these Gaules are rich in Cattel and are always at Wars with the Aethiopians They have no Harquebusses nor other Fire-Arms but make use of Lances and Targets After all they speak so many different Languages in Aethiopia that the Ambassadour said to me If God hath made seventy two Languages they are all spoken in Aethiopia I asked his Excellency if he knew any thing of the Source of the Nile and this he told me concerning it The head of Nile is a Well that springs out of the Ground in a large Plain where many Trees grow this Fountain is called Ouembromma and is in a Province called Ago It makes that a very delightful place casting up Water very High in several places And this Ambassadour of Aethiopia assured me that he had been above twelve times with the
Prayers of the Hermites who at that time lived by it and chiefly of St. Macharius because the Pirats of that Sea much infested them Bahr el Malame it is called Bahr el Malame that is to say Mare Convicii There you may find a great many petrifications of Wood and some Bones converted into Stone which are pretty curious On the side of that Sea to the West The Mountain of Eagles Stones Dgebel el Masque is the Mountain of Eagles Stones called Dgebel el Masque where digging in the Earth and especially in time of heat and drought they find several Eagles Stones of different bigness so called because the Eagles carry them to their Nests to preserve their young ones from Serpents they have many Vertues and the Monks say that there are commonly many Eagles to be seen there You must make as short a stay there as you can for fear of the Arabs From the Mountain of Eagles Stones you go making a Triangle to the fourth Monastery and all the Journey from Ambabichoye to this Monastery Dir el Saydet is performed in one day This Monastery is called Dir el Saydet that is to say the Monastery of our Lady it is very spacious but a little ruinous It hath a fair Church and Garden but the Water is brackish and nevertheless there are more Monks in this Monastery than in the other three because the Revenue of it is greater and they have some Relicks also From this Monastery you go to the Lake of Natron Birquet el Natroun called Birquet el Natroun only two Leagues distant from it this Lake is worth ones Curiosity to see and it looks like a large Pond frozen over upon the Ice whereof a little Snow had fallen It is divided into two the more Northern is made by a Spring that rises out of the Ground though the place of it cannot be observed and the Southern proceeds from a great bubbling Spring the Water being at least a Knee deep which immediately as it springs out of the Earth congeals and makes as it were great pieces of Ice and generally the Natron is made and perfected in a Year by that Water which is reddish There is a red Salt upon it six or seven Fingers thick Natron then a black Natron which is made use of in Aegypt for Lye and last is the Natron much like the first Salt but more solid Higher up there is a little Well of Fresh-water which is called Aain el Goz and a great many Camels come dayly to the Lake to be loaded with that Natron From this Lake you go to another where there is Salt at Whitsontide made in form of a Pyramide Pyramidal Salt. Melhel Mactaoum and therefore is called Pyramidal Salt and in Arabick Melh el Mactaoum From the said Lake you return and Lodge in one of the Monasteries and next day come back to the Nile where you must stay for a passage to Caire or Rossetto if you have not retained the Boat that brought you CHAP. LXXII Of Aegypt the Nile Crocodiles and Sea-Horses AEGypt called by the Hebrews Mis Raim Aegypt Masr and by the Arabs at present Masr and in Turkish Misr is bounded on the East by the Red Sea and the Desarts of Arabia on the South by the Kingdoms of Bugia and Nubia The borders of Aegypt on the West by the Desarts of Lybia and on the North by the Mediterranean Sea. This Country lies so low that the Land cannot be seen till one be just upon it and therefore those that sail to it ought to be upon their Guard. Aegypt has no Ports on the Mediteranean fit for Ships except Alexandria and the Bouquer which is rather a Road than a Port The course of the Nile in Aegypt The River of Nile runs through the length of it and having its Course from South to North discharges it self into the Mediterranean by two mouths upon the sides of which stand two fair Towns to wit Rossetto to the West and Damiette to the East two miles below which it mingles its Waters with the Sea and by that division makes a Triangular Isle in Aegypt This Triangular Island was by the ancient Greeks called Delta because in Figure it resembles the Character Δ. The Delta of Aegypt One side of that Triangle is beat by the Mediterranean Sea on the North and the other two are bounded by the two branches of the Nile which divide at the point of this Triangle so that the three points or angles of this Triangle are the first at the place where the Nile divides it self into two the second at Rossetto and the third at Damiette The first Angle is at an equal distance from the other two to wit from Rossetto and Damiette and from that Angle it is five or six Leagues to Caire so that the Nile has only those two mouths which are Navigable for great Vessels for though there be some others yet they are no more but Rivulets The breadth of the Nile This River is broader than the broadest part of the Seine but it is not very Rapid unless it be at its Cataracts where it falls from so great a height that as they say the noise of it is heard at a very great distance When it overflows it seems to be a little Sea. The water of it is very thick and muddy but they have an Invention to clarifie it For in that Country An invention for clarifying the water of the Nile they make use of great Vessels of white Earth holding about four Buckets full of Water when they are full of Water they rub the inside of the Vessels with three or four Almonds at most until they be dissolved and in the space of a quarter of an Hour the Water becomes very clear and for that end most of those who bring Water to Houses have a Paste of Almonds wherewith they rub the Vessels as I have said After all this Water is so wholesome that it never does any harm though one drink never so much of it because it comes a great way over Land to wit from Ethiopia So that in so long a course and through so hot a Country the Sun has time to Correct it and cleanse it from all Crudities and indeed it is sweated out as fast as one drinks it In short The number of Villages upon the Banks of the Nile they have no other Water to drink in Aegypt and therefore most of the Cities Towns and Villages are upon the sides of the River and there are so many Villages that you no sooner leave one but you find another and all the Houses in them are built of Earth This River abounds not much in Fish and we had but one good Fish of the Nile at Caire which they call Variole and that is rare too Variole Crocodiles but there are a vast number of Crocodiles in it which perhaps is the cause of the scarcity of the
Month of December and at the same time it Thundered so much that the eleventh or twelfth night of the said month a man in the Castle was killed by Thunder though it had never been heard before that Thunder had killed any body at Caire It is cold weather also in December which I found by experience but it is never so cold that one stands in need of a Fire In the other Seasons it is extream hot but especially in Summer From January till March they catch Snipes in Aegypt in May yellow Birds or Nitrials Fowling in Aegypt which are nothing but a lump of Fat and wild-Turtles which are very good but for the house-Pigeons they are good for nothing In September also yellow Birds and Turtles which come again and at the same time Larks that last till the years end This Countrey indeed is not only most fertile but also very pleasant and it is not without reason that I said elsewhere that Aegypt is an Earthly Paradise inhabited by Devils but certainly the oppression the people lye under from their Governours abates much of their Pleasure as I shall say hereafter This Countrey produces a great deal of Corn and Herbs of all sorts but no Fruits nor Wine for it yields but very few Grapes which are of those great red Grapes that have a very thick Skin and little Juice in them Trees of Aegypt Many fair Trees grow there which we have not in this Countrey and especially Palm-Trees and the Sycamores or Fig-Trees of Pharaoh which differ from those Trees we call Sycamores for those of Aegypt are the true Sycamores they bear Figgs that stick to the stock which are not good and yet the Moors for all that eat them there are also Cassia-Trees there which are very lovely they bear always both Blossoms and Fruit the Blossoms of them being yellow and having a very pleasant Scent which may be smell'd at a great distance I wave many other plants as the Colocasse and Papyrus c. which are described in Prosper Alpinus CHAP. LXXIII Of the Manners of the Aegyptians the Woman who pulls Worms out of Childrens Ears and of the Arabick Language Caire Masr or Misr CAire the chief City of Aegypt called in Arabick Masr and in Turkish Misr as the whole Province of Aegypt is whereof it is the Capital is peopled by several different Nations The Nations that Inhabit Caire who may be reduced into some kinds for there are the people of the Countrey who are either Musulmans or Christians the Musulmans of the Countrey are the Moors the Christians and the Cophtes Besides these there are the Stranger Christians Turks and Jews the stranger Christians are either Franks or Greeks I shall here speak first of the Moors after I have said a word or two of the Aegyptians in general The People of the Countrey The manners of the Aegyptians generally speaking both Musulmans and Christians are all swarthy they are exceeding wicked great Rogues Cowardly lazy Hypocrites Buggerers Robbers treacherous very greedy of Money and will kill a man for a Maidin in short no vice comes a miss to them they are Cowards to the highest degree and are very loath to fight but when they fall out they huff scold and make a terrible noise as if they would cut one anothers Throats and nevertheless they refer their controversie to the next man they meet who makes them good Friends again then Spectators and all together for they soon gather to a croud lifting up their Hands say the prayer which they call Fatha I mean when they are Moors and then they are better Friends than ever they were before These wretches are used by the Turks like slaves or rather like Dogs for they govern them with a Cudgel and a Turk will knock a Moor on the head and he not dare to resist and indeed when they speak to a Turk they do it with great respect They labour and cultivate all the Land and yet the Bread they eat is very bad and have not their Bellies full of that neither though it be a most plentiful Countrey and indead they are of so bad a nature that they want to be well beaten and love those the better for it who beat them like Dogs serving very well when they are soundly drubbed whereas they are insupportable and will do nothing when they are gently used Dgibn Halum They live a wretched life their most ordinary Diet being salt Cheese which they call Dgibn Halum with very course Bread their Bread is as broad as our Plates made like thin Buns and consists only of two round pieces of paste and as thin as Parchment clap'd together and shewed to the Fire so that one of them may very well be eaten at three mouthfuls but it is so bad not only for the blackness of it but as being ill kned worse bak'd and full of Coals and Ashes that I could never accustome my self to it It is cheap enough indeed for you may have eight of these Cakes for a Maidin which is worth about three half pence For their Desert or after-course they suck Sugar-Canes they are also great eaters of ordinary Melons water-Melons and the like whereof they have great plenty and many sorts which we have not yet all cannot attain to them though they be extraordinarily cheap They are Apparrelled like the Turks when they are able I mean the Moors for the Christians wear neither any green nor the white Turban but most part of them are half naked and many have no more but a blew shirt upon their body They are a very ignorant sort of people and yet have Secrets which surprize the most knowing many thinking them to be knacks of Magick for to see a man take up a Viper in the Fields handle and stroak it open the mouth of it and put his Finger therein without the least hurt seems very strange to me They bring whole Sacks full of them into the City and sell them to the Apothecaries They come often to the Quarter of the French and boldly thrusting their hand into their Sacks pull out a whole handful of them One day one of these blades handling his Vipers in this manner in the quarter of the French they brought a Pullet and made one of the Vipers bite it which immediately thereupon died so that it evidently appeared that the Moor had something about him which preserved him against their Poyson But I cannot tell what to say of a Moorish Woman who lives in a corner close by the quarter of France A Moorish Woman that pulls Worms out of Childrens Ears and pulls worms out of Childrens Ears When a Child does nothing but cry and that they know it is ill they carry it to that Woman who laying the Child on its side upon her knee scratches the Ear of it and then Worms like those which breed in musty weevely Flower seem to fall out of the Childs Ear then turning it on the
