betweene Euphrates and Nilus he inuaded Persia where the Persians lost both their King Hormisda their State Religion and Name of Persians being conuerted into Saracens This victorious Homar made Ierusalem his Royall seat and while he was praying was murthered by his seruant Ozmen the succeeding Caliph sent a great Armie into Africa vnder the leading of Hucba who ouercomming Gregorius Patritius and destroying Carthage subiected all that Prouince to their Empire making Tunes the Mother-citie but soone after translated that honour to Chairoan which he built thirtie six miles from the Sea and a hundred from Tunes In the third yeere of his raigne Muauias the Deputie of Egypt with a Nauie of seuen hundred or as others say of a hundred and seuentie saile assailed Cyprus and taking Constantia wasted the whole Iland and hauing wintred his Armie at Damascus the next yeere besieged Arad in Cyprus and won it and dispeopled all the I le Thence hee inuaded the continent of Asia and carried away many prisoners and after in a Sea-fight with Constans the Emperour dyed the Lycian Sea with Christian bloud Hee wan Rhodes and sold to a Iew the brazen Colosse or pillar of the Sun which laded nine hundred Camels sometimes reckoned one of the worlds seuen wonders made in twelue yeeres space by Chares After this hee afflicted the Cyclides Ilands in the Archipelago and then sent his Fleet against Sicilia where they made spoile with fire and sword till by Olympius they were chased thence Muauias himselfe with an Armie by land entred into Cappadocia Iaid hauing ouer-run all the neighbouring Armenia vnto the hill Caucasus But meane while Ozmen besiged in his house by Ali his faction slew himselfe when hee had liued eightie and seuen yeeres and raigned twelue The Saracens could not agree about their new Prince Muaui and Ali with great armies being Corriuals of that dignitie and Ali being treacherously murthered by Muauias meanes in a Temple neere Cufa a Citie of Arabia was there buried and the place is of him called Massadalle or Alli his house for if you beleeue the Legend his corps being laid on a Camell which was suffered to goe whither hee would he staid at this place Of this Ali or Hali Mahomets Cousin the Persians deriue their sect and tell of him many Legendary fables Bedwell calls this place in his Arabian Trudgman Masged Aly that is the Mesged Mosque or Temple of Ali. Alhacem the sonne of Ali and Fatima Mahumets daughter was by Muauia his owne hands crowned and by him soone after poysoned Thus was Muaui sole Caliph who granted peace to the Emperour on condition that hee should pay him euery day tenne pounds of gold and a Gentleman-seruant with a horse Damascus was now made the Seat-Royall Of which Citie although wee haue said somewhat in our first booke yet let vs bee a little beholden to Beniamin Tudelensis to shew vs the Saracenicall face thereof In his time it was subiect to Noraldine as hee termeth him King of the children of Thogarma that is the Turkes The Citie saith hee is great and faire containing on euery side fifteene miles by it slideth the Riuer Pharphar and watereth their Gardens Amana is more familiar and entreth the Citie yea by helpe of Art in Conduits visiteth their priuate houses both striuing in emulous contention whether shall adde more pleasure or more profit to the Citie by Naaman therefore in the heate of his indignation preferred before all the waters of Israel But no where is so magnificent a building saith Beniamin as the Synagogue of the Ismaelites which is therein the people call it the Palace of Benhadad There is to be seene a wall of Glasse built by Art-Magicke distinguished by holes as many as the yeere hath dayes and so placed that euery day the Sunne findeth them fitted in order to his present motion each hole hauing therein a Diall with twelue degrees answering to the houres of that day so that in them is designed both the time of the yeere and of the day Within the Palace are Baths and costly buildings so rich of gold and siluer as seemeth incredible I saw there hanging a ribbe of one of the Enakims or Giants nine Spanish palmes long and two broad on the Sepulchre was written the name of Abchamaz After this in the time of Tamerlan the magnificence of their Temple was not quite extinct but as is reported it had fortie great Porches in the circuite thereof and within nine thousand Lamps hanging from the roofe all of gold and siluer For the Temples sake at first he spared the Citie but after prouoked by their rebellion he destroyed it and them Neither were the walls of Damascus rebuilded till a certaine Florentine for loue of the Gouernours daughter denying his faith became Mahumetan and after that both Gouernour and repairer of the Citie in the walls engrauing a Lyon the Armes of Florence He was honoured after his death with a Moskee and worshipped after the manner of their Saints the Saracens visiting his tombe and hauing touched the same stroking their beards with their hands There did our Author see a large house compassed with high walls which was inhabited with Catts The reason forsooth is this Mahomet sometime liuing in this Citie made much reckoning of a Cat which he carried in his sleeue by lucky tokens from her ordred his affaires From this dreame the Mahumetans make so much of Catts and hold it charitable almes to feede them thinking that he should prouoke the iudgement of God which should suffer a Cat to starue And many of them are found in the shambles begging or buying the inwards of beasts to nourish Catts a superstition more likely to descend from the Egyptians who for the benefit they receiued by Catts in destroying their vermine of which that Countrey yeelds store in a Heathenish superstition deified them But let vs returne to Muaui hee subdued the Sect of Ali in Persia and after inuaded Cil icia and sent to aide Sapores a band of Saracens which afflicted Chalcedon and sacked Armaria a City of Phrygia and with a Fleete inuaded Sicill tooke Siracuse and carried away with them the riches of Sicilia and of Rome it selfe lately fleeced by the Emperour and here horded Another Armie of Saracens ouer-running the Sea-coast of Africa led away eight hundred thousand prisoners Muamad and Caise on the other side subdued to Muaui Lydia and Cilicia and after with Seuus another Saracen Generall besieged Constantinople from Aprill to September and taking Cizicum there wintred their forces and in the spring returned to their siege which they continued seuen yeeres but by Diuine assistance and force of tempest they were chased thence And Constantine slew three hundred thousād Saracens in a battell not long after against Susia the Nephew of Muaui and compelled the Saracens to pay a great tribute Iezid raigned after the death of Muaui his father a better Poet then Souldier
had seised on in Persia But after thee yeeres and a halfe this Chalifa was forced by his souldiers finding him in a Stoue bathing himselfe to drinke a pot full of cold water which sodainely killed him Motady Bila succeded with like fortune slaine of his Souldiers after eleuen moneths In these combustions the Chaliphate was deuided one raigning in Bagdet the other in Aegypt whose historie you may finde in our Aegyptian relations Almat Hamed Bila succeeded in Bagdet the thirtie fiue Chalife Persia was now rent with many factions for besides Taher the allowed Gouernour and Ahem Ben Zeyd which still continued his warres a new Captaine Yacub Leys arose who ouerthrew Taher and slew him This Yacub was a Tinker as his Father also after that a Captaine of Robbers then fishing in those troubled waters tooke part with another Rebell in Sistom and sharing the Countrey by his fellowes misfortune became sole Lord After this hee preuayled against Taher and Acem and brought Persia vnder him following his designes against the Chalife himselfe now much terrified with his fame and was likely to haue preuayled if hee had not dyed by the way A.H. 268. His brother Hamer Ben Leys succeeded in Persia Karason and the rest of his conquests the Chalife himselfe adding thereto Hierak the chife Citie whereof sayth our Author is Hispahon making him Chena of Bagadet which is the soueraigne Magistrate of iustice next the Chalife but Matazed Bila Hamed the next Chalife slew him being before vanquished by Ismael to whom he gaue the tytle of King of Maurenahar Karason Scyras Siston and Kermon Gerion also and Taberstan which hee tooke from Mahamed Ben Zeyd Alauuy Moktafy Bila was next Chalife and after him his brother Moctader Bila who dyed A.H. 301. And Iafar Ben Matazed succeeded All this while was Persia and the neighbour-Countries subiect to warre and contention each calling his owne whatsoeuer hee could get and hold by force The particulars I forbeare to recite In these times the Arabians robbed Mecca carrying from thence great spoyles which the superstitious Moores had offered amongst the rest carrying away a stone to Cufa a holy Relique brought forsooth by Adam out of Paradise and afterwards it befell to Ismael the sonne of Abraham and I know not when was brought to Mecca It is white by nature but being touched by sinners it were a sinne to deny it prooued blacke But Saint Rumwald at Boxley and many other Popish stones or blockes had like vertue Iafar our Chalife dyed A.H. 320. About these times Abusuia Zacuth calls him Bawia a poore Persian dreamed that he pissed fire which inflamed the countrey and deuiding it selfe into three parts continued long An Astrologer interpreted that hee should command great Prouinces in which his sonnes should succeed him Elkaher or Kaher Bila Mahamet Ben Mathazed was the next Chalife whose eyes his Souldiers put out after eighteene moneths and gaue his place to Razibila Hee cut off the hand of Eben Mokale his Wazir and hanged it on a gibbet for writing a Letter without his priuitie Hee ordayned also that the Wazirs should preach the Law to the people which till that time the Chalifes themselues had performed Muktafy succeeded In his time was a great famine and pestilence The Souldiers put out his eyes A. H. 330. after which he liued fortie two yeeres But his sonne Mostachfy Abdela was Chalife Now did the three sonnes of Abusuia finde meanes to make themselues Lords of Persia and the adiacent Regions one of which warred vpon the Chalife tooke him and put out his eyes A. H. 334. and placed Motyah Bila Fazele in that dignitie In his time the stone aforesaid was recouered from Cufa being redeemed at the weight in gold and restored to Mecca And now the Chalifes began to bee but shadowes of that quondam bodie and Lords in name Tayaha Abdel Carim was Chalife after Motyah in whose time the posteritie of Abusuia had ruinated Bagadet by their warres which was by Azudu Daule one of them re-edifyed A. H. 368. This Prince shewed himselfe fauourable to his Diuines Phylosophers Physitians and Poets and gaue leaue also to the Christians his subiects to build Churches bearing part of the charge Hee built a goodly Hospitall at Bagadet A.H. 371. and endowed it with great reuenues and another at Scyras not inferiour Hee dyed A. 372. and left his inheritance to his three sonnes of which Scerfa Daule went into Persia and Scams Daule to Bagadet which soone after possessed his brothers state then dead and associated Bahao Daule the third brother with him in gouernment who proued sole heyre by the treason of mutinous Souldiers which murthered Scams Daule A. H. 380. Bahao deposed the Chalife in the first yeere of his raigne although the possession of the place since the time of the Daules or Abusuia's race was but an Ecclesiasticall power plumed of the Temporall soueraigntie Hee gaue the place to Kader Bila Hamed the fortie sixe in order of Chalifes At this time Mamud Gasney raigned in Karasan and Maurenahar who taking the aduantage of the minoritie of Fakoro Daules sonnes Fakoro himselfe and Bahao being dead much altered the face of the Persian and Mahumetane affaires From this time forward the Daules with ciuill contentions weakened each other Great were the broyles also in all the Northerly adioyning Countries the Kings of Bokara Turquestan Nichabur Darband Samarcand with all the Prouinces in or neere those parts of Persia fryed in ciuill combustions euery man measuring his right by his Sword and Speare Mamud at this time hauing chased away his brother Ismael contracted friendship with Ilechkan King of Turquestan and made a prosperous expedition into India as his Father Sabutaquin had done before which Ilechkan enuying treacherously entred into his countrey and forced Mamuds returne but Mamud being victorious Ilechkan strengthned himselfe with a new confederacie of Kaderkham King of Katao kotan a countrey in Catay whose great forces forced Mamud to vse the helpe of the Turkes and with the Calanges Gazneys and Aueganys aduanced and fighting on a Elephant obtayned the victorie A. H. 397. Now did Mamud returne to his Indian expedition seeking to conuert the Indians to his Religion where hee fought with Bal an Indian King and ouerthrew him in battell taking fortie Elephants and rich spoyles and the Indians retyring with their treasures and the riches of their Pagodes or Idoll temples Mamud entred heere also where Mirkond sayth hee tooke seuen millions of dragmes of gold 700. Ingots of gold with store of pearles and gemmes Hee ouerthrew also the Gaores or Guzarates In Karason was at this time such a famine that the people did eate vp one another This being done A. H. 400. Mamud went against Bagadet and by strait siege forced Kader Bila the Chalife to yeeld himselfe and redeeme his peace with money After this and some new exploites in Persia hee returned into India where he againe did great Acts and at his returne ouerthrowing Nealataquin
gouernement of Aleppo and Damasco with the adioyning parts of Syria by that meanes to encroach vpon the Egyptian Caliph which accordingly they in short time did But these their haughtie attempts were stayed and being now in the flowre were cut shorter by that fortunate Expedition of the Christian Princes of the West agreed vpon at the Councell of Claremont and performed by Gualter Sensauier Peter the Hermite first and principall mouer hereof Godfrey Duke of Lorraine with his two brethren Eustace and Baldwin of the honourable house of Buillon Hugh surnamed the Great brother to Philip the French King Raymond and Robert Earles of Flanders Robert of Normandie sonne to William the Conquerour Stephen de Valois Earle of Chartiers Ademar the Popes Legate Bohemund Prince of Tarentum and others conducting as the most receiued opinion is three hundred thousand Souldiers in defence of the Christian Faith against the Turkes and Saracens which both ouerthrew the Turkes in the lesser Asia and recouered also the holy Land The Principalitie or as some stile it the Kingdome of Antioch was giuen him by common consent to Bohemund Prince of Tarentum the Kingdome of Ierusalem to Robert who hearing of his Fathers death refused it in hope of England and Godfrey of Buillon was saluted King The Turkes and Saracens seeking to recouer that which they had lost lost also themselues a hundred thousand of them being slaine in one battell the like successe had the Turkes after against Conrade the Emperour at Meander leauing for trophees and triumphall arches to the Christians huge heapes or hills rather of their bones Hereunto helped the dissentions among the Turkes and diuisions of their state among diuers brethren The Egyptians also paied tribute to the Christians which Dargan the Sultan detaining hee was by Almericus the King of Ierusalem ouerthrowne in battell Noradine the Turke King of Damasco sent thither also Saracon to aide Sanar the Sultan before expulsed to recouer his state from this Dargan but hee hauing won certaine Townes kept them to himselfe so that Sanar betooke him to the patronage of Almericus who ouerthrew Saracon in battell and after besieged and tooke Alexandria and Pelusium seeking also to conquer Egypt to himselfe but indeed as the euent proued so subuerted his owne state For Sanar sought helpe of Saracon and for feare of both their forces Almericus left Egypt Saracon moued with ambition treacherously slew the Sultan and by the Caliph was appointed Sultan the first of the Turkes that euer enioyed the same to whom Saladine his Nephew succeeded Hee not respecting the Maiestie of the Caliph as the Sultans before had done strucke out his braines with his Horse-mans Mace and rooted out all his posteritie the better to assure himselfe and his Turkish successours in the possession of that Kingdome vnder whom it continued to the time of the Mamalukes Noradine also the Turke being dead the Nobilitie disdaining the gouernement of Melechsala his sonne yet but a youth betrayed that state vnto Saladine And thus did he hem in the Kingdome of Ierusalem on both sides and not long after Aleppo was betraied vnchristianly into his hands by a traitor which gouerned the same for the Christians Neither was it long before he had through discord and treason amongst the Christians obtained Ierusalem it selfe Anno 1187. and after Ascalon and Antioch also Neither could the Christians of the West euer recouer the possession of that Kingdome the cause continuing the same which before had lost it viz. dissention and treacherie as the examples of Richard and Edward first of those names Kings of this Land doe shew About 1202. yeeres after Christ the Tartars of whom in their due place hauing conquered East West North and South among others ouerthrew that Togrian Kingdome of the Turkes in Persia one hundred and seuentie yeeres before founded by Tangrolipix The Turks which remained driuen to seeke shelter from this violent storme fled out of Persia into Asia the lesse where Cutlu-Muses his successours their Country-men enioyed some part of the Countrie And there many of them arriuing vnder the conduct of Aladin the sonne of Cei Husreu descended also of the Selzuccian Family in Persia taking the opportunitie offered by the discord of the Latines with the Greekes and the Greekes among themselues seized vpon Cilicia with the Countries thereabout and there first at Sebastia and afterward at Iconium erected their new Kingdome bearing the name of the Aladin Kings or Sultans The Tartars vnder the conduct of Haalon sent by Mango the great Cham hauing conquered and starued the Chaliph of Babylon as is before ouerthrew the Turkish Kingdome of Damasco and raced Aleppo the other arme of this faire and farre spreading Tree being surprized by the Mamaluke slaues who after Haalons departure recouered Syria and Palaestina and were againe with great slaughter dispossessed of the same by Cassanes a Tartarian Prince who repaired Ierusalem and gaue it to the Christians of Armenia and other the Easterne Countries But Cassanes retyring into Persia to pacifie new broiles the Sultan recouered the same the Christians of the West neglecting the iust defence thereof specially through the pride and contention of Boniface the Pope contrarie to his name filling a great part of Europe with faction and quarrells §. III. Of the Ottoman Turkes their originall and proceedings THe Turkes in Asia paid tribute to the Tartar Cham till succession in the bloud of Aladin failing this Kingdome was diuersly rent euery one catching so much as his might could bestow on his ambition The greatest of these sharers was one Caraman Alusirius who tooke vnto himselfe the Citie Iconium with all the Countrie of Cilicia and some part of the frontiers of Lycaonia Pamphylia Caria and the greater Phrygia as farre as Philadelphia all which was after him called Caramania Next neighbour and sharer to him was Saruchan of whom Ionia Maritima is called Saruchanili The greatest part of Lydia with some part of the greater Mysia Troas and Phrygia fell to Carasius called of him Carasi-ili some part of Pontus and the Countrey of Paphlagonia fell to the sonnes of Omer which Countrey is called Bolli These all were of the Selzuccian Family But the foundations of farre higher fortunes were then laid much lower by diuine prouidence exalting Ottoman of the Oguzian Tribe or Family who then held one onely poore Lordship called Suguta in Bythinia not farre from Olympus giuen before to his father Erthogrul in meed of good seruice which he increasing by winning somewhat from the weaker Christians his neighbours afterwards erected into a Kingdome which hath deuoured so great a part of the world as is at this day subiect to the Turkish greatnesse When the Tartars chased as is said the Turkes out of their Persian Kingdome which Tangrolipix had there established one Solyman a Turke of the Ogusian Tribe reigned in Machan ouer a small Realme which for feare of those Tartars he also forsooke and with a
succeeded him who made himselfe a Mahumetan and called himselfe Hamed After whose short raigne Argonkhon Geniotukhon Badukhan Gazun he made Casbin his Imperiall Citie Alyaptu succeeded in order This last made himselfe Mahumetan kept his Court at Tauris and first brought in the custome of tribute children which he tooke from their parents Christians and Iewes to frame to his seruice Hee built Sultania His sonne and successour Abuzayd spend his summer at Sultania and his winter at Bagadet after whose death which happened A. H. 736. the Tartarians were diuided into Persia euery one making himselfe King of that which he held which continued till the time of Tamerlane Thus haue I out of Mirkond related these Tartar-Persian affaires But if I adde some what out of Haithon which liued in the middest of these times let it not seeme tedious first of a Paradise destroyed by the Tartar Haalon and then of the successors till his time nor mentioning some which ruled but a little while in Persia In the North-East parts of Persia which of this new Heresie they called Mulchet there was an old man named Aloadin a Mahumetan as all those parts then were which had inclosed a goodly Valley situate betweene two Hills and furnished it with all variety which Nature and Art could yeeld as Fruits Pictures rills of Milke Wine Honny Water Palaces and beautifull Damosells richly attyred and called it Paradise to which was no passage but by an impregnable Castell And daily preaching the pleasures of this Paradise to the youths which he kept in his Court sometimes he would minister a sleepie drinke to some of them and then conueigh them thither where being entertained with these pleasures foure or fiue dayes they supposed themselues rapt into Paradise And then being againe cast into a trance by the said drinke hee caused them to be carryed forth and after would examine them of what they had seene and by this delusion would make them resolute for any enterprise which he should appoint them as to murther any Prince his enemie For they feared not death in hope of their Mahumeticall Paradise But this Haolon or Vlan after three yeeres siege destroyed him and this his Fooles Paradise Some tell this of Aladeules in the time of Zelim the first Abaga succeded him in the gouernement of these parts Anno 1264. but not in the Christian Religion Tangodor the next became a Saracen and called himselfe Mahomet and at Tauris and other places destroyed the Churches of the Christians as Haolon had done of the Saracens he banished the Christians and peruerted as many Tartars as he could to Mahumetisme But Argonus the sonne of Abaga rebelled and taking him cut him asunder in the middle succeeding in his place Anno 1285. After him Regayto whom the Tartars slew placing in his stead Baydo a Christian who forbad the preaching of Mahumetisme among the Tartars and reedified the Churches of the Christians Casan succeeded in his Dominion and Deuotion and after his death Carbaganda who in his childhood had beene baptized and named Nicholas but when his Christian Mother was dead he became a Saracen Thus farre out of Haithonus in which History appeareth the vicissitude of diuers Religions sometime Tartarian sometime Christian sometime Mahumetan as in the Princes who gouerned these Countries vnder the great Cham or Can of the Tartars so also no doubt in a great part of the Countries themselues which vsually are of the Kings Religion This Carbaganda reigning about 1305. is the last Tartar Prince which ruled in the parts of Syria and in Persia the state was soone after diuided into many Soueraignties For as their Religion so also their Empire fayled the Egyptian Soldans preuayling in Syria the Ottoman Tukes in Asia and Gempsas in Persia This Gempsas was Soldan of the Parthians and about the yeere 1350. restored that Persian Kingdome to the Parthians Thus our Christian Historiographers Mirkond mentions him not Likely it is when all fell to sharing he got his part Of Tamerlan Mirkond relates that when Chingius sent Occoda into Maurenahar Carachar Nuyon was made his first Visier in which dignity hee and his posterity continued there till Teymur or Tamurlan the fifth from him with other great gouernments Teymur being Visier and Captayne Generall to Sciorgat Meckhom which raigned in Chagaty and dyed A. 1370. was proclaymed King in his steed He by his prosperous armes subdued Maurenahar Turquestan Koarrazm Karason Sistom Industan Hyerakhen Parc Kermon Mazandaron Aderbaion and Kusistam Bagadet Alep Damasco defeated Sultan Farache King of Egypt and after tooke Baiazet the great Turke prisoner He dyed Anno 1405. His victories are by others enlarged to Russia and China and the great Chams state settled on him Mirzab Charok his fourth sonne succeeded him in the Empire and after him Anno 1447. his sonne Mirzah Oleghbek but as after Alexander so after Tamerlan their hastie gotten Empire was much distracted among the great Souldiers his followers which held great shares to themselues making warre on their Masters sonnes And one of the descendants of them Abtelatife slew Oleghbek in the field Anno 1450. and was slaine of his Souldiers sixe moneths after Sultan Abusayd grand-child to Miromcha the third sonne of Tamerlan succeeded slaying Abdula the brother of Abdelatife But he also was slaine by Mirzah Yadigar Mahamed one of Acembec or Vsuncassans partakers who had before slaine Iooncha Contarini and Barbaro which were in Persia with Vsuncasan call him Iausa others I know not why Malaonchres others Demir after whose death Abusayd was called to the gouernment of Kermon Hierak and Aderbaion and being sollicited for peace by Asembelus Acembec or Vsuncassan aforesaid reiected it and so lost himselfe and left those parts of the Persian Empire to the Conqueror But in Maurenahar Sultan Hamed his sonne succeeded 28. yeeres and after him his nephew Babor the last of Tumberlans bloud there raigning Ichaybekan comming from Vsbek Anno 1500. and dispossessing him Yet did Babor possesse Gaznehen and some part of India till his death 1532. where his sonne Homayon succeeded him and to him his sonne Geluladin Akbar commonly called Melabdim Echbar the Great Mogol Father of him which now raigneth of whom in the next booke Yadigar that slew Abusayd was also of Tamerlans race the sonne of Mahamed sonne of Baysangor sonne of Mirzah Charok He by Acembecs helpe chased Ocem another of Tamerlans posterity by Hamar Cheque his third sonne King in Katason and Strabat out of those parts into Faryab and Mayman neere Balk whence hee suddenly returning with a small force by aduantage of Yadigar or Hiadigar his negligence slew him and recouered his Realme He dyed Anno 1506. Two of his sonnes succeeded him Bahady and Musafar whom Chaybec Vsbek chased out of their Kingdome Bahady fled to Ismael Sophy who gaue him the lands of Chambe Gazon in Tauris and tenne Scrafs of gold by the day thence he was
Countrie or People Whereunto may bee answered That since diuers of the great Tartarian Lords before subiects to the great Cham hauing made themselues absolute Lords of their seueral States the way hath not bin so open to passe being otherwise of it selfe exceedingly both long difficult and dangerous and the adioyning Princes recouering themselues from Tartarian seruitude will neither suffer their owne to goe out nor others freely to enter their Dominions as the Muscouite the King of China and others Master Ant. Ienkinson which went as farre thither-ward as Bogharre could not passe further for warres in those parts Neither haue any gone thither by Sea And yet euen in this time wee haue not altogether wanted witnesses Ludonicus Vertomannus an hundred yeeres since in Bengala met with diuers Christians who affirmed That there were in their Countrie diuers Signiors Christians subiect to the great Cham. These were white men of a Citie called Sarnau In M. Hakluits painefull labours we may reade of diuers passages out of Russia and Persia by Carauans into Cathay Ramusius also in his Annotations before M. Paulus telleth of one Chaggi Memet a Persian Merchant who had beene at Campion and Succuir in Catay Damircan then reigning and had acquainted him with diuers partiulars thereof Also in the Epistle of Emanuel Carualius a Iesuite dated at Malaca in Ianuarie 1599. is contained the transcript of Ierome Xauerius his letter from Lahor the Citie Royall of the great Mogor dated August 1598. Wherein the Iesuit relateth That whiles he was in conference with the Prince there entred into the Palace an olde-man of Mahomets Religion threescore yeeres of age who affirmed to the Prince That hee had come from Xatai by the way of Mecca Presently some which knew him affirmed That hee had distributed in almes an hundred thousand pieces of gold at Mecca The Prince asking if it were so hee affirmed That he did it because he was old and could not long liue nor carrie those things away with him Being demanded of the State of Xatai he answered That he had there liued thirteene yeeres in the Citie Royall Xambalu the King whereof was verie mightie and had in his Empire a thousand and fiftie Cities some of them verie populous He said he had often seene the King with whom no man speaketh but by a supplication nor is answered but by an Eunuch Being asked how he had accesse thither he answered That he sustained the person as well of the Embassadour of the King of Caygar as of a Merchant and being detained in the first City by the Magistrate he shewed his Commission and post was presently sent to the King who returned in a moneth riding nintie or an hundred miles a day with change of Horses bringing him letters of admission No man was troublesome to him in the way They punish theeues seuerely which also is obserued of the Cathayans in Iosapha Barbaro and in Marcus Paulus aforesaid The people he affirmed were white comely long-bearded and very personable In Religion he said they were Isauites or Christians professors of Iesus and some among them Musauites or Iewes and many Mahumetans who hoped to draw the King being a Christian to their Sect The Iesuit addeth That he further conferred with him another day about their Religion who told him that they had many Churches and some very great many Images both painted and carued especially of the Crucifixe which they religiously worship Euerie Church hath his Priest much reuerenced The Priests liued single and kept Schooles wherein they instructed the youth which should after take Orders they had also one among the Priests supereminent and were all maintained at the Kings costs as were the Churches also both built and repaired They ware blacke clothes and on Holy-dayes red with Caps much like the Iesuites but greater He added That hee had often seene the King go to Church That there were many of both Sexes which in Cloysters liued a Monasticall life some obseruing also a single life in their owne houses He reported That the Countrie was rich and had in it many Mines of Siluer the King had foure hundred Elephants which they said were brought from Malaca And from Pegu also hee said that Merchants resorted thither which voyage was halfe a yeere it seemeth thorow the Sea betweene China and Iapan Xauerius addeth That while he was at Caximir he heard of many Christians in Rebat a Kingdome ioyning to Xatai who had Churches Priests and Biships to whom he had written three wayes in the Portugall and the Persian Tongues The greatest obiection against this History that distinguisheth Cathay from China is the report of Iacob Pantogia a Iesuite in a letter dated from Paquin the Seate Royall of China in March 1602. in which hee blameth a double errour of our Maps both for making China larger then it is and for adioyning to the same this questioned Kingdome of Cathay whereas saith he China or Sinay is Cathay and this Paquin where now wee liue is Cambalu This hee proueth by the incredible riches which he here saw agreeing to that which is commonly reported of Cathay and by the testimonie of certaine Moores and Mahumetans whom he found in Paquin which vsually euerie fifth yeere resort hither vnder shew of an Embassage and paying of Tribute indeed for gaine by way of traffique their tribute meane while obtaining sufficient retribution out of the Kings Coffers who sustaineth them and theirs all the time of their abode in China at his owne costs besides other gifts Of these Merchants which resorted hither out of Persia and the Countrie of the Mogores the Iesuites by enquiry learned that this Countrie of China was called Cathay and had no other name in Persia and among the Mogores nor did they know any other Countrie so called And asking further how they called the Citie Paquin they answered Cambalu whereupon the Iesuit concludeth without all scruple as is said And againe in the Chinian Epistles dated 1607. is reported That Benedictus Goes sent sixe yeeres after of the Iesuites by the way Mogor to finde out Cathay remained in the borders of China in the Prouince of Xanti from whence he writ Anno 1606. That he could finde no other Catay then the Kingdome of China This report furthereth Pantogiaes opinion But if it be not sufficient to oppose the former report of Xauier to these of Pantogia and Goes and the different qualities of the Chinians and Cathayans as in their proper places shall follow both in things priuate and publike Diuine and Humane I answere That the name of Cambalu is by Marcus Paulus and others interpreted The Citie of the Prince or Cam. And Perera interpreteth Pachin or Paquin where the King of China alwaies resideth to signifie the Towne of the Kingdome as he was there aduertised the same signification in manner remaining to the diuers appellations in differing languages as a common name to be applied to any
or Indus Here was Pitchte Can his Tents pitched like a little Citie he was Embassadour into Persia On the foure and twentieth they came to Lahore Their Report of this agrees with Master Coryats whose Relation thereof is lately published They say it is the best of India plentifull of all things or in Master Coryats words such a delicate and euen Tract of ground as I neuer saw before and hee hath seene a great deale besides his Europaean sights at Venice since at Constantinople hauing added more Asian Titles to his before Admired Name then the ancient Roman Scipio's or Caesars dreamt of yea more then Iustinian in the Prooeme of his Imperiall Institutions hath marshalled and mustered together the furthest foot English-Traueller that our dayes haue had and the longest English stile which our eares haue heard with many rests for your wearied breath by the way a stile indeed so high you can hardly get ouer HIEROSOLYMITAN SYRIAN MESOPOTAMIAN ARMENIAN MEDIAN-PARTHIAN-PERSIAN INDIAN LEGGE STRETCHER OF ODCOMB Euen this our Odcombian Foot-Pilgrime which makes your Pen-Pilgrime in I know not what liking or likenesse at the very mention of his Name to sympathize and his braines to fall in Trauell as learnedly mad scarsly able to containe wonted words and wits in this extaticall gaze and maze of that Propatetike Foot ready to admire adore and kisse and yet O braines No braines to enuy that his lowest part For who is able to know his better parts He doubts whether the like be to be found within the whole Circumference of the habitable World A row of Trees extends it selfe on both sides the way from the Towns end of Lahore twentie dayes iourney to the Townes end of Agra most of them bearing saith Still a kinde of Mulbery The way is dangerous by night for Theeues by day secure Euery fiue or sixe Course there are faire Seraes of the Kings or Nobles for beautifying the way memory of their Names and entertainment of Trauellers where you may haue a Chamber and a Place to set your Horses with store of Horse-meat but in many of them little prouision for Men by reason of the Banian Superstition When a man hath taken vp his lodging in one of these no other man may dispossesse him About day-breake all make readie to depart together and then the Gates are opened till then shut for feare of Theeues After the Sun hath beene vp two houres the heat makes trauell irksome Lahore is one of the fairest and ancientest Cities in India standing on Indus It containeth at the least M. Coryat tells you sixteene miles in compasse Twelue daies before hee came there he passed Indus there as broad as the Thames at London In the mid-way betwixt Lahor and Agra ten miles out of the way on the left hand a Mountainous people are said to haue but one Wife to all the Brethren of one Family as wee haue elsewhere spoken of the Arabians Merchants resort to this Citie out of all parts of India imbarking their goods here in great Boats for Tutta the chiefe Citie in Sinda a Trade of much importance in times of Peace to the Portugals which by this way Traded to Ormus and Persia and this way also furnishing India with Pepper Twelue or fourteene thousand Camels lading yeerely passeth from hence to Persia by Candahar before the Wars with the Portugalls but three thousand this mountainous way being in Winter cold in Summer hot The Carauans spend sixe or seuen moneths betwixt Lahor and Spahan Spices are deere in Persia by reason of the long land-carriage from Mesulapatan this way Still and Crowther departed from Lahor May the thirteenth and on the two and twentieth came to Multan a great and ancient Citie within three Course of Indus but poore for which cause they detaine the Carauans there diuers dayes eight ten or twelue to benefit the Citie They entred the Mountaines the second of Iune where they had brackish water the third and fourth daies they trauelled all night climing high Mountaines and following water-courses and so continued till they came to Chatcha on the tenth In all these eight dayes trauell is no sustenance for Man or Beast except in some places a little grasse and therefore at Lacca in the beginning of this way they hyred an Oxe to carry Barly for their Horses On the nineteenth they came to Duckee another Fort of the Mogols and the seuen and twentieth passed the Durwas or straits of the Hils dangerous narrow wayes on both sides menaced by high Rocks from whence a few with stones may stop great multitudes and diuers Carauans are thus cut off For the Agwans or Puttans the Mountaine Inhabitants are a theeuish people The second of Iuly they came to Pesimga another Fort and passing thence ouer a mightie Mountaine on the seuenth came to Candahar The Agwans are white stout strong rob Carauans sell all stragglers but now with feare and the gaine they get by selling their Cattell to the Carauans they are more tractable Couert saith they weare their beards long are not Mahumetans their Priests weare Sackcloth with great chaines about their middles falling downe and praying in Sack-cloth and Ashes At Candahar they hire Camels for India or Persia hence into Persia the Countrey is barren and therefore they go in smaller companies sometimes in two or three dayes trauell not seeing a greene thing at their lodging-places water but often brackish and stinking Hence they departed Iuly the three and twentieth and on the fiue and twentieth came to Cushecunna the vtmost Garrison in the Mogols Frontiers thirtie Course from Candahar On the seuen and twentieth they came to Grees a Castle of the Sophies a Course from the Riuer Sabba which separateth the Persian and Mogoll Confines The people of Grees are Theeues and the Captaine little better then a Rebell From hence they reckon their way by farsangs parasangae fiue of which make two Courses They trauelled August the sixth to Farra a Towne walled with Sun-dryed Brick and stored with Water without which here is no store and therefore they carry it in some places if there be good ground three or foure miles vnder ground Heere they vse men kindly as they goe into Persia for feare of complaint but in their returne to India very hardly searching them to the skin for Gold which to carry out or any Siluer coyne but the Kings is death On the twelfth day they were faine to dig for water On the two and twentieth they came to Deuzayde where they pretend all to be Religious people On September the fifteenth I still follow Still they came to Spahan where they found Sir Robert Sherly then dispatched in Embassage for Spaine from the King of Persia by the way or Ormus for Goa and thence to Lisbon Hee procured the Kings Great Seale to all his Gouernours of Sea-Ports kindly to entertaine the English at Iasques c. dated Sertember the thirtieth 1615. the same day that Sir Robert and his Lady departed with great pompe to Siras Iohn Crowther returned October the twentieth towards Lahor and he on December the second towards Bagdat and thence by Aleppo for England William Nicols one of the Ascensions company trauelled the Mogols Countrey Eastward to Mesulopatan where the Hollanders had then a Factorie Iohn Mildnall in his Letters dated from Casbin in Persia 1606.
two English miles where by their owne reports there worke not daily fewer then 30000. soules some digging some filling baskets some lauing out water with buckets others carrying the earth vnto a certaine square leuell place whereupon they spread it foure or fiue inches in thicknesse which beeing dried by that dayes Sunne some of them the next day with great stones in their hands bruise the clods of earth and gathering from thence the peble stones throw them by and sifting the rest they find the Diamonds amongst the dust sometimes none as it hapned whilest I lookt on sometimes more sometimes lesse according to the earth they worke in which they well know some say by the smell others more probably by sight of the mould howsoeuer that they know it is most apparant seeing that in many places wee found the ground onely broken and not further sought into in other places digged 10. or 11. fathome deepe the earth is reddish with veines of white or yellowish chalke intermixt with Peble-stones which being deepe digged comes vp in small clods and those laid in the Sunne become hard but are easily pounded with stones as formerly of which earth I tooke a small piece and yet reserue it for satisfaction of the more curious These Mynes are not as with vs in Europe carried vnder ground and supported with Timber but digged right downe in square large pits whether it be that all the Earth affords more or lesse profit whereas ours onely run in veines or whether they want props or iudgement to take this course I cannot determine but am sure that in freeing of the water and bringing vp the Earth they goe the furthest way to worke for in place or pullies and such like deuices they with many people setting one aboue another hand vp from one to another vntill it comes to the place it must rest in and from hence proceedeth the vse of so many people seeing that besides the Earth the place where ouer-night they wrought dry is next morning a fathome deepe vnder water Such as it is thus imperfectly described the King then rented it vnto one Marcandoo of the Cast of the Goldsmiths for three hundred thounsand Pagodes a yeere reseruing all Diamonds of aboue ten Carracts to himselfe Hee againe rents it out to others by square measure according as they agree in which course some gaine others lose as in all other Aduentures The King to assure himselfe of the great Stones keeps his Gouernour there publishing extreame penalties against such as shall conceale them but neyther the terrour of them nor his many Spies can so watch such as there attend such hazards but that I haue heard Diamonds of forty Carracts haue escaped their Guard I haue seene two of neere twenty Carracts a piece and diuers of ten eleuen and twelue but very deere prized It is situated at the foot of a great Mountayne not farre from a Riuer called Christena a place naturally so barren that before this Discouery it was hardly inhabited now peopled with a hundred thousand Soules consisting of Myners Merchants and such others as liue by following such concourses sufficiently furnished with all prouisions brought thither from the Countrey round about but at excessiue rates occasioned by the many exactions raysed vpon them in their passages thorough seuerall Gouernments and Villages The Houses are very poore as not intended for continuance but onely the present occasion for in Anno 1622. the Myne was shut vp and all persons restrained from frequenting the place the reasons some imagined to be their care to keepe the Commoditie in request not to digge more vntill those already found were dispersed others affirmed the comming of the Mogulls Embassadour to this Kings Court with his peremptory demand of a Vyse of the fairest Diamonds caused this cessation vntill that pretence and some competent Present should content the Mogull for since I came from thence I heare it was opened againe but almost exhausted and very few found In this Country is also much Christall and many other sorts of transparant soft Stones of little value as Garnets Amatists Topasses Aggats and such like Likewise great store of Iron and Steele transported into many places of India bought in the place it is made for two shillings the hundred of Iron and three shillings Steele but being brought vpon the backes of Oxen fifteene dayes iourney before it commeth to the Port it becomes much dearer yet is sold for fiue shillings and eight shillings but eyther Gold Siluer Tinne Copper or other Metals this Countrey produceth not Bezar Stones in some plenty are taken from the Goates in one onely part of this Country for which and their skins they kill so many that the flesh is most throwne away and their mawes onely searcht into where they finde two three and sometimes foure small Bezars some long some round all of them growing vpon a stalke or kernell as is easly perceiued by such as are broken such as are greater come from other Countries the best out of Persia and are said to be found in Apes all of all sorts so wel knowne and much vsed in India that they cannot bee bought there to yeeld profit in England proportionable to the time and Aduenture Of these Goats this conclusion hath beene experimented foure of them haue beene taken from the place of their breeding and transported fifty or a hundred miles of which two haue beene immediately killed and in those haue beene found perfect Bezars a third repriued for tenne dayes and then flaine some shew of Bezars remayned but apparently wasted the fourth liuing but a moneth after there will be neyther Bezar nor signe of any that euer was from whence they conclude with great probability that it is some Herbe Plant or Tree peculiar to that place whereof the Goat feeding the Bezars are formed Callicoes of all sorts are in this Kingdome as cheape and plentifull as in any other part of India but different in their making and easily distinguished from those of other Countries The Painting of this Coast of Choromandel famous throughout India and are indeed the most exquisite that are seene the best wrought all with the Pensill and with such durable colours that notwithstanding they bee often washed the colours fade not whilst the Cloth lasteth this hapneth principally by a Plant which groweth only in this Country called by them Chay which dyeth or stayneth a perfect red with them in as great account as Scarlet with vs and is the Kings particular commoditie Indico is also made in this Countrey in some plenty in forme like to that sort which is called Lahore Indico whereof the Dutch haue bought store and transported it for Holland and continue so to doe but our Nation vpon good experience of the condition and value of it content themselues with such as is made in the Moguls Dominions and laden from Surat They haue within few yeeres planted store of Tobacco and
he soone died Neither did his successours Maruan and Abdalan liue two yeeres in the roome Abdimelec was chosen Caliph who descended from Hali when as Abdalan of the linage of Eubocara the Arabians call this the Maraunian race the other Abazian had possessed himselfe of that title by force whom Ciafa the kinsman of Abdimelec ouerthrew Ciafa after this victorie entring Damascus pluckt Iazid one of the former Caliphs out of his graue burned his bones and hurled the Ashes into the riuer and cruelly persecuted all the Maraunian stocke Hereupon Abedramon one of that house with a great number of his friends and followers fled into Mauritania Tingitana where he was welcomed of the Saracens there being and first intituled himselfe Miralmumim which signifieth The Prince of Beleeuers and then builded Marocco Addimelec hauing other yrons in the fire neglected this first appeasing tumults in his owne state then ouerthrowing the Emperour in the field after receiuing by treason of the Deputie Armenia winning that part of Persia which yet was subiect to the Romans and by his forces spoyling Thracia whiles the Greekes were diuided amongst themselues He also chased the Romane Garrisons out of the coast-Townes which they held in Afrike Abdimelec being dead Vlitus the sonne of Abedramon succeeded vnder whom the Saracens besides the spoile of Galatia conquered all Afrike betwixt Niger and the Sea a little piece excepted at the mouth of the straites subiect to Rodericus the King of Spaine Mucas was made Lieutenant of the Saracen Empire in Afrike To him Iulianus Earle of Cepta full of indignation against his Prince for deflouring his faire daughter Caba about the yeere 712. offereth the conquest of Spaine if hee would furnish him with some competent forces of his Saracens This traytor thus strengthened with the authoritie of this place being Gouernour of the Ile Viridis and diuers places in Africa and Spaine backed with his friends and aided with the Saracens ouerthrew the Gotish Empire which had now ruled Spaine about three hundred yeeres Rodericus losing the field and his state and spending the remnant of his dayes with an Hermite in a solitarie desart of Lusitania Iulianus himselfe was after slaine by the Saracens as were the Spanish Traytors the iust end of vniust treacherie Scaliger out of an Arabian Geographer calleth that Captaine Muses or Moses son of Nutzir of the Marawan stocke who had with him a valiant Captaine named Tark or Tarik of whom the Hill and the Strait is named as the vulgar pronounce it Gibraltar properly Gebal Tarik that is the Hill of Tarik because hee had shipped ouer his Barbarians thither and fortified himselfe in that Hill in the nintieth yeere of the Hegira which hee did least his barbarous souldiers should forsake him and therefore also caused his ships to bee burnt This Vlit Qualid Walid or Oelid for thus I finde his name diuersified in Authors besides these his conquests in Afrike and Europe atchieued by his Captaines great exploites in Asia among which one called Koteybah Eben Moselem conquered Korasan as farre as Tarquestan with all the Countrie of Maurenaher and Koarrazin On the other side Moseleima ben Abdel Malek forced the Graecian Emperour to tribute Hee also erected many publike buildings the most famous of which was the Mosque at Damascus Osiasge his Deputie in Karason was so cruell that he put to death aboue a hundred thousand persons in that Countrey during his gouernment besides an infinite number slaine in the warres Hee had thirtie thousand slaues of diuers Nations This Caliph died Anno Dom. 715. A. Heg. 95. after Mirconds account Persia was not yet fully subdued Gerion and Tarbestan two Prouinces thereof were brought vnder in the time of Soleyman Suleiman or as Curio calls him Zulciminius the next Caliph He sent Malsmas with a great power into Thrace where hauing spoyled the Countrey he laide siege to Constantinople Zulciminius his Master assaulting it by Sea with a Nauie of three thousand Ships in which siege hee died Anno Dom. 719. Aumar his successour had no successe in this attempt partly through the violence of frost causing famine and diseases in his Campe and partly by force of an artificall Glasse wherewith Leo the Emperour cast fire amongst the enemies Fleete and fiering euen the Seas about the ships that by this subtiltie force of tempest of three thousand saile fiue ships onely are said to haue escaped Gizid sent with supply of three hundred and threescore ships durst not approach for feare of this fire and the Saracens by their Caliph were reuoked when the plague had slaine in Constantinople three hundred thousand people In his time Aly Eben Abas one of the descendents of Abas Vncle to Mahomet warred for the Chalifate challenging it to his stocke But Aumar or Homar was poysoned by Ochon and Yezid or Gizid succeeded whose reigne was troubled with the warres of Aly aforesaid still continuing his challenge After him A. 724. succeeded Ochon his brother which had poysoned Homar Persia had some broiles which he pacified He being murthered succeeded Walid or Euelit sonne of Iezid in whose time the bottome of the Sea neere the coasts of Asia minor burned and sent foorth smoake first and after heapes of stones with which the shores of Asia Lesbos and Macedonia were filled and a new Iland tooke beginning of the heaping together of earth which was annexed to the Iland called Sacra The Saracens in Spaine erected amongst themselues many pettie Kingdomes and by their diuisions made way to Pelagius with some remainder of the Spaniards to recouer some of their lost countrey who dying in the yeere 732. his sonne Fafila succeeded in whose time the Saracens passed the Pyrenaean Hills into France where Theodoricus the second was then King but Charles Martell Master of the Kings house ruled as did his father in that office before and his sonne both Pipins after him The Saracens tooke Narbone and after Burdeaux killing in it man woman and childe and raising the Temples to the ground they passed Garunna and ouerturned Angolesme and Bloys and came into Turon where Eudo the Goth then King of a great part of France in wars with Martell for feare of the common enemy entred league and with their ioynt forces slew three hundred and seuentie fiue thousand Saracens and those of Nauarre slew the rest that escaped in their returne But when Eudo was dead Martell tooke part of his Kingdome from his sonnes Hunoldus and Vaifarus who thereupon recalled the Saracens which vnder the leading of Atinus tooke Auenion by the treason of Mauricius then Gouernour from whence and out of France they were driuen by Martellus The Saracens made foure inuasions into Thrace while Euelitus was Caliph to whom succeeded Anno 744. Gizit the third who wasted Cyprus and carried away the people into Syria After him and Ices which two ruled not two yeeres Maruan
vnto the Ottoman Family herein disagreeing while some wil haue Magog others Tubal the Author of their Nation Leunclauius reciteth and refuteth the same He writeth the name Iurki alleaging Herodotus for his Author and citeth many Authors to proue that they descended of the Vnui or Vngri which were called Turkes of which there were two sorts one Westerly in Pannonia another Easterly neere Persia called by the Persians Magores he concludeth that the Vnni or Iurchi came from Iuchra or Iuchria whence the name Iurchi might easily be deflected to Iurchi beyond Tanais and first after they had forsaken their owne Countrie settled themselues neere Moeotis from whence they passed to Chazaria and some went Westward to Pannonia some Eastward to Armenia and thence into Persia Many probable Arguments might bee brought to proue that they descended of the Scythians whose wandering shepheardly-life both the name and their practice in old times and in some places still expresseth The first Expedition and militarie employment which I haue read of the Turkes except what the feare of them compelled the Persians vnto as in their Historie wee shall after see was vnder Varamus a rebellious Persian aboue a thousand yeeres since when Cosroes was King of Persia and Mauritius the Roman Emperour at what time many of them were slaine and many taken which confessed that famine had forced them to those warres for which cause they marked themselues with a blacke Crosse a Ceremonie which they said they had learned of the Christians thinking thereby to expell hunger This hungrie Nation hath since beene a greedie and insatiate deuourer of Nations Another expedition of theirs which some reckon the first was in the yeere 755. or after another account 844. at which time passing through the Georgian Countrie then called Iberia they first seized on a part of the greater Armenia which their posteritie holdeth at this day called of them Turcomania In this wide and spacious Countrie they romed vp and downe without certaine habitation a long time with their Families and Heards of cattell like the ancient Scythian Nomades and the Tartars and the same Turcoman Nation at this day Their language also as Megiserus in his Turkish Grammar sheweth hath great affinitie with the Tartarian as also with the Persian neere whom and sometimes as now will appeare amongst them they liued But from the Arabike it differeth altogether Yet in their holies they most vse the Arabike by reason of the Alcoran written in that language likewise they vse the Arabike Letters and Prickes The beginning of their greatnesse is thus by Christian Historians related §. II. Of the Turkish Kingdome in Persia and their other Conquests WHen as the Saracens Empire grew now vnweldie through her owne greatnesse and the Soldans which were wont to conquer for the Chaliph began now to share with him in his large Dominion Mahomet then Sultan or Soldan of Persia was for this cause hardly beset with the Chaliph of Babylon assailed also on the other side by the Indians He sought to strengthen himselfe against these enemies with the new friendship of these Turkes of whom hee obtained for his aide three thousand hardie Souldiers vnder the conduct of Togra Mucalet the sonne of Mikeil a valiant Captaine and chiefe of the Selzuccian Tribe or Familie whom the Greekes commonly call Tangrolipix and some Selduc or Sadoc By the helpe of this Tangrolipix Mahomet the Persian Sultan ouercame Pisasiris the Caliph The Turkes after this warre desiring leaue to passe ouer the Riuer Araxis to their Country-men were both denied and threatned if they againe should seeke to depart Whereupon they withdrew themselues into the Desart of Carauonitis liuing there and thence making roades into the Countries adioyning Mahumet sent against them twentie thousand men which by a sudden surprize in the night Tangrolipix defeated and furnished himselfe with their spoiles And now durst Tangrolipix shew his face in the field where his Armie was increased by the resort of lawlesse persons seeking after spoile Mahomet on the other side impatient of his losse put out the eyes of the Captaines which had the leading of the Armie and threatned to attire the Souldiers that had fled in womens apparell and raising another great Armie set forward against Tangrolipix who was now fiftie thousand strong and was presently made stronger by those threatned Souldiers who fled from their Lord vnto him They met at Ispahan a Citie of Persia and there Mahomet falling with his Horse brake his necke vpon which mischance both Armies comming to agreement by common consent proclaimed Tangrolipix Sultan in his stead and so made him King of Persia and the Dominion thereunto pertaining which was done Anno 1030. Tangrolipix opened the passages of Araxis to the rest of his Countrie-men whom hee exalted to the highest places of command so bridling the Persians and he and his receiuing in their new Conquests the yoke of the Mahumetan Religion Ambition inciting him to further exploits he warred also vpon Pisasiris the Chaliph and after diuers ouerthrowes slue him and seized on his state Hee sent Cutlu-Muses his Kinsman against the Arabians by whom hee was discomfited whereat aggrieued hee went against them himselfe but with like successe Hee sent Asan his brothers sonne to inuade Media who in that enterprise was slaine he sent againe Habraime Alim his brother with an Armie of an hundred thousand men who tooke prisoner Liparites Gouernour of Iberia who came to aide the Emperours Lieutenant in Media whom Tangrolipix frankely set free and sent his Embassadour to the Emperour proudly demanding him to become his subiect Such haps and such hopes had Tangrolipix the first Turke that euer was honoured with a Diademe His sonne and successour Axan tooke Diogenes the Emperour of Constantinople prisoner in the field But Cutlu-Muses with his Cousin Melech who in his Fathers dayes had fled into Arabia rebelling and taking armes against him as Axan was readie to ioyne battell with them the Caliph who retained the highest place still in their superstition although dispoyled of his Temporalities setting aside all his Pontificall formalitie whereby he was bound not to goe out of his owne house thrust himselfe betweene these Armies and with the reuerence of his place and person together with his perswasions moued them to desist and to stand to his arbitrement which was that Axan the Sultan should still enioy his Dominions entirely And that Cutlu-Muses and his sonnes aided by him should inuade the Constantinopolitan Empire and should be absolute and onely Lords of whatsoeuer they could gaine thereof There was neuer any thing to that impietie more commodious nor to our Religion more dangerous For by this meanes Cutlu-Muses with his sonnes in a short time conquered all Media with a great part of Armenia Cappadocia Pontus and Bithynia which their designes were much furthered by treasons and dissentions in the Greeke Empire Axan the Sultan also gaue to his Kinsman Ducat and Melech the
which the Turkes were vnacquainted they quickly transported their men and as quickly endamnified their enemies When the Grand Signeur was made acquainted with the forwardnesse of these Polonians and vnderstood they were alreadie encamped and expected his comming hee was too young to apprehend any feare and not old enough to lay the blame of his retardance where it was therefore they made the more haste when he vnderstood the occasion and so according to former preparation the establishment of diuers Gouernments the ordering the Prouinces the settling the great Citie the mustring his Gallies the guarding of his Castles and the watching of the Blacke Sea the Tartars vnited themselues to his Armie and both together made a bodie of 200000. which with all magnificent preparation hee presented in the same Fields and within sight of the Polonians where hee pitched his Imperiall Tent. The Tartars thought to haue made but one battell and day of triall of the businesse but when they came to passe ouer Riuers and assaile Trenches they knew not what to say and lesse to doe though the Ianizaries came as a second vnto them whereupon they retreated and were altogether appauled to be so disappointed Both they the Ianizaries were glad to retire with losse the yong Emperor vnacquainted with the war was yet acquainted with Oathes and Curses to chide both himselfe and Fortune At the last the Bashawes seeing no remedie and finding so great obstacles of their attempt proiected the preseruation of the Emperours person but it may bee to secure their liues and so entrenched themselues being as they said the first time that euer so great an Armie of Turkes was enclosed within walles The Polonians also endured both hunger cold slacknesse of payment and their entertainment came many times short The Noble Generall died in the Campe the Prince lay sicke of a Feuer their horse miscarried and other lamentable effects taught them extraordinary patience which made them attend good conditions of peace and secret workings of more nimble spirits A Priest of Moldauia was set on worke to go among the Polonians and by way of generall complaint against the outragious effects of warre to enlarge the happinesse of peace and inferre what a blessing it were to procure the same whereupon hee was brought to the young Prince of Poland and Commanders of the Armie with whom hee at last preuailed so well and so farre that they sent a solemne Embassie to the great Turke as hee lay entrenched in the fields to entreate a peace and desire the renouation of the antiqua pacta which had beene euer betweene the two Nations The Turke had learned his lesson so well that he seemed to make the matter strange and of great humiliation if hee should consent thereunto and rather a courtesie granted then a necessitie imposed and so deferred them awhile till at last as if he had beene ouer-wrought by the intercession and mediation of his Bashawes he was contented to capitulate the matter and after many meetings and a great deale of conference Articles were drawne and confirmed with a kinde of solemnitie and proclaimed by sound of trumpet in both the Campes and so brake vp the Campe with a kinde of murmuring and repining The Great Turke tooke easie iourneys toward Adrinopolis where he discharged the Tartars and sent most of his Ianizaries before hand to Constantinople Sigismond King of Poland raised his Armie and rewarding the Cossacks dismissed them home againe into their Countrey he went in person to Leopolis from whence by this time Osman was come to the Great Citie hee sent a solemne Embassadour to be there a Leiger as it had beene in former times By Christmasse Osman comes home and had the accustomed acclamations of the people with all the Ceremonies of his returne whereupon he goes in great pompe to the Sophia and had the vsefull Guard of his Court Ianizaries to attend him but within short space many fearefull accidents appalled them all First they were astonished at a blazing Comet Secondly they were afrighted at a great fire hapning amongst the Iewes which they presaged ominous to the gouernment Thirdly a sore Earth quake made their hearts quake for feare but this is vsuall in those parts by reason of the ascending vp the Hills and many Cauerns vnder ground The Sea also swelled extraordinarily And a great dearth hapned These might bee concurring Symtomes the disease was Osmans great spirit emulous of his Ancestors glory and ambitious to adde the rest of Europe to their Conquests but hereto his owne auarice and the decrepit or at least that vndisciplined age of that Empire were agreed correspondent and this first disastrous Polonian attempt filled him with repining indignation He is said to vndertake that warre against the will of his Souldiers and without the aduice of his Viziers and his gaines to be the losse of 100000. horses for want of fodder and 80000. men for want of fighting to which hee could neuer incite his Ianizaries though he hazarded thereto somewhat farre his owne person Hereupon he complained hee was no King subiect thus to his owne slaues which would neither fight in war nor obey in peace without exacting new bounties and priuiledges Delauir Bassa a man of great courage lately called from the Easterne parts was suddenly made Vizier and wrought vpon the Kings discontent giuing him counsell to prouide a new Souldiourie about Damasco and from the Coords in stead of these degenerate Ianizaries and of them to entertaine 40000. for his Guard and that the Begh-lerbegh of euery Prouince should traine vp some of the inhabitants in Martiall discipline with which men of new spirits and hopes hee might be able to doe something Osman extreamely pleased with this deuice consented and left all to his discretion Hereupon it was concluded that the King should pretend to goe in person against the Emirde Zaida and after interceding against that a pilgrimage to Mecca was pretended May seuen 1622. he began to passe his Tents to Asia side with great store of treasure to the defacing of his Palace and of Churches The Ianizaries had secret intelligence and vpon a word giuen met at the Hippodrome and thence ranne to the Seraglio in tumult taking order to stop the passage by water There they cried out for the King who appearing they first demanded his continuance in the Citie Secondly the chiefe Officers to be deliuered to them Delauir the great Vizier the Hoia or Confessor the Treasurer the Gouernour of the Women the Cadileskar or Chiefe Iustice and others as enemies to the State and authors of that iourney Hee granted the first but stucke at the second and they returned discontent The next day they renewed the mutinie slew the Vizier and the Gouernour of the Women and not finding the King they called for Mustapha before deposed a man esteemed holy or frantike and fitter for a Cell then a Scepter Him they found almost starued in a Vault
together of rosted Almons they made bread and wine of the roots of herbs This and venison was there food In one plaine of Media were pastured fiftie thousand Mares belonging to the King the herbe whereon they principally fed is stil called Medica The race of Horses called Nisaei were here bred and hence dispersed allouer the East Among the Medes none might be King by the Law of the Countrey except hee were in stature and strength eminent All the Medes saith Bardesanes a famous Chaldaean nourish Dogs with great care to which they cast men readie to die whiles they are yet breathing to be deuoured of them The Medes worshipped the fire with barbarous honours done thereto Their Kings held such Maiestie that none might laugh or spit before them They were seldome seene of their people They had alway Musitians attending them Their wiues and children accompanied them in their battells The name of the Medes remained famous after the Persian Conquest as appeareth by the stile which the Scripture giueth them The Law of the Medes and Persians which was vnchangeable the King himselfe not hauing power to reuoke his sentence As for the Catalogue of the Kings which succeeded Arbaces vntill the time of Astyages and the times of their raigne wee haue before shewed it out of Scaliger in our first Booke Chap. 13. True it is that all agree not in that account Reinerus Reineccius leaueth out diuers of them and numbreth the yeeres of the Median Dynastie but 261. whereas our former account hath 322. But I had rather referre the Reader to that Catalogue then trouble him with new out of this or other Authors Media hath beene diuided into Media Maior and Atropatia the former containeth Tauris supposed by Ortelius to be the forenamed Ecbatana yet now wanting walls altogether containing in circuit sixteene miles and of people two hundred thousand subdued to the Turke 1585. and before by Selim and Soliman but since recouered by the Persian Sultania famous for the fairest Moschee in the East Casbin to which the Persian hath remoued the Royall Seat from Tauris The Lake of Van three hundred miles long and an hundred and fiftie broad after Strabo Manlianus Lacus of salt-water the greatest next to Meotis Gyllius affirmeth that eight great Riuers runne into it without any apparant issue to the Sea Atropatia is now called Seruan the chiefe Citie is Sumachia or Shamaki in which the Sophi not long since built a Turret of flint and free-stone and in a ranke of flints therein did set the heads of the Nobilitie and Gentrie of the Countrey for a terrour to the rest the quarrell was pretended for Religion intended for Soueraigntie Their ancient Religion differed not much from the Persian and such also is it still Their Kings had many wiues which custome extended after to the Villages and Mountaines in so much that they might not haue lesse then seuen The women also esteemed it a credit to haue many husbands and a miserable calamitie to haue lesse then fiue Cyrus subdued them to the Persians Alexander to the Macedons What should wee speake of the Parthians who made Ecbatana their Seat Royall in the Summer time and of the Saracens Tartars Persians and Turkes who haue successiuely vexed these Countries Not farre from Shamaki saith Master Ienkinson was an olde Castle called Gullistone now beaten downe by the Sophi and not farre from thence a Nunrie of sumptuous building wherein was buried a Kings daughter named Ameleck Channa who slew her selfe with a knife for that her Father would haue forced her shee professing chastitie to haue married a Tartar King vpon which occasion the Maidens euerie yeere resort thither to bewaile her death There is also a high Hill called Quiquifs vpon the top whereof they say dwelt a Gyant named Arneoste hauing on his head two great Hornes and Eares and Eyes like a Horse and a tayle like a Cow who kept a passage thereby till one Haucoir Hamshe a holy man bound him with his woman Lamisache and his sonne After who is therefore had in Saint-like reputation Obdolowcan King of this Country vnder the Sophi besides gracious entertainment granted vnto Mr. Anthony Ienkinson for our English Merchants great priuiledges Anno 1563. Gilan also anciently Gelae is reckoned to Media Into these Cities of Media the Israelites were transported together with their Religion by Salmanesar the Assyrian GOD in his manifold wisdome so punishing their sinnes and withall dispersing some sparks of diuine truth CHAP. III. Of the Parthians and Hyrcanians §. I. Of Parthia PArthia is placed by Plinie in the rootes of the Hills hauing on the East the Arians on the West the Medes on the South Carmania on the North Hyrcania rounded with desarts Hee affirmeth that the Kingdomes of the Parthians were eighteene Eleuen of them neere to the Caspian Sea and the other seuen neer the Red Sea The word Parthian signifieth with the Scythians an exile Their chiefe Citie was Hecatompylos now as some affirme Hispaham for the excellencie thereof called of the Persians Halfe the world These Scythian exiles in the times of the Assyrians Medes Persians and Macedonians were an obscure people the prey of euery Conquerour which after seemed to diuide the world with the Romans Their speech was mixt of the Median and Scythian their Armies consisted most part of seruants which they held in great respect instructing them in feats of Armes In an Armie of fiftie thousand wherewith they encoutred Antonie there were onely eight hundred freemen The Parthians had no vse of gold or siluer but in their armour They had many wiues whereof they were so iealous that they forbad them the sight of other men They performed all businesse priuate and publike on horse-backe this being the distinction of free-men from seruants Their buriall was in the bellies of birds or dogs Their naked bones were after couered with earth they were exceedingly superstitious in the worship of their gods a stout vnquiet seditious vnfaithfull people Arsaces first a famous thiefe after the Founder of that Kingdome left no lesse memorie of himselfe amonst the Parthians then Cyrus among the Persians or Alexander among the Macedonians The day wherein hee ouerthrew Seleucus was solemnly obserued euery yeere amongst them as the beginning of their libertie Of him they called all their Kings Arsaces as the Roman Emperors are named Caesars They called themselues the brethren of the Sunne and Moone which are in those places worshipped This Arsaces was worshipped after his death They were no lesse bloudie to their brethren when they came to the Crowne then the Ottomans are at this day Phrahartes slew thirtie of his brethren and before them his father and after his sonne rather then he would endure a possibilitie of a Competitor About 224. yeeres after Christ Artabanus the last Persian King being slaine by Artaxeres or Artaxares the
the light compasseth the Tower of Susa and the religious Temple of Diana Daniel calls it Vlay it seemeth to be or to become the same with Choaspes and so doth Ptolomey confound them they dranke also onely Chalybonian wine made at Damascus in Syria and their bread was made of the wheat of Assos in Phrygia Their sumptuous feasting appeareth in the Scripture beyond what is read in any storie of any King in which was somewhat of euery Nation subiect to him set before him his Salt was brought out of Egypt Amongst the baggage and stuffe of Darius which Parmenio tooke at Damascus were found two hundred seuentie seuen Cookes nine and twentie Scullians thirteene which had charge of white-meates seuenteene which were to minister water seuentie which belonged to the wine-celler fortie which looked to the oyntments and sixtie sixe which made Crownes How many may we thinke were there in his setled Court His dining-roome was full of musicall women whereof one began the song the rest followed three hundred of these creatures singing playing dancing spent the night in his bed-chamber Hee which could deuise any new pleasure was highly rewarded for which purpose Xerxes promised largely to such Epicurean-Masters by an open Proclamation The King vsually sate alone sometimes his mother and wife were admitted other guests sate where hee might see but not be seene of them yea they had slauish sauce to their sweet meates being narrowly watched by the Eunuches whether they cast any liberall lookes towards any of the Kings women Yet the Parthian guests had more seruile entertainment as euen now wee shewed Concerning the multitudes of their women and curiositie of their lusts the booke of Ester yeelds ample testimonie Cicero addeth that they bestowed for the maintenance of their wiues robes and dresses one Citie for their haire another for their necke yea the reuenues of whole countries on such excesse Socrates in Platoes Alcibiades telleth of an Embassador into Persia which was almost a whole day in trauelling through a Region called the Queenes Girdle another called the Queenes Head-tire and so for euery other part of her Wardrobe The Kings children especially the eldest sonne were presently after their birth committed to Eunuches which beside education did compose and order their lims at seuen yeeres of age they learned to ride and hunt hauing skilfull instructers for that purpose at foureteene yeeres they were committed to the discipline of the Royall Masters which were foure choisely learned the first in Prudence which taught the Magia of Zoroastres and the institution of a King the second in Iustice who taught to speake and deale truly the third in Temperance wherein hee instructed his new disciple as the fourth in Fortitude The Persian King had one whose office was to salute the King with these words Arise O King and thinke on such things as Mesoromasdes would haue thee Almost euery day hee performed his holy Rites for which cause were slaine euery day one thousand sacrifices amongst which were Oxen Asses Harts the Magi being present Before their sacrifices they discoursed of pietie and when they went to this their deuotion there were men on both sides the way set in rankes with officers called Mastigophori who suffered none but great personages to enter First were led Bulls foure and foure together which were sacrificed to Iupiter After them were led Horses to bee offered to the Sunne Then followed a Chariot drawne with white Horses hauing a golden beame and crowned sacred to Iupiter after that the Chariot of the Sunne like the former Then a third Chariot the Horses couered with Scarlet after which followed men carrying fire and next the King in his Chariot before which went foure thousand Target men and two thousand Speare-men about it There followed three hundred with Darts on horse-backe two hundred horses with golden bridles and after them three thousand Persians and in the last place the Medes Armenians Hireans Xenophon indeed which writes this in his Institution of Cyrus intends rather the frame of a iust Empire then the truth of History yet professeth to relate no other Rites and Customes then which the Persians embraced neither doth hee in these things disagree from Herodotus and Curtius The Kings Chariot was drawne with white horses the drowning of one of which was the cause of drying the Riuer Gyndes For Cyrus enraged for the losse of his white Palfrey diuided the riuer by force of men into three hundred and twentie rills so that it wilderd and lost it selfe in those many by-wayes an argument what Diuision can doe These horses were of the Nisaean race in Media When the King descended from his Chariot a golden stoole was set him to step on one alway attending his Chariot with such a stoole While hee rode in his Chariot hee spent the time in whitling with a knife not in reading or any graue meditation and therefore was vnlearned When hee went on progresse into Media he enioyned the Countrey to spend three dayes before to hunt Scorpions which there abounded allowing rewards therefore They vsed by themselues or their Legats to visite their officers in the Prouinces and to punish or preferre them according to their merits In iudgements they not onely considered the crimes and accusations but the counterpoise also of their vertues and the clemencie of Artaxerxes in their irreuocable law appeared in cutting off the Tyarae of condemned persons in stead of their heads As often as the King entred into Persepolis euery Matron was to haue a piece of gold giuen her the men also were rewarded which multiplied children but especiall rewards were bestowed on them which were called Orosange which had deserued well of the King whose names and facts were therefore recorded as we reade of Mordecai and his recompence Themistocles receiued of the Kings bountie the Citie Magnesia to finde him bread which Region was worth fiftie Talents yeerely Lampsacum for wine Myus for cates The chiefe gift giuen to any was a mill of gold The Kings birth-day was a solemne feast called Tycta that is perfect for the magnificence thereof in which hee gaue gifts to the people yea hee might not denie any petition then made to him The King nourished so many Indian dogs for hunting that foure great villages in the plaine of Babylon were assigned to their sustenance Artaxerxes caused Megabyzus as Ctesias writeth to bee beheaded for striking a Lyon with his dart which was readie to assault the King because he therein transgressed the Law and preuented the Kings triall of his valour The reuenues of the tributes were 14560. Euboike Talents the siluer and gold were melted and kept in earthen vessels which were broken when they came to vse the same Besides this the subiect prouinces yeelded to the maintenance of the King other things as Armenia horses Babylonia foure moneths victuals and the rest of Asia the other eight and other Regions their peculiar commodities The
against him and by the way enquired of his Astrologers and Diuiners touching his successe They taking a greene reed cleft it a sunder placing the parts thereof a good distance one from another and writ vpon the one the name of Vncam and Cingis on the other telling the King that whiles they were reading their coniuring charmes these reeds would fight together and the victory should remaine with him whose reede got the better which acordingly came to passe in the sight of the Armie Cingis his reed ouercomming the other as after Cingis himselfe did Vncam whom he slew in the field and possessed his daughter and state wherin he continued sixe yeeres conquering Cities and Kingdomes and at last was wounded at a Castle called Thaigin in the knee whereof he dyed and was buryed in Mount Altay The next Emperour after his account was Cin Can the third Baythin Can the fourth Allau the brother of Mangu Esu Can the fifth Mongu Can the sixth the seauenth Cublai Can who not only inherited what the former had conquered but in the sixtieth yeere of his raigne subdued in a manner the rest of those parts of the World The word Can signifieth Emperour Wheresoeuer these Emperours dye they are buryed in Altay aforesayd they which carry him killing all they meete within the way bidding them goe to the other world to serue their Emperor For this end they also slay the best horses to serue their dead Lord in another world When Mangu Can was buried there were more then ten thousand men slaine by the Souldiers which conueyed him In this Historie of M. Paul obserue that this Catalogue of Emperours is vnsound for W. de Rubruquis in Bathyes time was at the Court of Mangu Can to whom Bathy was subiect Occoday is left out and Esu put in The cause of this errour seemeth to bee the giuing of this name Can to the chiefe Dukes as Bathy c. and the want of exact written Chronicles in those times amongst them §. II. The great Exploits of CINGIS or CANGIVS the first Tartarian Emperor FOr further light into this Historie I thinke it not amisse to set downe what Haithon or Anthony the Armenian hath written of the Tartarian beginnings This our Author was Royally descended in Armenia where hee liued about three hundred yeeres since and at the request of Pope Clement the fift writ the History of the Tartars from Cingis or Cangius till Mango Can taken out of the Tartarian Histories the rest he partly saw with his eyes and partly learned of his Vnckle an eye-witnesse of the same who had attended on Haithon the Armenian King in the great Cans Court The Countrey where the Tartars first dwelt saith Haithon is beyond the Mount Belgian where they liued like beasts hauing neither letters nor Faith nor Habitation nor Souldiâ—rie nor reputation among their Neighbour-Nations There were of them diuers Nations called by one common name Mogli which were diuided into seuen principall Tribes whose names were Tartar Tangut Cunat Talair Sonieh Monghi Tebeth These all being subiects to their Neighbours a poore old man being a Smith who as they beleeue was ingendred of the Sun beames saw in his sleepe an armed man on a white horse which said vnto him O Cangius The will of the Immortall GOD is that thou bee the Gouernour of the Tartarians and Ruler of the seuen Nations to free them from their bondage and tribute This his vision when he reported to others they would not beleeue him vntill that the night following the chiefe men amongst themselues saw the same man with command from the immortall GOD to yeeld obedience vnto Cangius This they performed with all reuerence and spred in the midst of them a black felt with a seat thereon on which the seuen Princes or chiefe men placed Cangius calling him Can that is Emperor and kneeled before him This happily was then the most sumptuous Throne their State could afford but continued in the Royall inuestiture of their succeeding Soueraignes their exceeding Riches and Conquests notwithstanding at two of which solemnities saith our Author I my selfe haue beene present Cangius thus inthronized on his felt commanded them many things first to beleeue the immortall GOD and from thence forwards the Tartars began to call vpon the name of the immortall GOD seeking for his ayde in all their enterprises secondly hee commanded to make a generall view of all such as were able to beare armes appointing Captaines ouer tens ouer thousands and ouer ten thousands which made a full Regiment Hee commanded also those seuen principall heads of their Tribe to bereaue themselues of their dignities and for further triall of their obedience each of them to bring thither his eldest sonne and to cut off his head each with his owne hand which they refused not to doe in reuerence to that diuine ordinance whereby hee was made their Soueraigne Cangius hauing thus made tryall of their fidelitie subdued many Nations and one day hauing his horse slaine in battell vnder him was forsaken of his Tartars dispayring his recouerie after they saw him fall and might easily haue beene slaine had not his enemies through ignorance neglected him to pursue the rest which Cangius perceiuing conueyed himselfe into a thicket of shrubs and when his enemies returned to despoile the dead an Owle came and sate on the shrub vnder which Cangius was hidden which caused them not to suspect any to lurke there and so they departed He the next night fled to his people who seeing him and hearing the order of his escape gaue thanks to the immortall GOD who by meanes of that Bird had preserued him They also had after this that Fowle in such reuerence that it is accounted a happy thing to weare one of her feathers on their heads Cangius afterwards assaulting his enemies brought vnder both them and all the Countries on that side of Belgian The exact time of these things Haithon could not learne notwithstanding his much enquiry which he imputeth to their want of letters at that time These Countries thus conquered the armed man appeared to him the second time and commanded him in the name of the immortall GOD to passe the Mountayne Belgian and goe towards the West where he should conquer Kingdomes Signories and Lands And that thou mayest be assured that this is the will of GOD arise and goe with thy people towards the Mountayne to that part which ioyneth on the Sea There thou shalt dismount and turne thee toward the East and kneeling downe nine times shalt worship the immortall GOD and he which is Almightie shall shew thee the way by which thou mayest commodiously passe Cangius presently commands his people with their wiues and families to accompanie him in this enterprise and when they were come to the Sea forgat not with his followers to performe those nine worships and staying there that night in his prayers the next day hee saw that the Sea had gone nine foot backe from