Aegypt consists of 1200. Purses which make thirty Millions of Maidins that is Nine hundred and nine thousand and ninety Piastres Royals and thirty Maidins so that five Haznas are fifty millions of Maidins or Four millions five hundred forty five thousand four hundred fifty four Piastres Royals and eighteen Maidins One of these Hazna is sent to the Grand Signior in Money another in Provisions a third is employed in paying the Soldiers and all Officers in Aegypt the fourth is for the Present of Mecha and the last for the Basha He is besides all this obliged now and then to give great Sums for securing himself in his Place at least till he be reimbursed the money that he hath laid out For instance One at Constantinople may perhaps offer the Grand Signior Two hundred thousand Piastres to be made Basha of Caire this is made known to him that is in place who if he have a mind to keep his place must give the same sum that the other hath offered and so has the Preference I believe the Grand Signior often imposes upon them in this manner So in the Year 1658. on the first of July an Olak arrived at Caire from Constantinople who brought the Basha a Sword and Caftan from the Grand Signior as a Testimony that he continued him in the Bashaship of Aegypt It was thought at first that the Olak was come to make him Mansoul because it commonly happens that at the end of the Ramadan when they have sent the Hazna to Constantinople they are made Mansouls But this Man that he might be before-hand with his Enemies had ordered three thousand Purses to be given some time before at Constantinople for his Confirmation in the place for which the Grand Signior continued him in the Government The cause of the Avanies of the Basha of Aegypt Officers of Aegypt Charavalla The Seraf of the Basha Seraf Basha Cadilesquer of Aegypt This Olak entred the Castle in the Morning with the Caftan and Sword and then the Guns went off for joy It is not to be thought strange that this Basha so tyrannically oppresses People but rather that he does not do it more Every Basha brings with him from Constantinople the Charavalla who takes care to Collect all the Customs of Aegypt which wholly depend on him and he Lodges in the Serraglio of the Basha Every one brings with him also his Seraf who manages his Money As for the Seraf Basha who is another Jew taken at Caire he takes care of the Grand Signior's Revenue Then there is at Caire the Cadilesquer or chief Judge who is at Caire what the Mufti is at Constantinople and is Independent of the Basha being sent or recalled immediately by the Grand Signior After them Sangiack Beys of Aegypt Charkish Beys of Aegypt there is in Aegypt Twenty four Sangiack Beys and of those who are called Charkish Beys there are above forty The Charkish Beys were Instituted before the Sangiacks and their care is to Guard the City yet they are inferiour to the Sangiack Beys whose province is to keep the Country Each Bey has a Purse a Month and to procure the place it costs at least an Hundred thousand Piastres Beys of Aegypt partly given at Constantinople and partly in Aegypt Most of these Beys are Renegadoes that have been Slaves who endeavour at their own cost to make some of their slaves Beys in their own Life-time that they may have them at their devotion These Beys are the Lords of the Country and are very powerful some of them can command Ten thousand Arabs in the Country at an hours warning There is one of these Sangiack Beys always at old Caire who keeps Guard there and another upon the Road from the Matharee to Boulac and at some other places of Caire for fear of the Arabs and these Sangiack Beys mount the Guard by turns and stay on every one his Mouth Custom-Houses in Aegypt There are two Custom-Houses belonging to Caire to wit one at Boulac for what comes from Rossetto and Damiette and another at old Caire for what comes from Sayde or the Thebais There is in Caire also a Sous-basha who is as it were a Mayor or Provost he hath three Officers under him Asar Basha Devedar to wit the Asar Basha who is a Chorbagi the Devedar who is his Lieutenant and the Oda Basha There is a Sous-basha also at Boulac and another at old Caire Payed Soldiers in Aegypt As to the Militia there are Twelve thousand Janizaries in Aegypt of whom there is Seven thousand in Caire besides Thirty five thousand others who are under pay in the Country When the Janizaries march in body about ten in Front a Janizary carries a Borachio full of Water with several Cups to give his Comerades who are dry Water to drink and this charge is so Honourable that when they are removed from it they are made Chorbagis Basch Chaousch Alai Chaousch Koutcbu Chaousch Chorbadgi Oda Basha The Officers of the Janizaries are the Aga who is General the Kiaya who is his Lieutenant the Basch Chaousch who is Ensign the Beitulmal Chaousch the Alai Chaousch who is Serjeant Major the Koutchu Chaousch who calls the Chorbadgi that is Captain of a Company the Oda Basha who is the chief of a Division To rise to any of these Offices one must have been Saradge to the Kiaya or Aga then they mount up from the lowest to the highest of these places The Chorbagis are made either for Money or some signal piece of Service No Moors Janizaries Oda Bashas are presented according to Seniority No Moors are made Janizaries and they exclude them that they may keep them always under Nevertheless the strength of Aegypt consists chiefly in the Arabs of the Country who will get together into a Body of several thousand Horse in the twinkling of an Eye CHAP. LXXIX Of Punishments in Vse in Aegypt THE usual Punishments in Aegypt are Beheading Punishments in Aegypt which they dextrously perform For the Sous-basha finding a Robber or any one that looks like such seises him and making him kneel one of his Men cuts off his Head at one blow with a Shable and yet not striking with great force neither but drawing towards him the Shable and so usiing the whole length of it he never fails at the first blow to sever the Head from the Body Impaling Impaling is also a very ordinary Punishment with them which is done in this manner They lay the Malefactor upon his Belly with his Hands tied behind his Back then they slit up his Fundament with a Razor and throw into it a handful of Paste that they have in readiness which immediately stops the Blood after that they thrust up into his Body a very long Stake as big as a Mans Arm sharp at the point and tapered which they grease a little before when they have driven it in with a Mallet till it come out at his
keeps Prisoners in Persia with all he took at Bagdat and Revan both Money Arms and Ammunition and that he restore to me Tauris Inuschivam Cherisul and all the other Provinces and Places that my Great Grand-Father Solyman took and that he give me the Tribute and Presents which he made at that time and with that we will set our Limits that if he 'll hold to and observe these Conditions I will be Content and we shall end our Controversies Otherwise I declare to him that though he hide himself in the Earth like a Pismire or flie in the Air like a Bird he shall not escape my hands And I will reduce his whole Country to such a state that there shall not be a House standing in Ispahan Gasbin and Erdebil nor in any of his Towns Burroughs or Villages that there shall not a pile of Grass be left within his Kingdom and that I will afterward Chase him before me as a Hunter does his Prey and let him well consider that Repentance will not stand him in stead after the Fault is committed That if he will be obstinate still let him make ready against the Spring when with the help of God I shall be in his Country and then though he should a thousand times ask my Mercy there shall be none for him And having caused a Letter to be written to the same effect the Sultan gave it to the Ambassadour and dismissed him And hath since caused the Sepulchre of Himan Azam to be rebuilt and hath adorned it with several Golden Lamps set with precious Stones and covered the Floor with Silk Carpets having likewise beautified the Sepulchres of the other Saints By what can be judged it is the pleasure of the Grand Signior to expect the Answer of the King of Persia and then to return Constantinople and all his Subjects will be in repose God bless him c. Written at Bagdat the 22. of the Moon of Chaban 1048. which was the 19. of December 1638. The End of the First Part. TRAVELS INTO THE LEVANT The Second Part. WHICH Besides many Singular and most Curious Remarks of Aegypt Syria Mesopotamia the Rivers of Euphrates and Tygris CONTAINS A Description of the States Dominions and Court of the King of PERSIA Of the Religions Governments Manners Forces Languages Sciences Arts and Customs of the People of that Great Empire TOGETHER WITH The Antiquities of Tehehelminar and other Places about the Ancient PERSEPOLIS And Particularly A most Exact Itinerary as well of the Journey by Land through TVRKY and PERSIA as of the Voyage by Sea in the Mediterranean Gulf of Persia and the Indian Seas By Monsieur DE THEVENOT Now made English LONDON Printed in the Year 1687. TRAVELS INTO THE LEVANT PART II. BOOK I. CHAP. I. The Author's departure not only from Paris but Marseilles and his Voyage to Alexandria THOUGH I had spent seven whole years of my younger days in former Travels nevertheless the same passion which had already carried me so far into the East still prompted me with a desire of seeing Persia and the Indies I had not long rested at home among my Relations and Friends when that desire began to exert its power over me and if it was not strong enough at first to force me from those who were so dear unto me at least it busied me in taking necessary measures for second Travels and that with greater profit than I had performed the first if I should chance to set out upon them In that thought I employed four years in the study of the Sciences which I judged most usefull to a Traveller who would make advantage of his Travels and communicate the same to others In short having during all that time wavered betwixt the design of travelling and that of settling at Paris when I saw my self so well prepared for the former and considered besides that to defer the other would be in some manner to comply with the Times I easily gave way to my first inclination So that having as secretly as I could taken orders for all things I stood in need of not only for accomplishing my design but also for avoiding those inconveniencies which might have been too difficult for me to support I left Paris the sixteenth of October 1663 The Authours departure pretending a Journey with a Friend for some weeks into Burgundy The sixth of November I came to Marseilles and on the twelfth about ten of the clock at Night I embarked there in a Galley of Legorn which had arrived at that Port three days before His Embarking at Marseilles Rocca Tagliata That Galley parted from the Chain next Day being Tuesday a little after midnight and about five in the Evening came to an anchor at Rocca Tagliata an hundred and ten miles from Marseilles from whence it set out again on Wednesday after midnight and about five of the clock at Night came to an anchor at St. Remigio St. Remigio seventy five miles from Rocca Tagliata St. Remigio is a pretty Town belonging to the Genoese with a little Fort and convenience to make a good Harbour but that Republick will not suffer it to be done it is covered by a Mole and wants only to be dug The Countrey is all Garden produces plenty of all things and especially of Wine Oyl Cedar Oranges and other Fruits Genoa We parted from thence on Thursday the fifteenth of November after midnight and about six of the clock at night came to an anchor before Genoa fourscore and ten miles distant from St. Remigio Friday about midnight we left that place Porto Venere and came to an anchor again at Porto Venere threescore miles from Genoa Porto Venere is a small Town but the Houses fair and well built It hath a Fort very advantageously seated upon a Rock that commands the mouth of the Harbour This Port or Gulf rather is on the one side covered by the main Land and on the other by a fruitfull Island which lies before it towards Lerice Lerice Golfe della Spetie between which and that Island is the gulf Della Spetie This is the last place of the Territories of the Genoese we saluted it with four Guns and were answered with three This Countrey is fruitfull in Vines and Olive-trees From Marseilles to Porto Venere we had all the way fair weather Legorn At midnight following we weighed anchor and with a fair North-Wind about eleven of the clock in the forenoon arrived at Legorn threescore miles from Porto Venere and this was on Saturday the seventeenth of November Tuesday the four and twentieth of January 1663 / 4 about half an hour past eleven in the forenoon I went on board the Ship of Captain Richard de la Cicuta a man commendable for his piety and civility that Ship was called N. Dame de la Grace carrying about two hundred and fifty or three hundred Tun she had on board thirty Seamen four great Guns and six Brass Petrera's
know that the Cornish of this Pillar is of the Corinthian order The same day also I saw something very remarkable which I had not sufficiently considered in my former Travels Being abroad with some others by the gate Del Pepe which looks betwixt South and West about a thousand paces from that gate as we went betwixt South and West streight towards the Palus Mareotis leaving the Pillar of Pompey to the left Burying places of the ancient Egyptians we saw Grotto's cut in the Rock we entered into one of them stooping and leaning upon our hands with lighted Wax-candles being within we found that the Roof was above ten foot high cut very smooth and on all sides we saw Sepulchres made in the Wall which is the Rock it self and of these there are four Stories one over another and from one range to another and from Story to Story there is but half a foots distance so that the intervals seem to be so many Pillars which support those that are over them their depth reaches to the bottom of the Sepulchres and so they serve for Walls to separate the one from the other In these Sepulchres we saw many dead mens Bones which we handled and found them to be as fresh and hard as if the men had died but the day before There were some lying upon the ground at the Entry into the Grotto which had been thrown out there I handled and broke some of them and found that they were rotten in the air but they crumbled not into ashes onely broke longways like rotten Elder nay they were also moist and had a kind of marrow within Coming out of that Grotto we entered into another opposite unto it where we saw Sepulchres as in the other at the bottom we found a way that led very far in but because we must have gone double in the manner as we entered the first Gotto and marched in that posture at least as far as we could see by the light of our Wax-candles we thought best not to enter in and be contented with the Relation we had that it reached above two French Leagues in length This was all that we could learn from the Turks who were with us and who told us besides that the Ancient Inhabitants of Alexandria had dugg those places to lay their dead in there is a great deal of probability of the truth of that and that it has been some burying-place I then considered the Palus Mareotis it reaches in breadth out of sight Palus Mareotis Khalis and is but some hundred of paces distant from the Khalis which hath its course betwixt the same Palus Mareotis and the Pillar of Pompey but they have no communication together Another day I went up to the Hill where the Tower is wherein there is commonly a Watchman to put out the Flag so soon as any Vessel appears A Watch-Tower from thence I easily discovered all the City and the Sea with the Palus Mareotis and all the Countrey about Being come down I went on Foot round the Ancient Walls of Alexandria beginning at the Water-gate The circuit of Alexandria that looks to the North and for some time going streight North till the Wall turns off in a right Angle towards the East and after fifty paces length turns again towards the North making there an obtuse Angle it continues so towards the North till you come over against the Palace of Cleopatra The Palace of Cleopatra which stood upon the Walls opposite to the mouth of the Harbour having a Gallery running outwards supported by many fair Pillars of which some remains are still to be seen on the Sea-side That Gallery they say and not without probability reached even into the Palace so that one might embark there In a Tower hard by are to be seen three Pillars standing which support a little Dome that in former times stood upon four but there is one wanting I cannot conceive for what use that little Dome was being in a place where there is no light perhaps it stood over some Cistern which at present is stopt up Ten or twelve steps from that Tower there is a Cistern where there are two Stories of Pillars and in many other places there are Cisterns supported in the same manner Cisterns upon Pillars Obelisks so that it would seem that most part of the Town hath stood upon Pillars A few steps from thence there are to be seen two Obelisks of Thebaick Stones one of which lies buried in the Earth nothing of it but the foot appearing the other is standing but the Earth must needs be raised very high in that place for in all probability that Obelisk is upon its pedestal of which nothing is to be seen nay not the foot of the Obelisk it self Opposite to this place the Wall turns again towards the East and with the other plane makes almost a returning right Angle and after a considerable space doubles inwards making a square but an hundred paces farther it runs out again a pretty way towards the North-East and stretches Northwards then making a sharp Angle it points betwixt East and South-Eastward as far as the Gate of Rossette after which it maketh an obtuse Angle and reaches along betwixt the West and South-West Along that side runs the Khalis and a little farther is the Palus Mareotis parallel unto it which is so broad that one can hardly see Land on the other side of it When we come over against the Pillar of Pompey which stands to the South of the Town on this side the Khalis we find the Gate del Pepe or Sitre which looks to the South-West and West and then the Wall which is doubled inwards in this place to make the Gate continues on towards the South-West and West as far as a New Castle which seems to be very strong and near to which a little from the Gate del Pepe the Khalis enters under the Wall into the conduits of the City from which all have Water into their Cisterns by means of Pousseragues Aqueducts Afterwards the Wall turns streight North and passes along the old Harbour opposite to which on the right hand are to be seen the Aqueducts which heretofore conveyed the Water of the Khalis from the Castle of the old Harbour to Bouquer Then the Wall runs streight betwixt North-East and North to the Water-Gate We were two hours in going the compass of Alexandria which reaches in length from East to West but is very narrow CHAP. III. Of what happened in the way from Alexandria to Sayde and from Sayde to Damascus Departure from Alexandria I Parted from Alexandria on Thursday the twenty eighth of February about nine of the clock in the morning in a Germe or open Boat but seeing the Wind was easie and that we were becalmed in the afternoon we put in again to the Harbour of Bouquer which we had passed On Board of that Germe there was a Corsar of Barbary
humour of the Customers and how they are to be dealt with Not that I pretend that my conduct should serve for a model to others but I think these are hints that can do no hurt and may do good seeing when one is instructed before hand he may better take his measures as to what he is to say and do upon the like occasions For my own part I thank God I came off very well in my own way and I always perceived that one must be as slow as he can in putting his hand in his Pocket in that Countrey Because when you are known to be a Franck if you pull out your Money as soon as they demand it they never leave off as long as they can squeeze one penny more from you The Name of a Franck so tickles them that when any such fall into their hands they drain from him all that they can imagining that Francks never travel but with Purses full of Chequins One must likewise have a special care not to let them see Gold but onely white Money and as little of that too as may be and in short one should have the cunning to pass for a poor Man. And therefore in these my last Travels I wore always mean Apparel so long as I was in Turky The best way in the world would be not to pass for a Franck if it could possibly be done and I was so well disguised when I parted from Legorn that understanding Turkish I succeeded in it not in Alexandria where I was too well known since the first time I had been there but at Rossetto and Saide but from that time forward travelling always with those who had seen me with Franks they presently blazed it abroad that I was a Franck. Mosul hath five Gates besides that which looks to the South The Gates of Mosul called Bagdad Capisi because that is the Gate by which they go to Bagdad There is a Mosque by it which formerly was very great but the Turks have demolished a good part of it least if the Persians should besiege that Town as they always do when they are Masters of Bagdad they might make that Mosque a Castle to batter the Town from The inside of it is entirely faced from the top to bottom with ornaments of Plaister laid upon the Walls and wrought with the Chizzel a good inch deep These ornaments are not so regular as those that are to be seen in Europe nay they are even a little confused and being but small are not easily distinguished though they escape not altogether the sight neither and particularly one may plainly observe a great many Roses But after all it is an agreeable confusion and since there is not one bit but what is covered with them even in the Seeling it self and that the ground is all azure it yields a sight that surprizes the Eye and in some sort contents it better than more regular and accomplished Beauties Nineveh On the other side of the River at the end of the Bridge begins the place where in ancient times stood the famous City of Neniveh which having repented upon the preaching of the Prophet Jonas forty years after relapsed into its former disorders wherefore the People of the Countrey say that God overturned the City and its Inhabitants who were buried in the Ruines with their heads down and their feet upwards There is nothing of it now to be seen but some Hillocks which they say are its foundations the Houses being underneath and these reach a good way below the City of Mosul A little more up on land on the same side is the Tomb of Jonas in the Mosque of a Village but I went not thither because of the excessive heat For two hours after Sun-rising there is no possibility of stirring abroad till at least an hour after it is set the Walls besides are so hot that half a foot from them one feels the heat as if it were of a hot Iron and therefore during the Summer all sleep in the Night-time upon Terrasses in the open Air both Men and Women And the last of July I observed in my Thermometre exposed to the Sun The degres of heat at Mosul seven and thirty degrees of heat In short the heat in Mesopotamia is certainly excessive and though when I travelled there I wore upon my head a great black handkerchief like a Womans hood that I might see through because the Turks commonly use these handkerchiefs upon the road nevertheless I had many times my Fore-head scorched that 's to say it became all over red after which it swelled exceedingly and then the skin came off my hands were also continually scorched Some also in the Caravan had their Eyes daily scorched and the remedy for it is a powder made of Sugar and long Pepper beat very small which being well mixt is put into a purse or rather a long narrow bag and when there is occasion for it they take a skewer like a bodkin of wood so long as to reach to the bottom of the bag ad having taken it out full of that powder draw it along betwixt the Eye and Eye-lid where it leaves all the powder that stuck to it and this must be done to each Eye severally In the City of Mosul there is a Mosque divided into several Isles by means of many arched Roofs it is adorned with Plaister-work as the former but much decayed Plaister it is at least as big as Nostre Dame of Paris The plaister wherewith they emblellish these Mosques is made of a certain Stone which they burn and then break and crush with rowlers drawn by Horses The houses of this Town are ill built and are rather ruines than houses even the Basha's own Serraglio for Mosul is a Bashaship being a very sorry place In this Countrey and in the rest of Assyria the Melons are not rough and in a manner carved as in Europe but they are long have a very smooth skin and for the most part the flesh white They are very good and eat as if they were full of Sugar but they are gathered so ripe that one may easily eat them with a spoon and the Levantines generally eat them so There are also some little round Melons which are white within and eat very short but they are not so good When we came to Poul in Persia we found some of the same shape but yet are of a quite different nature for they are never over ripe and I have eat of one that looked firm and green which I found to be very good and nevertheless all the seeds were already sprouted out an inch long nay it had a little Melon full shaped of the bigness of a Nut with a tail to which the seeds that produced it were still sticking it was not round but wanted not much of it and had the form that it could take in the vacuity it met with Having cut it I found seeds in it but so small
Arch without and that Chamber has its Chimney All together makes a pretty commodious apartment for the Mastabe serves for a Divan and Anti-chamber and the Chamber is for retiring into when one hath no mind to be seen and for securing ones Goods These appartments are separated one from another by a partition Wall about three foot thick On the back-side all round the Han are the Stables where the Horses may stand dry under roof aswell as the Men and there are besides on one side Arches with Mastabez and Chimneys where one may lodge when the appartments of the Court are taken up They enter into it by four Gates one at each Corner of the Court. The whole Fabrick is covered with a Terrass upon which one may walk all round and the way up to it is by two pair of Stairs which are on the two sides of the Portico I mentioned at the entry One may stay in these Kervanserais as long as he pleases and nothing to be payed for lodging but the Chambers are not shut having neither door nor window nor is there a bit of Timber in the whole except at the great Gate In this Kervanserai we found Apples Pears and ordinary Grapes besides another sort which are small and have no stones they are very good and are called Kischmisch Kischmisch Poul-Schah a River A few steps from that Han runs a River called Poul-Schah that 's to say Kings Bridge from the Name of a very fair high Bridge which King Abbas caused to be built upon it near to that Village to which it hath given the Name This Bridge hath six Arches whose Pillars are of Free-Stone to the height of five or six foot above the water And upon these Pillars there are as many little Arches more which have on each hand a good Pillar round on the inside but sharp towards the Water for cutting and breaking the force of it when it rises so high these Pillars reach to the top of the Bridge against which they rest This Bridge is in length an hundred and thirty six common paces from the first to the last Arch without comprehending the two Avenues which are paved as the Bridge is having side-Walls of the same materials four or five foot high and each of them about forty paces in length the breadth of the Bridge is about ten common paces All that Bridge is of brick except the Pillars with their sharp points and butteresses It is well built and kept in so good repair that there is not one brick wanting and it seems to be Brannero There are fair and good Fish taken in that River and they are commonly taken with Coculus Indicus much used in that Countrey they make it up with Paste to make the Fish drunk The Town where the Chan resides is about two miles distant from the Village it is called Kerman Schahon that 's to say the Kings Barns Kerman Schahon because the Countrey about bears plenty of Rice which Schah Abbas gave for the Zaret or Pilgrimage of Devotion that was made to the Mosque of Imam Hussein which I spoke of before But the Turk being Master of it at present the Rice is sent to Ispahan This is but an inconsiderable Town nevertheless it hath a covered Bazar well stored with Goods and Provisions for the Belly There is a Serraglio in it for the Chan or Governour The truth is though it make some better shew than the rest of the houses it is indeed of no great worth at least on the outside for I entered not the Gate but saw some Divans for taking the Air in We rested there all that day and the three following because the Chans Vizir for so they call the Officer who commands in his absence would not suffer us to go Watchmakers company inconvenient in Persia till first he knew whether the Chan would buy any Watches Wherein I observed that it is not good to travel in that Countrey with Watch-makers because in this manner they stop all Caravans till the Chan hath seen whether there be any thing that he has a mind to buy We parted not then till Saturday the sixth of September about eleven of the Clock at Night and we took our way Eastwards by a fair Road having near us to the left rocky hills very high and steep and to the right hand other Mountains at a little more distance We found on this way many People in companies coming and going which was far more pleasant to us than the ways through the Desarts Sunday the seventh of September about five a Clock in the Morning we past by a Village called Schechernow Schechernow that 's to say new Town where there is a fair Kervanserai with many stone-Buildings and several black Tents A little Water runs by it which divides it self into several Rivulets it is called Bisitoum Bisitoum and has its source an hundred paces from thence at the foot of a hill near to which we passed That hill thrusts out pieces of Rock separated from one another by Veins and these pieces are somewhat round sticking on the hill from the top to the bottom and appear like figures in relief The People of our Caravan told me that they were so many figures which Ferhad cut for the love of his dear Schirin Ferhad Schirin who had her Castle upon that hill This Ferhad was an excellent Sculptor in that Countrey who was so deeply in love with Schirin that he broke his heart and died for her Cosrouve Schirin His Amours are described in the Poem entituled Cosrouve Schirin whereof there is a Manuscript in the French King's Library at Paris About six a Clock we found a Bridge of four Arches under which runs a River called the Water of Schechernow and that 's the Name of the Bridge also they say that this Bridge was built by the same Person who built the Village of Schechernow Half an hour after we came to another Bridge of two Arches Chadiar under which runs a River called Chadiar but because it is very ill paved and has no Rails nor side-Walls we crossed the Water which is not a foot deep a little below the Bridge and encamped on a Plain on the other side where we had three Villages round us about two or three Musket-shot distant Zufear Calantar Sagas The Village to the North is called Zufear that to the West Calantar and the third which is to the South Sagas We were obliged to keep guard that Night for the Inhabitants of those quarters are reckoned so nimble at thieving that they 'll carry away a mans goods even from under his head and he not perceive it and they are so sharp at it and so obstinate that they are attentive in watching their opportunity not onely while all things be loaded but even untill the Caravan be gone We dislodged the same day half an hour after eleven at Night and kept on Eastwards in a