about three hundred yeeres since placeth Cambalu in 144. 8. Long. and 35.25 Latit it may happily bee 45. degrees in Latitude one Figure being falsified or else inuerted for 53. And as this Latitude disagreeth from that of Paquin so the Longitude a great deale more this confirming this opinion further that Chaggi Memet Mar. Polo Mandeuil Odoricus Nicolo di Conti and others eye-witnesses speake of China or Mangi and of Cathay as diuers Countries And Farfur King of Mangi possessed his Countries now knowne by the name of China in peace till An. 1269. being counted a richer Countrie then Cathay it selfe which was conquered before if wee vnderstand it properly and Cambalu seemeth to bee the Citie wherein Cingis the first Cham besieged and tooke the Cathayan Emperour Paulus also mentioneth among the greatest Cities of Mangi Panghin and Nanghin reporting further that Mangi alone had in it a thousand and two hundred great rich and illustrious Cities as much as is reported of whole China and more and that after Cublai Can had conquered that State he diuided it into nine tributarie Kingdomes gouerned by so many Vice-royes vnder him And these Cities hee fortified with Garrisons not of the Naturall inhabitants but of Cathay And these things are reported by him who long liued in these parts non interfuit solum sed etiam praefuit quorum pars magna fuit possessing the place of Gouernour vnder the Can three yeeres according to the Tartarian custome in Iangui one of the chiefe Cities of Mangi hauing vnder it twentie seuen other Cities and the whole Prouince of Mangi hee placeth South-East from Cathay And wherefore doth the King of China alwayes abide in Paquin in the Northerly part of his Kingdome but as all which write here of affirme because of the Tartars which from those parts conquered the Kingdome which if they were so base a people as Pantogia affirmeth could not be so dreadfull to the Chinois that their King for their sakes should there make his residence in the skirts and borders of the Kingdome Alhacen a learned Arabian wrote the Historie of Tamerlanes life wherein hee telleth of the great Cham of Cambula and the King of China as diuers Princes of diuers Countries one of which accrewed to Tamerlaine by marriage of the Chams onely daughter and the other by conquest What needed such a wall which I my selfe haue seene drawne in a Map of China of a verie large forme and made in China it selfe with Chinian characters hanging in Master Hakluits Chamber at Westminster made by the Chinois if the Tartars were not mightie neighbours especially themselues being so mightie and populous But it is vnknowne And who knew that there was such a Kingdome as China an hundred yeeres agoe Or who hath sayled that way to seeke this since And how long was it before it was knowne in our world that there was such a Prince in the world as the great Negus aboue mentioned in Aethiopia especially hee hauing no Ships for Warre or Merchandize nor many scarce any good Hauens by Sea to make himselfe knowne and within land Nature hath as it were imprisoned him barring vp the passages with Mountains and Desarts which seemeth now to be the case of the Cathayan furthered by the iealousie of many great Princes not to admit any Forreiner in or licence any of theirs to passe our for feare of innouation Sed plenum aleae est saith SCALIGER de ijs aliquid statuere quae nobis per caliginem duntaxat nota sunt It is hard to determine in these mistie mysteries Euen as in Nature it falleth out that the Sunne shineth there many houres before it ariseth to vs so in Historie it may happen that there may shine a Tartarian Sun in Cathay when as a darke night in this long iniquitie of distance hideth him from our eyes Thus haue I argued the question and well know not which way to determine If this could any thing further the Iesuiticall vow to the Papacie I could then suspect this opinion of Noueltie they indeed being the Nouatores a word which Serarius so delights to fixe vpon vs or Veteratores as Scaliger answeres him quibus nihil antiquius quà m antiquare antiquitatem as H. Stephanus obiects to some Lypsian Mimikes but in matters of Geographie wee may follow him more safely then in Ouranographie as neerer of kinne to that Great Compasser of the Earth I know not how to answere many obiections against this Chinian Cathay but by deniall of truth in Trauellers assertions some taking too Hyperbolicall and Diabolicall authoritie or in the coniectures of Saracens which seeing Paganisme in China so conspire with Popish Imagerie in selfe-imagined worship with whites lights funerall rites and other blacke darke dead deuotions wherein the Chinois and Iesuits seemed alike thought them of one religion the Iesuites owne coniecture or that Time the consumer of all things hath deuoured Cities Peoples and Religions or what else soeuer If any respect my opinion in this controuersie I confesse the iournall of Goes lately published and hereafter inserted hath made mee make a new search and take a neerer view and though Time the Father of Truth must determine the question more fully yet this is for the present my iudgement if I may so stile it That neither they which confound Cathay with China nor they which wholly separate them are to be followed Medio tutissimus ibis They seeme in this altercation to let truth fall betweene them which in my conceit is this that the present Kingdome of China comprehends the best part of Cathay besides the ancient Chinian limits by Polo called Mangi For Mangi which is the true China was by the great Can diuided into nine Prouinces or Kingdomes as Paulus which assisted in that Conquest relateth But when Humvu expelled the Tartars out of China hee indeuoured the same in all the best parts of Cathaya now the Northerly parts of the Chinian Kingdome where the Tartars were strongest and had kept their residence These Northerly parts were gouerned by Yunlo his Nephew and Generall of his Forces who after Humvu his death dispossessed his Sonne and fixed his vsurped Imperiall seat at Paquin or Pequim in the North as being better secured there of his friends and against the Tartars also his practising neighbours This Citie hee called Pequim that is the Northerne Court in relation to Nanquim or Nanquin which signifieth the Southerly Court where Humvu had before resided both which continue Royall Cities or supreme Courts to this day The same which in respect aforesaid they call in China language quim the Tartarian founders called in their Idiome Cambalu Citie of the Prince which name the Tartars and Saracens as you haue heard continue But that all Cathay is not included in these sixe Prouinces subiect to China our reasons before out of Rubruquis are sufficient And that there is yet a Grand Can in those parts Lord of
then remained Lord of Pegu But the Kings of Siam and Iangoma preuented his enterprise for Tangu which they inuaded to depriue him of his Treasures The King of Siam twice assailed Martauan with repulse whereupon hee caused two of his cowardly Captaines to bee cast into Cauldrons of scalding Oyle and the third time conquered that Kingdome Peter Williamson Floris hath giuen vs later relations Hee reports that the King of Pegu had in his flourishing greatnesse twentie Kings subiect to him which fell to the Siamite Raia Api before mentioned Hee besieged Vnxa or Pegu two Moneths without effect Dearth and death made Pegu resigne himselfe to the King of Tangu that so he might also preuent the King of Arracan who comming with his power tooke the Citie and the Countrey The King of Tangu agreed with him to restore certaine Treasures the white Elephant and the Kings daughter both which I saw saith Floris in Arracan Anno 1608. and the King of Pegu or else that he himselfe would kil him which he afterwards did with a pilon wherewith they stampe their Rice as being free I know not by what Art against any stabbing Thus came this Empire after the destruction of many millions of Peguans to desolation that at this day there is no remembrance of it The King of Arracan gaue the Towne or Fort of Siriangh on the Riuer of Pegu to the Portugals in keeping especially to Philip de Britto de Nicote whom hee stiled Xenga that is honest who scarcely so proued for three or foure yeeres after taking this Kings sonne prisoner hee made him ransome him at 110000. Tangans and ten Galeas of Rice after that growing insolent and caring for no bodie But in March 1613. the King of Aua tooke Siriangh and slew all the Portugals and spitted or otherwise tortured as the Fame went this Philip de Britto This King gaue order for the building vp againe of the old Towne and called together the Peguers making them many faire promises and so went forward to Tenesseryn where Banya came to him with fiftie thousand Peguans before subiect to Siam Thus farre Floris Some tell of this white Elephant for so they speake as if there were but one whereas Fitz Balbi and Frederike saw foure but it seemes one was of principall estimation that it was obserued with no lesse honour then the King and came not abroad without great pompe It hath beene a dismall and disastrous Beast to fiue or six Kings which had the possession thereof all hauing Tragicall ends The King of Arracan Anno 1599. returned home in triumph this white Elephant richly adorned going before the Brother and two Sonnes of the King of Pegu following Iarric writes that the King of Pegu yeelded himselfe his Wife and thirteene children three other the King of Arracan had two sonnes in hostage and a daughter in marriage to his sisters husband the King of Tangu trusting the rather to his fidelitie because when his eldest Sonne had forsaken him and gone to Tangu in hope of the Queene his Aunts fauour Shee caused his losse of loyaltie to be punished with the losse of his head Tangu killed all this royall Family Martauan before mentioned was a goodly Peguan Kingdome but by wars was brought into like miseries The Region was so fertile that it yeelded three Haruests in a yeere and sent yeerely fifteene Ships to Malaca as many to Cochin laden with Rice the Woods abounded with excellent fruits the Hearbes and shrubs were generally odoriferous or medicinall diuers kindes there grew of Rices not like to ours store of Pines and Tecam a Wood not subiect to rottennesse A Countrey rich in Mines of Iron Lead Steele Brasse Siluer Gold and Rubies Springs and Riuers Indian Palmes and Sugar-Canes The Forrests had Buffolos Harts Boares wild the Hauen open at all times of the yeere and not choaked with sand as vsually in the Indian Winter The Citie stands in 16. degrees of great trading a temperate ayre the Megrim is vnknowne nor Physicions The King Bannalaius ninetie nine yeeres of age who with his Heire apparant were chased out of the Kingdome and hid themselues in the Forrests as before that time aboue two hundred thousand of their Subiects had done onely three thousand staying with the King Thus haue you heard of the power and subuersion of this great Monarchie so much the more lamentable because their fall was from such a height The Countrey is so fertile that at what time soeuer corne be put into the ground the payment is good with increase I haue seene with mine eyes saith Caesar Fredericke that they haue eaten Serpents Scorpions all manner of hearbes and grasse Such fertility and such stomackes as they make credible the reports of their huge Armies so doe they make more terrible the reports of their desolations This that I speake of their dyet I vnderstand not of their extreamitie and famine but ordinarily Master Fitch saith the same that they eate Roots Hearbs Leaues Dogs Cats Rats and Snakes they refuse almost nothing §. III. Of the Peguan Rites and Customes IT is aboue a hundred yeeres since Vertomannus was there who in company of a Persian Merchant went to visit the King who then had wars in Aua. They went in a Boat all of one piece of wood fifteene or sixteene paces long The Oares were Canes and the Mast was one Cane as big as a Herring Barrell The King wore as many Iewels as were worth a great Citie which made him in the night time to shine as the Sunne Hee had a sacrifice to doe to the Deuill and the next day the Persian presented him with rich Corralls which hee tooke in so good worth that he gaue him as many Rubies as were worth a hundred thousand Duckets Some yeeres before Hieronymo de Sancto Stephano found him in the same warres with Aua and saith of him that hee had ten thousand Elephants and bred or brought vp euery yeere fiue hundred The King that liued when M. Fitch was there Sonne to the Conqueror had one Wife and three hundred Concubines of whom hee was said to haue fourescore and ten Children He sate in iudgement almost euery day They vse no speech in their Sutes but giue vp their Supplications written in the leaues of a tree with the point of an yron bigger then a bodkin These leaues are of an Ell long and two Inches broad they are also double Hee which giueth in his Supplication standeth a little off with a present which if the King granteth his request he accepteth if not he returneth with his present They kneele downe thrice lifting vp their hands and kisse the ground thrice this they doe foure times before they come where the King sits who speakes by an Interpreter and not immediatly to the Suppliant who with these Rombees so they call these kneelings present their gifts ouer their heads His Guard lies prostrate to the earth Pegu is or at least in a
Paroes the Countrey being full of Riuers in which they goe to and fro with their Families as strange is the dwelling here on the Land their houses being set on high posts and their going vp on Ladders for feare of Tygres From hence to Pegu is tenne as is said before or eleuen dayes iourney by the Riuers as before is expressed where their Markets are as their dwellings vpon the water in Boates with a great Sombrero like a Cart-wheele to keepe off the Sunne made of Coco-Leaues They vse in riding to carry bits in their mouthes which make them swell and puffing cheekes The husbands buy their wiues and if they mislike put them away And if the wiues Parents will take away their daughters they must restore that which was giuen in price for her If a man dies without children the King is his Heire And if hee hath children the King hath a third they the rest They vse to carrie men somewhat after the fashion of Congo in a kind of Couerlet of Cotton called Delingo of diuers colours made commodiously to keepe off the Sunne and Raine and easie to lie on as a bed carried by foure men which alway runne from morning to night resting onely once in the day The wife children and slaues of the Debtor are bound to the Creditor who may carry the Debtor to his house and shut him vp or else sell the wife children and slaues The Noble and Ignoble obserue one fashion of attire differing in the finenesse of the matter which commonly is bombast One piece for a shirt another large and painted tied vp betweene the legges On their heads a kind of Mitre of the same and some like a Hiue they goe bare-foot but the Nobles vsually are carried in Delingos or on Horse-backe The women weare a smocke to the girdle from thence a strait cloth of purpose to shew that they are Women in sort before related They goe bare-foote their armes laden with Hoopes of Gold and Iewels and their fingers full of precious Rings with their haire rolled vp about their heads Many weare a cloth about their shoulders in stead of a Cloake In Pegu they vse much Opium Aracan is mid-way betweene Bengala and Pegu on the Coast Hee is able saith Fredericke to arme many Austs by Sea and by Land hath certaine Sluces with the which if the King of Pegu his greatest enemy assaulted his Countrey hee could at pleasure couer a great part with waters In Pegu they haue a custome of buying and selling by Brokers which vndertake for the performance on both sides Also that others standing by may know what is bidden for commodities they haue their hands vnder a cloth and by touching the fingers and nipping the ioynts each finger and ioynt hauing his proper signification they make vp their bargaines CHAP. V. Of the Religion in Pegu and the Countreys sometime subiect thereto THeir Varellaes or Idol-Temples in the Kingdome of Pegu are many They are made round like a Sugar-Loafe or a Bell some are as high as a Church or a reasonable Steeple very broad beneath some a quarter of a mile in compasse in the making of them they consume many Sugar-Canes with which they couer them from the top to the bottome Within they bee all earth done about with stone They spend thereon much gold for they be all gilded aloft and many of them from the top to the bottome and euery ten or twelue yeeres they must bee new gilded because the Raine consumeth off the gold for they stand open abroad Were it not for this vaine custome gold would there be good cheape About two dayes iourney from Pegu there is a Varelle or Pagode which is the Pilgrimage of the Pegues It is called Dogonne and is of wonderfull bignesse and all gilded from the foot to the top This house is fifty fiue paces in length and hath in it three Iles or Walks and forty great Pillars gilded which stand betweene them It is gilded with gold within and without These are houses very faire round about for the Pilgrims to lie in and many goodly houses for the Tallipoys to preach in which are full of Images both of men and women all ouer gilded I suppose it the fairest place in the world It standeth very high and there are foure waies to it which all along are set with Trees of Fruits in such wise that a man may goe in the shade aboue two miles in length And when their Feast-day is a man can hardly passe by Water or by Land for the great prease of people which resort thither from all places of the Kingdome There are on the shoares of Dogon two Statues which from the head down-ward represent young men but haue the faces of Deuils and two wings on their backes In Pegu there is Varelle or Temple like to this which the King frequented to doe his Holies therein mounting vp staires at the foot whereof were two Tygers gaping wide seeming as if they had beene aliue Besides the many Magazins or Treasuries full of Treasure which the late Braman King had hee had neere vnto the Palace a Court walled with stone the gates whereof were open euery day Within this Court are foure gilded Houses couered with Lead and in euery of them certaine Idols of great value In the first house was a great Statue of Gold and on his head a Crowne of Gold beset with rare Rubies and Saphires and about him foure little children of Gold In the second House is another of Siluer as high as an House set as it were sitting on heapes of money crowned his foot is as long as a man In the third house there is the like Idoll of Brasse and in the fourth of Ganza which is their Mony-mettall tempered of Lead and Copper In another Court not farre from this stand foure other Colosses or huge Images of Copper in Houses gilded faire as they are themselues saue the head Balby tells of fiue made of Ganza so monstrous that the toes of their feeet were as big as a man and sitting crosse-legged were yet as high as one could hurle a stone and were all gilded Fernandes relateth of threescore and seuen Images of Gold richly adorned with Iewels and three hundred threescore and sixe Combalengas or Gourds of Gold molten by the Kings Father each weighing a hundred fourescore pound besides his other Treasures to conceale which he slew two hundred Eunuchs his attendants Their Tallipoys before they take Orders go to Schoole till they be twentie yeeres old or more then they come before a Tallipoy appointed for that purpose whom they call Rowli Hee as chiefe and most learned examineth them many times Whether they will leaue their Friends and the company of all Women and take vpon them the habite of a Tallipoy If hee be content then hee rideth vpon an Horse about the streets very richly apparrelled with Drums and Pipes to shew that hee leaueth the riches of the
him Neither would he speake but was accompanied with eight or ten which spake for him When any man spake to him hee would lay his hand vpon his brest and bow himselfe but speake he would not to the King The King of Patanaw was Lord of the greatest part of Bengala vntill the Mogoll slue their last King After which twelue of them ioyned in a kinde of Aristocratie and vanquished the Mogolls it seemes this was in the time of Emmaupaxda and still notwithstanding the Mogolls Greatnesse are great Lords specially he of Siripur and of Ciandecan and aboue all Maafudalim Nine of them are Mahumetans Thus Fernandes These Pataneans seeme by the Iesuites report to come of the Tartars In those parts they had many strange Ceremonies Their Bramans or Priests come to the Water and haue a string about their necks made with great Ceremonies and lade vp Water with both their hands and turne the string first with their armes within and then one arme after the other out Here also about Iemena the Gentiles will eate no flesh nor kill any thing They pray in the Water naked and dresse their meate and eate it naked and for their penance they lye flat vpon the earth and rise vp and turne themselues about thirtie or fortie times and vse to heaue vp their hands to the Sunne and to kisse the earth with their armes and legs stretched out along their right leg being alwayes before the left Euery time they lye downe they score it with their fingers to know when their stint is ended The Bramans marke themselues in their foreheads eares and throats with a kinde of yellow geare which they grinde euery morning they doe it And they haue some old men which goe in the streets with a boxe of yellow powder and marke them which they meet on their heads and necks And their Wiues doe come ten twentie and thirtie together to the water-side singing and there doe wash themselues and vse their ceremonies and marke themselues on the fore-heads and faces and carry some with them and so depart singing Their Daughters bee marryed at or before the age of ten yeeres The men may haue seuen wiues They are a craftie People worse then the Iewes The way from Bannaras to Patanaw is a faire and fertile Countrey beautified with many faire Townes I went from Bengala into the Countrey of Couche which lieth fiue and twentie dayes iourney Northwards from Tanda The King was a Gentile named Suckel Counse his Countrey is great and lyeth not farre from Cauchin-China All the Countrey is set with Canes made sharpe at both ends and driuen into the Earth and they can let in the water and drowne the Countrey knee-deepe In time of Warre they poyson all the waters The people haue eares which be maruellous great of a span long which they draw out in length by deuices when they bee young They are all Gentiles and will kill nothing They haue Hospitalls for Sheepe Dogs Goats Cats Birds and all other liuing Creatures When they be old and lame they keepe them till they dye If a man catch or buy any quick thing in other places and bring it thither they will giue him mony for it or other victuals and keepe it in their Hospitals or let it go They will giue meat to the Ants Their small money is Almonds which oftentimes they eat We passed thorow the Country of Gouren where we found but few villages and almost all Wildernesse for wee chose this Desart way for feare of theeues and saw many Buffes Swine and Deere grasse longer then a man and very many Tygres Orixa is the next Countrey which hath beene a Kingdome but conquered by the King of Patanaw and both since by Echebar Orixa stands sixe dayes Southwest from Satagan There is much Rice cloth of Cotton and cloth made of grasse called Yerua like silke They speake of the like in Virginia Through this Kingdome Fredericke writes a man might haue gone with Gold in his hand without danger while the old King reigned who so befriended Merchants that he tooke no custome of them And there were laden in the Port of Orisa yeerely fiue and twentie or thirtie Ships with Rice Lacca long Pepper Ginger Mirabolins and the Yerua aforesaid made of an herbe growing in the Woods wild then gathered when the boll is growne round as bigge as an Orange In the Hauen of Angeli are yeerely many Ships laden with many kindes of commodities Satagam is a faire Citie for a Citie of Moores and very plentifull sometime subiect to Patanaw In Bengala such is the estimation of Ganges that they will fetch of it a great way off though they haue good water neere and if they haue not sufficient to drinke they will sprinkle a little on them and then they are well From Satagam I trauelled by the Countrey of the King of Tippara with whom the Mogor hath continuall warre The Mogores which be of the Kingdome of Recon and Rame be stronger then this King of Tippara Foure dayes iourney from Couche is Botanter and the Citie Bottia the King is called Dermaine the People are tall and strong the Countrey great three moneths iourney and hath in it high Mountaines one of which a man may see sixe dayes iourney off Vpon these Mountaines are people with eares of a span long otherwise they account them Apes Hither resort many Merchants out of China and Tartaria From Chatigan in Bengala I went to Bacola the King whereof is a Gentile thence to Senepare and after to Simergan where they will eate no flesh nor kill no beast and thence to Negrais in Pegu and Cosmin Thus farre hath our Countrey-man led vs in the view of so many superstitions of these Bengalans and their Northerly Neighbours In that part of Botanter which is next to Lahor and the Mogor the People are white and Gentiles Their garments are close girt to them that a wrinkle or pleit is not to be seene which they neuer put off no not when they sleepe as long as they are able to hang on their head attyre is like a Sugar-loafe sharpe at the top They neuer wash their hands lest say they so pure a Creature as the Water should be defiled They haue but one Wife and when they haue two or three children they liue as brother sister Widdowers and widdowes may not marry a second time They haue no Idols nor Townes nor King in those parts of Batanter They haue their Sooth-sayers which they aske counsell of When any is dead they resort vnto these Wisards to know what is to be done with their dead They search their Bookes and as they say the word they burne them or bury them or eate them although they vsually feed not on mans flesh They also vse dead mens skulls in stead of dishes as in Thebet wee haue obserued the like custome They are liberall Almes-giuers They liue on Weauing and making Clothes which they sell at Calamur and
foure hundred men one of that company onely escaping These exploits made Carualius his Name terrible to the Bengalans insomuch that one of the Arracans Commander of fiftie Arracan Ships dreaming in the night that hee was assaulted by Carualius terrified his fellowes and made them flie into the Riuer which when the King heard cost him his head But this Day had an end and this Sun was set in a Cloud For whiles the King of Arracan hauing lately atchieued so great matters in Pegu and added Sundiua and the Kingdome of Baccala intended to annexe Chandecan to the rest of his Conquests the King of Chandecan thought to purchase his peace with Carualius his head which hee treacherously accomplished sending for Him that they might ioyne together against Arracan and watching his oportunitie tooke Him in his Palace with others of his companie after that inuading and spoyling his ship Britto remayned in his Fort at Sirian against whom in the yeere 1604. the King of Arracan sent a fleete of fiue hundred Frigats and fortie Caturs vnder the conduct of his eldest sonne with fifteene thousand men The Portugals had eight ships well prouided and one hundred and eightie Souldiers in the Fort. Neere to Negrais the Armadas met the Portugall obtayning the victorie slaying and drowning almost one thousand of the enemies This at Sea and waiting a better oportunitie in the Riuer they left not one Vessell to carrie newes thereof to Arracan The Prince with his Souldiers sought to returne by land but Penurie pursued him separated his companie and betrayed Him to two hundred and fiftie Portugals and Peguans which to these straights had added the locall straights of a certaine passage where the Prince with some of the chiefe yeelded redeemed at a great summe as before is mentioned and couenants of Peace on both sides ratified by Oath One of the Articles was the deliuerie of Sundiua for the performance of which Britto sent his sonne Marke with two Captaines to take possession which all were treacherously dispossessed of their liues and three thousand Portugals captiued Hee prepares for a new siege but in the midst of these designes that part of his Palace where the white Elephant stood and his chiefe Oratorie were fired with lightning which some Talipois interpreting of Diuine vengeance for breach of Oath went to the King and told him these things presaged further disasters It so presaged indeed to Them who for this presage were presently to the number of thirtie of the chiefe of them slaine Twelue hundred ships so wee call them all by a generall name though not comparable for the most part to our Europaean the King of Arracan set forth in this new expedition of which seuentie fiue were of greater burthen each hauing twelue Peeces of Ordnance and well furnished the rest Fusts or Frigats In this Fleete were thirtie thousand Souldiers and Sea-men Pataneans Persians and Malabars of them eight thousand with Hand-gunnes and three thousand fiue hundred greater Peeces of diuers sorts The King himselfe his sonne and best Souldiers were therein accompanied with the King of Chocor Britto sent forth that Nauie which hee had but twelue ships in all vnder the command of Paulus Regius a famous Sea-Captaine which meeting them at the Cape of Negrais the Admirall of Arracan Marucha was with his Fust taken and slaine and the Night parted the Fight or rather renewed the Fight many of the Arracan ships mistaking and warring vpon their fellowes to the losse of diuers ships and in the whole fight of almost two thousand men Foure dayes after the fourth of Aprill they encountred the second time and the Portugall Admirall runne her selfe vpon pyles vnder the water whence shee could not bee freed and when another Portugall ship came to relieue them Rhogius would not bee perswaded to stirre till fire entring the Gunners roome blew vp him and his companie and the other Captaine which moued him to remoue The Portugall ships betooke them to their Fort whither the King of Tangu had sent his sonne with sixe hundred Horse eighteene Elephants and sixteene thousand Men to besiege it But both these and the Arracan forces doing their vtmost in May following were forced to depart without effect leauing the Towne and Fort in a deformed case and most of the people wounded Yet greater was Arracans losse onely twelue greater and two hundred and fiftie lesser of those twelue hundred ships remayning the rest drowned forsaken or burnt partly by the Portugals partly by themselues wanting men to guide them Most of the Ordnance they buried in the Sands Ten thousand men they lost in the siege The Portugals lost of their Nation besides helpes eightie sixe ten Captaines and the Admirall The next yeere their Fort was fired and their dwelling Houses Temple Household and Prouision Britto himselfe escaped hardly with his wife His courage yet remayned and resolued to build it in an higher and stronger place Easily had Arracan with this aduantage effected his designes had not the Portugals elsewhere molested him and taken Dianga And thus farre haue wee followed the Iesuite Iarric in these Arracan affaires If with iarring from truth in any place I haue named my Author nor can accuse or excuse him Further he cannot guide vs But where his Intelligence failes Floris helpes The last Act of this Tragedie was reserued to the King of Aua who tooke Sirian as before Master Floris hath told vs slue all the Portugals and was reported to spit this Philip de Britto He settled the affaires of Pegu and sought what hee could to reduce them from their dispersions to their natiue Habitations But you are wearie of warre and bloud in which you see all these Kings embrued it is time to entertaine you elsewhere and though as tragically yet with differing Obiects pleasing at the least with varietie CHAP. VII Of the Great Mogor or Mogoll §. I. Of the Mogors Countries and MELABDIM ECHEBAR THe Great Mogor according to Boterus hath vnder his subiection seuen and fortie Kingdomes which lie betweene Indus and Ganges on the East and West and betwixt Imaus and the Ocean contayning all that which the Ancients called India intra Gangem or India Citenor Hee is called of the people the Great Mogor for the same cause that the Ottoman-Turkes are called Great The style of him that was King when the Iesuites imparted to vs these Relations was Mahumeth Zelabdim Echebar King Mogor or Mogoll for so they call him in the Countrey and not Mogor as the Iesuites This Mogoll seemes to argue their Tartarian Originall from the Moai Tartars of which see our Tartarian Relations The true Mogors or Mogols liue on the hither side of Indus in the Kingdome of Quabul or Cabul which is vnder the brother of Echebar against whom Anno 1582. hee led a strong Armie in which the Iesuites say were fiue thousand Elephants armed These weare plates of Iron on their foreheads carrie foure Archers or else
foure Gunners with great Peeces and goe not before the Armie lest they should hinder their sight or being hurt disturbe the rankes and therefore are set in the Rere a Sword bound to their trunke and Daggers fastened to their great teeth King Echebar was borne in the Prouince of Chaquata which hath Indostan on the South Persia on the West the Tartars East Their Language is Turkish but the Courtiers to this day speake Persian Baburxa his grand-father chased the Parthians vnto Bengala before possessors of the Region of the Mogors after whose death the Parthians or as they are now called Pataneans of Patanau before mentioned recouered themselues and warred on his sonne Their descent is from Tamerlan whose third sonne was Miromcha grandfather to Abusayd who slue Abdula successor to Abdelatife which had slaine Oleghbek the sonne and successor of Mirzah Charrok the fourth sonne and first successor of Tamerlan Sultan Hamed sonne of Abusayd obtayned Maurenahar and after him Babor his sonne which in the yeere 1500. was dispossessed by the Vsbechs yet still possessed Gaznehen and some parts of India succeeded by his sonne Homayen the father of this Achabar Thus Mirkand The Iesuites say they are Parthians descended of Cingis therefore rather to be called Tartars Achabars grandfather they call Baburxa which by his sword entred Industan and chased those Tartars into Bengala But they againe preuailed after his death insomuch that Achabars father Emmaupaxda as the Iesuites report being driuen to great straights by the Parthians Tartars or Pataneans was driuen to aske aide of the Sophi or Persian King which he obtained with condition of submitting himselfe to the Persian Religion The Mogors speake the Turkish language The Empire of this Mogor is exceeding great contayning the Countries of Bengala Cambaya Mendao and others comprehended by some vnder the name of Industan This Mendao is said to be ten leagues in circuit and that it cost the Mogor twelue yeeres siege Agra and Fatipore are two Cities in his Dominion great and full of people much exceeding London and the whole space betweene is as a continuall populous Market Many Kings he hath conquered and many haue submitted themselues and their States voluntarily to his subiection Twentie Gentile Kings are numbred in his Court which attend him equalling the King of Calecut in power Many others pay him tribute In his Countries are many Spices Pepper Ginger Cassia and others many precious Stones Pearles Metals of all sorts Silkes Cotton Horse and other Commodities which yeeld him many millions yeerely beyond his expences About the yeere 1582. the Iesuites first entred there after whose report his Dominions were then as followeth since much more enlarged Eleuen great Riuers run through his Dominions Taphi Haruada Chambel Iamena Ganges the other sixe are Indus or Schind as they call it and Catamul Cebcha Ray Chenao Rebeth tributaries to Indus The whole Monarchie enuironeth nine hundred leagues King Echebar hath many Lords each of which is to maintayne eight ten twelue or fourteene thousand Horse in readinesse for the warre besides Elephants of which in the whole Kingdome are said to bee fiftie thousand Himselfe can further bring of his owne into the Field fiftie thousand Horse and Foot-men innumerable To those Lordes hee alloweth certaine Prouinces for such Militarie seruice for hee is Lord of all nor hath any else possession of any thing but at the will of the King Once a yeere they appeare before the King where they present a view of those their enioyned Forces Many millions of Reuenue doe besides accrew vnto his Coffers yet his Port and Magnificence is not so great as of many other Princes eyther for Apparell Diet or the Maiestie of his Court-seruice Hee cannot write or reade but heareth often the Disputations of others and Histories read before him being of deepe iudgement piercing wit and wise fore-cast In execution of Iustice hee is very diligent insomuch that in the Citie where hee resideth he heareth all Causes himselfe neither is any malefactor punished without his knowledge himselfe giuing publike Audience twice euery day For which purpose he hath two wide Halls or rather open Courts and in them Royall Thrones where hee is attended with eight Councellors besides Notaries Yet doth hee stand and not sit and at other times sit on Carpets after the Turkish manner notwithstanding his Chayre of Estate standing by He hath twelue Learned men alway about him which ordinarily reason and dispute in his presence or relate Histories Hee is a curious discourser of all Sects Hee is both Affable and Maiesticall Mercifull and Seuere delights himselfe in diuers Games as fights of Buffals Cockes Harts Rammes Elephants Wrestlers Fencers Dances Comedies and in the Dances of Elephants and Camels thereto instructed In the midst of these Spectacles he dispatcheth serious affaires He delights in Hunting vsing the Panther to take wild Beasts Hunting Dogs hee had none They vse tame Harts to take the wild with Nets fastened to their hornes wherewith they intangle the other When hee goes to warre hee will cause a whole Wood to bee round beset with men hand in hand sending others in which raise the Beasts and driue them into the others armes which if they let them goe are punished to make sport that way He was skilfull in diuers Mechanicall Trades as making of Gunnes casting of Ordnance hauing his Worke-house in the Palace for that purpose But we haue obserued that this is common to all Mahumetan Priests and Princes the Great Turke yea the Great Challfa himselfe as Tudelensis writes of his Times practising some Mechanicall Mysterie Theeues and Pyrates He punished with losse of the hand Murtherers Adulterers Robbers by the high way with empaling hanging or other doaths not executed till the Sentence had beene thrice pronounced Loued and feared of his Owne Terrible to his Enemies Affable to the Vulgar seeming to grace them and their Presents with more respectiue Ceremonies then the Grandes of sparing Dyet scarce eating Flesh aboue foure times in the yeere but feeding by Rice Whit-meats and Electuaries sleeping but three houres in the night curiously industrious This King detesteth the Mahumetan Sect which as you heard his Father embraced for his aduantage and therefore hath ouerthrowne their Moschees in his Kingdome razing the Steeples and conuerting the rest to Stables and more trusteth and employeth the Gentiles in his affaires then the Moores whereupon many of them rebelled against him and stirred vp the Prince of Quabul his Brother to take Armes against whom Echebar opposed himselfe as is said and caused him to retire into his owne Countrey It is vncertaine what Religion hee is of some affirming him to bee a Moore some a Gentile some a Christian some of a fourth Sect and of none of the former Indeed it appeareth that he wauereth vncertaine which way of many to take able to see the absurdities of the Arabian and Gentile professions and not able to beleeue the high mysteries of the
and returned to Lahor losing many Elephants and Horses in the way both by Famine then oppressing the Countrey and the difficultie of the Passages the Elephants sometimes in the ascent of Hils helping themselues with their Trunkes leaning and staying themselues being burthened thereon as on a staffe The Prince which is now King was assaulted by a fierce Lionesse as he rode on a Female Elephant which yet hee wounded first with a Dart then with a Shot and lastly smote her with the hand-Gun it selfe wherewith being ouerthrowne a Souldier came in and slew her but with losse of his owne life The next yeere 1598. Echebar went to Agra chiefe Citie of a Kingdome which hee had also conquered a hundred leagues from Lahor towards the South passing that way to Decan Hee had eight hundred Elephants and seuen thousand Camels to carrie his Tents and Prouisions yea his Secretarie had at the same time seuen hundred Camels and seuentie Elephants for his owne furniture and therefore it is lesse maruaile of the Kings The King conducted in this Expedition aboue a thousand Elephants instructed to fight and a hundred thousand Soldiers Hee passed the Mountaines of Gate by almost impassable Passages spending sometimes a whole day in passing the space of a Musket-shot One of his Captaines went before with fiftie thousand who tooke one of the Decans strongest Holds and made easie way to the Conquest of the rest of Melics Dominions which hee left in the Gouernment of his sonne Brampore fell into his hands being destitute of defence This was Anno 1600. Miram the King thereof had forsaken it and betaken himselfe to Syra a strong Hold both by Nature and Art It was seated on the top of a Hill which reacheth fiue leagues enuironed with a triple Wall so built that one might bee defended from the next Within was a Well of running Water and all necessarie Prouisions for threescore thousand persons for many yeeres It had three thousand great Peeces of Ordnance In this Castle according to the Countrey custome the next of the Bloud Royall were kept with their Families nor might depart except the Throne emptie the next Heire was hence deliuered much after that which is written of Amara in the Abassens Countrey and it seemes borrowed from thence so many slaues of those parts being here entertained and some in the highest Employments At this time besides King Miram there were seuen of these Princes The Gouernour was an Abassine with seuen other Vnder-Commanders all renegado Mahumetanes The Mogoll layde siege thereto with almost two hundred thousand men but more preuailed as before in Melics Countrey with Bribes and Promises then Force Thus inuiting Miram to a Conference swearing By the Kings head accounted an inuiolable Oath as is that By their Fathers head that hee should bee permitted safe returne Some of his Councellours perswaded him to goe hee went with a kinde of Stole on his necke hanging to his knees in token of subiection And comming before the Mogoll bowed himselfe but was cast to the ground by some of his Captaines and forceably detained The Abassine Gouernour sent his sonne to demand performance of Achebar his promise who being questioned of his Father the Abassen and the hopes to obtaine the Castle freely answered for his Fathers fidelitie and that if Miram were not restored they should not want a Successour with which libertie he prouoked the Mogol to cause him to be slaine which his Father hearing strangled himselfe And the wals were soone after battered at least entred and a breach made through the open gates by golden shot none of these seuen for feare of treason daring to take the Royall Soueraigntie These with the King were dispersed into diuers parts of his Kingdome and maintenance allowed them Thus remained Echebar Lord of these parts and longed to adde the rest of India whatsoeuer is betwixt Indus and Ganges euen to the Cape Comori to his Dominion He writ a Letter about this time to the Vice-Roy of Goa beginning thus I mention it to shew you his Titles which he arrogated The Great and Mightie Lord of the Law of MAHOMET The Renowmed and Great King Vanquisher of the Kings his Enemies Obserued and Honoured of Great Men Exalted aboue other Kings in ample Honour and Dignitie The onely Man for Gouernment amongst all the Princes of the World His Ambassage to ARIAS DE SALDAGNA c. The ninth day of Frauard the first moneth of the yeere beginning at the Aequinoctiall Vernall in the fortie sixe yeere viz. of His Reigne At this time dyed the Gouernour or Vice-Roy of Lahor which left to the King who is Heire Generall and Successour of euery mans wealth three millions of Gold coyned besides other Gold Siluer Iewels Horses Elephants furniture and goods almost inualuable This also for a taste of the meanes accrewing to this Kings Treasure Echebar returning to Agra gaue libertie to the Iesuites to conuert as many as would to Christianitie The King of Candacar or Candahar not able to defend himselfe against Abduxa King of the Vsbechs surrendred himselfe and his Kingdome to Echebar The particulars of his other Conquests I cannot relate His last victory I know not whether to impute to his happinesse or not It was against his Sonne in which the griefe to haue such an enemy could not but be more then the glory of the exploit This happened Anno 1602. Echebar being forced to giue ouer his Decan Conquest by his Sonnes vntimely challenge of the Scepter who weary of his Fathers long life stiled himselfe King and his Father the Great King Armies were gathered on both sides on both sides were sent Letters and Messengers The Mother of Echebar being nintie yeeres old laboured a peace but not preuailing fell sicke which caused him to returne from this expedition against his Sonne But her body not able to ouercome the disease yeelded to death Her Sonne shaued his head beard and eye-browes and mourned after the Country fashion in blue his Nobles doing the like three dayes Her huge Treasure which shee had bequeathed to her children and Nephewes the King seized on The Prince was perswaded to come to his Father without an Army which he did and after some rebuke was reconciled and remained content with the Kingdome of Cambaia or Guzzerat He seemed much addicted to the Iesuites and obtained his Fathers Licence for a Temple at Agra to the building whereof hee gaue a thousand pieces of Gold On the twentie seuen of October Anno 1605. Echebar dyed in the Climactericall yeere 63. of his age and fiftie of his reigne In his sicknesse Selim the Prince whom some suspected of dealing as the Turkish Selim had done with his Father Baiazet came not into the Presence and much consultation was amongst the Great ones to conferre the Succession vpon Cussero his sonne But the issue was that vpon his Oath to maintaine the Law of Mahomet and of full pardon to his Sonne
kindnesse offered and indignities suffered by reason and treason of the Portugals who had by bribes and slanders wrought the Vice-Roy or Deputie called Mocreb Chan against him passed thence to Agra to the Court as Embassadour with a Letter from the King of England Peniero a Iesuite before in this Booke mentioned obserue the Conuersions and conuersations of that Societie in those parts like a wothy Factor for his Nation had proferred to Mocreb-Chan fortie thousand Rials of Eight to send them to Daman that so hee might become their prisoner and the English negotiation might bee hindered and now when the name of an Embassadour had protected him from such courses plotted with him to ouerthrow his iourney both by detraction of necessarie forces to assist him in a way so full of Out-lawes and Rebels and suborning his Trudge-man and Coach-man to poyson or murder him by the way which was not farre from effecting The Portugals had also dealt with the Lord of Cruly to bee readie with two hundred Horsemen to assault him in the way so that hee was forced to hire a strong conuoy for the securitie of his person Being come to Agra hee was brought with great State to the King who kindly entertained him and sware by God and by his Fathers soule to performe the Kings Maiesties request in the Letter contained notwithstanding the deprauation thereof by the Iesuite to whom the King had giuen it to reade He promised also to allow him three thousand and two hundred pound a yeere or foure hundred Horse for so they reckon all their fees much like the Turkish Timariots and caused him to take a wife of the Countrey the daughter of an Armenian Christian called Mubarikesha sometimes a Commander in the warres of Ekbar Padasha Father to this present Mogor or Mogol whose name is Selim. This King is so fickle and inconstant that what hee had solemnly promised for an English Factory was by the Portugals meanes reuersed and againe promised and againe suspended and a third time both graunted and disanulled so that the second of Nouember 1611. Captaine Hawkins departed from Agra and the last of December came to Cambaya where hee heard of English shipping in which hee passed first to the Red Sea after to Sumatra and Bantam and dyed on the Irish shoare in his returne homewards Whiles he kept at Agra his liuing assigned him by the King was much impaired by the Officers who appointed to him such places where Out-lawes and Rebels liued so that hee neuer receiued aboue three hundred pound His attendance whiles hee was in fauour was honourable and neere the King so that the Mahumetans enuying a Christian such dignitie became his priuie enemies and assistants to the Portugals which was increased by a Present the King sent him publikely being a wilde Boare killed in his hunting-Progresse and by him and his eaten The insolencies of the Guzarates if they may bee suffered and as much basenesse of their deiected cowardly courages being kept in awe which is also the disposition of all the Indian Ethnikes both white and blacke the Portugals pride and treachery the fittest places for our Indian traffique whether wee follow the colours of Mars or Mercury and other his diligent obseruations I omit But so I cannot the rarities of the Mogols Court customes puissances wealth and gouernment notwithstanding our former Discourse hauing met with so rare a guide For the greatnesse of his State hee reporteth that his Empire is diuided into fiue great Kingdomes the first named Pengab the chiefe Citie whereof is Lahor the second Bengala and Sonargham the mother Citie the third Malua the chiefe Seat Vagain the fourth Deckan in which Bramport is principall and so is Amadauer in the fifth Kingdome which is Cambaya Hee hath sixe principall Castles for the keeping of his treasure at Agra which is in the heart of all his Kingdomes Guallier Neruir Ratamboore Hassier Boughtaz There are three Arch-Rebels which with his forces hee cannot call in Amber Chapu in Deckan in Guzerat the sonne of Muzafer sometime their King called Bahador and Raga Rahana in Malua Hee hath fiue sonnes Sultan Cussero Sultan Peruis Sultan Chorem Sultan Sharier Sultan Bath two young daughters and three hundred wiues of which foure are principall None hath the title of Sultan but his sonnes Mirza is also ascribed to his brother and children Chan as a Duke Their degrees and titles are according to their proportion of Horses allowed them foure are of the fame of twelue thousand the King his mother eldest sonne and one of the blood Royall called Cham Azam Of the fame of nine thousand Horse are three these are as Dukes Marquesses of fiue thousand of which are eighteene Earles of three thousand Vicounts so may wee paralell them with our titles of honour two thousand Barons of one thousand Horse Knights foure hundred others fewer to twentie all which are called Mansibdars men of liuing or Lordship of which are three thousand Of Haddies which receiue monethly pay from sixe Horse to one are fiue thousand Officers of Court and Campe sixe and thirtie thousand as Gunners Porters Water-men Cookes Gardiners keepers of Horses Elephants c. whose wages are payed them monethly from ten to three Rupias A Rupia is two shillings of our coyne His Captaines or Mansibdars are to maintaine vpon their allowance and haue in readinesse at a seuen nights warning three hundred thousand Horse The Kings reuenue of his Crown-land is fiftie Crou of Rupias euery Crou is one hundred Leckes and euery Lecke a hundred thousand Rupias all which in our money is fiftie millions of pounds a summe incredible and exceeding that which is said of China His daily expences are fiftie thousand Rupias for his owne person as apparell victuals and other houshold expences with the feeding of sundry sorts of beasts and of some few Elephants his expences on his women by the day amount to thirtie thousand Rupias In his Treasurie of Agra are in Gold of Seraffins Ecberi which are ten Rupias a piece threescore Leckes Of another sort which are one thousand Rupias each twentie thousand pieces and ten thousand of another sort halfe the value Of Toles euery Tole is a Rupia of Siluer and ten of those Toles is the value of one of Gold thirtie thousand Of another sort of ten Toles fiue and twentie thousand Of another sort of fiue Toles fiftie thousand In Siluer of Rupias Ecberi thirteene Crou Of a kinde of coyne worth a hundred Toles a piece fiftie thousand Of another halfe as much one Lecke Of thirtie Toles a piece fortie thousand pieces Of twentie Toles a piece thirtie thousand pieces Of ten Toles a piece twentie thousand pieces Of fiue Toles a piece fiue and twentie thousand Of Sauoys each of which is a Tole and a quarter two Leckes Of Iagaries whereof fiue make sixe Toles one Lecke In Iewels of Diamants one Batman and a halfe a Batman is
second of fresh the third of Honey the fourth of Milke the lift of Tair which is Creame beginning to sowre the sixt of Sugar the seuenth of Butter that the Earth had nine corners whereby it was borne vp by the Heauen Others dissented and said that the Earth was borne vp by seuen Elephants the Elephants feete stood on Tortoises and they were borne by they know not what When the Naicho of Tangaor died 375. of his Concubines willingly offered themselues to the fire to honour his Funerall so much can Custome harden so delicate and soft-hearted a nature The Temples in the Countrey haue great reuenues which in some places are encreased by the deuotion of women which prostitute themselues to gaine for their Idols and many young Girles are brought vp for this purpose Many are in these parts of the Sect of the Guzzarates which kill no quicke thing as is spoken Some haue a stone hanging about their necks as bigge as an Egge with certaine lines drawne thorow the middle thereof and this they worship and call it Tambarane they keepe euery Friday holi-day The Kingdome of Orissa hath on the Sea-coast 350. miles betwixt the richer Kingdomes of Bengala and Bisnagar poore of Ports and Traffique Frederike writes that before the King of Patane had conquered Orissa there was great Trade for Oile of Zerzeline Lacca Long Pepper Ginger Mirabolans and cloth made of herbs which grow with a bowle as bigge as an Orange yeelding silke The Countrey was so safe that a man might haue trauelled with his Gold in his hand The King was a Gentile and resided in the Citie Catecha sixe dayes Iourney within Land The King of Patane was soone after subdued by the Mogoll The Inhabitants except a few Moores are Gentiles little or nothing that I can learne differing in Rites from their Neighbours of which yee haue heard Some ascribe to the Citie Orissa as the name so the Principalitie of the other Cities of this Kingdome In these parts is the Citie of Saint Thomas or Malepur where they say Saint Thomas after he had preached the Gospell to the Indians was martyred and burned The Legend which some report of his death were too tedious to recite and as little likelihood of truth is in that long tale of the miraculous Crucifixes heere found related by Osorius who likewise declareth the Rites of those Saint Thomas-Christians of their Chaldean-Pope Cardinals Patriarches and Bishops of which in a another place we shall more fitly speake On the first day of Iuly Saint Thomas Holiday is celebrated as well by the Pagans as Christians and his Sepulchre is had in deuout estimation both of the Moores Gentiles and Christians each pretending the right of his owne Religion to the Church where this Saint lieth interred to which the Indian Christians goe on Pilgrimage carrying with them a little of that earth for a great Relique A Moore had the keeping of the Church which was built after our fashion and begged of the commers for maintenance of it and of a light continually burning therein The Portugals now inhabit this Towne almost desolate the Iesuites also haue heere a Residence The Church doores by the Superstition of some are almost cut in pieces and carried away to set in Gold and Siluer and to weare about their neckes as a holy relike the Portugals herein being exceedingly vaine and attributing hereunto many Miracles verifying that Prouerbe which the Spaniards vse affirming the Portugals to be Pocos sotos deuotâ—s One sent Linschoten a whole Bead-roll or paire of Beads thereof the bringer affirming that those Beades had calmed a Tempest miraculously by the way The Inhabitants in this respect haue driuen their Church-doores full of nailes but Saint Thomas bones are now remoued to Goa Those doores are of such renowned holinesse because they were made of that wood which Saint Thomas drew with his girdle out of the Hauen which it choaked and could not before this Miracle by any meanes be remoued One thing I thought not to omit that there bee whole Villages and Kindreds of people in other things like to other men but are borne with one of their legs and one foot from the knee downwards as thicke as an Elephants legge which the common people imagine to be a curse by Diuine Iustice inflicted vpon the whole Generation for that their Progenitors murthered Saint Thomas Linschoten saith he hath seene and spoken with them and could learne no other cause thereof It is to them a deformitie but no let or impediment otherwise The Gouernour of Musulipatan being of Mahomets posteritie had agreed for custome to take foure per centum and exacted twelue Offering the English there diuers wrongs Here the Gentiles haue in those parts a Feast when the New Moone comes vpon Munday and then both Sexes wash themselues in the Sea as a matter of much Indulgence for their sinnes And then after much indignitie the Cape-Merchant Floris performed a worthy exploit deseruing still to flourish though he be dead The Gouernours Sonne being set ouer the Custome and at the Custome-house guarded with his Souldiers Floris entred alone as it were for businesse and as he had plotted a few English followed by diuers wayes which seized on the weapons of the Guard at the Custome-house doore and Floris laid hold of the Gouernours Sonne Wencatadra by name which was suddenly conueyed into their Boat three thousand people presently running to the shoare But being vnder their ships protection they both secured themselues and for redemption of his Sonne forced the Father to pay all debts by him detained with satisfaction for wrongs offered Yet such was his Superstition that he almost first starued a shipboord rather then he would eate or drinke with the English Thus from the foure and twentieth of Nouember till the thirtieth he kept a strict Bramene Fast the English pittying his misery and willing therefore to take pledges in his roome But after that weeke of cleane Lent without eating or drinking he was redeemed the debts being paid by his Father And hence let the Reader iudge of bodily exercise and opus operatum without true faith how little it auaileth In Narsapur Peta a place not farre hence where they Careened the Globe happened in August that yeere such ouerflowings of water that many thousands of men and cattell were drowned Townes Fields of Rice and Salt-hils ouerflowne foure thousand houses washed away and two Stone Bridges ouer the Riuer one of nineteene the other of fifteene Arches comparable to Rochester Bridge standing three fadome aboue water Many Portugals also liue in the parts of Bengala adioyning like Wildmen and Iaric speakes of 1200. which thus obserue not Christianitie and therefore may be reckoned amongst these Heathens And thus haue we finished our perambulation of the Continent of Asia Some perhaps will maruell why I haue not handled the Muscouites and Russians in this Asian Discourse to whom I answere That
the mountaines which happily they atchieued Yea the Portugals wearied with the warres which they were forced to maintayne in defence of those places they held in Africa the expences so much surmounting the reuenue abandoned them to the Seriffs And now the want of enemies procured enmitie betwixt the Brethren who trying that valour against each other which before they had exercised ioyntly against their enemies the issue was that the younger in two battels hauing ouercome the elder and at the second which was Anno 1544. hauing taken him prisoner confined him to Tafilete Hee now sole Monarch of Marocco conuerts his forces against the King of Fez to try if he could bee his Master in the field as hee sometimes had beene in the Schoole and failed not of his attempt but hauing once taken and freed him the second time because he had broken promise he depriued him and his sonnes of estate and life He also by meanes of his sonnes took Tremizen which soone after was recouered from them by Sal Araes Vice-roy of Algier and Fez also added by an ouerthrow of the Seriff to the Turkes conquest who gaue the gouernment of Fez to Buasson Prince of Veles But he in an vnfortunate battell with the Seriff lost his life and state Mahomet going after to Taradant was by the way slaine in his Pauilion by the Treason of some Turkes suborned thereunto by the King of Algier of whom all but fiue in their returne were slaine by the people Anno 1559. Mulley Abdala the Seriffs sonne was proclaymed King Some write that by occasion of a Rebellion in Sus hee sent to the bordering Turkes for aide who first helped after murthered him and hauing sacked Taradant and ouer-runne the Countrey two moneths together were in their returne by the Mountainers cut off Mully Abdala hauing raigned fifteene yeeres dyed leauing behind him thirteene sonnes the eldest Abdala commanded the rest to be killed but Abdelmelech the second brother escaped into Turkie and Muley Hamet the third brother esteemed of a simple and quiet spirit not any way dangerous to the state was spared The other tenne were put to death in one day at Taradant where they had beene brought vp This Abdela dying left behind him three sonnes Muley Mahomet Muley Sheck Muley Nassar the two younger escaped into Spaine where Sheck is yet liuing and turned Christian Nassar returned in the foureteenth yeere of Muley Hamets Raigne and had almost driuen Muley Sheck then Gouernour of Fez vnder his Father to his heeles had not superstition more preuayled with Nassars followers then Allegeance For when Lent came his Souldiers would needs home to keepe their Easter at their owne houses for feare whereof Nassar hastily giuing battest was there slaine Abdelmelech before fled into Turkie now came backe with Turkish forces and got the Kingdome from Mahomet who fleeing or as others write sending for succour to Sebastian King of Portugall obtained it In the yeere 1578. Fiue thousand Germans were entertayned in the Portugall pay for the expedition and great forces were leuyed the Pope sending Stukely that English Traytor falsely termed Marquesse of Ireland with fixe hundred Italians to Sebastian who the foure and twentieth of Iune tooke Sea and the next day with a Fleet of one thousand and three hundred sayle or as Doglioni hath it setting in order his Armada of fiue hundred sayle and blessing his Royall Standard with thirtie sixe thousand Footmen and foure thousand Horse set forth towards Africa Where Abdelmelech being sickly had assembled an Armie of fifteene thousand Footmen and foure and fortie thousand Horse men On the fourth day of August they joyned battell and the Duke of Auero with his Portugals made a great impression into the Moores host which Abdelmelich labouring beyond his naturall force to withstand saued his people but lost his life not by the Sword of the enemy but by the weakenesse of his body deliuered vp to death His brother Hamet ruled the Armie as yet ignorant of what had befalne and made such slaughter of the Portugals that the Duke of Auero the King of Portugall and other great Personages there fell and Mahomet himselfe was drowned in fleeing ouer a Riuer Thus remayned Hamet victorious and at one time had the dead corpes of three Kings in his Tent Such is the furie of Waire the force of death trampling vnder foot the meanest and triumphing ouer the greatest Stukely among the rest receiued due wages for his treacherie and disloyaltie to his Countrey slaine out of his Countrey by the barbarous Barbarian To Abadelmelech was Master Edmund Hogan employed in Embassage by the Maiestie of our late Soueraigne Anno one thousand fiue hundred seuentie seuen and with all good Offices entertayned To Hament his Successour was from the same Sacred Maiestie sent Ambassadour Master Henry Roberts Anno one thousand fiue hundred eightie fiue who was there Lieger three yeeres This Muley Hamet in a Letter to the Earle of Leicester thus begins In the name of the mercifull and pitifull God The blessing of God light vpon our Lord and Prophet Mahomet and those that are obedient vnto him The seruant of God both mightie in warre and mightily exalted by the grace of God Myra Momanyn the sonne of Myra Momanyn the Iarif the Hozeni whose Kingdomes God maintayne Vnto the right famous c. In an Edict published in behalfe of the English hee stileth himselfe The seruant of the Supreame God the Conquerour in his cause the successor aduanced by God c. He flayed off the skin from the carkasse of Mahomet drowned in the battell as is said and filled it full of Straw and sent it through all Prouinces of his Kingdome for a spectacle He raigned seuen and twentie yeeres He sent an Embassage into England Anno a thousand sixe hundred and one performed by Abdala Waecad Anowne His people did so feare him that Abdala Creme his Customer hauing one onely Sonne who in an idle businesse and busie idlenesse would needs feed his curious eyes with the light of the Palace where the Kings Concubines were caused him to bee strangled before his face He gouerned the Alarbes which are supposed to bee of Arabian Race and said to vse the Arabike Language Inhabitants of the plaine and Champaine Countries of Marocco Fez and Sus in peace and subiection receiuing their tents duly paid The Brebers or Mountainers are the Natiues and ancient Inhabitants chased by the former into strong Cities and the Naturall Forts of Hils as our Progenitors serued the Britaines forcing them to the Mountaines of Wales and Cornwall a people of another Language called Tamaset and disposition whom hee could not so easily tame and therefore in policie hee drew them into forreine Expeditions especially against the Negros thereby extending his Empire so farre that way as by Camell it was sixe moneths iourney from Marocco to the extremest bounds Likewise he vsed them to goe with the Carauans
which runnes thorow the middest of it There are no Hils neere the bankes of Niger but wooddie places diuers receptacles of Elephants Raines doe neither good nor harme onely Niger ministers them plenty as Nilus in Egypt Their encrease is likewise alike fortie dayes together after the middest of Iune doth Niger encrease at which time the Negro Townes are Ilands and the way to them by Boats and as many it deceaseth The Merchants in Iuly August and September trade in Boats made of a hollowed tree like the Indian Canoas This Riuer some thinke ariseth out of a Desart called Sen from a great Lake some with lesse likelihood thinke it an arme of Nilus and some with no truth thinke it to be deriued from Paradise It is by Geographers brought from a Lake which they call Niger within two degrees of the Equinoctiall and running thence Northwards hides himselfe from the violence of the Sunnes furie vnder a Mantle of Earth sixty miles together and then the Earth discouering him hee runnes not farre but in reuenge he couereth a great part of the Earth and drowneth the same in a Lake called Borneo till the Earth againe with her strong Armes claspes him in straiter bankes and forceth him to turne his streame Westward in which way hauing gotten Fresh helpe of some other streames that send in their succours he againe preuayleth and ouerthrowes the Earth in the Lake Guber but shee getting vp againe makes him flee to the Ocean for ayde with whose tide-forces assisted he rends the Earth into many Ilands which hee holds as Captiues betweene his waterie armes of Senaga Gambra and diuers others which euer let slip their hold and yet euer hold them in euerlasting captiuitie In this combate whiles both parts sweate in contention a fatter excrement is left behind which all this way heartens the Earth with admirable fertilitie especially then when the Cloudes in the Summer time take Nigers part and daily marshall their mighty showres to the Riuers ayde shooting off continually in their march their Airie Ordnance with dreadfull lightnings whereat the amazed Earth shrinkes in her selfe and the insulting waters for three monethes space trample ouer all and send Colonies of fishes to inhabit the soyle engirting meane-while all the Townes with a strait siege But when the Sunne in his Autumne Progresse sends forth the Winds to summon the Clouds to attend on his fiery Chariot The Earth by degrees lookes vp with her dirty face bemited with washing and make vse of the slime which cannot runne away with the fleeting waters to serue her all the yeere after as Treasurer of her plenty and abundance Richri and Meshudi ancient African Writers knew little of these parts but a Mahumetan Preacher in the 380. yeere of the Hegeira made the people of Luntona and Libya of his faithlesse faith and after that they were discouered They liued saith Leo like beasts without King Lord Common-wealth or any gouernment scarce knowing to sow their grounds clad in skins of beasts not hauing any peculiar wife but lye tenne or twlue men together each man chusing which he best liked Warre they wage with no other Nation nor are desirous to trauell out of their Countrey Some worship the Sunne at the rising Others as the people of Gualata the Fire and those of Gaoga are Christians like the Egyptians Ioseph King of Marocco subdued them and after that the fiue peoples of Libya of whom they learned the Mahumetane Law and other Artes and the Merchants of Barbary frequented those parts The Libyans diuided them into fifteene parts each third part of those fiue peoples possessing one But the present King of Tombuto Abuaci Izchia being made Generall of the Forces of Soni Heli the former King which was a Libyan after his death slue his Sonnes and brought the Kingdome to the Negros conquering many Prouinces After which he went to Mecca on Pilgrimage and thereby let himselfe in debt an hundred and fifty thousand Ducats A great part of those Parts by their difference of Language and Religion is yet vnknowne to vs Gualata was subdued by the King of Tombuto a beggerly Countrey This Region adioyneth to Cape Blanco The Portugals when they discouered these Coasts for Henry the Infanta traded heere for slaues as farre as Canaga or Senaga to which our Nation hath since traded and is an arme as is said of Niger Heere begins the Countrey of Guinea or Ginny in which we will first giue description of the Kingdomes and Nations alongst the Coast next we will set downe some obseruations of former times in the third place those of the Dutch and lastly of the Iesuits The Portugals reckon all to Guinea from Sanaga in sixteene degrees to the North and the Angolan limits in thirteene degrees of Southerly Latitude so called of Genus situate on the said Riuer All the Kingdomes of Congo and Angola they terme the Lower the Northerly part the Higher Guinea Senaga Sanaga or Zanaga the Ancients called Stachiris or Darat From hence Southward is Cape Verd or the Greene Cape anciently called Arsinarium against which are twelue Ilands which beare name of this Cape which being desart were first inhabited by the Portugals Anno 1446. On the Coast for wee must leaue these Ilands to their due place the first Kingdome is that of the Ialophs or Ialoeses bounded with Zanaga on the North the Sea on the West on the East the black Ialoeses called Fulli Gasalli on the South the Berbecines a Region contayning a hundred and fiue and twenty leagues in length The Countrey is rich in Fruites and Gold whereof in Tubucato is great store In these parts are many Portugals turned wilde and barbarous after the fashion of the Natiues hauing in manner put off all Christianity in nakednesse in figuring their skinnes with indelible Characters and formes of diuers creatures and in like behauiour conforming themselues to the Negros They are called Tangos maos and through all Guinea procure such Commodities as they may sell to European Merchants Southwards from hence are the Kingdomes of Ala and Brocall inhabited by the Berbecines these worship the New Moone and sacrifice to certaine Trees which they embrue with the bloud of the slaine Sacrifices and with meale of Rice When the King of Ala goes to Warre hee assembleth his chiefe men into a Groue neere the Palace where they digge a Ditch in a round Circle and there euery man declareth his opinion after this consultation the Ditch is closed and vnder paine of Treason all which hath beene spoken must bee concealed and as it were thus buried The Maydens beautifie themselues with such skinne-figures as yee haue heard on their bodies and faces cut and pounced with the iuyce of Hearbes made to endure they also bore their lips especially the lower inserting in the holes bones and peeces of Wood and weightie things to make it hang from the vpper lip Opinion can giue
maruell if in India there were some great Christian Prince able to make a head against the Tartars in those times For euen in Cranganor are yet supposed to hee threescore and ten thousand Christians besides a great number in Negapatan and in Malipur and very many in Angamale and fifteene thousand on the North of Cochin where the Archbishop that dependeth on the Patriarke of Babylon or Mosul resided All which haue no communion with the Greeke Roman or Ethiopian Churches And for the Ethiopian names or crosses either their Merchants when their state was great or slaues which taken from them are euen in these times sold dearest of any other and mount to great preferments of warre vnder these Lords might leaue such impressions or some other which as they professed one Christ so might haue some wordes and ceremonies common with the Ethiopian although I must needes acknowledge that many of those crosses haue not crossed my way nor any other Ethiopian foot prints Pardon me gentle Reader if I seeme tedious in this dispute seeing it is necessarie both for the vnderstanding of the extent of the Power and Religion of this Precious or Priest Iohn and Scaliger hauing ascribed such large bounds to his Empire I could not but examine the same otherwise professing my selfe si non magis amica veritas euen willing if I must needs erre to erre with him who hath in many tongues and arts shewed himselfe perhaps the worthiest Generall and generallest Worthy against Error that euer wee haue had the Alpha of learned men in our Age as our learned Marton testifieth of him and a great light of learning acknowledged by Royall testimonie His authoritie I would not seeme to contemne and therefore haue entred this long search But Scaliger himselfe hath since altered his opinion in the last Edition of his Emendation in which these later Editions of this worke might haue excluded also this long dispute but that it may serue to illustrate both this and other parts of our Historie and therefore doe still suffer it to remayne HONDIVS his Map of the Abissine Empire ABISSINORUM REGNUÌ„ CHAP. IIII. Relations of the Aethiopian Empire collected out of ALVARES BERMVDESIVS and other Authors TO come now to the Aethiopian Greatnesse of this great Aethiopian his Title would be a sufficient Text for a more sufficient glosse then we can giue In a Letter to King Emanuel after diuers words concerning the Trinitie follow These Letters sendeth Atani Tinghill that is the Frankincense of the Virgin which was his name in Baptisme but at the beginning of his Raigne hee tooke to name Dauid the beloued of GOD Pillar of the Faith descended of the Tribe of Iuda Sonne of Dauid Sonne of Salomon Sonne of the Pillar of Sion Sonne of the seed of Iacob Sonne of the hand of Marie Sonne of Nahu according to the flesh Emperour of the Greater and Higher Aethiopia and of most large Kingdomes Territories and Iurisdictions the King of Xoa Caffate Fatigar Angote Baru Baaliganze Adea Vangue and Goiame where Nilus springeth Of Damaraa Vaguemedri Ambeaa Vagne Tigri-Mahon Of Sabaym the Countrey of the Queene of Saba of Barnagasso and Lord as farre as Nubia which confineth vpon Aegypt Heere are names enough to skarre a weake braine a great part whereof are now his as some say in Title onely For at this present if Barros and Botero bee beleeued his Neighbours haue much encroched vpon him as a little before we haue shewed a thing wholly denied by the later Relations of Frier Luys de Vrreta Yet seeing we are to trauell through all these Countreys we will leaue the question of dominion to him and his neighbours to try it with the sword Our pen shall peaceably point out the places and after that the conditions Barnagasso is the nighest to vs at least by the neere situation of the red Sea nighest to our knowledge It stretcheth from Suachen almost to the mouth of the Streyt and hath Abagni or Astapus on the South It hath no other Port on the red Sea but Ercocco Neither hath the Prete any other Port but this in all his Dominion being Land-locked on all sides Anno 1558. The Turks committed heere great spoile They haue since taken from the Prete all on the Sea side and specially that Port of Ercocco and the other of Suachen or Suaquem and forced the Gouernour or vnder-King of this Prouince to compound for a yeerely summe of a thousand ounces of Gold besides his Tribute to the Ethiopian To him are also subiect the Gouernmenrs of Dafila and Canfila And the Turke hath a Basla at Suaquem called by Ptolomey Sebasticum Tigri-Mahon lyeth betweene Nilus Marabo two Riuers Angote and the Sea Tigrai hath in it Cazumo which is supposed the Seat-Royall of that great Queen which visited Salomon Angote is between Tigre-Mahon Amara Heere in Amara is a steepe Hil dilating it selfe in a round forme many dayes iourny in compasse enuironing with the steepe sides and impassible tops thereof many fruitfull and pleasant Vallies wherein the kindred of the Prete are surely kept for the auoiding of all tumults and seditions Xoa hath store of corne and cattell Goiame hath plenty of Gold as Baguamedri hath siluer In Fatigar is a Lake on the top of a high mountaine twelue miles compasse abounding with great varietie of fish and thence runne many Riuers stored with the same fish Damne is ennobled with slauerie For the slaues that are hence caried captiues in Arabia Persia and Egypt proue good souldiers The greater part of this Kingdome are Gentiles and the residue Christians The Oxen as Bermudez relateth are almost as great as Elephants their hornes very great and serue for vessels to carie and keepe Wine and Water as Barrels or Tankerds There is found also a kinde of Vnicorne wilde and fierce fashioned like a horse of the bignesse of an Asse Neere hereunto he addeth a Prouince of Amazons whose Queene knoweth no man and is honoured as a goddesse they say they were first instituted by the Queene of Saba both like true as that which followeth of Griffons the Phoenix and fowles so bigge that they make a shaddow like a cloud Couche is subiect to Damur they are Gentiles The Prince called Axgugce that is Lord of riches he shewed vs saith Bermudez a Mountaine glistering in some places like the Sun saying all that was gold More gold is said there to be then in Peru or in these parts iron The head of the Monasteries of Amara Christned him Gradeus the Emperour being his God-father and named him Andrew Gueguere was sometimes called Meroe the Inhabitants are confederate with the Turkes and Moores against the Abissines Dancali and Dobas are neere the red Sea inhabited with Moores Many of these Countreys are diuersly placed by diuers through ignorance of the exact situations which Aluarez in his so many yeares trauell in those parts might well haue
Congo that they build their Houses with Lime and Stone and for their fashions and qualities may be compared with the Portugals This seemeth to be in Goiame where the Abassine entitleth himselfe King and in his title as before you haue read cals it the Fountayne of Nilus which Aluares also mentioneth that Peter Conilian saw He affirmeth That there are Iewes about those parts which perhaps are the people that the Anzichi speake of From this second Lake in Goiame the Riuer which is there called Gihon passeth through the Pretes Dominion to Meroe and so to Egypt as elsewhere is shewed In these two great Lakes are diuers Ilands that we speake not of the Tritons and other I know not what Monsters there reported to be found The Lake Zembre yeeldeth not Nilus alone but Zaire a farre more spacious Riuer in widenesse and more violent in force then Nilus or any other Riuer in Africa Europe or Asia of which wee lately related And besides her Northerne and Westerne Tributes carried by those two Riuers to the Mediterranean and Ocean Seas shee sendeth her great streames of Magnice Coaua and Cuama into the inner or Easterne Ocean Magnice springing out of Zembre receiueth in his Voyage to the Sea three other Riuers Nagoa called Saint Christophers and Margues which both spring out of the Mountaynes of the Moone by the people there called Toroa the third is Arroe which besides his waters payeth to Neptune which neyther needs nor heeds it a great quantity of Gold which it washeth from the Mountaynes of Monomotapa a Countrey extending it selfe betweene Magnice and Cuama whose seuen mouthes seeke to swallow vp many Ilands which they hold in their jawes but through greedinesse lose that which greedinesse makes them seeke not able to swallow so great morsels which therefore remayne and are inhabited with Pagans Boterus sayth That this Riuer runs out of that Lake a great space in one Channell and then is diuided into two the one called Spirito Sancto running into the Sea vnder the Cape Couenti the other Cuama receiueth the Riuers Panami Luangua Arruia Mangiono Inadire Ruina and is sayled more then seuen hundred miles Coaua is also a great Riuer The Inhabitants within Land about these Riuers are as you haue heard Pagans and rude people Let me now haue leaue to conuey my selfe downe this Riuer Coaua into the Ocean and there take view of the many Ilands with which Nature hath adorned this African World as with many Brooches and Iewels set and hanged about the fringes of her garments and first learning what we can of the Ilands in and from the Red Sea hither we will in some Portugall Carricke sayle round about the African Coast and acquaint you with what we shall find worthiest obseruation and then not willing as yet to set foot in Lisbone as we meete with the Fleet of Spaine sayling to the New-found World will passe with them for further Discoueries For to goe into the Mediterranean to discouer the African Ilands there will scarce be worth the while To heare a little of those few may content vs Thus Authors haue written of the Riuers which they nâ—uer saw but Iohn des Santos a Portugall Frier which liued many yeeres in those parts hath giuen a fuller description of the Riuers and Coasts in those Easterne shores of Afrike By whose narration it appeareth that Cuama and Nilus come not out of one and the same Lake for Cuama ouerfloweth in March and Apill not as Nilus in Iuly and August and makes the Countrey at that time sickly and driueth the wild beasts to the higher parts where Lions Tygres Elephants Merus a kind of horned Asses Ounces Rhinocerotes Buffals wilde Kine and Swine and Horses and Dogs Zeuras other creatures of those parts are assembled in a peaceable Parliament by the Riuers forceable summons which so aweth them that as somtime in Noahs Arke they forget their preying nature and quietly expect their dismission with that of the waters Riuer horses there abound and Crocodiles other strange Beasts Birds Fishes and Wormes they haue with Manna and other naturall rarities touching which I referre the Reader to the second part of my Pilgrimes where the Relations of Santos and Iobson will entertayne him frankly Santos also will there acquaint you with the description of the Riuers Countrey Mynes and people of those parts their Kingdomes Warres Customes Politike Oeconomike and Religious the Portugall Forts of Sofala Sena Tete and the Marts of Massapa Luanze Manzono the strange Rites of the Kings of Monomotapa Quiteue Sedanda and their Neighbours The Quiteue is King of Sofala and on that side of Cuama hath about 100. women amongst which his Ants Sisters Daughters whom he carnally vseth which incest to a subiect were death when he dyeth the Successor is he to whom those women giue peaceable and quiet possession of the Kings House and themselues No force is made nor subiection yeelded vpon forced possession The King thus by them receiued is not only admitted of the rest but adored yea they aske of him raine seasonable Haruest and all things they need not without great Presents He hath his Oracle-consultations with the Deuill and euery yeere on the Obit day of the former King the Deuill then entring into some one of the Assembly and giuing answers Euery New Moone is a holy day and the Musimos or Feast dayes which the Quiteue appoints by Proclamation which they obserue without working They otherwise worship no God nor haue any Idoll Image or Temple Priest or Sacrifice They call the Quiteue by prodigious titles Lord of the Sunne and Moone and especially entitle him in all things Great as great Thiefe great Witch none else are permitted to bee Witches great Lion c. good or bad so as Great be the Epithet The name Quiteue is common to all their Kings successiuely in that Countrey and to the Countrey it selfe Their Oathes by Poyson licking of hote Iron c. and other strange customes you shall find in the place aforesaid CHAP. XI Of the Seas and Ilands about Africa the Ancient and Moderne Obseruations Nauigations and Discoueries §. I. Of the Red Sea and why it is so called AFter this long and tedious journey ouer Land where the steepe and snowie Mountaynes the myrie and vnwholesome Vallies the vnpassable Wildernesses swift Riuers still Lakes thicke Woods and varietie of the Continent-obseruations haue thus long whiled vs let vs now by a swifter course take view of the African Seas and those Ilands which they hold alway besieged but neuer conquer In the first place presents it selfe to our Discouery that Sea which separateth after the Moderne reckoning Africa and Asia asunder This is called the Red Sea which name sayth Plinie the Graecians call Erythraeum this word signifieth Red and is ascribed by some to a King named Erythras whom Postellus and some others thinke to be Esau or Edom which the like signification of his name
reports For he being a Mariner vsed to the Sea from his youth and sayling from Cales to Portugall obserued that at certaine seasons of the yeere the windes vsed to blow from the West which continued in that manner a long time together And deeming that they came from some coast beyond the Sea he busied his minde so much herewith that he resolued to make some triall and proofe thereof When he was now forty yeeres old hee propounded his purpose to the Senate of Genua vndertaking if they would lend him ships he would find a way by the West vnto the Ilands of Spices But they reiected it as a dreame Columbus frustrate of his hopes at Genua yet leaues not his resolution but goeth to Portugall and communicates this matter with Iohn the second King of Portugall but finding no entertainment to his suites sendeth his brother Bartholomew Columbus to King Henry the seuenth of England to sollicite him in the matter whiles himselfe passed into Spaine to implore the aide of the Castilians herein Bartholomew vnhappily lighted on Pirats by the way which robbed him and his company forced him to sustayne himselfe with making of Sea-cards And hauing gotten somewhat about him presents a Map of the World to King Henry with his Brothers offer of Discouerie which the King gladly accepted and sent to call him into England But hee had sped of his suite before in Spaine and by the King and Queene was employed according to his request For comming from Lisbone to Palos di Moguer and there conferring with Martin Alonso Pinzon an expert Pilot and Fryer Io. Perez a good Cosmographer hee was counselled to acquaint with those his proiects the Dukes of Medina Sidonia and of Medina Caeli which yeelding him no credit the Fryer counselled him to goe the Court and wrote in his behalfe to Fryer Fernand di Telauera the Queenes Confessor Christopher Columbus came to the Court of Castile Anno 1486 and found cold welcome to his suite at the hands of the King and Queene then busied with hot warres in Granada whence they expelled the Moores And thus remayned hee in contempt as a man meanely clothed without other Patron then a poore Fryer saue that Alonso di Quintaniglia gaue him his Dyet who also at last procured him audience with the Archbishop of Toledo by whose mediation he was brought before the King and Queene who gaue him fauourable countenance and promised to dispatch him when they had ended the warres of Granada which also they performed Thus Columbus is set forth with three Caruels at the Kings charges who because his treasure was then spent in the warres borrowed sixteene thousand Duckets of Lewes de Sanct Angelo and on Friday the third of August in the yeere of our Lord 1492. in a Vessell called the Gallega accompanyed with the Pinta and Ninna in which the Pinzons Brethren went as Pilots with the number of an hundred and twenty persons or thereabouts set sayle for Gomera one of the Canary Ilands and hauing there refreshed himselfe followed his Discouery After many dayes hee encountred with that Hearbie Sea whereof before we haue spoken which not a little amated and amazed the Spaniards and had caused their returne had not the sight of some Birds promised him land not farre off He also first taught the Spaniards to obserue the Sunne and Pole in their Nauigations which till his Voyage they had not vsed nor knowne But the Spaniards after three and thirty dayes sayling desperate of successe mutined and threatned to cast Columbus into the Sea disdayning much that a stranger a Genuois had so abused them But he pacified their enraged courages with milde speeches and gentle promises On the eleuenth day of October one Rodorigo di Triana espyed and cryed Land Land the best Musicke that might be especially to Columbus who to satisfie the Spaniards importunity had promised the day before that if no Land appeared in three dayes hee would returne One the night before had descryed fire which kindled in him some hope of great reward at the Kings hand when hee returned into Spaine but beeing heerein frustrate hee burnt into such a flame as that it consumed both Humanitie and Christianitie in him and in the agony of indignation made him leaue his Countrey and Faith and reuolt to the Moores But thee Columbus how can I but remember but loue but admire Sweetly may those bones rest sometimes the Pillars of that Temple where so diuine a Spirit resided which neyther want of former example nor publike discouragements of domesticall and forren States nor priuate insultations of proud Spaniards nor length of time which vsually deuoureth the best resolutions nor the vnequall Plaines of huge vnknowne Seas nor grassie fields in Neptunes lap nor importunate whisperings murmurings threatnings of inraged companions could daunt O name Colon worthy to be named vnto the Worlds end which to the Worlds end hast conducted Colonies or may I call thee Colombo for thy Doue-like simplicitie and patience the true Colonna or Pillar whereon our knowledge of this New World is founded the true Christopher which with more then Giant-like force and fortitude hast carried Christ his Name and Religion through vnknowne Seas to vnknowne Lands which we hope and pray that it may be more refined and reformed then Popish superstition and Spanish pride will yet suffer Now let the Ancients no longer mention Neptune or Minos or Erythras or Danaus to all which diuers authors diuersly ascribe the inuention of nauigation Mysians Troyans Tyrians vaile your bonnets strike your top-sayles to this Indian-Admirall that deserueth the top-saile indeed by aspiring to the top that sayling could ayme at in discouering another World Let Spaniards French English and Dutch resound thy name or His Name rather whose Name who can tell that would acquaint Thee and the World by thee with newes of a New-World But lest we drowne our selues in this Sea of Extasie and Admiration let vs goe on shoare with Columbus in his new discouered Iland And first mee thinkes I see the Spaniards yesterday in mutinie now as farre distracted in contrary passions some gazing with greedie eyes on the desired Land some with teares of ioy not able to see that which the ioy of seeing made them not to see others embracing and almost adoring Columbus who brought them to that sight some also with secret repinings enuying that glory to a stranger but byting in their byting enuie and making shew of glee gladnesse all new awaked out of a long trance into which that Step-mother-Ocean with dangers doubts dreads despaires had deiected them reuiued now by the sight of their mother-earth from whom in vnknowne armes they had beene so long weaned and detayned On shoare they goe and felling a tree make a Crosse thereof which there they erected and tooke possession of that New World in the name of the Catholike Kings This was done on the eleuenth of October Anno 1492.
forme as he appeareth to them which is of diuers sorts They offer Bread Smoke Fruits and Flowres with great deuotion Any one may cut off his arme which stealeth Mais Enciso with his Armie of Spaniards seeking to subdue these parts vsed a Spanish tricke telling the Indians That hee sought their conuersion to the Faith and therefore discoursed of One God Creator of all things and of Baptisme and after other things of this nature lesse to his purpose he told them That the Pope is the Vicar of Christ in all the world with absolues power ouer mens Soules and Religions and that hee had giuen those Countries to the most mightie King of Spaine his Master and hee was now come to take possession and to demand gold for tribute The Indians answered That they liked well what he had spoken of one God but for their Religion they would not dispute of it or leaue it And for the Pope he should be liberall of his owne neither seemed it that their King was mightie but poore that sent thus a begging But what words could not their Swords effected with the destruction of the Indians §. II. Of Vraba Carthagena and the Superstitions of Dabaiba THe soyle of Vraba is so fatned with a streame therein that in eight and twentie dayes the seeds of Cucumbers Melons and Gourds will ripen their Fruits There is a Tree in those Countries whose leaues with the bare touch cause great blisters the sauour of the wood is poyson and cannot be carried without danger of lift except by the helpe of another herbe which is an Antidote to this venomous Tree King Abibeiba had Palace in a Tree by reason of the moorish situation and often inundation of his Land Vasques could not get him downe till he began to cut the Tree and then the poore King came downe and bought his freedome at the Spaniards price Carthagena was so called for some resemblance in the situation to a Citie in Spaine of that name Sir Francis Drake tooke it The Indians thereabout vsed poisoned Arrowes the women warre as well as the men Enciso took one who with her owne hands had killed eight and twenty Christians They did eate the Enemies which they killed They vsed to put in their Sepulchres gold feathers and other riches Betweene Carthagena and Martha runneth a swift Riuer which maketh the Sea-water to giue place and they which passe by may in the Sea take in of this water fresh It is called of the Inhabitants Dabaiba the Spaniards haue named it Pio Grande and the Riuer of Saint Iohn it passeth with a Northerne discouerie into the Gulfe of Viaba before mentioned They which dwell on this Riuer obserue an Idoll of great note called by the name of the Riuer Dabaiba whereto the King at certaine times of the yeere sends slaues to be sacrificed from remote Countries from whence also is great resort of Pilgrims They kill the slaues before their God and after burne them supposing that odour acceptable to their Idoll as Taper-lights and Frankincense saith Martyr is to our Saints Through the displeasure of that angry God they said that all the Riuers and Fountaines had once failed and the greatest part of men perished with famine Their Kings in remembrance hereof haue their Priests at home and Chappels which are swept euery day and kept with a religious neatnesse When the King thinketh to obtaine of the Idoll Sunne-shine or Raine or the like he with his Priests gets vp into a Pulpit standing in the Chappell purposing not to depart thence till his suit be granted They vrge their God therefore with vehement prayers and cruell fasting the people meane-while macerating themselues also with fasting in foure dayes space not eating nor drinking except on the fourth day onely a little broth The Spaniards asking what God they worshipped thus they answered The Creator of the Heauens Sunne Moone and all inuisible things from whom all good things proceed And they say Dabaiba was the Mother of that Creator They call them to their Deuotions with certaine Trumpets and Bels of gold The Bels had clappers like in forme to ours made of the bones of Fishes and yeelding a pleasing sound as they reported which no doubt was a pleasing sound and musicke to the Spaniards couetous hearts howsoeuer it agreeth with the nature of that metall to ring in the eares One of them say they weighed sixe hundred Pensa Their Priests were enioyned chastitie which vow if they violated they were either stoned or burned Other men also in the time of that fast likewise contained themselues from those carnall pleasures They haue an imagination of the soule but know not what substance or name to ascribe vnto it to which yet they beleeued was assigned futured ioyes or woes according to their demerits pointing vp to Heauen and downe to the Center when they spake thereof Many of their Wiues for they might haue many followed the Sepulchres of their husbands They allow not marriage with the Sister of which they haue a riduculous conceit of the Spot which they account a Man in the Moone that for this Incest was thither confined to the torments of cold and moysture in that Moons-prison They leaue trenches on their Sepulchres in which they yeerely powre Mays and some of their Wine to the profit as they thinke of the Ghosts If a Mother die while she giueth sucke the poore nursling must not bee Orphan but bee interred with her being put there to her brest and buried aliue They imagined that the Soules of their great men and their familiars were immortall but not others and therefore such of their seruants and friends as would not be buried with them they thought should lose that priuiuiledge of Immortalitie and the delights of those pleasant places where was eating drinking dancing and the former delicacies of their former liues They renue the funerall pomps of these great men yeerely assembling thither with plentie of Wine and meats and there watch all night especially the women singing drerie lamentations with Inuectiues against his Enemies if he dyed in the warres yea cutting the Image of his Enemy in pieces in reuenge of their slaine Lord This done they fall to drinking of Mays Wine till they be weary if not drunken Yet after this they resume their Songs to his commendation with many dances and adorations When day appeareth they put the Image of the deceased into a great Canoa a Boat of one Tree capcable of threescore Oares filled with drinkes herbes and such things as in his life he had loued which some carrie vpon their shoulders in Procession about the Court and set it downe there againe and burne it with all the contents After which the women filled with Wine and emptied of all modestie with loose haire secrets not secret and varietie of Bacchanal gestures sometimes goe somtimes fall somtimes shake the weapons of the men and conclude with beastly sleeping on the ground The young men
three hundred Mynes of Spaniards and fiue thousand of Indians and that the Kings part there is two Millions of Siluer in Chili one and one and a halfe of Gold all the Gold and Siluer which yeerely comes to Lima is twelue Millions This Lima is the same with Los Reyes before mentioned and is an Archiepiscopall See and hath vnder it the Bishops of Quito Cusco Guamanga Arequipa Pax Plata Trugillo Guanuco Chachapoia Portas Vetus Guaiaquil Popaian Carchi Saint Michael and Saint Francis §. III. Obseruations of American Rites out of IERONYMO ROMAN IEronymo Roman a Spanish Fryer hath written somewhat largely of the Indian Ceremonies in his second Tome of the Common-wealths of the World especially of New Spaine and Peru but therein and in other his Relations differs from other perhaps more vnderstanding Writers From Florida to Panama hee affirmes there was little Religion or Politie that they acknowledged One True God Immortall and inuisible reigning in Heauen whom they called Yocahuuaguamaorocoti which they said had a Mother named Atabex and a Brother called Guaca He tels of their Images that an Indian going through a Wood saw the tree shake which striking him in feare hee approched to that which made most noyse and asked what hee would haue and who hee was The tree the Deuill or the Lyer made answere That hee should first goe call a Bohique or Priest which comming to the tree demanded Why hee was sent for and was by the tree instructed how to make thereof an Image and Temple and ordayned Sacrifices and Ceremonies which by cutting of that tree was presently effected and the Dedication yeerely solemnized The truth of the History I know not of the Mystery is plaine that they which make them are like vnto them and such Blocks may best be taught of Blocks their blockish Deuotions In New Spaine the Sunne he sayth was their chiefe God and they erected to him the most sumptuous Temples in the World besides other artificial Deities innumerable in matter and forme infinitely diuersified like Birds Beasts Serpents one kind like the Picture of Eue with the Serpent like the Grecian Bacchus like their mitred Bishops like Frogs or other naturall or imaginary formes Any thing which could eyther hurt or benefit them they obserued as Gods In Mexico they had hee sayth diuers degrees of their Priests the first of the High Bishop or Pope in the Mexican Language called Ilchuatecotl in the Totona tongue Papa as also we haue before obserued the second was as a Bishop and had other inferiour Priests subordinate When the Spaniards erected their Deuotions in Mexico they did not pray for the Papa lest they might be interpreted of this Ethnike Pope but called him the High Bishop Their Bishop they called Hupixe which signifies the Great Minister of God Their Priests Tetuy Pixque that is Gods Officers Other Functions bare name of their particular Offices Treasurer Vestry-keeper and the rest Some Prouinces in New Spaine had sixe Priests which were as it were Patriarkes or Archbishops all vnder the Pope aforesaid all addicted to Abstinence and Chastitie not drinking strong drinke and casting their eyes to the ground if they saw a woman professing much grauitie and mortification esteemed as Saints and of great authoritie and sway in the S ate The eldest Sonnes of Lords succeeded in their temporall estates the second was made a Priest and the Pope was Sonne to the King or some chiefe Lord in the Countrey after whose death the most Ancient succeeded being solemnely anoynted by the Priests with an Oyntment mixed with the bloud of circumcised Infants The Temples were all called Tehutlamacax a word compounded of Tehu which signifies God and Tlamacax a House or Mansion Many inferiour Offices in the Temple were executed by Citizens or honourable persons and others which liued neere the Temple vnder a speciall Master of Ceremonies called Telpuchitlato Many other things he writes of the Religion of New Spaine partly agreeing with our former Relations partly diuers or contrarie The like also of Peru where the chiefe Priest he sayth was stiled Vilaoma the Temples were most magnificent which they erected on high grounds or Hil tops making foure round Mounts of earth higher each and lesser then the former in the middest building the Temple in foure squares like Cloysters of Monasteries within which were Altars and in the most eminent place the rich and pompous Image of the Sunne Their Temples had two doores to which they ascended by thirty steps They were rich on the inner side being for the most part Gold Siluer or other rich Metals On the Easterne part was an Oratorie or Chancell against the Sun-rising ascended by six steps with a thicke wall and a hollow part therein which contayned the Image of the Sunne with rayes of Gold as we paint it by reflexion of the Sun-beames yeelding a Sun-like lustre Of all their Temples those of Pachicama and Cusco were most famous to which were Pilgrimages from the Prouinces as to Saint Iames our Lady and other famous Holies in Christendome three hundred leagues distant If I should follow this Fryer in his large Obseruations of the American Rites I might soone out-goe your patience and somewhere perhaps the Truth contenting my selfe therefore with that before obserued out of the most indicious Authors if your Author bee iudicious I remit those that would further know his Relations to himselfe hauing chosen a little and that here by it selfe inserted And thus we take our leaue of this Continent and must into the adioyning Sea to obserue matters of principall note we shall there find CHAP XIII Of the Seas and Ilands adioyning to America §. I. Of the Ladrones Margarita and Cubagua and the Seas betwixt them ANd now I must obey the Spaniards Law which will admit no strangers trafficke in Peru and are iealous of any Corriuall which shall hold longer and more familiar Discourse with America although they haue rather forced her to their lusts then wooed her to their loues I also beginne to grow wearie of this trauell in another World willing to looke homewards and therefore am now embarqued on the Peruuian Coast where the Peaceable Sea may free me of those former dangers whereto my Pilgrimage was subiect in passing along snowie and fierie Hils deceitfull vnwholsome Bogs scorching sandy Plaines Wildernesses inhabited with wild beasts Habitations peopled with wilder and more beastly Men and now by this commoditie of my Paper-barke I may both direct my course homewards and yet walke as intending another contrary or diuers Voyage And euen as those Heauenly Planets in their Wandering and yet most constant course are guided by the generall motion of that Vniuersall Wheele and yet forget not their owne peculiar so I in my wandering Discoueries propound all and euery place of the World to be the place of my Exercise and subiect of my labour but yet the smoke of Ithaca is sweetest and my knowing all would
the Day which the Lord hath made wee will reioyce and bee glad in it And now I see a better sight then all my Pilgrimage could yeeld Christian Churches without Heathenish Iewish or Antichristian pollutions a Royall King truely entituled Defender of the Faith a Learned Clergie wise and Honourable Counsellers peaceable and loyall Commons in a word England presents it selfe to mine eyes representing to my mind a Map of Heauen and Earth in the freedome of Bodie and Soule yea where our subiection and seruice is Freedome which I haue not else-where found in all my Perambulation of the World I feele my selfe herewith rauished and in a ioyfull extasie cannot but crie out It is good for vs to bee heere in the true Church and Suburbs of the true Heauen Heere then Reader let me rest me till I see whether thy kind acceptation of this will make mee willing to accept another and neerer but harder European Pilgrimage Trin-vni Deo gloria TWO RELATIONS ONE OF THE NORTHEASTERNE PARTS EXTRACTED OVT OF SIR IEROME HORSEY KNIGHT HIS many yeeres obseruations and experience in his frequent and Honourable Employments to and from the Muscouite Emperours and the adioyning PRINCES THE OTHER OF THE SOVTHEASTERNE Parts viz. GOLCHONDA and other adiacent Kingdomes within the Bay of Bengala Written by Mr. William Methold MOLLIA CVM DVRIS LONDON Printed by William Stansby for Henry Fetherstone and are to bee sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Rose 1626. To the Reader REader I here present vnto thee in a later seruice that which deserued a fitter place in another Worke and which I had sought with much industrie before without successe I am ashamed againe to tell thee with what little effect my Russian labours for Intelligence were seconded but since my PILGRIMES published Sir Ierome Horseys kindnesse offered me without seeking better Intelligence then any others could haue giuen for the times of Iuan and Feodore with the politike preparations of Boris vnto the Muscouian Empire a Story whereof I was so much more desirous to publish because our Age if euer so short a time in any Age or any State can hardly parallel the like practises of humane Policies to couetous cruell ambitious ends ended in the Authours and Actors owne Tragedies God taking the wise in their craftinesse and iustly spoyling the vniust spoylers of their spoyles liues states yea rooting out their whole Families the greatnesse and glory whereof they had sought to aduance by such wicked courses and withall punishing the wickednes of the people by so frequent forreigne Inuasions and intestine Combustions that wee may out of others euils learne this good Discite iustitiam moniti the true vse of all Historie I had out of Alexander Gwagninus Paulus Oderbornius and others collected some Relations of Iuan Vasiliwich and his Sonnes but those could see but the out-sides of things and giue vs but huskes shels and rumours which often are vncertaine sometimes false but here wee present an Eye-witnesse which tooke not vp Newes on trust by wonted Bils and Tales of Exchange but was admitted vnto the Mysteries of that State in the Historie of the Imperiall Acts written in their Records and in his owne personall and honourable Employments betwixt Queene Elizabeth of glorious Memory and the Russian Emperours And indeed want of the Languages of remote Regions hath hatched many imperfect Histories the blind leading the blind into errour wherein as I haue euer loued truth so was I glad to rectifie our Russian Relations by opportunitie of so worthy a Guide whose Papers had before furnished Doctor Fletcher with the best peeces of his Intelligence Euen here also I was straitned in time the Presse pursuing me so fast that I had not leisure to transcribe at large the Authours Danish Polish and Germane Relations nor to adde forme or beauty from Arte and perhaps this natiue nakednesse in a Iournall or Trauelling Method will be to some most acceptable The Author and matter addes better lustre to the Worke then my words can the one so full of varietie and weight the other an experienced and Religious Knight employed in many and honourable Seruices of State and honouring the Name and Family of the Horseys with his Acts Arts and good Parts Who had long since also dedicated this Worke to that Honourable Patriote Sir Francis Walsingham Now for Master Methold I had spared some of Frederikes Balbies and Fitches Relations if these had comne in time which so many times I had both by messages and in person sought and by reason of the Authours absence or businesses was frustrate But the Reader will finde his labour and cost recompensed in the Rarities of matter and stile also trauelling beyond the wonted pace of a Merchant-Traueller The Relation is correspondent to the Subiect it entreates of a Mine of Diamants and is a Mine of Diamants it selfe Gemmes may bee put on after the whole bodie so I call my former large Worke is attired and after that full repast as Indian Drugs vsed in second Seruices it will second thee with a new and refresh thee with a fresh Indian appetite and present vnto thee like Spectacles after great Feasts such a muster of Indian Elements affaires men arts Religions customes and other varieties as before we were not able to bring on our Stage Vale fruere EXTRACTS OVT OF SIR IEROME HORSEYS OBSERVATIONS IN SEVENTEENE YEERES TRAVELS AND EXPERIENCE IN RVSSIA AND OTHER COVNTRIES ADIOYNING Hauing before seene FRANCE and the Low Countries by Sir EDWARD HORSEYS meanes and in the company and charge of Master William Mericke Agent for the Company I Arriued in Muscouia A. 1573. and hauing some smack in the Greeke by affinity thereof in short space attained the ready knowledge of their vulgar speech the Sclauonian Tongue the most copious elegant Language of the World with some small difference of Dialect comming neere the Polish Lettois and Transyluanian and all those Countries adiacent being vsed by Merchants in Turkie also Persia in India I read their Chronicles written and kept in secret by a great Prince of that Country Knez Misthislofskie who out of his loue and fauour imparted vnto mee many secrets obserued in the memory of his fourescore yeeres time of the nature and gouernment of that State To omit things of former ages Vasily Andreowich hauing enlarged his Dominions vpon the Pole and Swethen and specially on the Crimme Tartars left his people strong and rich his Countries diuided into foure parts and two Sonnes the eldest of fiue yeeres called Volica Knez Iuan Vasilliwich which reigned after him the other of two yeeres Duke of Vaga Iuan grew vp comely in person indued with excellent gifts At twelue yeeres age he married Nastacia Romanoua which became so wise and vertuous that she was much loued and feared a long time carrying the whole sway Her Husband being young and riotous she ruled with admirable wisdome so that he
cast off the yoke of homage to the Crym conquered diuers Tartarian Princes the Empires of Casan and Astracan 2700. miles downe the Volga from Mosco and by a generall Councell of his Princes Prelates and Nobles was crowned and stiled the Emperour and Great Duke of Volladamiria Muscouia Cazan and Astracan c. His Conquests grew with his yeeres He tooke from the King of Poland the famous Citie of Pollozca the great Citie of Smolensca Doragabus Vasma and many other Townes with much riches and infinite numbers of captiues seuen hundred miles within their confines Lituania and Bela Russia goodly Townes of Trafficke and Countries yeelding Waxe Flaxe Hempe Tallow Hides Corne and Cattell in abundance He grew puissant and proud ouermightie for his next Neighbours and bloudie in all his Conquests When his good Queene Nastacia dyed she was canonized a Saint and to this day worshipped in their Churches By her he had two Sonnes Iuan and Theodore The Emperour after this married one of the Chircas by whom hee had no issue that hee would be knowne of The manner of this Marriage was strange and heathenish which I forbeare out of their owne History to relate By this Marriage hee was much strengthened by the Tartars better Souldiers then the Natiues of whom he made vse to curbe his Princes and Nobles which were discontent with his cruell robbing and incessant murthering of his Nobilitie He set forward with 100000. Horse and 50000. Foot with prouisions of Cannon and Munition towards Liuonia and Swethia kils men women and children in his way to Nouogrod and Plesco the two greatest Townes of Trafficke in all the East with the Narue which three stand triangle wise at the end of the Baltike Sea within the Sound In this last hee built a Castle called Iuan Gorod and caused the eyes of the Architect to bee bored out Thence he enters the Confines of Liuonia sends Knez Iuan Grinscoy to besiege Newhous which was taken with all the Townes in the way to Dorp This also yeelded and the Tartars carried away eight thousand Captiues the Merchandize and Treasure was sent to Nogrod for the Emperours vse He proceedeth deuideth his Army into foure parts ten thousand are appointed to draw the Ordnance ouer the frozen Lakes takes all in his way thirty walled Townes and Castles neere the Easterne Sea within two hundred miles compasse drowning burning rauishing Maydes and Wiues stripping them naked notwithstanding the cold tying them by two and three at their Horse tayles and dragging them some aliue some dead the wayes and streets lying full of carkasses of euery age and sexe These Liuonians are accounted the fairest people in the World Infinite numbers were sent into Russia with infinite treasure Sixe hundred Churches were robbed and destroyed He and his Tartars at last came to Reuell besiegeth and batters it with twentie Cannons The Inhabitants by night make vp the breaches by carrying and casting hote and cold water which froze so thicke that after sixe weekes siege and 20000. Cannon shot spent with losse of 7000. he hasted away the sudden thaw also making him to leaue much of his Artillery behind with former booties baggage and 30000. men in his retiring Enraged with fury for this repulse and losse hee comes backe to the Narue spoyles the Towne of all the Riches and Merchandise kils men women and children and giues the spoyle to his Tartars which bred no small emulation in his Russe Captaines Thence hee marcheth to Plescoue alias Vobsco where he intended to doe the like easily beleeuing those which reported that these two Townes and Nouogrod had practised against him that by their meanes hee had sustayned his losse at Reuel But there met him a Magician Mikula Sweat which that Towne held their Oracle who with bold Imprecations and Exorcismes calling him Bloud-sucker and Deuourer of Christian flesh swore by his Angell that hee should not escape death by a present Thunderbolt if he or any of his did touch the least childs haire in that Citie which God by his Angel did preserue for better purpose then his rapine that therefore he should get him thence before the fierie Cloud of Gods wrath were raysed which he might behold hanging ouer his head it being a very great and darke storme at that instant The Emperour trembling at these words desired Prayers for his deliuerance and forgiuenesse of his cruell thoughts I saw this Impostor a foule creature hee went naked Winter and Summer induring extreame frost and heat His Holinesse could not endure me He did many strange things by Magicall Illusions and was much followed and feared there of Prince and people The Emperour returning to Nouogrod where all his Captiues and Prisoners remayned in exceeding discontent he chargeth it with 30000. Tartars and 10000. Gunners of his Guard who without respect rauished the women and maides robbed and spoyled all that were within it murthered young and old burned the houshold stuffe and Merchandises with Ware-houses of Waxe Flaxe Cordage Tallow Hides Salt Wines Cloth of Gold Silkes Furres all set on fire The Waxe and Tallow melted ran downe the Kennels of the streets together with the bloud of 700000. men women and children as some affirmed besides beasts insomuch that with bloud and carkasses the Riuer Volca was as it were stopped He vanted that this Massacre should exceed those of Niniue and Ierusalem The Citie being thus destroyed and desolate he returned towards Musco and in the way employes his Captaynes to take the people in the Townes and Villages within a hundred miles compasse Gentlemen Peasants Merchants and Monkes old and young with their Families Goods and Cattle to goe and inhabit this ruined Nouogrod exposing them to a new slaughter For many of them dyed with Pestilence and poyson of that infected place which could not bee replenished to any purpose Not long after God empties the Emperours Kingdome and chiefe Cities of his people by Pestilence Famine Fire and Sword and this his crueltie bred such discontent that many practised to destroy him which were still discouered Hee countenanced the Rascalitie and the most desperate Souldiers against the chiefe Nobility Hee setled his Treasures in Mosco and the principall Monasteries Many of the Nobilitie he put to shamefull deaths and tortures and now suspecting his Chercas Tartars also he placed them in his new Conquests of Leefland and Sweathland The Crim Tartar his ancient Enemy inuaded him incited by his Nobilitie as he found out against whom he leuies out of remote Prouinces a huge Army of strangers with his owne hundred thousand horse and fifty thousand foot He discards his Chercas wife and puts her in a Monastery and among many of his owne Subiects chuseth Natalia Daughter to Kneaz Pheodor Bulgaloue a great Commander in his warres who soone after lost his head and his Daughter within a yeere was shorne a Nunne Newes came of his Enemies approch God suffered this wicked
August September and October the raines are predominant which with their frequent violent and long cnntinuing showres cooles the Earth and reuiues the partcht Roots of the Sun burnt Plants of the Earth sometimes rayning so long together and with such fiercenesse that Houses loose their foundations in their currants and fall to the ground from whence also followes great Land-flouds to this Countrey no lesse commodious then the inundation of Nilus to the Egyptians by receiuing the Flouds into their Rice grounds and there retayning it vntill the Earth drinking it in becomes the better enabled to endure an eighth moneths abstinence for in eight moneths it neuer rayneth Nouember December Ianuary and February they account their cooler times and are so indeed compared to the former yet as hote as it is here in England in May. From which constant heate all Trees are heere continually greene and their Fruites ripe in their seuerall Seasons The Earth in some places affoords two Croppes of Rice in a yeere rarely three Croppes and in most places but one yet there with very great increase they so we other sorts of Pulse different from ours and farre vp into the Country they haue good Wheate but not much for it is little eaten of the Gentiles Rootes they haue of most sorts which we haue heere and good store of Potatoes yet but few Hearbs or Flowres which defect they supply in their Betele whose frequent vse amongst them many haue already discoursed In briefe it is a very fruitfull Countrey and occasioned by many of the Inhabitants abstinence from any thing that hath life all kind of victuall are very cheape and plentifull as eight Hens for twelue pence a Goate or Sheepe for ten pence and for eighteene pence or two shillings a very good Hogge the like of fish and all other prouisions in the Towne but in the Countrey much better cheape This Kingdome as most others in India receiueth its denomination from the chiefe City or Residence of the King called by the Natiues Golchonda by the Moores and Persians Hidraband distant from Musulipatnam eight and twentie Gentiue leagues euery such league contayning nine English miles and in the common course of trauel ten dayes iourney A Citie that for sweetnesse of ayre conueniencie of water and fertility of soyle is accounted the best situated in India not to speake of the Kings Palace which for bignesse and sumptuousnesse in the iudgement of such as haue trauelled India exceedeth all belonging to the Mogull or any other Prince it being twelue miles in circumference built all of stone and within the most eminent places garnished with massie Gold in such things as we commonly vse Iron as in barres of Windowes bolts and such like and in all other points fitted to the Maiesty of so great a King who in Elephants and Iewels is accounted one of the richest Princes of India He is by Religion a Mahumetan discended from Persian Ancestors and retayneth their opinions which differing in many points from the Turkes are distinguished in their Sects by tearmes of Seaw and Sunnes and hath beene at large and truly to my knowledge particularized in your Pilgrimage whereunto I onely adde in confirmation of their mutuall hatred what in conference I receiued from a Meene one of Mahomets owne Tribe if wee may beleeue his owne Heraldry who openly professed hee could not finde in his heart to pray for a Sunnee for in his Opinion a Christian might as easily bee saued a Charitie well befitting his Religion that would not pray for those hee might not pray with This King as all other his Predecessors retaines the title of Cotubsha the original whereof I remember to haue read in Linschoten He maried during my being in his Country the daugter of Adelsha King of Viziapore and hath besides her three other Wiues and at least 1000. Concubines a singular honour and state amongst them to haue many women and one of the strangest things to them I could relate and in their opinions lamentable that his excellent Maiesty our Gracious Souereigne should haue three Kingdomes and but one Wife The Cotubsha Adelsha and Negaim Sha oppose the Mogull in a perpetuall league of mutuall defence yet so as their yeerely Presents proue their best weapons chusing rather to buy peace then to hazard the euent of war against so mighty an Enemy His Reuenewes are reported to bee fiue and twenty Lackes of Pagodes a Lacke beeing an 100000. and a Pagoda equall in weight and alloy to a French Crowne and worth there seuen shillinge six pence sterling which huge Treasure ariseth from the large extent of his Dominions 〈◊〉 Subiects being all his Tenants and at a rackt Rent for this King as all others in India is the onely Free-holder of the whole Countrey which being deuided into great gouernments as our Shires those againe into lesser ones as our Hundreds and those into Villages the Gouernment is farmed immediately from the King by some eminent man who to other inferiours farmeth out the lesser ones and they againe to the Countrey people at such excessiue rates that it is most lamentable to consider what toyle and miserie the wretched soules endure For if they fall short of any part of their Rent what their Estates cannot satisfie their bodies must so it somtimes happens they are beaten to death or absenting themselues their Wiues Children Fathers Brothers and all their Kindred are engaged in the debt and must satisfie or suffer And sometimes it happeneth that the Principall fayling with the King receiues from him the like punishment as it befell to one Bashell Raw Gouernour at Musulipatnam since the English Traded thither who for defect of full payment was beaten with Canes vpon the backe feet and belly vntill hee dyed Yet hold they not these their Gouernments by Lease for yeerely in Iuly all are exposed in sale vnto him that bids most◠from whence it happeneth that euery Gouernour during his time exacts by Tolles taken in the way and other Oppressions whatsoeuer they can possibly extort from the poorer Inhabitants vsing what violence within their gouernments they shall thinke fit for in them during their time they reigne as petty Kings not much vnlike the Bashawes and ◠the Turkish Monarchy There are in the Confines and heart of this Kingdome sixtie six seuerall Forts or Castles all of them commanded by Naicks and guarded by Gentiles Souldiers of the Countrey vnto which Souldiery these is allowed but foure shillings the moneth and that also ill payd they are for the most part situated vpon very high Rockes or Hils vnaccessible but by one onely way three of which I haue seene viz. Cundapoly Cundauera and Bellum Cunda Cunda in that Language signifying a Hill and in the Towne of Cundapoley hauing occasion to visit the Gouernour it was so curious as to require the sight of the Castle who replyed that euen himselfe although the Gouernour of
that part of the Countrey could not be permitted â—â—dâ—ande without the Kings Firmaen with much trouble procured from whom I vnderstood that this Castle being of great circuit was deuided into sixe seuerall Forts one commanding another according to their situation which being furnished with great ponds of water store of trees as well fruit as others and large fields to plant Rice in lodged in them continually 12000. Souldiers thus much his Relation What I could soe which was enough to hide a great part of the Heauens was a huge Mountaine which being apart by nature had inuited Art to make it a retreate for the King of this Countrey if a battels losse or other aduerse fortune forced them to that extremity For besides the Mountayne it selfe steepe in most places is walled with a hand some seeming stone wall with Bulwarkes and Battlements according to the ancient Order of fornification whereunto hauing but one way that admits a â—â—ent it is thought impregnable not to bee vndermined but by treacherie skaled without wings or battered but by Famine And betwixt this Castle and Cundeuera which is at least fiue and twentie English miles there is a lightly correspondence held by shewing each other Torches lifting them vp sometimes more sometimes lesse according to the order contriued betwixt them Religion is heere free and no mans conscience oppressed with Ceremony or Obseruance onely he Kings Religion is predominant in the authority and quality of the Professors not in number of Soules for the Ancient Naturals of the Countrey commonly called Gentiles or Heathens exceed them in a very great proportion The moores are of two sorts as I formerly mentioned but they onely which are tearmed Seam haue their Mesgits and publikes exercise of their Religion the rest giuing no offence are not interrupted in their Opinions or Practizes but of these their Ceremonies or Differences I forbeare to discourse well knowing that besides our neerer Neighbourhood with Turkey and Barbarie your Pilgrimage hath an ply delineated both their beginnings and continuance The like consideration might silence my purposed Relation of the Gentiles who differing little in Habit Complexion Manners or Religion from most of the Inhabitants of the mayne of India haue alreadie from abler Pennes past your approbation and the Presse so that Nil dictum est quod non sit dictum prius Yet encouraged by your request I adde to that Treasury this myte of my Obseruation submitting all that dislikes or appeares superfluous to your suppression The Gentiles in the Fundamentall points of their little Religion doe hold the same principles which their Learned Clergie the Bramenes haue from great Antiquitie and doe yet maintayne but with an Implicite faith not able to giue an account of it or any their customes onely that it was the custome of their Ancestors Conceining God they doe beleeue him first to haue beene onely one but since to haue taken to his assistance diuers that haue sometimes liued vpon Earth vnto whose memorie they build their Temples tearmed Pagodes and styling them Demi-gods or Saints direct most of their Worship to such of them as they stand most particularly affected vnto supporting their Deities with most ridiculous Legendary Fables of Miracles done by them in the likenesse of Apes Oxen Kites or the like many yeeres since past all memory or beliefe They hold the Immortalitie of the Soule and the transmigration of it from one body to another according to the good or bad quarter it kept in the last Mansion from whence followeth much abstinence from killing or eating any thing that had life Their difference in Washings Meates Drinkes and such like arise rather from the Tradition of the Fathers enioyned to their Posteritie then in point of Religion as we reade of the Rechabites who from their Fathers Iniunction were commended for their constant continuance in their customes Their moralitie appeares best in their conuersation murder and violent theft are strangers amongst them seldome happen but for coozenage in bargaining caueat emptor Poligamy is permitted but not generally practised vnlesse in case of the first Wiues barrennesse Adultery is not common but punishable in women Fornication veniall and no Law but that of modesty restraines the publike action They are diuided into diuers Tribes or Linages they say fortie foure all which according to their degrees are knowne each to other and take place accordingly wealth in this point being no prerogatiue for the poorest Bramene will precede the richest Committy and so the rest in their seuerall Orders The Bramene is Priest vnto them all and weareth alwayes three or foure twisted threeds ouer one shoulder and vnder the other arme and in his forehead a round spot whereon there sticketh cornes of Rice dyed yellow in Turmericke they are very good and ready Accountants and in that Office much employed by Moores of greatest Affaires writing and keeping their accounts in Palmito leaues with a Pen of Iron and if in that Generall Deluge of Pagan Ignorance there remayneth any knowledge of Arts or Learning these preserue it and entirely to themselues without participation to other Tribes involved in verball Traditions or concealed Manuscripts and are indeed indifferent Astronomers obseruing exactly the course of the seuen Planets through the twelue Houses and consequently the certaine houre of Ecclipses and other Astrologicall Predictions wherein they haue gained so good credit that none eyther Gentile or Moore will vndertake any great Iourney or commence any important businesse without first consulting with his Bramene for a good houre to set forward in from whence I haue knowne it happen that a Moore which came Gouernour to Musulipatnam hath attended without the Towne ten dayes before he could find a fortunate houre to make his triumphant entry into his new gouernment and of this Tribe they forget not to tell you there are two Kings the Samorijue King of Callecut and the King of Cochijne both vpon the Coast of Malabar The next Cast in account is the Fangam who is of the Bramenes dyet in all particulars eating nor killing any thing that hath life abhorring Wine but drinking Butter by the pint contenting themselues with Milke from the Reuerend Cow and such Pulfe Herbs Roots and Fruits as the Earth produceth the Onion only excepted which for certaine red veines in it resembling bloud finds fauour in their mercifull mouthes and these also in an inferiour degree haue some Priestly power ouer such as by wearing sanctified Stones tyed vp in their haire are buried when they dye all others are burnt If these be of any Trade they must be Taylers and such many of them are but more profest Beggers and no wonder for the constancy of that Countries fashion and the little or no Needle-worke belonging to the making vp of a Garment cannot finde all of them worke if they stood affected to vndertake it but other worke then Taylours worke they may not
much of it is exported to Mocha and Arrecan and not a little drunke amongst themselues It is but weake yet sure more care in curing and making it vp would helpe that fault they onely dry the leaues in the Sun and vse it so without further sophistication These are the generall Commodities of this Countrey which are dispersed in some measure through the World but are best knowne in Indian Traffique and produce constantly certaine profit in their exportation to other parts to which purpose they build great Ships and good ones too considered in their burthen and materials but not comparable to ours for beautie conueniencie or defence some of them not lesse then 600. tunnes substantially built of very good timber and Iron whereof we haue had vpon some occasion good experience in careening the Globe Salomon and Clawe in the Riuer of Narsoporpeta With these their Ships they traffique ordinarily to Mocha in the Red Sea to Achijne vpon Sumatra to Arrecan Pegu and Tannassery on the other side the Gulfe and to many Ports alongst their owne Coasts as farre as Zeloan and the Cape Comorijne To Mocha they set sayle in Ianuary and returne in September or October following and thither the King sends yeerely a proportion of Rice as an Almes to be distributed amongst the Pilgrimes which resort to Mecha and Medina where their Prophet Mahomets Shrine is visited with much deuotion He sendeth also an Aduenture the proceed whereof is inuested in Arabian Horses which are returned not aboue sixe or eight in a Shippe whereof they make great account For in this Countrey there is no Race of good Horses Tobasco they send in great quantities many small Rocans to make Launces certaine sorts of Calicoes proper for Turbants Iron Steele Indico Beniamin and Gumme Lacke For which they returne some few watered Chamblets but the most part ready money in Sultannees or Rials of eight In September the Ships for Achijne Arrecan Pegu and Tannassery set all sayie for it is to be vnderstood that alongst this and all other Coasts of India the windes blow constantly trade sixe moneths one way and sixe moneths another which they call the Monsons alternately succeeding each other not missing to alter in Aprill and October onely variable towards their end so that taking the last of a Monson they set sayles and with a fore-winde arriue at their desired Hauen and there negotiating their Affaires they set sayle from thence in February or March following and with the like fauourable gale returne in Aprill vnto their owne Ports To Acheene they export much Steele and some Iron diuers sorts of Calicoes both white and painted and of late times when the Myne was first discouered store of Diamonds which were sold to great benefit from whence they returne Beniamin and Camphora of Barouse Pepper of Priaman and Tecoo Brimstone and all sorts of Porcellane and China Commodities if to be had to sell againe to profit To Arrecan they send store of Tobacco some Iron and few sorts of painted clothes and returne from thence some Gold and Gumme Lacke but most part Rice which they sell about Pallecat and that Coast of Narsinga To Pegu they export much Siluer in Rials of eight Cotton yarne and Beethyles dyed red with seueral sorts of paintings bring from thence the perfect Rubies Saphires which are dispersed through the World much Gold the best Gum Lack with some Tin Quicksiluer To Tannassery they carry red Cotton yarne red and white Beethyles paintings of seuerall sorts befitting that Countries weare and landing them at Tannassery carry them from thence to Syam fourteene dayes iourney ouer Land from whence by the like conueyance they bring all sorts of China Commodities as Porcellane Sattins Damaskes Lankeene Silke Lignum Aloes Beniamin of Camboia and great store of Tinne and a wood to die withall called Sapan wood the same we heere call Brasill Alongst their owne Coast they trade with smaller shipping lading Rice and other graine where it is cheapest selling it againe on the Coast of Bisnagar to great benefit taking children in exchange which cost not them aboue three or foure shillings a childe and they sell againe in Musulipatnam and other places for forty shillings And thus much shal suffice to haue written of this Kingdom wherein I haue been the more prolixe because my own knowledge fortified with almost fiue yeeres experience assureth me of the truth of what I haue written Where this Country endeth the Kingdome of Bengala beginneth subsisting at this time vnder the Monarchy of the Great Mogull which he ruleth by his Gouernours disposed into seuerall Prouinces whose powerfull Neighbourhood causeth the King of Golchonda to keepe constant Garisons which with the aduantage of Riuers and Deserts secureth him on that side of his Kingdome In this Countrey we are meere strangers the Coast is too dangerous and our shipping too great to aduenture them amongst so many shelfes and sands yet are we enformed by such as comes from thence and confirmed by the price and abundance of such things as that Countrey produceth that it is the most plentifull of all the East For once a yeere there ariueth at Musulipatnam a Fleet of small Vessels from thence of burden about twenty tunnes the plankes onely sowne together with Cairo a kinde of Cord made of the rinds of Coconuts and no Iron in or about them In which Barkes they bring Rice Butter Sugar Waxe Honey Gumme Lacke Long Pepper Callico Lawnes and diuers sorts or Cotton-cloth Raw Silke and Moga which is made of the barke of a certaine tree and very curious Quilts and Carpets stitched with this Moga all which considering the plenty of the place whereunto they bring them should come hither as we say of Coales carried to New-castle yet here they sell them to contented profit Many Portugals decayed in their estates or questioned for their liues resort hither liue here plentifully yet as banished men or Out-lawes without gouernment practice or almost profession of Religion to conclude it may truly be spoken of this Countrey as it is abusiuely of another Bengala bona terra mala gons It is the best Countrey peopled with the worst Nation of whom this repute runnes currant in India the men are all Theeues and the women Whoores Here the famous Ganges disimboqueth into the Sea fructifying it seemes the Countrey but little sanctifying the Inhabitants whereof I can speake very little as hauing alwayes liued at great distance from it onely I haue heard it is full of Crocodiles and so are most Riuers within the Gulfe where I haue seene many of immense bignesse which the Ferrimen that passe men and cattle ouer those Riuers know how to charme and then with safety ferry ouer the Passengers in the bodies of one or two Palmito trees ioyned and swimme ouer the Cattle the order of which charming hauing once seene I thought good to insert Beeing at a Riuers side and ready to passe it we espied
Legate and bade one young man to kill himselfe which he did another he commanded to throw himselfe from a high Tower whereby also hee was broken in pieces Then said hee to the Legate I haue 70000. Subiects thus obseruant and let this be my answere This answere caused the King to leaue him and filled him with care They therefore proceeded and inuaded diuers Castles tooke Alamut and made that their chiefe Seat An. 485. Gielaluddaulas dyed hauing reigned twenty yeeres and some moneths He was witty sincere full of Pietie diminished Tributes forbade iniuries caused Bridges Highwayes and Riuers to be made and the Temple of Bagdad to be built called the Kings Temple and the Hanijfaean Colledge which he enriched with many benefits He obtayned many victories and from the furthest confines of the Turkes to Ierusalem and the end of Iamar his Empire was extended the wayes were secured the wronged were righted and the wrong-doers held in awe the meanest woman and poorest had their complaints heard When hee had gone to the Sepulchre of Ali Sonne of Moses at Tus to pray Netamulmelic his Counsellour being with him being asked if he prayed not for victory against his brother then in rebellion he said no but his Prayer was this O Almightie God if my brother bee more conuenient for the good of the Muslims then I giue him victorie ouer me but if I be fitter then he for their profit make me to haue the vpper hand His Sonne Muhammed not sixe yeeres old succeeded in Bagdad by his order and his mothers care which was Regent with the Chalifas confirmation and Prayer was made in his name Tagiuddaulas inaugurated himselfe but was refused by the Chalifa An. 487. Barcana Mother of Mahmud dying Barkiaruc another Sonne of Gielaluddaulas went to Bagdad and chased away his brother Mahmud Muctadi dyed hauing continued Chalifa nineteene yeeres fiue moneths and fiue dayes He was skilfull in Religion and studious of learned men and made excellent Verses In his time Michael was made Patriarke of the Iacobites at Alexandria in whose time Nilus failing Mustansir sent him into Aethiopia with many gifts the King came to meet him and receiued him reuerently enquiring the cause of his comming learning the state of Egypt through want of Nilus wonted ouerflowings he caused the place to be opened where the waters had been turned aside and Nilus increased in one night three yards so that their fields in Egypt were watered and sowne And the Patriarke returned with great honour from both Kings of Ae hiopia and Egypt Ahmed Abulabas Mustasir Billa Sonne of Muctadi succeeded in the Chalifate Mustansir Lord of Egypt dyed and his Sonne Ahmed Abulcasem Mustali Billa succeeded A. 488. Tagiuddaulas hauing after bloudy battels betwixt them slaine Icsancar and possessed Haleb minded to inuade Irac was encountred and slaine by his Nephew Barkiaruc who was now crowned and hereby confirmed in his Empire Tagiuddaulas had sent to Bagdad to procure his inauguration Ioseph Sonne of Arfac a Turke which committed great spoiles in those parts but hearing of his Masters death fled to Haleb where Roduwan Sonne of Tagiuddaulas succeeded his Father and was surnamed Fecharulmelic that is the glory of the Kingdome his brother Decac also stiled himselfe Siemsulmuluc that is the Sunne of Kings he possessed Damascus An. 489. Riduwan with a purpose to get Damascus acknowledged the Egyptian Chalifa but he reuolted when he receiued of him no assistance in the siege thereof An. 492. the Frankes inuaded the Muslims Countries tooke Ierusalem conquered Antiochia slue the King of Maatrannaman which remayned in their hands till the yeere 526. when Abahak Elsiahyd on whom God haue mercy tooke it from them They went to Ramla and tooke it They set forth to Ierusalem An. 491. and burned the Iewes which were there in their Temple and killed 70000. Muslims and took out of the Sachra forty siluer Lampes each of which weighed three thousand sixe hundred drammes besides a siluer Furnace of forty pounds and twenty Lampes of Gold Ierusalem remayned subiect to them ninety one yeeres till King Ioseph Nazir Saladine Sonne of Iob on whom God haue mercy recouered it An. 583. Muhammed Sonne of Gielaluddaulas possessed himselfe of Bagdad and ouerthrew his brother Barkiaruk An. 493. and An. 494. the Frankes tooke Hijfa by force and Arsuf by composition and the most part of the Sea Coast was subiect to them An. 495. Mustali Billa Prince of Egypt dyed Berar his brother possessed himselfe of Alexandria and was there inaugurated by Aftekine But Afdal warred on him and tooke him Prisoner and inaugurated Ali Abulmansor Sonne of Mustali then but fiue yeeres olde Afdal being his Protector This yeare the Frankes besieged Tripolis and the Muslims which came to their ayde from Damascus were put to flight Anno 496. King Barkiaruk mooued against his Brother King Muhammed which was at Isfahan and there besieged him but was forced to depart for want of prouision They after met in battell and Muhammed was ouerthrowne and Barkiaruk againe raigned at Bagdad Decac that yeere got possession of Emessa Husein the Lord thereof leauing Rodnaeans friendship and taking part with Decac whereupon three men were sent from Batyna which killed him on a Friday in the Temple whereof Decac hearing went to Emessa and got it An. 497. Decac dyed of eating a Grape pricked with a poysoned Needle by a treacherous woman Ababacuc Tagtakin surnamed Tahiruddin enioyed Damascus The Frankes wanne Acca by helpe of the ships of the Frankes of Genua Zahruddaulas being there then Commander vnder the Egyptian An. 498. King Barkiaruk dyed who had ruled ouer Irac and the Land of the Barbarians leauing his Kingdome to his Sonne Gelaluddaulas vnder the Regencie of Eyad Muhammed hearing of his brothers death went to Bagdad and after composition on both parts slue Eyad and then ruled without Corriuall crowned by the Emperour of the faithfull An. 501. He slue Sadeca Seifuddin Prince of Hella An. 502. the Frankes wanne Tripolis after seuen yeeres siege a Citie full of Muslims and learned men before the siege An. 503. the Frankes tooke Acad and Minattar and Beryt An. 504. they tooke Sidon and Rardija and their Kingdome prospered in Syria enioying all the Sea Coast Muhammed sent Mudud against them who approching to Damascus was ouerthrowne by Batijna in the yeere 505. An. 507. Rodawan dyed and Tagiuddaulas Azras his Sonne succeeded who was slaine An. 508. and Lulu possessed the Citie An. 509. Ababac Lord of Damascus went to Bagdad to offer his seruice to Mustadir the Chalifa and to King Muhammed Lulu was killed and the Scribe of Abumaels Army held the Tower of Haleb. But An. 511. Haleb came into the possession of Bulgar Sonne of Aryc which held it fiue yeeres At that time dyed King Muhammed at Isfahan leauing eleuen Millions of Gold and as much in goods to his Sonne Mahmud Abulcasem And Prayer was made in his name at Bagdad An. 512. Mustadir
sacking of Bagdet 65 Haaziph or Azaereth a feast of the Iewes 112 Hadrian vide Adrian Hagags cruelties 74 Hagarens whence so called their habitation c. 229. 230 Hagiagies crueltie 1024 Haithon vide Aiton Haire consecrated at the Temple of Dea Syria 70. Why worne long on the crowne 93. Worne with a long locke on the left side as the Deuill appeares in Virginia 843 Hakems wickednesse 1039 Halicarnassus 81 Halyattis 261 Hali vide Ali. Doctour Hals commendation 81 Iames Hals Discouery 813. 814 Hamceu chiefe Citie of China 441. Whither Quinsay ibid. Hamath Earthquake 147 Hamith a Iewish Court 98 Hammientes 666 Hamet King of Barbary 695. seq Habet or Hamet Ben Abdela Propheticall King 696. Slaine 699 700 Hannos Discoueries 512 Haran Temple and the Pilgrimages thither 255 Harcourts plantation in Guiana 901. 902 Haron the 26. Chalifa his Acts Vistories Deuotion and loue of Learning 1028. 1029 Harpies 67 Hasen the sixt Emperour of the Muslims 1021. His holinesse ibid. Poysoned by his Wife ibid. Hasidaei and Hasidim why so called and when began 125. 126. Not a Sect but a Fraternitie their Rites ibid. Diuers of the Pharisees and Essees of the Fraterternitie ibid. Hassem and Sem 101 Hawkes worshipped 635 Captaine Hawkins his Iournall 520 521 Hea a Prouince 243 Head of the Captiuitie 131 Head of the Land of Israel 134 Heauen and Earth Gen. 1. What meant thereby 5. Three Heauens 6. Heauen of the blessed ibid. Of the Kabalist and Talmudist 161. 162. Of Mahomet 245. 246. Of Siamites 491. 492. Heauens of the Iaponites 587. Heauen worshipped of the Chinois 471 Hebrew the first Language 39. 40 Of Heber ibid. Why called Hebrewes 40. 95. The same Language at first with the Chaldaean ibid. Hebrew Accents and Letters 40 Not capeable of meetre 41 Hebrewes why abhomination to the Aegpptians 637 Hebrewes in a speciall sense 95 Hebrew Patriarchs and their Religion before the Law 95. 96. seq Hebrew Policy and Ciuill Gouernment 97. 98 Hecla a hill in Island by some supposed Purgatory 761 Heden 17 Hegira 243. The computation of the Mahometicall Hegira 246 1014 Heliogabilus 58. 79 Heliognosti worshippers of the Sunne 135 Hell a fire without light 71. The Alpha and Omega of wickednesse ibid. Why called Genenna 86. By whom escaped 314 Mahomets Hell 254. 262. 314 Siamites Hell 491 Hell-mouth 50 Helena Iland 781 seq Helena Queene of Adiabena 62 Of Aethiopia 781 Hellen a Giant worshipped 45 Hrllenists whence so called 124 Helle Hellespont 98 Hellenians or Helienians a Sect of the Iewes 135 Hemerobaptists Iewish Hereticks 133 Hendorones their Countrey and Rites 535 Henoch taken away 15. 30. 31 His Artes Pillars and Writings ibid. By the Greekes called Atlas 31 Henoch a Citie so called 29. Booke of Henoch 30. Very fabulous 31. A fragment of that Booke cited ibid. Henry Prince of Wales his Encomium 861 Henry of Portugall first Discouerer of the Coasts of Africa 619 Hennes Egges how hatched in Aegypt 627 Heptacometae a people of most beastly disposition 330 Hercules 77. 78. 336 Hercules of the Parthians 337 Of Heraclea 577 Hercules Pillars two Hills 680 Heraclea a Citie described 577 Heraclius his Acts 215. 242. 364 365 Heremites 277. 428. Mock-heremites 315. Famous Heremite in Africa 637. At Saint Helena 781 Herod Ascalonita 81. Hee slue the Seuenty 100. Built the Temple 102. 103 Herodians a Sect of the Iewes 134 Herules their Rites 400 Hessees vide Essens Hesperides 680 Hassissim a Nation neere to Mount Libanus 277. Their Prophet ibid. Hierapolis in Syria 68 Hierarchie and High Priesthood of the Chaldees 55. Of the Syrians 68. Phoenicians 79 Of the Israelites before the Law 98. Of Samaritans 138. 139. Of Aaron 121. Of Assasines 218. 219. Of Dogzijn 220. 221. Of the Turkes 319. 320. Of Cappadocians 326. Zelans 328 Armenians 342. Albanians 346. 347. Persians 395. 396 In Cathaya 404. 415. Of Tartars 416. 417. Of Thebeth 430. China 461. 466. Of the Brachmanes 479. Of the Siamites 491. Of the Bramenes 547. 548. In Cochin 552. In Iapon 592. In Ternate 605. 506. In Samatra 614. In Pegu 505. 506 In Aegypt 635 Hieroglyphicks 82 Hierotimus an Arabian King which had sixe hundred children by Concubines 229 Hierro one of the Canaries 783 Hillel 158. When hee flourished 160. His Disciples 165 Hippopotamus 714 Hiram his Acts 79 Hircania and the Hircanians 355. 356 Hisiam Sonne of Abdulmelie the seuenteenth Chalifa 1025. His two Sonnes Muaui and Suleiman in a Battell put the Romanes to slight and tooke Constantine the Emperour ibid. His great Wardrobes ibid. Hisphaham vide Isphaam Hispaniola described 955. seq Their Creatures Oracles Priests Dances Zemes 957 seq The Miracles Prophesies Feasts of their Zemes their Holy-bread Oracles Burials Marriages Punishments Traditions of the Creation and Spirits 958. Ceremonies about the sicke and dead 959. Tempests there ibidem Quite dispeopled of the naturall Indians 960 Histaspes Father of Darius his trauell to the Brachmanes 479 Historie helped by Geographie 44 Hoaquam the Name of a China Idoll which hath rule ouer the eyes 461 Hog a Phoenician Philosopher 82 Hogs with hornes 566. With teeth more then ordinary ibid. Hollanders Acts in the East Indies 483. seq Holy-land vide Iudaea and Palaestina the situation and Map thereof 91. seq Homicide punished in Kain 28 Homer 207 Homer worshipped 621 Hondura and the Rites there 886 Honey venemous 221 Horeb 211 Horse offered to the Sunne 56 Horse-flesh royall fare to the Tartars 33 Horses taken with Hawkes 392 Fatted and eaten in Cairo 653 Sir Edward Horsey 973 Horsey viz. Sir Ierome Horsey his Obseruations in Russia and other Countries 973. seq Hornes rooting in ground 587 Worne by some Kings and Priests 613. 884 Hosanna of the Iewes 112 Hospitall at Bagdat 237. 238 242. 243. Medina 272. Of Saint Iohn Baptist 337. In Persia 374. 375. Merdin 6â—â— Goa 545. 546. Cairo 653. 654. Of the Turkes 308 Hospitals for Beasts and Birds 529 Hospitular Knights 584 Hourdes of Tartars 422. 423 Houres equall and vnequall 106 Of Prayer ibid. Hudsons Voyages to the North Nothwest 817. His wintering and treachery of his men 818. Gods iustice on them ibid. Huiunsin the strange Story of him 461 Hungaria magna 404 Hungarie ouerrun by the Turkes 283. 284. By the Tartars 404 405 Huracanos 963 Hoseins Heresie 1034 Hydaspes Priest of the Sunne 730 Hydras 624 Hyaena 622 Hyperboreans 397. 400 Hyrcania the description thereof 355 I IAbbok 86 Iacapucaya a Brasilian Fruit 913 Iacobs twelue Sonnes 89. 90. Hee reformed his Family 95 Iacobites Sect multiplying 1017 Iagges vide Giacqui Iah the name of God 2 Iamaica described 954 Iamboli Insula 796 Iames King of Great Brittaine his commendation 837 King Iames his New New-land 814 King Iames his Cape 817 Ianambuxos a Sect in Iapan their Rites 594. 595 Ianizaries of the Turke 291 292 Iapheth Iapetus his Posteritie 36. The eldest Sonne of Noah ibid. Iapon the Historie thereof 586. seq Diuerse of
Superstitions there obserued pag. 509 § III. Of Patane Couche Orixa Botanter Candecan pag. 511 § IIII. Of Arracan and the Warres betwixt them and the Portugals pag. 512 CHAP. VII OF the Great Mogor or Mogol pag. 515 § I. Of the Mogors Countries and of Melabdim Echebar ibid. § II. Of the Conquests and death of Echebar and of his Sonne and Successor Selim now reignening pag. 517 § III. The Relations of Captaine Hawkins Embassadour there pag. 520 § IIII. Of the setling of the English Trade in these parts and of the two Sea-fights betwixt ours and the Portugals pag. 524 § V. Of the trauels of diuers Englishmen in the Mogols Dominions pag. 529 § VI. Of the Rasboots and other people subiect to the Mogol and of their Countries Religion and Rites pag. 534 CHAP. VIII OF Cambaya Decan and the neighbouring Nations pag. 536 § I. Of the Cambayans ibid. § II. Of the Kingdomes of Decan pag. 539 § III. Of the Banian and Cambayan Superstitions pag. 540 CHAP. IX OF the Indian Nations betwixt Cambaya and Malabar their Religions pag. 542 § I. Of the seasons of the yeere and of the parts next to Cambaya ibid. § II. Of Goa the Heathens and Christians liuing therein and the Countrey about pag. 544 § III. Of the Indian Bramenes both Secular and Religious pag. 547 CHAP. X. OF the Regions and Religions of Malabar pag. 549 § I. Of the Kingdome of Calicut ibid. § II. Of the King of Calicut pag. 551 § III. Of their differing Sects pag. 553 CHAP. XI OF the Kingdome of Narsinga and Bisnagar pag. 555 § I. Of their Funerall and Idolatrous bloudie Rites ibid. § II. Of the Kings and Bramenes in this Kingdome pag. 558 § III. Of many other strange Rites and of Saint Thomee pag. 560 CHAP. XII OF the Creatures Plants Fruits and Drugs in India pag. 563 § I. Of their Beasts and liuing Creatures ibid. § II. Of the Indian Trees Fruits and strange Plants pag. 566 § III. Of Spices and Drugs pag. 569 CHAP. XIII A Generall Discourse of the Sea and of the Seas in and about Asia pag. 571 § I. Of the true place forme greatnesse and depth of the Sea ibid. § II. Of the Saltnesse and Motions of the Sea pag. 573 § III. Of the originall of Fountaines and other commodities of the Sea pag. 574 § IIII. Of the varieties of Seas and of the Caspian and Euxine pag. 575 CHAP. XIIII A Briefe suruey of the Ilands adioyning to Asia also some fancies of the Sabbaticall Riuer and inclosed Iewes pag. 577 § I. The Ilands from Iapan to the Persian Gulfe ibid. § II. The Persian Gulfe and of the passage downe Euphrates thither the Sabbaticall streame and inclosed Iewes pag. 579 § III. Of the Red Sea Sir H. Middletons taking and of Rhodes and Cyprus pag. 582 CHAP. XV. A Larger relation of some principall Ilands of Asia and first of the Ilands of Iapon pag. 586 § I. A Preface touching the Iesuites and a description of Iapan with some of their strange customes ibid. § II. The Voyages of some English to Iapan and their abode there pag. 588 § III. Of the gouernment and courage of the Iaponians pag. 590 § IIII. Of their Sects and Bonzian Colledges p. 593 § V. Of their Feasts their bloudie Pilgrimages and Confessions pag. 595 § VI. Of their Idols Temples Funerals pag. 597 § VII Of the strange Earthquakes and Tempests in Iapon with some other obseruations pag. 599 CHAP. XVI OF the Philippina's pag. 602 § I. Of the Spanish Ilands others adioyning ib. § II. Of the Moluccos Banda Amboyna and Selebes pag. 604 § III. Of the Iauas other adioyning Ilands p. 609 CHAP. XVII OF Samatra and Zeilan pag. 612 § I. Of Samatra ibid. § II. Of Zeilan pag. 616 § III. The conclusion of this Asian Pilgrimage pag. 618 AFRICA THE SIXT BOOKE Of Aegypt Barbary Numidia Libya and the Land of Negro's and of their Religions CHAP. I. OF Africa and the Creatures therein pag. 619 § I. Of the Name and Limits of Africa ibid. § II. Of the Beasts wild and tame pag. 621 § III. Of Crocodiles Serpents and other strange Creatures pag. 623 CHAP. II. OF Aegypt and the famous Riuer Nilus and first Kings Temples and Monuments according to Herodotus Diodorus and others pag. 626 § I. The names of Aegypt and of the Riuer Nilus ibid. § II. The diuision of Aegypt and the great workes of their ancient Pharaos pag. 630 CHAP. III. OF the Aegyptian Idols with their Legendary Histories and Mysteries pag. 635 § I. Of Osiris and Isis their Legends of the Creation c. ibid. § II. The causes of consecrating their Beasts and the mysticall senses of their Superstitions p. 636 § III. Of Hermes Trismegistus pag. 637 CHAP. IIII. OF the Rites Priests Sects Sacrifices Feasts Inuentions and other obseruations of the Aegyptians pag. 638 § I. Of their Apis and other Beasts Serpents and other Creatures worshipped ibid. § II. Of their Sacrifices their Iewish Rites and of their Priests pag. 641 § III. Of their Feasts and Oracles pag. 643 § IIII. Of the inuentions and disposition of the Aegyptians pag. 644 CHAP. V. OF the manifold alterations of State Religion in Egypt by the Persians Grecians Romans Christians Saracens Turks p. 647 § I. Of the Persians and Grecians acts in Aegypt and the famous Vniuersity and Library at Alexandria ibid. § II. Of the Schoole and Library at Alexandria pag. 648 § III. Of their Deuotions in these Times p. 650 § IIII. Of the moderne Aegyptians of Cairo and Alexandria pag. 652 § V. Of the Saracens their Acts and Sects of the Mamalukes and Cophties pag. 657 CHAP. VI. THe Aegyptian Chronologie out of Manetho High Priest of the Aegyptians and others pag. 660 CHAP. VII OF the Oracle of Iupiter Ammon and of Cyrene and diuers peoples adioyning mentioned by the Ancients pag. 665 CHAP. VIII OF that part of Barbary now called the Kingdome of Tunis and Tripolis p. 668 § I. The name Barbary the Kingdome of Tunis and Antiquities of Carthage ibid. § II. Of Cairaoan and the Kingdome of Tripolis pag. 673 CHAP. IX OF the Kingdome of Tremisen Algier and other places anciently called Mauritania Caesariensis pag. 675 § I. Of Tremisen and of the ancient Maurusij ibid. § II. Of Barbarussa of Algier and the parts adioyning pag. 676 CHAP. X. OF the Kingdome of Fez part of Mauritania Tingitana pag. 679 § I. Of the Poeticall and Historicall Antiquities and part of Temesna ibid. § II. Of the Citie Fez as it was in Leo's dayes and the customes of the Inhabitants pag. 682 § III. Of their Diuiners and Sects and other parts of the Fezan Territorie pag. 686 § IIII. Of the fiue other Prouinces of this Kingdome and some later obseruations pag. 668 CHAP. XI OF the Kingdome of Marocco with a discourse of the Kings thereof and of the Seriffe Xarif or Iarif and his posterity now reigning in Barbary pag. 690 § I. Of the
Melfi an Italian or as Bellonius obserueth by one Flauius but Albertus Magnus was the first that writ of the Nature of it was a great and necessary helpe to further Discoueries especially after that Henrie sonne of Iohn the first King of Portugall beganne to make Voyages of Discouerie vpon the Coast of Africa and Iohn the second seconded that Enterprise and vsed the helpe of Mathematicians Roderigo and Ioseph his Physicians and Martin Bohemus by whom the Astrolabe was applyed to the Art of Nauigation and benefit of the Mariner before vsed only in Astronomie This Iohn also sent men of purpose into Arabia and Aethiopia and other Countries of the East to learne further knowledge thereof From these beginnings daily increasing hath Nauigation first in Portugall and by degrees in other Europaean Nations by the helpe of Astronomicall Rules growne to her present perfection and by it Geographie And if the longitude of places might as easily be found out as the latitude which our Countriman Master Linton made promise of wee should yet grow to better knowledge in those Sciences and of the World by them Moreouer as the Expedition of Alexander and those flourishing Monarchies in Asia brought some knowledge thereof to the Ancients So the Histories of later times but especially the great Trauels by Land of Marcus Paulus Odoricus Will de Rubruquis Ioannes de Plano Carpini our Countriman Mandeuile and others before this skill of Nauigation haue giuen much light to the knowledge of the In-land Countries of Asia which wee are first to speake of As for the Circles the Aequinoctiall which parteth the Globe in the middest the Tropickes of Cancer and Capricorne in twentie three degrees and a halfe from either side of the Aequinoctiall the Arctike and Antarctike Circles in twentie three degrees and a halfe from the North and South Poles or not much differing which are vsually set in Maps with red or double lines for distinction The Meridians which are Circles passing ouer our heads in what part of the World soeuer we be and also through both the Poles the Horizon which diuideth the vpper halfe of the World which we see from the nether halfe which wee see not the Parallels of Latitude from the Aequinoctiall towards either Pole The Climes or Climates which are the spaces of two Parallels Also the tearmes of Poles which are two the Arctike and the Antartike and the Axletree of the World a right line imagined to passe from the one to the other through the Centre of the Earth the Degrees containing sixtie miles or after Cornelius de Iudaeis sixtie eight thousand ninetie fiue paces and an halfe and after other Authors otherwise according as they haue differed in opinion touching the measure of the Earth or touching the furlongs miles and degrees which they vsed in their computation the variety whereof both auncient and moderne among the Greekes Romans Arabians Italians Spaniards and others Master Hues our Countriman hath studiously collected into ninetie of which degrees euery fourth part of the world is diuided amount in the whole to three hundred sixtie Also the Geographicall tearmes of Litius Fretum Insula Sinus Continens Promontorium Isthmus that is Shores straits Islands Bayes Continent Capes or Headlands Neckes of Land and such like All these I say and other things of like nature needfull to this kind of knowledge the studious shall find in those Authors which teach the Principles of Astronomy and Geography with the vse of Globes or Mappes as Master BLVNDEVILE Master HVES and others My intent is not to teach Geography but to bestow on the studious of Geographie a History of the World so to giue him flesh vnto his bones and vse vnto his Theorie or Speculation whereby both that skill may be confirmed and a further and more excellent obtained Geographie without Historie seemeth a Carkasse without life and motion History without Geographie mooueth but in moouing wandreth as a Vagrant without certaine habitation And whereas Time and Place are Twinnes and vnseparable companions in the chiefe Histories to set downe the true time of chiefe Accidents will adde much light to both a great taske in one Country but to take vp the whole World on my shoulders which haue not the strength either of Atlas or Hercules to beare it and in the whole to obserue the description of Places order of times and the History of Actions and Accidents especially Religions olli robur as triplex thrice happy hee that could happily atchieue it I confesse beyond my abilitie exactly to performe but with the wisest I hope that the haughtinesse of the attempt in a thing so full of varietie and hardnesse shall rather purchase pardon to my slips then blame for my rashnesse And how can I but often slip that make a perambulation ouer the World that see with others eyes that tell of matters past so many ages before I had a Beeing Yet such is the necessitie of such a History either thus or not at all But as neere as I can I purpose to follow the best euidence and to propound the Truth my fault where it is worst shall be rather mendacia dicere then mentiri and yet the Tales-man shall bee set by the Tale the Authors name annexed to his Historie to shield me from that imputation And first we must begin with ASIA to which the first place is due as being the place of the first Men first Religion first Cities Empires Arts where the most things mentioned in Scripture were done the place where Paradise was seated the Arke rested the Law was giuen and whence the Gospell proceeded the place which did beare Him in his flesh that by his Word beareth vp all things HONDIVS his Map of ASIA ASIA ASIA after some is so called of Asia the daughter of Oceanus and Thetis which was wife to Iapetus mother of Prometheus Others fetch this name from Asius the sonne of Manaeus both with like certaintie and credit It is greater then Europe and Africa yea the Islands thereof are larger if they were put together then all Europe It is compassed with the Easterne Indian and Scythian Oceans on three parts on the West it hath the Arabian Gulfe that Necke of Land which diuided it from Africa the Mediterranean Aegean Pontike Seas the Lake Maeotis Tanais with an imagined line from thence to the Bay of S. Nicholas Some make it yet larger and make Nilus to diuide it from Africa but with lesse reason Taurus diuideth it in the middest On the North side is that which is called Asia interior on the South is Asia exterior More vnequall is that diuision into Asia the greater and the lesse this beeing lesse indeed then that it should sustaine a member in that diuision Io. Barrius diuideth it into nine parts Ortelius into fiue Maginus into seuen which are these First That part of Tartaria betwixt Muscouia the Northerne Ocean the Riuer Ob and the Lake Kytai and
a line thence drawne to the Caspian Sea and that Isthmus which is betwixt that and the Pontike Sea secondly the great Chams Countrey from thence to the Easterne Sea betwixt the frozen Sea and the Caspian thirdly That which is subiect to the Turke all from Sarmatia and Tartaria Southwards betweene Tygris and the Mediterranean Sea fourthly The Persian Kingdome betweene the Turke Tartar India and the Red Sea fiftly India within and beyond Ganges from Indus to Cantan sixtly The Kingdome of China seuenthly The Islands These diuisions are not so exact as may be wished because of that variety vncertainty in those Kingdomes Many things doth Asia yeeld not elsewhere to be had Myrrhe Frankincense Cinamon Cloues Nutmegs Mace Pepper Muske and other like besides the chiefest Iewels It hath also Minerals of all sorts It nourisheth Elephants Camels and many other Beasts Serpents Fowles wilde and tame as in the ensuing Discourse in their due places shall appeare yet doth it not nourish such monstrous shapes of men as fabulous Antiquitie fained It brought foorth that Monster of Irreligion Mahumet whose Sect in diuerse Sects it fostereth with long continuance of manifold Superstitions It hath now those great Empires of the Turke Persian Mogore Cathayan Chinois it had sometimes the Parthian and before that the Persian Median Assyrian Scythian and first as it seemeth before them all the Babylonian Empire vnder Nimrod which is therefore in the next place to be spoken of CHAP. X. Of Babylonia the originall of Idolatrie and the Chaldaeans Antiquities before the Floud as BEROSVS hath reported them COnfusion caused diuision of Nations Regions and Religions Of this Confusion whereof is alreadie spoken the Citie and thereof this Countrey tooke the name Plinie maketh it a part of Syria which hee extendeth from hence to Cilicia Strabo addeth as farre as the Pontike Sea But is vsually reckoned an entire Countrey of it selfe which Ptolomey doth thus bound On the North it hath Mesopotamia on the West Arabia Deserta Susiana on the East on the South part of Arabia and the Persian Gulfe Luke maketh Babylonia a part of Mesopotamia Ptolomey more strictly diuideth them whereunto also agreeth the interpretation of the Land of Shinar that it was the lower part of Mesopotamia containing Chaldaea and Babylon lying vnder the Mount Sangara In this Countrey was built the first City which we read of after the Floud by the vngratefull World mooued thereunto as some thinke by Nimrod the sonne of Cush nephew of Cham. For as Caines posteritie before the Floud were called the sonnes of Men as more sauouring the things of men then of God more industrious in humane inuentions then religious deuotions so by Noahs curse it may appeare and by the Nations that descended of him that Cham was the first Author after the Floud of irreligion Neither is it likely that he which derided his old Father whom Age Holinesse Fatherhood Benefits and thrice greatest Function of Monarchy Priesthood and Prophecie should haue taught him to reuerence That he I say which at once could breake all these bonds and chaines of Nature and Humanitie would be held with any bonds of Religion or could haue an eye of Faith to see him which is inuisible hauing put out his eyes of Reason and Ciuilitie Had hee feared God had he reuerenced man had hee made but profession of these things in some hypocriticall shew hee could not so easily haue sitten downe at ease in that Chaire of Scorning whence we read not that euer hee rose by repentance From this Cham came Nimrod The mightie hunter before the Lord not of innocent beasts but of men compelling them to his subiection although Noah and Sem were yet aliue with many other Patriarches As for Noah the fabling Heathen it is like deified him The Berosus of fabling Annius calleth him Father of the gods Heauen Chaos the Soule of the World Ianus his double face might seeme to haue arisen hence of Noahs experience of both Ages before and after the Floud The fable of Saturnus cutting off his Fathers priuities might take beginning of that act for which Cham was cursed Sem is supposed to be that Melchisedech King of Salem the figure of the Lord and the propagator of true Religion although euen in his posteritie it failed in which Abrahams Father as witnesseth Ioshua serued other gods Iaphets pietie causeth vs to perswade our selues good things of him Cham and his posteritie we see the authors of ruine Philo and Methodius so are the two bookes called but falsly tell That in these daies they began to diuine by Starres and to sacrifice their children by Fire which Element Nimrod compelled men to worship and that to leaue a name to posteritie they engraued their names in the brickes wherewith Babel was builded Abraham refusing to communicate with them and good cause for he was not yet borne was cast into their Brick-kill and came out long after from his Mothers wombe without harme Nahor Lot and other his fellowes nine in number saued themselues by flight Others adde that Aram Abrams brother was done to death for refusing to worship the Fire Qui Bauium non odit amet tua carmina Maeui To come to truer and more certaine reports Moses saith That the beginning of Kimrods Kingdome was Babel and Erech and Acad and Calne which three some interpret Edessa Nisibis Callinisum And whereas commonly it is translated in the next words Out of that Land came Ashur and built Niniueh Tremellius and Iunius read it Out of this Land hee Nimrod went into Ashur or Assyria and built Niniue and Rehoboth Calah and Resen But most vsually this is vnderstood of Ashur the sonne of Sem who disclayming Nimrods tyrannie built Niniue which after became the chiefe City of the Assyrian Empire to which Babylon it selfe was subiected not long after Xenophon de Aequiuocis if his authority be current saith That the eldest of the cheife families were called Saturni their Fathers had to name Coelum their wiues Rhea and out of a piller erected by Semiramis to Ninus alleageth this inscription My Father was Iupiter Belus my Grandfather Saturnus Babylonicus my great Grandfather Saturnus Aethiops who was sonne of Saturnus Aegyptius to whom Coelus Phoenix Ogyges was Father Ogyges is interpreted Noah therefore called Phoenix because of his habitation as is thought in Phoenicia not farre from whence in Ierusalem Sem raigned Saturnus Aegyptius may be the name of Cham of whose name Egypt is in Scripture tearmed the land of Cham. Saturnus Aethiops is Cush Nimrod Babylonicus the father of Belus who begat Ninus But this cannot be altogether true For Niniue hath greater antiquitie then Nimrods Nephew howsoeuer the Greeke Histories ascribe this to Ninus and Babylon to his wife Semiramis except we say that by them these two Cities formerly built were enlarged and erected to that magnificence which with the growth of the Assyrian Empire
and by the glorie and order of them learned the knowledge of GOD neuer ceasing that diuine search till GOD appeared to him Which opinion may reconcile both the former that first he was and after ceased to be an Idolater before God appeared in vision to him He alledgeth Philo for his Author that at fourteene yeeres Abraham reproued Thara for seducing men vnto Idolatrie moued by his priuate lucre with Images and seeing the Heauen sometime cleare sometime cloudie he gathered that that could not bee GOD. The like hee concluded of the Sunne and Moone by their Eclipses for his father had taught him Astronomie At last GOD appeared and bade him leaue his Countrey Whereupon hee tooke his Fathers Images who as before is said was an Image-maker and partly broke partly burnt them and then departed Suidas further thinketh him the first inuenter of Letters of the Hebrew tongue and of the interpretation of dreames which I leaue to the Authors credit But for the fault of Abraham before his calling and other blemishes after in him and the rest of the Patriarchs what doe they else but in abounding of mans sinne set out the superabounding grace of GOD and are profitable as learned Morton in his answere of this cauill hath out of one of their owne obserued against them what he had obserued out of Augustine to these foure purposes Faith Instruction Feare and Hope the Faith of the Historie which flattereth or concealeth the faults of none Instruction to vertue by seeing others faults taxed Feare for what shall Shrubs doe if Cedars fall and Hope that wee imitate their repentance by seeing their pardon But to returne to our Historie Many of the Ethnike histories mention him Berosus commendeth him for his iustice and skill in Astronomie Nic. Damascenus sayth that hee raigned at Damascus and that in his time his house continued in Damascus and was still called by his name Hecataeus wrote a booke of him and Alexander Polyhistor telleth that hee was borne in the tenth generation after the floud in Camarine or Vrien a Citie of Babylon Iosephus addeth that when famine draue him into Aegypt hee disputed with the Priests and most learned Aegyptians in questions of Diuinitie and in their diuided Sects hauing confuted one by another he communicated to them the truth both in this and in Arithmeticke and Astronomie whereof before the Aegyptians were ignorant Abram sayth Master Broughton in his Consent was borne sixtie yeeres later then the common account as appeareth by computation of Terahs age who died at two hundred and fiue yeeres and after his death Abram went from Charan into Canaan the threescore and fifteenth yeere of his owne life and therefore was borne in the hundred and thirtieth and not in the seuentieth yeere of his father in the three hundred fiftie and two yeere after the Floud whereas the common opinion reckoneth the two hundred ninetie and two To Abram GOD had giuen commandement saying Goe from thy Countrey and from thy Kindred and from thy Fathers house into the Land which I shall shew thee and I will make of thee a great Nation c. His Historie is fully related by Moses and his progenie also whereof Ismael his Sonne by Agar and other his sonnes which he had by Ketura his second wife he sent to inhabite the East Countrey Arabia in his life time but Isaac was made his Heire both temporall and spirituall to whom Iacob succeeded in the promised blessing who with his sonnes and familie went downe into Aegypt where his posteritie multiplied exceedingly and were called sometimes Ebrewes of their ancient pedegree sometime Israelites of the name Israel giuen to Iacob by the Angell Gen. 32.28 Their whole Historie so largely and plainely in holy Writ recorded I feare to make Mine by euill reciting Those Fountaines are more open to all then that any should neede ours or others Brookes mixed with some myrie earth at least in the passage and my intent is to bee largest in relation of those things which are not in the Scriptures onely touching those things briefly for order sake Their Religion meane while was the best amongst the best though stayned in some as Rachel which stale her father Labans Idols and Iacob was forced to reforme his Familie in this respect and after in Aegypt they were corrupted with the Aegyptian superstition as Ezechiel protests against them The manner of Diuine worship was not so straitly limited as afterwards to persons and places By Reuelation and Tradition they receiued the religious worship wherein they instructed their posteritie vntill that in their extremest thraldome GOD sent Moses and Aaron to deliuer them vnder whose conduct they passed through the Sea and Wildernesse to the brinkes of Iordan receiuing in the way that Law which as a Tutor or Schoole-master was in that their nonage to traine them vp vntill that full and ripe age when GOD sent his Sonne made of a woman made vnder the Law that hee might redeeme them that were vnder the Law that wee might receiue the adoption of Sonnes §. II. Of the Law of MOSES the twelue Tribes and of Proselytes OF this Law although Moses hath giuen vs an absolute relation in Scripture whereof he was the first Pen-man of that at least which remayneth vnto vs yet if wee shall out of him bring them into their order and ranke them vnder their seuerall heads as Sigonius and others haue done it shall not be I thinke ouer-tedious to the Reader The Law is diuided vsually into the Morall Ceremoniall and Iudiciall as parts of the same the first deliuered on the Mount Sinai by the dreadfull voice of the Almightie God and by the finger of God written after in Tables of stone called Ten words summarily abridged into two Commandements by the Law-giuer himselfe The first and great Commandement enioyning the loue of GOD the second of our NEIGHBOVRS that God who himselfe is Charitie imposing nothing but the louely yoke of Loue and Charitie vnto his seruants This Law is eternall written first in the hearts of our first Parents which being defaced it was written againe in the stonie Tables of the Law where it was but a killing letter till Grace and Truth by IESVS CHRIST indited and indented it in the fleshy Tables of the Gospell as Christs new Commandement written it renewed hearts and shall for euer be then grauen in those spirituall Tables when wee that here are Naturall men shall rise againe Spirituall men and shall be the Law of that holy Citie the new Ierusalem this being then perfected when Faith and Hope and this World shall bee finished The other parts Ceremoniall and Iudiciall were for the particulars proper vnto that Nation the one respecting the manner of Diuine seruice the other of ciuill Gouernment not giuen as the other immediatly to the Israelites by GOD himselfe but communicated in the Mount to Moses that hee might acquaint the
Salomon made two doores in the Temple one for mourners and excommunicates the other for the newly married At this if any entred the Israelites which came on the Sabbaths and sate betwixt those doores said He whose name dwelleth in this house glad thee with children If any entred at the other doore with his vpper lippe couered they knew that he was a mourner and said He which dwelleth in this house reioyce and comfort thee If his lippe were not couered they knew that hee was Menudde Excommunicate and said He which dwelleth in this house put into thy heart to heare the words of thy fellowes c. When the Temple was destroyed they decreed that the Bridegroomes and Mourners should enter the Synagogue and the men which saw them reioyced with the one and sate on the ground with the other If they did not amend they were excommunicated with a greater curse or Anathema And if they persisted obstinate they did Samatize them The word Anathema is sometimes taken generally but heere for a particular kinde Maran-atha signifieth The Lord commeth and so doth Sem-atha For by Sem and more emphatically Hassem they vsed to signifie the name meaning that Tetragrammaton and ineffable name of God now commonly pronounced Iehouah It may also be compounded of Sama after the Chaldee forme or of Sam and mitha which signifieth There is death Some Authors ascribe this to the institution of Henoch which they gather out of Iudg. 14. CHAP. III. Of the Religious places of the Israelites their Tabernacle Temples Synagogues IN the discouery of their antient Religion it seemeth fittest to discourse first of Places secondly of Times Thirdly of Rites Fourthly of Persons consecrated to Religion And first of the first Neither were the first men nor first Hebrews very Religious in this point of dedicating Places to Religion as appeareth in Histories both holy and Prophane And if for some vision made vnto them in some places they did for a time hallow the same with Altars and Sacrifices yet neither were they alway or only thus esteemed But Hee Whose is the Earth and all that therein is did by his Law appoint as it were a place of his residence amongst these whom he had chosen for his owne people And commanded them to erect a Tabernacle in the wildernesse fitting that their peregrination Afterward Salomon built him an house in Ierusalem which therefore is called the holy Citie and the Citie of the great King The TABERNACLE a moueable Temple that might be taken asunder and ioyned together againe was by Gods commandement erected in the wildernesse in the same manner and of the same matter which God had both commanded and shewed to Moses in the Mount the matter and forme whereof with all that thereunto appertained the Arke the Candlesticke the Altar c. In the booke of Exodus are liuely declared It was after as we reade in the booke of Ioshua with great solemnitie carried miraculously thorow Iordan by the Leuites deputed to that seruice And after their conquest of the Countrey placed in Shilo a Citie of Ephraim There did Ioshua diuide the Land to her new Conquerors there were their solemne Assemblies for State and religion In the time of Heli they remoued the Arke from the Tabernacle into the Armie which they had gathered against the Philistims of whom the Arke was taken The Tabernacle in the time of Saul was carried to Nob and in the time of Dauid to Gibeon where Salomon offered a thousand burnt offerings The Philistims forced by Diuine iudgements sent backe the Arke receiued by the Bethsamites curious to their cost It was after placed in Kiriath-Iarim in the house of Aminadab next of Obed-Edom and then by Dauid in the place which hee had fitted for the same in Ierusalem Whence it was remoued into the Temple which Salomon had built where it was till the time of the deportation in which time it was saith the Author of the second booke of the Maccabees hiddne by Ieremia the Prophet But that Author is beholden to the Councell of Trent for his credit the Iewes themselues in that point not beleeuing him who affirme that the second Temple came short of the former by the want of the fire from Heauen of the Arke of the Vrim and Thummim of the succession of Prophets and the glory of God betweene the Cherubims The TEMPLE was built on Mount Moriah by Salomon according to the patterne which he had receiued of Dauid to which worke he had gathered a greater masse of wealth then easily we shall reade of in the Persian Greeke Romane or any other Christian Turkish or Heathen Empire namely one hundred thousand Talents of Gold ten hundred thousand talents of siluer and afterward three thousand Talents of Gold and seuen thousand Talents of Siluer to which was added by the offerings of the Princes ten thousand talents of siluer and more then fiue thousand talents of Gold besides Iewels and brasse and iron without weight with Cedars and stones without number The Gold amounteth after the common computation of the common talent at sixe thousand crownes to six hundred forty eight millions of crownes and vpward the siluer to about the same summe But that which by vs is vnderualued accounting to the talent but six thousand crownes as some doe Master Brerewood in his learned worke de ponderibus precijs c. raiseth to a higher summe estimating the talent at foure thousand fiue hundred pound so that the hundred thousand talents of Gold which Dauid had prouided for that worke amount to foure hundred and fifty millions of our pounds and his million of siluer talents each of which is three hundred seuenty fiue pound to three hundred seuenty fiue millions besides thirteene millions and fiue hundred thousand pounds in gold and two millions sixe hundred twenty fiue thousand pounds in siluer afterwards by Dauid offered to the same purpose and by his Princes twenty two millions fiue hundred thousand seuen thousand and fiue hundred pounds in gold and three millions seuen hundred and fifty thousand pounds in siluer That I speake not all other prouisions of iewels metals and timber and the rest Now all that Cyrus got by the conquest of an Asia is valued but at one hundred twenty fiue millions if wee summe his fiue hundred thousand talents after the Aegyptian account which is a great deale more then Alexander found in the Persian Treasury so much renowned both at Susis and Persopolis which as Strabo hath numbred were but thirty two millions and seuen hundred and fifty thousand pounds That summe of Dauid I confesse had often troubled mee nor could I euer finde satisfaction in that doubt But in my opinion Master Brerewoods coniecture is probable that the Hebrew word in that place doth not signifie a Talent or that the word Talent doth not alway signifie the same summe in Scripture euen as amongst other Nations it also varied and
sometimes was vsed for a small summe as hee sheweth out of Homer Pollux and others Howsoeuer therefore I will not so vilifie this Talent here as to esteeme it with some but a shekel yet I would take it as the notation of the word may inferre but for some massie piece of metall This beautifull frame I should deforme with my description if after a double narration of all the parts forme and contents thereof in the History of the Bible I should recite the particulars This Temple fleeced by some repaired by others continued in variety of state till the sacking and ruine of it together with the City by Nebuchodonosor And after their reture by the edict of Cyrus and other the Persian Kings it was rebuilded but farre inferiour in glory in the space as the Iewes say vnto Christ of six and forty yeeres after others it was longer in hand by reason of impediments from their cauilling and malicious neighbours But this error if we vnderstand them of the building of Zorobabel proceeded from the Iewish ignorance of the Persian Chronologie which knew no other Persian Darius but one attributing to Cyrus one and thirty yeeres to Cambyses nine to the Magi seuen moneths and in the sixth yeere of Darius which followed as they accounted was the Temple finished all which amount to six and forty They confound Darius Nothus to whose times the most and best of our moderne Chronographers Scaliger Iunius Caluisius Liuely and others referre this rebuilding of the Temple with that former Darius the sonne of Histaspes and from that second yeere of Darius Nothus wherein the Edict was made for the Temple doth Scaliger beginne the reckoning of Daniels seuenty weekes and a halfe as he interpreteth accounting from thence to the destruction of this Temple foure hundred fourescore and thirteene yeeres and a halfe This second Temple hauing receiued accesse of magnificence in succession of times was spoyled and polluted vnder Antiochus who dedicated the same to Iupiter Olympius but being freed and dedicated anew by Maccabaeus it recouered great part of the former beautie till as Iosephus saith and his abbreuiator Iosippus it was pulled downe by Herod and built anew Herein both that allegation of the Iewes of six and forty yeeres is against this assertion of Iosephus and the History also of Hegesippus who reporteth that he onely compassed the circuit about the Temple with a wall and beautified the same with costly buildings erected from the foundatiō the Porches about the Sanctuary and fortified it with the Castle Antonia but some account this Hegesippus a counterfeit Chrysostome more probably vnderstands those words of the Iewes Forty and six yeeres was this Temple a building of the Herodian Temple and herein Scaliger Hospinian and the great Cardinall Baronius follow him accounting exclusiuely from the eighteenth yeere of Herods raigne which Funccius reckoneth An. M. 3947. to the yeere 3992. in which Iohn baptized and Christ vttered these words in all which they coniecture that some what was still a doing about the new building thereof although the principall part thereof was performed and finished by Herod in eight yeeres This they gathered by Iosephus his owne Testimony that the building continued till the time of Nero and in another place where he affirmeth that the East porch which Luke cals Salomons Porch was still remaining of the ancient building in the dayes of Nero. For thus hee saith in the last booke of his Antiquities speaking of the times of Albinus fourescore and three yeeres after Herod began this worke as Scaliger reckoneth Now the building of the Temple was finished The people therefore seeing eighteene hundred worke-men which had before been wont to liue by that building idle and vnwilling that the money should be laid vp lest it might become a prey to the Romans carefull also to prouide for the worke-men perswaded the King to re-edefie the East Porch which closed vp the outside of the Temple hanging ouer a deepe and narrow valley borne vp by a wall of foure hundred cubits height and the length of euery stone was twenty cubits the thicknes six the worke of King Salomon which first built the Temple But the King to whom Claudius Caesar had committed the building of the Temple seeing that it required much time great expence c. refused Thus it is apparent that all the Temple was not demolished till the finall destruction thereof vnder Titus Neither doe the Iewes in the Talmud speake of any third Temple Nor can the Prophecy of Haggeus be fulfilled That the glory of the second Temple should exceede the glory of the former if Christ of whose comming it is interpreted had not by his presence preaching and miracles not only supplied the defects before mentioned but made it surmount the other in effects of Maiesty and glory And the zeale vnto this Testimony not the meanest which the Christian veritie vrgeth against the Iewish Incredulitie and Apostasie which is necessarily demonstrated and euinced whilest yet they continue their vaine hopes of a Messias so many Ages after the desolation of that Temple whereof Aggee prophecied hath caused me to vse so many words in this matter But to satisfie the fancies of great men their great workes are commonly made greater For howsoeuer it was very great in it selfe that Herod should haue eight yeeres together many worke-men at worke which Iosephus numbreth for some part of the time ten thousand and a thousand Priests yet sustaining no doubt some intermission after his time either wholly or in part it could not be so great as to haue accomplished it wholly from the foundation wherein Salomon spent seuen yeeres and besides what any of the naturall Israelites performed in this worke hee imployed an hundred three and fifty thousand and six hundred worke-men of the Strangers or Forrainers found in the Countrey And whereas the second Temple was but halfe the height of the former perhaps it is true that according to Iosephus he perfected it to that height of an hundred and twenty Cubits whereof twenty cubits sanke downe in the settling of the foundations If any yet will rather thinke this Temple the worke of Herod then Zorobabel as a thing which Iosephus by his owne eyes might obserue Scaliger doth neuerthelesse salue that prophecy of Aggee by distinction of the Building and of the Continuall Sacrifice Saying that if it had beene ten times reedified yet the continuall Sacrifice continuing causeth that there is no interruption and that it should still be called but one Temple It was builded by Herod of white stones fiue and twenty cubits long eight thick and twelue broad He that would further reade the particulars let him haue recourse to Iosephus in his fifteenth booke of Antiquities This Temple was burned by Titus in the sack of the City the same day that before it had beene fired by the Chaldaeans Adrian the Emperour did after destroy the