of a Cherry and is very hard and round so that there is hardly any thing but a skin over the stone The Fruit being ripe is wrinkly and inclining to an Orange-colour it is pretty sweet but woolly I believe it grows in Italy by the name of Azzarole and is perhaps the Rhamnus Azzarole Rhamnus Folio sub rotundo Livas an Herb. folio sub rotundo fructu compresso Jonston Amongst Plants there is a certain Herb in Persia called Livas which hath a very curled Leaf somewhat like a Beet or like curled Coleworts but it is much more curled the stalk of it is like the stalk of an Artichoak and is very sharp they Eat of it in the Spring as a delicious food many will have it to be the Rhuebarb but it is not The End of the Second Book TRAVELS INTO THE LEVANT PART II. BOOK III. Of the Country of Schiras and other places under the Dominion of the King of Persia CHAP. I. Of the Road from Ispahan to Schiras AFTER almost five Months stay at Ispahan Departure from Ispahan I made ready to continue my Travels forwards and parted from thence the four and twentieth day of February 1664 / 5. with a Caravan wherein there were about fifty Mules a great part of them belonging to Monsieur Tavernier and the rest to Armenians who took the occasion of our going We took Mules for our Goods at the rate of five Abassis for an hundred Man 's of Tauris for our selves we had Horses for the Muletors scrupuled to let us have Mules to Ride on however they were obliged to spare one for my Servant who carried part of my things with him for they reckon a man but for thirty Man 's comprehending therein four or five Mans of Bagage We set out then from Giolfa Tuesday at Noon and past by Hezar Dgirib taking our way streight East at One of the Clock we Encamped by a Kervanseray called Tahhtpoulad and Babaruk which is near the burying place of the Mahometans We parted from that place the same day Tahhtpoulad Babaruk half an hour after Nine of the Clock at Night and held our way streight South-East over a Plain which at the entry is streightned a little by Hills on both sides and then opens into a pretty large Champain there grows not one Pile of Grass in it and in some places there are great pieces of white Earth of Natural Salt. This Salt is made of Rain-water Natural Salt. which incorporating with that Salinous Earth produces a Salt that works out of the Surface of it We marched in that Plain till about Four a Clock in the Morning Wednesday the five and twentieth of February and then ascended a little Hill called Ortschin Ortschin a little Hill. that is to say Stairs it is not high but yet very difficult to get up being all steps in a very slippery Rock which hath given it that name we were a full half hour in that passage not only because it behoved us to goe one by one but also because several Mules fell and threw their burdens which we must load again and all this by Star-light which in Persia commonly shine so clear that one may Travel by them even when there is no Moon-shine we afterwards continued Travelling amongst Hills till it was day that we entered into a great Plain as barren as the former wherein we marched on till half an hour after Eight when being arrived at a Village called Mayar we Lodged in a Kervanseray this place is eight long Agatsch from Babaruk Mayar is a ruinated Village which was formerly of note and had many Gardens about it that produced plenty of Fruit but some years since an Eatmad Doulet cut off their water to bring it all into a Garden which he had in those Quarters so that since that time nothing Grows there and they bring what they want from other Villages nor have they any other water to drink but what they get out of a great Pool hard by Mayar is the beginning of the Country of Fars or real Persia Schairza at that Village begins the Country which is properly Persia We parted from thence next day being Thursday the six and twentieth of February about Three a Clock in the Morning and continued our way over the same Plain about Five in the Morning we crossed a small running water Half an hour after Nine we passed through a little Village called Schairza where there is much Sowed Land and many Gardens in one of those Gardens there is a Pond of Spring-water which falls down from the Hills that are over it it is so full of Fish that from thence the Garden hath taken the name of Hhaouz-Mahi which signifies a Fish-Pond but there is a Dervish that hinders people from catching them Keeping on our way about half an hour after Ten in the Morning we came near to a Town called Komschah Komschah five Agatsch from Mayar there is Wine there and several Kervanserays in one of which we Lodged out of the Town We parted from thence next day being Friday the seven and twentieth of February at Three a Clock in the Morning but no sooner were we gone but we were forced to turn back again because there was a Chan upon the Road going to Schiras with his Haram The meeting of a Chan with his Haram that is to say his women and therefore we could not goe on for the jealous Persians fuffer no man to come near the Road where there women are So then we came back and having fetched many compasses about another way three quarters of an hour after we fell into the High-way again which was still a Plain and we kept on marching still almost South wards but with a piercing cold Wind we found several Brooks on our way and the ground being pretty good in that Country so soon as it was day we saw some Villages on our Right Hand and about Nine of the Clock arrived near to a Village called Maksoud Beghi Maksoud Beghi five Agatsch distant from Komschah we Lodged in a new Kervanseray that of the Village being demolished Next Morning about a quarter after Two of the Clock we set forward on our Journey again over the same Plain we had the day before at break of day we passed by a little Castle built of Stone with some round Towers where there is a Village hard by with Gardens and a Kervanseray Amnebad that place is called Amnebad it is distant from Maksoud-Beghi three Agatsch and as far from Yez-de-Kast This Castle was built by Imam-Couli-Chan who was Chan of Schiras in time of the great Schah-Abbas Keeping on our way about Eleven of the Clock we arrived at Yez-de-Kast a little Town or Burrough three Agatsch distant from Amnebad and six from Maksoud-Beghi we went and Lodged in a Kervanseray a little beyond it Tez-de-Kast Yez-de Kast is very little having but only one Street it is
as well as those of Keuschkzer by Schah Abbas who took their Country and gave them good Lands to Cultivate in this place they make Wine but their Grapes come from Maain We parted from thence Wednesday the fourth of March half an hour after five in the morning and at our setting out saw on our right hand two good Fields watered with several Brooks that come from Springs which are plentiful in that Country where the people live in Villages We marched on through a Plain in good way until Noon when having passed over a Bridge of seven Arches under which a River runs Oudgioun we came to a Village called Oudgioun four Agatsch from Asoupas we found a Kervanserai there but it stank so by reason of the great quantity of Carrion and filth that was in it that we could not Lodge therein so that we were fain to encamp hard by under Carpets which we pitched instead of Tents A River fix or seven Fathom over runs through this Village the water of it is very muddy and has a Bridge of seven small Arches over there is Wine also in this place and the Grapes are brought from Maain Within a Mosque there lyes Enterred the Son of a King Schah-Zadeh-Imam-Dgiafer called Scbah Zadeh-Imam-Dgiafer whom they reckon a Saint the Dome is rough cast over before the Mosque there is a Court well Planted with many high Plane-Trees on which we saw a great many Storks that haunt thereabout all the year round We parted from Oudgioun Thursday the fifth of March half an hour after two in the Morning and having advanced a quarter of an hour through Grounds full of water we had the way good till half an hour after Four that we went up an extraordinary high and uneasie Hill because of the stones that lay in the way it is called Chotal-Imam-Zadeh-Ismael Chotal-Imam-Zadeh-Ismael that is to say the Hill of Ismael the Son of an Imam and we were above an hour in mounting it We found on the top a great many Camels coming from Schiras loaded with Tabacco which is brought from Beban after that for above two hours we went down Hill in pretty good way save that here and there we met with some stones one would have thought that we had changed the Climate when we came to the top of the Hill for the side by which we came up was all covered with Snow and on this side there was none at all on the contrary it was full of wild Almond-Trees that bear a bitter Fruit and other Trees which with their Verdure delighted the sight When we were a good way down we came to a Mosque where that Ismael the Son of Imam who gives the name to the Hill is Enterred The outside of that place looks like a Castle with a round Tower at each corner within there is a Court at one end of which is the Mosque whose Frontispiece is a Portico six Arches in length and in the middle of the Mosque there is a Dome rough cast close by it is a Village with a great many Gardens watered by a lovely Brook that runs hard by We then continued our Journy in stony way till Eleven a Clock that we found a River about a Fathom and a half over which divides it self into many Rivulets that water all the Grounds thereabout being very good Land and all sowed The water of that River is very clear and has many Trees growing on the sides of it which render it a very pleasant place The River of Main or Bendemir or Kur it is called the River of Main because it runs by Main but it is the Bendemir and I was told that its right name was Kur from which the Son of Cyrus who there was exposed took his name Bendemir signifies the Princes Dyke and it is so called because of a Dyke or Bank that a Prince made there consult as to that the Geography of Diagiaib Makhlouear This River is the second Araxes of Quintus Curtius Diodorus Siculus and Strabo We kept along the side of it and crossed many of its Canals until about one of the Clock we arrived at a large Village called Main fix Agatsch from Oudgioun Main We Lodged in a good Kervanserai where we found some men who accompanied to Mecha the body of a Lady who had desired to be buried there There are many Gardens all round this Village full of Vines that bear good Grapes and abounding also in Pear-Trees Peach-Trees Walnuts and other Fruit-Trees with water-Melons and other Melons We parted from Main Friday the sixth of March half an hour after two in the Morning and presently left the High-way striking to the left over Sowed Ground till we got near to the River we were obliged to do so because the High-way would have led us to a place where the River was not Foardable and they take not that way but when it may be Foarded over the other way leads to a Bridge we followed the current of the River which is the same that runs by Main until half an hour after Three that we crossed over the Bridge consisting of three Arches but the middlemost a very large one under which the water is very rapid a quarter of an hour after we found a great Brook that falling from the Hill discharges it self in the River a little farther on we saw upon the River a Bridge broken down and a quarter of an hour after the ruins of another Bridge in this place there are a great many small Brooks that lose themselves in the River we then went forwards in good Way till day that we began to ascend a little In these Quarters is the Hill which Alexander the Great made himself Master of by stratagem sending Soldiers by a compass about to surprise the Enemies on their back whilst he Attacked them on the Front as Quintus Curtius relates it a Franck shewed me one separated from the rest which he said was the very same but there was little probability in that because there are a great many such thereabouts and it is very difficult to pitch upon the right besides I did not see how it could command the Passage which is too wide in that place to be Locked in by Mountains About Eight of the Clock we came to a Bridge built over the River of Main or Bendemir which at that place is at least nine or ten Fathom broad This is a rapid River and seems to be deep the water of it is thick and swells high in Winter for they assured me that then it swelled up as high as the Bridge which consists of five Arches but somewhat ruinous nevertheless it is called Pouli-Now Pouli-Now New-Bridge that is to say the New Bridge having passed it and left a way on our Right Hand we took to the Left and having Travelled on an hour and a half more in a Plain till about half an hour after nine we Encamped near to a Kervanserai
a Dome three or four Fathom in Diametre wherein there are three Doors and as many Windows the other has a steep Roof this place is called Tschai-telhh Tschai-telhh that is to say bitter Well because of a Well not far from that Kervanseray whose water is bitter There is besides another Well behind the Kervanseray but it is dry and this place is six Agatsch from Dgiaroun Heretofore they went not by this Hill but struck off to the East and went round it and the Camel-drivers still take that way but because of five days Journey of Desart Horse-men and Muletors chuse rather to suffer the fatigue of a worse way but shorter over the Hill. Next Morning Tuesday about half an hour after four we set forward again directing our march Southwards about seven a Clock we descended into a very low place by very bad way that Hill is called Chotali Hasani Chotali Hasani or Chotali Mahhmaseni or Chotali Mahhmaseni it goes by both names towards the bottom of that descent we found a little Brook that runs out of the Ground and discharges it self into a square Bason at some few paces from the source being come down we Travelled through a very stony Plain about half an hour after Nine we came to a fair Kerva-seray standing alone by it self and called Momzir having a great square Bason before the Gate Momzir which is always filled full by a Brook that runs into it this Kervanseray is four Agatsch from Tschai-telhh we made no stop there because we found no body to sell us Provisions either for Men or Beasts so we continued our march in the stony Plain till about an hour after having found a little Brook on our Left Hand we entered about Noon into a great smooth Plain where we suffered much heat we Travelled on South-Eastward until about two of the Clock that we found a little Kervanseray close by a Village called Dehidombe Dehidombe that is to say the Village of the tail where there are some Palms and Tamarisk-Trees They drink no water there but out of a Cistern near the Kervanseray which is three or four Fathom in Diametre and covered by a Dome with six Doors this place is three long Agatsch from Momzir and is the last of the Government of Schiras after which we enter into that of Lar. We parted from thence on Wednesday the five and twentieth of March about half an hour after four in the Morning and marched over a very even Plain till half an hour after seven when we arrived at a Kervanseray at the end of a large Village called Benaru lying at the foot of the Hill that is to the right of it Benaru upon which on the other side of the Kervanseray are the ruins of many folid Buildings that reach from the top to the bottom of the Hill and seem to have been some considerable place in this Village there is plenty of Palms and Tamarisk-Trees and a great many Cisterns it is two Agatsch distant from Dehidombe We left it next day being Thursday at one a Clock in the Morning and Travelled in stony way until half an hour after two that we came into a fair fmooth way where having Travelled on till five we arrived at an ugly little Kervanseray called Dehra where there are some Rhadars we paid nothing there because of an order which Monsieur Tavernier had to pay nothing in Persia Without stopping at that place we continued our Journey but by very stony way about six of the Clock we were got amongst the Hills where having gone up Hill and down Hill until eight a Clock we came into a Plain which lasted till near nine Bihri that we arrived at a great Village called Bihri where many Palms and Tamarisk-Trees grow there are several Cisterns there but the water of them is full of Worms and therefore one must be careful to strain it through a Cloath We Lodged in a fair new built Kervanseray in that Village this is one of the lovliest Kervanserays in all Persia The fair Kervanseray of Aivaz Chan. not only for the solidity of the Fabrick being built of rough Stone and hard Flint but also for its neat Portal large square Court many spacious Rooms with several conveniences for securing Goods and fair Terrasses to which they go up by great and broad Stair-Cases In fine every thing in it is magnificent very neat and commodious even to the Houses of Office which are in each corner of the Kervanseray and on one side there is a lovely Garden full of Tulips Roses and abundance of other Flowers of all kinds it is well Planted also with Fruit-Trees and Vines and all kept in very good order the Walks very neat and covered with Artificial Arbours all round before this Garden there is a fair watering place for Horses which is always kept full of water from a Well hard by this Kervanseray was built by the Chan of Lar called Aivaz Chan and is six Agatsch from Benaru Friday the seven and twentieth of March after four a Clock in the Morning we parted from this place and Travelled Southward in a pretty good way though stony in some places about day we found a Cistern with a steep Roof and about half an hour after six we saw upon the Road a limit of stone about a Fathom high built upon a Paving of Free-stone that serves it for a Basis we were told that a man was shut up in it A man shut up in a stone according to the custom of the Country in times past when they used that particular punishment for Robbers on the High-ways others said that it was only a mark in the way which divides at that place about seven a Clock we passed by a Village called De-hi-Kourd De-hi-Kourd where there is a Kervanseray in that place are many Tamarisks some Palm-Trees and several Cisterns We left that Village on our Left Hand and continuing our way over an even Plain betwixt Corn-fields Pai Chotali about nine a Clock we came to a Kervanseray called Pai Chotali that is to say the foot of the Hill because it is near the Hills The same night I saw a Blazing Star Blazing-Star like to that which I had seen at Ispahan it was near the Dolphin and its Tail reached from East to West I saw it again all the nights following so long as our Journey lasted It rose always much about the same place of the Horizon and about the same hour or a quarter in or over On one side of this Kervanseray there is a Cistern and a Well on the other both covered with a Dome the Well is exceeding deep and it is a considerable time before the biggest stone that may be thrown into it reaches the bottom the water is drawn with a great Wheel and poured into a square Bason near to it from whence it passes through a hole into
no Bark to come to Bassora laid an Embargo also upon all Vessels that were at Bassora loaded with Goods for Bagdad They had other false News at that time at Bassora to wit that the King of Persia was coming to Besiege it False News from Persia and some people of Fashion asked me the News at the Custom House but I put them out of trouble as to that assuring them that in Persia there was no appearance that the King had any thoughts of making War which was true enough They then told me how much they were troubled at the News they had of twenty French Corsairs being at Sea False News of the French raised by the Dutch. which very much terrified all the Merchants This report was raised by the Dutch who purposely broached it that all the Merchants might put their mony on board of Dutch Ships and not in Mahometan and this News was the more easily believed that it was known every where now that the French were coming to settle a Trade in the Indies and they were persuaded that all our Vessels were Pirats French Corsairs because three Years before two French Corsairs came to Moca just about the time that the Vessels put out from the Port of Moca carrying nothing but mony to Surrat from whence they bring Goods which is at the end of August The French took all these Vessels and went off If they had had a little more skill in those Seas they might have done more for they might have come into the Gulf of Persia about the end of October and there waited for the Ships of Bassora at which time they carry a great deal of mony for Trafficking in the Indies and they might easily have made themselves Masters of them and therein of several millions in ready mony there being none but Indians on Board of all these Vessels who make no resistance and that being done they might as easily have got away but they did not do it in short they left such a terrible consternation on all these Seas Fear of the French. that to name but the French to them is enough to make them all shake for fear CHAP. X. Of Bassora The situation of Bassora BAssora the Capital Town of the Kingdom or Bashaship of that name lies at the farther end of Arabia the Desart which is to the West of it and near Arabia the Happy that lies to the South two days Journy below the place where the two Rivers Euphrates and Tygris joyn upon the Banks of Schat-El-Aarab which is no other than Euphrates and Tygris joyned into one it is eighteen Leagues from the Sea The Latitude of Bassora The variation of the Loadstone The distance of Bagdad from Bassora and in the thirtieth or one and thirtieth Degree ten Minutes North Latitude The Needle declines there about thirteen Degrees and a half from North to West and from thence to the Indies it always declines about eleven Degrees and a third some say a half from North to West It is two days Journy by Land from Bagdad and by water they come from Bagdad to Bassora in great Barks in fifteen or sixteen days time and most commonly in eighteen but the Barks that go from Bassora to Bagdad are commonly fifty sixty and sometimes fourscore days in the Voyage The Circuit of Bassora because they are only drawn by men This is a great Town encompassed with Walls of Earth that are about six hours march in Circuit but they contain a great many void spaces where there are neither Houses nor Gardens It hath two Gates The Gates of Bassora the one called the East Gate and the other the West and the Gate of Bagdad because by it they go out of the Town when they are bound for Bagdad The situation of Bassora advantageous This Town in my Opinion is so advantageously seated that it might be made one of the richest and most lovely Cities in the World It would certainly be very pleasant if it were a little better built and Gardens made all along the sides of the Canal that comes from Schat-El-Aarab and runs through the whole Town For the Land about if they would Manure it and Plant Trees therein I believe it would bear any thing for the Climate is hot and the Soil of a greyish colour which seems to me to be very fertile being twice a day moistened by the River-water which the Tide carries up four days Journy and a half from Bassora the water rising at the Town a Fathom and a half but yet not salt some have told me that the Ground is too salt to bear any thing but Palm-Trees which thrive much in salt Ground Abundance of Palm-Trees and grow in greater numbers in the Country about Bassora than in any other Country in the World and to shew that it is really salt they say that if one dig two Fathom deep in the Earth they will find salt-water but perhaps it is not so in all places However it be it is certain that from November forwards that Country produces a great many Herbs as Succory Spinage Herbs and Fruits at Bassora and other Pot-Herbs and in several Gardens there are very good Apricots which last all June and July and in July and August also many Grapes as in October Melons water-Melons Pomegranats and Limons the truth is none of these Fruits will keep because of the South-East Wind that reigns during that time and is hot and moist There are pretty enough publick places in Bassora and amongst others the Meidan which is before the Bashas Palace and is very large The Meidan of Bassora there are in it twelve pieces of Cannon or Culverines mounted on their Carriages near that Palace and there are also several very fair Bazars in the Town I said that this might be made one of the richest Cities in the World The Port. of Bassora commodious for all Countries because of the Commerce that might be settled there with all parts almost of the Habitable World. Its Port is good and very safe being twelve Leagues from the Sea in the fresh water of Schat-El-Aarab and it is so broad and deep that the greatest Vessels may come to it without danger all the Goods of Europe might be brought thither by the Mediteranean because being once come to Aleppo it would not be difficult to Transport them to Bi r which is but four days Journy from Aleppo and there they might be embarked on the Euphrates on which they might in ten days time come to Rousvania from whence there is but a days Journy to Bagdad where they might embark them on the Tygris and in fifteen or sixteen days time they would come to Bassora nay and with a very little pains and industry the River Euphrates might be made Navigable for great Vessels only by clearing the Channel in some places where it is choaked up with great stones and that is the reason
Captain making use of the occasion failed not to tell the Merchants who waited for our Ship that she would not come this year which they believed to be true and went aboard with their mony on his Ship. All this proceeded from the fault of the Vikil that stayed behind at Bassora who detained the Ship in the Harbour a Fortnight longer than he should have done to get on Board some Goods which payed not above an hundred Piastres Freight and in the mean while he lost the Freight of a great deal of Goods and Mony and of many Passengers that were at Carek Congo and Comoron who embarked in the Ships which touched at these Ports before us When we had put a shoar all the Goods and the Man who was to take care of them we weighed Anchor three quarters of an hour after seven making all the Sail we could and Steering away South South-East with a very easie Wind about ten a Clock we were becalmed till midnight when there blew a little Gale at East but as easie as the former and with it we bore away South Next day about two or three a Clock in the morning we Sailed by the Isle of Rischer which was to our Larboard This Island is very near the main Land and makes a little Port which is called Bender-Rischer a days Journy from Bender-Regh and there is a Fort on it which belonged formerly to the Portuguese At break of day we made two Ships on Head of us one of which had put out from Carek five days before us Half an hour after seven we were off of the Isle of Coucher Coucher that was to our Larboard and is a pretty big Island At eight a Clock we got a Head of one of the Ships that had been before us the other which was at some distance put us into some apprehension for a few hours time for by his manner of working he gave us cause to think that he had a mind to be up with us and we were affraid he might be a Corsair but at length he Steered the same Course that we did About ten a Clock we were becalmed Three quarters after twelve the Wind being Southerly we Steered away East A quarter after two we Steered South-East Three quarters after three a Clock the Wind chopping about to South-West we stood away South South-East And thus the Wind being but very easie did nothing but chop and change until the evening that we were becalmed Wednesday the eighteenth of November towards day having an easie Gale from East South-East we Steered our Course South South-West about half an hour after nine it blowing hard from South we bore away West South-West About three quarters of an hour after ten the Wind turned South South-East and we Steered East Half an hour after noon the Wind