themselues and theirs to the Bishop Rothard who bestowed them with their infinite masse of treasure in his owne house which yet could not protect them from the murthering and spoyling Souldier who entring by force slew seuen hundred of them adding also the like butcherie on their wiues and children The Iewes hereat Iewishly moued pardon the want of a fitter word layd violent hands on each other and slew their owne children wiues and brethren the tender mother eschewing the souldiers cruelty by a greater in cutting the throate of her owne childe and with obdurate concision preuenting the sword of the vncircumcised Laden with these spoyles they passed by the way of Hungary where for some outrages GOD punished both those and these with the Hungarian forces Their miseries here in our Land endured are by our Authors mentioned and you shall anon heare a particular discourse thereof by it selfe Out of France they were thrice banished by three Philips although in Auinion there still remayne some of them Being expelled France they sought habitation in Germany where Conradus the Emperor admitted them into the countrey of Sueuia and thence they flowed into other parts into Bohemia in the City of Prage are about fifteene thousand of them and into Austria and into Hungaria whence for the crucifying of a child they were banished by king Mathias as at Trent for the like fact and poysoning of Welles they sustained much trouble in Germany and many passed to Venice many also went from thence into Russia where the people cannot abide to here them named and Poland where Cassimere he Great for loue of an Hebrew Lasse gaue them many priuiledges They liue dispersed in the townes and Villages occupied in handi-crafts and husbandry They haue great Synagogues in Craconia Leopolis and at Trochi a towne of Lituania and Master Barkeley a Marchant of London who hath spent many yeeres in Liuonia Polonia and other of those cold countries told me That the Iewes farme the Custome of the Kings and at Samaiden in Cur-land one of these Iewish Customers beat out the braines of a Polonish Marchant for deferring to open his packe but in regard of the peoples hatred prouision is made vnder great penalties for their securitie and yet many Iewes were there executed by occasion of a murren procured as was suspected by Iewish exorcismes intending a plague to the men and not a murren to the beasts if their working had sorted but the Iewes said it was but a pretence to depriue them of their riches They were cast out of Spaine by Ferdinand and Isabella in the yeere 1492. It is thought that there went out of Spaine a hundred and twentie thousand families of them besides Moores and out of their kingdomes of Naples and Sicill Hence they passed Anno Domini 1539. into Tuscane and the Popes Dominions whence they were banished by Paul the fourth and Pius the fifth and receiued againe by Pius the fourth and Sistus the fifth Rome and Venice hauing great store of them This is the Popes holinesse he that would not willingly endure a Protestant in the World besides the Stewes vnder his Holinesse Nose can endure the Graecians yea and these Iewes Rome it selfe hauing ten thousand or after others reckoning twentie thousand of them priuiledged with heir fiue Synagogues Liturgies and publike Sermons and to straine vp their vsurie to eighteene in the hundred hauing also in some places it may be in all a peculiar Magistrate to decide controuersies betweene Christians and them with particular direction to fauour them in their trade Dulcis odor lucri ex re qualibet The beastly trade of Curtizans and cruell trade of Iewes is suffered for gaine these paying a yeerely rent for the heads they weare besides other meanes to racke and wracke them in their purses at pleasure they being vsed as the spunge-like Friers to suck from the meanest to be squeezed of the greatest insomuch that the Pope besides their certaine tribute doth sometimes as is said impose on them a Subsidie for ten thousand crownes extraordinarie for some seruice of State So well is the rule of Paul obserued by this Bishop not to be a louer of filthy lucre from filthie Stewes from filthie Iewes Out of Spaine they went into Barbarie and diuers other countries and some into Portugall where Iohn the second made them pay eight crownes for a poll and yet limited them short time of departure Emanuel his successor did the like 1497. except they would become Christians for which he assayed diuers meanes But not preuayling he caused their children vnder the age of foure and twentie yeers to be baptized some rather hurling their children into pits some killing themselues many for feare were baptized some went into Italie and abode in Ferrara Mantua Venetia in the name of Maranes and haue a Synagogue at Pisa But the greatest part of them went into the East to Constantinople and Salonichi in which two Cities there are about an hundred and sixtie thousand of them There are of them in all the chiefe Cities of traffike in the Turkish Empire Tyberias is wholly inhabited with Iewes which Citie Zelim gaue to Gratiola a Iewish Matron In Ierusalem there are about an hundred houses of them There abide not many because of a superstitious opinion That before the Messias shall come a great fire from heauen will consume that Citie and Countrie to purge it of the abomination committed there by prophane Nations At Zante they are so hated that from Maundie Thursday vntill Saturday noone they dare not come abroad for the people in a foolish zeale would stone them and some refuse to eate of their meate or bread The Turkes in their reproach vse such a kinde of imprecation If this be not true would God I might die a Iew. The old Testament is read of them in these parts in the Hebrew but their Kakamin and Cohens that is their wise-men and Priests preach in Spanish Onely at Salonichi anciently Thessalonica in Macedonia and at Safetta in the Holy Land two Vniuersities they speake Hebrew They will rather in blasphemie testifie their hatred of Christ then any abilitie to dispute §. V. Of the Estate of the Iewes and their dispersed Habitations in the time of Beniamin Tudelensis BENIAMIN TVDELENSIS a Iew of Nauarre who hauing trauelled Spaine France Italy Greece Natolia Syria and many other Countries of Asia Africke and Europe worthily reckoned one of the greatest Trauellers that euer liued at his returne into Spaine aboue foure hundred and fortie yeeres since related what Iewish Synagogues he had seene in the world one chiefe end as it seemeth of his trauels And because it appertayneth to this matter we haue in hand and the booke translated out of Hebrew by Arias Montanus is very rare I thought meete to adde here a briefe of those things which concerne the Iewes out of the same At Barchinon they found a populous Synagogue another but smaller at Gerunda
And as the bodie of Scripture was diuided into three parts the Pentateuch Hagiographa and Prophets so haue they three Thargums of Onkelos Ionathas and R. Ioseph the blind which liued about Anno Dom. 400. And as the Thalmud so the Thargum is of two Dialects the Babylonian and of Ierusalem of this the Authour is vnknowne the Babylonian was written the Pentateuch by Onkelos the Prophets by Ionathan the Hagiographa by R. Ioseph Caecus As for the Iewish Fables of a Voyce to Ionathan and of the consuming with fire from Heauen any flye that should disturbe him in his writing his super-excellence among the most excellently learned Schollers of Hillel c and of their many other supposed Thargums with other Rabbinicall workes testifying truly of Christ collected and related by Galatinus and others I forbeare further recitall I might heere amongst their Doctorall Titles reckon the Archiperecitae mentioned by Iustinian a stile giuen to such as were skilfull either in times or rather in the Thalmud as chiefe Masters and Archrabbines Of their Sanhedrin is alreadie spoken The name is if wee receiue Serarius borrowed of the Greekes with whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Senators These may well be reckoned amongst their learned men Bahal Midrasch is the Author of a Commentary or a Preacher as Darsan also But I haue too long examined Titles If in the next place we obserue the power of the Rabbines they were had in great reuerence and respect they sate in loftie and stately seates had power to create others Masters and Doctors to weare Rings and Hoods and enioyed other Priuiledges differing according to the times places and differing Estates of the Iewes vnder diuers Lords For as we haue obserued in this Countrey of England so in other Countries their power was lesse or more after the will of their Lord in Babylonia Egypt and Spaine somewhat in some places nothing In Iustinians time they challenged power of Excommunication which the Emperour forbad vnder paine of bodily punishments and losse of all their goods The like Ecclesiasticall censure was lately sought by the Iewes of Frankford examined by the Emperours Commissioners at Mentz Now for the Rites of creating the R. in this Doctorall or Rabbinicall Degree First there was some tryall of his worth So Lampridius testifieth of the Emperour Alexander that hee nominated those which were to be sent to gouerne the Prouinces and to will such as could say ought against them to make good proofe thereof or else as Slanderers to lose their heads alleaging that if the Iewes and Christians made such tryals of the Priests it was necessary in these to whom the liues and goods of men were to bee committed By the Iewish Priests wee vnderstand the RR. as the chiefe of them at Wormes is by the vulgar called Iuden Bischoff receiuing some Iurisdiction vnder the Bishop Next after this tryall followed Imposition of hands called by them Semicah which was done by some Rabbine whom they stiled Somech neither before this Imposition might any rightly be termed Rab Rabbi Rabban or Gaon This Rite is ancient Moses hauing vsed it to Ioshua and the Apostles and Christian Bishops still obseruing He was also placed in a Chaire which the Hebrewes call Cisse whence come those Phrases he sate in the seat of such or such a Rabbine as of R. Iose the hand being imposed he was there in Babylon made Gaon and placed in the Throne Rab Haai To this seemes to allude the sitting in Moses Chaire A fourth Rite was a set forme of words anciently these Eni somech otheca Thihieh Samuch that is I lay hand on thee be thou hee on whom hand is laid or I make thee Master bee thou a Master R. Iuda whom Adrian the Emperour slue added a fuller forme of words This Imposition was publikely done in their Schooles where their Chaire was This Imposition of hands some conceiue might not be done extra terram but onely in the Land of Israel which howsoeuer it bee true or false this is certayne that now in their Rabbinicall Creations it is omitted as the chiefe RR. of Frankford in their Epistle to other Iewes complaine and therefore they ordayne tha none in Germany bee esteemed a Morenu our Master without the Approbation of their Archrabbines which keepe an Academie in Germany None shall bee Chaber which hath receiued Imposition of Hands out of Germany None Bachur till the second Yeere after his Marriage especially if hee dwell in a place where is not an Academie that tryall may bee had of his Life and Learning These are three Degrees Morenu as a Doctor Chaber as a Licentiate Bachur as a Bachellour in the Christian Vniuersities Of the Morenu there is difference one beeing chiefe the rest vnder him and these are made of the RR. and if a Rabbine will bee a Morenu he must be examined vsually of three Morenu But to become a Rabbine needs no Examination their Masters testimonie beeing sufficient who is a Morenu or else one chosen by the Congregation to this purpose for one simple R. cannot make another The place is in the Synagogue the day commonly the Sabbath at which time and place the Morenu standing before the Arke or place where the Law is kept speaking to the Assembly saith that such and such haue now spent many yeeres profitably in studie of the Law and is thought worthy of the honour of a Rabbine or a Morenu And then cals the partie foorth by name and appoints him to reade presently to the people and then is he accounted a R. or Morenu And if he be to trauell into any place farre distant he carryeth the testimoniall of this Doctor of the Chaire or Father of the Act which conferred his degree vpon him A Chaber is the Colleague or Companion of a Rabbine but inferiour to him For as in Vniuersities there are Regents and Non-Regents so a Rabbenu or Morenu as one which actually teacheth and as it were a Regent is more then a Rab or Rabbi Scaliger saith that he was not presently after this his Commencement or Proceeding intituled Master but Chaber which had also his Relatiue annexed as R. Ismael Chaber of R. Eleazar which was the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst the Greekes as Speusippus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Platonis and whiles hee was so called he neuer sate whiles his Master sate but was prostrate on the pauement And when they were both Masters the younger stood whiles the elder sate and taught as in the Primitiue Church the younger Bishop called the Elder Papa Serarius and he cannot agree about these points Elias sayth that the Doctorall Title of Gaon was giuen them for their perfection in the Talmud for Gaon signifieth sixtie And so many parts are there of the Misna These Wisemen in Spaine added Aben to their Titles as R. Abraham Aben Ezra his Fathers name was Meir but Aben the name of the Family As Paul and Aquila
their wiues children and vtensils on their Camels Their horses are leane little swift laborious bold and the horse-men actiue beyond beleefe darting and catching with their hand the same Dart in the horses swiftest race before it commeth at the ground and auoiding a Dart throwne at them by sleightie winding vnder the horses sides or belly also taking vp weapons lying on the ground whiles the horse is running and in like swift race hit the smallest marke with Arrow or Sling Their armes are Arrowes Iauelins with iron heads swords which they vse not to thrusts but strokes Daggers Slings and vse the same in aduerse fight or in auerse flight They lie in wait for Carrauans prey vpon trauellers liue at rapine and spoile and often make themselues the Great Turkes Receiuers and Treasurers and raise new Imposts on all such as they can enforce whether Trauellers or Cities obeying neither the Ottoman nor any other Souereigne but being diuided in innumerable Families obey the heads of their owne Families or Tribes These Tribes are distinguished by the Names of their first Parents as Abi-Helal Abi-Risce Abi-Zaid and six hundred others all esteemed and saluted gentle and equall in rights Their food is browne bread new and sowre milke cheese goats and camels flesh pulse hony oile and butter Rice is esteemed a great delicacie by reason of their Tradition that it came of Mahomets sweat For say they when Mahomet compassed the Throne of God in Paradise God turned and looked on him which made the modest Prophet sweat and wiping it off with his finger six drops fell out of Paradise one whereof produced the Rose the second Rice the other foure his foure associates They vse a certaine hodge-podge or frumentie of boiled wheat laid after a drying in the Sun then beaten boiled with fat flesh til the flesh be consumed This they call Heresie say that Gabriel the Angel taught it Mahomet for the strengthning his reines whereby one night he fought against fortie men and in another had fortie times carnal dealing with women These might seem calumnies deuised by some Mahumetan aduersarie if the former author both learned in and zealous of the law of Mohamed had not related the same in a chapter of the choise of meats Mohamed or Mahomet commended also the eating of gourds of the Melongene affirming that hee had seene this plant in Paradise and measured the quantitie of mens wits by their eating store hereof When he was once in prison saith Ben-sidi-Ali the Angell Gabriel came downe from heauen and carried him in Gennet Elenaam or the Garden of Pleasures where amongst others he saw this shrub and he asking why it grew there the Angell answered because it hath confessed the vnitie of God and that thou art a true Prophet Their garments are base a cotton shirt with very wide sleeues an vpper garment of wooll wouen with white and blacke lines of Goats or Camels haire their feet are bare Their nobler sort go better clothed and vse shooes a red lether girdle a white tulipan of cotton or linnen of few folds Their women goe almost naked in a blew smocke of cotton linnen head tire and face vailed They vse eare-rings chaines broochen and rings of glasse or other base matter and die or paint with blew markes made with a needle their cheekes armes and lips Thus much of the Beduines §. II. Of the Sararcenicall beginnings and proceedings vnder MAHOMET and his successors of the Maraunian race THis robbing and roguing people liued in much obscuritie vntill that darkenesse brought them to light and a Religion newly stamped by Mahomet in a secret and iust iudgement of God for the contempt of the Truth was by as new a kind of preaching viz. force of Armes obtruded on the luke-warme world For when as Mahomet of whole life followeth a large discourse had obserued that sicke state of the Empire afflicted with Iewish rebellion Persian inuasion and Nestorian infection besides the securitie of the Head it selfe Heraclius then Emperour he thought good to take Occasion by the Fore-locke and to strike whiles the yron was hot First vnder pretence of Religon hauing inueigled a multitude of Disciples he made a commotion in Arabia and being therfore driuen out of Mecca many of his followers resorted to him Of whom hee appointed Captaines and Leaders of the rest Vbequar Omar Ozmen Alifre Talaus Azubeirus Zadimui Zaedinus and Abnobeid The Arabians as some affirme aided Heraclius in his warre against Cosdroes the Persian and after that warre ended the Arabians complaining for want of pay the Treasurer answered that there was scarce sufficient for the Greek and Romane Souldiers much lesse for that company of Dogs Whereupon as long before on like occasion they had rebelled in the reigne of Iulian so now enraged they departed into Syria and adioyned themselues vnto Mahumet who euen then after the Persian victorie had obtained some say of the Emperour whom he serued in those warres to himselfe and his followers a Region to inhabite the Emperour so rewarding his exploits in the late warres Mahumet with this supply assailed Mecca which diuers times before he had in vaine attempted and tooke it with other pieces in Arabia viz. Hunaim Ietrip Tambic c. He afterwards created foure Generalls whom he called the foure sharpe swords of GOD and commanded them to goe into the foure parts of the world and to kill all such as would not embrace his Law These foure were Ebubezer or Vbequar Omer Osmen and Ali. Ebubezer went into Palestina but was ouerthrowne by Theodorus Begarius Caesars Lieutenant About the same time died Mahumet and this Ebubezer succeeded him although Mahumet had designed Ali his successour At his death saith Cedrenus a Comet appeared thirtie dayes together at Noone in forme of a sword from the South to the North foresignifying the Empire of the Arabians Eubocara or Abubacher for diuersly is this Ebubezer called hauing by his might and the assistance of Homar and Osmen obtained to be Califa ouerthrew the Imperiall and soone after died Homar the next Califa wanne Bosra the chiefe Citie of Arabia and all the Countrey as farre as Gabata and put Theodorus the Emperours brother to flight Hee besieged Damascus and hauing broken the forces that came to reskue it obtained it subduing also all Phoenicia After that turning his forces into Egypt Cyrus the Bishop of Alexandria staied him with promise of two hundred thousand pieces of gold for yeerely Tribute This was disannulled by Heraclius and Emanuel the Deputie denied the payment whereupon entring the second time vnder conduct of Hamrus Egypt was conquered After two yeeres siege Ierusalem also was wonne into which hee entred clothed in a garment of Camels haire and very homely professing great sanctitie Hee built a superstitious Temple where that of Salomon had stood Iaidus one of his Captaines subdued Edessa and all Mesopotamia Afterwards placing Muauias ouer all the Countries
gaue the gouernment of Korarrazin to Altuntar one of his Captaines In a fourth iourney into India hee ouerthrew Gulkand a Pagan King who seeing himselfe vanquished with the losse of fiftie thousand men fearing a beautifull wife which he had should come into his enemies hands slew her and himselfe also In a fifth expedition hee ouercame Gipal and Iaudebal two Indian Kings and returning to Gaznehen built a stately Temple or Mosque as a Thankesgiuing for his victories and then entering into Persia tooke Rey and Hispahon in Hierak now the seate of Ahas the Persian King from Maiudu Daule whom hee dispossessed of his Kingdome At this time were great quarrels among the Daules in Persia Kermon and Diarbek and Mocheraf preuayling against Sulton called himselfe King of Kings A. H. 411. Gelala another of the Daules was the yeere after made King of Bagadet A. H. 416. Mocharaf dyed at Bagadet and the yeere after the Turkes tooke fired and spoyled Bagadet This made them call Gelala againe to their succours who not long before was defeated at Bagadet and forced to flee to Basora and now entring went to the Chalifes house to kisse his foot A. H. 419. But the Turkes which hee brought with him falling to mutinie for their pay the Chalife was forced to become pay-master Mamud amidst his conquests dyed A. H. 421. and Mahamed his sonne succeeded and the next yeere followed Kader the Chalife which had enioyed without great ioy in it his place fortie one yeeres and Kahem his sonne succeeded Masud the other sonne of Mamud warred vpon his brother whom by treacherie of Issuf and Amir Aly traytors to their Master hee tooke and put out his eyes Hee that loued the treason rewarded the Traytors the one with yrons in a dungeon the other with more open and yet more close ayre in hanging Thus hee ruled Karason Gazneken and Hierak and sent Altuntax Gouernour of Koarrazin against Taquin who held Samarkand and Bokara which warres were bloudie But A. H. 424. his Garrisons in India and the Countrey of Gibal reuolted in recompence of which hee subdued Gerion and Taberstan Togotel or Togozelbek and Iakarbek Salinquis two Turkish Captaines subdued many of his Townes in Karasan and forced Alaon Daule and Abusale out of their Gouernments whereupon Masud returning was by other of his enemies ouerthrowne Herewith enraged hee put many Turkes to death which had fought in this last battell but faintly on his part and making an expedition into India by treacherie was taken of his followers and soone after slaine his blinde brother Mahamed recouering the state but not his eyes and therefore resigning to his sonne Hamed who againe was dispossessed by Moadud the sonne of Mafud But the Turks in Karasan and Maurenahar would not acknowledge him and in the 435. of the Heg. had the victorie against his armie Other Turkes also going out of Turquestan spoyled the Countries of Garmeer and Kandachar This seemes a truer storie of the Turkes beginning of greatnesse in Persia then that which is vsually receiued and is thus by Mirkond a Persian Historian deliuered Moadud hauing relieued Lahor which his Vassals in India rebelling had besieged marched against the Turkes but dyed in the way A. H. 441. At Bagadet matters had continued in confusion They had reuolted from Gelata Daule and proclaimed Abulganiar King but hee refused and the Turkes soone after fired the Towne and spoyled it This continued till A. H. 428. when the cold was so extreame that the riuer Degile or Tygris was frozen twelue dayes together and the Snow lay three spans deepe there A. H 434. Ebrahem Nealy Saliuqui a Turke entred Persia in the Prouince of Hierak and tooke Amedon Tokzelbek before mentioned tooke Rey and spoyled all Persia with a victorious Armie Hee also through the dissentions of the sonnes of Abulganiar after their Fathers death found meanes to encrease himselfe And the Chalife of Damascus forced Kahem the Chalife of Bagadet to flee to Tokzelbek for succour whereupon hee entred Bagadet and put all to fire and sword rifling the very Sepulchers to search for Treasures He tooke Malek Rhaym the successour of Abulganiar whom before hee had helped to winne Scyras and the best part of Persia and imprisoned him where hee dyed And thus the Empire of the Daules being deadly sicke soone after dyed Abd Rachid also the successour of Maodud was so pursued by Tokzelbek that at last in a Fort he was through the corruption of his Guard by money taken and murthered Then did hee marrying a sister of the deceased proclaime himselfe King But not long after being in a publike place to receiue the salutations which they are accustomed to make in those parts ten of the chiefe men conspiring together slew him Kahem or Alkahem dyed A. H. 467. and Almoktady Byla was Chalife the fortie eight in order In his time the Turkes and Ferrogozad the other sonne of Masud came to composition Almostazer Byla succeeded his Father in the Caliphate A. H. 487. in whose time Bagadet hauing beene ruined by the ouerflowing of Tygris the situation was changed and it was new built on the other side of the riuer towards the East where it now stands in a more commodious seat hauing had twentie fiue Chalifes since the foundation by Abuiafar and yet not one of them dyed in it Hee liued in peace and dyed A. H. 512. This storie is thus told by Zacuth In his time the Astrologers fore-told an exceeding deluge not so great as in the dayes of Noah because then said they were seuen Planets in coniunction with Pisces whereas now there were but sixe Saturne being excluded This made the Inhabitants of Bagded afraid because of the low situation and caused them to stop the passages of the waters The Ismaelites which of deuotion performed their Pilgrimage were most of them drowned The Calipha for this cause arayed the Astrologer which fore-told this in royall apparell Almostarched Byla Fazele his sonne succeeded hee warred against some Princes of Persia and seized vpon some Prouinces of Masul Saliuqui King of Karason but Masud had the better and slew the Chalife A.H. 529. His sonne and successour Rached Bila sought to reuenge his death but hauing conquered a great part of Persia was slaine also by Masud A. 532. He following his victories made himselfe Master of Bagadet and placed Almoktafy Bila in the Califate who taking aduantage of Masuds death which hapned soone after marched into Persia and recouered that which Masud had vsurped which he enioyed peaceably and dyed A. H. 555. And now the Chalifes became great Potentates againe His sonne Almostanget Byla Issuf succeeded the fiftie three Chalife After his death which was through heate by shutting the doore when he was in the Bath succeeded A. 566. Almostanzy Benur Elah Acen and hee dying A. 577. Nacer held the place fortie seuen yeeres vnder whom Bagadet did greatly flourish During his gouernment the Saliuquis were vanquished by the Koarrasmians Altahar Byla Mahamed
the next Chalife enioyed it but nine moneths his sonne Almostancer Byla seuenteene yeeres in whose time the Mogoles or Tartarians wanne some Prouinces but by him were diuers time defeated Almostacem or Musteatzem Byla Abdula was the fiftie eight others reckon but fiftie foure and the last of the Chalifaes of Bagadet the thirtie seuen of this family which had commanded about fiue hundred twentie three yeeres in the Persian Chronicles of Mirkond and others esteemed as Kings thereof Hee dyed A. H. 655. I confesse Zacuth and Mirkond doe not fully agree in names times and relations nor yet much disagree I haue heere most obserued the later as the larger Not long before one Bada professing himselfe a Prophet sent of GOD had of the scumme of all Nations gathered an Armie wherewith hee committed much excesse and slaughter in Asia both of Iewes and Christians In the time of this last Chalife the Tartar King Chita made his brother Halacho King of Irak and Mesopotamia who besieged and sacked Bagded and slew Musteatzem This Chalipha was starued by his commandement in the middest of his treasures because hee would not employ the same through niggardise for his owne defence From that time there hath been no Chaliph saith this Arabian Historie in Bagdet In him ended the Abasian line of which had beene fiue and thirtie Chaliphaes §. IIII. Of their Titles Greatnesse and Learning AFter Mahumet or Muhammed the false Prophet the first Captaines of warre were called Emirelmumenim that is to say Praefecti orthodoxorum the Captaines of the Sound-beleeuers and after because vnder cloake of Religion they seized on the Primacie and tyrannie spirituall and temporall they named themselues Caliphes that is Vicars Bedwell interprets successours The first Emirelmumenim was Abubecher When by his successours Gouernours were sent into Spaine and Africa they for a time held the same as Deputies although to their power nothing lacked but the Tytle of a King yet they professed to doe all in the name of the Emirelmumenim vntill afterwards they tooke that Tytle also themselues and became absolute Whence all the pettie Kings of Spaine and the African Potentates were called Emireelmumenim and the Kings of Barbarie are so stiled at this day euen as the French King is called Christianissimus the Spaniard Catholicus The Legats of the Chalipha were called Naibin which also signifieth the same that Chalipha but this was made peculiar to those Saracen tyrants which vsed both Swords to speake in the Romish language supreame in matters Diuine and Humane Thus obserueth Ioseph Scaliger of these names whereby appeareth that Emire elmumenim was not giuen onely to Abedramon and his successours in Africa as is before obserued out of Curio Beniamin Tudelensis nameth the Chaliph which in his time ruled in Bagded Amir Almumanin Alghabassi which Montanus translateth The Prince of the beleeuers which liue in penance or heauinesse But I rather encline to Mr. Seldens coniecture that it is Emirelmumenim of the Abazian race or kindred for so Beniamin adds after that the proper name of this great King was Al-ghabassi Hhaphtsi whom I take to bee the same which is before called Moktaphi the first sillable in that name being common as you see to many of them and Ktaphi or Chaphtsi not so vnlike as many names proue in their transmigration from one language to another He reports that he had a Palace of three miles compasse within the Citie within which was a wood or groue of Trees of all sorts both barren and bearing Beasts also of all sorts for game and in the middest thereof a great lake with plentie of Fish neither wanted there Fowles for varietie of disport He was skilfull of the Hebrew and well respected that Nation He had imposed this rule on himselfe not to vse any meate or apparell which hee had not first earned to which purpose hee made fine Mattes which being sealed with his owne Seale were by his Courtiers solde the great men buying them for their vse None of the Ismaelites so he calleth the Mahumetans might see his face and the Pilgrimes which came from Mecca in the Land of Eliman and passing this way desired to see him vsed to enter the Palace and there cryed out O Lord Light of the Ismaelites and Sun-beame of our Law shew vs the brightnesse of thy face But hee answered them nothing as not seeming to regard them Then his Courtiers and great Attendants sued for them saying O our Lord spread thy peace ouer these men which come from farre Countries c. Then would hee let out at the window a skirt of his garment which they deuoutly kissed and when one of those great men had said Goe in peace returned full of gladnesse to their home where they were receiued almost with veneration for so happie an exploit Euery of the Princes which attended on him had their seuerall Palaces within the great Palace and were duely obserued wearing also yron chaynes because they had once conspired to set vp his brother But they had the reuenues of Townes and Cities belonging to them brought them by their Officers notwithstanding Thus did hee conserue his Maiestie with the people and securitie with his owne I omit the Edifices and pillars of gold and siluer adorned with Gemmes which he mentioneth in that Palace Out of which the Chaliph came but once in the yeere in the moneth Ramadan or their Easter solemnitie at which time they resorted thither out of farre Countries to see him as if hee had beene Mahomet He was then carryed on a Mule royally apparelled and crowned with a Diadem of vnspeakable price on which he ware a blacke cloth in token that the day of death would obscure all that pompe and splendor The Princes of Arabia Media Persia Tuboth did attend him and thus he went to the great Temple built in the gate Bosra The people men and women all cloathed in silke purple salute him Peace be on thee our Lord King He resaluting them with his hand or mouing his garment Being thus conueyed to the Porch with musicke also of all kindes and dances he ascendeth a Tower of wood and there maketh a Sermon of his Law the wise-men of the Ismaelites applauding his learning the people answering Amen After this hee giueth them all his blessing and a Camell is brought to him which hee killeth for the Paschall Feast and causeth the Princes to distribute pieces of the flesh of the beast which himselfe had slaine this they esteeme a great gift This done they depart the King returning by another way by the bankes of Tygris alone the Princes passing in the Riuer vnto the Palace Hee had built a Palace on the other side of Tygris on a branch of Euphrates which floweth by one side of the Citie in which hee had raysed great Houses Hospitals for the sicke and for the poore and for mad men with all prouision for them at his charge This I haue beene bold to
Companions the first Abdollah or Abu-Bacr his sincerest and most inward friend a man very rich and releeuer of Mohameds necessities his successour after his death He dyed the thirteenth yeere of the Hegira and sixtie three of his age and was buried in the same graue with Mohamed The second was Homar the sonne of Chattab surnamed Faruq who succeeded Abi-Bacr and ruled ten yeeres and six moneths Hee was the first which was called King of the faithfull and writ the Annalls of the Moslemans and brought the Alcoran into a Volume and caused the Ramadam Fast to be obserued He was slaine the twentie three of the Hegira and buried by Abi-Bacr The third was Othman who in his twelue yeeres raigne subdued Cyprus Naisabur Maru Sarchas and Maritania and dyed A. H. 35. and was buried in the buriall place of the Citie Aali is the fourth who is called also Emir Elmumenin that is King of the faithfull Hee was slaine A. H. 40. in the sixtie three of his age and was buried in the Citie Kerbelai Hee was Vncles sonne or Cosin-German to Mohamed and his sonne-in-law and deare familiar from his youth and receiued the Mosleman law together with Mohamed whereupon hee was wont to say I am the first Mosleman And therefore the Persians detest the other three Chalifas as heretikes burne their writings wheresoeuer they finde them and persecute their followers because forsooth they were so impudent to prefer themselues before Aali and spoiled him of the right-due by Testament Hence are wars hostile cruelties betwxit them the Turks and Arabs Mohamed the false prophet in the eleuenth yeere after his Hegira or flight and the sixtie three of his age dyed at Medina and was buried there in the graue of Aaisee his wife Here is a stately Temple and huge erected with elegant and munificent structure daily increased and adorned by the costs of the Othomans and gifts of other Princes Within this building is a Chappell not perfectly square couered with a goodly roofe vnder which is the Vrne of stone called Hagiar Monaüar sometimes belonging to Aaisce aforesaid This is all couered with gold and silke and compassed about with yron grates guilded Within this which shineth with gold and gems Mohameds carcasse c833208arcasse was placed and not lifted vp by force of Load-stone or other Art but that stone-Vrne lieth on the ground The Mosleman Pilgrims after their returne from Mecca visit this Temple because Mohamed yet liuing was wont to say That hee would for him which should visit his Tombe as well as if he had visited him liuing intercede with God for a life full of pleasures Therefore do they throng hither with great veneration kisse and embrace the grates for none haue accesse to the Vrne of stone and many for loue of this place leaue their Countrey yea some madly put out their eyes to see no worldly thing after and there spend the rest of their dayes The compasse of Medina is two miles and is the circuit of the wall which Aadhd Addaule King of Baghdad built A. H. 364. The territorie is barren scorched Sands bringing forth nothing but a few Dates and Herbes CHAP. IIII. Of the Alcoran or Alfurcan containing the Mahumetan Law the summe and contents thereof §. I. Of the Composition of the Alcoran THe Booke of Mahomets Law is called by the name of ALCORAN which signifieth a collection of Precepts and Alfurcan as it is expressed and expounded in a Booke called The Exposition or Doctrine of the Alcoran because the sentences and figures thereof are seuered and distinguished for Al is the Article and phurcan signifieth a distinction or as some say Redemption Claude Duret citeth an opinion that of the Hebrew word Kara which signifieth the Law or Scripture commeth this word Koran which with the Article Al signifieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scripture as with them it is esteemed The like hath Soranzo Master Bedwel in his Arabian Trudg-man saith that the Thema is not KARANA coniunxit colligit as before is deliuered but KARA which signifies to read so that Alkoran in Arabike is iust as much as Hammikra is in Hebrew that is the Text Corpus iuris the authenticall bodie of their Law It is called in that language the Koran without the Article Al and Korran so Cantacuzenus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if one should say their Bible Scripture or Booke of the Law The Word of GOD saith Mahomet in that Booke came not to mee all at once as the Law vnto Moses the Psalmes to Dauid and the Gospell to Christ The Sentences or Chapters thereof are called Azoaras which is interpreted a Face as wee call them Capita Heads So saith one which hath written Notes vpon the Alcoran but Master Bedwel who hath published an Index or Table of all these Azoara's or Chapiters with their Arabike Titles as they are named and cited by the Mahumetans saith That they call the name of the Chapiter Sura and with their Article Assura or Suraton Assurato And hee deriues of the Hebrew word Zobar that Azoara but this Arabike Sura is expressed not by Zain He but by Sin Wau and Resh differing letters being no other then the Syrian Suriya which signifieth principium initium For as the Bookes of Moses in the Hebrew and the Sections of the Ciuill and Canon Law so these Chapiters for the most part are denominated of some notable word in the beginning of the same and are so cited by Mahumetans and learned Christians Yet these sometime name it by the interpretation as the chap. Albacara the chap. of the Cow because the word so signifies The stile is not in Meter as some haue imagined for Iosephus Scaliger a great Criticke and reputed one of the greatest Linguists in the world affirmeth That that Language is not capable of metricall measures by quantities of Syllables as neither the Hebrew Abyssine or Syrian Hee saith yet That the Alcoran is composed in Rime but such as is not in any tunable proportion but that word which maketh vp the Rime being sometimes neerer and sometimes farre beyond all harmony distant from that word whereto it answereth A hobbling kinde of Rime saith Master Bedwel in his Index Alcorani and rude Poeme without all care for it is Postellus his testimony you shall haue a period of two hundred Syllables to rime and hold like cadence to as other very short Scaliger addes that at the end of such Rimes are set the figures of Flowers or some such matter which if it be so the Turkish nicetie of making no likenesse of any thing in their Carpets or other workes is stricter then these Alcoran bookes themselues and indeed is not common with them vnto other Mahumetans who vse their libertie in this point For the words and phrase no man euer writ any thing in Arabian more rudely saith an Arabian Christian in confutation hereof and much better might Muzeilenia Helcasi and Alabazbi
Christians more vnnatural against his brother but most most vnnatural and monstrous against his sonne Selym. His conquests were in Cilicia Caramania and Peloponnesus Selym not content to haue thrust his father out of the Throne aspired to a further effect of aspiring ambition depriuing him of life from whom himselfe had receiued it To this end he corrupted a Iew Baiazets Physician whom Knolles calleth Hamon but Menauino an eye-witnesse nameth him Vstarabi who with the powder of beaten Diamonds poysoned him and for reward when hee claymed Selyms promise had his head stricken off in the Tyrants presence So much did he hate the Traytor whose treason he so much loued The body of Baiazet was embalmed and interred at Constantinople in a beautifull Sepulchre neere to the Meschit which himselfe had built and Priests were appointed which should euery day pray for his soule Two of his Pages did Selym put to death for wearing blacke and mourning apparell for their Masters death and three others whereof Menauino was one hardly by intreatie of Selyms daughters and some Bassaes escaped This Viper that spared not his father proceeded with bloudie hands to make an end of the rest of his Ottoman-kindred beginning with fiue sonnes of his brethren and adding the remnant as hee could bring them into his power And hauing thus founded his Throne in bloudie cruelties of his owne at home no maruell if abroad his proceedings were no lesse cruell and bloudie towards his enemies Of whom the first which offered himselfe after his domesticall warres appeased was Ismael the Sophie who with thirtie thousand Persian Horse-men gaue battell to Selym notwithstanding his three hundred thousand Turks where was fought in Armenia neere Coy a terrible and mortall battell betwixt them the Turkes at last very hardly preuailing by helpe of their great Ordnance but so little cause had they to reioyce of their victorie that this is reckoned among the dismall and disastrous dayes termed by the Turkes The onely day of Doome The next yeere he entred againe into the Persian Confines and there tooke Ciamassum ouerthrew Aladeules the Mountaine King who raigned in Taurus and Antitaurus and slew him But his most fortunate attempts were against Campson Gaurus the Egyptian Soldan and his forces of Mamalukes whom by his multitudes notwithstanding their fame and valour not inferiour to any Souldiors of the world hee ouercame the Soldan himselfe being left dead in the place August 7. 1516. Neither had Tomumbeius his Successor any better successe but succeeded as wel in his fortune as to his Scepter who by treason of his owne and power of his enemy lost both his life and Kingdome all Egypt and Syria therby accrewing to the Ottoman Selym from thenceforth purposing to turne his forces from the Sunne-rising against the Christians in the West came to his owne Sunne-set the period of his raigne and life a miserable disease as an angrie Pursuiuant exacting and redemanding his bloudie cruell spirit an implacable officer of that implacable Tyrant to Tyrants and Prince of Princes Death who at last conquered this Conquerour or rather if his Epitaph written on his Tombe say true conueied him hence to seeke new Conquests His disease was a Canker in the backe eating out a passage for his viperous soule which made him rot while he liued and become a stinking burthen to himselfe and others He died in September 1520. hauing before bequeathed bloudshed and desolation to the Christians and ordained Solyman his sonne and heire executour of that his hellish Testament And further to excite him thereunto had left him the liuely counterfeit of himselfe with sundrie bloudie Precepts annexed His title therein written was Sultan Selym Othoman King of Kings Lord of all Lords Prince of all Princes Sonne and Nephew of God Wee may adde Heire apparant to the Deuill that breathed his last in bloud resembling him that was a Murtherer from the beginning CHAP. IX A Continuation of the Turkish Warres and Affaires together with the succession of the Great Turkes till this present yeere 1616. §. I. Of SOLYMAN the Magnificent SOLYMAN sir-named the Magnificent succeeded his Father Selym in place and surmounted him exceedingly in exploits Belgrade which ominous name did presage happinesse vnto him in his Warres and proceedings was the beginning of his Conquests wonne by the Turkes August 29. 1521. Rhodes receiueth him on Christmasse day 1522. but withall exileth both Cheere Christmasse and Christians Hee inuadeth Hungarie and in the field discomfiteth and killeth Lewes and slayeth or captiueth two hundred thousand Hungarians in that expedition 1526. Hee entereth Hungarie the second time 1529. and after some butcheries therein marcheth to Vienna in Austria where he lost fourescore thousand of his Turkes and then with shame anger returned In the yeere 1532. he returneth with an Armie of fiue hundred thousand men to whom Charles the fifth opposed himselfe and the Christian forces in greater numbers then hath in many ages been seene mustering in his Armie at Vienna two hundred and threescore thousand men whereof fourescore and ten thousand Foot-men and thirtie thousand Horse-men were old Souldiers to whom Solyman did not nor durst not bid battell Poore Hungarie rues in meane while whether he getteth or loseth in Austria being made his thorow-fare as he went and came After this he trieth his successe against the Persian where hee taketh Tauris and Babylon with the Countries of Assyria and Media Anno 1534. each of which had sometimes beene Ladie of the World At incredible costs he prepared a Fleet in the Red Sea 1537. and taking Aden and Zibyth two petie Kingdomes in Arabia by his forces besieged Dium a Castle of the Portugals in the East-Indies but without his wished successe For the Portugals still retaine their Indian-Seas and Traffique and not onely freed that their Castle from Turkish bondage but had meanes to fortifie it better by the Ordnance which the Turkes in their hastie flight had left behinde A more dangerous plot did Solyman meane while contriue against Christendome preparing his forces to inuade Italy and to that end was come to Aulona an Hauen in Macedonia with two hundred thousand Souldiers where Barbarussa and Lutzis Bassa his great Admirall met him with his Fleet to transport his Armie But Solyman first employed these Sea-forces on the coast of Italy and tooke Castrum his Horse-men which he had sent ouer in great Palendars carried away the people cattell and substance betwixt Brundusium and Tarentum fortie miles space all the countrey of Otranto terrified with feare of a greater tempest But the Venetians turned it from the rest of Italy vpon themselues notwithstanding their league by vnseasonable exacting of that Sea-courtesie the vayling of the bonnets or top sayles of some Turkish Gallies vnto them as Lords of that Sea for which neglect some of them were sunke Auria also the Emperours Admirall had surprised some of the Turkes stragling Fleet and
the Persians losse and with lightnings to shew that indignation against the Turkes which in their thundering Dialect they aloud vttered there grew such horror to their mindes from aboue and such sicknesse to their bodies from those putrified carkasses beneath that Mustapha was forced to remoue missing forty thousand of his first Musters After hee had fortified the Armenian Castle of Teflis his Armie being driuen to shifts for lacke of victuals ten thousand of his forragers were slaine by the Persians who were recompenced with like slaughter by Mustapha that came vpon them whiles they were busie about the spoyle and spoyled the spoylers In passing ouer the Riuer Canac he lost fourescore thousand Turkes which the Riuer seemed to take for Custome as it had many of the Persians in the late conflict whereof his violent current was a greedy and cruell exactor Mustapha erected a Fortresse in Ere 's and tooke Sumachia chiefe Citie of Siruan Derbent offering her selfe to the Turke and then returning into Natolia But Emir Hamse Mirise the Persian Prince recouered after his departure both Ere 's and Sumachia slew and captiued the Tartars thirtie thousand of whom were newly come to the Turkes ayde He rased Sumachia euen with the ground The next yeere Mustapha fortified Chars in three and twentie dayes wherein they were hindered with Snowes on the fiue and twentieth of August although it standeth in fortie foure Degrees Anno 1580. Sinan Bassa was chosen Generall for the Persian Warre who as hee departed from Teflis lost seuen thousand of his people besides such as the Georgians and Persians together with the spoyle carried away This was earnest the rest was but sportfull shewes of warre in trayning his Souldiers after which he returned In 1583. Ferat Bassa was sent Generall but little was done till Osman Bassa a new Generall 1585. tooke Tauris the ancient Ecbatana as Minadoi is of opinion But the Persian Prince carried with indignation reuenged this losse on the Turkes with his owne hands slaying Caraemit Bassa Generall in the place of Osman then sicke and gaue his head as opima spolia to one of his followers and afterwards at Sancazan slew twentie thousand Turks Osman dyed of sicknesse and the Persian Prince the Morning-starre of that Easterne State was soone after murthered In that dismall yeere 1588. Ferat tooke Genge fifteene thousand houses seuen Temples and fiue and twentie great Innes were burned in Constantinople the tumultuous Ianizaries not suffering the fire to be quenched An Impost was leuied of the subiects to satisfie the pay due to the Souldiers for the Persian warre which raised these stirres Yea the Priests disswaded the people from those new payments and perswaded them to maintaine their ancient Liberties shut vp their Meschits intermitted their Orisons and the great Turke was forced to call in his Mandates and deliuer the Authors of that counsell wherof the Beglerbeg of Grecia was one to the Ianizaries furie who made Tennis-balls of their heads In the 1592. Wihitz chiefe Citie of Croatia was yeelded to the Turke The next yeere Siseg was besieged but relieued by the Christians who slew eighteene thousand Turkes and tooke their Tents yet was it soone after taken by the renewed forces of the Turkes Sinan tooke Vesprinium in Hungarie and Palotta but their losse was farre greater then their gaines which continuing and a broyle of the Ianizaries added thereto brought Amurath into malancholy and sicknesse whereof he dyed the eighteenth of Ianuarie 1595. Transyluania Valachia and Moldauia hauing before reuolted from him to Sigismund who was entitled their Prince This Amurath in a letter to Queene Elizabeth entituleth himselfe By the Mercie of God free from all sinne with all height of Grace made possessor of great blessednesse aboue the 72. Lawes of the world §. III. Of MAHOMET the Third MAHOMET his sonne succeeded who inuiting his nineteene brethren to a Feast sent them to learne his fathers death in the other world accompanied thither with ten of Amuraths women from whom issue was feared which with drowning them he preuented Much adoe he had with his Ianizaries at home much losse in his Dominions abroad for which cause he sent for Ferat Bassa out of Hungarie and strangled him and sent Sinan his emulous corriuall in his roome whom the Transyluanian Prince ouerthrew in battell and after chased him ouer a Bridge which he made a mile in length for his Armie to passe ouer Danubius with great losse of his people His Bridge the fire and water diuided betwixt them and the conceit of this ill successe as was thought procured his death soone after In the yeere 1597. Mahomet in his owne person enterprised these warres and not farre from Agria on the sixteenth of October fought a cruell battell with the Christians wherein had not Couetousnesse rightly called the root of all euill hindered had beene atchieued the most glorious victorie against those Barbarians that euer Christendome was blessed with Mahomet himselfe for feare seeing his Ordnance an hundred fourescore and tenne great Peeces taken and his men slaine in multitudes fled with Ibrahim Bassa towards Agria shedding teares by the way which he wiped off his bloudie face with a piece of greene silke supposed to be a piece of Mahomets garment carried with him as a holy Relique But whiles the Christians were now halfe Conquerours by greedie turning to the spoile their victorie was wholly lost and twentie thousand of them slaine who had slaine threescore thousand Turkes Mr. Barton the English Embassador was present in the fight and Mr. Thomas Glouer also who in a large iournall of this Expedition testifieth that the great Turk was in great feare but being animated by some about him he tooke his bow and arrowes and slew three Christians therewith Those former reports hee mentioneth not Not long after the Bassa of Buda was taken and the Bassa of Bosna with some thousands of Turkes slaine Anno 1599. Yet did not all his losses in the West by the Christians vexe the Great Sultan so much as a rebellion raised in the East which many yeeres continued Cusabin Bassa of Caramania rose in armes against his Master and hauing now done great matters his Souldiers before false to their Prince became now also false to him hee flying was after taken and tortured to death His rebellion out-liued him and was maintained by one called the Scriuano who ouerthrew Mehemet Bassa in the field and the second time in the yeere 1601. ouerthrew him with his Armie of fiftie thousand and foraged all the Countrey almost as far as Aleppo proclaiming himselfe the defender of the Mahumetan faith and soon after gaue the Bassa a third ouerthrow The Turkes Embassadour sent into Persia to demand the Sophies sonne in hostage for the assurance of the peace betweene those two Monarchs was for his proud message put to the Bastinado and grieuously threatned sent backe to the Grand Signior The Scriuano's proceedings was much furthered by the dissentions betweene
Towne where they come And there this new numen and old impostor faining himselfe rauished in spirit pronounceth graue words and spirituall commandements at sundry times lifting vp his eyes to heauen and after turning to those his disciples willeth them to carry him from thence for some imminent iudgement there to be executed as is reuealed to him They then pray him to auert that danger by his prayer which he accordingly doth which the people deluded by their hypocrisies reward with a large beneuolence at which they after amongst themselues doe merrily scoffe They eate also of the herbe Matslatz and sleepe vpon the ground naked of clothes and shame and commit also abominable Sodomitrie And thus much of their misorderly orders of an irreligious Religion He that will read more at large of them let him read the Booke of the Policie of the Turkish Empire which out of Menauino discourseth more largely of these things and other the Turkish Rites Septemcastrensis telleth of certaine Saints of exceeding estimation for holinesse whose Sepulchres are much frequented of deuout Votaries as that of Sedichasi which signifieth a holy Conquerour in the confines oof Caramania Another is called Hatsehipettesch that is The Pilgrims helpe Another Ascik passa who helpeth in loue-matters and for children in barrennesse Another Van passa for concord and Scheych passa in trouble and affliction and Goi or Muschin or Bartschin passa inuoked for their cattle and Chidirelles for trauellers to whom he sometime appeareth as a traueller and any one that hath extraordinarily liued is reputed a Saint after his death They haue many whose names I remember not saith hee in like reuerence with them as are the Apostles with vs When they would seeke for things lost they go to one Saint when they are robbed they goe to another and for the knowledge of things secret they repaire to a third They haue their Martyrs and Miracles and Reliques Thus they tell of certaine religious men condemned wrongfully for suspition of treason to the fire which they entred without harme as those three companions of Daniel and their shooes were hanged vp for a Monument Their Nephes ogli that is soules or persons begotten of the holy Spirit such is their fancie without seed of man they hold in such reputation that they account themselues happy which can doe them any good yea that can touch them and if their haires be laid vpon any they say that their sicknesses are cured In this reputation of sanctitie they haue a certaine old woman which hauing a dog with her in her pilgrimage to Mecca readie to die for thirst made water in her hand and gaue it to the dog which charitable act was so highly accepted that a voyce was presently heard from heauen saying This day thou shalt be in Paradise And at the same time shee was caught vp bodie and soule into heauen and hereupon are they liberall to their dogs If this crosse an opinion which some Saracens hold that women come not to Paradise no maruell seeing falsehood is commonly contrarie both to the Truth and it selfe He that would read the miraculous tales which they tell of their Saints may haue recourse to that namelesse Author which of his Countrey is called and heere often cited by name Septemcastrensis who telleth of his Master and his Mistris their deuotion and vowes to Goi and Mirtschin for preseruation of their cattell sometimes miraculous so readie is the Deuill with his sauing destruction and destroying preseruation yea hee saith that the Deuill doth turne himselfe amongst them into an Angell of light with such effectuall illusions that there are seene or at least beleeued amongst them the dead raised to life diseases of all sorts cured secrets of the hearts disclosed treasures long before hidden in the ground reuealed and besides such ostentation and shew of dissembled holinesse that they may seeme not to come short of the Fathers and Apostles in that behalfe if bodily exercise were the triall of sanctitie Busbequius tells that they haue like conceit of one Chederles amongst them as some superstitious persons haue of St. George and the Turkes affirme to bee the same The Deruis haue a great Temple dedicated in his honor at Theke Thioi not farre from Amasia the chiefe Citie of Cappadocia The Countrey and both Legends agree for the killing of the Dragon deliuering the Virgin c. They say that hee trauelled many Countries and at last came to a Riuer the waters whereof yeelded immortalitie to the drinker and now cannot be seene Chederles heereby freed from death rides about euery where on his horse which thence also dranke in immortalitie and delighteth in battells taking part with the best cause and to make vp the tale they say hee was one of the companions of Alexander the Great they affirme that Alexander was Salomons chiefe Captaine and Iob his high Steward In that Moschee or Temple at Theke Thioi is a fountaine of water which they say sprang vp of the staling of Chederles horse Like Stories haue they of his horse-keeper and nephew whose Sepulchres they shew where deuout Pilgrims obtaine many blessings They shew for relikes the pieces of the shooes which Chederles his horse brake in that Dragon-fight vse the same in drinke against agues and head-aches These places are full of Dragons and Vipers Sultan Murat Chan or Amurath the second in a battell against the Christians vsed this prayer O righteous God giue vs strength and victorie O Muhamet O Mustapha the top of glory by abundance of miracles by the abundance of Gaiberenlers which are friends to the Musulmans and walke inuisible by the abundance of the Cheders grant vs victorie In the time of Vrchan or Orchanes the sonne of Ottoman they say these Gaib-erenlers appeared on white horses in a battell against the Christians and slew them These they say are friends to the Islams that is Catholike or right beleeuing Musulmans and are diuine protectors of the Imania or Mahumetan Law Such tales you may read in the Spanish relations of the West Indies as at the battell of Tauesco where a strange horse-man discomfited the Indians c. And our inuocation of God and Saint George is rather Turkish then truely Christian For God alone is our strength which teacheth our hands to fight and our fingers to battell and whom haue I in heauen but thee and I haue desired none in earth with thee As for George and Chederles I know them both alike in matter of Inuocation saue that it is worse to abuse to impietie a Christian name then a Turkish and King Edward the third seemed to inuoke Edward as much as George Ha Saint Edward Ha Saint George saith Thomas Walsingham But that of George is rather an Embleme of euery Christian as not onely the Heroique Muse of our Spencer in Poeticall fiction but the Diuiner of great Diuines in their iudiciall censure haue manifested It seemeth
Cherosonesus or Peninsula which containeth besides that the Regions of Pontus Bithynia Lycia Galatia Pamphilia Paphlagonia Cappadocia Cilicia and Armenia Minor It was bounded on the East with Euphrates now Frat on the South with the Mediterranean Sea on the West with the Archipelago on the North with the Black-Sea stretching in length from 51. to 72. degrees of Longitude and in breadth from 36. ½ to 45. This Countrey hath beene anciently renowned for Armes and Arts now the graue of the carkasses or some ruinous bones rather and stonie Reliques of the carkasses of more then foure thousand Places and Cities sometimes inhabited Many changes hath it sustained by the Egyptian Persian Macedonian Roman Tartarian and Turkish generall Conquests besides such exploits as Croesus and Mithridates of old the Saracens and the Westerne Christians of later times haue therein atchieued Let the studious of these things search them in their proper Authors our taske is Religion whose ouer-worne and almost out-worne steps with much curious hunting in many Histories wee haue thus weakely traced Of the Turkes we haue alreadie spoken and we leaue the larger Relations of the Christians for why should wee mixe Light with Darknesse to their proper place For euen yet besides the Armenians there remaine many Christians of the Greek Church in Cappadocia and other parts of this Region HONDIVS his Map of ASIA MINOR NATOLIA Next vnto those parts of Syria before deliuered are situate in this lesser Asia Cilicia Armenia Minor and Cappadocia CAPPADOCIA called also Leucosyria and now Amasia stretcheth foure hundred and fiftie miles along the Euxine Sea bounded on the West with Paphlagonia Galatia and part of Pamphylia on the South with Cilicia on the East with the Hills Antitaurus and Moschius and part of Euphrates Heere runneth Halys the end of Croesus Empire both in the site and fate thereof the doubtfull Oracle here giuing him a certaine ouerthrow For when hee consulted with the same touching his Expedition against Cyrus he receiued answer That passing Halys hee should ouer-turne a great State which he interpreting actiuely of his attempts against Cyrus verified it passiuely in himselfe And here besides other streames slideth Thermodon sometime made famous by the bordering Amazons Of which manly Foeminine people ancient Authors disagree Theophrastus deriuing them from the Sauromatae Salust fetching them from Tanais P. Diaconus describing them in Germany Trogus and Iustine reporting them Scythians Diodorus crossing the Seas to finde them in Lybia and thence also in a further search passing into an Iland in the Atlantike Ocean Ptolomey and Curtius placing them neerer the Caspian Sea Strabo doubting whether there euer had beene such a people or no. Some haue found them out a-new in the new World naming that huge Riuer of them Goropius confidently auouched them to bee the Wiues and Sonnes of the Sarmatians or Cimbrians who together with their Husbands inuaded Asia And this hee proueth by Dutch Etymologies and other coniectures Which if it be true sheweth that their Religion was the same with the Scythian They are said to haue worshipped Mars of whom they faine themselues to be descended Religion it were to speake of their Religion of whose being wee haue no better certaintie Strabo writeth That in the places ascribed to the Amazons Apollo was exceedingly worshipped In Cappadocia was seated the Citie Comana wherein was a Temple of Bellona and a great multitude of such as were there inspired and rauished by deuilish illusion and of sacred Seruants It was inhabited by the people called Cataones who being subiect to a King did neuerthelesse obey the Priest that was in great part Lord of the Temple and of the Sacred Seruants whose number when Strabo was there amounted to sixe thousand and vpwards of men and women The Priest receiued the reuenue of the Region next adioyning to the Temple and was in honour next to the King in Cappadocia and commonly of the same kindred These Idolatrous Rites are supposed to haue beene brought hither out of Taurica Scythia by Orestes and his sister Iphigenia where humane Sacrifices were offered to Diana Here at the solemne Feasts of Bellona those Sacred Seruants before mentioned called Comani wounded each other in an extaticall furie bloudy Rites fitting Bellona's solemnities Argaeus whose hoary head was couered continually with snow was reputed a religious Hill and habitation of some God Strabo reporteth of the Temple of Apollo Catanius in Dastacum and of another of Iupiter in Morimena which had three thousand of those Sacred Seruants or Religious Votaries which as an inferiour Order were at the command of the Priest who receiued of his Temples reuenue fifteene Talents and was reputed in the next ranke of honour to the Priest of Comana Not farre hence is Castabala where the Temple of Diana Persica where the sacred or deuoted women were reported to goe bare-footed on burning coles without harme It is reported that if a Snake did bite a Cappadocian the mans bloud was poyson to the Snake and killed him Many excellent Worthies hath this Region yeelded to the world Mazaca afterwards of Claudius called Caesarea was the Episcopall Seat of Great Basil Cucusum the Receptacle of exiled Chrysostome Amasia now a Prouinciall Citie of the Turkish Beglerbegs sometime the Countrey of Strabo to whom these our Relations are so much indebted Nissa and Nazianaum of which the two Gregories receiued their surnames But that Humane and Diuine learning is now trampled vnder the barbarous foot of the Ottoman-horse Here is Trapezonde also whilome bearing the proud name of an Empire Licaonia the chiefe Citie whereof is Iconium celebrated in holy Writ and a long time the Royall Seat of the first Turkes in Asia and since of Caramania now Conia or Cogne inhabited with Greekes Turkes Iewes Arabians and Armenians is of Ptolomey adioyned to Cappadocia And so is Diopolis called before Cabira since Augusta which Ortelius placeth in the lesser Armenia In Diopolis was the Temple of the Moone had in great veneration much like in the Rites thereof to that before mentioned of Comana which although it bare the surname of Cappadocia yet Ptolomey placeth it in this Armenia and Comana Pontica in Cappadocia of the same name and superstitious deuotion to the same Goddesse Thence haue they taken the patterne of their Temple of their Rites Ceremonies Diuinations respect to their Priests And twice a yeere in the Feasts which were called The Goddesse her going out the Priest ware a Diademe He was second to none but the King which Priest-hood was holden of some of Strabo's progenitors Pompey bestowed the Priest-hood of this Temple vpon Archelaus and added to the temples reuenue two Schoeni that is threescore furlongs of ground commanding the inhabitants to yeeld him obedience Hee had also power ouer the Sacred Seruants which were no lesse then sixe thousand Lycomedes after inioyed that Prelacie with foure Schoeni of land added thereto
long as they could hold their breath without harme but not without signes of working passions whether of diuine inspiration or reluctation of the naturall forces No lesse maruellous then the dampe of the ayre is the hardning qualitie of the waters which being hot doe harden themselues into a kinde of stone Warner mentioneth the like in Hungarie and Acosta in Peru Those Galli heere mentioned with Priests of Cybele so called of Gallus a Riuer in Phrygia the waters whereof temperately drunken did exceedingly temper the braine and take away madnesse but being sucked in largely caused madnesse These Priests drinking heereof vnto madnesse in that fury gelded themselues and as their beginning so was their proceeding also in madnesse in the execution of their rites shaking and wheeling their heads like mad-men Volateran out of Polyhistur reporteth that one Gallus the companion of Attys both gelded imposed this name on the Riuer before called Teria Of Cybele and Attys we haue spoken before I adde that after some this Attys was a Phrygian youth which when hee would not listen to Rhea in her amorous suites gelded himselfe so consecrating his Priesthood vnto Rhea or Cybele others affirme that shee preferred him to that Office first hauing vowed perpetuall chastitie and breaking his Vow was punished with madnesse in which hee dismembred himselfe and would also haue killed himselfe but that by the compassionate Goddesse hee was turned into a Pine-tree That the Fable this the History that these gelded Priests wore also long womannish attire played on Tymbrels and Cornets sacrificed to their Goddesse the ninth day of the Moone at which time they set the Image of the Goddesse on an Asse and went about the Villages and Streets begging with the sound of their sacred Tymbrell corne bread drinke and all necessaries in honour of their Goddesse as they did also in the Temples begging money in her name with some musicall Instruments and were therefore called Matragyrtae Thus did the Priests of Corona also begge for the maintenance of their Goddesse with promises of good fortune to their liberall contributors Lucian in his Asinus relateth the like knaueries of the Priests of Dea Syria Concerning his Image Albricus thus purtrayeth it A Virgin sitting in a Chariot adorned with varietie of gemmes and metals Shee is called Mother of the Gods and Giants these Giants had Serpentine feet one of which number was Titan who is also the Sunne who retayned his Deitie for not ioyning in conspiracie against the Gods with his brethren This Chariot was drawne with Lions Shee wore on her head a Crowne fashioned like a Tower Neere her is painted Attys a naked boy whom in iealousie shee gelded Macrobius applies this to the Sunne Boccace to the Earth Mother indeed of the Ethnike Deities which were earthly sensuall deuilish who addeth to that former description of Albricus a Scepter in her hand her garment embroydered with branches and herbs and the Galli her gelded attendants with Trumpets The interpretation whereof they which will may reade in him as also in Phornutus Fulgentius and others with many other particulars of her Legend Claudian calls her both Cybele and Cybelle which name Stephanus thinketh she receiued of a Hil of that name in Phrygia as doth Hesychius likewise so was shee called Dyndimena of the Hill Dindymus I could weary the Reader with long narrations out of Pausanias Arnobius Lilius Gyraldus and others touching these things but in part wee haue before shewed them in our narrations of Adonis in Phoenicia of the Syrian goddesse to which Phornutus referreth this and when we come to a larger handling of the Grecian Idolatries we shall finde more fit occasion It is now high time to leaue this properly called Asia and to visit LYCIA washed by the Sea two hundred miles wherein the mount Taurus ariseth hence stretching it selfe Eastward vnder diuers appellations vnto the Indian Sea They were gouerned by common Councell of three and twentie Cities till the Romans subdued them Here was Cragus a Hill with eight Promontories and a Citie of the same name from whence arose the Fables of Chymaera At the foot of the Hill stood Pinara wherein was worshipped Pandarus and a little thence the Temple of Latona and not farre off Patara the worke of Patarus beautified with a Hauen and many Temples and the Oracles of Apollo no lesse famous if Mela bee beleeued for wealth and credit then that at Delphos The Hill Telmessus was here famous for Southsayings and the Inhabitants are accounted the first Interpreters of Dreames Here was Chymaera a Hill said to burne in the night PAMPHYLIA beareth Eastwards from Lycia and now together with CILICIA of the Turkes is called CARAMANIA Herein was Perga neere whereunto on a high place stood the Temple of Diana Pergaea where were obserued yeerely Festiuals Sida had also in it the Temple of Pallas There remaine of this Chersonessus ARMENIA minor and Cilicia Armenia minor called also Prima is diuided from the Greater or Turcomania by Euphrates on the East it hath on the West Cappadocia on the South Cilicia and part of Syria on the North the Pontike Nations It was sometimes reckoned a part of Cappadocia till the Armenians by their inuasions and Colonies altered the name As for their rites I finde little difference but they either resemble the Cappadocians or their Armenian Ancestors CILICIA abutteth on the Eastern borders of Pamphylia and was diuided into Trachea and Campestris now hath in it few people many great Mesquitaes and well furnished the chiefe Citie is Hamsa sometime called Tarsus famous for the studies of learning herein saith Strabo surmounting both Athens and Alexandria but most most famous for yeelding him to the world then whom the whole world hath not happily yeelded any more excellent that was meerely a man that great Doctor of Nations who filled these Countries and all Regions from Ierusalem euen to Illyricum now full of barbarisme by preaching and still filleth the world by his writings with that truth which hee learned not of man nor at Tarsus the greatest Schoole of humanitie nor at Ierusalem the most frequented for Diuinitie but of the Spirit of Truth himselfe who both was at first from Heauen conuerted and after in the third Heauen confirmed in the same Strabo mentioneth the Temple and Oracle of Diana Sarpedonia in Cilicia where being inspired they gaue answeres The Temple of Iupiter also at Olbus the worke of Aiax From Anchiale a Cilician Citie Alexander passed to Solos where hee sacrificed with prayses to Aesculapius for recouery from a strong Feuer gotten before in the waters of Cidnus and celebrated Gymnicall and Musicall Games The Corycian and Triphonian Dennes or Caues were held in much veneration among the Cilicians where they sacrificed with certaine Rites They had their Diuination by Birds and Oracles Of the Corycian Denne or Caue so called of the Towne Corycos almost compassed with the
successor Hee also in a conspiracie was killed and Vonon substituted whom the Parthians not long enduring forced to seeke helpe of the Romans where he was perfidiously slaine Artabanus obtained the Empire from whence hee was after chased by Vitellius who placed Tiridates in the Throne which hee had scarce warmed when Artabanus recouered it and after left it to his sonne Bardanes the Arsacian stocke being now dispossessed This Bardanes whiles hee minded warres against the Romans is killed of his owne Gotarzes his brother succeeded to the Scepter which he held notwithstanding the decree of the Roman Senate for Meherdates the sonne of Vonon whom hee tooke and cut off his eares Vonones was his successor a little while and presently after Vologaeses his sonne The next was Artabanus and after him Pacorus and in the next place Cosdroes his brother against whom Traian warred with good successe who extended the Roman Empire to the Indians But Adrian renewed league with the Parthian Parthanaspates succeeded and soon after Vologaeses who left heire his sonne of the same name depriued by his brother Artabanus He being vniustly dealt with by the Romans trecherie draue them to sue for peace which after that Antonius the author of the breach was dead was easily obtained by Macrinus his successour But Artaxares a Persian preuailed better in a third battell ouerthrowing him and reducing the Kingdome after such a world of yeeres to the Persian name Some reckon this 472. yeeres from Arsaces and 228. after Christ Scaliger reckoneth the time of the Parthian Dynastie 479. yeeres The number of their Kings after this computation is nine and twentie They which list to see further of their warres with the Romans may reade the Roman Authors which haue written the same the summe whereof is here presented to your view Cornelius Tacitus tells a merry tale for I thinke these Tragedies haue wearied you and pertinent to our purpose of a good-fellow-like Hercules whom the Parthians worshipped This kind-hearted god warneth his Priests in a dreame that neere to his Temple they should set his horses readie furnished for hunting which they doe lading them with quiuers full of Arrowes These after much running vp and downe the Forrest returne home at night blowing and breathlesse their quiuers being emptied And Hercules no niggard of his venison acquainteth the Priests at night by another vision with all his disport what woods hee hath ranged and the places of his game They searching the places finde the slaine beasts Better fellowship certaine had their Hercules then their Kings when they inuited any to their Feasts For the King had his table alone and loftie the guests sit below on the ground and like dogs feed on that which the King casteth to them And many times vpon occasion of the Kings displeasure they are haled thence and scourged and yet they then prostrate on the ground adore their striker They worshipped the Sunne at his rising Bardesanes in Eusebius saith of them that to kill his wife or sonne or daughter or brother or sister yet vnmarried was not prohibited by the Law to any Parthian nor any way subiect to punishment The Parthian Ensigne was a Dragon the Royall Ensigne a Bow their stile was King of Kings they ware a double Crowne They had an ointment made of a certaine composition which no priuate man might vse Nor might any else drinke of the waters of Choaspes and Eulaeus None might come to the King without a present The Magi were in great authoritie with them Their Rites were mixt of the Persian and Scythian Nothing was more seuerely punished then adulterie A seruant might not bee made free nor might be suffered except in the warres to ride or a free-man to goe on foot Their fight was more dangerous in flying then in standing or giuing the onset Terga conuersi metuenda Parthi The Parthians flight doth most affright They account them the most happy which are slaine in battell They which die a naturall death are vpbraided with cowardise Their fight Lucan describeth Pugna leuis bellumque fugax turmaeque fugaces Et melior cessisse loco quà m pellere miles Illita terra dolis nec Martem cominùs vnquam Ausa pati virtus sed longè tendere neruos That is Light skirmish fleeing warre and scattered bands And better Souldiers when they runne away Then to beare off an enemy that stands Their craftie caltrops on the grond they lay Nor dares their courage come to right-downe blowes But fighteth further off most trusting to their Bowes Many Cities amongst them and two thousand Villages are said to haue been ouerwhelmed with Earthquakes They are said to bee of spare diet to eate no flesh but that which they take in hunting to feed with their swords girt to them to eate Locusts to be false lyers and perfidious to haue store of wiues and strumpets Their Countrey is now called Arach in it is made great quantitie of Silkes Isidorus Characenus hath set downe the seuerall Countries with their dimensions how many Schaeni each of them containeth with their chiefe Cities and their wayes and distances which giueth great light to Geography and the knowledge of the Parthian greatnesse Schaenus is accounted threescore furlongs §. II. Of the Hircanians Tappyri and Caspians HYrcania now called Straua or Diargument hath on the West Media on the East Margiana on the South Parthia on the North the Sea which hereof is called the Hyrcane otherwise Caspian Famous it hath beene and is for store of woods and Tygers There are also other wilde beasts Here in the Citie Nabarca was an Oracle which gaue answeres by dreames Some Riuers in this Countrey haue so steepe a fall into the Sea that vnder the waters the people resort to sacrifice or banquet the streame shooting violently ouer their heads without wetting them Iouius writeth That the ayre is vnwholsome by reason of the Fennes Straua the chiefe Citie aboundeth in trafficke for Silke The Ilands before it in the Sea were no lesse refuge to the Inhabitants in the Tamberlaine-tempest then to the Italians in the time of Attila whose places where now Venice standeth Their Religion as the State both in times past and present hath followed the Persian of whom we are next to speake It is reported of Tappyri inhabiting neere to Hyrcania that their custome was to bestow their wiues on other men when they had borne them two or three children so did Cato his wife Martia on Hortensius and such saith Vertomannus is the custome at this day of the Indians in Calechut to exchange wiues in token of friendship They had wine in such estimation that they anointed their bodies therewith The Caspij shut vp their parents after they are come to age of seuentie yeeres and there in respect of pietie what more could the impious doe starue them to death Some say That after that age they place them
Royall Ensigne on the mothers belly acknowledging him for their King This Sapores in a letter to Constantius the Emperour intituled himselfe King of Kings partaker of the Starres brother of the Sunne and Moone he demanded all that had before belonged to the Persians to bee restored Betwixt them grew a bloudie warre as Ammianus relateth Sapores tooke Singara and Bezabde An. Dom. 359. but was repelled into Persia by Constantius Iulian his successor seeking to subdue the Persian lost himselfe The best part of himselfe he had lost before in Apostasie which plucked this destruction vpon him An. 362. It is vncertain whether diuine or humane hand executed this iustice on him Iouinian was presently saluted Emperor but forced to agree on dishonourable conditions with the Persians leauing the Rabdicens Carduens Rhesens Zalens and Nisibis to the Persian Dominion And a little after in the reigne of Valens the league was broken by Sapores who wonne Ctesiphon Valens intending this war was by the Gothes ouerthrowne and burnt aliue before he could effect any thing An. 377. When Theodosius reigned the peace was renewed After Sapores succeeded Artaxerxes and after him Sapores his sonne both which reigned nine yeeres Then followed Varanes Cermasat eleuen yeeres to whom succeeded Isdigertes who held peace with the Romans Procopius writes That Arcadius the Emperour on his death-bed Ann. 407. ordained in his last Will this Isdigertes the Tutor and Protector to his sonne and heire Theodosius which he faithfully performed Agathias also acknowledgeth it a currant report Maruthas was in credit with this King Hee was a Christian Bishop and by his prayers had cured him of a grieuous sicknesse which the Magi with their Fierie superstition and all their labour could not effect The Magi conspiring against Maruthas watched opportunitie that when the King should come after the Persian wont to worship the Fire a man whom they had hidden before within the earth for that purpose cried aloud That the King should goe forth as being accounted of their god impious who so loued a Christian Bishop Hereupon the King bethought him of sending him away But Maruthas suspecting the knauerie counselled the King to cause the earth to be didded vp for the Fire saith hee cannot speake The King going into the Chappell or Sanctuarie and hearing this voyce againe followed Maruthas his counsell and found out their packing and punished the authors allowing Maruthas to build a Church wheresoeuer hee pleased in Persia And whiles the Magi yet added to their treacheries he not onely punished their persons but distasted their Religion and purposed to become a Christian but by death was preuented which happened An. 421. Varanes or Vararanes his sonne followed not his steps but both brake league with the Romans and persecuted the Christians Narses his Generall with his forces were defeated Azamaea wasted Nisibis besieged by the Imperialls The Saracens which ayded the Persian stricken with a strange furie and amazement drowned themselues in Euphrates It is said a hundred thousand men perished Theodosius then Emperour knew these things by Palladius who in three dayes did ride from Constantinople hither and backe againe in as many vsing to flie in this manner to any the remotest parts of the Empire with such admirable and almost miraculous expedition with his celeritie making that spacious Empire seeme but narrow and strait Vararanes sent an Armie of those expert Souldiers which were among them for their excellencie called Immortall but the Roman swords soone proued them mortall Thus succeeded that Warre which he had begun for despight to the Christian Religion and profession He was forced to seeke peace and ended or mitigated his persecution To him succeeded Ann. 441. another Izdigerdes who reigned seuenteene yeeres and after him Perozes who reigned foure and twentie yeeres after him his brother Obalas Bizarus calls him Bleses ruled foure yeeres Cabades his successour renewed the Warres with the Romans and no maruell for hee was cruell to his owne people and warred euen against Nature for hee ordained as some report That women should be common any wedlock-bands notwithstanding Whereupon his Nobles conspired against him depriued and imprisoned him Bleses was enthronized Scaliger hath Zamaspes who foure yeeres after resigned the State vnto Cabades againe who hauing before reigned eleuen yeeres added thereto thirtie more Necephorus tells That hee became friend to the Christians and permitted free libertie of that Religion vpon this occasion Betweene Persia and India was a Castle called Tzundadaer wherein Cabades had heard that much money and iewells were kept Cabades vsed all meanes to obtaine it but in vaine so strongly was it as the Storie saith garded with Deuills Hee therefore vsed all the Persian Exorcismes to dispossesse them and when they preuailed not he sought to effect it by the Iewes but with the former successe At last hee made vse of the Christians who expelled the spirits and deliuered the Castle vnto him It is reported that he slew Zeliobes King of the Hunnes for playing on both hands and comming to helpe him in his Warres against the Romans hauing before sworne to assist the Emperour About these times were the Manichees destroyed in Persia for corrupting his sonne Phatuarsa with their infectious leauen He therefore slew their chiefe Prelate Indagarus and many thousand Manichees all in one day hauing assembled them with a wile professing that he would make that his sonne King He assembled also the chiefe of the Magi Glonazës and Boazanes a Christian Bishop for the greater solemnitie with like deuotion as Iehu sacrificed to Baal with the presence and assistance of Iehonadab 2. Kings 10. Caluisius saith this was done An. 523. Cabades dyed An. 531. His sonne Cosroes the Great succeeded and reigned eight and fortie yeeres Hee about the thirteenth yeere of Iustinians Empire An. 539. inuaded the Roman Dominions tooke Surus burnt Berraea destroyed Antiochia and with lesse successe besieged Edessa Agathias preferreth this Cosroes for his great exploits before Cyrus and Xerxes Yet was his end ignoble and vnworthy his high spirit For Mauritius in the time of Tiberius entred into the Persian Dominions and burnt some Villages neere to the place where Cosroes then was for his recreation and saw this burning spectacle wherewith Indignation and Griefe mustering greater multitudes of fearefull vnquiet enraged thoughts in his heart then Mauritius had Souldiers in his Armie vnable to beare such vnwonted sights of hostile flames in his Countries and such vnwonted fights of inward perturbations euen greatnesse of spirit made way to Pusillanimitie and being weakned with colluctation of contrary passions a feauer taking that occasion and aduantage apprehends him and soone after kills him Some say his sonne Ormisda reigned seuen yeeres with his father Hee succeeded and reigned eight yeeres Hee was exceeding cruell by reason of a prophecie that his subiects should dispossesse him which caused him to dispossesse thousands of them of their liues and made him so odious that they
Kings ordinarie guard night and day guarded the Palace the most of them Persians another band of 10000. choice horse-men were wholly Persian and were called Immortall one thousand of the best of them called Doryphori and Melophori were chosen into the Kings guard They receiue no money but allowance of victuall for their wages Curtius mentioneth a guard next to the Kings person called the Kings kinsemen which were 15000. But it were too tedious to recite the Homotimi Megistanes and other his court-officers and attendants the Surena which was the chiefe Magistrate and others whereof Brissonius hath written As their liues were burthened with voluptuousnesse so they prepared for their deaths that they might descend suddenly into the graue as Iob saith of the prosperitie of some wicked without any bands to vse Dauids phrase of a lingring death certaine poysons tempered of the excrements of the Dircaerus an Indian bird which in short time without sense of griefe depriued them of life After the Kings death they extinguished the SACRED FIRE which rite Alexander obserued in Hephaestions funerall In Persepolis were erected vnto them stately Monuments with Titles and Epitaphs inscribed The Monuments of the Kings there with other Antiquities haue conquered Time and Alexanders Fires yet remaining so fresh as if they were new made many still shining like glasse Among which a Iasper Table is remarkable inscribed with letters which none can reade all of a Pyramide or Delta forme in diuersifyed postures Twentie such Pillars remaine of admirable greatnesse beautie and likenesse of a lasting Marble with Images in long habits like the Venetian Senators with wide sleeues and long beards others sitting as in high arched seats with footstooles in great Maiestie There are also huge Colossean horses with giantly riders of Marble And although a goodly fertile Countrey doth inuite habitation of ten leagues extent euery way yet is there now but one poore village of foure hundred housholders called Margatean in this plaine of Persepolis Our Author acknowledgeth Diodorus his relations iustly agreeing with his eyes and esteemeth these Monuments farre beyond all other the worlds miraculous Artifices I might here terrifie the delicate and already-wearied Reader with representation of their Martiall marching discipline numbers armors and the like of which Brisson hath written a whole booke Yet because wee haue thus farre waded in matters of the Persian Magnificence let vs take a little view of the Heyre and Successour to that Greatnesse Great Alexander in state entring Babylon thus by Curtius related Many came forth to meet him the wayes were all strowed with flowers and garlands on both sides were erected siluer Altars laden with Frankincense and all kinde of odors There followed him for presents droues of Horses and Cattell Lions and Leopards in grates were carried before him The Magi after their manner of Procession singing had the next place after them the Chaldaeans and the Babylonians both Diuiners and Artificers with musicall Instruments Then the Horsemen furnished beyond magnificence in excesse of prodigalitie The King with his Armie followed and last of all the Towns-men Hee that will compare with these relations that which in the bookes of the Romane Ceremonies is written of the Popes strait Tiara enuironed with a triple Crowne the veneration performed to him by all euen Emperours kissing his feet holding his bridle and stirrop putting their shoulders vnder his Chaire when hee lists to ride on mens shoulders holding water to his hands and bearing the first dish to his Table the change of his name at his election his Palfrayes alwayes white like the Nisaean led before him one of which carryeth his God vnder a Canopie his Scala Processions and other Rites shall see some hence borrowed most exceeding the Persian Excesse Once all Religion with them seemeth turned into State and Ceremonie the soule being fled and this bodily exercise bodie of exercise in exercise of the body onely left CHAP. VI. Of the Persian Magi. THe name of Magi is sometimes applied say some to all the Persians or else to a particular Nation amongst them sometime it signifieth the most excellent in Philosophie and knowledge of nature or in sanctitie and holinesse of life Thus Suidas calls the Persian Magi Philosophi and Philothei studious of knowledge of nature and of God Sometimes it signified such as wee now call Magicians practisers of wicked Arts Among the Persians this name was ancient and honourable saith Peucerus applyed onely to the Priests which liued in high reputation for dignitie and authoritie being also Philosophers as the Chaldaeans were To these were committed the custodie of Religion of ancient Monuments of later Histories of publike records and the explanation of the Persian wisdome whose account appeareth in that after Cambyses death one of them is reported to succeed in the Throne Now whereas the Ethnicks had a tradition of two Genij which attend euery man one good the other euill proceeding in likelihood from Diuine Truth concerning good and euill Angels which are either ministring Spirits for mans good or tempters vnto euill curious men hence tooke occasion to deuise new Arts which were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the one calling vpon the good Daemon or Genius by the other on the euill which euill One could easily turne himselfe into an Angel of light to delude blind people being indeed as in our White and Blacke witches at this day worse when an Angel then when a Deuill Hereof were diuers kindes Necromancie which inuocated the spirits of the dead of which smoaky Soot the Heathens Diuine Poets and our Poeticall Diuines in the tales of Hell and Purgatory striue who shall haue the blackest tincture They had also their Lecanomanciae which was obserued in a Bason of water wherein certaine plate of gold and siluer were put with Iewels marked with their iugling Charactars and thence after pronuntiation of their words were answeres whispered Gastromancie procured answere by pictures or representations in glasse-vessels of water after the due Rites Catoptromancie receiued those resemblances in cleere glasses Chrystallomancie in Crystall Dactyliomancie was a diuination with Rings which perhaps Gyges vsed consecrated by certaine position of the heauens and diuellish Inchantments Onymancie with Oyle and Soote daubed on the Nayle of an vndefiled Childe and held vp against the Sunne Hydromancie with water Aeromancie with ayre But what should I adde the many more names of this Artlesse Art vnworthy the naming Tibi nomina mille Mille nocendi artes Infinitely diuersified are these blind by wayes of darknesse and mischiefe Delrio hath other diuisions of Magicke which from the efficient hee diuideth into Naturall Artificiall and Diabollicall from the end into Good and Bad and this bad which is by explicite or implicite compact with Deuills into Magia specialis Diuinatio Maleficium Nugatoria Zoroaster is supposed Author both of the good and bad vnto
but liueth with the women that if hee die before his father should thence conceiue no griefe From that time till hee bee twentie hee learneth three things to ride to shoot to speake truth For to lie is with them the most shamefull thing the second to be in debt For one fault onely no man ought to bee punished Whatsoeuer is not meet to be done ought not to be spoken A Leprous person if hee bee a Citizen may not enter into the Citie nor haue any societie with men for this disease is sent say they for some offence against the Sunne if hee bee a forrenner they banish him out of their Region and for the same cause carry into that Region white Pigeons In a Riuer they neither spit nor make water nor wash but haue them in very religious veneration They might not cast any carkasse or pollution therein These things saith Herodotus I affirme of the Persians out of mine owne knowledge that which followeth I doe not so well know that they burie not their dead bodies before they bee torne of some Fowle or Dogge but I well know that their Magi doe wrap them vp in Waxe and then bury them These Magi differ both from other men and from the Egyptian Priests in this that these pollute themselues with the death of nothing but their sacrifices but the Magi with their owne hands kill any thing except a man and a dogge yea they esteeme it some great exploit if they haue killed very many Ants or Serpents or other things which creepe or flye Thus farre Herodotus §. II. Of the same and other Rites out of STRABO STRABO nameth Anaitis Amanus and Anandatus Gods of the Persians When the Persian Emperors had ouerthrowne the Sacae they encompassed with a wall a certaine rocke situate in a field and erecting a Temple of the aforesaid Gods there instituted yeerely solemnities named Sacae which of the inhabitants of Zela are yet celebrated so they call the place That Towne in great part belongs to them which are called Sacred Seruants to which Pompey added a great Country Some report that Cyrus hauing ouercome the Sacae attributing this victory to diuine power consecrated that day to his Country-Goddesse naming it Sacaa and wheresoeuer the Temple of that Goddesse is there also are celebrated those Sacaean feasts in manner of the Bacchanals day and night the men and women drinking themselues drunken Strabo in the end of the same eleuenth Booke mentioneth their Temples and amongst others the Temples of Tanais which before in Herodotus is denied to be the vse of the Persians Cicero blameth the Magi for procuring Xerxes to burne all the Temples of Greece because they included their Gods in walls and to whom the whole world was a Temple and house Their deuotion to the Sun and Moon made them spare Delus sacred to Apollo or the Sun and the Temple of Diana or the Moone at Ephesus as an Interpreter of Aristophanes hath glossed Some hold that Xerxes burnt the Graecian Temples for reuenge of the burning of Sardis and the Temple of Cybele by the Athenians and not for hatred of all Temples The Greekes would not permit the Temples so burned to bee re-edified that those ruinous places might be places of argument for reuenge to all posteritie The Ionians as Isocrates testifieth cursed them which should repaire them Strabo thus also reporteth of the Persians They haue neither Images nor Altars they sacrifice in an high place they thinke heauen to be Iupiter they worship the Sunne whom they call Mithra the Moone also and Venus and the Fire and the Earth and the Windes and the water they sacrifice in a cleane place and present their sacrifice crowned and when as the Magas ruler of this businesse hath diuided the flesh in pieces to euery one they goe their wayes leauing no part thereof to the Gods who say they are satisfied with the soule of their sacrifice Some as it is reported lay a part of the Numbles on the fire They sacrifice especially to the Fire and to the Water laying on the fire drie stickes the barkes pulled off and laying thereon fat Tallow and powring on the same Oyle they kindle the same not blowing with their breath but fanning or otherwise enforcing the winde thereto If any bloweth the fire or cast any dead thing or durt therein he is punished with death They performe their Water-ceremonies in this sort Comming to a Lake Riuer or Fountaine they make a Ditch and there slay a sacrifice with great heed that none of the next water be touched with the bloud after laying the flesh on Myrtle and Lawrell the Magi burne the same with small twigs and making certaine prayers sprinkle oyle mixed with milke and honey not in the fire or water but on the earth They are a long while muttering their prayers holding a bundle of small Tameriske-twigs That which in one place Strabo saith they worshipped Mars onely is a fault of the negligent Writers as Casaubon hath obserued in his Notes In Cappadocia where is very great store of the Magi which of the Fire are called Pyrethi and many Temples of the Persian gods they slay not the sacrifice with a knife but a club or mallet wherewith they beat it The Pyreitheia are great inclosed places in the midst whereof there is an Altar thereon the Magi keepe much ashes and a fire continually burning whither they euery day resort and make their prayers about an houres space holding a bundle of twigges before the fire hauing their heads couered with a kind of labelled Mitre hanging downe on both sides that the strings couer their lips These things are done in the Temples of Anaitis and Amanus For there are their Temples and their Image of Amanus is carried in procession These things we haue seene It seemeth that whereas Herodotus reporteth they had no Temples Altars nor Images and Strabo so often mentioneth their Temples and here the Altar and Image of Amanus that in Herodotus dayes they had none which grew afterwards in vse as a forraine rite brought in among the Persians after the Macedonians had conquered them or else that there were differing Sects among their Magi some as these in Cappadocia embracing Altars Images and Temples some refusing some or all these For otherwise Strabo disagreth not onely from Herodotus but from himselfe before denying them the vse of Altars and Images and here affirming it of the Cappadocian Magi in other things of the Persian Religion Perhaps the burning of the Graecian Temples purchased to them that conceit with the vulgar we know they honoured the Temple and Altar at Ierusalem And lesse matters set on the Friers lasts make seely Papists beleeue now that Protestants haue no Churches not Religion nor scarcely the shape of men Iulius Firmicus in his Treatise of the mysteries and errors of prophane Religions to Constantine and Constans Emperours speaketh of the Assyrians and Persians that the Assyrians ascribed the
But it is time to leaue their gods and them and let mee obtaine pardon that this great Monarchie sometime stretching from India to Ethiopia in one hundred twentie seuen Prouinces hath stretched so farre and commanded mee so long attendance in this Discourse Let mee now looke vpon the Mahumetan face thereof CHAP. VIII Of the alterations of the State and Religion in Persia vnder the Saracens §. I. Of the Saracenicall Conquest and Schisme in Persia the third Dynastie THe Saracens as is alreadie shewed a people bred as it were of putrifaction in that corrupt estate of the world dispossessed of his state and life Ormisdas the last Persian King Their Religion had sustained small alteration in Persia before this time for ought I finde sauing what the Christian had in these parts preuailed which belongeth to another taske But from that time that the Saracens were Conquerours the soules of the Persians haue no lesse been subiect to those foolish Mahumetan superstitions then their bodies too cruell slauerie yea the name of Persian was drowned in the title of Saracens Homar was then Caliph But when Iezid the sonne of Muaui was Priest and King such are the Caliphs of the Saracens Mutar the Deputie or Gouernour of Persia proclaimed himselfe a Prophet and seized on the State from him the Persian Sophi deriueth his originall When Iezid was dead the Inhabitants of Cufa in Arabia proclaimed Hocem the sonne of Ali Caliph but Abdalam the sonne of Iezid intrapped and slew him and at his Sepulchre was after erected the Citie Carbala This Hocem had twelue sonnes Zeinal Abadin Zeinal Muamed Bagner Muamed Giafar Cadened Ciafar Musa Cazin Musa Holi Macerat Alle Muamed Taguin Muamed Halmaguin Alle Hacem Asquerin Hacem Muamed Mahadin This last the Persians say that hee is not yet dead but that he shall come sitting on a Horse to preach their Law to all Nations beginning in Massadalle where Ali his grandfather lieth buried And therefore they haue there alway a Horse prepared ready which in time of Diuine Seruice on a certaine festiuall day they bring with Lights burning to the Temple in which Ali is buried praying him to send his nephew quickly That day is solemnly celebrated with so great concourse of people as a Portugal there present said he had neuer seen the like The other eleuen brethren were buried in diuers places To returne to Mutar Abdimelec one of the following Calipha's sent Ciafa against him by whose ouerthrow that new Prophet wan new and greater estimation then before But another Tyrant Abdala Zubir arising amongst the Saracens sent his brother Musub against Mutar who slew Mutar and was soone after slaine himselfe of Abdimelec who recouered againe the Prouince of Persia Abdimelec being dead in the yeere seuen hundred and two and twenty Gizad his sonne succeeded and another Gizid vsurped the Scepter in Persia but was ouerthrowne by Masabner the Captaine of Abdimelecs sonne In the raigne of Maruan Asmulin tooke on him the protection of Mutars Sect affirming Ali to bee greater then Mahumet hee was Prince of the Corasens in Persia and by one Catabanus his counsaile incited the seruants by force or treacherie to kill their Masters and these being growne great by their Masters wealth were diuided into two factions the Caismi and the Lamonites Asmulin Captayne of the Lamonites destroyed the Caismi and with his Lamonites and Catabanus inuaded Persia and were there encountred by Iblinus the Lieutenant with an Army of an hundred thousand men but the Lamonites by the incouragement of Asmuline and Catabanus whom they reckoned Holy men discomfited him and his and afterward encountred Maruan himselfe with three hundred thousand men and made him to flee with foure thousand into Egypt where Salin the sonne of Asmulin ouerthrew him Thus the Maruanian race being expelled the reliques whereof settled themselues in Fesse and Spayne Asmulin from whom the family of the Sophi descendeth with Catabanus reigned ouer the Saracens But let the Reader obserue what in the former Booke and second Chapter we haue written of the diuisions and schismes often happening in Persia following the relations of Mirkond a Persian Authour and therefore more to be obserued then the more vncertayne relations of Christian Authors By all which hath beene said appeareth a continuall difference betwixt the Persians and other Saracens about their Religion either as some affirme for that the Persians preferred Ali before Mahumet or for that which is more likely they accounted Ali and not any of the other three Eubocar Osmen or Homar to be the true successor of Mahumet The Sultans or Deputies of Persia which gouerned there vnder the Caliph vsed that their Schismaticall fancy as they saw occasion to their owne ambitious designes vnder colour of Religion Some say that the Turkes obtayning Persia stripped the Chalifa of Bagadet of his temporalty which the sword being decider of controuersies in their Religion was no new thing Not did it become old or continue long For by the relations of Beniamin Tudelensis and others it appeareth that the Caliphas of Bagdet recouered their state till the Tartar dispossessed both the Turke and them as we haue already shewed out of Zachuthi and Mirkond in our History of the Saracens §. II. Of the Tartars ruling in Persia which was the Fourth Dynastie WE are to speake more fully of the Tartars afterwards heere yet we are enforced by necessity of the Persian story to mention them Mirkond writes that Chingius Kan great founder of the greatest Empire the Sunne hath seene in the yeare 1219. inuaded Maurenahar which is to the North of Persia and chased Mahomet Koarrazmcha into Karason The Tartar put all he found to the sword the like he did at Balk and thence sent 30000. men after Mahomet which ouer-tooke and slew him in Gueylon and put the Countrey to fire and sword In Rey and the Countrey about the Tartars are said to haue slaine 600000. persons some say 1600000. and in the Prouince of Nichabur 1150000. men besides women and children committing the like spoyles during a whole yeare throughtout all the Prouinces of Persia Almostancher Byla the Chalife forced them to retyre into Maurenahar But Oktaykahon or Occoda Can his successour both subdued Persia and rooted out the whole Family of Mahomet Koarrazmcha Gelaladin his sonne being vanquished neere Multon in India whither had retyred himselfe Mango Chan gaue Persia to Vlah Kukhan or Halaon who ouerthrew the Saracens tooke Bagdet staying therein and in the Countries about 1600000. persons In the yeare 1261 he subdued Alep and Damas. Hee dyed in Persia and gaue his Countries to his three sonnes to Habkaikahon Haithon calls him Abaga Hierak Mazandaron and Karason to Hyachemet Aron or Armeni and Aderbaion to Taudon Diarbek and Rabyah To others other parts as Bagadet to Atalmok Iauuiny to repayre it which he did Habkaikahon the eldest raigned in Persia seuenteene yeares and then his fourth brother Nicudar Oglan Haithon calls him Tangador