slackened much and about five a Clock in the evening we were becalmed About half an hour after nine we made a Sail to the Windward of us and another on Head but a great way before us we cast the Lead and found seventeen Fathom water At ten a Clock at night the Wind turned East South-East and blew pretty hard and we Steered away South South-West finding only thirteen Fathom water when we heaved the Lead After midnight we past Cape Verdestan which was to our Larboard This is a very dangerous Cape and one night several Portuguese Ships being Land-lockt there when they thought themselves far enough off of it were cast away We Sailed within three or four Leagues of it and when it was day saw it a Stern of us About half an hour after nine the Wind turned South South-East and we Steered East About noon we saw several Taranquins Half an hour after one the Wind turned South South-West and we bore away South-East We were then off and on Cape Naban to our Larboard Cape Naban and made it but very dimly but coming up more and more towards it we made it very plain and saw along the Sea-side Rocky Hills which seemed to be very steep and at the foot of them a great many Palm-Trees We continued our Course off and on with these Rocks till five a Clock that we saw the end of them at least in this place they run far up into the Land and leave a very level Coast in this low Country is the Village called Naban which gives the name to the Cape Here we cast the Lead and found only seven Fathom water there is but little water all along that Coast and therefore we presently tackt and stood off to the West about ten a Clock at night the Wind turned North-East and we Steered away South South-East Friday the twentieth of November by break of day we made the three Ships that put out the same day with us from Bassora two of which were at a pretty good distance to the Starboard and the other very near a Head of us it was this last which some days before we had taken for a Corsair we made also to our Larboard the Land of Persia but at a great distance A quarter after nine a Clock in the morning having a very easie Gale from North North-West we put out our Main and Fore-Top-Galant-Sail and kept on our Course South South-East in a short time we left all the other Ships a Stern About noon the Wind blew much fresher and about three a Clock we stood away East South-East about five a Clock we took in our Top-Galant-Sails the Mizan and Mizan-Top-Sails because it would have been dangerous to have made so much way in the night-time that was now coming on for we might have run within Land considering that the Wind freshened more and more and we bore away South South-East that we might keep without the Isle of Lara If it had been day we would have Steered our Course betwixt the main Land and that Island but we durst not venture it in the night-time being safer to leave it to the Larboard we made account to have Sailed by that Island about midnight but we saw it not though we had all along light enough to discern a little of the main Land near to which it lyes We concluded then that we had past that Isle of Lara in the night-time but next day we found that we were out in our reckoning Nevertheless seeing we did not find out our mistake till after noon about six a Clock in the morning we Steered away East bearing in towards the Land for fear we might be cast too far to the Leeward of Congo About half an hour after six our Long-Boat that was fastened to the Stern filled full of water and sunk under the surface of the Sea we presently furled all Sails but the Sprit-Sail and three Seamen swam to the Boat to fasten another Rope to it which they held by the end then they went into it and we halled it to the Leeward side of the Ship and took out a little Anchor that was in her this being done our
Seat of it is very pleasant and the top of the Hill on which it stands extreamly fertile it hath still four Reservatories or Tanquies for the private use of the Inhabitants There are a great many other Trading Towns in that Province and the Great Mogul receives yearly out of it above fourteen Millions The Revenue of the Province of Malva There are two kinds of Bats in that Countrey the one is like to that we have in Europe An extraordinary Bat. but seeing the other differs much I pleased my self in examining it in a Friends House who kept one out of curiosity it is eight Inches long and covered with yellowish Hair the Body of it is round and as big as a Ducks its Head and Eyes resemble a Cats and it has a sharp Snout like to a great Rat it hath pricked black Ears and no Hair upon them it hath no Tail but under its Wings two Teats as big as the end of ones little finger it hath four Legs some call them Arms and all the four seem to be glued fast within the Wings which are joyned to the Body along the sides from the Shoulder downwards the Wings are almost two Foot long and seven or eight Inches broad and are of a black Skin like to wet Parchment each Arm is as big as a Cats thigh and towards the Joynt it is almost as big as a Mans Arm the two foremost from the Shoulder to the Fingers are nine or ten Inches long each of the two Arms is fleshed into the Wing perpendicularly to the Body being covered with Hair and terminating in five Fingers which make a kind of hand these Fingers are black and without Hair they have the same Joynts as a Mans Fingers have and these Creatures make use of them to stretch out their Wings when they have a mind to flie Each hind Leg or Arm is but half a Foot long and is also fastened to the Wing parallel to the Body it reaches to the lower part of the Wing out of which the little hand of that Arm peeping seems pretty like the hand of a Man but that instead of Nails it hath five Claws the hind Arms are black and hairy as those before are and are a little smaller These Bats stick to the Branches of Trees with their Talons or Claws they fly high almost out of sight and some who eat them say they are good meat CHAP. XLII Of the Province of Candich THe Province of Candich is to the South of Malva The Province of Candich Berar Orixa and they who have reduced the Provinces have joyned to it Berar and what the Mogul possesses of Orixa These Countries are of a vast extent full of populous Towns and Villages and in all Mogulistan few Countries are so rich as this The Moguls yearly Revenue from Candich The Memoire I have of yearly Revenues makes this Province yield the Mogul above seven and twenty Millions a year The Capital City of this Province is Brampour it lies in the twenty eighth degree of Latitude about fourscore Leagues distant from Surrat Brampour the Capital of Candich The Governour thereof is commonly a Prince of the Blood and Auren-Zeb hath been Governour of it himself Here it was that the Sieurs de La Boullaye and Beber Envoy's from the French East-India Company quarrelled with the Banians A Quarrel the Sieurs La Boullaye and Beber had with a Banian to whom they were recommended When they arrived at Brampour these Banians met them with Basons full of Sweet-meats and Roupies in their hands The Gentlemen not knowing the custom of the Countrey which is to offer Presents to Strangers whom they esteem and imagining that the five and twenty or thirty Roupies that were offered them was a sign that they thought them poor fell into a Passion railed at the Banians and were about to have beat them which was like to have bred them trouble enough if they had been well informed of the custom of the Countrey they would have taken the Money and then returned some small Present to the Banians and if they had not thought it fit to make a Present they might have given it back again after they had received it or if they would not take it touch it at least with their Fingers ends and thanked them for their civility I came to Brampour in the worst weather imaginable and it had Rained so excessively that the low Streets of that Town were full of water and seemed to be so many Rivers Brampour is a great Town standing upon very uneven ground there are some Streets very high The Ground of Brampour and others again so low that they look like Ditches when one is in the higher Streets these inequalities of Streets occur so often that they cause extraordinary Fatigue The Houses are not at all handsom The Houses of Brampour because most of them are only built of Earth however they are covered with Varnished Tiles and the various Colours of the Roofs mingling with the Verdure of a great many Trees of different kinds planted on all hands makes the Prospect of it pleasant enough There are two Carvanseras in it one appointed for lodging Strangers and the other for keeping the Kings Money which the Treasurers receive from the Province that for the Strangers is far more spacious than the other it is square and both of them front towards the Meidan That is a very large place for it is at least Five hundred paces long and Three hundred and fifty broad but it is not pleasant because it is full of ugly huts where the Fruiterers sell their Fruit and Herbs The entry into the Castle is from the Meidan The Castle of Brampour and the chief Gate is betwixt two large Towers the Walls of it are six or seven Fathom high they have Battlements all round and at certain intervals there are large round Towers which jet a great way out and are about thirty paces Diametre This Castle contains the Kings Palace The Kings Palace at Brampour and there is no entring into it without permission the Tapty running by the East side of that Town there is one whole Front of the Castle upon the River-side and in that part of it the Walls are full eight Fathom high because there are pretty neat Galleries on the top where the King when he is at Brampour comes to look about him and to see the fighting of Elephants which is commonly in the middle of the River in the same place there is a Figure of an Elephant done to the natural bigness it is of a reddish shining Stone the back parts of it are in the Water The Monument of an Elephant and it leans to the left side the Elephant which that Statue represents died in that place fighting before Cha-Geban the Father of Auran-Zeb who would needs erect a Monument to the Beast because he loved it and the Gentiles besmear it
makes it accounted the strongest place belonging to the Mogul It is an Hill of an oval Figure A Hill in Doltabad fortified which the Town encompasses on all sides strongly Fortified and having a Wall of a natural smooth Rock that environs it at the bottom with a good Citidel on the top whereon the Kings Palace stands This is all I could see from the place where I was without the Town But I learnt afterwards from a Frenchman who had lived two years therein that besides the Citadel there are three other Forts in the Place at the foot of the Hill Barcot Marcot Calacot of which one is called Barcot the other Marcot and the third Calacot The word Cot in Indian signifies a Fort and by reason of all these Fortifications the Indians think that place Impregnable I spent two hours and a half in coming from Doltabad to Aurangeabad which are but two Leagues and a half distant This was the third time that I crossed this last Town and about an hour after I came to the place where my company Encamped They waited only for a Billet from the Customer to be gone but it could not be had that day because it was Friday and the Customer who was a Mahometan observed that day with great exactness It is threescore Leagues and more from Aurangeabad to Calvar Calvar which is the last Bourg or Village belonging to the Mogul on the Frontiers of the Kingdom of Golconda We found eight Towns great and small before we came to Calvar to wit Ambar Achty Lasana Nander Lisa Dantapour Indour Condelvaly and Indelvay and that Countrey is so Populous that we continually met with Bourgs and Villages on our way An hour and an halfs march from Aurangeabad we encamped under the biggest War-tree A fair War. that I have seen in the Indies It is exceedingly high hath some branches ten Fathom long and the circumference of it is above three hundred of my paces The branches of it are so loaded with Pigeons that it were an easie matter to fill a great many Pigeon-houses with them if one durst take them but that is forbidden because they are preserved for the Prince's pleasure There is a Pagod under that Tree and many Tombs and hard by a Garden planted with Citron-trees We saw a stately Tanquie at the Town of Ambar it is square Ambar and on three sides faced with Free-stone with fair steps to go down to it In the middle of the fourth side there is a Divan that runs out into the Water about two Fathom it is covered with Stone and supported by sixteen Pillars a Fathom high It stands at the foot of a fair House from whence they go down into that Divan by two fine pair of Stairs at the sides of it there to take the Air and Divert themselves Near the Divan there is a little Pagod under Ground which receives day-light by the door and by a square airie and many Devout People are there because of the convenience of the Water On the Road we met with a great many Troopers who were going to Aurangeabad where there was a Rendez-vous appointed for an Army which was to march against Viziapour Five Leagues from the Town of Nander near a Village called Patoda Nander Extraordinary feats of Agility of Body we had the Diversion of seeing Feats of Agility of Body There was a great concourse of People and we had a place given us on an Eminence under the shade of a great Tree from whence we might easily see all the Plays The Tumblers did all that the Rope-dancers of Europe do and much more These People are a supple as an Eel they 'll turn their whole body into a Bowl and then others rowl them with the hand The finest tricks were performed by a Girl of thirteen or fourteen years of Age who Played for the space of two hours and more This amongst other Feats of Agility which she did appeared to me extreamly difficult She sat down upon the Ground holding cross-ways in her Mouth a long cutting Sword with the right Hand she took hold of her left Foot brought it up to her Breast then to her left side and without letting go that Foot she put her Head underneath her right Arm and at the same time brought her Foot down along the small of her Back Then she made it pass under her sitting and over the right Leg four or five times without resting being always in danger of cutting her Arm or Leg with the edge of the Sword And she did the same thing with the left Hand and right Foot. Whil'st she was shewing of that trick they dug a hole in the Ground two foot deep which they filled with Water So soon as the Girl had rested a little they threw into the hole a little Hook made like a Clasp for her to fetch out with her Nose without touching it with her Hands She put her two Feet on the sides of the Pit and turned her self backwards upon her two Hands which she placed on the sides of the hole where her Feet had stood Then she dived headlong into the Water to search after the Hook with her Nose The first time she missed it but the pit being filled full of Water again she plunged backwards into it a second time and upholding her self only with the left hand she gave a sign with the right hand that she had found what she sought for and she raised her self again with the Clasp at her Nose Then a Man took this Girl and setting her upon his Head ran at full speed through the place she in the mean time not tottering in the least Setting her down he took a large Earthen pot like to those round Pitchers that the Indian Maids make use to draw Water in and put it upon his Head with the mouth upwards The Girl got on the top of it and he carried her about the place with the same security as he had done without the Pot which he did twice more having put the Pot with the mouth downwards once and then with the mouth side-ways The same trick he shewed in a Bason wherein he turned the Pot three different ways Then he took the Bason and turned its bottom up upon his Head with the Pitcher over it The Girl shewed the same tricks upon it And at length having put into the Bason upon his Head a little wooden Truncheon a foot high and as big as ones Arm he caused the Girl to be set upright upon that Stake and carried her about as before sometimes she only stood upon one Foot taking the other in her Hand and sometimes she hurkled down upon her Heels nay and sat down though the carrier in the mean time went on as formerly Then the Man took the Bason from under the Stake and put it on the top of it where the Girl likewise appeared Then changeing the Play he put into the Bason four Pins or little Stakes of