after carryed prisoner by the Turke to Constantinople where hee dyed Besides these of the posterity of Tamerlan there were other Princes in Persia and the parts adioyning as those of the factions of Blacke Sheepe and White Sheepe Of the former was Kara Issuf which conquered Tauris Sultania Casbin and the countries of Seruan and Diarbech but dying was spoyled to his shirt of his Souldiers yea they cut off his eares for his iewells and left him in the open field Charrok held long warres with Scander and Iooncha his sonnes the latter of which after many conquests was slaine by Acembec and Acen Aly his sonne and successour and thus the White Sheepe faction preuayled Ozun Acembec or Vusun-Casan the head thereof of the Tarcoman Nation heire of Diarbech and Lord of many Prouinces which hee conquered as before is noted but defeated by Mahumet the great Turke He dyed Anno 1471. His sonne Calil succeeded who was slaine by his brother Iacob or Yacub whose wife bearing dishonest affection to one of the Court sought by the murther of her husband to aduance this Courtier to her husbands bed and Empire And hauing conueyed venome into a golden cup presents her husband the same to drinke who somewhat suspecting her caused her to begin himselfe and his sonne following her both in dinking and dying And thus was Persia by the wickednesse of one woman made the Stage of ciuill warres whiles the chiefe Nobles sought each to possesse himselfe of the State which at last after fiue or sixe yeeres war befell to Alumut or Eluan-beg then being but fourteene yeere old who was slaine by Ismael in the yeere 1499. And thus yee haue had the succession of the Persian Kings in the first and second Dynastie of the Saracens you heard in the former Booke next after whom the Tartars and these here mentioned till Ismael obtayned the state whose posterity still hold it Beniamin Tudelensis telleth that Senigar then King of Persia had two and fortie Kingdomes subiect to him and that his Dominion extended foure moneths iourney and speaketh as though hee were not subiect to the Caliph in his temporalities Master Polo reckons eight Kingdomes of Persia Casibin Curdistan Lor Suolistan Spaan Siras Soncaia Timocaim not reckoning Hirak the chiefe Citie wherof was Tauris and diuers other Countries now and before his time subiect to the Persian And by most Historians it appeareth that Persia had before the dayes of Tangrolopix and till the Tartars conquest Sultans which yeelded small subiection to the Chaliphs §. III. Of Ismael Sofi first founder of the present Persian Empire or fifth Dynastie THe Historie of Ismael because it giueth much light both into the State and Religion of Persia is more fully to be reported After that Mustacen Mumbila or Almustacenbila Abdula the Caliph of Bagdet had bin by the Tartars done to death in the yeere after Haithonus account 1258. about the yeere 1369. there arose in Persia a Nobleman called Sophi Lord of the Citie Ardouil reporting himselfe to be of the bloud of Alle or Hali descended from Musa Cazin or Cersin one of the twelue sonnes as is said of Hocem thirteene descents distant This Sophi or as our Tarik Mirkond aforesaid calls him Cheque Safy had issue Cheque Mucha the father of Cheque Ali who begate Cheque Ebrahem and he Sultan Iuneyd father of Cheque Aydar who begate Ismael These continued their Hali-holies Our Authors mention none from Sophi to Iuneyd whom they make his sonne calling him Guinne otherwise written Guini Guine and Giunet Minadoi saith That Sexchiuni or more distinctly Siec Giunet was Authour of the Persian sect who vnder the name of So and of Siec that is of a wise man and an Author of Religion or rather vnder the pretence of holinesse began to perswade the people that the three first successors of Mahomet were vsurpers onely Ali ought to be named lawfull successor and ought to be called vpon in their prayers and by all meanes ro be honoured From this time forward the Sepulchre of Ali and his sonnes in Cafe grew in great credit and was visited euery yeere after the same sort that the Turks visit the Sepulchre of the other three and the Kings of Persia vsed there to bee crowned and girt with their sword and their great Calife there kept his residence Because this Case was neere Babylon hence grew the common error that these things were done at Babylon or Bagdet Iouius also is deceiued where he maketh Arduelle or Aidere author of the Persian faction Sofi is by Minadoi deriued of Sofiti a people subdued by Alexander but Scaliger more fitly Tzophi which in Arabike signifieth a man of pure Religion In this respect there is no lesse contention betweene these other Muhammedans then betweene the Samaritans and the Iewes so that the Persians are a kinde of Catharists or Puritans in their impure Muhammedrie Claudet Duret mentioneth another Etymologie that Sophi signifieth Wooll and that this profession in token of humilitie wearing nothing on their heads more precious then wooll were so called But the former deriuation is more probable Nic. Nicolai in his third Booke hath also that woollen deriuation and Geffrey Ducket saith that Sophi signifieth a Begger and that the King is not there in Persia so called but Shaugh which agreeth with their report which say that Ismael renewed or continued the name Sofi or Sofiti but his successors leauing that and the name of Siec haue retayned onely the Title of Saha which some write Shaugh some Xa a Royall title communicated by the head of this superstition to those Kings which participate with them therein Ioseph Scaliger saith that Sa or Scha is the same with Monsieur among the French and Don among the Spaniards The Iewes and Arabians write it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is sometimes set before the name as in the present King Scha Habas sometime comes after as Melixa for Melic-scha Barrius begins this pedigree at the father of Giunet or Guine so he calls him and not as Minadoi with Guinet himselfe He addeth That for the Ensigne Character or Cognisance of his Sect he ordayned that in the midst of their Turbant which they weare with many folds there should arise a sharpe top in manner of a Pyramis diuided into twelue parts in remembrance of Ali his twelue sonnes from the top to the bottome They vsed the colour Red on their heads saith Minadoi by ordinance of Arduelle and therefore were called Cheselbas that is Red-heads some write it Cuselbas Sophi as Mirkond affirmeth was holden in such reputation of holinesse by Tamerlane that he came to visit him as a Saint and at his request set free 30000. slaues which he had taken in the warres against Baiazat to whom Cheque Sophi gaue apparell and other necessaries and sent them home to their houses whereby hee wan great fame and affection Barrius
Ismael was Sultan in Tauris the Sultan in Bagadet Murat Can son of Iacob with an army of 30000. marched against him and in a plaine meeting with Ismael was there ouerthrown not seuentie persons escaping to Bagadet with Murat Can the place bearing witnes of the slaughter buried vnder many new hils of bones All these things were done An. 1499. And while I was in Tauris many came from Natolia Caramania and Turkie to serue him of whom they were graciously entertained An. 1507. our Author being then in Malacia saw with his eyes the Sultan Alumut conueyed prisoner by Amirbec who with foure thousand men going from Mosull neere to the sometime-Niniue to Amit where the Sultan kept with promise and profession of his succour being admitted the Citie tooke him and cast a chaine about his necke whose head Ismael smote off with his owne hands He was presented to him by Amirbec in the Country of Aladuli against whom Ismael was now warring where taking the Citie Cartibirt he cut off the head of Becarbec sonne of Aladuli Lord thereof with his owne hands From thence returning to Tauris hee had almost done as much to his two brethren whom hee had left Gouernours in his absence for transgressing their Commission but with much intreatie of his Lords spared their liues yet confined them to Ardouill not to depart from thence The next yeere hee pursued Murat Can who was come to Syras a Citie not inferiour to Cairo in Egypt with thirtie sixe thousand men but male-content and therefore many of them flying vnto Ismael Whereupon Murat Can sent two Embassadours with fiue hundred followers with offer of Vassallage vnto him Ismael cut them all in pieces saying That if Murat Can would be his Vassall hee should come in person not by Embassage Murat Can had closely sent Spies to obserue the sequell of his businesse and being hereof by them aduertised fled For many of his Nobles had alreadie put on the red Turbant of whom he feared to bee taken as Alumut had beene and therefore with three thousand of his most faithful he fled vnto Aleppo but the Soldan of Cairo not admitting him he went to Aladuli who entertained him honourably and gaue him his daughter to wife Ismael after great slaughter in Siras and Bagadet was forced to returne to Spaan with his Armie For Ieselbas the Tartar had taken all the Countrie of Corasan and the great Citie of Eri which is in compasse betwixt fortie and fiftie miles well peopled and full of Merchandize He had taken also Straua Amixandaran and Sari on the Caspian shoare and with intent to beguile Ismael desired leaue to passe thorow his Countrey to Mecca on Pilgrimage Ismael with deniall and other sharpe words repelled his suit and abode a yeere in Spaan to withstand his enterprises After he returned to Tauris where were great triumphs solemnized in his honour This Sophi is so loued and feared saith this Merchant that they hold him as a God especially his Souldiers of which some goe into the warres without Armour holding it sufficient that Ismael will succour them others because they content themselues to die for Ismael goe into battaile with naked breast crying Schiak Schiak that is God God And they forget the name of God alway naming Ismael they hold That hee shall not die but liue euer And where other Mosulmans say La ylla yllala Mahamet resullalla the Persians say La ylla yllala Ismael vellilalla reputing him a God and a Prophet I haue learned that Ismael is not contented to be called or worshipped as god Their custome is to weare red Bonnets with a certaine thing like a girdle large below and straighter vpwards made with twelue folds a finger thick signifying the twelue Sacraments of their sect or those twelue brethren nephewes of Ali. Ismael was of faire countenance of reasonable stature thicke and large in the shoulders shauen all but the mustachees left-handed stronger then any of his Nobles but giuen to Sodomie At his second comming to Tauris hee caused to take twelue of the fairest boyes in the City to serue his lust and after gaue to each of his Nobles one for the like purpose before tooke ten of the best mens sonnes for the same intent Thus farre haue wee had commerce with this namelesse Persian Merchant in Ramusius his shop who sometime attended on his Court and Campe Others adde hereutto that he sent Embassadours to all the Mahumetan Princes of the East to receiue that Red-hat Ensigne together with his Sect as did his sonne Tammas after him when Nizzamulucco onely accepted thereof But it is the common opinion that the greatest part of the Mahumetans in Soria and of Asia Minor are secretly of that Sect Ismael after this warred and wonne vpon the Zagatai Tartars and other adiacent Nations that hee left vnto his successours a verie great estate reaching from the Caspian Sea to the Persian and betweene the Lake Iocco and Tygris the Riuer Abbiam and the Kingdome of Cambaya more then twentie Degrees from East to West and eighteene from North to South Hee ordained a new Lyturgie and forme of Praier differing from the ancient Such was his authoritie that they would sweare By the Head of Ismael and blesse his name saying Ismael grant thee thy desire Vpon his Coyne on the one side was written La illahe illalahu Muhamedun resulalallahe And on the other Ismaill halife lullahe that is Ismael the Vicar of GOD. The Iewes at the first had this Ismael in such admiration that they foolishly reckoned Ismael to be their promised Messias gratulating themselues in this conceit thorowout the most part of Europe celebrating festiuall Solemnities with mutuall Presents in testimonie of their ioy which yet was soone dashed none hating the Iewes more then Ismael He lieth buried at Ardouil in a faire Meskit with a sumptuous Sepulchre made by himselfe in his life time where is a faire Stone Hospitall erected by him for strangers allowing to all trauellers three daies reliefe for horse and man freely Ardouil is in latitude thirtie eight degrees The life of Ismael had beene answerable to the bloudie presages in his ominous birth for he came forth of his mothers wombe with both his hands shut and full of bloud for which cause his father would not haue brought him vp but commanded him to be slaine but they which carried him away moued with compassion secretly nourished him three yeeres and after presented him to his father who then acknowledged and receiued him with loue and kindnesse for this his bloudie and warre-like spirit dwelt in a louely and amiable bodie adorned with all the Ensignes of beautie Hee died Anno 1524. HONGIVS his Map of PERSIA PERSICUM REGNUM §. IIII. Of SHAVGH TAMAS the Persian troubles after his death SCHIACH THECMES or Shaugh Tamas succeeded and reigned aboue fiftie yeeres Hee liued deuoutly and yet for their Law reconcileth both verie voluptuously
oath cleared himselfe of this odious imputation And yet hee is no lesse suspected of a more monstrous and vnnaturall treacherie against his owne father who is thought to bee poysoned by his meanes that by these bloudie steps hee might ascend to that Throne which now he enioyeth But all this notwithstanding he hath since so subtilly handled the matter that hee is both beloued of his owne and feared of his enemie his subiects sweare and blesse in his name He hath recouered from the Turke both Tauris and other Regions of Seruania and Georgia which the Turke had before taken from the Persians Hee was reported also to haue taken Bagdat but it seemeth not truly Iansonius in his Newes 1610. reporteth of diuers victories obtained by him against the Turke which caused publike Fasts and supplications to be appointed at Constantinople and of the Persian Embassage with rich Presents and holy Reliques to the Emperour at Prage Gotardus Arthus likewise in his Gallobelgicus relateth of Abas his Embassage to Constantinople about a Peace but when his Embassadour returned with Articles whereby the Persian was bound vnder shew of gifts to pay an annuall tribute to the Sultan he therefore put him to death putting out the eyes also and cutting off the hands of the Turkish Embassador which was sent with him Of Bagdat and old Babylon wee haue spoken elsewhere let this be here added out of Balbi that trauelling from Felugia to Bagdat which hee reckoneth a dayes iourney and a halfe one whole dayes iourney thereof was by one side of the ruines of Babylon which hee left on the left hand As for Tauris in the yeere 1514. Selim tooke it as some say on composition which hee brake and carried thence three thousand of the best Artificers to Constantinople Anno 1535. Solymar gaue it for a prey to his souldiers Anno 1515. Osman spoiled it with vncouth and inhumane cruelties whatsoeuer the insulting Conqueror in the vtmost extent of lawlesse lust could inflict or the afflicted condition of the conquered could in the most deiected state of miserie sustaine was there executed Abas in recouerie hereof vsed the Canon an Instrument which before they had to their owne losse scorned The Prince is saith our Author excellent both of composition of bodie and disposition of minde of indifferent stature sterne countenance piercing eyes swart colour his mustachees on the vpper lip long his beard cut close to the chin Hee delights in Hunting and Hawking Running Leaping and trying of Masteries He is an excellent Horse-man and Archer In the morning he vseth to visit his stables of great Horses and hauing there spent most of the forenoone he returnes to his Palace About three of the clocke in the after-noone he goeth to the At-Maiden which is the high street of Hispaan the Citie of his residence round about which are scaffolds for the people to sit and behold the King and his Nobles at their Exercises of Shooting Running Playing at Tennis c. all on horse-backe In this place very often in his owne person he heareth causes and pronounceth sentence executing Iustice seuerely Now that we may mention some of the chiefe Cities of Persia vnder which name I here comprehend as vsually in this Historie their Dominion not as it is measured by the Pens of Geographers but by the Swords of their Princes In Sumachia Master Cartwright saith They saw the ruines of a cruell spectacle which was a Turret erected with Free-stone and Flints in the midst whereof were placed the heads of all the Nobilitie and Gentrie of the Countrie A mile from this Towne was a Nunnerie wherein was buried the bodie of Amaleke Canna the Kings daughter who slew her selfe with a knife for that her father would haue forced her to marrie a Tartarian Prince the Virgins of the Countrey resort hither once a yeere to lament her death Sechi is foure dayes iourney thence not farre from which is Ere 's which because they yeelded to the Turke were by Emir-Hamze vtterly destroyed man woman and child Arasse is the chiefe Citie of Merchandize in all Seruania especially for raw Silks Tauris hath out-liued many deaths and is very rich by reason of continuall Trade nourishing almost two hundred thousand people within her compasse for wals it hath not This was sometime the Seat-Royall and after that Casbin which is situate in a fertile Plaine foure dayes iourney in length wherein are two thousand Villages The buildings are of Bricke dried in the Sunne as in Persia is most vsuall The At-Maidan or chiefe street is foure square almost a mile in circuit Neere to it is Ardouil of chiefe note for beginning of the Sophian Superstition Geilan is foure dayes iourney from Casbin and stands neere to the Caspian Sea Neere to Bachu is a Fountaine of black oyle which serueth all the Countrey to burne in their houses Cassan is well seated and rich in Marchandize but subiect to heat more then other parts of Persia No person is there permitted to be idle Hispaan is thought by some to be Hecatompolis the walls are a dayes iourney about on horsebacke before the greatest now the Royall Citie of the Persians It hath a strong Fort two Seraglio's the walls whereof glister with red Marble and Parget of diuers colours paued all with Mosaique worke all things else combining Maiestie and Louelinesse Magnificence and Beautie The inhabitants as did the ancient Parthians whose chiefe Citie it sometime hath beene buy sell talke and performe all their publike and priuate affaires on horse-backe the Gentlemen neuer goe on foot Sciras is thought to bee Persepolis it is rich of Trade and there is the best Armour made in all the East of Iron and steele cunningly tempered with the iuyce of certaine herbes The Gouernement of this State in Warre and Peace I leaue to others §. VI. An Appendix touching the present Persian King out of Sir ANTHONY SHERLEY HAuing thus followed the currant of Authors in these Relations of Persia there hath since the first Edition been published the Trauels of Sir Anthony Sherley into these parts with Sir Robert Sherley his brother penned by himselfe with some extracts whereof to furnish this Chapter alreadie tedious as with a second seruice after a full stomacke will I hope renue appetite with the varietie so farre fetched and so deare bought howsoeuer before cloyed with fulnes To let passe therefore those worthy Brethren Worthies indeed in this kinde beyond the reach worth of my blurring praise and eclipsing commendations and to come to their Trauell and obseruation Hauing passed not without manifold dangers to Aleppo and thence to Birr and so downe Euphrates by the way they aduentured to see the Campe of Aborisci King of the Arabs inhabiting the desarts of Mesopotamia a poore King with ten or twelue thousand beggerly subiects liuing in tents of blacke haire-cloth well gouerned They came to Bagdat which is wholly on the other side of Tygris
him placed to the East of Sarmatia diuided by the hill Imaus extending vnto the Region called Serica hauing on the North vnknowne places on the South the Sacae Sogdiana Margiana and India But our purpose is to take them here in their more generall sense vnderstanding all the North pars of Asia now Tartaria Asiatica for of Europe sauing wherein the Europaean Scythians agree with the Asian we are not now to speake And of these first to consider their ancient Scythian Rites and in the next place their later Tartarian appellation and Religion Iustin out of Tragus relateth the arguments vsed of the Egyptians and Scythians each seeking to challenge to themselues to bee the ancientest of Nations in which quarrell the Scythians preuailed Their manners and customes hee thus reporteth They haue no limitation of lands nor tillage nor house but alwaies wander thorow places not inhabited feeding their Heards Flocks They carrie their wiues and children with them on Carts which also being couered with hides they vse for houses No offence is more hainous amongst them then theft gold and siluer they as much contemne as others desire Milke and hony is their food their clothes skinnes of beasts for the vse of wooll they know not They haue three times sought the Empire of Asia neuer conquered of others They chaced Darius the Persian King out of their coasts they slew Cyrus with all his armie they ouerthrew Zopyron a Captaine of Alexander the Great with all his forces They onely heard of neuer felt the Roman armes and themselues founded the Parthian Empire That which credulous and fabulous antiquitie hath reported of the monstrous peoples inhabiting the Northerly and vnknowne parts of Scythia is not here to be recited the Countries being at this time discouered and knowne to haue no such men as either by nature are bald and flat nosed with huge chins or haue but one eye where there are also Gryphons keepers of their treasures or men with Goats feet or other monsters of men which Pliny Herodatus and others haue rather mentioned then beleeued Mandauil and Munster following them in like Relations Next to these both in place and credit wee may reckon the Hyperboreans of whom the Delians report that they sent to Delos Virgins with sacrifice to Lucina bound vp in wheat-straw through so many Nations inhabiting betweene Of the Issedones is reported that when one dieth his kindred bring thither beasts which they kill and cut and dresse and eat together with the flesh of the dead man whose skull also they keepe and gilde vsing it as an Idoll to which they performe yeerely ceremonies these exequies doth the sonne there performe to his dead father §. II. Of the Religion Diuination and other Scythian Rites GEnerally of the Scythian Religion thus Of the gods they worship first Vesta whom they call in their language Tabiti next of all Iupiter in their speech Papaeus and the Earth supposing her to bee the wife of Iupiter and call her Apia In the next place they worship Apollo and Venus by the names of Octosyrus and Artimpasa and Mars and Hercules Some of them sacrifice also to Neptune or Thamimasades Images Altars and Temples they thinke ought not to bee made except to Mars Their manner of sacrificing is generally this The sacrifice is presented with the fore-feet bound the Sacrificer at his back hauing laid aside his holy vestment woundeth the same and while it falleth calls vpon that god to whom he sacrificeth and then putteth a halter about the necke and strangleth it without kindling any fire or vowing or other ceremonie and slayeth it the flesh plucked from the bones hee casteth into a great Caldron the bones hee vseth for fewell to seeth the same for wood the Countrie doth not yeeld And if they haue not any such vessell they put all the flesh with water into the paunch and so the beast doth seeth it selfe After it is boyled he which sacrificed offereth the libaments or offerings of the flesh and inwards their sacrifices are besides other beasts especially of horses Their Temples to Mars they build on this manner They heape together bundles of twigges three furlongs in length and breadth and aboue on them is made a square plaine three sides thereof are vpright the fourth is made slope and the bending-wise thereby to get vp thither they bring euerie yeere an hundred and fiftie Waines of twigges to supply the waste of them Vnderneath this worke is erected an old iron sword and this is their Image of Mars to which they offer yeerely sacrifices both of other cattell and of horses and more to this blade then to other gods Of their captiues they offer one of an hundred but after another manner For after they haue offered wine on their heads they kill them by a certaine vessell and after lifting them vpon that their heape or Temple they embrew the Sword-god with the bloud This they doe aboue beneath in the Temple they cut off all the right shoulders of the slaine men and hurle them vp in the aire together with the hands wheresoeuer the hand shall fall there it lieth and the dead bodie apart When they haue performed all their solemnities they depart Swine are so odious to them that they will haue none of them nourished in their Countrie There are among them Diuiners whose Rites are these They bring great bundles of willow twigs which they lay on the ground and vntie and laying them asunder one by one diuine Some of them practise diuination with the leaues of the Teil-tree which they fold and vnfold in their hands The King when at any time hee falleth sicke sendeth for three choice men of those Diuiners who for the most part name some man vnto him which hath forsworne himselfe hauing sworne by the Kings Throne an oath vsed of the Scythians presently the man is brought forth who if he denieth what their art hath accused him of the King sendeth for twice the number of Diuiners and if they by new practise of their art find him guiltie his head is cut off and the first Diuiners share his goods but if they shall absolue him more Diuiners are sent for and if the most of them doe absolue him then those three first are thus done to death They lade a waine with twigs and binding the Diuiners hand and foot and stopping their mouthes cast them into the waines and set all on fire burning Oxen waine and men together vnlesse some of the Oxen by the burning of their harnes escape This punishment inflict they on their false prophets They make their leagues with other Nations in this sort They powre wine into a great bowle mixing therewith the bloud of them which ioine in league cutting some part of the body with a knife or sword and then dip in that bowle or mazer a sword arrowes an axe a dart and after curse themselues with many words last of all drinking the wine
Nicephorus Gregoras relateth the Scythian Customes and Expeditions and their contempt of gold and ignorance of the vse of it These on the one side and the Christians on the other forced the Turkes which were also a kind of Scythians to settle themselues as they could in the parts of Mesopotamia Chaldaea and Assyria where they left there owne and learned the Rites and Customes of the Mahumetans The Kings are buried amongst the Gerrhi with many ceremonies carrying the dead bodie through all the Countries ouer which hee reigned which cut and shaue themselues and with him is buried his best beloued Paramour his Cup-bearer Cooke Master of his horse Waiter Messenger Horses and the first fruits of all oher things and also golden Cups and then they cast on earth making a verie great hill When the yeere is gone about they take fiftie of his principall attendants which are not slaues but freeborne Scythians and strangle them with so many horses of the best and fasten the dead men on the dead horses with much solemnitie But to relate all the particulars hereof and their burials also of priuate men whose dead bodies are carryed about fortie daies from one friend to another entertained euerie where with feasts c. would be too tedious He that would haue a sight of these things let him resort to Thomaso Porcacchi his Funerali Antichi where these things are not onely discoursed in words but described in artificiall pictures The Scythians so farre hate forraine Rites and Religions that Anacharsis a Scythian Philosopher hauing trauelled through a great part of the world and vowed to the mother of the gods if he returned home in safetie that he would sacrifice to her with such Rites as hee had seene obserued in Cyzicus in the performance of his vow was slaine by King Saulius Scyles also being King of the Scythians when he brought in forraine Rites and obserued the mad Bacchanal solemnities which hee had seene among the Greekes lost both his Kingdome and life They cut off the noses of men and imprinted pictures in the flesh of women whom they ouercame and generally their Customes of war were bloudie what man soeuer the Scythian first taketh he drinketh his bloud hee offereth to the King all the heads of the men he hath slain in battaile otherwise he may not share in the spoile the skins of their crownes flayed off they hang at their horse-bridles their skins they vse to flay for napkins and other vses and some for cloathing Once a yeere the chiefe men haue a solemnitie amongst them in which they powre wine into a Mazor of which none may drinke which hath not slaine an enemy These Customs were generall to the Scythians in Europe and Asia for which cause Scytharum facinora patrare grew into a Prouerbe of immane crueltie and their Land was iustly called Barbarous others were more speciall and peculiar to particular Nations Scythian §. III. Of particular Nations in Scythia their Acts and Rites OF the barbarous crueltie of the Scythians the sea confining was called Euxinus by the contrarie as the furies were called Eumenides saith Ammianus because they sacrificed strangers to Diana whom they worshipped vnder the name of Orsiloche and hanged vp their heads on the walles of their Temples The Ile Leuce neere to Taurica was dedicated to Achilles where none of his deuout worshippers durst abide in the night-time for none might spend the night on shoare without danger of his life Arrianuus in his Peripius or sailing about of the Euxine Sea speaketh of this Iland and the deuotions therein performed to Achilles and Patroclus that certaine birds keepe the Temple watering and sweeping the same with their wings and the Goates which feed in the I le there present themselues for sacrifice when the price is first paid at the Altar to the contentment of that Deitie or Diuell whose illusion if not others collusion it must needs bee But because this Iland adioyneth to Europe I must forbeare these things till another time He also describeth the Nations both in Asia and Europe which abutt round about that Sea Iornandes bringeth these Scythians bordring from Scanzia so hee calleth that Peninsula which others name Basilia Scandia Scandinauia c. Wherein are the Kingdomes of Sweden Gothland and Norway and attributeth to the Goths those warres which the Egyptians and Persians are said to haue made against the Scythians Neere to Maeotis King Filimer planted himselfe and his followers in Dacia Thracia and Maesia Zamolxes who was also a great Philosopher These and the rest were not onely a terrour to the skirts of Asia but to the heart of Africa and Europa in processe of time sacking Rome and shaking that Roman Monarchy almost to the ground Simocatta in his Mauritian History giueth the preeminence of Martiall valour amongst the many many Scythian Nations to the ABARES Chaganus the Scythian King sent Embassadors to Mauritius with an Epistle wherein he stileth himselfe Gouernour of seuen Nations and Lord of the seuen Climats of the world He comquered the Abdelae or Nephthalites the Abares some of which fled to Tangast to the Turkes and the Ogor-Nation which dwell by the Riuer Til or Volga whose ancient Princes were called War and Chunnai He conquered also the Prince of Colch in which war hee slew three hundred thousand people their carkasses lying scattered foure daies iourney Hee subdued also the Turkes at the hill Icar which is foure hundred miles distant from the golden Mountaine so they call a mountaine in the East because of the fertilitie and store of cattell therein which alwayes the greatest Chagan amongst the Turkes possesseth For Chagan is not a proper name but a Princely title which in those parts and the Countries adioyning is still continued the Tartars calling their Princes Chan which some perhaps falsly write Cham and the Persians and Turkes still vsing that title These Turkes vaunted themselues neuer subiect to Earth-quakes or Pestilence They cal their Priest Taisan that is the Sonne of GOD. Their Religion I haue before mentioned They haue a custome that the males neuer weare gold This Citie was diuided by a streame which sometimes separated two disagreeing Nations no lesse distinguished by their disioyned mindes and differing habites the one wearing blacke the other red This Citie they say was built by Alexander when hee had ouercome the Sogdians and Bactrians The Kings wiues shining with Iewels are carryed in golden Chariots each drawne with one Bull the bridles embossed with gold The Prince as is said elsewhere spent the night with seuen hundred women Fame attributeth another Citie not farre hence to Alexander called Chubdan The Prince thereof being dead his wiues in blacke with shauen heads continually mourne and may neuer forsake the Sepulchre These haue many Elephants and traffique with the Indians which dwell Northwards and make Silke Thus much I thought worth the adding out of Simocatta for better
fiue thousand euery one of whom findeth an Elephant to the Common-wealth They haue this name of Sera the chiefe Citie by Ptolomey placed in 177. 15. and 38. 36. This Region he limiteth on the West with Scythia extra Imaum on the East with Terra incognita and likewise on the North here some place the Promontorie Tabin there the Easterne Ocean on the South with part of India extra Gangem Our silkes haue the name of this Region where it is made of a most fine wooll growing on the leaues of trees Dionys saith of flowers of the earth Tam multiplici opere saith PLINY tam longinquo orbe petitur vt in publico matrona transluceat This Serica Castaldus calleth Cataio and so doe most of our new writers Orosius numbreth from the Serike Ocean to the Caspian Sea two and fortie Nations of Hyrcanians and Scythians and from thence Westward to the Riuer Tanais thirtie foure The Region betwixt Albania and the Caspian he attributeth to the Amazons The Seres are supposed to inhabite the Countrey now called Cathay which name Niger deriueth from a Scythian Nation called Chata They had a law against Idolatrie worship of Images They had no Temples CHAP. XI Of the Tartarians and of Diuers Nations which they Subdued with their Pristine Rights THe names of Scythia and Sarmatia are now together with those Nations swallowed vp and drowned in that Tartarian deluge which about foure hundred yeeres since with a sudden torrent ouerwhelmed the gteatest part of Asia that we speake not of Europe the heart whereof quaked and trembled with feare of this Tempest From Rome did Pope Innocent the fourth send Embassadors by entreaties to preuent their Armes when as they had alreadie ouerrunne besides those Countries which still beare their name Russia Polonia Silesia Morauia Hungaria euen as farre as Austria So farre was the huge vnwealdie Empire of Alexander or of the Romans short of the Tartarian greatnesse that the expedition of some one of the Subiects of this Empire hath pierced as farre into the West as euer Alexander into the East and that happily among more resolute courages then the Persians or Indians effeminated with wealth and Peace could affoord and Tamerlane alone some ages after if wee credit that Historie of his life translated out of the Arabike subdued and obtayned more besides his owne inheritance then all that which the Romanes had atchieued in that eight hundred yeeres and vpwards wherein their Empire was growing to the full but of him afterwards §. I. Of the beginning of the Tartarian Nation THe name Tartar is proper to a Riuer in Mongull from whence it was deriued to the people inhabiting neere the same which after gaue both name and lawes to so great a part of the world For thus writeth Ioannes de Plano Carpini which was sent Embassador to the Tartarian Court from Pope Innocent Anno 1246. There is a Countrey in the East part of the world called Mongol which had sometimes foure sorts of Inhabitants Yeka-Mongol that is the great Mongols Sumorgul that is water-Mongols these called themselues Tartars of a Riuer which runneth thorow their Countrey named Tartar the third Merkat the fourth Metrit These all were alike in person and language but diuided amongst themselues into seuerall Prouinces and vnto seuerall Princes In the land of Yeka-Mongol was Cingis who began to bee a mightie hunter before the Lord for he learned to steale men He ranged into other Countries taking as many captiues as he could and ioyned them vnto himselfe Also he allured the men of his owne Countrey vnto him who followed him as their Ring-leader to doe mischiefe Then began he to warre vpon the Sumongols or Tartars and slew their Captayne and after many conflicts subdued them to himselfe and brought them all into bondage Afterward he vsed their helpe against the Merkats whom also hee vanquished in battell Proceeding from thence hee fought against the Metrites and vanquished them also Naimani hearing that Cingis was thus exalted greatly disdayned thereat for they had a great and mighty Emperour vnto whom all the foresaid Nations payed tribute Whose sonnes when hee was dead succeeded him in his Empire Howbeit being yong and foolish they knew not how to gouerne the people but were diuided and fell at variance among themselues These inuaded Cingis his Countrey putting the Inhabitants to the sword but were after ouerthrowne by the Mongols and either slaine or made captiues Some fetch the Tartarian pedigree from the ten Tribes of Israel which Salmanasar carryed captiues and in their Maps place hords of Danites Nepthalites c. in the furthest Northerly and Easterly bounds of Asia which yet are a great part of the world not only from Media whither those people were conueyed but from any part of the Assyrian Empire The King of Tabor or Tybur in these parts is said to haue come into France to Francis the French King about the yeare 1540. and was after at Mantua by Charles the Emperor burned for secret sollicitation of him and other Christian Princes to Iudaisme And Opmeerus reporteth of that their iourney passing thorow Euphrates miraculously staying his streame to wonder at the vanitie of Writers when they went into a Region called Aisarich which was a yeere and a halfes trauell there to keepe their Law where neuer before had beene any habitation But these things haue small probabilitie M. Paulus who with his Father and Vncle liued many yeeres in the Court of the great Chan aboue three hundred yeeres since saith that they dwelled at first if such wandring may be so called in the North where they had no Lord ouer them but payed tribute to a great Signor there called Vncam and here in these Countries Presbyter Iohn to whom they payed the tenth of their beasts But this Vncam or Presbyter Iohn fearing their numbers euery where multiplying deuised to disperse them through the World which the Tartars perceiuing with ioynt consent forsooke their former habitation and departed thence farre off into the North denying further tribute vnto Vncam After they had there continued a certayne time they chose to their King about the yeere 1162. one which was called Cingis Can who ruled them with such modestie and iustice that they loued and feared him as a god his fame reducing all the other Tartars in other parts vnder his obedience He thus strengthened wearie of those desarts commanded them to arme themselues with bowes and other weapons and began to inuade and conquer Cities and Prouinces to his subiection the principall inhabitants whereof hee carryed with him kindly entertayning them leauing such discreete Gouernours in the same that the people were secured in their persons and goods When he had thus subdued about nine Prouinces he sent his Embassador to Vncam to demand his daughter in marriage which Vncam with much indignation and many threatnings denying Cingis assembling his forces marched
Citie Royall Now for custome of both whereas in China theeues and malefactors are seldome executed and none hath power to execute any without speciall Commission from the King but either they die by stripes hunger or imprisonment except some few once in a yeere Marcus Paulus and Iosafa Barbaro from the relation of eye-witnesses affirme That in Cambalu was such sudden and rigorous execution of Iustice that one taking a iarre of Milke from a womans head and beginning to drinke vpon the womans out-cry was apprehended and presently with a sword cut in sunder that the bloud and milke issued together a Tartarian Embassador affirming both this and that he had seene the like execution vpon another for taking a piece of Bayes from a woman so chopped in twaine But the relation of the Chinian and Cathayan differing Rites will further yeeld scruples in this case As for the name of Cathay ascribed to China by the Moores I answere That William de Rubruquis who was in the Court of Mangu Can supposeth Cathay to be Serica Regio described by Ptolomey farre more Northerly then the Iesuite reporteth China to bee by his owne Astrolabicall obseruation And to these Seres Ptolemey ioyneth the Sinae or Chinois on the South and our later Geographers generally concurre in this opinion Hee also which readeth Ioannes de Plano Carpini shall finde that the Tartars conquered the Kara-Kitai or blacke Cathayans and then the Emperour of Kithai be vndermining his Citie as is said in the daies of Cyngis and yet a great part of Kitai remained still vnconquered and withstood his forces and namely that part which is neerest the Sea And this wealthy countrie of great Cathaya hath many Prouinces the more part whereof doe yet withstand the Moals or Tartars it is the last Printed period in William de Rubriquis I hence gather that the name Kitai was applied to a great part of the North-East of Asia happily no lesse generall to many Regions on that side then India to the Southerly parts And why may not the name of Kathay as well by the Mogores and Persians bee giuen to the North parts of China one parcell of the North-East of Asia as the name of India not onely to so great a part of Asia but to America also which was called India because the first Discouerers thought they had encountered the Indian Continent And these parts of China may much fitter retaine the name of Cathay to which Empire it had so long been subiect and by the Cathayan conquest was first knowne to our world Since my first Edition I met with the other part of Rubruquis which Master Hakluit then whom I know none in this kind more industrious copied out of an entire booke in the Librarie of Bennet Colledge in Cambridge Where betweene Cataya and India he placeth a Sea which fitly agreeth to the Chinian Map made by the Chinois themselues who paint a great Bay or Gulfe of the Sea betwixt the Northern parts of China which we reckon to Cathaia and the Southerne which may be accounted to India Further hee addeth That all the Nations of Great Cathaya which Epithete is not a little to bee obserued are situate amongst the Caucasean hils on the North side euen to the Easterne Sea But they knew no countrie else so named True for the Lawes of the Cathayans forbidding egresse of the Natiues and ingresse of Aliens and a more forcible law of Mountains and Desarts wilde beasts and wilder men the manifold smaller and more beggerly Segniories betweene euerie one challenging their ninth if not themselues confiscating or theirs robbing all now in so long a space may burie euen the name and knowledge of the Great Can whereas neither Armes of Princes nor traffique of Subiects can open any new or retaine the olde notice of Nations What dreames did the West conceiue of the East in Asia and South in Africke till the Armies first and Merchants after of the Carthaginians Macedonians and Romanes discouered them And yet how did those flouds of barbarous people afterwards drowne with barbarous ignorance the knowledge of all Arts and this of Geographie amongst the rest And till the Tartarians like a terrible thunder-clap with the lightning and noyse of their Armies brought a more sudden then welcome knowledge of themselues to the world who euer in Persia or Assyria had heard of their names or of diuers people else and these Cathayans among the rest first knowne by their conquests Further the Iesuite himselfe to Paquin ascribeth iust fortie degrees and Marcus Paulus his Father and Vncle went from Boghar the altitude whereof Master Ienkinson at his being there obserued to be thirtie nine degrees and ten minutes or as Abilfada Ismael placeth it thirtie nine and an halfe North and North-East to goe into Cathay The like course did the same men hold going into Cathay from Armenia afterwardes with Marcus himselfe sempre alla volta di Graeco Tramontana whereas a course directly East or inclining to the South must haue beene taken if China had beene Catai Neither is is likely that their iourney would haue beene so much letted by Frosts and Snowes The same may be gathered out of the discourses following in Marcus Paulus where he abutteth the countries in succeeding linkes to Cathay from the East to the Northwards and from the North-East declining Westward in reckoning from thence And whereas Pantogia raiseth the most Northerly part of China but to fortie two degrees at the most wherein as to an eye-witnesse wee yeeld him credit How can it stand with reason how can it be likely that in those temperate climes the world can yeeld but a few Nations and those base Moores and Ethnikes when as a good part of Spaine halfe Italy Greece all France Germanie and Hungarie to omit other welthy parts of the world are subiect to the same parallels And indeed herein Pantogia hath well helped vs whereas our moderne Maps haue caused no small scruple to a diligent obseruer in placing Cathay a countrie reported to bee so fertile and ciuill in so Northerly a clime very indiscreetly raising Cambalu to the height of sixtie degrees and paralelling Cathay with Norwey which cannot stand with other things thereof reported howsoeuer the Tartars themselues were happily of a more Northerly climate then this mentioned Others go not so farre yet they place Cambalu too farre within land which Paulus saith is within two dayes iourney of the Sea It seemeth that now this great Tartarian Prince if there be any such hath no strength at Sea and therefore is lesse knowne And herein participate other great and mightie Princes Prester Iohn so called of Aethiopia in Africa and the Sophi and great Mogor in Asia ranked iustly amongst the greatest Emperours of the world who hauing some part of their Dominion adioyning to the Sea make little or no vse thereof Abilfada Ismael a Syrian Prince who wrote an exact Geographie in Arabike
great Cities which are also rich and fortified hauing Printing Ordinance and other ciuill Arts as in China may appeare by the Persian Chaggi Memet his iourney into these Countries related by himselfe to Ramusio Goes from Camul in nine daies came to the Northerne parts those famous walls of China but Memet trauelled from Camul fifteene daies to Succuir fiue daies further to Gauta and then sixe to Campion not mentioning any wall or impediment from the Chinois These Cities hee placeth in Tanguth which Paulus also doth more Northerly the China or Cathay both of them mentioning the plentie of Rheubarb which draweth Merchants thither from farre Marcus Paulus calleth Tanguth a great Prouince containing many Prouinces and Cities himselfe hauing liued at Campion a whole yeere The Emperour raigning about seuentie yeeres since Memet cals Daimircan this last syllable vsually being annexed to all Princes names in those parts and cals him the Grand Can affirming that Succuir and Campion were but the beginning of his Estate and his frontire Townes towards the Mahumetans his people being Idolaters Now Tanguth was neuer that I know by any reckoned either to Cathay in proper signification or China And therefore still wee may beleeue that there is a Great Can though little in comparison of those times when all Asia was in manner subiect to them still holding some Northerly and worse parts of Cathay with Tanguth and other better Countries and perhaps another Cambula too this being a name appellatiue though the King of China bee Lord of the best parts of Cathay of the world which will bee more apparant by the Relation of this ensuing iourney through a great part of the Tartarian Prouinces on the West of China here for the studious Geographie inserted out of Ricci and Trigautius their Relations of China published Ann. 1615. touched before out of the Iesuites Epistles §. III. The long and dangerous Iourney from LAHOR a Citie of the Great MOGOL to CHINA by BENEDICTVS GOES VPon the Relations of that Mahometan before mentioned out of Xauerius his Letter Pimenta the Father Visitor of the Iesuites sent notice thereof into Europe to the Pope and Spaniard They hearing of so mightie a Nation Christian the Viceroy of India was commanded to follow Pimenta's directions who employed Benedictus Goes a Portugall Iesuite in that Expedition furnished as an Armenian Merchant changing his name to Abdula Isai this later appellation signifying a Christian Thus obtaining the Great Mogol Achabar his Letters Patents to his Viceroyes and neighbour Princes accompanied with one Isaac an Armenian he departed from Lahor the sixth of Ianuary 1603. Euerie yeere there is a Carrauan of Merchants which passe out of these parts into the Kingdome of Cascar about fiue hundred together for their better defence against Robbers With these adioyning himselfe in a moneths trauell hee came to Athee in the same Prouince of Lahor After passage of a riuer and some stay hee came after two moneths to Passaur thence trauelling to a small Towne they met with a certaine Heremite who told them that thirtie daies thence was the Citie Capherstam in which no Saracen was permitted entrance but Ethnikes may enter except in to their Temples Hee tasted also of their wine of which the countrie is fertile They goe to their Temples in blacke Here where they met this Heremite they stayed twentie daies and were faine to hire foure hundred Souldiers of the Gouernour for their defence In twentie fiue daies they trauelled from hence to Ghideli the Merchants trauelling armed on the toppe of hilles the carriages at the bottome to preuent theeues which vse from those toppes to stone the Trauellers They were yet assaulted and many wounded by these Robbers After twenty dayes more they came to Cabul where they stayed eight moneths At this place there hapned into their company the sister of Mahamet Can King of Cascar by whose countrey they were to passe towards Cathay Shee was called Agehane Age being an honourable title annexed to her name for her Pilgrimage to Mecca from which place shee had now returned who being in some want borrowed sixe hundred Ducats in Merchandize of Goes which shee repayed after in most fitting Marchandize for Cathay namely a kind of Marble they call it Iasper the Chinois Tusce which is of two sorts one taken out of the bottome of the Riuer Cotan by such as Diue for it as they doe for Pearles it is like to great Flintes the other meaner drawne forth of the Mountaine called Consangui Cascio The solitarinesse of the place distant from Catan twentie dayes and the hardnesse of the stone which they mollifie with fires ouer the place make it costly the Merchants which buy this Priuiledge of the King carrying with them a yeeres prouision for their Labourers From Cabul they went to Ciarcar where the Mogors Patents which had made him hitherto tribute-free were neglected by the vnruly borderers from thence to Parua the last towne in the Mogors subiection After fiue dayes stay they passed in twentie dayes ouer exceeding high mountaines to the Region of Aingharan and fifteene dayes after to Calcia where the people resemble the Hollanders Ten dayes being past they came to Gialalabath where the Bramenes exact custome granted them by King Bruarate Fifteene dayes after they came to Talhan where by ciuill broyles they were stayed a moneth the Calcians being in rebellion Thence they trauelled to Cheman vnder Abdulahan King of Samarhan Burgauia and Bacharate and other confining Kingdomes where the Calcians robbed them of great part of their goods In eight dayes troublesome trauell they came to Badascian where they were againe fleeced neyther were they free at Ciarciunar their next resting from whence in ten dayes they came to Serpanill a desart place and twentie dayes after to Sarcil a countrey full of villages Two dayes iourney from this place they came to Ciecialith a hill couered with snow where in sixe dayes trauell many of the company perished with cold Thence they attained to Tanghetar in the Kingdome of Cascar and in fifteene dayes more to Iaconich which iourney was so irkesome that Goes lost fixe horses He went from hence to Hiarchan the royall City of Cascar in Nouember 1603. a Mart famous for concourse of Merchants and variety of Marchandize He presented the King with a Watch a looking glasse and other Europaean gifts obtayning his letters patents for furtherance of his iourney From hence hee went with the Carauan Bassa or Captaine which buyes this place at a deare rate of the King about the middest of Nouember 1604. to Iolci Hancialix alceghet Hagabateth , Egriar Mesetelec Thalec Horma Thoantac Mingrieda Capetalcol Zilan Sarc Guebedall Canbasci Aconsersec Ciacor Acsu in twentie fiue dayes a very tedious way by stones and sands In this Iourney they passed the desart of Caracathay Thence they trauelled to Oitograch Gazo Casciani Dellai Saregabedal Vgan and Cucia And after a moneths stay here in twentie fiue dayes more
to Cialis gouerned by the King of Cascars base sonne with whom at first he had some difference about Religion which with a gift was pacified And in a disputation with the Mahumetan Doctors before him the Viceroy tooke part with Goes affirming that the Christians were the true Misermans and that their Ancesters professed that law a thing worthy by the way to bee obserued Here hee met with some Merchants returning from Cathay which could tell him of Ricci and the other Iesuites at Paquin as before you heard out of Pantogia And here first did he learne that China was Cathay At his departing from Cialis the Viceroy gaue him his letters of passe and inscribed him a Christian according to his desire whereat a Mahumetan Priest much wondered affirming that theirs with the Region shifted also their Religion In twenty dayes they came to Pucian thence to Turphan a fortified Citie thence to Aramuth and so to Camul the last City of this Kingdome of Cialis In nine dayes they passed from Camul to the Northerne walles of China where they stayed twenty fiue dayes expecting the Viceroyes answere for their admission at a place called Chiaicuon And then being entred the walles they came in one dayes iourney to the Citie Socieù All the space betweene Cialis and the borders of China is subiect to the out-rodes of the Tartars the cause that Merchants trauell in great feare in the day time looking not whether the coast be cleare and trauelling the night with great silence and secresie They found many Saracens slaine in the way The countrey people they seldome kill but rob of their cattell as for corne and rice they hold it food for beasts and not for men feeding on flesh and liuing aboue an hundred yeeres The Saracens in these parts are effeminate and might easily bee subdued by the Chinois if they would On the West parts of China is that Wall before mentioned to exclude the Tartars and two fortified Cities with strong Garrisons hauing their proper Viceroy and other Magistrates Canceu the head City of the Prouince Scensi and Soceù which is diuided into two parts one of which is inhabited by Saracens which trade here for Merchandize the other by Chinois whom the Saracens heere call Cathayans Euery night the Saracens are enclosed in their owne Citie in other things as the Chinois subiect to the same Lawes and Magistrates Neyther may any forreyner returne into his countrey which hath stayed there nine yeeres Euerie sixth yeere seuenty two Legates come after an olde custome to pay a kind of tribute to the King this but a shew the intent being to inrich themselues as is sayd with Marchandize being maintained in respect of that pretence at the Kings Charge Into Soceù Goes came at the end of the yeere 1605. and here met with other Saracens returning from Paquin which told him of the Iesuites there residing adding that the King did not tell but powred out of a measure a dayly allowance of money to them which I mention to shew that a man must bee sparing of credite to Saracen Trauellers and Merchants But Goes could not a long time certifie these his fellowes of his arriuall being ignorant of their China names and it was foure monethes iourney to Paquin from Soceu the force of Winter is there very great yet did they send in that vnseasonable season one of their Conuerts a Chinois called Ioannes Ferdinandus who after a tedious iourney found Goes then lying on his death-bed when hee brought him the letters from the Society Eleuen dayes after he dyed not without suspition of poyson giuen him by the Saracens who had also before deuised by the way many shifts to make themselues Masters of his goods they haue likewise a custome that if any dye by the way his goods are shared amongst the rest Here did the Saracens offer to seize all into their hands but Ferdinandus professed himselfe his Nephew borne of a China Mother and with much a doe eating Swines flesh together with the Armenian in token they were not Saracens obtayned that little which was left of Goes his substance scarcely enough to pay charges yet this and all the other tedious circumstances of this long Narration I haue thus largely related for the instruction of Geographers and Merchants of these parts desirous to know or trade those Countryes the knowledge whereof I thinke no Europaean else hath learned by experience in some hundreths of yeeres last past His Companion the Armenian was sent from Paquin to Macao and thence to India and being taken by Hollanders in the way at Sincapura was redeemed by the Portugals and returned to Ciaul where he yet liues as Trigautius our Authour affirmeth But it is high time for vs to take view of our Tartarian Religion CHAP. XIII Of the Religion of the Tartars and Cathayans IOANNES DE PLANO CARPINI thus writeth of their Religion They beleeue that there is one GOD the maker of all things visible and inuisible the Authour of good things and punishments yet do they not worship him with prayers prayses or any certaine rites They haue also Idols of Felt in the fashion of a man and the same they set on both sides of their Tent-doores and vnder them they put a thing of Felt fashioned like a Dugge These they account the keepers of their Cattell Authors of their Milke and young store Others they make of Silke and doe them much honour Some place them in a faire Chariot couered before the doore of their station and whosoeuer stealeth any thing out of that Chariot is slaine without all pitty Their Captaines haue one alway in the middest of their Tent. To these Idols they offer the first fruits of their Milke and the first morsels of their meate and first draught of their drinke at meales And when they kill a beast they offer the heart to their Idoll leauing it before him till the morning and then they take and eate it They make an Idoll also to their chiefe Emperour and offer thereunto with great solemnitie as well other creatures as horses which none after dare ride on till death They breake not a bone of the beasts which they kill for meate but burne them with fire They bend themselues to this Idoll towards the South as to a God They worship the Sunne Lights and Fire Water also and the Earth offering thereunto the first of their meates and drinkes and in the morning before they eate or drinke They haue no set rites prescribed by Law nor doe they compell any to deny their Religion simply although in some of their customes they are very rigorous Thus they martyred Michael Duke of Russia because he refused to doe reuerence to the Image of Cingis Can which had beene their first Emperour and compelled the younger brother of Andrew Duke of Saruogle in Russia to marrie his said brothers wife according to their custome after that they had slaine her former Husband They haue certaine traditions
they liued in great ease and pleasure euerie day hunting that for worldly pleasure he neuer any where enioyed such a life with such loue and liking of his Tartar-Host as if he had beene his sonne These vsed to make sudden inrodes vpon the Polachs the Gentlemen of Poland not dyning without their Peeces and Souldierly-seruing-men readie to giue them entertainment If the Christians make head against them they know not where to find them Resolute they are and will ride with their Bowes in the face of a Peece §. II. Of Tartaria Deserta THE second part in this diuision is attributed to Tartaria Deserta so called of the Desart huge tract of the Country betweene Tanais the Caspian Sea and the Lake Kitay sometime knowne by the name of Sarmatia Asiation It containeth many Tribes of which the principall are Zunelhensis called Burgar Tartars of Volga betweene which Riuer and Iaich they haue their abode This they called the great Hord and the Emperor thereof Vlucan in the yeere 1506. subdued by the Crim-Tartars before mentioned and after that by Basilius the Muscouite to whose large stile Bulgaria is added taking that name of Volga as it were Volgaria or of Bulgar a Towne vpon that Riuer Gazan and Astracan Hords of these Zauol-Tartars haue bin subiect also many yeeres to the said Great Duke who caused the Prince of Cazan being taken prisoner when hee was young to bee baptized Neere vnto Cazan is Vachen the people whereof are Gentiles and the Cheremizes halfe Gentiles halfe Tartars and Mangat or Nagai Mahumetan Tartars which in the yeere 1558. were thorow ciuill warres famine and pestilence destroyed to the number of aboue a hundred thousand These Nagayans haue their diuers Hords subiect to their seuerall Dukes whom they call Murzes hauing no vse of Money Corne or Arts They in the time of their distresse would for one Loafe of bread worth sixe pence haue sold Sonne or Daughter to Master Ienkinson if hee would haue bought a thousand although other-whiles they deride the Christians as liuing on the tops of weedes so they call our Corne This our Author and Country-man trauelled downe the Riuer Volga to Astracan which Riuer after it had runne aboue two thousand English miles hath threescore and ten mouthes or falls into the Caspian Sea Through this Sea hee passed to Manguslaue another part of the Desart Tartaria The Prince whereof Timor Soltan he found and saluted in a little round house not hauing Towne or Castle made of Reeds couered without with Felt within with carpets accompanied with the great Metropolitane of their country esteemed of amongst that field-people as the Bishop of Rome is in most parts of Europe And had he not presented himselfe to him with the Great Dukes Letters he had been spoyled of all that he had They passed thence with a Carauan of Merchants twentie dayes not finding water but as they drew out of old deepe Wells brackish and salt and passed sometimes two or three dayes without the same After that they came to a Gulfe of the Caspian Sea againe where the water is fresh and sweet Not so the people for the Customers of the King of Turkeman tolled of euery fiue and twentie one and seuen ninths for the said King and his brethren Into this Gulfe the Riuer Oxus did sometimes fall but is now intercepted by the Riuer Ardock which runneth toward the North and as it were loath to view so cold a Clime and barbarous Inhabitants after he hath run with a swift race a thousand miles as it were in flight hee hideth himselfe vnder ground for the space of fiue hundred miles and then looking vp and seeing little amendment drowneth himselfe in the Lake of Kithay Thence they had three dayes iourney to Sellizure where finding Azim Can to whom hee presented a ninth hee receiued there the like festiuall entertainment as before with Timor that is the flesh of a wilde Horse and Mares milke without bread Hee and his brethren ruled all from the Caspian Sea to Vrgence and had continuall warres with the Persians which space is called Turkeman for the other Hords of that huge Tartarian Desart the Kirgessen Melgomazan Scibanski Thumen which still is said to remaine vnder the obedience of the Grand Can Bascheridi Heseliti harsh names of harsher people in those most harsh and horrid Desarts will hasten my pen and your eares to some more pleasing subiect The Thumen and their Neighbours are great Inchanters and by their Art they say raise tempests and ouerthrow their Enemies The Kirgessen obserue these stinking holies their Priest mixeth bloud milke and Cow-dung together with earth and putting them in a Vessell therewith climeth a tree and after his deuout exhortation to the people hee besprinkleth them with this sacred mixture which they account diuine When any of them dye they hang him on a tree in stead of buryall The Tartars in Turkeman vse to catch wilde Horses with Hawks tamed to that purpose which seising on the necke of the Horse with his beating and the Horses chasing tyreth him and maketh him an easie prey to his Master who alwayes rideth with his Bow Arrowes and Sword They eate their meate and say their prayers sitting on the ground crosse-legged spending the time very idlely As Master Ienkinson with his company trauelled from hence towards Boghar they were assayled with fortie theeues of whom they had intelligence somewhat before and therefore certaine holy men for so they account such as haue beene at Mecca caused the Carauan to stay while they made their praiers and diuinations touching their successe They tooke certaine sheepe and killed them and tooke the blade-bones of the same which they first sod and then burnt mingling the bloud of the said sheepe with this poulder of their bones with which bloud they wrote certaine Characters vsing many other Ceremonies and words and thereby diuined that they should meete with enemies which after much trouble they should ouercome which accordingly proued true Of the faithfulnesse of these holy men he had good proofe both heere and elsewhere they refusing not to expose themselues to danger and faithlesly-faithfull to forsweare themselues rather then betray him and the Christians to their theeuish Country-men For these robbers would haue dismissed the Bussarmans so they call their Catholikes if they would haue deliuered the Caphars that is Infidels as they esteeme the Christians vnto their power One of their holy men which the enemies had surprized by no torments would confesse any thing to the preiudice of his fellowes But at last they were forced to agree and giue the theeues twentie ninths that is twentie times nine seuerall things and a Camell to carry the same away This Countrey of Turkeman or Turchestan is the first habitation of the Turkes and the people were called by that name both in Haithons time and in the time of Mauritius as in the Turkish Historie you haue heard Pliny nameth the Turkes neerer
Maotis but whether in deuouring the people with their swords as they did the pastures with their cattel they came from hence or these from thence or that Pliny might easily wander in so wandering a subiect all auer that from hence they went first into Persia and in succeeding ages haue made many fertile Countries like their Turcomania where Master Ienkinson saith groweth no grasse but heath whereon the cattell feed The Ottoman-horse blasting with his breath the ground he treads on according to their owne Prouerbe there neuer groweth grasse more The Turkeman Nation is saith Haithon for the most part Mahumetan and many of them without Law at all They vse the Arabike Letters §. III. Of the Zagathayan Tartars THese Desarts and Theeues haue almost made vs forget our diuision according to which wee should haue told you that from the Caspian Sea hither you must according to Maginus call the Tartars generally Zagathayans so called of Zagathay the Great Cans brother sometime their Prince Which name comprehendeth also diuers other Nations more ciuill then the former possessing the Countries sometime knowne by the names of Bactriana Sogdiana Margiana now Ieselbas that is Greene heads of the colour of their Turbants differing from the Persians whom they call for like cause Red-heads These haue cruell warres continually with the Persians whom they call Caphars as they doe the Christians for their supposed heresie of which in the Persian relation hath beene shewed and for that they will not cut the haire of their vpper lips for which they are accounted of the Tartars great sinners In Boghar is the seat of their Metropolitane who is there more obeyed then the King and hath sometime deposed the King and placed another at his pleasure There is a little Riuer running through the Citie whose water breedeth in them that drinke thereof especially strangers a worme of an ell long which lieth in the leg betwixt the flesh and the skin and is plucked out about the anckle with great Art of Surgeons well practised herein And if it breake in plucking out the partie dieth They plucke out an inch in a day which is rolled vp and so proceed till she be all out And yet will not the Metropolitane suffer any drinke but water or Mares milke hauing Officers to make search and punish such as transgresse with great seueritie Zagatai liued the space of one hundred twentie and one yeeres before Marcus Paulus and was as hee saith a Christian but his sonne followed him in his Kingdome not in his Religion Here in this Countrey is Samarcand the Citie of Great Tamerlaine of some called Temir Cuthlu that is as Mathias a Michou interpreteth it Happy Sword whose Armie contained twelue hundred thousand whose Conquests exceed if Histories exceed not all the Great Alexanders Pompeys Caesars or any other Worthies of the World And one of the greatest Monarch now of the Earth The Great Mogore is said to descend of him Of him are many Histories written by some that haue liued since his time and could not well know his proceedings it being generally deplored that this Achilles wanted a Homer which Alexander applauded in him but wanted for himselfe onely one Alhacen an Arabian which then liued hath written largely thereof and that as he saith by Tamerlans command which Iean du Bec Abbot of Mortimer in his voyage into the East Countrie met with and had it interpreted to him by an Arabian and wee vpon his credit which if any thinke to be insufficient I leaue it to his choice and censure That Author saith that Tamerlan descended of the Tartarian Emperours and Og his father was Lord of Sachetay who gaue to his sonne Tamerlan which name signifieth Heauenly grace in their Tongue his Kingdome while hee yet liued appointing two wise Counsellours Odmar and Aly to assist him Hee was well instructed in the Arabian learning and a louer of Learned men Nature had set in his eyes such rayes of Maiestie and beautie that men could scarce endure to looke on them He wore long haire contrary to the Tartarian Custome pretending that his mother came of the race of Sampson He was strong and had a faire leg whereas Leunclauius saith he was called Tamurleng of his lamenesse His first Warre was against the Muscouite whom he ouercame The second against the King of China with like successe I mention not his battailes in ciuill warres The third against Baiazet the Turke whom he captiued passing thither by the way of Persia where Guines Author of the Sophian Sect a great Astrologer and accounted a holy man encouraged him with prophesies of his good successe This Warre he made against Baiazet in behalfe of the Greeke Emperour and others whom the Turke oppressed He went priuately to Constantinople and had sight of the Citie with all kindnesse from the Emperour He inuaded Syria and Aegypt ouerthrew the Soldan and won Cairo destroyed Damascus visited and honoured Ierusalem and the holy Sepulchre and granted great Priuiledges thereunto The Princes of Lybia and barbarie by their Embassages in Aegypt acknowledged his Soueraigntie In his returne by Persia he was encountred by Guines who brought with him an infinite number of sundry kindes of beasts which he made tame and by which he taught men As soone as he saw Tamerlan he made his Praiers towards the Heauens for his health and for the Religion of the Prophet excommunicating the Ottomans as enemies to the faithfull beleeuers Tamerlan gaue him fifteene or sixteen thousand of his prisoners which he instructed in his opinion and after conquered Persia and so returned to Samarcand where he had vowed to erect a Church and Hospitall with all sumptuous Magnificence thence he went to Mount Althay to burie his vncle and father in law the Great Chan in whose State he succeeded He enriched Samarcand with the spoiles gotten in his warres and called the Temple which he there built the Temple of Salomon wherein he hanged vp Trophees and Monuments of his victories and caused all his battailes there to be ingrauen thereby said he to acknowledge the Goodnesse of GOD. His Religion was not pure Mahumetisme for he thought GOD was delighted with varietie of worships yet he hated Polytheisme and Idols onely one GOD he acknowledged and that with much deuotion after this manner Thus he beat downe all the Idols in China but honoured the Christians with great admiration at the strict life of some Votaries When Aly his Counsellour was dead he built a stately Tombe for him at Samarcand and caused prayers to be said three dayes for his soule Being neere his end hee blessed his two sonnes laying his hand on the head of Sautochio the elder and pressing it downe but lifting vp the chinne of Letrochio the younger as it were presaging vnto him the Empire although the elder were proclaimed But this Empire was too great and too suddenly erected to continue Of his successe and successors in Persia you
as he did before with the like answere Igha Igha Igha Then he commanded them to kill fiue Ollens or great Deere continued singing still both he and they as before Then he tooke a sword of a Cubite and a span long I did mete it my selfe and put it into his belly halfe way and sometime lesse but no wound was to be seene they continuing their sweete song still Then he put the sword into the fire till it was warme and so thrust it into the slit of his shirt and thrust it thorow his body as I thought in at his Nauell and out at his fundament the point being out of his shirt behind I layd my finger vpon it Then he pulled out the sword and sate downe This being done they set a Kettle of water ouer the fire to heate and when the water doth seethe the Priest beginneth to sing againe they answering him For so long as the water was in seething they sate and sang not Then they made a thing being foure square and in height and squarenesse of a chaire and couered with a gowne very close the fore-part thereof for the hinder part stood to the Tents side Their Tents are round and are called Chome in their language The water still seething on the fire and this square seat being ready the Priest put off his shirt and the thing like a garland which was on his head with those things which couered his face and hee had on yet all this while a payre of hosen of Deere-skinnes with the hayre on which came vp to his buttockes So he went into the square seat and sate downe like a Taylor and sang with a strong voyce or hollowing Then they tooke a small line made of Deere-skinnes of foure fathomes long and with a small knot the Priest made it fast about his necke and vnder his left arme and gaue it to two men standing on each side of him which held the ends together Then the kettle of hot water was set before him in the square seat which seat they now couered with a gowne of broad cloth-without lining such as the Russes vse to weare Then the two men which did hold the end of the line still standing there began to draw and drew till they had drawne the ends of the line stiffe and together and then I heard a thing fall into the kettle of water which was before him in the Tent. I asked what it was and they answered his head shoulder and left arme which the line had cut off I meane the knot which I saw afterward drawne hard together Then I rose vp and would haue looked whether it were so or not but they layd hold on me and sayd that if they should see him with their bodily eyes they should liue no longer And the most part of them can speake the Russian tongue to be vnderstood and they took me to be a Russian Then they beganne to hollow with these words Oghaoo Oghaoo Oghaoo many times together in the meane while I saw a thing like a finger of a man two times together thrust thorow the gowne from the Priest I asked them that sate neere to me what it was that I saw and they sayd not his finger for he was yet dead and that which I saw appeare thorow the gowne was a beast but what beast they knew not nor would not tell And I looked vpon the gowne and there was no hole to be seene At last the Priest lifted vp his head with his shoulder and arme and all his body and came out to the fire Thus farre of their seruice which I saw during the space of certaine houres But how they doe worship their Idols that I saw not for they put vp their stuffe to remoue from that place where they lay And I went to him that serued their Priest and asked him what their God sayd to him when hee lay as dead Hee answered that his owne people doth not know neither is it for them to know for they must doe as he commanded William Pursgloue tolde mee of the like eyther iuggling or Magicall prankes practised by Samoyed-Coniurours or Priests whom they haue in great veneration They haue as hee reporteth certaine Images some in likenesse of a Man others of a Beare Wolfe c. which they be hang with the richest Furres they can get hiding them in Caues in the Woods for feare of the Russes who trauell those Countries to hunt after wild beasts as Sable Fox and Beuer who if they light vpon those furred Deities take away the Furres and bestow on them greater heat in fires Pustozera is in 68. degrees 50. minutes The inhabitants hold trade with other Samoieds which haue traffique with the Ougorians and Molgomsey for Sables blacke and white Foxes Beauers Downe Whales-Finnes The Russes malegning others that gaine which themselues find in the Samoied-trade traduced the English amongst them as Spies The Ozera or lake before the Towne was frozen ouer the thirteenth of October and so continued till the twentieth of May. Iosias Logan there obserued and the eleuenth of December hee could see but the way of the Sunne-beames on the thirteenth the beames but not the Sunne which on Christmas day he saw rising at South and by West and setting at South West and by South not wholy eleuated from the Horizon but all the way the nether part of the Sunne seeming iust and euen with it They found the harbor of Pechora full of Ice in Iuly the tide strong and dangerous The Towne of Pechora is small it hath three Churches the poore in the Spring and Summer time liue by catching Partridges Geese Duckes Swans salt the flesh and liue on them most of the Winter Sayling from Pustozera in August towards Nona Zimla they fastened themselues to a piece of Ice which caused their returne homewards The Samoieds know these vnknowne Desarts and can tell where the Mosse groweth wherewith they refresh their wearied Deere pitching their tents of Deere-skins neere the same Their wiues and daughters fetch wood sometimes tenne versts off they hang kettles on the fire with snow of which melted euery one drinkes a carouse When they haue supped they spread a Deeres skinne on the snow within the Tent. Whereon he resteth couered with his day-apparell Tenne or twelue of the boyes or maides watch the Deere to keepe them from Wolues or Beares making a great shout if they see any For two hundred and fifty sleds they pitch euery night three Tents The light of the Moone and snow helpe them in their trauels The Hollanders in the yeere 1494 sent to discouer a way to Cathay and China by the North-East which by Master Burrough Pet and Iacman Englishmen had beene long before in vaine attempted William Barents was the chiefe Pilot for this discouerie This yeere they sayled thorow the straits of Vaygats and thought themselues not farre short of the Riuer Ob The next yeere they returned for the
Paquin were alike very admirable seeming to be made in the reigne of the Tartars Foure of them were very great One a Globe marked with paralells and meridians as great as three men could fathom set vpon a great Cube of brasse likewise the second was a Spheare fiue foot in the Diameter with Chaines in stead of Circles diuided into 365. degrees and a few minutes the third was a Gnomon ten foot high on a huge Marble the fourth and greatest consisteth of three or foure Astrolabes each fiue foot in the Diameter with other appurtenances very admirable Their Rules of Physicke differ much from ours yet agree with vs in feeling the pulse and are not vnhappy in their cures They vse simple medicines roots hearbs and the like their whole Art in manner the same with our Herbarists They haue thereof no publike Schoole but as each priuately learneth of some Teacher In both the Royall Cities Degrees are granted to the Professors after Examination but both this and that of little worth none being thereby of greater authoritie or without it hindered to practise And neither in Physicke nor Astrologie doth any take great paines which hath any hope of proficience in their Ethikes those being the refuges of Pouertie this the high-way to Honor. Their Geography was such that they called their Countrie Thien-hia that is All vnder heauen thinking the World to haue little else of any worth §. VII Of their Ethikes Politikes and Degrees in Learning CONFVTIVS their Philosophicall Prince compyled foure Volumes of the Ancient Philosophers adding a fifth of his owne these he called the Fiue Doctrines They containe Morall and Politicall Precepts of good Life Gouernment with the Examples Rites Sacrifices and Poems of the Ancients Besides these fiue Volumes out of Confutius some of his disciples are gathered into one Tome diuers Rules Sentences Similes touching the wel ordering of a mans selfe family or the kingdome which is called the Foure-bookes and into so many parts diuided These nine are their ancientest and fountaines of the rest of their books containing most part of their Hieroglyphicall Characters authorized by royal Priuiledges ancient Customes to be the Principles and Foundations of all Chinian Learning wherin it is not enough to vnderstand the Text but suddenly to write of euery sentence to which purpose that Tetrabiblion must be cunned by heart They haue no publike Schoole or Vniuersity where Readers vndertake to expound them but euery one is to prouide him a Master at his owne choice and charge of which are great numbers because in that multitude of Characters one cannot teach many and each man desires to haue his children taught at home They haue three Degrees which are conferred vpon such as by examination are found worthy This examination is onely in writing The first Degree called Sieucai is bestowed in euery Citie by the Tihio a learned man appointed thereunto by the King in that place which is named the Schoole and somewhat resembleth our Batchellors This Tihio visiteth euery Citie in the Prouince for this purpose whither when he is come all the Students in the Citie and Confines that aspire to that Degree resort and submit themselues to a three-fold Triall First he is examined of certaine Masters which are set ouer the Bachellors till they attaine a higher Degree in which all are admitted to triall that will sometimes foure or fiue thousand in one Citie These Masters are maintained by the King to this Office These passe them ouer to a second proofe by the Foure Magistrates of the Citie which of so great a number chuse some two hundred of the best Writers whom they commit to the third Examination by the Tihio who intituleth twentie or thirtie of the chiefe of them and numbreth them with the Bachellor of former yeeres These are priuiledged to weare a Gowne Cap and Bootes in token of their Degree and in publike Assemblies haue higher Places besides larger Complements and Immunities and are subiect to their Tihio and those Foure Masters other Magistrates little meddling with their cases This Tihio doth also examine those former Bachellors to see how they haue profited or decayed which according to their writing are diuided into fiue rankes the first are licenced vnto some publike Offices of lesse reckoning the second haue a reward but not so great the third haue neither reward nor punishment the fourth are publikely scourged the last degraded and ranked with the Communaltie Their second Degree is called Kiugin somewhat like the Licentiates in some Europaean Vniuersities This is conferred but once in three yeeres in the chiefe Citie of the Prouince in the eight moneth and with greater solemnitie to fewer or more according to the dignitie and largenesse of the Prouince In Pequin in Nanquin 150. doe proceed Licentiats in Cequian Quiansi and Fuquiam 95. in the rest fewer Vnto this Triall onely Bachellours and but the choice of them are admitted not aboue thirtie or fortie of one Citie which yet sometimes in one Prouince amount to 4000. Competitors That third yeere therefore which happened with them 1609 1612 1615 c. a few dayes before the eight Moone which often falls out in September the Magistrates of Pequin present vnto the King the Names of 100. the chiefe Philosophers in China out of which hee chuseth thirtie two for euery Prouince to bee sent Examiners One of these two must bee of the Kings Colledge called Han lin yuem As soone as euer they are named by the King they must post to their designed Prouince many Spies attending that they speake not with any one man of that Prouince before the Kiugin are entituled Other principal Philosophers also of that Prouince are chosen to assist these Examiners in the first Triall In euery Prouinciall Citie is a huge Palace erected for this end enclosed with high walls in which are many roomes wherein without noyse they may discusse those writings and in the midst of the Palace aboue 4000. Cels or little Studies which can hold nothing but a small table a stoole and one man out of which one is not permitted to see or speake with another When these Posers are come to the Citie they and their Assistants of that Prouince are shut vp in their seuerall Stations before they may speake with each other or any one else and so continue all the time of this Act or Commencement many Souldiers and Magistrates attending to prohibite all commerce conference on all hands with any within or without the Palace In this examination three daies the ninth the twelfth and the fifteenth of the Moone are spent in euery Prouinciall Citie from the earliest light til the euening darkenesse the doores carefully shut some refection being the day before allowed them at publike charge When the Bachellers come into the Palace they are narrowly searched whether they bring any Booke or Writing with them and are allowed only their Pensill Paper Inke and writing Plate or
except they would haue digged it vp must bee redeemed Some Cities and Prouinces compounded at certaine summes which was payd to the King as extracted out of his Mynes Some zealous and couragious Magistrates made complaint by Libels to the King but themselues therefore punished One Fumocean of the Prouince of Vquam was cruelly beaten and cast in close prison whom his Prouince so honored euen then that they published his worthie acts in bookes they made his picture to bee sold through all the Prouince that all men might priuately honour him as a Saint and erected vnto him some publike Temples with tapers and odours continually burning But the Eunuches to the extreame distaste of all the subiects continued in their tyrannicall exactions or robberies rather throughout the Kingdome into one of whose hands the Iesuites fell with their presents The Magistrates hate them and they insult ouer the Magistrates At Nanquin are also some thousands of these Eunuches in the Palace one being chiefe ouer the rest Some of them are so arrogant that they looke for apprecations of a thousand yeeres life which is the custome to the Queenes and Kings children whereas to the King they say Van van siu that is ten thousand yeeres as Daniel to Nabuchodonosor O King liue for euer besides the bending of the knee as to the chiefe Magistrates The King will for light causes sometimes cause his Eunuches to be beaten till they die vnder the blowes When Ricius was dead they coffined him after the China fashion till they could find some place for his burial which till that time was at Macao whither they sent their dead Pantogis put vp a petition to the King in behalfe of Ricius his corpes This storie will be I hope acceptable as shewing the manner of obtaining any thing at the Kings hand I IAMES PANTOGIA a stranger of a most remote Kingdome moued with the vertue and fame of your Noble Kingdome haue in three yeeres saile with much trouble passed hither aboue 6000. leagues In the twentie eight yeere of VANLIE for so as we they account their yeres by the Kings reigne in the twelfth Moone I with MATTHEVV RICIVS came into your Court where wee presented some gifts and haue since beene sustained at the Kings charge The nine and twentieth yeere of VANLIE in the first Moone we petitioned your Maiestie for a place of residence and haue many yeeres enioyed the Royall bountie In the eight and thirtieth of VANLIE the eighteenth day of the third Moone RICIVS died I a Client of the Kingdome of the great West remaine a fit subiect of pitie The returne into our Countrey is long c. And I now after so many yeeres stay suppose that we may be numbred to the people which followeth your Royall Chariot that your clemencie like that of YAO may not containe it selfe in the Kingdome of China alone c. So proceeds hee to set forth the good parts of Ricius and with a long supplication to beg a place of buriall some Field or part of a Temple and he with his fellowes should obserue their wonted prayers to the Lord of Heauen for thousands of yeeres to him and his Mother This Libell was written with peculiar forme Characters Seales many Rites herein necessarily obserued Before any be offered to the King it must be viewed of some Magistrate and they got this to be allowed by one which is Master of Requests which sent it presently to the King They must also haue many Copies thereof to shew to those Magistrates to whom it appertaines which they did one of them affirming That Ricius deserued a Temple also with his Image to bee there set vp This message he sent them by another for when they fauour a cause they shew great strangenesse The King commonly answers the third day except hee mislike for then hee suppresseth and sends it to the Magistrate that had presented it who shewes which of the sixe is the peculiar Court which iudgeth of these things This being sent to the Rituall Tribunall Their answere is sent to the King within a moneth which there is a short space and repeating the Petition verbatim and the Kings command to the peculiar Office answeres what the Law sayth in that case and concludes the Petition to bee agreeing to Iustice and earnestly pleads and sues for confirmation The King sends this answere to the Colao which subscribed his approbation which being sent againe to the King hee subscribed with his owne hand Xi that is Fiat or be it done which the third day after was deliuered them §. IX Of the Magistrates Courts and Gouernment THat which the Philosopher wished That Kings might be Philosophers and Philosophers Kings is in part fulfilled in China where all the Gouernment is in their administration which haue attained thereto not by birth fauour wealth or other Mediators but their Philosophicall proficience and degrees of which we haue spoken Of these there are two Orders one of the Court which besides their Offices in that Citie moderate euen all those of the second sort which are Prouinciall Magistrates abroad in the Cities or Prouinces Euery two moneths there is a new booke printed at Pequin of all their Names Places and Degrees First of the Officers of Court There are sixe Tribunals or chiefe Courts the first called Li pu pu signifieth Tribunall which is the Court of Magistrates who are hence nominated throughout the Kingdome which nomination is guided by the excellencie of their writings aforesaid And all beginning with inferiour Offices come by Degrees prescribed by the Lawes in order to the higher except Iniustice cast them lower or quite degrade them which makes him past hope of regayning his dignitie The second Tribunall is Hopu or the Treasurie which receiueth and payeth out the Kings reuenues The third is Lypu the Court of Rites whence are ordered matters of Sacrifices Temples Priests Schooles Examinations Festiuall dayes Gratulations to the King Titles Physicians Mathematicians Embassages with their Letters and Presents for they thinke vnworthy the Maiestie of their King himselfe to write to any The fourth Court is called Pimpu to which are subiect all Militarie Matters and Charges and Examinations The fifth is Cumpu that hath the handling of publike Aedifices as the Palaces of the King of his Kindred of the Magistrates the Nauie Bridges Walls of Cities and the like The sixt is Himpu of criminall Cases Prisons and Imprisonments All the publike affaires depend of these Courts which haue their Officers and Notaries in euery Citie and Prouince which informe them of all things One in euery of these Courts is President called Ciam who hath his two Cilam or Assistants one at his right hand the other at the left These are accounted the highest Dignities in the kingdome Next to these euery Court hath their seuerall Offices and ouer each many Officers besides Notaries Apparitors and others Besides these Courts there is another the greatest in
storie is not yet because I haue done thus in other Nations and haue so worthy a patterne in this as the Worthy of our Age Iosephus Scaliger pardon mee to trouble thee with this Chronicle of their Kings The first was Vitey a Gyant-like man a great Astrologer and Inuenter of Sciences hee reigned an hundred yeeres They name after him an hundred and sixteene Kings whose names our Author omitteth all which reigned two thousand two hundred fiftie and seuen yeeres all these were of his linage and so was Tzintzon the maker of that huge wall of China which killed many of the Chinois of whom hee tooke euery third man to this worke For which cause they slue him when he had reigned fortie yeeres with his sonne Aguizi They ordained King in his stead Auchosau who reigned twelue yeeres his sonne Futey succeeded and reigned seuen yeeres his wife eighteene his sonne three and twentie then followed Guntey foure and fiftie Guntey the second thirteene Ochantey fiue and twentie Coantey thirteene Tzentzey sixe and twentie and foure moneths Anthoy sixe Pintatcy fiue Tzintzumey three and seuen moneths Huy Hannon sixe Cuoum two and thirtie Bemthey eighteene Vnthey thirteene Othey seuenteene Yanthey eight moneths Antey nineteene yeeres Tantey three moneths Chitey one yeere Linthey two and twentie yeeres Yanthey one and thirtie yeeres Laupy one and fortie yeeres Cuythey fiue and twntie yeeres Fontey seuenteene yeeres Fifteene other Kings reigned in all one hundred seuentie and sixe yeeres The last of which was Quioutey whom Tzobu deposed who with seuen of his linage reigned threescore and two yeeres Cotey foure and twentie yeeres Dian sixe and fiftie yeeres Tym one and thirtie yeeres Tzuyn seuen and thirtie yeeres Tauco with his linage which were one and twentie reigned two hundred ninetie and foure yeres Bausa a Nunne wife of the last of them whom she slue one and fortie yeeres Tautzon slue her and reigned with his posteritie which were seuen Kings one hundred and thirtie yeeres Dian eighteene yeeres Outon fifteene yeeres Outzim nine yeeres and three moneths Tozon foure yeeres Auchin ten yeeres Zaytzon and seuenteene of his race three hundred and twentie yeeres Tepyna the last was dispossessed by Vzon the Tartar vnder whom and eight of his Tartarian successours China endured subiection ninetie and three yeeres Gombu or Hum-vu expelled Tzintzoum the last of them He with thirteene successours haue reigned about two hundred and fortie yeeres There computation of times is more prodigious then that of the Chaldaeans after which this present yeere of our Lord 1614. is in their account from the Creation 884793. CHAP. XIX Of the Religion vsed in China §. I. Of their Gods and Idols in former times HOw much the greater things are reported of this so large a Countrey and mightie a Kingdome so much the more compassion may it prouoke in Christian hearts that amongst so many people there is scarce a Christian who amongst so ample reuenues which that King possesseth payeth either heart or name vnto the King of Heauen till that in so huge a Vintage the Iesuites of late haue gleaned a few handfulls to this profession Before wee come to the Narration of their gods I thinke it fit to deliuer what our ancienter Authors haue obserued of their Religion and then to come to the Moderne They were before the Tartarian Conquest giuen to Astrologie and obserued Natiuities and gaue directions in all matters of weight These Astrologers or Magicians told Farfur the King of China or Mangi that his Kingdome should neuer be taken from him but by one which had a hundred eyes And such in name was Chinsanbaian the Tartarian Captaine which dispossessed him of his state and conquered it to the great Can about 1269. This Farfur liued in great delicacie nor did euer feare to meet with such an Argus He brought vp yeerely two hundred thousand Infants which their Parents could not prouide for and euery yeere on certaine of his Idoll-holy-dayes feasted his principall Magistrates and all the wealthiest Citizens of Quinsay ten thousand persons at once ten or twelue dayes together There were then some few Nestorian Christians one Church at Quinsay two at Cinghianfu and a few others They had many Idoll-Monasteries They burned their dead the kinsmen of the dead accompanied the corps clothed in Canuas with Musicke and Hymnes to their Idols and when they came to the fire they cast therein many papers wherein they had painted Slaues Horses Camels c. as of the Cathayans is before reported to serue him in the next world They returne after their Funerall Rites are finished with like harmony of Instruments and Voyces in honor of their Idols which haue receiued the soule of the deceased They had many Hospitals for the poore where idle persons were compelled to worke and poore impotents relieued Odoricus affirmeth that at Kaitan or Zaiton hee found two Couents of Minorite-Fryers and many Monasteries of Idolaters in one whereof hee was in which as it was told him were three thousand Votaries and eleuen thousand Idols One of those Idols lesse then some others was as big as the Popish Christopher These Idols they feed euery day with the smoake of hot meates set before them but the meate they eate themselues At Quinsay a Chinian conuert led him into a certaine Monastery where hee called to a Religious person and said This Raban Francus that is this Religious French-man commeth from the Sunne-setting and is now going to Cambaleth to pray for the life of the great Can and therefore you must shew him some strange sight Then the said Religious person tooke two great baskets full of broken reliques and led mee into a little walled Parke and vnlocked the doore We entred into a faire greene wherein was a Mount in forme of a steeple replenished with Hearbs and Trees Then did hee ring with a Bell at the sound whereof many Creatures like Apes Cats and Monkeyes came downe the Mount and some had faces like men to the number of some thousand and two hundred putting themselues in good order before whom he set a platter and gaue them those fragments Which when they had eaten he rung the second time and they all returned to their former places I wondred at the sight and demanded what creatures they were They are quoth he the soules of Noble-men which we here feed for the loue of GOD who gouerneth the World And as a man was honourable in his life so his soule entereth after death into the body of some excellent beast but the soules of simple and rusticall people possesse the bodies of more vile and brutish creatures Neither could I disswade him from the opinion or perswade him that any soule might remaine without a body Nic. di Conti saith that when they rise in the morning they turne their faces to the East and with their hands ioyned say God in Trinitie keepe vs in his Law §. II. Of their present Gods and Idols THeir Religion