of Sivagy who made inrodes to the very Town We Encamped beyond Indelvai and next day being the six and twentieth of March having after four hours March passed over the pleasantest Hills in the World by reason of the different kinds of Trees that cover them we arrived at Calvar which is the last Village of the Moguls Countrey It is distant from Aurangeabad about fourscore and three Leagues which we Travelled in a fortnights time The rest of the Road to Golconda I shall describe when I treat of that Kingdom The way from Aurangeabad that I have been now speaking of is diversified by Hills and Plains All the Plains are good Ground some sow'd with Rice and the rest planted with Cotton-trees Tamarins Wars Cadjours Manguiers Quesous and others and all Watered with several Rivers which turn and wind every way and with Tanquies also out of which they draw the Water by Oxen And I saw one of these Reservatories at Dentapour which is a Musquet-shot over and seven or eight hundred Geometrical paces long We were incommoded during our whole Journey almost with Lightenings Whirle-winds Rains and Hail-stones some as big as a Pullets Egg Very large Hail-stones The Moguls Horse against Viziapour and when we were troubled with none of these we heard dull Thunderings that lasted whole Days and Nights We met every where Troops of Horse designed against Viziapour the King whereof refused to send the Great Mogul the Tribute which he used to pay to him To conclude with this Province it is to be observed that all the Rocks and Mountains I have mentioned are only dependances of that Mountain which is called Balagate The Mountain of Balagate which according to the Indian Geographers divides India into the two parts of North and South as that of Guate according to the same Geographers environs it almost on all hands CHAP. XLVII Of the Province of Telenga The Province of Telenga TElenga was heretofore the principal Province of Decan and reached as far as the Portuguese Lands towards Goa Viziapour being the Capital City thereof But since the Mogul became Master of the Northern places of this Countrey Calion and of the Towns of Beder and Calion it hath been divided betwixt him and the King of Decan who is only called King of Viziapour and it is reckoned amongst the Provinces of Indostan which obey the Great Mogul The borders of Telenga It is bordered on the East by the Kingdom of Golconda on Maslipatan side on the West by the Province of Baglana and Viziapour on the North by Balagate and on the South by Bisnagar The Capital City of this Province is at present Beder which belonged to Balagate when it had Kings and it hath sometime belonged to Decan Beder is a great Town Beder it is encompassed with Brick-Walls which have Battlements and at certain distances Towers they are mounted with great Cannon some whereof have the mouth three Foot wide Great Guns The Garison of Beder There is commonly in this place a Garison of Three thousand Men half Horse and half Foot with Seven hundred Gunners the Garison is kept in good order because of the importance of the place against Decam and that they are always afraid of a surprize The Governour lodges in a Castle without the Town it is a rich Government and he who commanded in it when I was there was Brother-in-law to King Chagean Auran Zebs Father but having since desired the Government of Brampour which is worth more he had it because in the last War that Governour had made an Army of the King of Viziapours raise the Siege from before Beder Some time after I met the new Governour upon the Road to Beder The Train of the Governour of Beder who was a Persian of a good aspect and pretty well stricken in years he was carried in a Palanquin amidst Five hundred Horse-men well mounted and cloathed before whom marched several Men on foot carrying blew Banners charged with flames of Gold and after them came seven Elephants The Governours Palanquin was followed with several others full of Women and covered with red Searge and there were two little Children in one that was open The Bambous of all these Palanquins were covered with Plates of Silver chamfered after them came many Chariots full of Women two of which were drawn by white Oxen almost six Foot high and last of all came the Waggons with the Baggage The Great Moguls Revenue in Telenga and several Camels guarded by Troopers This Province of Telenga is worth above Ten millions a Year to the Great Mogul No where are the Gentiles more Superstitious than here they have a a great many Pagods with Figures of Monsters that can excite nothing but Horror instead of Devotion unless in those who are deluded with the Religion These Idolaters use frequent Washings Men The washings of the Gentiles Women and Children go to the River as soon as they are out of Bed and the rich have Water brought them to wash in When Women lose their Husbands they are conducted thither by their Friends who comfort them and they who are brought to Bed use the same custom almost as soon as they are delivered of their Children and indeed there is no Countrey where Women are so easily brought to Bed when they come out of the Water a Bramen dawbs their Forehead with a Composition made of Saffron and the Powder of white Sawnders dissolved in Water then they return home where they eat a slight Breakfast and seeing they must never eat unless they be washed some return to the Tanquie or River about noon and others perform their Ablutions at home before they go to Dinner As they have a special care not to eat any thing but what is dressed by a Gentile of their Caste so they seldom eat any where but at home The feeding of the Gentiles and commonly they dress their Victuals themselves buying their Flower Rice and such other Provisions in the Shops of the Banians for they 'll not buy any where else These Banians as well as the Bramens and Courmis feed on Butter Pulse The Diet of some Castes Herbs Sugar and Fruit they eat neither Fish nor Flesh and drink nothing but Water wherein they put Coffee and Tea they use no Dishes for fear some body of another Religion or Tribe may have made use of the Dish out of which they might eat and to supply that they put their Victuals into large Leaves of Trees which they throw away when they are empty nay there are some of them who eat alone and will not suffer neither their Wives nor Children at Table with them Nevertheless I was informed The Bramens sometimes eat Hogs Flesh that in that Countrey one certain day of the year the Bramens eat Hogs Flesh but they do it privately for fear of Scandal because the Rules of their Sect enjoyn them so to do and I believe it
set foot a-Shoar I was dressed in this Town and stayed there for sometime but seeing there was no able Chirurgion there I removed my self to Ispahan where I found much relief My wound being cured and having rested my self for four or five months I parted from this Capital City of Persia the twenty fifth of October I shall not observe any thing here of what I saw in Persia on my return from Bender-Abassi to Ispahan because I have amply written of that in my second Volume All I intend to say is that having agreed with a Muletor who was going to Tauris we went out of Ispahan by the Gate of Tockchi Went out of Ispahan that I found it to be a fine Countrey abounding in Cotton and full of Villages and neat Pigeon-Houses and that about four Leagues from Ispahan the Muletors obliged us to tarry six days in a Kervanseray at a Village called Sin Sin. where the Armenians made them stay for the rest of the Caravan which very much incommoded me because of the inconvenience of the place and there I had a Feavor and Ague We put out from thence the last day of October there were no less than two hundred Mules in the Caravan and some Camels also After four days March we came to Cachan having past large barren Plains and therefore we had no pleasure in our Journey before we came to a Bourg called Gourabad where we rested our selves in Gardens full of Fruits and furnished with excellent water The Town of Cachan is begirt with a Ditch and two Walls Cachan which began to be ruinous it is two hours march in circuit the Bazars of the Town are Arched and have the light by round Windows which are in the Arches at a Fathoms distance one from another and these Bazars being very large I went too and again in them a long while on Horse-back This is a Town of much Trade and the Shops areas well furnished as at Ispahan They work here in Gold and Silk and the lovely Flowered Girdles that are carried to Ispahan are made in this Town as also most excellent Earthen Ware which is sold through the rest of Persia and in the Indies The Kervanseras are pretty well built but the private Houses are so ugly that except the Kings House there is not any worth the minding There is a Meidan there as in other Towns and I was told there were Scorpions there as long as ones finger whose Sting was mortal but the people of the Countrey affirm that they do no hurt to strangers which I take to be a Fable and I saw none of them we stayed three days there and leaving it on the third we came to the Town of Com. Com. This Town hath a Ditch and Earthen Walls like to those of a Village and are ruined in several places it will require two hours to make the circuit of it The Streets are wide and streight and the Bazars narrow the Meidan is a pretty handsom square the Palace of the King and Houses of the great Men are in the Suburbs King Cha-Abas the Second died there and there lyes buried The Sepulchres of Masoume Sister to Imam-Riza The Sepulchres of Masoâ—eme Sefi 1. Abas 11. and of the Kings Sefi the first and Abas the second are in one Mosque there into which they enter by three doors the Porch of it is Arched the Pavement covered with Carpets and the Walls varnished with several Colours from the Porch one enters into a dome which receives no light but by two doors of which the Shutters that are seven or eight Foot high and about a Fathom broad are of Silver and the Threshold of the same Metal the Dome is Arched and adorned with Niches Folliages and painted Flowers The Tomb of Masoume which is of grayish Marble is in the middle and is full seven foot high it is square and each side about three Fathom long it is enclosed within a Silver-Grate and the Grate is not above three fingers breadth from the Tomb there are Alcorans at the sides of it and two Tables fastened to the Grate with Prayers of the Alcoran upon them for those who go thither in Devotion there are Lamps also but they are not lighted The Body of the Mosque goes quite round the Chappel of Masoume the Pavement of it is covered with Carpet at the end of the Temple on the richt side is the Chappel of Cha-Sefi which is Arched The Chappel of Cha-Sefi and the entry into it is by two Silver-Gates the Thresholds being of the same Metal his Tomb is covered with Cloath of Gold and I found there a Moula repeating the Alcoran behind the Tomb there is a Silver-Grate a Fathom nigh and three Fathom broad going out of that Chappel one sees the Chappel of Cha-Abas the Second which is directly opposite to it it hath likewise the Doors and Thresholds of Silver with a pretty high dome that is painted the Tomb is of a grayish Marble it is seven Foot high and three Fathom broad but it is not finished there are other Silver-Gates besides in this Mosque The Authors sickness Monsieur de Thevenot parted from Com the eighth day of November about two of the Clock in the Morning but he was already indisposed and therefore he hath written nothing of the Ancient Town of Sava which he found on his way Sava and where he himself observes that his Spirit of Curiosity forsook him Though he was sick he continued to describe his Journey as far as the Bourg of Farsank where he lodged the sixteenth of November but his Pain made him end his Memoires there Nevertheless he travelled on thirty Leagues farther Miana The Authors death for he came to the little Town Miana where God called him to everlasting rest An Elogie of the Author The reputation which his civility probity and learning have gained him both in Europe and Asia is a sufficient Elogie of his merit not to stand in need of any other but in finishing his Work I cannot forbear to give him this true Character That an honester Man never lived in the World. FINIS AN Alphabetical Table OF THE PRINCIPAL PLACES Described and Treated of in this WORK A. AAsour Part II. Page 50 Abydos Part I. Page 17 Acre Part I. Page 211 Aegypt Part I. Page 245 Aethiopia Part I. Page 238 Aetna Part I. Page 4 Agra Part III. Page 33 Ajora Part I. Page 109 Aleppo Part II. Page 30 Alexandria Part I. Page 121 Part II. Page 6 Amedabad Part III. Page 8 Andra Isle Part I. Page 15 Audarvia Part II. Page 173 Aurangeabad Part III. Page 73 Ayoud Part III. Page 62 Azmer Part III. Page 48 B. BAbylon alias Bagdat Part I. Page 278 Bagdad Part II. Page 61 Baglana Part III. Page 82 Bagnagar Part III. Page 94 97 Balagate Part III. Page 72 Bampour Part III. Page 71 Bassora Part II. Page 156 Becar Part III. Page 63 Bender-Abassi Part II.