made them distastfull and this also which the Learned often obiect to these Sectaries that the King and Princes which first gaue way hereto died violently and miserably and fell into publike calamities Yet hath it euen to these times in diuers vicissitudes encreased and decreased and many Bookes haue beene thereof written which contayne many difficulties inextricable to themselues Their Temples are many and sumptuous in which huge monstrous Idols of Brasse Marble Wood and Earth are to be seene with Steeples adioyning of stone or timber and therein exceeding great Bells and other ornaments of great price Their Priests are called Osciami They continually shaue their heads and beards contrary to the Countrey custome Some of them goe on Pilgrimages others liue an austere life on Hills or in Caues and the most of them which amount to two or three millions liue in Cloysters of their reuenues and almes and somewhat also of their owne industrie These Priests are accounted the most vile and vicious in the Kingdome being of the baser raskalitie sold when they are children by their parents to the elder Priests of slaues made Disciples and succeeding their Masters in Sect and Stipend few voluntarily adioyning themselues to these Cloysterers Neither doe they affect more liberall learning nor abstayne but perforce from disauowed Luxurie Their Monasteries are diuided into diuers Stations according to their greatnesse in euery Station is one perpetuall Administrator with his slaue-Disciples which succeed him therein Superiour in the Monasterie they acknowledge none but euery one builds as many Cells or Chambers as he is able which they let out to strangers for great gaine that their Monasteries may be esteemed publike Innes wherein men may quietly lodge or follow their businesse without any explication of their Sects They are hired also by many to Funerall Solemnities and to other Rites in which wilde Beasts Birds or Fishes are made free and let loose the seuerer Sectaries buying them to this meritorious purpose In our times this Sect much flourisheth and hath many Temples erected and repaired many Eunuches women and of the rude vulgar embracing the same There are some Professors called Ciaicum that is Fasters which liue in their owne houses all their life abstayning from Fish and Flesh and with certaine set prayers worship a multitude of Idols at home but not hard to be hired to these deuotions at other mens houses In these Monasteries women also doe liue separated from men which shaue their heads and reiect Marriage These Nunnes are there called Nicu. But these are but few in comparison of the men One of the learned Sect famous in the Court relinquished his place in the Colledge and shaued his haire wrote many Bookes against the Confutians but being complayned of the King commanded hee should be punished which hee punished further on himselfe with cutting his owne throat Whereupon a Libell or Petition was put vp to the King against the Magistrates which relinquished Confutius and became of this Sect the King notwithstanding all the Queenes Eunuches and his Kindred are of this Sect made answere That such should goe into the Desarts and might bee ashamed of their Robes Hence followed orders That whosoeuer in his Writings mentioned an Idoll except by way of Confutation should be vncapable of degrees in Learning which caused much alteration in Religion for many of this Sect had preuayled much in Court and elsewhere Amongst the rest one Thacon was so honoured of the chiefe Queene that shee worshipped daily his garment because it was not lawfull for himselfe to enter the Palace but dealt by Eunuches One libelled to the King against him but had no answere which is the Kings fashion when he denies or disallowes it which made him more insolent But being suspected for a Libell made against the King and some writings in zeale of his Idols against the King being found he was beaten to death howling in his torments which before had vanted a Stoicall Apathie The other Sect-masters were banished the Court §. V. Of the third Sect Lauzu THeir third Sect is named Lauzu of a certaine Philosopher which liued in the same age with Confutius They fable that he was fourescore yeeres in his mothers wombe before his birth and therefore call him Lauzu that is old Philosopher He left no booke written of his Sect nor seemes to haue intended any such institution But his Sectaries called him after his death Tausa and haue fathered on him their opinions whereof they haue written many elegant bookes These also liue single in their Monasteries buying Disciples liuing as vile and vicious as the former They shaue not their haire but weare it like the Lay-men sauing that they haue a Hat or Cap of wood There are others married which at their owne houses professe greater austeritie and recite ouer set prayers They affirme That amongst other Idols they also worship the God of Heauen but corporeall and to whom their Legends tell that many indignities haue happened The King of Heauen which now raigneth they call Ciam he which raigned before was Leu who on a time came riding to the Earth on a white Dragon Him did Ciam who was a Diuinor giue entertainment and whiles Leu was at his good cheere mounted vp his Dragon which carried him to heauen there seized on the heauenly Royaltie and shut out Leu who yet at last was admitted to the Lordship of a certaine Mountaine in that Kingdom Thus they professe their god to bee a coozener and vsurper Besides this King of Heauen they faine another threefold Deitie one of which they say was the head of their Lauzu sect They promise to theirs Paradise which they shall enioy both in bodie and soule and in their Temples haue pictures of such as haue the Images of such Saints To obtaine this they prescribe certaine exercises which consist in diuers postures of sitting certaine prayers and medicines by which they promise to the obseruers through their gods fauour an immortall life in Heauen at least a longer mortall in the bodie The Priests of this Sect haue a peculiar Office of casting out Deuils which they do by two meanes one is to paint horrible shapes of Deuill in yellow paper with inke to be fastned on the walls and then fill the house with such sauage clamors that themselues might be thought to be Deuils the other is by certaine prayers or coniurations They professe also a power of faire weather and soule and other priuate and publike misfortunes : and some of them seeme to be Witches These Priests reside in the Kings Temples of Heauen and Earth and assist at the Kings sacrifices whether by himselfe performed or his Deputie Magistrates and thereby acquire great authoritie At these sacrifices they make musicke of all sorts which China yeeldeth harshed Europaean eares They are called likewise to Funeralls to which they come in precious Vestments playing on Musical Instruments They assist also at the consecrations of new Churches and
an Earth-quake changed his channell thereby a great part of the neighbour Region being turned into a desart For in this Indus is like vnto Nilus in that without it the Countrey would be a Wildernesse and therefore is also worshipped of the Inhabitants It receiueth fifteene other Riuers into it Hee mentioneth the Cathei not farre from thence which after happily gaue name vnto Cathay The Indians are of seuen sorts The first in estimation and sewest in number were their Philosophers These kept-publike Acts once a yeere before the King he which in his Obseruations was found three times false was condemned to perpetuall silence The second sort were Husband-men which payd the King the onely owner of all the Land a fourth part of the increase The third was of Shepheards and Huntsmen which wandred in Tents The fourth Artificers The fifth Souldiers The sixth Magistrates The seuenth Courtiers and those of his Priuie Councell If any woman killeth the King in his drunkennesse shee is rewarded with the marriage of his Sonne and Heire If any depriue another of a member besides like for like he loseth his hand and if hee bee an Artificer his life They strangle their sacrifice that it may be so offered whole to their Idols §. II. Of their Philosophicall or Religious Sects OF their Philosophers or men Learned and Religious the Brachmanes obtaine the first place as being neerest in Sects to the Greekes These are after their manner Nazarites from the wombe So soone as their Mother is conceiued of them there are learned men appointed which come to the Mother with Songs containing Precepts of Chastitie As they grow in yeeres they change their Masters They haue their places of Exercise in a Groue nigh to the Citie where they are busied in graue conferences They eare no liuing Creatures nor haue vse of women liue frugally and lye vpon skinnes They will instruct such as will heare them but their Hearers must neither Sneese nor Spit nor Speake When they haue in this strict course spent seuen and thirtie yeeres they may liue more at Pleasure and Libertie in Dyet Habit proper Habitation and the vse of Gold and Marriage They conceale their mysteries from their Wiues lest they should blab them abroad They esteeme this life as mans Conception but his Death day to bee his Birth-day vnto that true and happy life to him which hath beene rightly Religious They hold the World to bee Created Corruptible Round ruled by the high GOD. Water they imagine to haue beene the beginning of making the World and that besides the foure Elements there is a fifth Nature whereof the Heauen and Starres consist They intreate of the immortalitie of the Soule and of the torments in Hell and many such like matters The Germanes another Order of Religious or Learned men are honoured amongst them especially such of them as liue in the Woods and of the Woods both for their dyet of those wilde Fruits and their habit of the Barkes of Trees not acquainted with Bacchus or Venus any more then with Ceres They speake not to the Kings when they aske counsell of them but by messengers and doe pacifie the angrie gods as is supposed by their holinesse Next in honour to these are certaine Mendicants which liue of Rice and Barley which any man at the first asking giueth them together with entertainment into their houses These professe skill in Physicke and to remedie Diseases Wounds and Sterilitie very constant in labour and hardship Others there are Inchanters and Diuiners Masters of Ceremonies about the Dead which wander thorow Townes and Cities Some there are more Ciuil and Secular in their life professing like Pietie and Holinesse Women also are admitted vnto the fellowship of their studies in this Philosophie not to their beds Aristobulus writeth That hee saw two of these Brachmanes the one an old man shauen the other young with long haire which sometimes resorted to the Market-place and were honoured as Counsellors and freely tooke what they pleased of any thing there to be sold for their sustenance They were anointed with Sesumine oyle wherewith and with hony they tempered there bread They were admitted to Alexanders Table where they gaue lessons of patience and after going to a place not farre off the old Man lying downe with his face vpward sustained the Sun and showers terrible violence The yonger standing on one foot held in both his hands a piece of wood of three cubits lifted vp and shifted feet as the other was weary nd so they continued euery day The young man returned home afterward but the old man followed the King with whom he changed his Habit and Life for which when as he was by some reproued he answered That he had fulfilled the fortie yeeres exercise which he had vowed Onesicritus saith that Alexander hearing of some Religious Obseruants which went naked and exercised themselues to much hardship and would not come to others but would bid Men if they would haue any thing with them to come to them sent him vnto them who found fifteene of them twentie furlongs from the City each of them obseruing his own gesture of sitting standing or lying naked and not stirring til sun-setting in that vnsupportable heat at which time they returned into the Citie Calanus was one of them He afterward followed Alexander into Persia where beginning to be sicke hee caused a great Pile or Frame of wood to be made wherein he placed himselfe in a golden chayre and caused fire to be put to in which he was voluntarily consumed telling if they tell TRUE that he would meet Alexander at Babylon the place fatall to Alexanders death Aelianus saith That this was done in a suburbe of Babylon and that the fire was of Cedar Cypres Mirtle Laurell and other sweet woods and after he had performed his daily exercise of running hee placed himselfe in the middest crowned with the leaues of Reeds the Sunne shinning on him which he worshipped This adoration was the signe which hee gaue to the Macedonians to kindle the fire in which he abode without any stirring till hee was dead Alexander himselfe admiring and preferring this victorie of Calanus before all his owne This Calanus told Onesicritus of a golden World where Meale was as plentiful as dust and Fountaines streamed Milk Hony Wine and Oyle Which Country by men turned into wantonnesse Iupiter altered and detayned imposing a life of hardnesse and labour which while men followed they enioyed abundance but now that men begin to furfet and grow disobedient there is danger of vniuersall destruction When hee had thus spoken hee bad him if hee would heare further strip himselfe and lie naked vpon these stones But Mandanis another of them reproued Calanus for his harshnesse and commending Alexander for his loue to learning said that they inured their bodies to labour for the confirmation of their mindes against passions For his nakednesse he alledged that that was the
need not this ruder but iust and true Apologie As for other Obiections they are friuolous and either ridiculous or meerely accidentall and it is Puritanisme in Politie to conceit any great Good without some Euills attendant in any Enterprise whatsoeuer where the Heauens Great Lights are subiect to Eclipses the longest Day hath a Night the Summer yeelds vicissitude to Winter all Bodies are mixed and compounded and in the greatest Lustre make an apparant Shadow Apparant Shadowes are the obiected expence of Victuall as if these mouthes would not exceed farre more in quantitie and qualitie at home of Timber as if this be not the most honourable vse thereof though Ireland yeeldes supply in this kind of eclipsing or sinking other Trades sic inter Stellas argentea Luna minores will they be angrie that so few Starres appeare when Aurora is preparing the Sunnes Chariot They adde Oppressions and Dealing cruelly I know not whether this be a cruell lye and many other alledged against these Indian Nauigations bee but English Knauigations This I know that the Wisest hath forbidden to answere a foole according to his foolishnesse lest thou also bee like him Easie it is for fooles to moue Scruples in the Actions of the Wisest and not hard for euill mindes to make that which they find not euill But Christians are to imitate Him rather which commanded the Light to shine out of Darkenesse with a candide Mind the true Image of GOD alway construing doubtfull things to the best which the best will doe to whom and for whom this is intended As for Cauillers they haue their Dos here according to Salomons Prescipt Answere a foole according to his foolishnesse lest he be wise in his owne conceit §. IIII. The Conclusion with commendation of the Mariner c. NOw that I haue after my ability answered the obiections and produced so many Arguments the most of which are Store-houses and Heads of many Let this be the last argument which to me was not the least and here was placed first the Increase of learning and knowledge by these worthy Discoueries of Marine Worthies How little had we knowne of the World and the Wonders of God in the World had not the Sea opened vs a Passage into all Lands Pegasus the winged Horse which the Poets fained with the stroke of his foot first made Helicon the Muses Well to spring was the issue of Neptune and that snaky-headed Monster Medusa The Mariner seemes rough-hewen and rude according to the Ocean that breeds him but hee that can play with those dangers which would transforme others into stones and dares dwell within so few inches of death that calls the most tempestuous Elements his Parents Hee I say is the true Pegasus that with his wing-like Sailes flies ouer the World which hath helped to deliuer Andromeda Geography before chained to the Rockes and ready to bee deuoured of that Monster Ignorance and out of whose salt waters wisely distilled Clio Vrania and the best of the Muses drinke their sweetest and freshest liquors Howsoeuer Others My Selfe must confesse and this Booke will witnesse that My Helicon hath in great part flowne from the footing of this Pegasus And let it be the Honour of Our Honourable SMITH that His hand hath fitted this Foot of Pegasus to this Indian Iourney whither he is now carrying you at Whose Forge and Anuill haue beene hammer'd so many irons for Neptune not like Xerxes his Arrogance which proudly cast Fetters into the Hellespont but with true effects of Conquest Mee thinkes I here see the Sterne that with little locall stirring Stiereth so many Ships to so many Ports visited by your Pilgrim HONDIVS his Map of the EAST-INDIA INDIA Orientalis CHAP. III. Of the Indian Prouinces next adioyning to China §. I. Of Cauchin China Camboia and the Laos CAuchin-China is an Indian Kingdome situate betweene the Prouince of Canton on the North and Camboia on the South in the bottome of a great Bay diuided into three Prouinces and as many Kings but one of them is Paramount It aboundeth with Gold Siluer Aloes Porcelane and Silke They are Idolaters and Pagans and haue had some deuotion to the Popish Christianity moued thereto by certaine Pictures of our Lady of the last Iudgement and Hell a new kind of preaching and haue erected many Crosses amongst them of which the Friers report after their fashion some miracles Their Religion seemeth little to differ from that of the Chinois to whom they are also Tributaries and vse their Characters One Richard Cocke Englishman in a Letter dated December the tenth 1614. from Firando in Iapan where hee was left in Factory by Captaine Saris writes of an vnhappy accident which befell Master Tempest Peacocke who with Walter Caerwarden arriued not long before with our Kings Letter in Cauchin-China with a Present also and goods to the Value of seuen hundred and thirty pounds But whiles hee with some principall Hollanders who were there likewise entertained was passing by water they were set vpon and slaine with harping irons together with their interpreters and followers Iapanders neither had they heard further what became of the rest of the Company The cause was reported to bee a quarell against the Hollanders for fraud and violence deceiuing them with false money and burning a Towne Here is much of the wood called Palo Daguilla and of the most sweet wood Calamba with other merchandize of China Betweene this and the I le Aynao tenne miles from the land is a fishing for Pearles To the South of this Kingdome is Champa the name of a Kingdome and chiefe Citie thereof of great Traffique especially of Lignum Aloes which groweth there in the Mountaines prized at the weight in Siluer which they vse in Bathes and in the Funerals of great Princes In Religion they are as the former This Tract beares also the name of Camboia Camboia on the North abutteth on Cauchin China on the South the Kingdome of Siam on the East the Sea It is a great and populous Countrey full of Elephants and Abada's this Beast is the Rhinoceros Here also they begin to honour the Crosse as Frier Siluester a man as they say much reuerenced by the King and honoured of the people hath taught them When the King dieth his women are burned and his Nobles doe voluntarily sacrifice themselues in the same fire The women are generally burned with their husbands at their death The Camboyans dealt treacherously with the Hollanders Anno 1602. whom they inuited to the shore with promise of certaine Buffolos and then cruelly slew them They detained the Admirall on shore to be redeemed with some of their Ordnance When they intend a iourney they vse diuination with the feete of a Henne to know whether it will be luckie or no and as the Wizard shall answere they dispose of themselues either to goe or stay This Land hath much of the sweet Wood Calamba which being good
the care of his brother his two sonnes which slaying the eldest making himselfe King by his tyrannies caused diuers of the Iauan Nobilitie to forsake their Country Amongst the rest Paramisora fled to Cingapura who with his many followers was entertained kindly by Sangesinga whom not long after he vngratefully slew and by the helpe of his Iauans possessed himselfe of the state The King of Siam whose tributary and son-in-law Sangesinga had bin forced him to leaue his ill gotten throne and to seek new habitation one hundred and fortie miles thence where he settled himselfe at the riuer Muar with two thousand followers some of which were called Cellati men that liued on the Sea by fishing and pyracie these he would not receiue into his new fortresse of Pago as not well trusting them though before they had made him lord of Cingapura These therefore seated themselues fifteene miles from Muar in the place neere which Malaca now standeth ioyning with the Natiues halfe Sauages whose language is called Malayan The place growing strait they remoued three miles vp the riuer where was a Hill called Beitan with a large plaine the commodiousnesse whereof inuited Paramisora to leaue Pago and to ioyne with them in this new foundation which was after called Malaca signifying a banished man in remembrance of this Iauans exile In succeeding times the merchandize and Merchants too remoued from Cingapura to Malaca Saquem Darsa then succeeding his father Paramisora who subiected himselfe as vassal to the King of Siam which assigned to his obedience all the Country from Cingapura on the East to Pulo Zambilan which is to the West of Malaca one hundred and twentie miles all which space of coast is two hundred seuentie miles by Sea The Monsons or winds in these parts continue West and Northwest from the end of August to the end of October Nouember begins Northerly winds and Northeasterly which blow till the beginning of April From May till the end of August the South and Southwest beare sway according to which the Mariner must direct his course and take his proper season The situation of Malaca is vnwholsome by reason of the marishes and neerenesse to the line little aboue two degrees to the North else it would haue bin the most populous Citie in the Indies The successors of Saquen Darsa by little and little eased their shoulders of the Siam subiection especially after the Moores Persians and Guzurats had conuerted them to Mahomets sect and at last vsurped absolute Souereigntie But the King of Siam nine yeeres before the Portugall conquest sent a Fleet of two hundred saile and therein sixe thousand men against Mahumet King of Malaca the General of which Fleet was Poioan his Vice-roy of Lugor to whom the Gouernours of Patane Calantan Pan and other Coast-cities were to pay their tributes for the King of Siam From Lugor to Malaca is six hundred miles saile alongst the coast much subiect to tempestuous weather which diuided this Fleet some of which fell into Mahumets hand by treachery to the ouerthrow of the rest The Siamite in reuenge prepared a great Armie by Land and Armada by Sea foure hundred Elephants and thirtie thousand men but without expected euent by the insolencie of some of his Souldiers in Rapes and Robberies which raised the Country against them whiles Poioan was in the siege of Pan or Pam another Citie in rebellion The King of Siam further enraged sent two Armadas one by the way of Calantan the other by the way of Tenaz-zary one on the East side the other on the West of this long tract of land but before Mahumet could be punished by the Siamite the Portugall had preuailed against him King Emanuel had sent Diego Lopes de Sequeira from Lisbone Anno 1508. who came the next yeere to Malaca and there vnder faire colours of traffique Himselfe and his whole Fleet were in danger of betraying and murthering by this perfidious King and his Bendara or chiefe Iustice This ruled all cases Ciuill the Lacsamaua or Admirall all Marine and the Tamungo or Treasurer all the Reuenue and these three the whole gouernment which treachery in the yeere 1511. was requited by Albuquerke who by his proper valour and wonted Fortunes with secret intelligence amongst the Malayans conquered the Citie expelled the King who in few dayes vomited His soule after this pill and built there a Fortresse and a Church establishing the Portugall Lawes but so as both the Ethnikes and the Moores had their owne Magistrates appeale reserued to the highest The most remarkable things in this exploit were the Chaine which one Naodobeguea one of the principall conspirers against Sequeira now encountred in a Sea-fight by Albuquerke in his voyage to Malaca ware on his arme with a bone of a Iauan beast called Cabal therein by vertue whereof notwithstanding many and wide wounds he lost not one drop of blood till that Chaine being taken off his veines suddenly and at once emptied themselues of blood and life the store of artillery of which they tooke three thousand Peeces of eight thousand which the Portugals affirmed had beene there their venomed Arrowes and Calthrops strowed in the way the poyson whereof once touching the blood made them mad with other symptomes as in the biting of a mad dog which they learned after to heale by chewing the leafe of a certaine hearbe growing in the Countrey the vndermining the street of the Citie to blow it vp together with the Portugals the disaduantage of the fight with Elephants which being here enraged with wounds would not be ruled but brake the ranks of their owne side the treacherie of this people first to the Portugals then to their King after that to the Portugals againe the prey and spolle besides all that the King and they which fled carried away and all the Gold Siluer prouision of warre and concealements excepted amounted to two hundred thousand duckets for the Kings due which was the fifth part Alodinus the sonne of King Mahomet busily bestirred himselfe but in vaine to recouer his lost Patrimonie neither the I le Bintam which he fortified as he did also Pagus nor force nor fraud being able to defend him from his fathers fates and fortunes The Moores haue enuyed this successe to the Portugals and often haue attempted to depriue them of Malaca The Hollanders also vnder Cornelius Mateliuius Anno 1608. laid siege thereto whiles the Portugall was seeking new conquests at Achen who in their returne might easily haue defeated them had they not beene unadvised in too long aduising When the Portugals went to Malaca the King of Pans marriage with the daughter of Mahomet was to bee solemnized a banquetting house of timber couered with silke sumptuously prepared to this purpose on thirtie wheeles to be drawne with Elephants the Principals of the Citie being therein But this Kings affection was soone cooled by these disasters From Cingapura to Pulo Cambilan there is no other habitation of any
Bannaras is a great Towne on Ganges to which the Gentiles out of farre Countries come on Pilgrimage The men are shauen all but the crowne Alongst the water-side are many faire Houses in which stand Images of euill fauor made of stone and wood like Leopards Lyons Monkeys Men Women Peacocks and Deuils with foure armes and hands sitting close-legged and holding somewhat in their hands There are diuers old men which on places of earth made for that purpose sit praying and they giue the people which by breake of day and before come out of the Towne to wash themselues in Ganges three or foure strawes which they take and hold them between their fingers where they wash themselues and some sit to marke them in the foreheads and they haue in a cloth a little Rice Barley or Money which they giue to these old men After that they goe to diuers of their Images and giue them of their sacrifices those old men in the meane while praying which maketh all holy They haue one Idoll called Ada with foure hands and clawes On certaine great carued stones also they powre Water Rice Wheat c. They haue a great place like a Well with steps to goe downe wherein the water standeth foule and stinketh by reason of those many flowers which they continually throw there into Many people are alwayes therein with imagination of pardon for their sinnes because GOD as they blaspheme washed himselfe therein They gather vp the Sand in the bottome as a holy Relike They pray not but in the water and wash themselues ouer-head lading vp water with both their hands and turne themselues about and then drinke a little of the water three times after which they go to their gods in their houses Some of them will wash a place which is their length and then pray vpon the earth with their armes and legs at length out and will rise vp and lye downe and kisse the ground twentie or thirtie times but wil not stirre their right foot Some vse fifteene or sixteene Pots little and great ringing a Bell while they make their mixtures ten or twelue times and make a circle of water about their Pots and pray others sitting by one of which reacheth them their Pots They say ouer these Pots diuers things many times which done they goe to their gods and strew their Sacrifices which they thinke are very holy and marke many of them which sit by in their foreheads esteemed as a great gift There come fiftie and sometime an hundred together to this Well and to these Idols About their Idols in some houses sitteth one in warme weather to blow the winde with a Fan vpon them And when they see any company comming they ring a little Bell and many giue them their almes None of these Idols haue a good face Some are blacke and haue clawes of brasse and some ride on Peacocks or other Fowles One there is alwayes attended with his Fan to make winde which they say giueth them all things both food and rayment Here some are burned to ashes some scorched in the fire and throwne into the water when they are dead the Foxes presently eat them The Wiues doe burne with their Husband when they dye if they will not their heads are shauen and neuer any account is made of them after If a Man or Woman be sicke and like to die they will lay him before their Idols all night and that shall mend or end him And if hee doe not mend that night his friends will come and sit a little with him and crie and after will carrie him to the water side and set him vpon a little raft made of reeds and so let him goe downe the Riuer The chiefe Idols are very euill-fauoured their mouthes monstrous their eares gilded and full of Iewels their teeth and eyes of gold siluer glasse coloured blacke with Lampes continually burning before them Into their Houses or Temples you may not enter with your shooes on When the scorched Indians are throwne into Ganges the Men swim with their faces downwards the Women with their faces vpwards which I had thought they had by some meanes caused but they denied it The people goe all naked with a little cloth about their middle Their Women are exceedingly on their necks armes and eares decked with Rings of Siluer Copper Tinne and Iuorie hoopes they are marked with a great spot of red in their foreheads and a stroke of red vp to the crowne and so it runneth three wayes Their marriages are in this sort The Man and the Woman come to the water-side where standeth a Bramane or Priest with a Cow and a Calfe or a Cow with Calfe these all goe into the Water together the Bramane holding a white cloth of foure yards long and a basket crosse bound with diuers things in it This cloth he layeth vpon the backe of the Cow And then he taketh the Cow by the tayle and saith certaine words Shee hath a Copper or a Brasse pot-full of water The man holdeth his hand by the Bramans hand and the wiues hand by her husbands and all haue the Cow by the tayle Then they powre water out of the pot vpon the Cowes taile which runneth thorow all their hands and they lade vp water with their hands and then the Brachmane tyeth their clothes together After this they goe round about the Cow and Calfe and giue some what to the poore there attending leauing the Cow and Calfe for the Bramans vse and offer to diuers of their Idols mony then lying downe vpon the ground they kisse it diners times and go their way Betweene this and Patanaw are diuers Theeues like the Arabians without certaine abode §. III. Of Patane Couche Orixa Botanter Candecan PAtane or Patanaw is a great Towne and long with large streets simple houses of earth couered with thatch the people tall and slender many old sometimes a Kingdome now subiect to the Mogor They haue gold which as in America they dig out of the Pits and wash the Earth in great Bolls The Women here are so decked with Siluer and Copper that it is strange to see and by reason of such Rings vpon their Toes they can weare no shooes Here I saw a dissembling Prophet which sate vpon an Horse in the Market-place and made as though hee slept and many of the people came and touched his feet with their hands and then kissed their hands They tooke him for a Great Man but I saw he was a lazie Lubber and there I left him sleeping The people here are great Praters and Dissemblers As I came from Agra downe the Riuer Iemena I saw also many naked Beggars of which the people make great account they call them Schesche Here I saw one which was a monster among the rest wearing nothing on him with a long beard the hayre of his head couering his priuities The nayles of some of his fingers were two Inches long for he would cut nothing from
them after that by helpe of Fresh-men sent in the Pinace they were got cleere of them certaine it is that all three driuing away vpon the ebbe the English had entered before and killed all they found fell on fire and running on the Sands there offered vp themselues at once to all the Elements the Sayles still standing embracing the Ayre the Keele kissing her Mother Earth till their more churlish brethren the Fire and Water put them out of possession and shared all betwixt them One of the Gallies lost her Nose with a shot and was content after that with their Other to looke on The Gallions rode beyond the Sands The Frigates could not but participate in their fellowes disaduentures many of them saith Leman were sunke and torne in pieces Masham another of the Hopes Company numbreth fiue and twentie thus perishing The Hope lost three men and had fourteene wounded the Hector lost two One shot of stone which the Hope receiued was measured seuen and twentie Inches about but the hurt was by fire in her tops by one of her owne men there slain whiles he sought to fire the Enemy The Portugals losse is vncertaine three hundred and fiftie men were said to be carried to Daman to be buried besides all that the Sea and Fire had shared betwixt them which were thought to make vp fiue hundred some report of eight hundred and yet themselues gaue out not aboue fortie or fiftie whereas the tide cast vp at one place eighteene drowned carkasses After this they tried experiments First by poyson and this was the Iesuites Iesuitisme I cannot call it Christianitie who sent to the Muccadan of Swally to entice him to poyson the Water of the Well whence the English fetched for their vse but the Ethnike had more honestie and put in quicke Tortoises that it might appeare by their death if any venemous hand had beene there But when Virtus virus wanted vires Dolus is added and the Vice-Roy hauing two ships sent him for supply two Iunkes eight or ten Boates these or the most of them were employed with great secrecie and subtiltie to fire our ships by night two full of fiery entrailes on the ninth of February the next night two others chained together and towed with Frigates and after that in the same night foure other chained together one of which being fired with an English shot burnt her selfe and her fellowes they put fire to all the rest which deuoured them all without harme to the English They tooke some of these Fire-workers one of which being examined confessed after M. Prings Relation thus The Admirall called Todos los Santos a ship of eight hundred tuns had sixe hundred men eight and twentie Peeces most brasse The Saint Benito Vice-Admirall of seuen hundred Tuns three hundred and threescore men twentie Peeces Saint Lorenzo a Ship of sixe hundred Tuns three hundred men twentie Peeces The Saint Christopher likewise The Saint Ieronimo of fiue hundred Tuns three hundred men and twentie three Peeces Saint Antonio foure hundred two hundred men and fifteene Peeces Saint Pedro two hundred a hundred and twentie men and eight Peeces Saint Paulo as many A Fly-boat of a hundred and fiftie Tuns fourescore men and foure Peeces The two Gallies had fiue and twentie Oares on a side and in both a hundred Souldiers Threescore Frigates with eighteene and twentie Oares on a side in each fifteene Souldiers So great their forces and blessed be God so little their force The Vice-Royes name was Don Ieronimo de Sanecko sometimes Captaine of Mosambike after that of Zeilan eighteene yeeres and now Vice-Roy by the Kings strait command and others importunitie drawne into this action Euery day was hee braued with the English Ordnance but neuer aduentured any other triall by fight the English riding neere his great Fleet and dispatching all their other affaires of Merchandise and mending the Hope which they sent home with this Newes when they departed from thence they seemed to stay for them in the way yet let them passe without any blowes This won them much glory among the countrey people Mocrob Chan giuing stately entertainment to the Generall in his Tents on shoare which one saith were a quarter of a mile about in the midst his owne of Crimson Sattin richly embroidered with Gold and Pearle and couered with Cloth of Gold he had many Elephants he gaue the Generall his Sword made said hee in his owne house the Hilts of massie Gold this is their custome to deseruing Captaines and He gaue him his Girdle Sword and Dagger and Hangers of as faire show but lesse worth Because I haue mentioned the Iesuites Arts in these parts let this also be added that Master Canning chiefe Merchant and Agent for the Company writ to Surat for some others to assist him being in great feare of poysoning by the Iesuites at the Court and before any could bee sent hee was dead May the nine and twentieth 1613. One English-man dying a little before was buried in their Church-yard whom they tooke vp and buried in the high-way but were compelled by the King to lay him in his former place threatning to turne them out of his countrey and their buried bodies out of that Church-yard But this later warres brought them into further miseries being denied their stipend and therefore forsaken of their new Conuerts who bringing them their Beades did vpbraid them the want of their pay one of the best Arguments though no great miracle wherewith they had perswaded them to their Religion A French Iesuit at Amadabar begged reliefe of the English wanting necessary sustenance Before the King allowed the Superior seuen Rupias a day and the rest three But now this and their faire Church also is denied them and they say their holies in their chamber Iohn Mildnall an English Papist had learned it is reported the Art of poysoning by which he made away three other English-men in Persia to make himselfe Master of the whole stock but I know not by what meanes himselfe tasted of the same cup and was exceedingly swelled but continued his life many moneths with Antidotes which yet here left him at Agra where hee left the value of twentie thousand Dolars after through the Kings Iustice recouered by the English Many other Sea-fights haue since happened in diuers parts of the Indies betwixt Our men and the Portugals as that by Captaine Ben. Ioseph in which he was slaine and Captaine Pepwel succeeded in the place and quarrell with Manuel de Meneses whose Carrack was consumed with fire by themselues as was thought rather then so great Treasures should be made English spoyles also in the Persian Gulfe by Captaine Shilling slaine therein Captaine Blithe and others which chaced the assayling Portugals Ruy Frere de Andrada their Commander called the Pride of Portugall getting a fall and since that Ormus it selfe taken by the Persians diuers other Portugall prizes and that especially of the
Richard a small Pinnasse of about twentie Tuns which tooke a Portugall Ship supposed of two hundred and fiftie that hauing about fourteene men and boyes this two hundred and fiftie These and other fights with them and more vnfortunate with the Dutch in those parts I haue deliuered at large in my Pilgrims or Bookes of Voyages which now together with this commeth to the publike view of the World §. V. Of the Trauels of diuers English-men in the Mogols Dominions OF the Trauells of Master Fitch in these parts wee haue alreadie spoken and of Captaine Hawkins In the yeere 1609. the Ascension by wilfulnesse of the Master as is reported foundred in the Sea twentie leagues from shoare which yet they attained being fiue and fiftie persons in the Riuer of Gandeuee from whence they trauelled twelue Course or eighteene Miles to Sabay and twelue Course more to Surrat from thence to Daytaotote which Citie hee saith could not bee conquered by the Mogol and yeelded vpon composition hauing still a Banyan King Sixe and twentie Course further is Netherbery a great Basar or Market of Brazen wares Armour and Beasts Eight and twentie Course beyond is the Towne Saddisee on the Riuer Tyndee which runs to Surrat and diuideth the Bannians and Guzurats Thence they trauelled twelue Course to a Monasterie and the next day came to Bramport where the Great Generall called Can Cannawe liueth who on the twelfth of October returned from the Warres with fifteene hundred Elephants thirtie thousand Horses ten thousand Camels three thousand Dromedaries This Citie is farre bigger then London of great Trade and faire From hence they went fifteene Courses to Caddor fourteene to Sawbon and thence with the Carauan many daies leauing which they ioyned with a Can of the Countrey bound for Agra trauelling sixe daies through a Desart wherein are store of wild Elephants Lions Tygres Cat of Mountaines Porpentines and other wild Beasts innumerable but these they saw and were forced to make fires in the nights about their Tents to guard them These Desarts are a hundred Course long each Course being a mile and halfe They had in their way after they were past this Desart the Citie Handee where the King hath a Castle and House cut out of the maine Rock and wrought with carued worke round about in it fiftie Peeces of Ordnance a Fort impregnable and made a Prison for great Men. Heere were also two Hospitals for Captaines maymed in the Warres The next day they came to Tamlico which runneth into Indus and two daies after to Agra He tells of Elephants fighting before the Mogol parted with Rackets of wilde fire made round like hoopes which they runne in their faces some fight with wild Horses sixe Horses to an Elephant which he kills with clasping his trunke about their necks and pulling them to him breakes their necks with his teeth Hee hath also Deere Rams Veruathoes or Bezors Lyons Leopards Wolues that fight before him Condemned persons may craue the combate with the Lyon one he saw that at the first encounter felled the Lyon with his Fist but was soone torne in pieces before the King Hee saw also Allegators or Crocodiles kept in Ponds for like purpose one of which killed two stoned Horses at one time There are foure great Markets euery day where things are very cheape a Hen for two pence a Sheepe for two shillings a good Hog sold by the Bannians for two shillings and other things proportionable They craued the Kings Passe for England who granting it vnder his Hand and Seale the Secretary went with them to the Third Queene of which he is said to haue ten and a thousand Concubines and two hundred Eunuchs which was Keeper of the Great Seale Hence they passed fiue in number to Fetterbarre twelue Course and twelue more to Bianie which is the chiefe Place for Indico in all the Indies where are twelue Indico Mills Indico growes on small bushes like Goose-berry bushes and beares a seed like a Cabadge-seed and being cut downe lies on heapes for halfe a yeere to rot and then brought into a Vault to bee trodden with Oxen from the stalkes and so is grownd fine at the Mils and lastly boyled in Fornaces refined and sorted the best there worth eight pence a pound Thence they passed to Hendown fiue and twentie Course an ancient faire Citie to Mogol a small Market Towne fourteene to Halstot twelue to Chatsoe twelue to Ladanna twelue to Mosabad eight to Bandason twelue Thence to Paddar a Riuer that runnes into the Persian Gulfe and parts the Indostans and Hendownes Twentie Course beyond Roree Buckar and Suckar in the Riuer of Damiadee which runnes into the same Sea At Buckar lyes Allee Can Vice-Roy of the Bulloches a stubborne People this Towne stands like an Iland in the Riuer Sucker is a clothing Towne the first of the Bulloches and Roree the last of the Moltans which are Mahumetans Here they staid foure and twentie daies for a Califa or Carauan a great company of Merchants trauelling together because the Countrey was full of Theeues Seuenteene Course from Sucker is Gorra a Towne of the Bullochees which he saith worship the Sunne and are Man-eaters of Gyant-like proportion Notry ten Course the last Towne of the Bullochees the next Puttans Here for their entertainment Aprill the first 1610. they were beset with Theeues twelue Fiddlers first meeting them but their Musicke cost deere by bribes and composition the Mogols passe hindering further outrage Seuenteene Course they trauelled to Daddor foure and thirtie ouer the Mountaines to Vachesto from thence seuen and fiftie ouer the Mountaines to Candahar a great Citie of the Puttans where Sauder Can resided as Vice-Roy where are continually seuen or eight thousand Camels occupied in Trade to and fro The Gouernour hath fortie thousand Horses in redinesse for Warre Richard Still and Iohn Crowther were lately sent from Azmere Asimere or Agimere where the Mogoll now resides to Spahan in Persia to obtaine Trade for the English by Sir Robert Sherlies meanes which was effected They passed by the way of Lahore and therefore I would desire You to beare Them company for better knowledge of the Countrey Their way was first towards Agra and Fetipore which is a faire Citie and hath in it a goodly House of the Kings built by Echebar with many spacious Gardens now it goes to ruine much of the stone carried to Agra much ground sowne within the Wals April the ninth 1614. they came to Dillee a very great and ancient Citie where many Kings lye buried and as some say the Rites of Coronation are still solemnized many Nobles and Captaines haue their Houses of Pleasure and their Sepulchres the vulgar sort beggarly most Banians On the seuenteenth they came to Sinan an ancient Citie On the one and twentieth to the old Citie Sultan poare Sixe Courses from it they passed a Riuer as broad as the Thames called Viau which runnes West into Sinda
October the third testifieth that he had beene at Lahor and at Agra where hee presented the King with nine and twentie great Horses at fiftie or threescore pounds a Horse with diuers Iewels and Rings and obtained Articles of Trading Of his comming since into those parts is before mentioned from Master Withingtons Relations And his Trauells are the next Trauells of our Pen first from Surrat to Amadabar by Periano Cosumbay Barocho a Citie walled on a high Hill a Riuer running by as broad as the Thames where are the best Calicoes in the Kingdome Saringa Carron Boldra a City fairer but lesse then Barocho where Mussaf Chan hath three thousand horse Niriand a great Towne where they make Indico These are in the way from Surat to Amadabar chiefe Citie of Guzerat neere as great as London strongly walled situate in a plaine by the Riuers side much frequented by Merchants Christians Moores and Ethnikes The Gouernour is Abdala Chan of fiue thousand Horse pay From thence hee went to Cambaya At Serkeffe three Courses from Amadabar hee saw the Sepulchres of the Kings of Guzerat very faire and well kept much visited from all parts of the Kingdome Their Temple is very faire A Course from hence is a goodly House by the Riuers side and a Garden a mile in compasse It was built by Chon Chonnaw the chiefe of the Mogol Nobilitie in memoriall of a great Victorie there obtained on the last King of Guzerat there captiued and his Kingdome subdued the battell was fought in this place They lodged one night in this House where none dwelleth Only poore men are appointed to looke to the Garden Hauing newes of three English ships arriued at Lowribander the Port towne of Gutu Negar Tutta commonly called Tutta chiefe Citie of Sinda hee was sent thither and December the thirteenth came to Cassumpauo and thence with a Caphilo trauelled on the fourteenth to Callitalowny a faire Castle and the fifteenth to Calwalla a prettie Village which Echebar gaue to a company of Women and their Posteritie for euer to bring vp their children in dancing c. They practised this in the Carauan euery man giuing them money and then impudently asked if any man wanted a bed-fellow The next day they came to Carrya a well-manned Fortresse and staying a day for more company because of Theeues came the next to Deceanaura losing one Camell stolne from them and a Man slaine Thence to Bollodo a Fort kept by Newlock Abram Cabrath which that day came with a hundred and threescore and nine heads of the Caelies a robbing Nation The next day to Sariandgo another Fort and on the one twentieth to Radempoore a great Town with a Fort where they staid to make prouision of Water other necessaries for their iourny through the Desarts On the three and twentieth they went seuen Course lay in the Fields and met a Carauan which came from Tutta robbed of all their goods on the foure and twentieth twelue on the fiue and twentieth fourteene lodged by a Well of water so salt that their Cattell could not drinke it the six and twentieth ten Course to such another Well and their gaue their Camels drinke not hauing drunke before in three dayes the seuen and twentieth fourteene course The eight and twentieth ten and came to a Village called Negar Parkar In this Desart they saw great store of wilde Asses red Deere Foxes and other wilde Beasts At Parkar they met another robbed Carauan This Towne payes Tribute to the Mogol From hence till you come within halfe a dayes iourney of Tutta they acknowledge no King but rob and spare whom they please When the Mogol sends any Armie against them they fire their Houses which are made of Straw and Mortar in forme of Bee-Hiues soone rebuilded and flye into the Mountaines They take for custome what they please and then guard Passengers and Merchants loth any should rob them but themselues From hence they went sixe Courses and lay by a Tanke or Pond of Fresh-water and on the last of December eight Courses and lodged by a brackish Well Ianuary the first they tsauelled ten Courses to Burdiano The Water is brackish and many were sicke of it yet they were forced to make prouision thereof for foure dayes the space of fortie Courses and on the fifth they came seuen other Courses to three Wels of which two were salt the third not perfectly fresh the next day ten Courses to Nauraquemire a prettie Towne where their Raddingpore Cafila forsooke them He and two other Indian Merchants with their nine Seruants ten Camels and fiue Camel-men remained to goe for Tutta whither they had now three dayes iourney From this Paradise so it seemed after so tedious a Desart they departed Ianuary the eight hauing hired one of the Ragi or Gouernour his kindred for twentie Laries which make about twentie shillings to conduct and conuoy them and went ten Courses to Gundayaw where they had beene robbed but for their Guard The next day were twice assaulted and forced each time to pay fiue Laries came to Sarruna a great Towne of the Razbootches with a Castle whence it is fourteene Courses to Tutta Ragi Bouma the Gouernour is eldest Sonne to Sultan Bulbull who had beene lately captiued by the Mogoll and spoiled of his eyes and two moneths before our comming had made an escape to these Mountaines animating his kindred to reuenge that losse of his sight This Ragi was kinde to our Author as a stranger and made him sup with him the occasion that they hired him for fortie Laries with fiftie Horse-men to conduct them to the Gates of Tutta Hereunto they were the rather perswaded by aduice of a Banian which had then come from Tutta who also told Master Withinton that Sir Robert Sherly had beene much abused by the Portugals and the Gouernour at Lowribander his House fired and his Men hurt in the night and arriuing at Tutta thirteene dayes after was there vnkindly vsed by Mersa Rusto the Gouernour This Ragi led them fiue Courses where they lay by a Riuer side and at two of the clocke in the morning they departed but were led a contrary way and about breake of day brought into a Thicket where he made them vnlade tooke away their Weapons and bound them suddenly with their Camell ropes drawne close with a Truncheon hanged the two Merchants and their fiue Men stripped and buried them Mee as a farre Countrey-man not knowing the language hee spared with my Pions or Seruants but tooke my Horse giuing me a Iade and
fourescore Rupias from mee sent mee twentie Courses with my men vp to the Mountatines to a brother of his where I continued two and twentie dayes a close prisoner and then order was sent to conuey mee to Parker but in the way was robbed of my clothes and all that I had so that I and my men were forced to liue vpon the charitie of people by begging onely my Horse as not worth taking was left me for which I could get but foure mamoodees foure shillings but chancing on a Banian whom I had knowne at Amadabar I was relieued and sold not my Horse Wee came to Radingpoore May the nineteenth and April the second to Amadabar thence to Cambaya and passing the Riuer seuen Courses broad yeerely drowning many to Saurau a Towne and Castle of the Razbootches and fiue and twentie Courses further to Borocho and passing that Riuer to Cassimba and thence to Surat In all this Countrey of Sinda no Citie of greater Trade then Tutta the chiefe Port thereto is Lowribander three dayes iourney from thence where is a faire Roade without the Riuers mouth cleere of Wormes which about Surat and other places of the Indies infest the ships so that after three or foure moneths riding if it were not for sheathing they were not able to returne The Ports and Roades of Sinda are free of them In two moneths they passe from Tutta to Lahor and returne downe the streame in one And from Agra goods may bee conueyed on Camels in twentie dayes which is on Sinda Riuer and thence in fifteene or sixteene dayes aboord the Ships at Lowribander as soone as to Surat if Theeues did not make it lesse secure May the fourth 1614. Master Withington went from Surat to Brampore where Sultan Paruise lyes It is situate in a Plaine by a great Riuer hauing a large Castle and thence to Agra all which way is seuen hundred Courses From Surat to Brampore is a pleasant and champaigne Countrey full of Riuers Brookes and Springs From Brampore to Agra very mountainous hardly passable for Camels by Mando the neerest way there are many high Hils and strong Castles in the way Townes and Cities in euery dayes iourney well inhabited the Country peaceable and cleere of Theeues Betweene Agimere or Azmere and Agra are a hundred and twentie Courses at euery Course end a great Pillar erected and at euery tenth Couse a Seraglia or Place of lodging for Man and Horse with Hostesses to dresse your Victuall if you please three pence will pay for your Horse and Meate-dressing there are also at euery tenth Course faire Houses erected by Echebar for his Women and none else may lie in them The reason heereof is reported that Echebar wanting Children went on Pilgrimage on foot to Asmere for that purpose at euery Course end saying his prayers and lodging at the tenth Agra is a huge Towne situate by the great Riuer Geminie or Iamena The Castle is the fairest thing in it compassed with the fairest and highest Wall that I haue seene two miles about well replenished with Ordnance the rest except Noble-mens houses which are faire and seated by the Riuer ruinous Fatipore is decayed but hath a very stately Temple built by Geometry as Echebars Sepulchre the fairest thing that euer I saw I went to Ganges two dayes iourney from Agra the Water whereof is carryed a hundred miles by the Banians for deuotion which say it will neuer stinke how long soeuer it bee kept From Agra Master Fitch went to Satagam in Bengala by Water So that if you obserue all these Trauels of Fitch Couert Still Withington and the rest of our Countrey-men and adde thereto the iourney of Goes from thence to China with other Relations of the Iesuites before expressed you shall haue a better Corographie of this Countrey then any of our Maps haue yet deliuered And their want hath made me thus full and tedious I might adde the Trauels of William Clerke one of the Ascensions Company which serued the Mogol in his Warres diuers yeeres and returned in the last Ship whiles these things are publishing against the Rasboots and Decans hauing two Horse pay which is neere sixe pounds a moneth and had some moneths pay allowed him before-hand that so hee might furnish himselfe for they must buy and maintaine their Horses Master Walter Payton was Master in the Exepedition and carried Sir Robert Sherly whom they had thought to haue landed at Gauder or Guader in Masqueranno in fiue and twentie Degrees and six and twentie Minutes but the people were then in Rebellion against the Persian and by damnable treachery had possessed themselues of the Ship and all the goods had not one Hoge Comal a Surgeon amongst them reuealed this mysterie of their iniquitie they had thus betrayed three ships before By this villany of the Bulloches they were forced to goe further to the mouth of Sinde which is East and by North in foure and twentie Degrees and foure and thirtie Minutes They landed the Embassador September the nine and twentieth 1613. at Diul in rhe Mols Dominion fifteene miles from the ships The Portugals reported them to be Theeues according to their custome And when they sought for Trade in Sinda the Gouernour had yeelded but for the Portugals which threatned to depart if the English were admitted whose custome hee was loth to lose being worth hee said a Leck of Rupias ten thousand pound English and more which shewes the exceeding Trade of Sinda by the yeere But this Countrey and the disposition of their King are most amply described to vs together with the remarkable Rarities of those parts by the Hon. industry of Sir Thomas Roe Embassadour for his Maiestie with the Mogoll whose Map of those parts wee heere present you as likewise by his learned Chaplaine Master Edward Terry both whose Obseruations wee haue presented in our first Tome of Voyages To them I referre the industrious Reader for more ample relations of these parts then in this Worke were couenient to insert Amongst other things the Reader shall see the true course of Indus which all Moderne Geographers haue exceedingly falsified and of Ganges William Finch hath also written of those parts I thought good heere to adde that which Master Steele and his wife told me of the Women of those parts Master Steele hauing a proiect of Water-works to bring the water of Ganges by Pipes c. carried fiue men with him to the Mogol who gaue them entertainment with large wages by the day and gaue to each an Arabian Horse One of these was a Painter whom the Mogol would haue to take his picture and because hee could not speake the language Master Steele who could speake the language of the Court which is Persian was admitted a thing not permitted to Men into the Mogols lodgings where he did sit for the said Limner At his entrance the chiefe Eunuch put a cloth ouer his head that he should not see the Women
meere fabler And Casper Swenckfield a Physician testifieth of the common Vnicornes horne that it is inferiour to Harts horne in efficacie against poysons and therefore not likely to bee it I could bee of opinion that the hornes in Venice and other places kept as Iewels are of the Sea Vnicorne a fish which hath a horne in the forehead or nose thereof Linschoten thinkes the Rhinoceros is the onely Vnicorne That the Rhinoceros is onely male and the Vulture onely female as Baubinus sheweth many Authours conceit is not only absurd but impious to hold Of the Tygers hath beene spoken and the harme they doe in Pegu Nicholas Pimenta reporteth That the Tygers Crocodiles and a certaine Lizzard or Newt Lerius saw the like in Brasile as great and as cruell as the former doe wonderfull spoyle in Bengala both by land and neere the shoares Hee tels of one strange escape of a man in a vessell neere the shoare assaulted at once by a Tyger from Land and by a Crocodile from the water and the Tyger with more swiftnesse and fury ayming at his prey passed ouer him into the Crocodiles mouth The admirable swiftnesse of this beast is recorded by Pliny Authours agree That both in Asia and Africa they rather prey on black people then on the white Europaeans A certaine Negro dreaming that he was torne of a Tyger the next night lodged in a safer place of the ship but there had his Dreame verified The Bengalans doe not feare them that superstitiously they giue diuers names vnto them thinking if they should call them by the right name they should be deuoured of them Gods Prouidence hath yet appeared in creating a little beast not bigger then a little Dogge which no sooner espieth this beast the most dreadfull of any in the World but presently assaults him and with barking makes him run away both beasts and men conueying themselues into places of safetie so that sometimes this rauener dyes of hunger Muske is made of a certaine beast called Gudderi which liueth as Polo sayth in Thebeth and hath a kinde of swelling neere the nauell which once in the Moone sheddeth his muskie bloud the most say it is a beast in China which feedeth onely on a sweet root called Camarus him they take and bruize all to pieces with blowes and lay him where he soonest putrifieth and then cut it out skinne and flesh together and tye it vp like balles or coddes Pantogia affirmeth That it is the stomacke of a beast somewhat greater then a Cat which liueth in the Woods in Countreyes adioyning to China How-euer our greatest sweete wee see is but rottennesse and putrifaction There bee in Malacca Sion and Bengala some Goats whose hornes are esteemed excellent against Poyson which Linschoten affirmeth of his owne experience As for Fowles they haue Parrots of many kinds some reckon fourteene and Noyras more pleasing in beauty speech and other delights then the Parrot but they cannot be brought out of that Countrey aliue Of Bats they haue as bigge as Hennes about Iaua and the neighbour Ilands Clusius bought one of the Hollanders which they brought from the Iland of Swannes Ilha do Cerne newly stiled by them Maurice Iland it was aboue a foote from the head to the tayle aboue a foot about the wings one and twenty inches long nine broad the claw whereby it hung on the trees was two inches the pisle easily seene c. Here they also found a Fowle which they called Walgh-vogel of the bignesse of a Swanne and most deformed shape In Banda and other Ilands the Bird called Emia or Eme is admirable It is foure foot high somewhat resembling an Ostrich but hauing three clawes on the feete and the same exceeding strong it hath two wings rather to helpe it running then seruiceable for flight the legges great and long they say it hath no tongue and that it putteth out the pisle backwards as the Camell that it deuoureth Oranges and Egges rendring the same in the ordure nothing altered It strikes with the heeles like a Horse will swallow an Apple whole as bigge as ones fist yea it swalloweth downe burning coles without harme and in a contrary extreme pieces of Ice Of the Birds of Paradise elsewhere is shewed the falshood of that opinion which conceiue them to want feet whereas they goe as other birds but being taken the body for the most part together with the feet are cut off and they being dryed in the Sunne are so hardened and closed as if Nature had so formed them This is testified by Pigafetta and the Hollanders and my kind friend and louing Neighbour Master Henry Colthirst hath had of them whole Of this Clusius in his Auctarium hath a large Discourse shewing diuers kindes of them a greater and lesse and sayth that Iohn de Weely of Amsterdam sold one of them which had feete to the Emperour 1605. But I would not herein be tedious Of the Birds and Beasts of India Acosta Linschoten Clusius besides Gesner and others can informe the studious They haue Crowes so bold that they will come flying in at the windowes and take the meate out of the dish as it standeth on the Table before them that are set thereat and are such vexation to the Buffles that they are forced to stand in waters vp to the necks that they may be rid of them Pyrard tels of the like Crowes in the Maldiues both dreadlesse and numberlesse and of great trouble which they haue there by the Gnats Rats Mice Dormice and Pismires noysome beyond credit as also Snakes and Sharkes He tels of Pingueys foules as bigge as Pigeons which so fill the Aire and Earth in some Ilands that they can scarsly set their foot free their Egges are hatched by the Sands which are white and subtile like that of an Houreglasse by reason of the heat They haue Rats which the Cats dare not touch as bigge as young Pigges which vndermine the foundations of houses in such sort with their diggings that they sometimes fall to the ground There are other little red Rats which smell like Muske Incredible is the scathe which they receiue in Goa by the Pismires which with such huge multitudes will presently assayle any thing that is fattie or to be eaten that they are forced to set their cupboords and chists wherein are their victuals and apparell with a woodden Cisterne of water vnder euery of their foure feete and that in the middle of the roome And if they forget to haue water in the Cisterne presently these Ants are all ouer and in the twinkling of an eye sayth Linschoten they will consume a loafe of bread The like Cisternes haue they for their Beds and Tables and for the Perches whereon they set their Canary birds which else would bee killed by Pismires yea though it hung on a string from the roofe of the house The poorer sort which want cupboords hang their
full of Iuyce like Lemmons at the end as Apples haue a stalke so this Fruit hath a Nut like the kidney of a Hare with kernels toothsome and wholsome The lambos exceedeth in beauty taste smell and medicinable vertue it is as bigge as a Peare smelleth like a Rose is ruddie and the tree is neuer without fruit or blossomes commonly each branch hauing both ripe and vnripe fruits and blossomes all at once Linschoten saith on the one side the tree hath ripe fruites and the leaues falne the other couered with leaues and flowres and it beareth three or foure times in a yeere The Iangomas grow on a tree like a Plum-tree full of prickles and haue power of binding The Papaios will not grow but Male and Female together but of these also the Carambolas Iambolijns and other Indian fruits I leaue to speake as not writing an Indian Herball but onely minding to mention such things which besides their Country haue some variety of Nature worthy the obseruation For the rest Gracias ab Horto translated by Carolus Clusius Paludanus Linschoten Christophorus Acosta writing particularly of these things and others in their generall Herbals may acquaint you Of this sort is the Indian Figge tree if it may be called a tree which is not aboue a mans height and within like to a Reed without any woody substance it hath loaues a fathome long and three span abroad which open and spread abroad on the top of it It yeeldeth a fruit in fashion of the clusters of Grapes and beareth but one bunch at once contayning some two hundred Figges at least which being ripe they cut the whole tree downe to the ground leauing onely the root out of which presently groweth another and within a moneth after beareth fruit and so continueth all the yeere long They are the greatest sustenance of the Country and are of very good taste and smell and in those parts men beleeue that Adam first transgressed with this fruit But of greater admiration is the Coquo tree being the most profitable tree in the world of which in the Ilands of Maldiua they make and furnish whole ships so that saue the men themselues there is nothing of the ship or in the ship neyther tackling merchandize or ought else but what this tree yeeldeth The tree groweth high and slender the wood is of a spungy substance easie to bee sowed when they make Vessels thereof with cordes made of Cocus For this Nut which is as bigge as an Estridge Egge hath two sorts of huskes as our Walnuts whereof the vppermost is hayry like hempe of which they make Ockam and Cordage of the other shell they make drinking Cups The fruit when it is almost ripe is full of water within which by degrees changeth into a white harder substance as it ripeneth The liquor is very sweet but with the ripening groweth sowre The liquor extracted out of the tree is medicinable and if it stand one houre in the Sunne it is very good Vineger which being distilled yeeldeth excellent Aquauitae and Wine Of it also they make by setting it in the Sunne Sugar Of the meate of the Nut dryed they make Oyle Of the pith or heart of the tree is made paper for Bookes and Euidences Of the leaues they make couerings for their Houses Mats Tents c. Their apparell their firing and the rest of the Commodities which this tree more plentifull in the Indies then Willowes in the Low Countryes yeeldeth would be too tedious to recite They will keepe the tree from bearing fruit by cutting away the blossomes and then will hang some Vessell thereat which receiueth from thence that liquor of which you haue heard It is the Canarijns liuing and they will climbe vp these trees which yet haue no boughes but on the top like Apes This tree hath also a continuall succession of fruits and is neuer without some No lesse wonder doth that tree cause which is called Arbore de rais or the Tree of Roots Clusius calleth it by Plinies authoritie the Indian Figge tree and Goropius with more confidence then reason affirmeth it to be the Tree of Adams transgression It groweth out of the ground as other trees and yeeldeth many boughes which yeeld certayne threeds of the colour of Gold which growing down-wards to the earth doe there take root againe making as it were new trees or a wood of trees couering by this meanes the best part somtimes of a mile in which the Indians make Galleries to walke in The Figges are like the common but not so pleasant The Arbore triste deserueth mention It growes at Goa brought thither as is thought from Malacca The Hollanders saw one at Achi in Samatra In the day time and at Sunne-setting you shall not see a flowre on it but within halfe an houre after it is full of flowres which at the Sun-rising fall off the leaues shutting themselues from the Sunnes presence and the tree seeming as if it were dead The flowres in forme and greatnesse are like to those of the Orange-tree but sweeter in Acostas iudgement then any flowres which euer hee smelled the Portugals haue vsed all meanes to haue it grow in Europe but our Sunne hath refused to nourish such sullen vnthankfull Malecontents And that yee may know the Indians want not their Metamorphoses and Legends they tell that a man named Parisatico had a Daughter with whom the Sunne was in loue but lightly forsaking her he grew amorous of another whereupon this Damosell slue herselfe and of the ashes of her burned carkasse came this tree Bettele is a leafe somewhat like a Bay leafe and climbeth like Iuie and hath no other fruit neither is any fruit more in vse then these leaues at bed and boord and in the streets as they passe they chew these leaues and in their gossippings or visiting of their friends they are presently presented with them and eate them with Arecca which is a kind of Indian Nut. It saueth their teeth from diseases but coloureth them as if they were painted with blacke bloud When they chew it they spit out the iuyce and it is almost the onely exercise of some which thinke they could not liue if they should abstaine one day from it They haue an Herbe called Dutroa which causeth distraction without vnderstanding any thing done in a mans presence sometimes it maketh a man sleepe as if hee were dead the space of foure and twentie houres except his feet be washed with cold water which restoreth him to himselfe and in much quantitie it killeth Iarric cals it Doturo and sayth that Pinnerus the Iesuite and his Family at Lahor were by meanes of this herbe giuen them by a theeuish seruant distracted and the goods then carried out of their house The women giue their husbands thereof and then in their sights will prostitute their bodies to their Iewder louers and will call them Coruudos stroking them by the beard the husband sitting with his eyes open
red colour which in the ripening becommeth yellow Cardamomum is of three sorts the Indians vse it in their meates and commonly chew it in their mouthes as being good against a stinking breath and euill humours in the head it is much like to Panike Lac is a strange drugge made by certaine winged Pismires of the gumme of Trees which they sucke vp and then make the Lac round about the branches as the Bees make honey and waxe The raw Lac is of a darke red colour but being refined they make it of all colours and therewith vernish their Beds Tables and vse it for other ornaments and for hard Waxe So saith Paludanus they beate the Lac to powder and so mixe all manner of colours vpon it as they list and make thereof such rolles as are heere sold for hard Waxe Iudico or Annil growes on small bushes like Gooseberry bushes and beares a Seed like a Cabbage as is before obserued cut vp and after long rotting trodden by Oxen and ground Linschoten sayth it is sowne as other Herbs in due time pulled and dryed and then made wet and beaten and then dryed againe and prepared first it is greene and after blue Of Sanders there are three sorts white yellow and red In Tymor an Iland by Iaua are whole Woods of Sanders the trees are like Nut-trees with a fruit like a Cherry but vnprofitable onely the wood which is the Sanders is esteemed Snakewood groweth in Seylon and is good against the stinging of Snakes and other poyson a Medicine learned of the beast Quit which being in continuall enmity with Snakes herewith healeth their bytings The trees of Lignum Aloes are like Oliue trees but somewhat greater the innermost part of the wood is best with blacke and browne veines and yeelding an Oyly moysture it is sold in weight against Siluer and Gold There is another kinde wherewith they burne their dead Bramenes The best which they call Calamba growes in Malacea and is vsed much for Beads and Crucifixes Monfart sayth the Portugals pay a hundred Crownes a pound for it to make their Beades Opium is the Iuyce of the heads of blacke Poppie beeing cut a dangerous drugge vsed much in Asia and Africa which makes them goe as if they were halfe asleepe they suppose I know not what coniunction and efficacy both of Mars and Venus therein but being once vsed must daily be continued on paine of death which some escaped in Acostaes company by the helpe of wine Bangue is another Receit of like vse especially with slaues and souldiers makes them drunke merry and so to forget then labour Ciuet or Algalia is the sweate of the Ciuet Cat and growes in the outermost part of the Cods and is hote and moyst Benioin is a kind of Gumme like Frankinscence and Myrrhe but more esteemed it growes in the Kingdome of Siam Iaua Sumatra and Malacca The tree is high full of branches with leaues like those of the Lemmon tree They cut the tree and from those slits proceedeth this Gumme which is best when the tree is young and is called Benioin of the sweete smell The old trees yeeld white the young blacke Of Frankincense wee haue spoken in Arabia it is also a Gum the best on those trees that grow on hils and stony places Myrrhe is a Gumme also brought out of Arabia Foelix and the Abexine Coast Manna is brought from the Vsbeks Countrey behind Persia and reckoned to Tartarâ—â—â—â—â—d â—â—d is a dew that falleth on certaine trees and hangeth on the leaues like Ice on the Tyles of houses It is gathered and kept in glasse Vials and much vsed in India Camphora is the Gumme of certaine trees in Borneo and China as great as Nut-trees sweating out from the midst of the same Tamarind groweth on a tree as great as a Plum-tree with leaues like Mirtle the flowers white like Orange flowers The leaues of the tree turne alwayes toward the Sunne and when it goeth downe they shut together and couer the huske The fruit is about a finger long crooked with shels wherein are kernels as bigge as a beane couered about with that which they call the Tamarind Of Mirobolanes are fiue sorts almost like Plummes Spiconard is sowne and growes on plants about two or three spannes high like Corne with great veines wherein the Spiconard groweth Cubebus growes like Pepper or Iuy against a tree the leaues like Pepper leaues and the huskes but euery graine hath a stalke of it selfe But if I should here recite the Indian Leafe the Galanga Canna Fistula with the rest I should tire the Reader with an Apothecaries Bill These as the rarest or chiefe I haue chosen so as it were to recreate our Reader with a walke and houres view in this Indian Garden being before full cloyed with our tedious Narrations of their Superstitions I might adde heere a Discourse of Gemmes as Diamonds Rubies Emeralds c. But it becommeth not my pouerty to talke so much of Iewels Monfart tels that the King of Biznega hath a Rock of Diamonds in which he keepes fifteene thousand men at worke reseruing all the greater to himselfe so that none are sold but smaller except by stealth Hee sayth hee saw one with the Great Mogoll as bigge as a Henne Egge purloyned from this King and cost the other little lesse then a Million It waygheth foure score and eighteene Mangelins euery Mangelin fiue graines The Bezar-stones are likewise taken out of the Maw of a Persian or Indian Goat which the Persians call Pazar And in the Countrey of Pan by Malacca they finde within the Gall of an Hogge a stone of greater force against Poyson and other Diseases then that Pazar-stone It is thought that these Stones doe proceede of the pasture whereon these Beastes feede The Amber is found as well in other places as in India Garcias thinkes it to bee the nature of the Soyle as Chalke Bole-armenike c. and not the Seed of the Whale or issuing from some Fountayne in the Sea as others hold Clusius tels a probable opinion of D. Marel that it was an excrement gathered in the Whales belly But of these and of inumerable other both sensitiue and vegetable creatures the Reader in our Pilgrims or Voyages now published may obserue from others eyes much more then here is place to expresse CHAP. XIII A generall discourse of the Sea and of the Seas in and about Asia §. I. Of the true place forme greatnesse and depth of the Sea AFter our long perambulation of the Asian Continent the Sea inuironing doth sollicite our next endeuours that the Reader might there refresh his wearied sense with a new succession of Natures varieties and Humane vanities And first while our Barke be made readie to ship vs ouer to some of those Ilands let vs as it were on the shore take view of this so strong so weake so constant and
the world sometime accounted another world haue great cause to celebrate and acknowledge the same It is a Wall of Defence about our shoares Great Purueyour of the Worlds commodities to our vse Conueyour of the surquedry and excesses of Riuers Vniter by traffique of Nations which it selfe seuereth an Open Field for pastimes of peace a Pitched Field in time of warre disdaining single personall Combates and onely receiuing whole Cities and Castles encompassed with walls of Wood which it setteth together with deadly hatred and dreadfullest force of the Elements the Fierie thunders Airie blasts Watrie billowes rockes shelues and bottomes of the Earth all conspiring to build heere a house for Death which by fight or flight on land is more easily auoyded and how did it scorne the Inuincible title of the Spanish Fleet in 88. and effect thus much on our behalfe against them The Sea yeeldeth Fish for dyet Pearles and other Iewels for ornament Varietie of creatures for vse and admiration Refuge to the distressed compendious Way to the Passingers and Portage to the Merchant Customes to the Prince Springs to the Earth Clouds to the Skie matter of Contemplation to the minde of Action to the bodie Once it yeeldeth all parts of the World to each part and maketh the World as this Treatise in part sheweth knowne to it selfe Superstition hath had her Sea-prophets which haue found out other Sea-profits as for the purging of sinnes and the Roman Diuines caused Hermaphrodites to be carried to the Sea for expiation the Persian Magi thought it pollution to spit or doe other naturall necessities therein But of these in diuers places §. IIII. Of the varieties of Seas and of the Caspian and Euxine THe Sea is commonly diuided into the Mediterranean and Ocean and vnder that Mid-land appelation are contained all the Seas and Gulfes that are seated within the Land as the Arabian Persian Baltike Bengalan and especially such as the Sea of Sodome and the Caspian which haue no apparant commerce with the Ocean but principally is that Sea called Mediterranean which entring at the Straits of Gibraltar is both larger then any of the rest contayning aboue ten thousand miles in circuit and abutteth not on one onely but on all the parts of the elder world washing indifferently the shores of Asia Africke and Europe The Seas beare also the names of the Countries Cities Hills Riuers and Lands by which they passe or of some other accident there happened as the Atlantike or Germaine Ocean the Adriatike the redde white or blacke Seas the Sea of Ladies the Euxine by a contrary appellation for their in hospitalitie But to contract our speech vnto Asia wee finde the Sea prodigall of his best things and of himselfe vnto it clasping with a louely embrace all this Asian Continent saue where a little Necke of Land diuides it from Africa and no great space together with Tanais from Europe Yea as not herewith satisfying his loue to this Asian Nymph in many places he insiuates himselfe within the Land by Gulfes or Bayes twining his louing armes about some whole Countries other where as it were by hostile vnderminings hee maketh Seas farre from the Sea and hath yeelded so many Ilands as rather may seeme admirable then credible Of those Seas banished from communitie and societie with the Ocean are that Sea of Sodome largely described in our first Booke Many other Lakes also as of Kitaya Van Chiamay Dangu Guian and the like as great or much greater doe no lesse deserue the name of Seas but the most eminent of all the rest is the Caspian or Hyrcan Sea called in these dayes diuersly of the places thereon situate as the Sea of Bachu c. the Moores call it as they doe also the Arabian Gulfe Bohar Corsun that is The Sea inclosed It hath beene diuers times sayled on and ouer by men of our Nation passing that way into Tartaria Media and Persia The first of whom was Master Anthonie Ienkinson 1558. who affirmeth that this Sea is in length about two hundred leagues and in bredth a hundred and fiftie without any issue to other Seas the East part ioyneth with the Turkemen Tartars the West with the Chyrcasses and Caucasus the North with the Nagay Tartars and Volga which springing out of a Lake neere Nouogrode runneth two thousand miles and there with seuentie mouthes falleth into this Sea the South hath Media and Persia In many places it hath fresh water in others brackish in others salt as our Ocean If wee hold the Sea naturally or by selfe-motion or by exhalations salt then the freshnesse may bee attributed to the abundance of fresh Riuers which all come running with tributes of their best wealth to this seeming close-fisted Miser which for ought the world can see of his good workes communicateth with no other Sea any part of that abundance which the Riuers Volga Yaic Yem Cyrus Arash Ardok Oxus Chesel and others many bring into his coffers And yet is this Vsurer neuer the richer Nature it selfe holding a close conspiracie to dispossesse him of his needlesse treasures Yea the Riuers themselues his chiefe Factors and Brokers in the Winter time grow cold in alleageance and frozen in respect wonted dutie or else are detayned by a greater Commander the Generall of Winters forces Frost who then closeth and locketh vp both them and him in Icie prisons till the Sunne taking a neerer view of this incroaching vsurper by the multitude of his Arrowes and Darts chase him out of the field and freeth this Sea and Riuers from their colde fare and close dungeons wherewith Ice their hard Gaoler had entertained them Christopher Burrough relateth that from the middle of Nouember till the midst of March they found this frozen Charitie of the Caspian to their cost being forced with great perill and paine to trauell many dayes on the Ice and leaue their ship in the Sea which there was cut in pieces with violence of the frost And yet is Astracan on the Northerne shore where Volga and the Caspian hold their first conference in sixe and fortie degrees and nine minutes from whence this Sea extendeth beyond the fortieth degree Southwards The freshnesse of the Riuers make it thus subiect to frost which hath no power ouer the salt waters of the Ocean as by most Learned men is holden which appeareth in the Baltike and Euxine Seas which holding not so full commerce with the Ocean and filled with fresh Riuers are made an easie prey to that Icie Tyrant whose forces the more open Seas with their salt defence easily withstand and although from the mouthes of Riuers Bayes and Shores hee brings whole Ilands of Ice into those watrie Plaines yet euen vnto the Pole so farre as hath beene discouered the Sea with open mouth proclaimeth defiance and enioyeth his Elementary freedome The Euxine Sea which is diuided from the Caspian by an hundred leagues of land hath this reason of the freezing ascribed by
are men come to the shore and leaue each a paire of shooes with her marke which who so taketh vp is her Paramour These are seconded by the Ilands of China which doe as it were hedge and fence it in of which there is little in Authors worthy mentioning In Macao or Amacao the Portugals haue a Colonie but the chiefe Iland of China is Anian in the Gulfe of Cauchin-China Further from the Continent from Iapan Southwards are many Ilands called by the names of Lequio the greater and the lesse rich in Gold nigh to the same is Hermosa and next to these the Philippinae so called of Philip the second King of Shaine by whose charge and charges they were discouered in the yeere 1564. long after that Magellanus had lost his life in the discouerie of these parts Some make this name hold some proportion to the Spanish Ambition calling all the Ilands Philippinae which are betweene New Spaine and the Gulfe of Bengala in all after their account eleuen thousand whereof onely thirtie are subiect to the Spaniard as Thomas à Iesu hath obserued But of all these afterwards for here wee but mention them They begin their reckoning at Noua Guinaea where first wee see Cainam The next Banda which name is proper to an Iland so called and common also to her neighbours Rosolarguin Ay Rom Neyra in foure degrees to the South which alone in the world are said by some to bring foorth Nutmegs and Mace The men heere are Merchants the women attend to Husbandrie The Ilands del Moro abound with Rice and Sagu the pith of a Tree which yeeldeth Meale where are wild Hennes which sit not on their Egges but burie them a good depth vnder the sand where the Sunne hatcheth them They haue no Kine but a Fish of like lineaments which they take in their Nets Gilolo hath a Mahumetane Prince and is a great Iland the people are Men-eaters Amboyno is the name of many Ilands rude both in soyle and people which eate their owne Parents when they are old Dauid Middleton in a written Discourse of one of his Indian Voyages mentioneth an Iland amongst or neere these of Amboyno called Bangaia the King whereof is a Gentile A Hollander heere obtayned such sway that none durst displease him Hee had two houses full of the Daughters of the Inhabitants which best liked him besides many Slaues of both sexes His life is meerely Epicurean hee will dance and sing and be drunke two dayes together nor will hee be commanded by any of his Countrey-men Hee is Collector or Treasurer to the King of Ternate in those parts and sends him what hee can spare At Banda the Hollanders would not suffer the English to trade and euery where else both East and West and North and South as may be instanced in the particulars if force or fraud by slaunders raysed on our people can effect it they testifie that gaine is more precious to them then the loue of our Nation Neere to the Ilands last mentioned are the Moluccae fiue in number others reckon more Ternate Tidor Motir Macbian and Bachian famous through the world as being Natures Store-house of Cloues Their worship is directed to the Sunne Moone and other heauenly and earthly Creatures The King of Tidores chiefe Priest came aboord the Consent of which Ship Dauid Middleton was chiefe In the Moluccas are found those admirable Birds of Paradise or as the Portugals call them fowles of the Sunne The Selebes abound with Gold abandoned of goodnesse peopled with Idolaters and Men-eaters The Ilands of Moratay are more Northerly where Battata-roots is their Bread their neighbours fare in the Ilands of Tarrao Sanguin Solor and others In those Ilands which more properly beare the Philippine title Mindanao is of very large circuit and hath diuers famous Cities Tendaia for her excellence was by the first Discouerers called the Philippina Luzzon incompasseth a thousand miles in which the Spaniards haue built a Towne called Manilla and haue thither carried Cattle for breed This Citie standeth in fourteene degrees and a quarter Borneo is reputed as bigge as Spaine richly attended with many Ilands of smaller circuit It hath a Citie of the same name founded on Piles in the salt water with sumptuous buildings of hewed stone couered with Coco leaues The King is a Mahumetan At Sagadana in this Iland there is an English Factorie The greater Iaua is by Scaliger called an Epitome of Summe of the world rich in many commodities The Cabal is a wilde beast in this Iland whose bones doe restraine the bloud from issuing in wounded parties The South part is Gentiles as the countries within the land but towards the shore they are Mahumetans Touching the lesser Iaua there is some controuersie which should be it The Straits of Sincopura are dangerous not aboue a Musket shot ouer there are two ledges of Rocks on either side at the entrance and within sunken rocks Betwixt Malacca and Samatra Nature hath as it were sowed that Field of waters with Ilands the principall of which is Bintam Samatra within the Countrey is Ethnikes towards the Coast are Moores an Iland large rich and populous diuided into many Kingdomes The Gulfe of Bengala is as it were guarded with a double ranke of Ilands which Neptune hath set as Garrisons of those Seas But these all are not worthy the honour due to Zeilan called in old times Taprobana which name others apply to Samatra From thence alongst the coast of India are seene few Ilands of any greatnesse but further into the Sea are the Maldiua so called of Maldiua one of their number whose name signifieth a thousand Ilands Hieronymo de Sancto Stephano numbreth them betweene seuen and eight thousand some of which are diuided by larger Seas some by smaller armes the Ocean somewhere with his greatnesse threatning to swallow them and in other places as curious of his delightfull search stealing rather then forcing a separation prouoking the passengers to communicate in his sports who sometimes helped with some ouer-growing Tree can leape from one Iland to another Yet hath not Nature thus diuersifying their situation yeelded them diuersitie of her riches sauing that it seemeth here shee hath chosen her chamber for the Palme or Coquo-nuts which in other places shee hath in comparison but scattered here stored that by this store the people might supply all their other wants Yea besides the Land-Coquo there groweth another vnder the water bigger then the former a speciall Antidote for poyson The Inhabitants are addicted to subtletie and sorcerie and in the Ilands next to the Continent Moores beare sway in the rest Pagans Other Ilands of smaller reckoning we reckon not Diu hath long beene famous for the warres therein vainly attempted by the Turke and Indians against the Fortresse of the Portugals §. II. The Persian Gulfe and of the Passage downe Euphrates thither the Sabbaticall streame and
learned labours will giue him good directions He saith it is the same which Brocard in his Description of the Holy Land calleth Valania hee also correcteth the vsuall Translations of Ptolemey and Iosephus learned Casaubon is of his minde and addes other things ridiculous enough out of the Rabbines out of whose muddie Lakes this Riuer floweth to enclose the fabulous Iewes aforesaid If any maruell why in a Discourse of the Sea wee adde this I answere that wee cannot finde the Land whereto it is due and therefore one absurditie must follow another But let vs proceed §. III. Of the Red Sea Sir H. MIDDLETONS taking and of Rhodes and Cyprus THe Red Sea or Arabian Gulfe seemes vnwilling to be the Oceans subiect so many small Ilands doth she continually muster in resistance besides her vndermining the the Sea with her shallow Channell conspiring the destruction of many heedlesse Mariners that here will aduenture as tenants to the Sea in their mouing houses Once by a mightier hand was it helped to preuaile against the Seas force to discouer a dry Land in the middest thereof and with her watery erected wals to guard those new passengers till the same hand reuersed it or rather rewarded the then empty belly thereof with the prey of so many thousand Egyptians Babelmandel Camaran and Mazua are accounted amongst the chiefe of these Isolets Suachen hath most souereigntie being the Seat of the Turkish Bassa for Abassia Arianus in his Periplus of the Red Sea and Agatharchides in a Treatise of like Argument mention not many Ilands therein Orine Alalaeae Catacumene and that of Diodorus in the mouth of the Strait Don Iohn of Castro hath written an exact Treatise from his owne experience of these Seas and Ilands which Master Hakluit hath in a written Copy out of which we shall obserue more in our coasting about Afrike Thomas Iones who was in the Ascension in this Sea speaketh of twelue or thirteene desolate Ilands where they found refreshing with Cokos Fish and Turtle-doues whereof one may with his hands take twenty douzen in a day The Straits are a mile and an halfe ouer but now not chained Mokha is the chiefe Staple of Indian Commodities which passe that way to Cairo and Alexandria This Moha or Mokha is eighteene leagues within the Bab and hath beene often visited by English ships but in the yeere 1610. they dealt treacherously and barbarously with Sir H. Middleton and his Fleete both here and at Aden Aden hath beene of great trading a great Citie now ruinated neither shops of any account within it nor shippes of Merchandize without adorning the same as in times past Neither doe the Turkes deserue better who tooke it by treachery at first hanging vp the King comming to visit them and keeping or rather losing and lessening it still by like treachery Thus dealt they with Captaine Downton his Company in colour of Trade surprising twenty and making them prisoners and yet worse was the Generall dealt with at Moha The Aga after much protestation of loue and vesting him publikely to testifie the Grand Signiors Grace in cloth of Gold giuing leaue to set vp their Pinnasse with many offices and offers of kindnesse on the eight and twentieth of Nouember suddenly assaulted the English killed eight knocked downe the Generall and tooke him with eight and fortie of his company and Master Pemberton also with nine of his Men. They attempted presently to surprise the Darling with three great Boates full of Souldiers where they found the Trumpeter asleepe and slue him with another The decke vpon occasion of romeaging that day for Quick-siluer was couered with victuals none of the companie fearing or prepared for offence or defence Happily one threw forth a barrell of poulder and disturbed them with fire which when their Captaine Emer Bahare cryed to cut the ships cables made them mistake and cut the Boat-ropes so driuing away leauing their Captaine and sixe and twentie more behinde to the slaughter And with a Peece they gaue present warning to the Trades Increase Sir Henries ship so that their villanie succeeded not by Sea their intent being to become Masters of all The next day Sir Henrie Middleton with seuen more all chained by the necks were brought before the Aga who sternely demanded how he durst come into their Port of Moha so neere their holy Citie of Mecca being the Port and Doore thereof adding that the Bassa had order from the Great Turke to captiuate all Christians in those Seas although they had His Owne Passe He pressed the Generall to write to the Ships that they should come on shore out of the water into this fire and not preuayling caused Him to be taken out of his chaine and coller and clapping a great paire of fetters on his legs and manacles on his hands separated from the rest of his companie laid him in a dirtie dog-kennell vnder a paire of staires At night the Consull of the Banians intreated some mitigation so that he was remoued to a better roome but lodged on the bare ground continuing in this miserie They hoped meanewhile for want of water and victuall to obtayne the ships till December 20. Order then came from Ieffar Bassa to bring them to Zenan or Sinan chiefe Citie of Yeoman or Ayaman Then being re-examined as before His Irons were knocked off and with foure and thirtie more English hee was sent thither the Turkes themselues pitying their manacles and some of them doing them fauours Master Pemberton made a strange escape Zenan is ninescore miles from Moha North North-west in 16. 15. There they arriued januarie 5. being their Diuano or Councell day conueyed as in great pompe and triumph one by one The Generall was carried vp into the Castle to a roome twelue steps high where two great Men tooke him by the wrists and led him to the Bassa sitting at the vpper end of a long Gallerie couered on the floore with Turky carpets and when hee came within two yards of Him he was staid the Bassa with frownes demanding his countrey and other questions like those of the Aga. Then was he with foure or fiue more committed to the Keepers house ; the rest to the common prison clapped in Irons where they had with their small allowance starued if the Generall had not releiued them by the meanes of some of the Turkes themselues by promises and other meanes become their friends On Ianuarie 17. arriued nineteene more of those which had beene betrayed at Aden On the 11. of Februarie they were all freed of their Irons whereas they heard their intent had beene to cut off the heads of the chiefe and make slaues of the rest and at last with faire promises returned to Moha in the beginning of March And on the 11. of May the Generall made his escape by this deuice He sent to the ship for prouisions as for longer stay and especially for Wine and aquavite which hee gaue bountifully amongst his
Countrey amount to three millions of Shariffes one to the Great Turke the second to the Bassa the third for payes and sending forth the Carauan to Mecca The present Bassa is Mahomet a man well in yeeres and of seuere conditions He cut off the heads of foure thousand Spacheis at his first entrance for insolencies and sent the great men to Constantinople strangling such as refused vsing the Arabians which hated the other in his executions Drunkennesse is punished with death If a robberie bee committed they which are appointed to guard that quarter suffer for it which makes them to saue themselues sometimes apprehend innocents who with holes boared through their armes stretcht wide on staues in which are candles stocke burning downe to the flesh are led to execution His rigour made him confine himselfe to the Castle yet so approued of the Grand Seignior that he hath giuen him his daughter in marriage a childe of foure yeeres solemnized with all possible ceremonies He will hardly suffer a Christian to turne Mahumetan thinking perhaps they doe it rather for preferment then deuotion No Citie can be more populous nor better serued with prouision of all sorts then Cairo the fairest Citie in Turkie yet now as it were withered by age and sicknesse in comparison of her yonger and more flourishing times Most of the Inhabitants are Merchants or Artificers All of a trade keepe their shops in one place which they shut about fiue a clocke except Cookes solacing themselues the rest of the day Few but such as haue great families dresse meate in their houses which the men buy readie drest the women being too fine fingered to meddle with huswiferie These ride abroad vpon pleasure on easie-going Asses and tie their husbands to due beneuolence otherwise procuring a diuorcement Many Physitians are in Cairo by reason of the many Simples brought hither They haue a kinde of Roe wherewith they perfume themselues in the morning as a preseruatiue against both Infection and Deuils There are many which get their liuings by shewing feats with Birds and Beasts which teach Rauens to vse their throats and tongues together so that they will make a man admire at their speech Dogs and Goats to goe and turne on the tops of little pillars not aboue the breadth of a mans hand Camels taught to daunce when they are yong by setting them on a hot hearth playing meanewhile on an Instrument the heat then and musicke after causing this motion Asses are not Asses but beyond Bankes his Horse in trickes taught by their suttle Masters But Cairo hath carried vs too farre an Imperious Mistris indeed to our Readers patience Yet will we further adde this short note out of the two Maronites Translators of the Nubian Geographers Metsr is the name of Cairo and all Egypt so called of Mesraim the sonne of Noa as saith Mohamed Sirazita This Citie is gouerned by a Bascia and twentie fiue thousand Spahies and Ianizaries It is rich in Cassia Trees Sugar Canes and Corne many Lands adioyning yeelding haruest twice a yeere Hay foure times Herbs and Pulse in manner alway greene Adde store of Salt very white the water of Nilus inclosed in pits and by the onely heate of the Sunne in three dayes being turned into it In former times it was famous for Balsám plants now remooued to Mecca by command of the Othomans and none are found in all Egypt but seuen shrubs in the Bassa's garden kept with great diligence The leaues are like to wilde Marjoram the juyce is taken by a little incision in the trunke or branch Abu-Chalil-Ben-Aali writes that from the fifteenth to the two and twentieth of Rabij Atthani Iune there falls a dew which leaues no token thereof in the earth yet by vulgar experience is found by weighing the Sand or Earth of Nilus bankes and is an euident token of the encrease of Nilus The Aire also is then made more wholsome Plagues and Feuers cease and those which were sicke of them recouered Alexandria is very vnwholesome as the graue of that Alexandria wee before mentioned Vnder the foundations are great habitations as if they were two Alexandria's built one vpon another Vnder the houses of the Citie are Cisternes sustayned with mightie Arches to receiue the inundation of Nilus belonging saith G. Braun to euery house the cause of much sicknesse to the Inhabitants especially since the diminishing and decay of the Citie most of the Cisternes now being fennie for want of vse When the Saracens had spoyled it it remayned long desolate vntill a subtile Caliph proclaymed that Mahomet had left great indulgences to such as would here inhabite And thus he replenished the Citie with Inhabitants building houses for them as hee did Colledges for the Students and Monasteries for the Religious Here yet remayneth a little Chappell wherein they say that the high Prophet and King Alexander the Great lyes buried to which resort many Piigrimes that adore the same and bestow there their almes The Arabians and their Alcoran also call Alexander Two-horned the reason whereof seemeth to be that his ambitious seeking to bee accounted the sonne of Iupiter Ammon neither doe the vulgar Arabians know him by the name Alexander but by that title of Two-horned And such was his Image in the Cyrenaike coynes This body was taken from Perdiccas by Ptolemaeus Lagi and there intombed in gold which Cybiosartes taking away it was couered with glasse so remayning till the time of the Saracens In old time they had a custome mentioned by Gallen of executing condemned persons which they would quickly despatch to apply to the brest an Aspe and then cause him to walke a few pases and suddenly he is at his long home This he there saw a practice not much vnlike the Athenian draught of Hemlock There is in Alexandria as Master Enesham relateth a pillar of marble called by the Turkes King Pharaos needle foure square in height ninetie foote Master Sandys saith there lyes another by it like vnto it halfe buried in rubbidge both Hieroglyphicall Obeliskes of Theban marble almost as hard and of a deeper red then Porphyr in the same place where Alexanders Palace stood And without the said Citie foure hundred pases another round called Pompeys Pillar standing on a square stone fifteene foote high the compasse of the pillar is seuen and thirtie foote the height an hundred and one causing no small wonder how it should be erected on that stone This happily was set vp in memorie of Great Pompey who by the Egyptian treacherie was slaine at Pelusium almost in the sight of Ierusalem as Eberus noteth and that Countrey of the Iewes which he had vniustly wronged and subdued to Romane seruitude although his hands were purer touching the holy places and treasures which his curious eyes would needes behold then those of perjured Crassus which before had suffered deserued vengeance by Parthian execution Iodocus à Meggen saith that the Channell which
this was Salomon an Eunuch according to a Prophesie which they had amongst them that one without a beard should destroy them But captiuity could not much empare their happinesse whose very freedome was misery For they liued in small base cottages exposed to the Summer Sunnes and Winter snowes sleeping except a few of the better sort on the bare ground alway wearing the same garment howsoeuer the season differed and that torne and ragged wanting bread and all other necessaries neither grinding nor boyling that Corne they had Thus miserable were their bodies and their soules more For they had neither feare of God nor reuerence of Men nor respect of pledge nor regard of oath nor peace with any but where feare constrained them They had their women Prophetesses which diuined by their Sacrifices a thing vnlawfull for their Men to attempt Of the numbers of their wiues they bragged that the Christians which had but one wife might feare the losse of their children they which might haue fifty wiues need not misdoubt Issue and Posteritie And yet they were by many wars brought to small numbers and a few Tribes or Families Leo sayth that after the Romanes were expelled the ancient Gouernours called Beni Habdalguad of the Family of Magraua repossessed these parts who were after dipossessed by Ghamrazen Sonne of Zeijen whose Posterity reigned here almost three hundred and eightie yeeres But they were much vexed by the Kings of Fez and Tunis It was in later times called the Kingdome of Telensin or of Tremisen stretching in length from East to West three hundred and eighty miles in breadth not aboue fiue and twenty The Kings could neuer satisfie the Numidians couetise whose friendship they haue with great cost sought It hath two frequented Hauen-townes Oram and Mersalcabir both taken and holden by the Spaniards They were taken in the time of Ferdinando King of Spaine for which cause Abuchemmen the Telensin King was expelled by his owne Subiects and Abuzeijen placed in his roome which he could scarcely warme before he was slaine by Barbarussa the Turke who conquered this Kingdome But Abuchemmen sought to Charles the fift for aide by whose helpe he recouered his Kingdome and payed a Tribute to the Emperour But Habdulla his Successor detayned the Tribute and submitted himselfe vnto Soliman the Great Turke Algier remayned to Barbarussa §. II. Of BARBARVSSA of Algier and the parts adioyning THis Barbarussa or Barbarossa was a meane fellow of base condition who in his youth sold Cheeses in Spain for his liuing by his industry attained to great matters There were of them two Brethren born at Mytilene in Lesbos their Mother a Christian their Father a Renegate Grecian Horucius Barbarussa and this Hariadenus Barbarussa They first stole a Galliot and so committing themselues to Sea by Piracy vnder Camales a Turkish Pirate they grew rich and from one Galley came to haue a Nauie of their owne with which they scoured the Coasts of Barbary At the same time two brethren contended for the Kingdome of Algier one of which requested ayde of Horucius who so helped him against his brother that he helped himselfe to the Kingdome by the murther of the King his Patron and Alley which he did not long enioy being taken and slaine of the Spaniards and his head sent into Spaine But Iris Brother Hariadenus succeeding him became mighty both by Sea and Land to the great dammage both of the Mores and Christians and Soliman moued by his fame sent for him and made him Admirall of all the Turkish Seas and Sea forces vnder whom hee grew dreadfull not to these parts of Barbary alone which he subiected to the Turke but to those Countries of Christendome which are washed with the Mediterran euen Rome it selfe quaking for feare of a second Hannibal who after so many ages should by Sea from Africa auenge the angry Ghost of old Carthage In the yeere 1538. the Pope Emperour and Venetians had with ioynt forces set forth a Nauy of aboue two hundred and fifty Sayle against him but by mutuall discords the wonted aduantage of the Turkes against the Christians they made themselues both sport and spoyle to this Turkish Pyrat The Sea could no longer endure the successe of this Barbarian but mad to see the Christians vnchristian madnesse and vnwilling to submit his proud waues to the base thraldome of this base Turke swelling with indignation conspired with the Neighbour Element which pretended equall quarrell for so often darkening his light and poysoning his breath with those hellish smokes and for vsurping those thunders which had wont to be the ayrie priuiledge of his middle Regions these both agreed in their disagreeing with tempestuous furie to spoile the Spoilers the windes from the Acroceraunian Hills and the Seas on the Dalmatian shore so girt in the Turkes with their equall vnequall siege that twentie thousand of them were captiued and shut vp in Neptunes prisons to become foode to his Familie and the new Conquerors on euery shore made their markets of Turkish commodities and by wracks testified to the Earth that they had wrecked themselues on her and their enemies And yet did Barbarussa recouer himselfe by new forces and hauing won Rhegium came to Ostia where he rode three dayes the Romanes trembling meanewhile and readie to leaue Saint Peter alone to locke out the Turks if they came So much more fortunate were his proceedings then of Haly Bassa who in the fight at Lepanto lost his life and Nauie whereof eightie fell to the Seas share and an hundred and thirtie saile to Don Iohn and his Partners the greatest blow that euer the Turke at Sea receiued and had the greatest Homer to sing it But me thinkes I feele some Cynthius pulling me by the eare and asking if the Pirats haue robbed me of my Religion the most proper subiect of my Discourse Truly that irreligious Crue while they seeke to win other things care not to lose that But this Algier hauing beene of old and still continuing a receptacle of Turkish Rouers could not be passed ouer especially in these Piraticall times without some obseruation being also the gate whereby the Turkish forces first entred into Barbarie Iohn Leo writeth a little otherwise of Barbaussa and Algier The Moores call this Citie Gezeir the Spaniards Algier and of old was called Mesgana of that African Familie which founded it It contayneth about foure thousand Families the buildings very sumptuous Innes Bath-stones and Temples very beautifull euery Occupation hath a seuerall place by it selfe It hath adioyning Playnes very pleasant and fertile one whereof is fiue and fortie miles long and almost thirtie broad For many yeeres it was subiect to the Kingdome of Telensin but hearing that Bugia was gouerned by a King they submitted themselues to him paying him a Tribute otherwise in manner free Then did they build themselues Gallies and molested with Piracies the Spanish Ilands of Majorica Minorica
their Religion is lost Concerning their marriages in these parts we reade that the Bride is carryed not on her feet but in the armes of two yong men with her eyes closed and being marryed is in like sort without stirring her eyes or feet conueighed to the Bridegroomes house where she enters first with the right foote in token of prosperitie the left foote first touching ground would portend sinister successe as proceeding from a certayne Constellation and ineuitable destinie with musicke shee is entertayned and conducted to the Bride-chamber where shee sits downe as taking possession of her house all the other women standing about her after which shee is led with great pompe by women to the Hall the men accompanying the Bridegroome to another roome The Bride is set on a bed couered with a white veile the women standing by and many gifts and presents are offered to her two women being her instructers in the rites and ceremonies which shee is to obserue called Magitae to whom the Bride giueth the money which is offered The men which offer if they bee of neere kinne may vpon request see her face her eyes still closed Neither may shee speake but by those Magitae is shifted and gallantly adorned and brought to banquet with the women They haue a dinner and a supper furnished with exceeding varietie of dishes of Honey and Raysins diuersly compounded their flesh is not tasted before oyle be powred on it There are neere as many pots boyling as guests and much superstition is obserued in killing their flesh towards the Sunne with pronouncing certaine wordes or else all is cast on the dung-hill The Bride being conueyed to bed may not signifie any griefe for smart or losse there sustayned The next morning before day the husband riseth not saluting his wife and taking a pot for water and a vessell for meate at his returne beates vpon the doore with a stone many times till shee then first speakes to him and ordering the said meate and water beginnes to looke to her houshold-charge The Magitae presently come and congratulate her last nights dalliance and desire issue thereof and then cut her haire hanging downe on her backe euen with her neck that it should not hinder her husbands embraces The gouernment of these parts is as is said Turkish The Boglerbog hath chiefe title but the Diuano hath chiefe power of Iudgements and Iurisdiction The Corasan or Captaine of the Ianizaries being in many matters as great as the Beglerbeg The Beglorbegs of Algier and Tunis make their principall profits of their places which they hold three yeers hauing first bought them at a deare rate by their piracies which with ioynt consent they exercise on these Seas all in manner being fish that comes to net if they meete them conueniently notwithstanding any league or peace holden with the Grand Signior They also giue entertainment to such Pirats of other places as resort to them either to sell their ill-gotten goods or to ioyne their strength with them As of late Dansker and Warde haue beene famous in this infamie the first after his seruice with them and for them receiuing his reward by them suddenly killed at Tunis where he was knowne notwithstanding his disguising himselfe with purpose to haue surprised their fleet the other a shame to our Countrey of which he was grew so rich by his Piracies that hee shewed at one time to the Authour of these reports Iohn Pountesse a bagge of Iewels contayning almost halfe a bushell besides his other purchases And at last that the end might manifest the wickednesse of these proceedings he became an Apostata and Renegado from his faith and soone after as some haue reported for others say he is still aliue and Captaine of the Turkes Gallies dyed at Tunis leauing his goods for his goodnesse he had left before vnto the Turks his body vnto a forren sepulchre and his soule let pirats and robbers if they think they haue any soule say whither Algier was by Barbarussa subiected to the Turke about the yeere 1534. Tunis An. 1574. Three and twentie yeeres after that Tripoli in Barbarie another Cage of like birds and seat of a Boglerbeg was taken from the Knights of Malta by Sinan Bassa These Kingdomes the Turke hath in Africa besides the great kingdome of Egypt and what hee hath taken from Prester Iohn In Egypt are said to be an hundred thousand Timariots or Horse-mens fees which for that tenure of their Land without any charge to the great Turke are to serue where it pleaseth him to employ them In this kingdome of Algier are fortie thousand CHAP. X. Of the Kingdome of Fez part of Mauritania Tingitana §. I. Of the Poeticall and Historicall Antiquities and part of Temesma MAuritania Tingitana so called of Tingis now Tanger at the mouth of the Streits is by Ptolemey bounded on the West with the Westerne and Atlantike on the North with the Mediterran Seas on the East with the Riuer Muluia or Malua which diuideth it from Casariensis on the South with the inner Nations of Libya Niger saith it was after called Setinensis of the Citie Setia more truly Sitiphensis of Sitiphis which Procopius saith was the mother Citie of Tingitana In this Prouince are now the famous kingdomes of Fez and Marocco The ancient Inhabitants besides the Maurusij of which wee haue spoken were the Massaessuli Autololes Bannurri and the Gaetulians which liued here and in other parts of Africa as the Tartars doe in Asia and the Arabians in Africa remoouing their dwellings if Tent-wandring may bee so called as their pastures faile them So Silius writeth of them Nulla domus plaustris habitant migrare per arua Mos atque errantes circumuectare Penates House they haue none but wandring still in Waynes They cart their houshold-gods about the Playnes The westerly point of Mauritania Pomponius beginneth at the Promontorie called of their store of Vines Ampelusia now Cabo de Cantero as Oliuarius affirmeth In it was a Caue sacred to Hercules and beyond the same Tingi supposed to bee built by Antaeus for proofe whereof they shew his Target made of an Elephants hide too huge and vnweildy for any man of later times and holden in great veneration Next to this Tingi which gaue name to the Countrey after by Claudius Caesar who sent a Colonie thither called Traducta Iulia was a high Mountayne called Abyla to which on the Spanish coast was opposed Calpe which two Hills bare the name of Hercules pillars Hercules himselfe if wee beleeue fabulous antiquitie making there a passage to the Ocean and Mediterran Seas for mutuall view and entertainment They are now called Seuta on that side and Gibraltar on this side A little hence was Iulia Constantia a Colonie of Augustus and Lixus a Colonie of Claudius In this was Antaeus his Palace and his combate with Hercules and the Gardens of the Hesperides which some as is said
Inhabitants goe thinly clothed in the sharpest winter The Region of Marocco is three-square confined with the mountaynes Nefisa on the West and Hadimeus on the East betweene the Riuers Tensift and Esifinuall The Countrey in fertilitie of soile resembleth Lombardie Marocco which some thinke to be Bocanus Hemerus of Ptolemey was built saith Leo by Ioseph sonne of Tesfin King of the people of Lontuna by the aduice of excellent Architects and cunning workmen In the time of Hali sonne of Ioseph there were in it ten thousand Fires or Families and more It had foure and twentie gates was strongly walled furnished with Temples Bathes Colledges Innes after the African manner One most stately Temple was built by Hali and called by his name But a successor of that kingdom called Abdul Mumen caused it to be razed and built againe and called after his owne name howbeit the name of Hali is still continued in the Title all that his cost notwithstanding This Abdul Mumen who was the second that by rebellion succeeded in the kingdome built another Temple which Mansor enlarged fiftie yards or elles on euery side adorning it with many pillars fetcht out of Spaine He made a Cisterne or Vault built vnder it as large as the Temple it selfe and couered the Temple with lead with leaden pipes from the roofe to conuey the raine-water that fell thereon into the Cisterne He built thereon a steeple like the Coliseo or Amphitheatre at Rome of great hewen stone The compasse of this steeple or tower is an hundred Tuscan yards or elles higher then the steeple of Asenelli at Bononia There are seuen lofts one aboue another very faire and lightsome Vpon the top of this tower is built a little turret the top whereof is as a needle or spire and it contayneth fiue and twentie yards in compasse and is as high as two great lances with three lofts therein one higher then the other On the top of this spire is a broach with three globes of siluer one vnder another the greatest below and the least highest From the top hereof the Mountaynes of Azafi may bee easily seene an hundred and thirtie miles off and a tall man on the ground seemes as little as a childe of a yeere old The plaine Countrey fiftie miles about is hence discerned It is one of the greatest Temples in the world and yet not frequented the people assembling thither to their deuotions but on Fridayes the Citie it selfe neere this Temple is ruinate so that the passage is difficult by the ruines of houses Vnder the porch or gallerie of this Temple were sometimes an hundred shops of Booke-sellers and as many ouer-against them but now there is not one in all Marocco Scarcely is the third part of the Citie inhabited vnderstand it of the time when Leo writ this for since that time Marocco by residence of the Kings there hath flourished as Fez hath contrariwise decayed the rest being planted with Vines and Trees the Arabians not suffering them to exercise any husbandrie without the walls It was built An. 424. of the Hegira After Ioseph the Founder and Hali his sonne Abraham succeeded in whose time a rebellious Preacher called Elmaheli borne and brought vp in the Mountaynes rebelled and with an armie encountred King Abraham and ouerthrew him The King fled and was so hardly pursued by Abdul Mumen whom Elmaheli had sent after him whiles himselfe besieged Marocco that the poore King in danger to bee surprized at Oram mounting on his horse and taking his wife behinde him set spurres to his horse and so came all three downe together on the mercilesse Rocks Abdul Mumen returning victorious found this addition to his happinesse that Elmaheli was dead and him selfe was chosen King and Prelate or Chalipha by the fortie Disciples and ten Secretaries of Elmaheli a new custome in the Mahumetan Law He maintayned the siege and at the yeeres end entred by force and tooke Isaac the little and onely sonne of Abraham and stabbed him with his owne hands killing most of the Souldiers hee there found and many of the Citizens His posteritie reigned after him from An. 516. of the Hegeira to the 668. at which time the Familie of Marin depriued them in which the Kingdome continued till the 785. yeere Then the same decreasing in power Marocco became subiect to certaine Lords of the old Hill neere to the Citie But of none receiued they so much damage as of the Marin Familie which held their Court in Fez and had a Lieutenant onely in Marocco Fez being made chiefe Citie of Mauritania Let me borrow of Caeli Sec. Curio in his Historie of the Kingdome of Marocco which for the most part is taken out of Leo. He saith that Abdul Mumen subiected to his Empire all Barbarie from Messa to Tripolis his Empire in Africa comprehending fourscore and ten dayes iourney in length and fifteene in breath He also possessed the kingdome of Granada in Spaine sometime called Betica and from Tariffa to Tarracon and a great part of Castilia and Portugall Neither had he alone this large Empire but his sonne Iosippus after him Iacobus Mansor his nephew and their posteritie till Mahumet Enasir who Anno 1212. in the kingdome of Valencia was ouerthrowne of Alphonsus as I take it the ninth King of Castile in that place which is called Las nauas di Tolosa losing in the battell threescore thousand men In memorie or which battell and victorie that Alphonsus adorned his Scutchion with a Castle Or in a field purple which custome his successors doe still obserue because that day that golden kingdome as a strong Castle confirmed to him by the bloud of his enemies was deliuered from those Miscreants And thereupon that kingdome of the Bastitanes so it was before that time stiled was intituled Castile Moreouer hee instituted that knightly Order of Saint Iames who haue in their habit purtrayed a purple sword in token of bloud This Mahumet our Historians call Miramulinus For Abdul Mumen intituled himselfe Miralmumim the name signifying The Prince of beleeuers which others corrupting call Miramulus as they did him Abed Ramon Howsoeuer it standeth for the Name and Armes of Castile certainly Curio was not curious nor carefull enough in adding that this Abdul Mumen was in the time of Rodericus the Gotish King about seuen hundred yeere after Christ as also in his Saracenicall Historie he relateth and wee before haue obserued seeing that Marocco was long after built and diuers hundreths of yeeres were interposed betwixt Rodericus and this Abdul Mumen Curio herein differing not onely from Leo his best guide in the rest of his Historie but from himselfe as will easily appeare to any that list to compare his Saracenicall History with the Marochian And for that notable victory against the Moores Rodericus Archbishop of Toledo was there present in the field and saith that the King ware a blacke Cap which had belonged to Abdul Mumen the first of the
fiftie ducats for certaine verses hee had made in his praise and twice as much he sent to his vncle for the same with a horse and three slaues Tedles is the seuenth Prouince of this Kingdome lying betweene Guadelhabid and Ommitabih Tefza the chiefe Towne is beautified with many Temples and hath store of Priests The Towne walls are built of a kinde of marble called Tefza which gaue name to the Town Mount Dedes is in this Prouince where the people for the most part dwell in Caues vnder the ground they haue neither Iudges nor Priests nor honest men among them For other places if any thinke vs not more than tedious alreadie let them resort to Leo whom all follow in their Relations of these parts When any Christian will turne Moore it is their custome to signifie it to the Christians in those parts and in place and time appointed an equall number of both sorts being assembled and fitting the one ouer against the other the partie in the middle and presence of both is demanded of which he will be and the Christians may vse what arguments they can to disswade him which is done three seuerall times Thus did one of our Nation who hauing thus killed his owne soule after murthered anothers body and was therefore adiudged to wander like Cain none releeuing him in which state he pined and dyed CHAP. XII Of the Arabians populations and depopulations in Afrike and of the naturall Africans and of the beginnings and proceedings of the Mahumetan superstition in Africa of the Portugals forces and exploits therein HAuing often mentioned the Arabians in our former Chapters it seemes fit to speake somewhat of the comming of that Nation and their Religion into Africa from the East as also of the Armes of the Portugals before often spoken of which from the West haue made some impressions in these parts The Arabian Mahumetisme euen almost in the infancie thereof pierced into Africa In the yeere of our Lord 637. Omar inuaded Egypt and Odman in the yeere 650. passed further with fourescore thousand fighting men and defeated Gregorius Patricius and imposing a tribute on the Africans departed In Leontius time in the yeere 698. They inuade and possesse Africa and appoint Gouernours of their owne in the yeere 710. They pierced into Numidia and Libya and ouerthrew the Azanaghi and the people of Galata Oden and Tombuto In 973. hauing passed Gamben they infected the Negros and the first that dranke of their poyson were those of Melli. In the yeere 1067. Iasaia sonne of Ababequer entred into the lower Ethiopia and by little and little infected those people which confine vpon the Desarts of Libya and the rest and pierced into Nubia and Guinea Constantinus the Emperour among the Prouinces or great Amera-ships subiect to the Saracens numbreth Africa for one the number and order whereof hee hath transcribed from Theophanes and I here from him The first of these was Persia or Chorassan the second Egypt the third Africa the fourth Philistiem or Rhamble the fift Damascus the sixt Chemps or Emessa the seuenth Chalep the eight Antiochia the ninth Charan the tenth Emet the eleuenth Esipe the twelfth Musel the thirteenth Ticrit But when as Africa shooke off the yoke of the Ameras of Bagdad and had an Amera of her owne afterwards by occasion of the weaknesse of the Amera of Bagdad the Amera of Persia or Choralan freed himselfe also and called himselfe Amerumnes wearing the Alcoran hanging down his necke in Tables like a chaine and saith hee is of the kindred of Alem and the Amera of Egypt to whom the Amera of Arabia foelix had alway beene subiect became also his owne man calling himselfe Amerumnes and deriuing his pedigree from Alem. This as it giues light to the Saracen Historie in generall so it sheweth the greatnesse of the Arabian or Saracenicall power in Africa where first they made head against their Masters in the time as it said before of Elagleb then Deputie or Amera in Cairaoan whose example became a president to the Amera's of Persia and Egypte and which is more to our present purpose was occasion of further spreading their superstition through Africa the fountayne or sinke thereof being now not farre off in Damasco or Bagdad but in the heart of Africa Satan there choosing his Throne for these his Vicars or Calipha's for so the word saith Scaliger signifieth which as you haue heard were too faithfull in that their infidelitie And because I haue mentioned Scaligers interpretation of the word Chalipha it should not be amisse to adde out of the same place that the first Gouernours or Generalls after Mahumet or as hee calls him Muhammed were called Emir elmumenin that is Captaines of the Orthodox or right beleeuers Afterwards because vnder colour of Religion they sought not onely a Priestly primacie but a tyrannicall Monarchie they chose rather to bee called Chalipha The first Emir elmumenin was Abubecher When his successors sent their Lieutenants into Africa and Spaine they gouerned a while vnder them doing all in the name of the Emir elmumenin although nothing in a manner but a Title was wanting of the fulnesse of power to themselues But after they entitled themselues Emire Elmumenin and of Deputies became Kings which was done by the petit Kings of Spaine and the Gouernours of Africa And now the King of Marocco and Fez vseth it For it is not a proper name but as the French King is called Christianissimus and the Spanish Catholicius Thus farre Scaliger which serueth as a Glosse for those former names of Amera Amerumnes Chalipha Miramuldinus and many other hence corrupted The meanes of these and other Saracens enlarging their Sect haue beene principally by Armes and where they were not of force by traffique and preaching as on the other side of Ethiopia euen to Cabo de lor Gorientes in the Kingdomes of Megadazo Melinde Mombazza Quiloa and Mosambique besides the Ilands of Saint Laurence and others But the greatest mischiefe that hapned to Africa by the Arabians was about the foure hundreth yeere of the Hegeira For before that time the Mahumetan Chalipha's or Amera's had forbidden the Arabians to passe ouer Nilus with their Tents and Families that so the Countrey was still peopled by the ancient Inhabitants howsoeuer it was gouerned by them For such multitudes of vnbridled and barbarous Nations were not likely to proue dutifull subiects to the Empire About that time one Elcain the schismaticall Califa of Cairaoan as is before in part shewed hauing by his Generall Geboar conquered all the westerne parts as farre as Sus employed the same mans valour for the conquest of the East And Egypt being now together with Syria subdued Elcain himselfe seeing the Calipha of Bagdet made no preparation to withstand him by the aduice of Gehoar which at that time founded Cairo passed into Egypt thinking to inuest himselfe with the Saracenicall soueraigntie committing the gouernment of Barbarie to a
of the Ancients which is part of Barbary but more Southerly nor hath this Libya of Leo the same bounds with that of the ancient Geographers The Easterne border is Ehoacat a Citie distant one hundred miles from Aegypt the Westerne is the Atlantike Ocean the Northerne Atlas the Southerne Libya This is the basest part of Africa the Cosmographers not deigning it the name of a Kingdome the inhabitants thereof are in many places so farre distant from any other As for example Tesset a Citie of foure hundred Housholds is seperated from all other habitations three hundred miles Some places thereof are better peopled The Numidia described by Ptolomey Mela and Plinie is of a farre lesse bounds and is rather a part of Barbary then of this which wee heere describe called saith Plinie Metagonitis and famous for nothing but Marble and wilde beasts The Numidae called Nomades of their Pastorall life and change of Pastures carrying their houses on their Carts The Cities whereof were Cyrtha called now Constantina and Iol now as some write Bugia The Numidians are notorious for excessiue Venerie For the Religion of these whom Leo tearmeth Numidians hee saith That in olde time they worshipped certayne Planets and sacrificed to them and were like to the Persians in worship of the Sunne and the Fire to both which they built Temples and like the Vestals in Rome kept the fire continually burning Christian Religion began to quench this Fire as is thought in the Apostles dayes which after was peruerted by Arrianisme subuerted by Mahometisme Iewish Religion had heere some footing also before that Christianitie was Preached to them The Numidians liue long but lose their Teeth betimes sowre sauce for their sweet Dates and their eyes also pay vntimely tributes to the Sands which the windes very busily and often send as their Searchers and Customers till at last they can see to pay them no more In all Numidia the French disease as wee terme it is vnknowne and in Libya I haue knowne saith Leo an hundred persons that haue beene cured of that maladie onely by passing ouer Atlas and breathing this ayre This disease was not heard of in Africa till King Ferdinand expelled the Iewes out of Spaine and the Moores by lying with the Iewes wiues got the same and generally infected Barbary calling it therefore the Spanish disease The Plague also infecteth Barbary once in ten fifteene or fiue and twentie yeeres and destroyeth great multitudes because they haue little regard or remedie for it In Numidia it is scarce knowne once to happen in an hundred yeeres and in the Land of Negroes neuer Worse diseases then Pox or Plague possesse the Numidians namely ignorance of Diuine Morall and Naturall knowledge Treason Murther Robberie without all respect of any thing If any of them are hired in Barbary they are employed in base Offices Scullians Dung-farmers and what not Neither are the Libyans or Negroes much better Of the Numidians and Libyans are fiue peoples Zenaga Guenzaga Terga Lemta and Berdeua and liue all after the same manner and order that is without manners or order at all There garments of base cloath scarce couer halfe their bodie The Gentlemen Gentlemen must pardon me the abasing of the Name to bee distinguished from the rest weare a jacket of blew Cotton with wide sleeues Their Steeds are Camels on which they ride without Stirrops or Saddles and vse a goad in stead of Spurres and a leather fastened in a hole bored thorow the gristles of the Camels nose serues them for a Bridle Mattes made of Rushes are their Beds and Wooll growing on their Date-trees yeelds matter for their Tents Their food is often-times patience with an emptie belly which when they fill bread or meate after any sort is absent Onely they haue their Camels milke whereof they drinke a dish-full next their heart and certaine dry flesh sodde in Butter and Milke euery one with his hands raking out his share of these dainties after drinking the broath and then drinke vp a cup of Milke and Supper is done Whiles Milke lasteth they care not for water especially in the Spring-time all which season some neuer wash hands or face because they neuer goe to the places where they may haue Water And the Camels haue ioyned with their masters in this neerenesse not regarding water whiles they may feed on grasse All their life or that space rather before they dye not worthy the name of life is spent in Hunting and robbing their enemies not staying aboue three or foure dayes in a place as long as the Grasse will serue their Camels They haue ouer euery Tribe One in manner of a King whom they honour and obey Very rarely is a Iudge found amongst them and to him such as are litigious ride sometimes fiue or sixe dayes iourney Him will they amply reward with a thousand Duckats more or lesse by the yeere As for Letters Arts Vertue they dwel not in these Desarts They are very jealous which is the death of many Yet are they liberall after their manner to Strangers as I my selfe it is Leos report can testifie For going ouer the Desarts with a Carauan of Merchants the Prince of Zanaga encountred vs with fiue hundred men on Camels and caused vs to pay our Customes and then inuited vs to his Tents There did hee kill many Camels to feast vs both young and old and as many gelded and Ostriches which they had taken in the way And when the Merchants shewed themselues loth that hee should make such slaughters of them he said That it were shame to entertaine them with small Cattell onely being strangers So wee had Roast and Boyled and Bread of Panike very fine and Dates great plentie Hee honoured our companie with his presence but he ate together with his Nobles seperate from vs and had with him certaine Religious and Learned men to sit with him which all the Meale-time touched no Bread but onely Flesh and Milke the reason the Prince gaue vs because they were borne in the Desarts where no Corne grew Onely they ate Bread on certaine solemne Feasts as at Easter and day of Sacrifices Thus did this liberall Prince spend on vs ten times the value of his Customes After this manner also liue the Africans called Soana The Tracts of Numidia most in name are these Data which extendeth it selfe two hundred and fiftie miles in length where are great store of Date-trees whereof some are male and some female the first brings forth onely Flowers the other Fruit And they take a flowred bough of the male and engraft it in the female otherwise the Dates proue nought and almost all stone They feed their Goates with the stones of the Dates beaten and therewith they grow fatte and yeeld store of Milke Segelmesse was built if any list to beleeue Bicri an African Cosmogropher by Alexander the Great Heere were certaine Colledges and Temples The people of the Countrey liued on Dates
it was harder for a Christian to bee saued then a Negro because God was a iust God and Lord who had giuen to vs many good things in this World to them nothing in comparison who should therefore in the other World haue their Paradise which heere they wanted Easily might he haue beene turned to Christianity but for feare of losing his State His Wiues prouide him his dyet as it is vsuall among the Negros and none but his Priests and some principall men eate with him which is after a beastly sort lying on the ground the dish set in the middest and all taking out the meate with their hands They eate little at once but eate often foure or fiue times a day From October to Iune it raines not there They haue great Serpents and many which they vse to charme and the Prince when hee would poyson his Weapons did as was reported make a great Circle and enchanted by his Charmes all the Serpents thereabouts thereinto and then killed that which seemed to him most venemous letting the rest goe with the bloud thereof and the Seed of a certaine Tree he tempered a poyson for that purpose with which a Weapon infected drawing neuer so little bloud did kill in a quarter of an houre They haue great store of Parrats which are instructed by a maruellous naturall cunning to preuent the Serpents which would else destroy their nests They build therefore on high trees and on the end of some tender bough thereof they fasten a Bul-rush which hangs downe two spannes thereunto weauing and working their nest in such sort that the Serpents for feare of falling dare not aduenture to deale therewith The Negros came about Cadamosto with wonder to see his apparell and the whitenesse of his colour neuer before had they seene any Christian and some of them with spittle rubbed his skinne to see whether his whitenesse were naturall or no which perceiuing it to bee no tincture they were out of measure astonished They would then giue nine or sometimes fourteene slaues for a Horse furnished And when they buy a Horse they wil bring some of their Enchanters which make a fire of herbes and set the Horse ouer the smoke vttering certaine words and after that anoint him with a thin oyntment and shut him vp twenty dayes that none may see him hanging certaine trumpery about his necke thinking that hereby they are more secure in battle Gunnes seemed to them for their hideous noyse to be of the Deuill Lag-pipes they thought to be a liuing creature that thus sang in variable accents But when they were suffered to handle them they thought them to bee some heauenly thing that God had made with his owne hands to sound so sweetly They beheld the Shippe with great curiositie and eyes that were carued in the Prow of the Shippe they tooke to bee eyes indeed by which it saw how to direct the course at Sea They said the Christians that could thus make Voyages by Sea were great Enchanters and comparable to the Deuill themselues had enough to doe to trauell by Land Seeing a Candle burne in the night they which knew not to make any light but their fires esteemed it wonderfull Honey they haue which they sucke out of the Combes but the Waxe they hurled away till they were instructed how to make Candles thereof Senega Boterus saith comes from the Lakes Chelonidi Sanutus affirmeth that Senega is the same which Ptolemey cals Darandus Gambea or Gambra that which hee cals Stachie and Rio Grande is Niger Cadamosto doubled the Promontorie called Cape Verde or the greene Cape because of the greene trees which the Portugals which had first discouered it in the yeere before found there growing in abundance as Cape Blanco or the White Cape was so called of the White Sands there The Inhabitants they found were of two sorts Barbacini and Sereri They haue no Prince They are great Idolaters and haue no Law but are very cruell They poyson their Arrowes with which and the situation of their Countrey they haue preserued themselues from the Kings of Senega In Gambra they were some Idolaters of diuers sorts some Mahumetans They were also great Enchanters Their liuing as at Senega saue that they eate Dogges flesh Heere the Prince hunted an Elephant and gaue them to eate the flesh is strong and vnsauoury The Elephants delight in mire like Swine They hunt them in the Woodes for in the Plaines an Elephant would without running soone take and kill the swiftest man whom yet they hurt not except they be first prouoked if with comming and often turning hee bee not disappointed Here was a kind of fish Cadomosto calleth it Cauallo and his Latine Interpreter Piscis Caballinus I take it for the Hippopotamus or Riuer-horse which is sayth he as bigge as a Cow his legges short with tuskes like to a Bores but so great that I haue seene one of two spannes and longer clouen-footed and headed like a Horse hee liueth on both Elements sometimes in the Water other-whiles on the Land The women vpon their brests neckes and armes had certaine workes done with a Needles point heated in the fire in manner as with vs they worke hand-kerchiefes This being done in their youth would neuer out The like flesh-branded workes they vse at Cape Sagres as Pietro de Sintra a Portugall obserued vpon their bodies and faces The Inhabitants there are Idolaters and worship Images of Wood to whom they offer some of their Meate and Drinke when they goe to their meales The goe naked couering their priuie parts with the barkes of trees This is in Guinea A little from thence they found men who vsed as great brauery in their eares which they bored full of holes and weare therein Rings of Golde in rowes or rankes They weare one great Ring in another hole bored thorow their Nose like to Buffles in Italy which when they eate their meate they tooke away The men and women of sort weare such Rings also in their lips in like sort as in their eares an Ensigne of their Nobility and greatnesse which they put in and out at pleasure Beyond the Riuer of Palmes they found others thus beringed and for greater gallantry weare about their neckes certaine Chaines of teeth seeming to bee the teeth of men They tooke a Negro whom they carried into Portugall who affirmed if a woman which onely could vnderstand him did interpret him rightly that in his Countrey were Vnicornes HONDIVS his Map of Guinea GVINEA §. III. Other Obseruations of later times by Englishmen and others ANd these Countreyes haue since beene sought to by French Flemish and many of our English Merchants In the yeere 1553. Thomas Windham and Anthony Pindeado a Portugall in two English ships traded alongst those Coasts as farre as Benin where they presented themselues to the King who sate in a great Hall the wals whereof were made of Earth without windowes the roofe of thinne boards open in
to be a Iewish Fable thinking thereby to credit their Law-giuer then agreeing to Moses the Truth and Scripture and might haply arise from that speech That Moses his wife was an Aethiopian of which wee haue spoken alreadie Neyther is it likely that Moses would accept of Treason for the dowry with his wife sealed with the bloud and ouerthrow of her Countrey and Citizens And yet from hence doe some deriue the originall of their Nation After the Father of this supposed Tharbis Derianus is said to raigne who valiantly withstood Bacchus which is thought to be Osiris the Egyptian King and after their God when he inuaded Egypt with in Army Diodorus mentioneth Actisanes a King of Aethiopia Cepheus also is numbred in that Royall Catalogue but of all Ganges was most famous who with his Aethiopian Armie passed into Asia and conquered all as farre as the Riuer Ganges to which hee left that name being before called Chliaros Hee conquered as farre also to the West vnto the Atlantike Ocean gaue name to the Country of Guinea which name some say is corrupted of Gangina the name it had receiued of Ganges These things are written by some I wil not swear for the truth as safely we may do for that which the Scripture mētioneth of some of their Kings in the dayes of Asa and Hezekiah Kings of Iuda whose puissance then was such that Zerah brought into the field a Million of men and Tirrhaca was Corriuall vnto proude and blasphemous Sennacherib in sute for the Monarchy of the World But whether he came out of this Aethiopia or any other parts of Asia or Africke is not very certaine Before that time the Aethiopians had warred vnder Shishak King of Egypt whom some take for Sesostris The Babylonians in Nabuchodonosors time conquered Egypt and Aethiopia as some expound the Prophesie of Ezechiel And the Persian Empire extended from India to Aethiopia Agatharchides writeth that the Inhabitants on both sides the Riuer Astabara liue on Roots dryed in the Sunne they are much infested with Lions and not lesse with a lesse creature but greater Enemy the Gnats which driue them to hide themselues in the waters from their fury when the Dogge-starre ariseth which with these his Armies of Gnats bayteth the Lions also whom their buzzing and humming noyse chase out of the Country He speaketh of other their Neighbours which feed on the tops of twigs running and leaping on the trees and from bough to bough with incredible agility others dwell on trees for feare of wild beasts on whose flesh and in want thereof on their hides they liue as Ostriches Elephants Grashoppers are the daily dyet to others to which he addes the Cynamolgi which are nourished with the Milke of Bitches of which they haue great Heards which perhaps our Reader will nor beleeue neyther can I force him CHAP. II. A continuation of the Aethiopian Antiquities and of the Queene of Saba HEliodorus in his Historie which although for the substance it be fayned as a loue Discourse yet must hold resemblance with things done and for the variety and conceit thereof commended by that learned German Philip and by our English Philip the Prince of Potsie imitated in his Arcadia telleth of Hydaspes his Ethiopian King that after his victory at Syene and hauing there performed his deuotions and seene their Niloscopium like to that at Memphis and now at Cairo and enquired the originals of their Feasts and holy rites done in honour of that Riuer when he came to the Cataracts hee sacrificed to Nilus and the Gods of the Borders He then sent Messengers to the Wisemen whom hee calleth Gymnosophistes which are the Kings Counsellers at Meroe to certifie them of his victory and to call a publike Assembly wherein to gratifie the Gods for the same with Sacrifices and solemne pompes in the field consecrated to the Sunne the Moone and Bacchus Persina the Queene deliuered those Letters to the Gymnosophistes who dwelt by themselues in a Groue consecrated to Pan and before they would giue answere consulted with the Gods by prayer and then Sisimitres the chiefe of them promised all should bee fulfilled The Sacrifices were to be done to the Sunne and Moone and therefore except Persina the Queene which was Luna's Priest no woman for feare of contaminating the Holies of those Pure and Bright Deities might be present Hydaspes was Priest of the Sunne Much preparation was made of Beasts for their Hecatombe's and much concourse of people crossing the Riuer in those Boats of Canes or Reeds There were presented the Images of their Gods Memnon Perseus and Andromeda and nigh to them sate the Gymnosophista Three Altars were erected two ioyntly to the Sunne and Moone a third to Bacchus by himselfe to him they offered all sorts of Beasts to Sol white Chariot-horses to the Moone a yoke of Oxen. And when al things were ready the people with shouts demanded the Sacrifice which vsually was accustomed for the health of their Nation That was some of the strangers taken in the wars to be offered First triall was made by Spits of Gold heated with fire brought out of the Temple whether the Captiues had euer knowne carnall copulation for treading on the same with their bare feete such as were pure Virgins receiued no harme others were scorched These were offered in Sacrifice to Bacchus the other to those purer Deities These things haue I here inserted not as done but as like to such things which among the Meroites were vsed to be done and agreeing with the generall deuotions of those Aethiopians Philostratus reporteth like matters of their Gymnosophists and of the Groue where they kept their generall consultations otherwise each of them by themselues apart obseruing their studies and holies They worshipped Nilus intending in their mysticall interpretation the Earth and the Water They entertayned strangers in the open Ayre Thesphesion was then in Apollonius his time chiefe of their societie At his command an Elme did speake They held the Immortality of the soule The Aethiopians sacrificed to Memnon and to the Sunne Lucian after his scoffing manner gratulates the Aethiopians that fauour which Iupiter vouchsafed them in going on feasting accompanied with the rest of the Gods and that twelue dayes together if Homer reckoned truly But more seriously elsewhere hee vnfoldeth that Mystery shewing that the Aethiopians were Inuenters of Astrologie helped therein by the cleerenesse of the Skie in that Region and like temperature of the seasons Of them the Egyptians learned and furthered that Science In his Treatise of Dancing he affirmeth that the Aethiopians vsed their haire in stead of a Quiuer and neuer drew Arrow from thence to shoot in battle but with a dancing gesture Diodorus Siculus telleth that the Aethiopians were accounted most ancient of all other men and that not onely Humanitie but Diuinity was borne and bred amongst them
acquainted vs with if he had first acquainted himselfe with rules of Art to haue obserued by Instruments the true site and distances In the Kingdome of Angole iron and salt is currant money The Moores of Dobas haue a Law prohibiting marriage to any that hath not first slaine twelue Christians The diuorces and marrying the wiues of their brethren deceased is heere in vse much like as with the Iewes In Bernagasso Aluarez and his company in their trauell were encountred with many great Apes as bigge as Weathers their fore-parts hairie like Lions which went not lesse then two or three hundred in a company they would climbe any Rocke they digged the earth that it seemed as it had been tilled In the Countrey of the Giannamori as they trauelled they crossed a certaine brooke or Riuer that came downe from the Mountaines and finding a pleasant place shaded with the Sallowes there they reposed themselues at noone the water of the brooke was not sufficient to driue a Mill. And whiles the company stood some on one side the brooke some on the other they heard a thunder which seemed a farre off but saw no likelihood of raine or winde when the thunder was done they put their stuffe in order to be gone and had taken vp the Tent in which they dined when one of the company going by the brooke about his businesse suddenly cried out Looke to your selues whereupon turning about they saw the water come downe a speares depth with great furie which caried away part of their stuffe and had they not by good hap taken vp their Tent they together with it had beene carried away with the streame Many of them were forced to climbe vp the Sallowes Such was the noise of water and the rattling of stones which came tumbling downe the Mountaines together that the earth trembled and the sky seemed to threaten a down-fall Suddenly it came and suddenly it passed For the same day they passed ouer and saw very many and great stones ioyned to those which they had seen there before In the Kingdome of Goyame the Riuer Nilus springeth it is there called Gion and comes from two Lakes which for their greatnesse may seeme to bee Seas in which report goeth that Mermaydes Tritons or Men-fishes are seene and some haue told me saith Aluarez that they haue seene it Peter Couillian a Portugall which had liued a great part of his life in those parts told me that he had been in that Kingdome by order from Queene Helena to build there an Altar in a Church built by her where she was buried Beyond that Kingdome I was told there were Iewes Don Iohn de Castro mentions a high Hill inhabited of Iewes in these parts which came no man knowes from whence but they defended the Prete against the Moores Of the fals in Goyame before is related out of Berumdez that they make a noyse like thunder He saith saith that in Dembia Nilus runneth within thirty or fortie leagues of the Red-Sea to which the Emperour purposed to cut a passage as his Predecessor had begun There is a great Lake thirtie leagues long and twenty broad with many Ilands inhabited onely of Religious men Agao is possessed of Moores and Gentiles mixed He speakes of the Kingdom of Oghy seuen or eight dayes iourney from Doato vnder which is a Prouince of Gentiles called Gorague bordering with Quiloa and Mongalo which are great Witches and obserue the entrails of sacrificed Beasts They kill an Oxe with certaine Ceremonies and anointing themselues with the tallow thereof make a great fire seeming to goe into it and to sit down in a chaire therein thence giuing Diuinations and answers without burning Their Tribute is two Lyons three Whelpes an Ounce of Gold molten with certaine Hens and Chickens of the same metall Sixe Buffes laden with Siluer a thousand Beeues and the skinnes of Lyons Ounces and Elkes The Goffates are vulgarly reported to haue beene Iewes they are hated in other Prouinces The houses of the Ethiopians are round all of Earth flat roofed couered with thatch compassed with yards They sleepe vpon Oxe-hides They haue neither Tables nor Table-cloathes but haue their meat serued in on plaine woodden Platters Some eate flesh raw others broyle it Artillery they had not vntill they bought some of the Turkes Writing is little and scarce a little vsed amongst them the Officers dispatch matters of Iustice by Messengers and word of mouth There is no wine made of the Grape but by stealth except at the Pretes and Abunas Others vse Wine made of Raisins steeped ten dayes in water and strained which is cordiall and strong They haue plenty and want of Metals Gold Siluer c. the soyle yeeldeth but they haue not Art to take it They haue no coine of Gold or Siluer Salt is the most currant money Sugar canes they haue but want skill to vse them The Mountaines and Woods are full of Basill and other odoriferous plants They haue store of Bees and Honey but their hiues are placed in Chambers where making a little hole in the wall the Bees goe in and out There are some places very cold The Commons are miserably oppressed by their superiours No man may kill an Oxe though it be his owne without licence from the Gouernours there were no Shambles but at the Court The common people seldome speake truth no not vpon an oath except they are compelled to sweare by the head of the King they exceedingly feare excommunication Their oathes are in this sort The partie to bee deposed goeth with two Priests carrying with them fire and incense to the Church-dore whereon he layeth his hand Then the Priest adiures him saying If thou shalt sweare falsely as the Lyon deuoureth the beasts of the Forrest so let the Diuell deuoure thy soule and as corne is ground vnder the Milstone so let him grinde thy bones and as the fire burneth vp the wood so let thy soule burne in Hell the party answereth to euery or these clauses Amen But if thou speake truth let thy life bee prolonged with honour and let thy soule enter into Paradise with the Blessed Amen Then doth he giue his testimonie They haue Bookes written in Parchment Let vs now come vnto the Court of their Emperour which was alway mouing and yet the greatest Town that his whole Empire containes For there are few which haue in them one thousand and sixe hundred Families whereas this moueable Citie hath fiue thousand or sixe thousand Tents and Mules for carriage about fifty thousand In his march from one place to another if they passe by a Church he and all his company alight and walke on foot till they be past There is also carried before him a consecrated stone or Altar vpon the shoulders of certaine Priests appointed to that office They call him Acegue which signifieth Emperour and Negus that is King By commandement of the Queene Maqueda which visited Salomon women are say they
Abassens and that these are more lately planted or ingrafted into the Ethiopian stock or stemme Yea for their Christianitie also howsoeuer the Eunuch of Candace was conuerted and the Apostolicall labours in Ecclesiasticall Histories mentioned might sort to good effect in this Ethiopian Haruest yet it seemeth the conuersion of this Nation was not generall till the dayes of Iustinian For so Nicephorus Callistus writeth That Dauid the King of the Axumite Indians why he calls them Indians you haue heard warring vpon the Homerites which professed the Iewish Religion vowed to the God of the Christians to become one of his followers if hee obtayned the victorie which accordingly he did For taking Danmus the Homerite King aliue he sent to Iustinian to further him in the performance of his vow who sent thither a holy Bishop which baptized the whole Nation It might be that the Ethiopians had before receiued the Gospell after which time the Abassens out of Arabia might conquer them and retayning their heathenish superstitions vpon occasion of this warre might bee conuerted as we reade of Clodoueus the first christned King of France and of the French notwithstanding the Galli had long before receiued Christianitie which might also bee paralleld in the Britans and Saxons inhabitants of this Land Howsoeuer it is likely that euer since this Nation hath continued Christian Of Hellesthaeus you haue seene before Procopius his testimonie As for their owne reports of themselues Zaga Zabo tells one tale Aluares another Friar Luys a third that we neede none other testimonie against them Their exceeding store of zeale and defect of learning with the good intents of piae fraudes to whet deuotion by any meanes and that selfe-loue which each both Person and Nation beares to it selfe haue made no doubt readie Inuenters and Receiuers of fables ascribing to themselues the stories of both the Queenes mentioned in the Old and New Testament the Sabaean and Ethiopian Antiquities and a world of other fancies which neuer in the world were done whereto the names of later Workes Cities Temples Orders and other occurrents haue beene applyed But it is time for our Pilgrim to passe further where yet he is like to speed worse and to find little truth of Ciuilitie or Religion CHAP. VII Of other Countries betweene the Red Sea and Benomotapa §. I. Of Adel Adea Zanzibar and Melinde EThiopia Exterior or Inferior is that Southerly Tract of Africa which to Ptolemey and the Ancients was vnknowne It comprehendeth all that great wedge of Land such is the forme which beginning in the West at the Countries aboue Zaire stretcheth to fiue and thirtie degrees of Southerly latitude and from thence Northwards to the entrance or mouth of the Arabian Gulfe all this way besieged and enuironed with the Ocean Maginus diuideth it into fiue parts Aian Zanguebar Benomoptapa Cafraria and Congo but Congo is here taken in a very large sense Aian after the Arabians account contayneth all that Region which lyeth betweene the mouth of the Red Sea and Quilimanci being for the most part on the Sea-coast inhabited by the said Arabians but in the In-land parts thereof are people which are a blacke heathenish Nation It comprehendeth two Kingdomes Adel and Adea the former of which extendeth from that mouth of the Sea before mentioned to the Cape Guardafu by Ptolemey called Aromata South and West it bordereth vpon the Dominions of Prete Ianni about the Kingdome of Fatigar The chiefe Citie is Arar Zeila also before spoken of and Berbora pertayne to this Kingdome Cities without the Streit on the Sea much frequented with Merchants Zeila is situate in eleuen degrees where Ptolemey placeth the Aualites It is stored with varietie of merchandize and yeeldeth some representation of Antiquitie in the buildings thereof consisting of lime and stone The King is a Moore and esteemed a Saint among the superstitious Mahumetans for his continuall warres with the Christian Abassines whence he transporteth innumerable slaues to the Arabians and Turkes receiuing in exchange armour and other helpes for his warres Anno 1541. Gradaameth the King before mentioned or Gradagna by the helpe of some Portugals which Claudius the Abassine had in his warres was slaine and his Armie ouerthrown but his successor An. 1559. slue Claudius in battaile and got as Iohn de Castro affirmeth the greatest treasure of the world the Moore acknowledging diuine assistance in this victorie triumphed on an Asse Zeila was burnt and sacked by the Portugals An. 1516. as Andrea Corsali who was then present in the action testifieth Adea is situate betweene Adel Abassia and the Sea The Inhabitants are Moores descended of the Arabians who many hundred yeeres agoe partly by their rich traffique and especially by force of armes became Lords not onely of Aian but of all the Sea-coast to Cape dos Corrientes which is somewhat to the South of the Southerly Tropicke In all which space before the Portugall Discoueries that part of the Cities which lay open to the Sea was open and vnfortified but toward the Land were walled for feare of the In-land people Adea payeth tribute to the Abassian In this Kingdome is Magadazzo being it selfe a petite Kingdome of the Moores which are of an oliue colour Braua was a free Towne which with Pate and Gogia were taken by the Portugals vnder Tristan de Cugna All the Countries adioyning to Prester Iohn as Dauid the Emperor in his Letter to King Emanuel relateth are either Moores or Gentiles of which some worship wood and fire some the Sunne others Serpents c. Zanzibar or Zanguebar is a name by the Arabians and Persians giuen to that Tract extending from the Riuer Qualimanci which Ptolemey calls Raptus to the borders of Benomotapa Some in a larger extent include Benomotapa and Cafraria Sanutus affirmeth That it is a lowe fenny and woody Countrie with many Riuers which by extremitie of moysture cause the ayre to bee intemperate From the waste vpwards they goe naked Herein are contayned the Territories of Melinde Mombaza Quiloa Mosambique and others Melinde is the name of a Kingdome and of the chiefe Citie thereof the Inhabitants especially neere to the Sea are Moores and build their houses after the manner of Europe The women are white and the men of colour inclining to white notwithstanding the situation vnder the Line They haue black people also which are Heathens for the most part Of like condition is Mombaza which is said to haue some resemblance with Rhodes but enemie to the Christians and was ruinated by Thomas Cotigno in the yeere 1589. for receiuing Alebech the Turke as Ampaza in the same Coast by Alphonso Mello a yeere or two before §. II. The Portugals exploits in Mombaza and of the Imbij THis Expedition deserues mention because it giues light to the knowledge of other parts adioyning The Portugals holding in manner all these Nations which inhabit from the Cape of Good Hope hitherto either in termes of
principall although she be inferiour in bloud and her sonne succeeds And in seed-time and haruest the Queene goeth to the field and ouerseeth the stuffe esteeming it a great honour Thus farre out of Barrius Iohannes Boterus tels that his chiefe warriours are women namely certaine Amazones which seare off their left paps as Odoardo d Lopez reporteth lest they should hinder their shooting after the manner of the ancient Amazones they are quick bold couragious and constant in battaile and most constant in inconstancie for when they make shew of flight they will returne espying their aduantage with the greatest fury They dwell in certaine Countries by themselues and at certaine times haue men to accompany with them for generation to whom they send their Males reseruing all the Female Children which they haue Thus we find Amazons which the Ancients reported in Asia and Diodorus in Libya now in these times if this report bee true in Aethiopia and Huldericus Shmidel hath told of the like in America Others deny it and none hath yet written of them from his owne sight For my part no Amazonian hath yet conquered my credit In the yeere 1560. Consaluus Silueria with two other Iesuites went from Goa to the Kingdomes of Inhamban and Monomotapa and comming to Inhamban they went to Yonge the City Royall where they baptized the King and all his people in a short space naming the King Constantine the Queene Mary Thence went Consaluus to Monomotapa and so preuailed with his Images Preaching and contempt of the World that he wanne the King and his Mother with multitudes of others to Baptisme But soone after the King by suggestion of the Moores slue him Sebastian in reuenge raysed an Armie of sixteene hundred most of them being Gentlemen which he sent vnder the conduct of Francis Barretto The Benomotapa fearing the Portugals forces offered reasonable conditions which Barretto refusing was discomfited not by the Negro but by the Ayre the malignity whereof the sowre sauce of all these Golden Countryes in Africa consumed his people There are other Kingdomes adioyning to Monomotapa and the Mountaynes of the Moone Matana Melemba Quinbebe Berteca Bauagul of which I can giue you but the names §. II. Of Caphraria the Cape of Good Hope and Soldania CAphraria or the Land of the Caphars is next to bee considered which Maginus boundeth betweene Rio di Spirito Sancto and Cape Negro extending to the Cape of Good Hope Southwards Why hee should call this part the Caphars I know not for the Arabians of whom this word is borrowed giue that name to all the Heathen people in Africa yea both the Arabians and all of their Religion call all such as receiue not that Superstition Caphars euen Christians also as Master Ienkinson long since told vs And for the Heathens in Africa Barrius affirmeth that it is by the Moores giuen to them all signifying Without Law or lawlesse people Zanguebar is in this respect called Cafraria It should seeme it is appropriated to these the Southerliest Nations of Africa for want of other the more true proper names which were vnknowne With the names of the Capes and other places of note Master Pory hath already acquainted his English Reader Onely that notable and famous Cape of Good Hope so named by Iohn the Second King of Portugall for that hope which he conceiued of a way to the Indies when it was first discouered deserueth some mention It hath three head-lands the Westermost beareth name of Good Hope the middlemost Cabo Falso because they haue sometimes in their returne from the Indies mistaken this for the former betweene which two Capes runneth into the Sea a mighty Riuer called by the Portugals Rio dulce which springs out of a Lake called Gale situate among the Mountaynes of the Moone so much celebrated by the ancient Geographers The third and Eastermost is that of Agulhas or Needles about fiue and twenty leagues from the first both which seeme as two hornes wherewith it threatens the Ocean which in these parts is found oftentimes tempestuous and when it cannot preuayle against this rough-faced and horned Promontory it wrekes the whole malice vpon the ships whose ribs in the enraged fits it would breake if they were of Iron as Linschoten testifieth of his owne experience True it is that sometimes it is passed with more ease but not so vsually and Linschoten tels that at his returne from India the Saint Thomas a new Carricke was heere cast away and their ship wherein he sayled in such danger that one while they prayed another while murmured another time would returne backe and the Captaine professed no small maruell why our Lord suffered such good Catholikes to indure such torments and the English Heretickes and Blasphemers to passe so easily The waues there sayth hee strike against a ship as if they strucke against a Hill that if it were of stone it would at last be broken Capaine Lancaster traded with the people neere these parts and for two Kniues bought an Oxe for one a Sheepe c. in good quantity Their Sheepe are great with great tailes but hairy not woolled Their Oxen great not fat but well fleshed The Captaine killed there an Antelope as bigge as a Colt There were diuers great beasts vnknowne to them When they had passed this Cape they lost their Admirall Captaine Raimond and neuer saw them or heard of them more And foure dayes after they found as terrible an Enemy from aboue and encountred with a Thunder clap which slue foure of their men out-right their neckes being wrung asunder And of fourescore and fourteene men there was not one vntouched but some were blind others bruised in their legs and armes or brests others drawne out as if they had beene racked which all yet God be thanked did after recouer The same Sir Iames Lancaster was after this sent Generall for the East India Company which hauing made a stocke of threescore and twelue thousand pound bought the Dragon of sixe hundred tunnes the Hector of three hundred the Ascension of two hundred fourescore the Susan of two hundred and threescore and sent in them in Merchandize and Spanish Money to the value of seuen and twenty thousand pound The Scorbute so weakened their men that they were not able to hoyse out their Boates except in the Generals ship whose men drinking euery morning three spoonefuls of the juyce of Limons were healthfull He bought a thousand sheepe in Soldania and forty two Oxen as bigge as ours the sheepe greater but hairy and might haue bought more for old Iron The people he sayth are tawny Cornelius Houtman sayth Oliue blacke blacker then the Brasilians their haire curled and blacke as in Angola not circumcised clocke like a brood-hen in speaking paint their faces with diuers colours strong actiue swift subiect to Monomotapa they slue some Flemings for wrongs which made the English warie in trading with them
There are certaine creatures as bigge as Rammes and haue wings like Dragons with long tayles and chaps and diuers rowes of teeth and feede vpon raw flesh Their colour is blue and greene their skinne be-painted like scales and they haue but two feet These the Pagan Negros doe worship for gods and at this day many of them are kept for a miracle And because they are very rare the chiefe Lords doe curiously preserue them and suffer the people to worship them in regard of the profit which accrueth to them by the offerings which the people make vnto them Other creatures of these parts are mentioned in the first Chapter of the former Booke Peacocks are not common and are very deare their feathers being vsed for Royall Ensignes The King of Angola bringeth vp some in an inclosed wood and suffereth none to keepe them but himselfe To speake at large of the other fiue Prouinces would bee tedious to the Reader and Master Hartwell hath taught Lopez to speake English of whom such as are desirous may be further satisfied Ouer-against the I le Loanda where the shell-money is gathered is vpon the Continent the Towne of Saint Paul inhabited with Portugals and their wiues The Riuers of Congo are many Bengo Coanza Dande Lembe Ozone Loze Ambriz and the greatest of all Zaire all which haue some either affinitie in mutuall marriages of their streames or consanguinitie in the Fountaynes from whence they flow which are certayne Lakes one of which is Zembre the other Aquelunda In all these Riuers are common the rarities of Nilus the ouer-flowing of the waters Riuer-horses Crocodiles and such like Andrew Battell told mee of a huge Crocodile which was reported to haue eaten a whole Alibamba that is a companie of eight or nine slaues chayned together and at last payed for his greedinesse the chaine holding him slaue as before it had the Negroes and by his vndigestible nature deuouring the Deuourer remayning in the belly of him after he was found in testimonie of this victorie Hee hath seene them watch and take their prey haling a Gennet Man or other Creature into the waters A Souldier thus drawne in by a Crocodile in shallower waters with his knife wounded him in the belly and slue him In their Summer it rayneth not and then the places in their Winter the time of the Sunnes neerest presence attended with daily raynes couered with water doe grow thicke and matted with abundance of little trees herbes and plants which the fatned wombe of that moist soile conceiueth by the directer beames of the Sunne and the ouer-flowing waters in the Winter carry away as it were small Ilands lifting them vp together with the rootes and soile the young Trees and Deere standing and growing thereon carried captiue vnto Neptunes eternall prisons In Bengo and Coanza they are forced to set vp for a time houses vpon cratches their other houses being taken vp for the Riuers lodgings Zaire is of such force that no ship can get in against the Current but neere to the shore yea it preuailes against the Oceans saltnesse threescore and as some say fourescore miles within the Sea before his proud waues yeeld their full homage and receiue that salt temper in token of subiection Such is the haughtie spirit of that streame which ouer-running the low Countries as it passeth and swollen with conceit of daily Conquests and daily Supplies which in Armies of showres are by the clouds sent to his succour runnes now in a furious rage thinking euen to swallow the Ocean which before he neuer saw with his mouth wide gaping eight and twentie miles as Lopez affirmeth in the opening but meeting with a more Giant like enemie which lyes lurking vnder the cliffes to receiue his assault is presently swallowed in that wider wombe yet so as alwayes being conquered hee neuer giues ouer but in an eternall quarrell with deepe indented frownes in his angrie face foaming with disdayne and filling the ayre with noyse with fresh helpe supplies those forces which the Salt-Sea hath consumed In this Riuer is a fish called Ambize Angulo or Hog-fish that hath as it were two hands and a tayle like a target which eateth like a Porke and whereof they make Lard and hath not the sauour or taste of fish It feedeth on the grasse that groweth on the bankes of the Riuer and neuer goeth out it hath a mouth like the moozell of an Oxe there are of them that weigh fiue hundred pound a piece Obseruing where it feedes with weapons in their boats they hinder it from taking water and hauing taken it present it to the King it is vpon perill of life they smoke it as wee doe Bacon and reserue it for dainties About the yeere 1490. Iohn the second King of Portugall sent Consaluo di Sosa with three ships and Priests in them to bring the King and people of Congo to Christian Religion which was effected and although hence arose ciuill warres amongst them yet the matter was at last ended to the aduancement of the Christian Religion such as the Portugals taught and no doubt infinitely better then their Pagan superstition howsoeuer spotted with many Romish staines and from that time to this now an hundred and twentie yeeres hath Congo continued Christian vnder Iohn Alfonso Piedro and the rest of their Kings When the first Bishop of Saint Thomas went into Congo to take possession of his Pastorall charge there for the Kingdome of Congo was annexed to the Bishoprick of Saint Thomas from the Sea-side to the Citie which is an hundred and fiftie miles King Piedro caused the wayes to bee made smooth and trim and couered ouer with mats that the Bishop should not set his feet vpon any part of the ground not adorned all the wayes trees and higher places swarming with people offering Lambes Kids Chickins Partridges Venison Fish and other necessaries to testifie their zeale And at last arriuing at the Citie of Saint Sauiours before called Banza which signifieth a Court and is commonly attributed to all the chiefe Cities where the King of any of those Countries holdeth his residence hee was there receiued by the King and his Nobles and ordayned the Church there to bee the Cathedrall Church of his See which had belonging to it eight and twentie Canons with other Officers and Ornaments vsuall §. III. Of their Heathenish rites Also of their strange Trees and of the I le Loanda AFter Don Piedro succeeded Francisco and after him Diego who being dead his sonne and two other Competitors of the Kingdome were slaine and Henrico brother to Diego was made King and after his death Aluaro whom the Giacchi draue out of his Kingdome till King Sebastian sent Francisco di Geuea to expell them The greatest and most zealous Prince for Christian Religion was Alphonso who on paine of death forbade to all his subiects the hauing or worshipping of Idols which he commanded should be all brought and deliuered to the Lieutenants of
which some exorbitant members burthen themselues and make others by lighting heauy worthily therefore by the Sun of our Great Britaine at the first rising of his morning brightnesse dispersed from our Horizon But how farre is Loanda from Britaine And yet our scope is to bring Loanda and all the World else into our Britaine that our Britaines might see the in and outside of the same Loando is reported as some affirme of Egypt and Nilus to bee the issue of the Oceans sand and Coanzo's mire which in processe of time brought forth in their disagreeing agreement this Iland In Congo the King is Lord Supreme and none hath power to bequeath his goods to his kindred but the King is heire generall to all men CHAP. X. Of Loango the Anzichi Giachi and the great Lakes in those parts of the World §. I. Of Loango IT followeth in the course of our Discouerie to set you on shore in Loango the Northerly neighbour of Congo right vnder the Line whose Countrie stretched two hundred miles within Land The people are called Bramas the King Mani Loango sometimes as report goeth subiect to the King of Congo They are Circumcised after the maner of the Hebrews like as also the rest of the Nations of those Countries vse to be They haue aboundance of Elephants and weare cloathes of Palme Andrew Battell liued amongst them two yeares and a halfe They are saith he Heathens and obserue many Superstitions They haue their Mokisso's or Images to which they offer according to the proportion of their sorts and suits The Fisher offereth fish when he sueth for his helpe in his fishing the Countrey-man Wheat the Weauer Alibungo's pieces of cloth other bring bottles of wine all wanting that they would haue and bringing what they want furnishing their Mokisso with those things whereof they complaine themselues to be dis-furnished Their Ceremonies for the dead are diuers They bring Goats and let them bleed at the Mokisso's foot which they after consume in a Feasting memoriall of the deceased party which is continued foure or fiue dayes together and that foure or fiue seuerall times in the yeere by all of his friends and kindred The dayes are knowne and though they dwell twenty miles th ende yet they will resort to these memoriall-Exequies and beginning in the night will sing dolefull and funerall songs till day and then kill as aforesaid and make merry The hope of this maketh such as haue store of friends to contemne death and the want of friends to bewayle him makes a man conceiue a more dreadfull apprehension of Death Their conceit is so rauished with superstition that many dye of none other death Kin is the name of vnlawfull and prohibited meat which according to each kindreds deuotion to some Family is some kinde of Fish to another a Hen to another a Buffe and so of the rest in which they obserue their vowed abstinence so strictly that if any should though at vnawares eate of this Kin he would dye of conceit alway presenting to his accusing conscience the breach of his vow and the anger of Mokisso Hee hath knowne diuers thus to haue died and sometimes would when some of them had eaten with him make them beleeue that they had eaten of their Kin till hauing sported himselfe with their superstitious agony he would affirme the contrary They vse to set in their Fields and places where Corne or Fruits grow a Basket with Goats-hornes Parrats feathers and other trash This is the Mokisso's Ensigne or token that it is commended to his custodie and therefore the people very much addicted to theft dare not meddle or take any thing Likewise if a man wearied with his burthen lay it downe in the high-way and knit a knot of grasse and lay thereon or leaue any other note knowne to them to testifie that hee hath left it there in the name of his Idol it is secured from the lime-fingers of any passenger Conceit would kill the man that should transgresse in this kinde In the Banza or chiefe Citie the chiefe Idol is named Chekoke Euery day they haue there Market and the Chekoke is brought forth by the Ganga or Priest to keep good rule and is set in the Market-place to preuent stealing Moreouer the King hath a Bell the strokes whereof sound such terrour into the heart of the fearfull thiefe that none dare keepe any stolne goods after the sound of that Bell. Our Author inhabited in a little Reed-house after the Loango manner and had hanging by the wals in a Cloth-case his Piece wherewith hee vsed to shoot Fowles for the King which more for loue of the Cloth then for the Peece was stolne Vpon complaint this Bell in forme like a Cowbell was carried about rung with proclamation to make restitution and he had his Peece the next morning set at his doore The like another found in a bagge of Beads of a hundred pound weight stolne from him and recouered by the sound of this Bell. They haue a dreadfull and deadly kind of tryall in Controuersies after this manner There is a little Tree or Shrub with a small Root is called Imbunda about the bignesse of ones thumbe halfe a foot long like a white Carrot Now when any listeth to accuse a Man or Family or whole Street of the death of any of his friends saying That such a man bewitched him the Ganga assembleth the accused parties and scrapes that Root the scrapings wherof he mixeth with water which makes it as bitter as gall hee tasted of it one Root will serue for the tryall of a hundred men The Ganga brewes the same together in Gourds and with Plantine stalkes hitteth euery one after they had drunke with certaine words Those that haue receiued the drinke walke by till they can make Vrine and then they are thereby freed Others abide till either Vrine trees them or dizzinesse takes them which the people no sooner perceiue but they cry Vndoke Vndoke that is naughty Witch and hee is no sooner fallen by his dizzinesse but they knocke him on the head and dragging him away hurle him ouer the Cliffe In euery Liberty they haue such Tryals which they make in cases of Theft and death of any person Euery weeke it fals out that some or other vndergoes this tryall which consumeth multitudes of people There be certaine persons called Dunda which are borne of Negro-Parents and yet are by some vnknowne cause white They are very rare and when such happen to be born they are brought to the King and become great Witches They are his Councellors and aduise him of lucky and vnlucky dayes for execution of his enterprises When the King goes any whither the Dundas goe with him and beat the ground round about with certaine Exorcismes before the King sits downe and then sit downe by him They will take any thing in the Market not daring to contradict them Kenga is the landing place of Loango They haue
Haruest and inuading some Country there stay as long as they find the Palmes or other sufficient meanes of mayntenance and then seeke new aduenture For they neyther plane or sowe nor breed vp Cattle and which is more strange they nourish vp none of their owne children although they haue ten or twenty wiues a man of the properest and comeliest slaues they can take But when they they are in trauell they digge a hole in the Earth which presently receiueth in that darke prison of death the new borne Creature not yet made happy with the light of life Their reason is that they will not bee troubled with education nor in their flitting wanderings be troubled with such cumbersome burthens Once a secret Prouidence both punisheth the Fathers wickednesse and preuenteth a viperous Generation if that may bee a preuention where there is a succession without Generation and as Plinie saith of the Esseni Gene aeterna est in qua nemo nascitur For of the conquered Nations they preserue the Boyes from ten to twenty yeeres of age and bring them vp as the hope of their succession like Negro Azimogli with education fitting their designes These weare a Collar about their necke in token of slauery vntill they bring an Enemies head slaine in battaile and then they are vncollared freed and dignified with the title of Souldiers If one of them runnes away he is killed and eaten So that hemmed in betwixt hope and feare they grow very resolute and aduentrous their Collars breeding shame disdaine and desperate fury till they redeeme their freedome as you haue heard Elembe the great Iagge brought with him twelue thousand of these cruell Monsters from Sierra Liona and after much mischiefe and spoyle settled himselfe in Benguele twelue degrees from the Line Southwards and there breedeth and groweth into a Nation But Kelandula somtime his Page proceeds in that beastly life before mentioned and the people of Elembe by great troupes runne to him and follow his Campe in hope of spoyle They haue no Fetisso's or Idols The great Iagge or Prince is Master of all their Ceremonies and is a great Witch I haue seene this Kelandula sayth our Author continue a Sacrifice from Sun to Sun the rites whereof are these Himselfe sat on a stoole in great pompe with a Cap adorned with Peacockes feathers which fowles in one Countrey called Shelambanza are found wild and in one place empaled about the graue of the King are fifty kept and fed by an old woman and are called Iugilla Mokisso that is Birds of Mokisso Now about him thus set attended forty or fifty women each of them weauing continually a Zebras tayle in their hands There were also certaine Gangas Priests or Witches Behind them were many with Drummes and Pipes and Pungas certaine Instruments made of Elephants teeth made hollow a yard and halfe and with a hole like a Flute which yeeld a lowd and harsh sound that may bee heard a myle off These strike and sound and sing and the women weaue as is said till the Sunne be almost downe Then they bring forth a pot which is set on the fire with leaues and roots and the water therein and with a kind of white powder the Witches or Gangas spot themselues one on the one cheeke the other on the other and likewise their foreheads temples brests shoulders and bellies vsing many inchanting tearmes which are holden to be Prayers for Victory At Sun-set a Ganga brings his Kissengula or War-hatchet to the Prince this weapon they vse to weare at their girdles and putting the same in his hand bids him be strong their God goes with him and he shall haue victory After this they bring him foure or fiue Negros of which with a terrible countenance the great Iagge with his Hatchet kils two and other two are killed without the Fort. Likewise fiue Kine are slaine within and other fiue without the Fort and as many Goats and as many Dogs after the same manner This is their Sacrifice at the end whereof all the flesh is in a Feast consumed Andrew Battle was commanded to depart when the slaughter began for their Deuill or Mokisso as they said would then appeare and speake to them This Sacrifice is called Kissembula which they solemnize when they attempt any great enterprize There were few left of the naturall Iagges but of this vnnaturall brood the present succession was raysed §. IIII. Of the Lakes and Riuers in these parts of Africa NOw that we haue thus discoursed of these former Nations let vs take view of the more in-land and Easterly borders which abut on Congo where wee shall finde the great Lake Aquilunda which with her many Riuers aforesaid watereth all that great Countrey assisted therein by a farre greater Lake called Zembre great Mother and chiefe Ladie of the Waters in Africa As for the Mountaynes of the Moone now called Toroa there is a Lake called Gale of no great quantity whence issueth a Riuer named Comissa and by the Portugals the sweet Riuer disembarquing at the False Cape an arme whereof had before entred the Sea in 32. degrees 40. minutes of Infante one of Dias his companions in the first Discouery of those parts called Infanto because hee there went first on Land But from those Hils of the Moone the Lake whence Nilus springeth hath no helpe Neyther are there two Lakes East and West distant from each other about foure hundred and fifty miles as Ptolemey describeth for then the one should be in the Confines of Congo and Angola the other about Sofala and Monomotapa where is found but one Lake for Aquilunde is no tributary to Nilus This Lake is betweene Angola and Monomotapa and contayneth in Diameter 195. miles There is indeed another Lake which Nilus maketh in his course but standeth Northward from the first Lake Zembre and not in East or West parallel Neyther doth Nilus as some affirme hide it selfe vnder the ground and after rise againe but runneth through monstrous and Desart Valleyes without any setled channell and where no pleople inhabited from whence that fabulous opinion did grow This Lake is situate in twelue degrees of Southerly Latitude and is compassed about like a Vault with exceeding high Mountaynes the greatest whereof are called Cafates vpon the East and the Hils of Sal-Nitrum and the Hils of Siluer on another side and on the other side with diuers other Mountaynes The Riuer Nilus runneth Northwards many hundred miles and then entreth into another great Lake which the Inhabitants doe call a Sea It is much bigger then the first and contayneth in breadth two hundred and twenty miles right vnder the Equinoctiall Line Of this second Lake the Anzichi giue certaine and perfect intelligence for they traffique into those parts And they report That in this second Lake there is a people that sayleth in great ships and can write and vseth number weight and measure which they haue not in the parts of
signifying Red and habitation not very farre distant make enough probable by others to the repercussion of the Sunne-beames by others to the colour of the Sand and Earth in the bottome and by others to the nature of the Water it selfe Solinus affirmeth it is called Erythraeum of King Erythrus the Sonne of Perseus and Andromade and not only of the colour alledging Varro that learned Romane for his Authour who also mentioneth a Fountayne on the shoare thereof which changeth the colour of the Sheepes fleeces which drinke thereof into a duskish and darker colour Strabo citeth the testimony of Nearchus and Orthagoras concerning the I le Tyrina two thousand furlongs from Carmania in which the Sepulchre of Erythras is shewed being a great Hill planted with trees and that he raigned in those parts and left his name thereunto which they learned of Mithropastes who flying from Darius had liued in that Iland Barrius writeth That Alfonso Dalboquerque that victorious Portugall who subdued so many Ilands Seas and Kingdomes to that Crowne in a Letter to King Emanuel affirmeth That it may be called the Red Sea of certayne red spots or staines which are seene therein and when he entred into the Streits he encountred a great veine of red water extending it selfe from Aden as farre as they could see from the ships tops These red veines of water the Moores ascribed to the ebbing and flowing of that Sea Iohn di Castro afterwards Viceroy of India sayled to the bottome of Streit as farre as Suez and much laboured to find the cause why it should be called the Red Sea there knowne only by the name of the Sea of Mecca and they maruelled much at our name Red. He or Gaspar Aloisius which writ the Booke of this Voyage which my friend Master Hakluyt communicated to mee sayth that the colour of this Sea is as of other Seas neyther is there red dust blowne in by the winds but the Land generally on both sides is browne and very darke as if it were scorched in some places blacke and in some white the Sands are of ordinary colour onely in three places were certaine Mountaynes with veines of red which were hard Rocke In many places the waues seeme very red by accident but taking vp the water in a Vessell out of the Sea it seemed cleerer and more Crystalline then that without the Straits Hee caused also some to diue which did bring him out of the sandy bottome a red matter branched like Corall In other places where were greene spots in the Sea were taken out greene branches and where the Sea was white the sand there vnder was very white and though the depth in some places amounted to twenty fathome yet the purity of the Chrystalline waters caused this transparent colour Neere to Suachen he found most of those spots and from thence to Alcocer the space of one hundred thirty sixe leagues The Sea in this space hath many shelues the ground whereof is Coral-stone of which one sort is red the other very white The white Sands in the bottome make it seeme white the Ooze greene that Corally substance red which in that space was the most of the three But neerer the bottome towards Suez in a great space hee saw none Further without the Strait he saw such red spots or veines of water at Cape Fartach as if Oxen had beene slaine there yet the water taken vp in a Vessell seemed cleere and hee supposed that this rednesse proceeded of the Whales bringing forth their young Barrius misliketh that coniecture and those other of Antiquity in searching the cause of this name of Red and is of opinion That the violent currents of the Tydes assisted with some tempestuous winds rayse vp from the bottome that red floore whereof we haue spoken and cause by the motion of the same vnder the water that rednesse in the vpper face thereof which is in more spacious quantity neere the Straits where there is greatest force of the Tydes and the threeds or straines of this rednesse are lesse in the greater and more spacious Sea-roome The Portugall Pilots first thought that the winds brought out red dust from the dry soyle of Arabia which no mans experience hath confirmed Andrea Corsali which sayled and warred vnder the Portugals in these Seas Anno 1516. sayth hee knowes not why it should be called red for the water is coloured as in other Seas which seemeth to crosse the former reports and may eyther bee construed of the water generally not discoloured or perhaps while hee was there the Tydes and Winds did not conspire so boysterously as at some other times they doe against the yeelding and weaker soyle in the bottome thereof Our English Pilots haue giuen later and better light in their Trade at Moha and other places as in the first and second parts of our Bookes of Voyages is euident But the most Learned Pilot for the Erythraean Antiquities is Master Fuller who in the last Chapiter of his fourth Booke examineth the Graecian Fables of Ayatharchides Ctesias Ourainus Pausanias of Boxus also Mela Plinie and the rest and at last concludeth that of Esaus name Edom the Countrey was called Edumaea farre larger then that of Ptolomey besides it contayning a great part of Petraea and all Nabathea and of that Countrey coasting so great a part of that Sea as appeares by Salomons and Iehoshaphats Ophyrian Nauies built at Ezion-Geber in Edumaea their owne Countrey the Sea adioyning was called Edumaean or in Greeke interpretation Erythraean that is Rubrum or Red as Cephas the name properly by Christ giuen to the first of the Apostles is commonly in a Greeke interpretation called Peter Howeuer it be for this rednesse many deceiue themselues in streitning this name to the Arabian Gulfe which the Ancients gaue vnto all the Seas from Aegypt to India and reckon the Persian and Arabian Gulfes armes of the Red Sea Yea Arrianus not hee that writ Alexanders life who yet in the report of Nearchus his voyage from Indus to the Riuer Tigris calls it the Red Sea but another of that name in his Periplus of the Erythrean Sea translated and illustrated with a large Commentarie by Stuckius and set forth by Ortelius in a peculiar Map thereof comprehendeth in the title of the Red Sea all from Arsinoe and Egypt to Malacca or the Chersonesus Aurea Hauing now troubled you with the name why and how farre the name extendeth wee may view the Ilands therein situate which if any would more fully know let him reade Arrianus and Barrius and the voyage of Solyman Bassa 1538. vnto Diu written by Damianus in Latine and by a Venetian in Ramusius who was present in the action I must but touch the principall §. II. Of the chiefe Townes and Ilands in the Red Sea SVes is neere the beginning of the Sea which some suppose to bee that which the Ancients call Arsinoe after others Heroum here is the
the barke like hard beame six or seuen yards high with ragged boughs with the leafe like that of the Bay-tree white on the bottome greene on the other side It beareth nor flower nor fruit situate in the dectiuitie of a Hill withered in the day dropping in the night a cloud hanging thereon yeelding water sufficient for the whole Iland which he saith if report deceiued him not Sir Edward Skory heard of many fewer 8000 soules and aboue 100000 beasts It fals into a Pond made of Bricke floored thicke with stone by pipes of lead conuayed from the tree thither and thence diuided into diuers Ponds thorow the Iland fetched vp hill by barrels The Pond holds 20000 tunnes and is filled in a night Thus he related to me Hierro and Gomera and Lancarato are in the hands of priuate men Madera standeth in two and thirty degrees it is the greatest of all the Atlantike Iles. It was discouered by one Matham an English man who arriued there by tempest Anno. 1344 together with a Woman whom he there buried and on her Tombe did write his comming and the cause thereof with his and her names and was occasion to the King of Spaine to discouer that and the Canaries It was called Madera of the wildernesses of Trees there growing Heere is a Citie called Fouchal The I le containeth in compasse a hundred and forty miles The woods which gaue name to the Iland were fiered and burnt so furiously that the people for a time were forced to go some space into the Sea from the violent heat which caused such fatnesse to the soyle that at first it yeelded threescore fold since halfe so much The excellent Wines were of Vines first brought from Candie They bring foorth more grapes saith he than leaues and Clusters of two three and foure spans long At first the Pigeons suffered themselues to be taken not knowing and therefore not fearing a man Forty miles from the I le of Madera is the I le of Puerto or Porto Santo called of all Saints day in which it was first discouered Anno 1428. It was taken by Sir Amias Preston 1596. Heere are such store of Conies bred of one shee-Cony brought hither great with yong that the Ilanders were out of hope almost to withstand and amend their damages by them sustained A little Iland neere to this breedeth nothing else And now we can accompany our Portugals no further But before I left these Ilands I thought fit to feast you with some obseruations of an eye-witnesse elegant spectator and learned Gentleman Sir Edmund Scory §. III. Extracts taken out of the Obseruations of the Right Worshipfull Sir Edmund Scory Knight of the Pike of Tenariffe and other rarities which hee obserued there TEneriffe is the pleasantest of the Canary Ilands This Iland hath beene called Niuaria by reason of the Snow which like a Collar enuironeth the necke of the Pike of Teyda The name of Tenariffe was imposed by the inhabitants of the Palme Iland for Tener in the Palmesian language signifies Snow and Iffe an Hill It is situate in the Atlanticke Ocean fourescore leagues from the Coast of Affricke It is in forme triangular extending it selfe into three Capes and stands within eight and twenty degrees of the equinoctiall The great mountaine of Teyda commonly called the Pike of Tenariffe is a Mountaine which begets I know not whether a greater attention when you come to it or when you behold from a farre off but in both very great The Base of it beginneth at the Port-towne of Gara-chico from whence it is two dayes iourney and a halfe to the top of it The point of which though it seeme as sharpe as a Sugar-loafe which figure of all other it doth most resemble yet is there a flat of an acre in breadth on the top of it in the midst of that flat a gulph out of which great stones are with like noise fire and smoke many times cast forth Seuen leagues off this way may bee trauelled vpon Asses or Mules the rest on foot and with great difficultie All the Countries lying about the ascent of the Hill for ten miles vpwards are ouer-growne or rather adorned with the goodliest trees in the world of diuers sorts by reason of the multitude of Springs which intermingling one with another and with the addition of the violent winter Raines descend in huge torrents downe into the Sea In the midst of this hill is the cold intolerable in the top the heat and so likewise in the bottome Through all the cold Region you must cast your iourny to trauel on the South side and in the day time through all the hot Region which is within two leagues of the top on the North side and in the night time Euery man carrieth his owne portion of victuals and Borrachocs of Wine Your time of approach to the top must bee about Midsommer for the auoiding of the torrents caused by the snowes and about two of the clocke in the morning and so you may abide there vntill sun-rising but no longer The Sun being exalted aboue the Horizon of the Ocean seemeth far lesse then when you are on the lower ground and seemes to whirle it selfe about in manner of a Gyre The streame that commeth out of the East a little before his rising can be compared to nothing more properly then to the breath of an hot Ouen and so commeth on his course through an vnclouded Heauen being of a pure blue Christalline colour without the least spot in it When you are on the top of this Hill all the Iland lyeth subiected like a plaine and leuell plot of ground vnder you although there are in this Iland not so few as twenty thousand sharpe deformed and vneuen Rockes and all the edges of that plaine ground seemeth to bee lifted or fringed with Snow which indeed is nothing else but the white Cloudes which are many furlongs below you Neere the top of this Mountayne it neuer reigneth neyther was there euer any wind stirring thereupon The same is reported of the Hill Olympus All the vpper part of this Mountayne is afflicted with barrennesse wanting the generatiue benefit of the lower and middle Regions of the Aire for no manner of tree shrub or leafe beautifieth the head thereof but it resteth disgraced with an vnseemely baldnesse out of which towards the South side doe the veines of Brimstone issue downe into the necke thereof where the Region of Snow is among which the Brimstone is interueined in diuers places In the Summer time the fires doe ofter breake forth from out the hole in the top of this Hill into which if you throwe a great stone it soundeth as if a great weight had falne vpon infinite store of hollow Brasse The Spaniards merrily cal it the Deuils Caldron wherein the whole prouision of Hell is boyled But the naturals the Guanches themselues do say that it