they procure a Great-Belly by them There was one of these blades hretofore carried a great Stone hanging at his Glans and the Women heartily kissed it for a Big Belly Others eat Serpents and in my time there was one of them at Caire whom they called the Scheik of the Serpents this Man had always a great train of Scheiks and other people after him when he went out or returned home to his House I did not see him eat Serpents but several who have seen him assured me of it and it is a thing no body doubts of I saw also at Caire a Santo who had a Turban as broad as a Mill-stone and weighed above half a hundred weight it was all patched up of several little pieces of different colours Every one came and kiss'd his hand with great respect the weight of his Turban making him walk very softly and with a great deal of Gravity There are many other sorts of Santo's and in a word enough in Aegypt to man out several Galleys The Turks who are nothing near so superstitious as the Arabs have no such esteem for them and formerly there was a Basha who sent as many of these lazy Lubbards as he could find to the Galleys They have also dead Santo's to whose memory they bear a singular Reverence some of them are Interr'd upon the High-ways and upon Bridges and when the Moors find any of these Sepulchres they ask leave of the Santo who is within to go that way or cross over that Bridge But I think the chief of the dead Santo's whom they reverence in Aegypt is Sidi Ahmet el bedoui for being at Caire on the ninth of July I saw a great many people go to a certain Fair that is kept at a Village called Menitegamr in the Isle or Delta of Aegypt on the side of the Channel of Rossetto Sidi Ahmet el bedoui Menitegamr That Fair is held there because the said Scheik is Interr'd in that place where they pray at his Grave and from all parts of Aegypt People come to this Fair and Devotion They say that at that time this Sidi Ahmet el Bedoui yearly delivers three Slaves out of Malta and three Moors fail not to be there and affirm that the night before they were brought from Malta where they had been Slaves One day a Turk of Quality who had been a Slave in Malta went thither and finding these Rogues to assert a Lie with so much boldness put so many questions to them that he convicted them of the Cheat. They relate a great many vertues of this Hellish Saint of which it was none of the least that he never knew Woman only lay with his own she Ass They also tell how this Santo having some priviledge granted him by a Basha and that another Basha offering to take it from him he went on a time to the appartment of that Basha and being brought in before him told him that he had had that priviledge a long time and prayed him to let him enjoy it but finding after much entreaty that the Basha was inexorable he turned up his cap a little that the point of it might encline to one side and said to the Basha thou wilt not then suffer me to enjoy my priviledge and the Basha answered him no then turning his Cap a little more to one side thou wilt not then said he to the Basha let me enjoy my priviledge who replied no then turning his Cap a great deal to one side the Basha perceived that the Castle leaned all to one side and was ready to fall for the Castle turned side-ways proportionally as he had turned his Cap whereupon the Basha in a great fright assured him that he would preserve his Priviledge unto him and prayed him to set the Castle upright as it was before which he did by setting his Cap by little and little to rights again They have so much Devotion for that Saint that when the Caravan of Mecha sets out in time of that Fair many leave the Caravan and Pilgrimage of Mecha and pay their Visits to that Saint This devotion lasts a fortnight and all Persons Moors Christians and Jews are suffered to go to that Fair. When they have visited that Saint they go to another not far distant then to another and so to four or five in short they spend a Month in these Devotions CHAP. LXXV Of the Cophtes Cophtes THE Cophtes are Christians but Jacobites that is to say who follow the Heresie of Eutyches and Dioscorus though some however among them be Orthodox and are called Melchites They have a Patriarch in Alexandria whose Authority reaches very far for he chuses one of his Clergy and sends him to be Patriarch to the Abyssins in Aethiopia as I said before The Cophtes are so very ignorant and unpolished that they have much ado to find a man among them fit to be their Patriarch and so in my time the Patriarchate had been vacant for some years the truth is there was another reason for it also for they could not raise a sum of Money that must be given to the Basha for the admission of every new Patriarch They retain a great many Fabulous stories taken out of Apocryphal Books which they have still among them We have no History of our Saviours life during his Minority but they have a great many relations of it for they say that every day an Angel brought him Victuals down from Heaven and that he spent his time in making little Birds of Clay which afterwards he breathed upon and so throwing them up into the Air they flew away They say that at our Lords Supper a roasted Cock was served up and that then Judas being gone out to sell and betray our Lord he commanded the Roasted Cock to rise and go after Judas which the Cock did and afterwards brought back word to our Lord that Judas had sold him and that therefore that Cock was admitted into Paradise They say Mass in the Cophtick and Arabick Tongues and when they sing the Passion and come to the place where it is said that Judas betrayed our Lord all the people cry Arsat that is to say Horned Beast Cuckold in this manner avenging our Lord by reviling of Judas And when they read that St. Peter cut off the ear of the High-Priest's Servant all the People cry Asia Boutros that is to say well fair you for that Peter as if they would encourage St. Peter by their Applause The Cophtes serve for Clerks to the Divan of the Beys and Villages CHAP. LXXVI Of the Franks that live in Aegypt and the Avanies which are put upon them Of the Franks in Caire THere are Franks who live in several places of Aegypt to wit in Caire Rossetto and Alexandria but the Consuls live at Caire because the Basha resides in that City they have Vice-Consuls in Rossetto and Alexandria and sometimes in Damiette Consuls of Franks at Caire There is in
Caire a French Consul a Venetian an English and a Dutch all other Nations that Traffick in that Countrey or in any part of the Turkish Empire go under the Banner of France as the Messines Geneose c. and the French Consul protects them The Consuls in Aegypt have from the Grand Signior a yearly Pension of six thousand Maidins which amount to two hundred Piastres but the Consul of Venice has only two thousand Maidins and yet is obliged to make a Present of about two thousand Piastres to every new Basha whereas the rest are excused for about a thousand for it is the custome when a new Basha comes or a new Consul enters into Office to send the Basha a present of so many Vests and so many besides to some other Officers which are rated at above a thousand Piastres The Consuls expence towards the Basha not reckoning a great many other Vails that are to be given every day almost to the Sous-Basha and several other Knaves When the Consul hath sent his Present he demands Audience of the Basha who having assigned him a day he goes to wait upon him and the Basha makes him to sit down over against him in a Chair or Couch or else near to himself upon a Divan and when the Consul takes his leave the Basha gives him a Vest of Cloath of Tissue to put on and one to the chief Trucheman on whom also he bestows a small Pension and raises the pay of the Consuls Janizaries Herteofore the Consuls had the honour of Beys but at present they are pulled down very low and so little regarded especially in Aegypt that a Basha makes no scruple to put Avanies upon them when he pleases and while I was in Aegypt I knew the Turks and Jews squeeze from the French Nation above fourscore or an hundred thousand Piastres in one year because the Jews are very powerful in Aegypt and govern all the affairs of that Kingdom the Customes being in their hands and they being the only Serats or Bankers Besides that they enjoy some Offices about the Basha which make them have his Ear and they daily put new inventions into his Head for raising of Avanies He has three principal Officers to wit the Basha's Schelebi which is an Office instituted within these few years the Saraf Basha and the Saraf of the Basha who set their Wits continually a devising and think of nothing else but of ways how to persecute the poor Franks A Turk told me one day that the Jews were the Turks Hounds for catching Money from the Franks for the Turks of themselves are neither malicious nor cunning enough to chase the Prey but when once the Jews have made sure of the Game the Turks come in and carry all away I have known the Consuls several times put in Prison and always most unjustly An English Merchant-man bound for Aegypt was met and pursued by six Turkish Ships coming from Candie An Avanie upon the English Consul in the Chase he fired several Guns and killed three Janizaries but so soon as the Ships arrived in Aegypt and this was known the English Consul was put into Prison and for some days kept there but this is nothing in respect of what happened some time after The Turks having freighted two French Ships with goods in Alexandria An unlucky business for the Franks in Aegypt the one commanded by Captain Durbequi and the other by Captain Civilliers and one English Ship to all which they gave a good Freight Captain Durbequi instead of going to Constantinople as he ought to have done went to Legorn with a design to make the best of his Cargoe Captain Civilliers and the English Captain followed the Example upon this Ships durst not come from Christendom to Aegypt fearing the loss might be revenged upon them but in the mean time the Jews having had advice from Legorn that the Ships were arrived in that Port presently acquainted the Basha with it who at that time dissembling his Indignation sent an Aga to assure the Consuls that the Ships of their Countrey were in no Danger and that they might come as freely and with as much safety as they did before entreating the Consuls to send this advice into Christendom each Consul presented the Aga with a Vest to the value of fifty Piastres for it is a general rule that Aga's never come in Message to any person whatsoever Consul or private man Christian or Turk but they must be presented according to the merit of the business whether good or bad A few days after when they thought that the Consuls had sent Letters into Christendom according to the orders sent to them on which the Consuls did really rely one morning an Aga with a Chiaoux and such other Rogues came to their several Houses and halling them out like Thieves and Robbers by force put them upon ugly Horses without allowing them time to dress themselves one being in his Slippers and another in his Night-Cap and with all imaginable rigour carried them Prisoners to the Castle being even in danger of being knocked on the Head in the Streets for the Villains spead about a report that the Franks had robbed the Grand Signior's Money which much incensed the People The Dutch and Venetian Consuls were carried away in the same manner though they were not at all concerned in the business but they were no sooner come into the Castle when they were sent home again to their Houses though for all that it cost them an hundred Piastres a piece to the Aga's and Chiaoux as a reward for the pains they had been at The other two Consuls lay several days in Prison nay and were for the first day put in Chains and at length were not released till their Nations paid great sums for their liberty and promised the Basha to pay within a few Months the value of the Ships Loadings for which all the Merchants were obliged under hand and Seal If the Capitulations made by Monsieur de Breves were observed such violences would not be used as I my self have seen practiced by the Sous-Basha who sent his Officers one night into the quarter of the French some Merchants walking then in the open place which is at the end of their Quarter having perceived them coming retired to their homes but the Villains pursuing them to the very tops of their Houses halled them out and with all the speed they could dragged them to a nasty Prison upon pretext that they had found them abroad at unseasonable hours for it is prohibited to walk abroad in the streets in the Night-time but the French are excepted by the Capitulations which specifie that the Sous-basha is not to enter into their Quarter They ran away with them in all haste for fear they might be taken from them and to make them run the faster each of them was led by two Cowas one holding one Arm and the other the other Cowas These Cowas are Moorish Recors