flat hearth against a wall and there they toaste their meate rather then roast it The decency of their streets in commendable for when you are in the centre of the City your eye reacheth almost to the extreamest parts thereof They haue no want of water The City hath its name from a great standing Lake at the West end of it vpon which there are cōmonly diuers sorts of fresh water-fowles The haggard Falcons doe euery euening flye vpon this Lake and the Negros with slings beate them which is the noblest sport of that kind in the world for the stoopings are many and at one time and the Hawkes the strongest and best mettalled of all other of a greater kind then the Barbary Falcons The Viceroy being one euening to see this naturall sport and he demanding of me what I thought thereof and I iustly commending the strength and mettall of the Hawkes assured me vpon his honour that a Falcon bred in that Iland which hee had formerly sent to the Duke of Lermo did at one flight except she rested vpon ships by the way passe from Andaluzia to Tenariff which is 250. Spanish leagues and was there taken vp halfe dead with the Dukes Varuels on And the time from her going out to her being taken vp exceeded not sixteene houres c. But I dare not dwell any longer with this industrious Gentleman in these Canaries and had need borrow the wings of one of these Hawkes to make a swift flight to some other African Ilands where next you shall find vs within the Mediterranean §. IIII. Of Malta and the Nauigations about Africa WIthin the Straits are no great Ilands belonging to Africa Pennon or the Rock against Velles de Gumera the I le of Gerbi some others Malta is the most famous where in old time was the Temple of Iuno spoyled by Verres supposed to be that Melita where Paul suffered shipwrack although there be another Melita in the Adriatike Sea neere to Dalmatia Polybius calleth it Melytusa as Volaterranus writeth Ptolomie and Cicero name Melita now called Malta in this I le of Malta This Malta is distant from Sicilia 60. miles from Africa 190. It hath bin sometime subiect to the Carthaginians as may appeare by diuers Monuments with Inscriptions of Carthaginian Letters and the Ilanders it our Authour say truely can vnderstand that Scene in Plautus before mentioned Eloi Effetcha Cumi words vsed in Scripture are likewise vsed in the Maltese Their manner of life is Sicilian But we may not dwell here Some ascribe Pauls shipwracke to Melita in the Adriatike neere to Dalmatia whom Beza learnedly confuteth : and prooueth it to bee that Malta which now the Knights hold against the Turke whose valour and successe in resisting that mighty Turkish Aduersary Curio and Io. Antonius Viperanus in their Bookes of that Argument Knolles in his Turkish History Ri. Carre and others relate at large It was An. 1565. That which deceiueth those Men in Malta is the name of the Adriatike Sea which now is giuen to the gulfe of Venice but then as Beza Aretius shew out of Strabo l. 3. was giuen to the Ionian Sea also and further Southwards where Mal a standeth and Ortelius out or Ouid and others proueth the same as doth also that Epitome of all Learning Io. Scaliger That learned Gentleman M. Sandys in the fourth Book of his Iournall hath largely related of this Iland It contayneth after his description sixty miles in circuit a Countrey altogether champaine being no other then a Rock couered ouer with earth but two foot where deepest hauing few trees but such as beare fruit whereof all sorts plentifully so that their wood they haue from Sicilia Yet there is a great Thistle which together with Cow-dung serues the Countrey people for fewell the lesse needfull by the immoderate heate there exceeding far any other seated in the same parallel yet sometimes tempered by the winds to which it lies open Riuers here are none but sundry Fountaynes The soyle produceth no graine but Barley bread made of it and Oliues is the Villagers ordinary dyet and with the straw they sustayne their Cattle Commin-seed Annis-seed and Hony they haue here in abundance and an indifferent quantity of the best Cotton Wooll The Inhabitants dye more by Age then Diseases and heretofore were reputed fortunate for their excellency in Arts curious weauing This Iland was giuen by Charles the Fift to the Knights Hospitalers after their losse of Rhodes whose first seat was the Hospitall of S. Iohn in Ierusalem built by one Gerard at such time as the Holy Land became famous by the successeful expeditions of the Christians whose rites are recorded by many Authors but by vs to be reserued for another taske There are sixty Villages in the Iland vnder the command of ten Captaines and foure Cities Old Malta supposed the worke of the Phoenicians is seated on a Hill in the mids of the Iland kept with a Garrison though of small importance In it is a Grot of great veneration because they suppose that Paul lay there after his shipwracke The other three Cities if they may so bee termed are about eight miles distant and not much without a Musket shot each of other neere the East end and on the North side of the Iland where there is a double Hauen diuided by a tongue of a Rock On the top of this tongue stands the Castle of S. Hermes after 20000. shot and the losse of 10000. liues taken by the Turks But so could they not that of S. Angelo which onely Burgo escaped their fury in that their siege After their departure when the Knights had thought to haue abandoned the Iland by the helps of the Pope Florentine and especially the Spaniard they were furnished with prouisions for new fortifications and added a new strong City called Valetta in honour of him that then was their Great Master Iohn de Valetta The Great Masters Palace is a princely structure the market place spacious the Church of S. Paul magnificent as that also of S. Iohn the houses vniforme of free stone two stories flat roofed S. Iohns Hospitall giues entertaynment to all that fall sick the attendants many the beds ouer-spred with faire Canopies euery fortnight hauing change of linnen serued by the Iunior Knights in siluer and euery Friday by the Great Master accompanied with the great Crosses a seruice whereto they are obliged as their name of Hospitular Knights also importeth It is victualled for three yeeres supplied from Siçilia The Iland hath not of liuing soules aboue 20000. Their expeditions are vsually but for booties The people almost as tawny as Moores the heat makes them sleep at noone These Votaries haue store of Curtizans for the most part Greeks which sit playing in their doores on Instruments by their eyes bewitching vnstable soules their vow rather prohibiting if the practice interpret Mariage then incontinencie
apprehended at Sea by a mighty and tedious storme wherewith after many dayes they were brought to Estotiland aboue a thousand miles West from Frisland vpon which one of the Boats was cast away and sixe men that were in it were taken and brought to a populous Citie where one that spake Latine and had beene cast by chance vpon that Iland in the name of the King asked them what Country-men they were and vnderstanding their case he acquainted the King there with They dwelt there fiue yeeres and found it to bee an Iland very rich being little lesse then Iseland farre more fruitfull One of them said he saw Latine Bookes in the Kings Librarie which they at this present doe not vnderstand They haue a peculiar Language and Letters or Characters to themselues They haue Mines of Gold and other Metals and haue trade with Engroneland They sow Corne and make Beere and Ale They build Barks but know not the vse of the Compasse and haue many Cities and Castles The King sent these Fisher-men with twelue Barkes Southwards to a Countrey which they call Drogio in which Voyage escaping dreadfull Tempests at Sea they encountred with Canibals at Land which deuoured many of them These Fishers shewing them the manner of taking Fish with Nets escaped and for the presents which they made of their fish to the chiefe men of the Countrey were beloued and honoured One of these more expert it seemeth then the rest was holden in such account that a great Lord made warre with their Lord to obtayne him and so preuayled that he and his company were sent vnto him And in this order was he sent to fiue and twenty Lords which had warred one with another to get him in thirteene yeeres space whereby hee came to know almost all those parts which hee said was a great Country and as it were a New World The people are all rude and void of goodnesse they goe naked neyther haue they wit to couer their bodies with the Beasts skins which they take in hunting from the vehement cold They are fierce and eat their Enemies hauing diuers Lawes and Gouernours Their liuing is by hunting Further to the Southwest they are more ciuill and haue a more temperate Ayre They haue Cities and Temples dedicated to Idols where they sacrifice men and after eate them and haue also some vse of Gold and Siluer He fled away secretly and conueying himselfe from one Lord to another came at length to Drogio where hee dwelt three yeeres After this time finding there certaine Boates of Estotiland he went thither with them and growing there very rich furnished a Barke of his owne and returned into Frisland where hee made report vnto his Lord of that wealthy Countrey Zichumi prepared to send thither but three dayes before they set forth this Fisherman dyed Yet taking some of the Mariners which came with him in his stead they prosecuted the Voyage and encountred after many dayes an Iland where ten men of diuers Languages were brought vnto them of which they could vnderstand none but one of Island He told them That the Iland was called Icaria and the Knights thereof called Icari descended of the ancient pedigree of Dodalus King of Scots who conquering that Iland left his Sonne there for King and left them those Lawes which to that present they retayned And that they might keepe their Lawes inuiolate they would receiue no stranger Onely they were contented to receiue one of our men in regard of the Language as they had done those ten Interpreters Zichumi sayling hence in foure dayes descried Land where they found abundance of Fowle and Birds Egges for their refreshing The Hauen they called Cape Trinity There was a Hill which burning cast out smoake where was a Spring from which issued a certaine water like Pitch which ranne into the Sea The people of small stature wilde and fearefull hid themselues in Caues Zichumi built there a Citie and determining to inhabit sent Antonio backe againe with the most of his people to Frisland This History I haue thus inserted at large which perhaps not without cause in some thinges may seeme fabulous not in the Zeni which thus writ but in the Relations which they receiued from others Howsoeuer the best Geographers are beholden to these Brethren for that little knowledge they haue of these parts of which none before had written nor since haue there beene any great in-land Discoueries §. II. Discoueries made by SEBASTIAN CABOT CORTREGALIS GOMES with some notes of Groenland SOmewhat since there hath beene discouered by Gasper Corteregale a Portugall Stephen Gomes a Spaniard and Sebastian Cabot and more by later Pilots of our Nation but little of the disposition of the In-land people Yea it was thought to be all broken Ilands and not inhabited but at certayne seasons frequented by some Saluages which come thither to fish Such as we can in due order we here bestow Sebastian Cabot reported to Ramusio that in the yeere 1497. at the charge of King Henry the Seuenth he discouered to the 67. degree and a halfe of Northerly latitude minding to haue proceeded for the search of Cathay but by the mutiny of the Mariners was forced to returne The Map of Sebastian Cabot cut by Clement Adams relateth That Iohn Cabot a Venetian and his Sonne Sebastian set out from Bristoll discouering the Land called it Prima Vista and the Iland before it Saint Iohns The Inhabitants weare beasts skinnes There were white Beares and Stags farre greater then ours There were plenty of Seales and Soles aboue a yard long He named sayth Peter Martyr certaine Ilands Boccalaos of the store of those fish which the Inhabitants called by that name which with their multitudes sometimes stayed his ships The Beares caught these fish with their clawes and drew them to land and ate them In the time of Henry the Seuenth William Purchas being then Maior of London were brought vnto the King three men taken in the New-found Iland these were clothed in beasts skins and did eate raw flesh But Cabot discouered all along the Coast to that which since is called Florida and returning found great preparations for wars in Scotland by reason whereof no more consideration was had to this Voyage Whereupon he went into Spaine and being entertayned by the King and Queene was sent to discouer the Coasts of Brasill and sayled vp into the Riuer of Plate more then six score leagues He was a made Pilot Maior of Spaine and after that Anno 1549. was constituted Grand Pilot of England by King Edward the Sixt with the yeerely Pension of an hundred threescore and sixe pounds thirteene shillings foure pence Where in the yeere 1553. hee was chiefe dealer and procurer of the Discouery of Russia and the North-east Voyages made by Sir Hugh Willoughby R. Chancelour Stephen Burrough and prosecuted by Pet Iackman and others towards Noua Zemla Persia Tartaria as in Master Hakluits first
Discouerers vtterly deny this History affirming that there are but Cabans here and there made with Perkes and couered with barkes of trees or with skins and both the Riuer and inhabited place is called Pemtegoet and not Agguncia And there can be no great Riuer as they affirme because the great Riuer Canada hath like an insatiable Merchant engrossed all these water-commodities so that other streames are in manner but meere Pedlers The Armouchiquois are a traiterous and theeuish people next vnneighbourly neighbours to the Etechemins they are light-footed and lime-fingered as swift in running away with their stollen prey as the Grey-hound in pursuing it Champlein testifieth that the Armouchiquois are deformed with little heads short bodies armes small like a bone as are their thighs also their legges great and long and disproportioned with likenesse of proportion when they sit on their heeles their knees are halfe a foot higher then their heads They are valiant and planted in the best Countrey Monsieur du Point arriued in those parts in the yeere 1605. and du Monts remoued the French Habitation to the Port-Royall Monsieur de Pourtrincourt sailed thither in the yeere 1606. and with him the Author of the Booke called Noua Francia who hath written the Rites and Customes of these Countries Hee saith that the Armouchiquois are a great people but haue no adoration They are vicious and bloudy Both they and the Souriquois haue the industry of Painting and Caruing and doe make Pictures of Birds Beasts and Men both in stone and wood as well as the workmen in these parts They as is said ascribe not Diuine worship to any thing but yet acknowledge some Spirituall and inuisible Power I know not by what Diuine Iustice and Iniustice of the Diuell it comes to passe that God hath giuen some men vp so farre vnto the Diuels tyrannie that he hath banished out of their hearts the knowledge and worship of the True God and yet the nature of Man cannot be without apprehension of some greater and more excellent Nature and rather then want of all Religion they will haue a Religious-irreligious commerce with the Diuell Yea the more all knowledge of God is banished the baser seruice doe Men in doing and suffering yeeld to the Diuell as to leaue other parts to their owne places it falleth out in these Regions The Prince and greatest Commander of Men among them seemes by this meanes to bee the Diuels Vicegerent and by wizardly and diuellish practices to vp-hold his owne greatnesse So it was with Sagamos Membertou if any body were sicke he was sent for he made inuocations on the Diuell he bloweth vpon the partie grieued maketh incision sucketh the bloud from it a practice vsed in very many Countries of the Continent and Ilands of America if it be a wound he healeth it after the same maner applying a round slice of Beauers stones Some present is therefore made to him of Venison or skinnes If it be a question to haue newes of things absent hauing first questioned with his spirit he rendereth his Oracle commonly doubtfull very often false and sometimes true He rendered a true Oracle of the comming of Poutrincourt to du Pont saying his Diuell had told him so When the Sauages are hungry they consult with Membertous Oracle and he telleth them the place whither they shall goe and if there be no game found the excuse is that the Beast hath wandered and changed place but very often they finde And this makes them beleeue that the Diuell is a God and know none other although they yeeld him no adoration When these Aoutmoins so they call these Wizards consult with the Diuell they fixe a staffe in a pit to which they tye a Cord and putting their head into the pit make inuocations or coniurations in a language vnknowne to the others that are about and this with beatings and howlings vntill they sweat with paine When this Diuell is come the Master Aoutmoin makes them beleeue that hee holds him tyed by his cord and holdeth fast against him forcing him to giue him an answer before he let him goe That done he beginneth to sing something in the praises as it seemeth of the Diuel that hath discouered some game vnto them and the other Sauages that are there make answer with some concordance of musicke among them Then they dance with songs in another not vulgar language after which they make a fire and leape ouer it and put halfe a pole out of the top of the Cabin where they are with something tied thereto which the Diuell carrieth away Memberton carried at his necke the marke of his profession which was a purse triangle-wise couered with their imbroidered worke within which there was somewhat as bigge as a Nut which he said was his Diuell called Aoutem This function is successiue and by tradition they teach their eldest sonnes the mysterie of this iniquitie Euery Sagamos either is or hath his Aoutmoin The men and women weare their blacke haire long hanging loose ouer the shoulder wherein the men sticke a feather the women a bodkin They are much troubled with a stinging fly for preuention whereof they rub themselues with a certaine kinde of grease and oyles They paint their faces with blue or red but not their bodies For their marriages they are contracted with the consent of Parents who will not giue their Daughters in marriage to any except he be a good hunter The women are said to bee chaste and the contrary seldome found and though the husband hath many wiues yet is there no iealousie among them The widowes heere if there husbands be killed wil not marrie againe nor eate flesh till their death be reuenged Otherwise they make no great difficultie which Cartier reporteth of Canada to marry againe if they find a fit match Sometimes the Sauages hauing many wiues will giue one to their friend if he likes her so to disburden themselues The women eate not with the men in their meetings but apart When they make feasts they them end with dances all in a round to which one singeth at the end of euery song all make a loud long exclamation and to be the more nimble they strip themselues starke naked If they haue any of their enemies heads or armes they will carry them as a iewell about their necks whiles they dance sometimes biting the same After their Feasts they will diet themselues liuing sometimes eight dayes more or lesse with the smoke of Tobacco They are in nothing laborious but in hunting They sow but so much as will serue them for sixe moneths and that very hardly during the Winter they retire three or foure moneths space into the woods and there liue on Acornes Fish and Venison They wash not themselues at meales except they be monstrous foule and then wipe on their owne or their Dogs haires Their entertainment is with small complement the Guest sits downe by his
againe hath gotten the Ilands all along the Coast which hee guardeth and keepeth with his watery Garrisons Virginia betwixt those two sowre-faced Suters is almost distracted and easily would giue entertainment to English loue and accept a New Britan appellation if her husband be but furnished out at first in sorts and sutes befitting her Marriage solemnitie all which her rich dowrie would mayntaine for euer after with aduantage And well may England court her rather then any other Europaean louers in regard of his long continued amity and first Discouerie of her Lands and Seas this by Sebastian Cabot with his English Mariners a hundred and fifteene yeeres since and the other by Sir Walter Raleighs charge and direction Anno Dom. 1584. Then first of all Christians did Master Philips Amadas and Master Arthur Barlow take possession in Queene Elizabeths name The next yeere that mirrour of Resolution Sir Richard Greenuile conuayed thither an English Colony which he there left for Plantation vnder the gouernment of Master Ralph Lane which there continued vntill the eighteenth of Iune in the yeere following and then vpon some vrgent occasions returned with Sir Francis Drake into England Yet had they stayed but a little longer a ship of Sir Walter Raleighs had supplyed their necessities and soone after Sir Richard againe repaired thither with three ships and then also left fifteene men more to keepe possession In the yeere 1587 a second Colonie were sent vnder the gouernment of Master Iohn White To their succour Sir Walter Raleigh hath sent fiue seuerall times the last by Samuel Mace of Weymouth in March one thousand sixe hundred and two but he and the former performed nothing but returned with friuolous allegations The same yeere Captaine Bartholmew Gosnold and Captaine Gilbert discouered the North parts of Virginia of which Voyage Iohn Brereton hath written a Treatise In the yeere 1603. the Bristow men by leaue of Sir Walter Raleigh set forth a Voyage thither in 43. degrees In this Expedition was Robert Salterne which had beene the yeere before with Captaine Gosnold They discouered Whitson-bay so they termed it in one and forty degrees twenty fiue minutes The people vsed Snakes skins of which some were six foot long for Girdles they were exceedingly rauished with the Musicke of a Gitterneboy dancing in a ring about him they more feared two English Mastiues then twentie men They had such Boats as before are mentioned seuenteene foot long foure broad of Birchbarke sowed with Osyers the seames couered with Rozen almost as sweet as Frankincense carrying nine men standing vpright and yet not weighing aboue threescore pound They brought one of them to Bristoll This yeere Captaine Gilbert set forth againe for Virginia at Meuis they laded twenty tuns of Lignum vitae hee had foure more were slaine by the Sauages And in the yeere 1605. Captaine George Weymouth made thither a prosperous Voyage and discouered threescore miles vp a most excellent Riuer His Voyage was set forth in print by Iames Rosier After this followed the plantation by the present Aduenturers for the foundation of a New Britan Common-wealth and the East and West parts of England ioyned in one purpose of a two-fold Plantation in the North and South parts of Virginia Of the North parts our Method requires first mention Mawooshen was many yeeres together visited by our men extending betweene 43. and 45. degrees 40. leagues in bredth and 50. in length They found therein nine Riuers Quibiquesson Pemaquid Ramassoc Apanawapaske Apaumensele Aponeg Sagadahoc Ashamahaga Shawokotoc Sagadahoc is in 43. degrees it is a mile and halfe at the mouth holding the same bredth a dayes iourney and then makes a sound three dayes iourney broad in which are sixe Ilands it hath two branches the one from the Northeast 24. dayes iourney the other North-west 30. dayes iourney At the heads are two Lakes the Westermost 8. dayes iourney long and foure wide the Eastermost halfe so large This is Bashabaes his dominion The Tarentines country is in 44. deg. two third parts where the Sauages tell of a Rock of Allum neere the Riuer of Sasnowa Captain T. Hanham Thomas Hanham sayled to the Riuer of Sagadahoc 1606. He relateth of their beasts doggs like wolues of colours blacke white red grisled red Deere and a beast bigger called the Mus c. of their fowles fishes trees of some Oare proued to be siluer Bashabes hath many vnder-Captaines called Sagamos their houses built with Wit hs and couered ouer with Mats sixe or seuen paces long He expresseth also the names of their twelue Moones or moneths as Ianuary Mussekeshos February Gignokiakeshos c. An. 1607. was settled a Plantation in the Riuer Sagadahoc the ships called the Gift and the Mary and Iohn being sent thither by that famous English Iusticer Sir Iohn Popham and others They found this coast of Virginia full of Ilands but safe They chose the place of their Plantation at the mouth of Sagadahoc in a Westerly Peninsula these heard a Sermon read their Patent and Lawes and built a Fort. They sailed vp to discouer the Riuer and Countrey and encountred with an Iland where where was a great fall of water ouer which they haled their Boat with a Rope and came to another fall shallow swift and vnpassable They found the Countrey stored with Grapes white and red good Hops Onions Garlicke Okes Walnuts the soile good The head of the Riuer is in forty fiue and odde minutes Cape Sinieamis in 43. deg. 30. min.. a good place to fortifie Their Fort bare name of Saint George Fortie fiue remained there Captaine George Popham being President Raleigh Gilbert Admirall The people seemed affected with our mens deuotions and would say King IAMES is a good King his God a good God and Tanto naught So they call an euill spirit which haunts them euery Moone and makes them worship him for feare Hee commanded them not to dwell neere or come among the English threatning to kill some and inflict sicknesse on others beginning with two of their Sagamos children saying he had power and would doe the like to the English the next Moone to wit in December The peple told our men of Canibals neere Sagadahoc with teeth three inches long but they saw them not In the Riuer of Tamescot they found Oysters nine inches in length and were told that on the other side there were twice as great On the 18. of Ianuary they had in seuen houres space thunder lightning raine frost snow all in aboundance the last continuing On February the 5. the President died The Sauages remoue their dwellings in Winter neerest the Deere They haue a kinde of shooes a yard long fourteene inches broad made like a Racket with strong twine or sinewes of a Deere in the mids is a hole wherein they put their foot buckling it fast When a Sagamos dyeth they blacke themselues and at the same time yerely
Colony and by the bitternesse of that great Frost 1607. aboue halfe took their deaths Wingfield and Archer were sent for England Being busied in the Spring to rebuild their towne Nelson arriued with his lost Phoenix so they supposed his ship and dealt honestlier then they report of the former Mariners The second of Iune 1608. Smith left the Fort to discouer the Bay of Chesapeack in the way wanting of conuenient watering places they were so thirstie as they would haue refused two Barricoes of gold for one of water and they arriued at Iames Towne in September where they found some sicke many dead and the President prisoner which place by election of the Councell and request of the company was bestowed on Smith Captaine Newport returned with rich presents of Bason Ewer Bed Cloathes with a Crowne for Powhatan which made him ouer-value himselfe some Poles and Dutch which were sent to make Pitch and Tarre Glasse mils and Sope-ashes proued after treacherous Powhatan minding murther and villany at once sixteene of our men were beset with seuen hundred which by the policy of Smith seasing on Opechancanough their King was preuented and turned to their enriching with their commodities and amongst other they vsed poison which wrought not After Smith tooke the King of Paspaheigh prisoner which forced the Sauages to peace Thus haue we a little while beheld Tragicall more then shewes on this Virginian Theatre those things which were well intended being ill peruerted and their greatest aduantages arising from casuall disaduantages diuersitie of emulations beclowding that morning starre a disastrous Comet shining rather with fierie gleames of ciuill broiles and brawles in that Hemisphere then comfortable illumination and influence to the common good The Sauages were now in good termes with the English their Plantation at Iames Town where they had built a Church and many houses in some reasonable manner flourished the countrey was with great paines and perils of the President further discouered their Swine Hens and other prouision nourished and some quantitie of many commodities as Furres Dies Minerals Sassafrasse Sturgeon and other things sent hither in testimonie of their industry and successe And Virginia grew now in such request that nine ships were furnished with the better part of fiue hundred men to inhabite there in the yeere one thousand sixe hundred and nine the gouernment being deuolued to the L. de la Ware Sir Thomas Gates was appointed Lieutenant Generall Sir George Summers Admirall of Virginia and were sent to reside there as Gouernours of the Colony But the Sea-uenture wherein the two Knights and Captaine Newpott with a hundred and fifty persons sayled after long conflict with the two angry elements was sent to bee imprisoned in Bermuda where betweene two Rocks the ship split the people escaping to Land In the meane time three of the other ships had landed their men in Virginia some of whom were such as had been the emolous and enuious corriuals of the President which they then began to shew and to second the same a greater hurt by Gun-powder befell him which forced him for his recouerie to set sayle for England after hee had liued there three yeeres maintaining himselfe and his that time principally with such food as the Countrey yeelded He saith he left behinde at his returne fiue hundred men and women three Ships seuen Boats two hundred expert Souldiers thirtie nine of their Weroances or Kings as Subjects and Contributers to the English so farre subiect that at his command they haue sent their subjects to Iames Towne to receiue correction at his appointment for wrongs done and their Countries were free to the English for trauell or trade But Necessitie forced him to leaue the Countrey which it forced the other appointed Gouernours not to finde Hinc illa lachrymae Hence proceeded the disorder and confusion which after happened amongst them A great bodie was heere which acknowledged no head and therefore grew vnweldie and distempered Some sought for rule ouer others which were ouer-ruled by vnruly passions of Ambition and faction in themselues others sought their ease except sometimes they were ouer-busie in diseasing others and deuouring that which others had carefully laboured for Ruine seiseth on the Church Rapine makes prey and spoile of the goods Rauine deuoureth their beasts Famine consumeth the men Iniuries make the Indians their enemies two of the ships perish vpon Vshant and one man alone was left to bring home newes of their perishing the rest returne laden with Letters of discouragement painting out Famine Sedition and other Furies which had broken loose amongst them in the blackest colours which were sealed with report of the losse of their Admirall to make vp the measure of mischiefe All this did not daunt the Noble Spirit of that resolute Lord appointed Lord Gouernour who in the beginning of April one thousand sixe hundred and ten set sayle from the coast of England and on the ninth of Iune arriued safely at the disfortified Fort in Virginia where he found the present State like to the Boxe of Pandora who being endowed with manifold good gifts each of the gods bestowing one on her was sent with a boxe full of euils to Prometheus who refused the offer but by Epimetheus was opened whereby all euils were suffered to fly out Hope onely remaining which he shut fast in the bottome And thus was it with this Virginian Pandora enriched with the best offerings of Natures bounty but by Epimethean carelesnesse all euils had now dispersed themselues and made the Virginian Colony a stage of Misery onely Hope remayned But alas euen that also proued sicke and was ready to giue vp the Ghost in the dangerous sicknesse which befell that Noble Lord which forced him after eight moneths sicknesse to returne for England againe He shipped himselfe indeed for Meuis an Iland in the West Indies famous for wholsome Bathes but by Southerly winds was compelled to change his purpose and at last to make home hauing left Deputie Gouernour Captaine George Percie a Gentleman of honour and resolution with vpward of two hundred persons Almightie God that had thus farre tried the patience of the English would not suffer them to be tempted aboue that they were able and therefore in his secret Prouidence before any knowledge was here had of his Lordships sicknesse had ordayned Sir Thomas Dale should be furnisht out with a good supply of three ships men cattell and many prouisions , all which arriued safe at the Colony the tenth of May 1611. He by his Letters and the Lord Gouernour by his Relations did animate the Aduenturers the one protesting himselfe willing and readie to lay all that hee was worth vpon the Aduenture of the action rather then so honourable a worke should faile and to returne with all conuenient expedition if their friendly endeuours would therein second his resolutions the other writing that foure of the best Kingdomes in Christendome put all
38. and 39. The temperature agreeth with English bodies not by other meanes distempered The Summer is hot as in Spaine the Winter cold as in France and England certaine coole Brizes doe asswage the vehemency of the heate The great Frost in the yeere 1607. reached to Virginia but was recompenced with as milde a Winter with them the next yeere And the Winter Anno 1615. was as cold and frosty one fortnight as that There is but one entrance by Sea into this Country and that at the mouth of a very goodly Bay The Capes on both sides were honoured with the names of our Britanian hopes Prince Henry and Duke Charles The water floweth in this Bay neere two hundred miles and hath a channell for a hundred and forty miles of depth betwixt seuen and fifteene fathome of breadth ten or fourteene miles At the head of the Bay the Land is Mountaynous and so runneth by a Southwest Line from which Mountaynes proceed certaine Brooks which after come to fiue principall Nauigable Riuers The Mountaynes are of diuers composition some like Mil-stones some of Marble many pieces of Chrystall they found throwne downe by the waters which also wash from the Rockes such glistering Tinctures that the ground in some places seemeth gilded The colour of the earth in diuers places resembleth Bole-Armoniac terra sigillata and other such apparances but generally is a blacke sandy molde The Riuer next to the mouth of the Bay is Powhatan the mouth whereof is neere three miles broad it is Nauigable an hundred miles falls rocks shoalds prohibite further Nauigation hence Powhatan their greatest King hath his Title In a Peninsula on the Northside thereof is situate Iames Towne The people inhabiting which haue their Weroances are the Kecoughtans which haue not past twenty fighting men The Paspaheghes haue forty Chichahamania two hundred The Weanocks an hundred The Arrowhatocks thirty The Place called Powhatan forty The Appamatusks threescore The Quiyonghcohanocks fiue and twenty The Warraikoyacks forty The Naudsamunds two hundred The Chesapeacks an hundred The Chickahamanians are not gouerned by a Weroance but by the Priests No place affordeth more Sturgeon in Summer of which at one draught haue beene taken threescore and eight nor in Winter more Fowle Fourteene miles from Powhatan is the Riuer Pamaunke nauigable with greater Vessels not aboue threescore and ten miles Toppahanok is nauigable an hundred and thirty miles Patawomeke an hundred and twenty To speake of Powtuxunt Bolus and other Riuers on the East side of the Bay likewise of diuers places which receiued name by some accident as Fetherstones Bay so called of the death of one of ours there happening and the like or to mention the numbers which euery people can make would exceed our scope and the Readers patience Captaine Smiths Map may somewhat satisfie the desirous and his Booke now printed further This the Captaine saith that hee hath beene in many places of Asia and Europe in some of Africa and America but of all holds Virginia by the naturall endowments the fittest place for an earthly Paradise Alexander Whitaker the Preacher at Henrico writes that at the mouth of Powhatan are the Forts of Henrico and Charles two and forty miles vpward is Iames Towne and threescore and ten miles beyond that the new Towne of Henrico ten miles higher the fals where the Riuer falleth downe betweene many minerall Rockes twelue miles beyond a Chrystall Rocke wherewith the Indians head their Arrowes three dayes iourney from thence is a Rocke or Hill found couered ouer with a rich siluer Ore Our men that went to discouer those parts had but two Iron Pickaxes with them and those so ill tempered that the points turned againe at euery stroke but tryall was made of the Ore with argument of much hope Sixe dayes iourney beyond this Mine runs a ridge of Hils beyond which the Indians report is a great Sea which if it bee true is the South Sea At Henrico they are exceeding healthfull and more then in England Master Thomas Hariot hath largely described the Commodities which the Water and Earth yeeld set forth also in Latine with exquisite Pictures by Theodore de Bry besides the relations of Brereton and Rosier and others There is a Grasse which yeeldeth silke beside store of Silke-wormes Hempe and Flaxe surpassing ours in growth and goodnesse exceeded by a new found stuffe of a certaine sedge or water-flagge which groweth infinitely and with little paines of boyling yeeldeth great quantitie of sundry sorts of Skeines of good strength and length some like silke and some like Flaxe and some a courser sort as Hempe There is also a rich veine of Allum of Terra Sigillata Pitch Tarre Rozen Turpentine Sassafras Cedar Grapes Oyle Iron Copper and the hope of better Mines Pearle sweete Gummes Dyes Timber Trees of sweet wood for profit and pleasure of which kinde haue beene discouered fourteene seuerall kinds Neither is it needfull that heere I relate the Commodites of Virginia for food in Fowles Beasts Fishes Fruites Plants Hearbes Berries Graines especially their Maiz which yeeldeth incredible recompence for a little labour One Acre of ground will yeeld with good husbandry two hundred Bushels of Corne They haue two Roots the one for Medicinall vse to cure their hurts called Weighsacan the other called Tockahough growing like a flagge of the greatnesse and taste of a Potato which passeth a fiery purgation before they may eate it being poyson whiles it is raw Yet in all this abundance our men haue had small store but of want and no fire nor water could purge that poyson which was rooted in Some to the hinderance of the Plantation The chiefe Beasts of Virginia are Beares lesse then those in other places Deere like ours Aronghcun much like a Badger but liuing on trees like a Squirrell Squirrels as big as Rabbets and other flying Squirrels called Assepanicke which spreading out their legs and skins seeme to flye thirty or forty yards at a time The Opassom hath a head like a Swine a tayle like a Rat as bigge as a Cat and hath vnder her belly a bagge wherein she carrieth her yong Their Dogges barke not Their Wolues are not much bigger then our Foxes Their Foxes are like our siluer-haired Conies and smell not like ours Mussascus is otherwise as our Water-Rat but smelleth strongly of Muske Master Whitaker saith they yeeld Muske as the Musk-Cats doe Their Vetchunquoys are wild Cats Their vermine destroyed not our Egges and Pullen nor were their Serpents or Flyes any way pernicious They haue Eagles Hawkes wild Turkeyes and other Fowle and Fish which here to repeate would to some nice fastidious stomacks breed a fulnesse though with some of their Countrimen in Virginia they would haue beene sauoury sometimes and dainty They are a people clothed with loose Mantles made of Deeres skins and aprons of the same round about their middles all else naked of stature like to vs in England They
vse to paint themselues and their children he is the most gallant which is most monstrous Their women imbroder their legges hands c. with diuers workes as of Serpents and such like with blacke spots in the flesh Their houses are made of small Poles made fast at the top in round forme as is vsed in many Arbours with vs couered with Barkes or Mats twice as long as they are broad They are exact Archers and will with Arrowes kill Birds flying Fishes swimming Beasts running one of ours by them hath beene shot thorow the body and both his armes thereby fastened and pierced They speake of men two hundred yeeres old and more as Master Wingfield reporteth Their Bowes are of tough Hasill the strings of Leather Arrowes of Canes or Hasill headed with stones or hornes and artificially feathered They are heartlesse if they see defence to frustrate their Arrowes §. IIII. Of the present estate of Virginia and the English there residing THe last of May 1616. Sir Thomas Dale that worthy Commander and best establisher of the Virginian Plantation came from thence into England to procure and further the common good partly by conference with Him and chiefly by a Tractate and Relations of Master Rolph the Husband of Pokahuntas which came ouer with him I haue learned what here I deliuer you The English doe now finde this Countrey so correspondent to their constitutions that it is more rare to heare of a mans death in Virginia then in that proportion of people in England That Aristocraticall Gouernment by a President and Councell is long since remooued and those hatefull effects thereof together Order and diligence haue repayred what confusion and idlenesse had distempered The men haue beene employed in Palazading and building of Townes impaling grounds to keepe their Cattle from ranging and to preserue their Corne and a Peace concluded betwixt the English and Indians For howsoeuer they could well before defend themselues and their Townes from them yet not easily their Corne and Cattle This peace hath yeelded many benefits both opportunity of lawfull purchase of a great part of the Country from the Natiues freely and willingly relinquishing and selling the same for Copper or other Commodities a thing of no small consequence to the conscience where the milde Law of Nature not that violent Law of Armes layes the foundation of their possession and quiet enioying thereof yeerely planting and reaping without impediment . fowling hunting fishing trauelling as securely as in England Plenty and Health attending their Peace and Industry They haue Indian Wheate called Mays Pease and Beanes and other the naturall Commodities English Wheate Pease Barley Turneps Cabbages Carrots Parsneps Herbes and Flowres for pleasure and vse with other things as good as the best made English ground can yeeld And that you may know what two mens labours with Spade and Shouell onely can manure in one yeere they refused fifty pounds offered for their Crop Hempe Flaxe Tobacco which with a little better experience in the curing would be as good as any in America Fish Fowle Deere and other Beasts I need not mention Sir Thomas Dale whose Prudence Fortitude Temperance Iustice in the well ordering and gouerning the English Virginian affaires I cannot sufficiently honour obserued two seasons for the taking of Fish the Spring and the Fall himselfe taking no small paines in the triall at one hale with a Saint he caught fiue thousand three hundred of which were as bigge as Cod the least of the residue a kind of Salmon Trowt two foot long Yet durst he not aduenture on the maine Skul for breaking his Net Likewise two men with Axes and such like weapons haue taken and killed neere the shore and brought home forty as great as Cod in two or three houres space And whereas heretofore wee were constrayned yeerely to buy Corne of the Indians which brought vs into base esteeme with them now they seeke to vs come to our Townes sell the skins from their shoulders which are their best garments to buy Corne Yea some of their petty Kings haue this last yeere borrowed foure or fiue hundred bushels of Wheat for payment whereof this Haruest they haue Mortgaged their whole Countries some of them not much lesse in quantitie then a whole Shire in England So that Famine the quondam deuourer of our Nation is famished and in it selfe deuoured The places inhabited by the English are six Henrico and the limits Bermuda Nether Hundred West and Sherley Hundred Iames Towne Kequoughton Dales Gift The inhabitants are Officers Labourers Farmers The first haue charge and care ouer both the latter watching and warding for their preseruations in the due execution of their employments and businesse These are bound to maintaine themselues and their families with food and raiment by the industrie of them and theirs The Labourers are of two sorts some employed onely in the generall workes fed and cloathed out of the store Others are speciall Artificers as Smiths Shoomakers Carpenters Tailors Tanners c. which worke in their professions to the Colony and maintaine themselues with food and apparell hauing time limited them to till and manure the ground The Farmers liue at most ease yet by their good endeuours bring much plenty to the Plantation They are bound by Couenant both for themselues and their seruants to maintaine his Maiesties right and title in that kingdome to watch ward in the townes where they are resident to doe one and thirtie dayes seruice for the Colony when they shall be called thereunto to maintaine themselues and theirs with food and raiment to pay yeerely for themselues and each man-seruant two Barrels and a halfe a piece of their best Indian wheat this amounts to twelue bushels a halfe English measure that no Farmer nor other shall plant Tobacco knowne to be a vendible commoditie except he yeerely manure for himselfe and euery man-seruant two acres of ground with corne and then to plant as much as they please Also the Company haue already sent a ship to Virginia with prouision of cloathing houshold-stuffe and other necessaries to establish a Magazine there to be bought at easie rates in bartar and exchange for their commodities to a mutuall benefit of both parts I cannot heere omit the Christian care of his Maiestie worthy the Defender of the Faith in prouiding charitable collections and contributions in England for the erecting and maintaining of a Colledge in Virginia to be a Seminarie and Schoole of education to the Natiues in the knowledge and perfection of our Religion which I beseech Almightie God to prosper with answerable successe They haue likewise brought thence children of both sexes here to be taught our language and letters which may proue profitable instruments in this designe As for the English there now residing likely to bee much encreased by good supplyes now in sending at Henrico and in the Precincts which is seated on the North side the
whiles others attended and at last led him with a firebrand in stead of a Torch to his lodging When they intend any wars the Weroances or Kings consult first with the Priests and Coniurers And no people haue there beene found so sauage which haue not their Priests Gods and Religion All things that are able to hurt them beyond their preuention they after their sort adore as the Fire Water Lightning Thunder our Ordnance Peeces Horses Yea I haue heard Captaine Smith say that they seeing one of the English Bores in the way were striken with awfull feare because he brisled vp himselfe and gnashed his teeth and took him for the god of the Swine which was offended with them The chiefe god they worship is the Diuell which they call Okee They haue conference with him and fashion themselues vnto his shape In their Temples they haue his Image ill-fauouredly made painted adorned with Chaines Copper and Beads and couered with a skinne By him is commonly the Sepulchre of their Kings whose bodies are first bowelled then dryed on a hurdle and haue about the ioynts chaines of Copper Beads and other like trash then lapped in white skinnes and rowled in mats and orderly entombed in arches made of mats the remnant of their wealth being set at their feet These Temples and Bodies are kept by their Priests For their ordinarie burials they digge a deepe hole in the earth with sharpe stakes and the corps being wrapped in skins and mats with their iewels they lay them vpon sticks in the ground and couer them with earth The buriall ended the women hauing their faces painted with blacke coale and oyle sit foure and twenty houres in the houses mourning and lamenting by turnes with yellings and howlings Euery Territory of a Weroance hath their Temples and Priests Their principall Temple is at Vttamussack in Pamaunk where Powhatan hath a house vpon the top of certaine sandie hils in the woods There are three great houses filled with Images of their Kings and Diuels and Tombes of their Predecessors Those houses are neere threescore foot long built after their fashion Arbour-wise This place is in such estimation of holinesse that none but the Priests and Kings dare enter yea the Sauages dare not passe by in Boats without casting Copper Beads or somewhat into the Riuer Heere are commonly resident seuen Priests the chiefe differed from the rest in his ornaments the other can hardly be knowne from the common people but that they haue not so many holes at their eares to hang their Iewels at The High-Priests head-tire is thus made They take a great many Snakes skinnes stuffed with Mosse as also of Weasils and other vermines skins which they tye by their tayles so that all the tayles meet on the top of their head like a great tassell The faces of their Priests are painted as vgly as they can deuise in their hands they haue Rattles some Base some Treble Their deuotion is most in songs which the chiefe Priest beginneth the rest following sometime he maketh inuocations with broken sentences by starts and strange passions and at euery pause the other giue a short grone It cannot be perceiued that they haue any set Holy-dayes onely in some great distresse of want feare of enemies times of triumph and of gathering their fruits the whole Countrey Men Women and Children assemble to their solemnities The manner of their deuotion is somtimes to make a great fire all singing and dancing about the same with Rattles and shouts foure or fiue houres sometime they set a man in the middest and dance and sing about him he all the while clapping his hands as if he would keepe time after this they goe to their Feasts They haue certaine Altar-stones which they call Powcorances standing from their Temples some by their houses others in the woods and wildernesses vpon which they offer bloud Deere-suet and Tobacco This they doe when they returne from the warres from their huntings and on other occasions When the waters are rough in stormes their coniurers runne to the waters sides or passe in their boats and after many hellish out-cries and inuocations cast Tobacco Copper Pocones or such trash into the water to pacifie that god whom they thinke to be very angry in those stormes Before their dinners and suppers the better sort will take the first bit and cast it into the fire which is all the grane they are knowne to vse In some part of the Countrey they are said which since is found false to haue yeerely a sacrifice of children such a one was performed at Quiyoughcohanock some ten miles from Iames Towne in this manner Rapahannock Werowance made a Feast in the woods the people were so painted that a Painter with his pensill could not haue done better Some of them were blacke like Diuels with hornes and loose haire some of diuers colours They continued two dayes dancing in a circle of a quarter of a mile in two companies with antick tricks foure in a ranke the Werowance leading the dance they had Rattles in their hands all in the middest had black hornes on their heâ—ds and greene boughes in their hands next them were foure or fiue principall men diuersly painted which with bastinadoes beat forward such as tired in the dance Thus they made themselues scarce able to goe or stand When they met together they made a hellish noise and euery one flinging away his bough ranne clapping their hands vp into a tree and tare it to the ground and fell into their order againe thus they did twice Fourteene well-fauoured children or if you had rather heare Captaine Smith fifteene of the properest yong Boyes betweene ten and fifteene yeeres of age they painted white H uing brought them forth the people saith he spent the forenoone in dancing and singing about them with Rattles in the afternoone they put these children to the root of a tree all the men standing to guard them each with a Bastinado of Reeds bound together in his hand Then doe they make a lane betweene them all along thorow which there were appointed fiue yong men White cals them Priests to fetch these children Each of these fetched a child the guard laying on with their Bastinadoes while they with their naked bodies defend the children to their great smart All this time the women weepe and cry out very passionately prouiding mosse skinnes mats and dry wood vnknowne to what purpose When the children are in this manner fetched away the guard teares downe trees branches and boughes making wreathes for their heads or bedecking their haire with the leaues What else was done with the children was not seene but they were all cast on a heape in a Valley as dead where was made a great feast for all the company William White relating this Rite saith That they remoued them from tree to tree three times and at last carried them into a Valley where the King sate where
they would not suffer our men to see but feasted there two houres On a sudden all arose with cudgels in their hand and made a lane as is before said and the children being laid downe vnder a tree to their seeming without life they all fell into a ring againe and danced about the children a good space and then sate downe in a circle about the tree Raphanna in the mids caused burdens of wood to be brought to the Altar made of poles set like a steeple where they made a great fire which our men thought but were deceiued was to sacrifice their children to the Diuell whom they call Kewase who as they report suckes their bloud They were vnwilling to let them stay any longer They found a woman mourning for yong Paspiha sacrificed at the Towne of Rapahanna but this Paspaiha is now aliue as Mr Rolph hath since related to me and the mourning of the women is not for their childrens death but because they are for diuers moneths detained from them as we shall after see Yea the Virginians themselues by false reports might delude our Men and say they were sacrificed when they were not For euen still they are very inconstant it is Mr Rolphs report in all that they speake of their Religion one denying that which another affirmeth and either not knowing or nor willing that others should know their diuellish mysteries And hence perhaps it was that as Captaine Smith addeth a Werowance being demanded the meaning of this sacrifice answered that the children were not all dead but that the Oke or Diuell did sucke the bloud from their left brest who chanced to be his by lot till they were dead but the rest were kept in the wildernesse by the yong men till nine Moones were expired during which time they must not conuerse with any and of these were made their Priests and coniurers This Sacrifice they held to be so necessarie that if they should omit it their Oke or Diuell and their other Quiyoughcosughes or gods would let them haue no Deere Turkies Corne or Fish and who would besides make a great slaughter amongst them They thinke that their Werowances and Priests which they also esteeme Quiyoughcosughes when they are dead doe goe beyond the Mountaines towards the setting of the Sunne and euer remaine there in forme of their Oke hauing their heads painted with Oyle and Pocones finely trimmed with feathers and shall haue Beades Hatchets Copper and Tobacco neuer ceasing to dance and sing with their Predecessors The common-people they suppose shall not liue after death Some sought to conuert them from these Superstitions the Werowance of Quiyoughcohanock was so farre perswaded as that he professed to beleeue that our God exceeded theirs as much as our Guns did their Bowes and Arrowes and many times did send to the President many presents entreating him to pray to his God for raine for his God would not send him any William White reporteth these their ceremonies of honouring the Sunne By breake of day before they eate or drinke the men women and children aboue ten yeeres old runne into the water and there wash a good space till the Sunne arise and then they offer sacrifice to it strewing Tobacco on the land or water the like they doe at Sun-set Hee also relateth that one George Casson before mentioned was sacrificed as they thought to the Diuell being stripped naked and bound to two stakes with his backe against a great fire then did they rip him and burne his bowels and dryed his flesh to the bones which they kept aboue-ground in a by-roome Many other of our men were cruelly and treacherously executed by them though perhaps not sacrificed and none had been left if their ambushes and treasons had taken effect Powhatan thus inuited Captaine Ratliffe and thirty others to trade for corne and hauing brought them within his ambush murthered them Alexander Whitaker saith That their Priests whom they call Quiokosoughs are Witches of whom the people stand in great awe The manner of their life is Heremite-fashion in woods in houses sequestred from the common course of men where none may come or speake with them vncalled They take no care for victuals for all such necessaries are set in a place neere his Cottage for his vse If they would haue raine or haue lost any thing he at their request coniureth and often preuaileth He is their Physician if they bee sicke and sucketh their wounds At his word they make warre and peace and doe nothing of moment without him Master Rolph affirmes that these Priests liue not solitarily and in other things is of another opinion which perhaps our former Author at his first comming might haue by relation of others The Wirowance of Acawmacke told our men of a strange accident two children being dead and buried being reuiewed by the parents seemed to haue liuely and cheerefull countenances which caused many to behold them and none of the beholders escaped death §. III. Of the Sasquesahanockes with other and later obseruations of the Virginian Rites THe Sasquesahanockes are a Gyantly people strange in proportion behauiour and attire their voice sounding from them as out of a Caue their attire of Beares skins hanged with Beares pawes the head of a Wolfe and such like iewels and if any would haue a spoone to eate with the Diuell their Tobacco pipes were three quarters of a yard long carued at the great end with a Bird Beare or other deuice sufficient to beat out the braines of a Horse and how many Asses braines are beaten out or rather mens braines smoaked out and Asses haled in by our lesse Pipes at home the rest of their furniture was sutable The calfe of one of their legges was measured three quarters of a yard about the rest of his limbes proportionable With much adoe restrained they this people from worshipping our men And when our men prayed according to their dayly custome and sung a Psalme they much wondered and after began in most passionate manner to hold vp their hands to the Sunne with a Song then embracing the Captaine they began to adore him in like manner and so proceeded notwithstanding his rebuking them till their song was ended which done one with a most strange action and vncomely voice began an Oration of their loues That ended with a great painted Beares skinne they couered the Captaine another hung about his necke a chaine of white Beades Others laid eighteene Mantles at his feet with many other ceremonies to create him their Gouernour that hee might defend them against the Massa-womekes their enemies As these are very great so the Weighcocomocoes are very little I may also heere insert the ridiculous conceits which some Virginians hold concerning their first originall as I haue heard from the relation of an English Youth which liued long amongst the Sauages that a Hare came into their Countrey and made the first men and after preserued them
which are not fully knowne otherwhere it is washed with a dangerous Sea which separateth Chichora Bahama and Lucaia from the same Iohn Ponce aforesaid hearing a rumour of a prodigious Well which as the Poets tell of Medea would make old men become young againe plaid the yongling to goe search it sixe monethes together and in that inquiry discouers this Continent and repayring into Spaine obtayneth this Prouince with the title of Adelantado He returned with a Nauy and band of Souldiers but at his landing was so welcomed by the Floridians that many of his men were slaine and himselfe wounded vnto death Pamphilo de Naruaes had no better successe hee entred Florida 1527. Aluaro Nunnez called Capo di Vacca or Cabeca de Vaca and some of his company after long captiuitie escaped Pamphilo carried with him sixe hundred men about the Riuer of Palmes his ships were wracked and most of the Spaniards drowned A few escaped drowning but twelue fell mad and like Dogges sought to woorrie each other Scarcely tenne returned into Spaine These comming to Mexico reported that they had restored three dead men to life I rather beleeue saith Benzo that they killed foure quicke men Don Ferdinando de Soto enriched with the spoiles of Atibaliba King of Peru in which action he was a Captain and Horseman heere found place to spend that which there hee had gotten For hauing obtained the gouernment of Florida and gathered a band of sixe hundred men for that Expedition in it he spent fiue yeares searching for Minerals till hee lost himselfe Iulian Samado and Ahumada made sute for the like grant but could not obtaine it Fryer Luys de Beluastro and other Dominicks had vndertaken by the way of preaching to haue reduced the Floridians to Christianity and the Spanish obedience and were sent at the Emperours charge but no sooner set foot on shore then hee and two of his companions were taken by the Sauages and cruelly slaine and eaten their shauen scalpes being hanged vp in their Temple for a monument This hapned in the yeere 1549. In the yeere 1524. Francis the first the French King had sent Iohn de Verrazano hither but because hee rather sought to discouer all along the Coast then to search or settle within Land I passe him ouer In the yeere 1562. That Worthy of France Chastillon Champion of Religion and of his Countrey sent Captaine Iohn Ribault to discouer and Plant in these parts which his Voyage and Plantation is written by Rene Laudonniere one employed therein Hee left Capt. Albert there with some of his company who built a Fort called Charles Fort but this Albert was slaine in a mutiny by his Souldiers and they returning home were so pursued by Famine the Pursuiuant of Diuine Iustice that after their Shooes and Leather Ierkins eaten their drinke being Sea-water or their owne Vrine they killed and ate vp one of their owne company Laudonniere was sent thither againe to inhabite Anno 1564. and the next yeere Ribault was sent to supply his place But vncouth Famine had so wasted and consumed the French before his arriuall that the very bones of most of the Souldiers pierced thorow their starued skinnes in many places of their bodies as if they would now trust the emptie hands no longer but would become their owne Purueyers and looke out for themselues And yet better it is to fall into the hands of God then of mercilesse men Famine being but a meere Executioner to Gods Iustice but these executing also a Diuellish malice Such were the Spaniards who were sent thither vnder the conduct of Don Pedro Melendes which massacred all of euery sexe and age which they found in the fort and Ribault being cast by shipwracke on the shore and receiued of Vallemandus the Spaniard with promises of all kindnesse was cruelly murthered with all his company except some few which they reserued for their owne employments The manner of it is at large handled by Laudonniere by Morgues by Challusius which were as brands by diuine hand plucked out of the Spanish combustion The Petition or Supplication put vp by the Orphanes Widowes and distressed kindred of that massacred number to Charles the Ninth mentioneth nine hundred which perished in this bloudy deluge The Spaniards hauing laid the foundations of their habitation in bloud found it too slippery to build any sure habitation thereon For their cruelties both to the French and Floridians were retorted vpon themselues in the yeere 1567. by Monsieur Dominique de Gorgues and his Associates assisted by the Natiue inhabitants and Florida was left destitute of Christian Inhabitants Thus hath Florida beene first courted by the English wooed by the Spanish almost wonne by the French and yet remaines a rich and beautifull Virgin waiting till the Neighbour Virginia bestow on her an English Bridegroome who as making the first loue may lay the iustest challenge vnto her Her riches are such that Cabeza de Vaca who was one of Naruaes wracked companie and Sotos Corriuall in this Floridian sute and had trauelled thorow a great part of the In-land affirmed to Charles the Emperour that Florida was the richest Countrey of the World and that he had therein seene Gold and Siluer and Stones of great value Besides there is great varietie of Trees Fruits Fowles Beasts Beares Leopards Ounces Wolues wilde Dogges Goats Hares Conies Deere Oxen with woolly hydes Camels backs and Horses manes Sir Iohn Hawkins his second Voyage published by Master Hakluyt mentioneth Vnicornes hornes amongst the Floridians which they weare about their necks whereof the French-men obtained many pieces and that they affirme there are many of those beasts with one horne which they put into the water before they drinke Haply this might be a tale of the French to sell such pieces deare to the English or the horne of some other beast or of the Sea-Vnicorne Our Discourse hath most right vnto their Rites For their many Cities the manner of their building the manners of their Inhabitants I would not bee so long Morgues hath let vs see them in the Pictures They wall or impale them with posts fastned in the ground the circle as of a Snaile comming within that point where it began and leauing a way but for two men to enter at either end of that double empaling or entrance stand two Watch-towres one within the other without the Citie where Watch-men alway are set for defence their houses are round their apparell nakednesse except a beasts skin or some ornament of Mosse about their secret parts They paint and raze their skins with great cunning the smart makes them sicke seuen or eight dayes after they rubbe ouer those rased workes with a certaine herbe which coloureth the same so as it cannot be done away They paint their faces and their skins cunningly this Morgues a Painter being Iudge euen to admiration They let the nailes on their toes and fingers
vnto his laborious Collections for which our English Nauigations both for the memoriall of passed incouragement of present and instructions to the future are as to Neptunes Secretarie and the Oceans Protonotary indebted beyond recompence whereby he being dead whiles we write these things yet speaketh And although in this third Edition I could not obtaine like kindnesse from him I know not how affected or infected with emulation or iealousie yet shall his Name liue whiles my Writings endure as without whose helpes and industrious Collections perhaps I had neuer troubled the World in this kind And this is my Epitaph in his memory who hath yet a better his owne large Volumes being the best and truest Titles of his Honour and if some Iuno Lucina would helpe to bring forth the Posthume Issue of his Voyages not yet published the World should enioy a more full Testimony of his paines in that kind CHAP. IX Of New Spaine and the conquest thereof by HERNANDO CORTES §. I. Of the first Discouerie by CORTES and others NOw are we safely arriued out of the South Sea and North vnknowne Lands where we haue wildered our selues and wearied the Reader in this great and spacious Country of New Spaine New Spaine is all that which lyeth betweene Florida and California and confines on the South with Guatimala and Iucatan how it came to be so called asketh a long Discourse concerning the Conquest thereof by Cortes whose History is thus related Hernando Cortes was borne at Medellin in Andulozia a Prouince of Spaine Anno 1485. When he was nineteene yeeres old he sayled to the Iland of Saint Domingo where Ouando the Gouernour kindly entertayned him Hee went to the conquest of Cuba in the yeere 1511. as Clerke to the Treasurer vnder the conduct of Iames Velasques who gaue vnto him the Indians of Manicorao where he was the first that brought vp Kine Sheepe and Mares and had heards and flockes of them and with his Indians hee gathered great quantitie of Gold so that in short time he was able to put in two thousand Castlins for his stocke with Andres de Duero a Merchant At this time Christopher Morante had sent An. 1517. Francis Hernandes de Cordoua who first discouered Yucatan whence he brought nothing except the relation of the Country but stripes whereupon Iames Velasques in the yeere 1518. sent his Kinsman Iohn de Grijalua with 200. Spaniards in foure ships hee traded in the Riuer of Tauasco and for trifles returned much Gold and curious workes of Feathers Idols of Gold a whole harnesse or furniture for an armed man of Gold thin beaten Eagles Lions and other pourtratures found in Gold c. But while Grijalua deferred his returne Velasques agreed with Cortes to be his partner in the Discouerie which hee gladly accepted and procured licence from the Gouernours in Domingo and prepared for the Voyage Velasques afterward vsed all meanes to breake off in so much that Cortes was forced to engage all his owne stocke and credit with his friends in the Expedition and with fiue hundred and fiftie Spaniards in eleuen Ships set sayle the tenth of February 1519. and arriued at the Iland of Acusamil The Inhabitants at first fled but by the kinde entertainment of some that were taken they returned and receiued him and his with all kinde Offices They told him of certaine bearded men in Yucatan whither Cortes sent and one of them Geronimo de Aguilar came vnto him who told him that by shipwracke at Iamaica their Caruell being lost twentie of them wandred in the boat without sayle water or bread thirteene or fourteene dayes in which space the violence of the Current had cast them on shoare in a Prouince called Maija where as they trauelled seuen died with famine and their Captayne Valdinia and other foure were sacrificed to the Idols by the Cacike or Lord of the Countrie and eaten in a solemne banquet and hee with sixe other were put into a coope or cage to be fatned for another Sacrifice But breaking prison they escaped to another Cacike enemie to the former where all the rest died but himselfe and Gonsalo Guerrer a Mariner Hee had transformed himselfe into the Indian Cut boring his Nose full of holes his eares iagged his face and hands painted married a wife and became a Captaine of name amongst the Indians and would not returne with this Aguilar Cortes with this new Interpreter passed vp the Riuer Tauasco called of the former Discouerer Grijalua where the Towne that stood thereon refusing to victuall him was taken and sacked The Indians here with enraged assembled an Armie of fortie thousand but Cortes by his Horse Ordnance preuayled the Indians thinking the Horse and Rider had beene but one Creature whose gaping and swiftnesse was terrible vnto them whereupon they submitted themselues When they heard the Horses ney they had thought the Horses could speake and demanded what they said the Spaniards answered These Horses are sore offended with you for fighting with them and would haue you corrected the simple Indians presented Roses and Hens to the beasts desiring them to eate and to pardon them Cortes purposed to discouer Westward because he heard that there were Mynes of Gold hauing first receiued their Vassalage to the King his Master to whom hee said the Monarchie of the Vniuersall did appertaine These were the first Vassals the Emperour had in New Spaine They named the Towne where these things were done Victorie before called Potonchan contayning neere fiue and twenty thousand Houses which are great made of Lime and Stone and Bricke and some of mudwals and rafters couered with Straw their dwelling is in the vpper part of the House for the moystnesse of the Soyle They did eate mans flesh sacrificed The Spaniards sailed further Westward and came to Saint Iohn de Vlhua where Teudilli the Gouernour of the Country came to him with foure thousand Indians He did his reuerence to the Captaine burning Frankincense after their custome and little strawes touched in the bloud of his owne bodie and then presented vnto him Victuals and Iewels of Gold and other curious workes of Feathers which Cortes requited with a Collar of Glasse and other things of small value A woman-slaue giuen him at Potonchan vnderstood their Language and she with Aguilar were his Interpreters Cortes professed himselfe the Seruant of a great Emperour which had sent him thither whose power is so highly extolled that Teudilli maruelled thinking there had beene no such Prince in the World as his Master and Souereigne the King of Mexico whose Vassal he was named Mutezuma To him he sent the representations of these bearded Men and their Horses Apparell Weapons Ordnance and other Rarities painted in Cotton-clothes their ships and numbers These painted Cottons he sent by Posts which deliuered them from one to another with such celeritie that in a day and night the message came to Mexico which was two hundred and ten miles distant
To speake largely of New Gallicia Mechuacan Guastecan and other Regions would not be much to the Readers delight and lesse to to my purpose CHAP XI Of the Idols and Idolatrous Sacrifices of New Spaine §. I. Of their Gods THe Indians as Acosta obserueth had no name proper vnto God but vse the Spanish word Dios fitting it to the accent of the Cuscan or Mexican Tongues Yet did they acknowledge a supreme power called Vitziliputzli terming him the most puissant and Lord of all things to whom they erected at Mexico the most sumptuous Temple in the Indies After the Supreme God they worshipped the Sun and therefore called Cortes as he writ to the Emperour Sonne of the Sunne That Vitziliputzli was an Image of Wood like to a Man set vpon an Azure-coloured stoole in a Brankard or Litter at euery corner was a piece of wood like a Serpents head The stoole signified that he was set in Heauen He had the forehead Azure and a band of Azure vnder the nose from one eare to the other Vpon his head hee had a rich plume of feathers couered on the top with Gold hee had in his left hand a white Target with the figures of fiue Pine Apples made of white Feathers set in a crosse and from aboue issued forth a Crest of Gold At his sides he had foure Darts which the Mexicans say had beene sent from Heauen In his right hand hee had an Azured staffe cut in fashion of a wauing Snake All these ornaments had their mysticall sense The name of Vitziliputzli signifies the left hand of a shining feather Hee was set vpon an high Altar in a small boxe well couered with linnen Clothes Iewels Feathers and ornaments of Gold and for the greater veneration he had alwayes a Curtain before him Ioyning to the Chappel of this Idoll there was a Pillar of lesse work and not so wel beautified where there was another Idoll called Tlaloc These two were alwayes together for that they held them as companions of equal power There was another Idoll in Mexico much esteemed which was the God of Repentance and of Iubilees and Pardons for their sinnes Hee was called Tezcalipuca made of a blacke shining stone attired after their manner with some Ethnike deuices it had Earings of Gold and Siluer and through the nether lip a small Canon of Christall halfe a foot long in which they sometimes put an Azure Feather sometimes a greene so resembling a Turqueis or Emerald it had the haire bound vp with a haire-lace of Gold at the end whereof did hang an Eare of Gold with two Fire-brands of smoke painted therein signifying that he heard the Prayers of the afflicted and of sinners Betwixt the two eares hung a number of small Herons He had a Iewell hanging at his necke so great that it couered all his stomack vpon his armes Bracelets of Gold at his nauill a rich greene stone and in his left hand a Fan of precious Feathers of greene azure and yellow which came forth of a Looking Glasse of Gold signifying that he saw all things done in the World In his right hand he held foure Darts as the Ensignes of his Iustice for which cause they feared him most At his festiuall they had pardon of their sinnes They accounted him the God of Famine Drought Barrennesse and Pestilence They painted him in another forme sitting in great Maiestie on a stoole compassed in with a red Curtaine painted and wrought with the heads and bones of dead men In the left hand was a Target with fiue Pines like vnto Pine Apples of Cotton and in the right hand a little Dart with a threatning countenance and the arme stretched out as if he would cast it and from the Target came foure Darts The countenance expressed anger the body was all painted blacke and the head full of Quailes Feathers Quecalcauatl was their God of the Aire In Cholula they worshipped the God of Merchandize called Quetzaalcoalt which had the forme of a Man but the visage of a little Bird with a red bill and aboue a combe full of Warts hauing also rankes of teeth and the tongue hanging out It carried on the head a pointed Mitre of painted paper a Sithe in the hand and many toyes of Gold on the legs it had about it Gold Siluer Iewels Feathers and habits of diuers colours and was set aloft in a spacious place in the Temple All this his furniture was significant The name importeth Colour of a rich Feather No maruell if this God had many Suters seeing Gaine is both God and godlinesse to the most the whole World admiring and adoring this Mammon or Quetzaalcoalt Tlaloc was their God of Water to whom they sacrificed for Raine They had also their Goddesses the chiefe of which was Tozi which is to say Our Grand Mother of which is spoken before she was flayed by the command of Vitziliputzli and from hence they learned to flay men in Sacrifice and to clothe the liuing with the skins of the dead One of the Goddesses which they worshipped had a Sonne who was a great Hunter whom they of Tlascalla afterwards tooke for a God being themselues addicted much to that exercise They therefore made a great Feast vnto this Idoll as shal after follow They had another strange kind of Idoll which was not an Image but a true Man For they tooke a Captiue and before they sacrificed him they gaue him the name of the Idoll to whom he should be sacrificed apparelling him also with the same ornaments And during the time that this representation lasted which was for a yeere in some feasts sixe moneths in some in others lesse they worshipped him in the same manner as they did their God he in the meane time eating drinking and making merry When hee went through the streets the people came forth to worship him bringing their Almes with children and sicke folkes that hee might cure and blesse them suffering him to doe all things at his pleasure onely he was accompanied with ten or twelue men lest he should flee And hee to the end hee might bee reuerenced as hee passed sometimes sounded on a small Flute The Feast being come this fat Foole was killed opened and eaten The Massilians are said to haue vsed the like order nourishing One a whole yeere with the purest meats and after with many Ceremonies to leade him through the City and sacrifice him Lopes de Gomara writeth that the Mexicans had two thousand Gods but the chiefe were Vitziliputzli and Tezcatlipuca These two were accounted Brethren There was another God who had a great Image placed on the top of the Idols Chappell made of all that Countrey seeds grownd and made in paste tempered with childrens bloud and Virgins sacrificed whose hearts were plucked out of their opened brests and offered as first fruits to that Idoll It was consecrated by the Priests with great solemnitie all
Voyages relateth It is time for vs to passe beyond the Darien Straits vnto that other great Chersonesus or Peruvian AMERICA RELATIONS OF THE DISCOVERIES REGIONS AND RELIGIONS OF THE NEW WORLD OF CVMANA GVIANA BRASILL CHICA CHILI PERV AND OTHER REGIONS OF AMERICA PERWIANA AND OF their Religions THE NINTH BOOKE CHAP. I. Of the Southerne America and of the Countries on the Sea-coast betwixt Dariene and Cumana §. I. Of the great Riuers in these parts and of Dariene THis Peninsula of the New World extending it selfe into the South is in forme somewhat like to Africa and both to some huge Pyramis In this the Basis or ground is the Northerly part called Terra Fuma from whence it lesseneth it selfe by degrees as it draweth neerer the Magellan Straits where the top of this Spire may fitly bee placed On the East side it is washed with the North Ocean as it is termed On the West with that of the South called also the Peaceable It is supposed to haue sixteene thousand miles in compasse foure thousand in length the breadth is vnequall The Easterne part thereof betweene the Riuers Maragnon and Plata is challenged by the Portugals the rest by the Spaniard From the North to the South are ledges of Mountaines the tops whereof are said to be higher then that Birds will visit the bottomes yeeld the greatest Riuers in the World and which most enrich the Oceans store-house Orenoque Maragnon and Plata seeme to be the Indian Triumuiri Generals of those Riuer-Armies and Neptunes great Collectors of his watery tributes Orenoque for ships is nauigable a thousand miles for lesse Vessels two thousand in some places twentie miles broad in some thirtie Berreo affirmed to Sir Walter Raleigh That a hundred Riuers fell into it marching vnder his name and colours the least as bigge as Rio Grande one of the greatest Riuers or America It extendeth two thousand miles East and West and commandeth eight hundred miles North and South Plata taking vp all the streames in his way is so full swolne with his increased store that he seemeth rather with bigge lookes to bid defiance to the Ocean then to acknowledge homage opening his mouth fortie leagues wide as if he would deuoure the same and with his vomited abundance maketh the salt waters to recoyle following fresh in this pursuit till in salt sweates at last he melteth himselfe in the Combate Maragnon is farre greater whose water hauing furrowed a Channell of sixe thousand miles in the length of his winding passage couereth threescore and ten leagues in breadth and hideth his Bankes on both sides from him which sayleth in the middest of his proud Current making simple eyes beleeue that the Heauens alway descend to kisse and embrace his waues And sure our more-straitned world would so far be accessary to his aspiring as to style him with the royall title of Sea and not debase his greatnesse with the meaner name of a Riuer Giraua some what otherwise writeth of these Riuers that Plata called by the Indians Paranaguaeu as one should say a Riuer like a Sea is twenty fiue leagues in the mouth placed by him in thirty three degrees of Southerly latitude encreasing in the same time and manner as Nilus Maragnon hee saith is in the entrance fiue leagues and is not the same with Orellana so called of Francis Orella the the first Spaniard that sayled in it and Amazones of the fabulous reports as Giraua termeth them of such women there seene which hee sayth hath aboue fifty leagues of breadth in the mouth and is the greatest Riuer of the World called by some the fresh Sea running aboue fifteene hundred leagues vnder the Aequinoctiall Thus much Hee though lesse then others yet more then can bee paraleld in any other streames This Southerne halfe of America hath also at the Magellane Straits contracted and as it were shrunke in it selfe refusing to be extended further in so cold a Climate The manifold riches of Metals Beasts and other things in the beginning of the former Booke haue been declared and in this as occasion moueth shall bee further manifested The Men are the worst part as being in the greatest parts thereof inhumane and brutish The Spanish Townes in this great tract and their Founders are set downe by Pedro de Cieza Herera and others I rather intend Indian Superstitions then Spanish plantations in this part of my Pilgrimage Of the Townes of Nombre de Dios seuenteene leagues from Panama the one on the North Sea the other on the South and of Dariene wee last tooke our leaues as vncertaine whether to make them Mexican or Peruvian being borderers and set in the Confines betwixt both The moorish soyle muddie water and grosse Ayre conspire with the heauenly Bodies to make Dariene vnwholesome the myrie streame runneth or creepeth rather very slowly the water but sprinkled on the house-floore engendreth Toades and Wormes They haue in this Prouince of Dariene store of Crocodiles one of which kinde Cieza saith was found fine and twentie foot long Swine without tailes Cats with great tailes Beasts clouen-footed like Kine otherwise resembling Mules sauing their spacious eares and a trunke or snowt like an Elephant there are Leopards Lyons Tygres On the right and left hand of Dariene are found twenty Riuers which yeeld Gold The Men are of good stature thinne haired the Women weare Rings on their eares and noses with quaint ornaments on their lips The Lords marry as many Wiues as them listeth other men one or two They forsake change and sell their Wiues at pleasure They haue publike Stewes of women and of men also in many places without any discredit yea this priuiledgeth them from following the warres The yong Girles hauing conceiued eate certain herbs to cause abortion Their Lords and Priests consult of warres after they haue drunke the smoke of a certaine herbe The Women follow their husbands to the warres and know how to vse a Bow They all paint themselues in the warres They neede no Head-pieces for their heads are so hard that they will breake a Sword being smitten thereon Wounds receiued in warre are the badges of honour whereof they glory much and thereby enioy some Franchises They brand their prisoners and pull out one of their teeth before They will sell their children are excellent Swimmers both Men and Women accustoming themselues twice or thrice a day thereunto Their Priests are their Physicians and Masters of Ceremonies for which cause and because they haue conference with the Deuill they are much esteemed They haue no Temples nor Houses of deuotion The Deuill they honour much which in terrible shapes doth sometimes appeare vnto them as I saith Cieza haue heard some of them say They beleeue that there is one God in heauen to wit the Sunne and that the Moone is his wife and therefore worship these two Planets They worship the Deuill also and paint him in such
where they were well refreshed But a disease worse then the French Poxe there warred vpon them called Pori Yet did Pizarro hold on his resolution he passed ouer to Puna where the Gouernour intreated the Spaniards well till the abusing of their Wiues caused the Indians to take Armes and so made their riches become a prey to the preuayling Spaniards There had Pizarro the first intelligence of Atabaliba The Gouernour of this Iland to satisfie his iealousie cut off the Noses the Members and the Armes of his Eunuches or Keepers of his women Pizarro sent to Tumbez sixe hundred Prisoners which the Gouernour of this Land had taken of the party of Atabaliba who at that time mayntained Warre against his Brother Guascar about the Souereigntie and this Gouernour had taken Guascars part This ciuill discord was much to the Spaniards aduantage Pizarro sent three Messengers to Tumbez to demand peace and safe entrance but they notwithstanding the freedome of their Captiues deliuered them to the Priests to bee sacrificed to their Idoll of the Sunne Hee taketh Tumbez and sacketh the Temple and Citie From thence he proceeded in his way to Caximalca and Guascar sent some vnto him with great promises to demand his aide against his Brother Atabaliba soone after Atabaliba sent one to him to charge him to returne to his ships Pizarro answereth That hee came not to hurt any but for their good as his Emperour had giuen him in charge nor could he now being the Embassadour of the Pope and Emperour Lords of the World returne without great dishonour before he had seene his Royall person and communicated to him such instructions as might be good for his body and soule As he passed the Prouince of Chira the Lords thereof prouoked him against Atabaliba who had lately conquered their Countries And on the Riuer of Chira hee founded the Colonie of Saint Michael for the safe keeping of his spoyles and for his ships Hee marcheth on to Caximalca and sendeth Messengers on horse-back to giue him notice of his comming This strange Beast made the Indians afraid but Atabaliba was nothing mooued therewith more mooued to see those bearded men giue him so little reuerence Atabaliba sent Pizarro a paire of shooes cut and gilded that as hee pretended he might know him others thought that hee might bee knowne and designed to imprisonment or slaughter The next day the King was carried as in solemne triumph vpon mens shoulders garded with fiue and twentie thousand Indians in rich pompe and magnificence Vincentius de Valle Viridi a Dominican Frier holding in one hand a Crosse in the other his Breuiarie or as some say a Bible came before him with great reuerence and blessing him with the Crosse said Excellent Lord it behoueth you to know that God in Trinity and Vnity made the World of nothing and formed a man of the Earth whom hee called Adam of whom wee all haue beginning Adam sinned against his Creator by disobedience and in him all his Posteritie except Iesus Christ who being God came downe from Heauen and tooke flesh of the Virgin Mary and to redeeme Mankind dyed on a Crosse like to this for which cause wee worship it rose againe the third day after forty dayes ascended into Heauen leauing for his Vicar in Earth Saint Peter and his Successours which wee call Popes who haue giuen to the most puissant King of Spaine Emperour of the Romans the Monarchy of the World Obey the Pope and receiue the faith of Christ and if yee shall beleeue it most holy and that most false which yee haue yee shall doe well and know that doing the contrary we will make warre on you and will take away and breake your Idols therefore leaue the deceiueable Religion of your false Gods This preaching of the Frier might well seeme strange to Atabaliba which it seemes hee learned of the Mahumetans and not of the Apostles He answered that hee was Free and would not become tributary to any nor did acknowledge any greater Lord then himselfe and for the Emperour he could be pleased to be the friend of so great a Prince and to know him but for the Pope he would not obey him which gaue away that which was not his owne and tooke a Kingdome from him whom hee had neuer seene As for Religion hee liked well his owne and neyther would nor ought to call it in question being so ancient and approued especially seeing Christ dyed which neuer befell the Sunne or Moone And how saith hee doe you know that the God of the Christians created the World Frier Vincent answered That his Booke told it him and gaue him his Breuiarie Atabaliba looked on it and in it and saying it said no such thing to him hurled it on the ground The Frier tooke it vp and went to Pizarro crying Hee hath cast the Gospels to the ground Reuenge it O Christians seeing they will not our friendship nor our Law or to vse the words of a Spanish Captain there present in his relation thereof Come forth Christians come forth and come to these Enemies Dogs that wil not accept the things of God and the Cacique hath cast our holy Law to the ground Francisco di Xeres who was Pizarroes Secretary writeth that the Frier would haue opened the book because Atabaliba could not and he in disdain smote him on the arme and obiected to the Spaniards their abuses and robbing of his Caciques saying hee would not depart thence till all were restored Pizarro commanded to bring forth the Standard and the Ordinance the Horsemen in three Bands assailed Atabaliba's people and slue many hee himselfe arriued with his Footmen which layed about with their Swords all charged vpon Atabaliba slaying them which carried him whose Roome was presently supplyed by other till at last Pizarro pulled him downe from his Litter by the clothes All this while not one Indian fought because they had no commandement or as Xeres sayth for feare and amazement to see their Cacique so vsed and therefore no Spaniard was slaine and many Indians perished vpon the thrust for so the Frier had bidden them fight for feare of breaking their Swords neither were any wounded but onely Pizarro by one of his owne thrusting at Atabaliba in his taking and wounding Pizarro therewith in the arme Thus are the Indians chased their King with other great spoyles remayning with the Spaniards of which Xeres reckoneth 80000. Castilians in hold and 7000. Markes euery Marke being eight ounces in Siluer of the houshold Plate of Atabaliba And in Caxamalca they rifled houses full vp to the roofe of Garments besides Armour and Weapons of which some were Axes and Pole-axes of Gold and Siluer §. II. The huge Treasures taken by the Spaniards THe next day the Spaniards scowred about for spoyle and found fiue thousand Women of the Kings with much treasure Atabaliba was much grieued with his imprisonment especially in regard of the chaine which they
him children as they did to the Sunn These three Viracocha the Sunne and Thunder had a more especiall worship then the rest they put as it were a Gantlet or Gloue vpon their hands when they lifted them vp to worship them They worshipped the Earth in the name of Pachamama and esteemed her the Mother of all things the Sea also and called it Mamacocha and the Rain-bow which with two Snakes stretched out on each side were the Armes of the Inguas They attributed diuers offices to diuers Starres and those which needed their fauour worshipped them so the Shepheard sacrificed to a Starre by them called Vrcuhillay which they hold to be a sheepe of diuers colours and two other Starres called Catuchillay and Vrcuchillay which they fayned to bee an Ewe and a Lambe others worshipped a Starre which they name Machaeuay to which they attributed the power ouer Snakes and Serpents to keepe them from hurting them To another Starre called Chugninchinchey which is as much as Tigre they ascribed power ouer Beares Tigres and Lions They haue generally beleeued of all the Beasts in the earth there is one like vnto them in heauen which hath care of their procreation and encrease Many other Starres they worshipped too tedious to rehearse They worshipped also Riuers Fountaines the mouthes of Riuers entries of Mountaynes Rockes or great stones Hils and the tops of Mountaynes which they call Apachitas They worshipped all things in Nature which seemed to them remarkeable and different from the rest They shewed me it is Acostas speech in Cazamalca a Hill or Mount of Sand which was a chiefe Idoll or Guaca of the Ancients I demanded what Diuinitie they found in it they alledged the wonder it beeing a high Mount of Sand in the middest of the thicke Mountaynes of stone In the Citie de los Reyes for the melting of a Bell wee cut downe a great deformed Tree which for the greatnesse and Antiquitie thereof had beene their Guaca They attributed the like Diuinitie to any thing that was strange in this kind as Stones or the Roots Papas and Lallatrecas which they kissed and worshipped Beares also Lions Tigres and Snakes that they should not hurt them And such as their Gods be such are the things which they offer vnto them in their worship They haue vsed as they goe by the way to cast in the crosse wayes on the Hils and tops of Mountaynes olde shooes feathers and Coca chewed And when they had nothing else they cast a stone as an offering that they might passe freely and lustily hence it is that they find in the high wayes great heaps of stones offered and such other things They vsed the like ridiculous offering in pulling off their haires of the eye-browes to offer to the Sunne Hils Winds or any other thing which they feare They report of one of the Inguas that said he did not take the Sunne to be a God because he laboureth so much in his daily iourny In fine euery one worshipped what liked him best The Fishers worshipped a Sharke or some other Fish the Hunter a Lion Fox or other Beast with many Birds the Countriman the Water and Earth They beleeued that the Moone was Wife to the Sunne When they sweare they touch the Earth and looke vp to the Sunne Many of their Idols had Pastorall Staues and Mitres like B shops but the Indians could tell no reason thereof and when they saw the Spanish Bishops in their Pontificalibus they asked if they were Guacas of the Christians They worshipped also as before is said the dead bodies of the Inguas preseruing them with certaine Rosin so that they seemed aliue The body of Yupangui the Grandfather of Atabaliba was thus found hauing eyes made of a fine cloth of Gold so artificially set as they seemed naturall hauing lost no more haire then if he had died the same day and yet he had beene dead seuenty eight yeeres There also the Spaniards found his Seruants and Mamacomas which did seruice to his memory In some Prouince they worshipped the Image of a Bull in another of a Cocke and in other others In the Principall Temple of Pachicama they kept a shee Fox and worshipped it The Lord of Manta kept a great and rich Emerald as his Ancestors also before him had holden it in great veneration on some dayes it was brought forth in publike to be worshipped They which were sicke came in Pilgrimage to visit it and there offered their gifts which the Cacique and Ministers turned to their owne profit The Deuill in many places did appeare vnto them and he indeed was Author of all these Superstitions They haue a Tradition concerning the Creation that at the beginning of the World there came one from the North into their Countrey called Con which had no bones went very light and swift cast downe Mountaines lift vp the Hils only with his Will and Word He said he was the Sonne of the Sunne and filled the earth with men and women which they created giuing them fruits and bread and other things necessary for humane life But being offended with some he countermanded all that former good and turned the fruitfull Lands into barren Sands as they are now in the Plaines and tooke away the water that it should not raine hence it came that it raines not only leauing them the Riuers of pure compassion that they should maintayne themselues with labour Afterwards came another from the South called Pachicama the Sonne also of the Sunne and Moone who banished Con and turned his men into Cats Monkeyes Beares Lions Parrots and other Birds and created the Progenitors of the present Indians and taught them to husband the Earth and the Trees They againe to gratifie him turned him in their imaginations and superstitions vnto a God and named the Prouince foure leagues from Lima of his name He t continued till the Christians came to Peru He was their great Oracle and as some Indians affirme he still continueth in secret places with some of their old men and speaketh to them Of this Temple we shall after speake They hold opinion also that on a time it rained so exceedingly that it drowned all the lower Countries and all men saue a few which got into Caues vpon high Hils where they shut vp themselues close that no raine could get in there they had stored much prouision and liuing creatures And when they perceiued that it had done raining they sent forth two Dogges but they returning all myrie and foule they knew that the waters had not yet ceased after that they sent forth more Dogges which came backe againe dry then did they goe forth to people the Earth but were mightily afflicted with multitudes of great Serpents which had sprung vp out of those mirie Reliques of the Floud but at last they killed them They beleeue also that the World shall haue an end but before the same shall goe a great drought and the
vsed to hunt fish and take them by the helpe of another fish which they kept tyed in a cord by the Boats side and when they espied a fish loosed the cord this hunting fish presently layes hold on the prey and with a skinne like a Purse growing behind her head graspeth it so fast that by no meanes it can be taken from her till they draw her vp aboue the water and then not able to abide the Aire she resigneth her prey to the fishers which leape out into the water and take it in recompence whereof they giue her part of her purchase He found also in this Coast Waters for the space of fortie miles white and thicke like Milke and as though Meale had beene strewed through that Sea other waters he found spotted with white and blacke and others all blacke An old man of fourescore yeeres being a Gouernour in Iland came to Columbus and with great grauitie saluted him and counselled him to vse his victories well remembring that the soules of men haue two Iournies after they are departed from their bodies The one foule and darke prepared for iniurious and cruell persons the other pleasant and delectable for the peaceable and louers of quiet Many other Ilands might be heere mentioned and but mentioned little to our purpose I finde in them Of Acusamil neere Iucatan is alreadie spoken Of the Lucatae or Iucatae the greatest thing is their great number which some esteeme aboue foure hundred Lucaio is a generall or collectiue name as Zeland Lequio Malucco The Spaniards haue carried the Inhabitants as Martyr signifieth into seruitude to satisfie their insatiable desire of Gold The women of these Ilands were so faire that many of the bordering Countries forsooke their owne Countrie and chose this for their loue These women ware nothing till the time of their menstruous purgation at which time the Parents made a Feast as if shee were to be married and after that she weareth before those parts Nets of Cotton filled with leaues of Hearbs They obey their King so strictly that if he command them to leape downe from an high Rocke alledging no other reason then his will they performe the same But they are now and were long since desolate being wasted in the Mines of Hispaniola and Cuba or by Diseases and Famine to the number of twelue hundred thousand But I am loth to wilder my selfe further in this Wildernesse of Ilands for so haue the Spaniards made them Columbus in one Voyage gaue names to seuen hundred Ilands of which I can report little fitting this our Pilgrimage Hispaniola is the Lady and Queene of them all and as it were the common Store-house of all their excellencies and therefore we will there make some longer stay CHAP XIIII Of Hispaniola and a touch homewards at Bermuda §. I. The Names naturall Rarities and Creatures thereof HIspaniola or Spagniola is Eastward from Cuba it was of the first Inhabitants called Quisqueia afterwards Haiti and by Columbus Cipanga and Ophir The Spaniards call it as we first mentioned and also Saint Dominike or Domingo of the chiefe Citie an Archiepiscopall See It contayneth in compasse fiue hundred and fiftie leagues They called the Iland Quisqueia which signifieth Great and All thinking that the Sunne gaue light to no other World then this and the other Ilands adioyning Haiti signifieth Craggie and such is the Iland in many places with high Craggie Hils ouerlooking the deepe and darke Valleyes But in many places it is most beautifull and flourishing It seemeth to enioy a perpetuall Spring the trees alway flourishing and the Medowes clothed in greene The Ayre and the Waters are wholesome It is in manner equally diuided with foure great Riuers descending from high Mountaynes whereof Iunna runneth East Attibunicus West Nabiba to the South and Iache Northward Some diuide it into fiue Prouinces Caizcimu Hubaba Caibabo Bainoa Guaccaiarima In the first of these there is a great Caue in a hollow Rocke vnder the root of a high Mountayne about two furlongs from the Sea the entrie is like the doores of a great Temple Many Riuers stole their waters from the sight of the Sun the vse of men and the ordinary Officers of Neptunes Custome-house and by secret passages came and hid themselues in this Caue So the Ilanders imagined seeing diuers riuers swallowed vp of the earth after they had runne fourescore and ten miles and such a sinke or channell of waters in the Caue The Ilanders beleeued that the Iland had a vitall spirit and that there it doth breathe and a hole therein is the female nature thereof for of that sexe they deeme it euen as Antiquitie conceited the ebbing and flowing of the Sea to be the breath of Demogorgon Andreas Moralis entred in with his ship which was almost swallowed with the Whirle-pooles and boyling of the water Clouds engendred of those watery conflicts and darknesse layed hold on his eyes terrible noyse as of the fals of Nilus made deare his eares that when with labour he had gotten out he seemed to haue escaped the barkings of Cerberus the obscure Vaults of Hel. Vpon the tops of high Mountaynes the same Moralis saw a Lake three miles in compasse into which many little Riuers ran without any other apparant issue In Bainoa is a Lake of Salt water notwithstanding it receiueth foure great fresh Riuers from the East West North and South and twenty smaller and within a furlong of the Lake on the Northside are two hundred fresh-springs It is thought to haue a large entercourse with the Ocean because they are Sharkes great Sea-fishes which deuoure men in the same Here are stormes and tempests which seeme to bee the Caters and Purueyors for those fishes in drowning many Diuers other Lakes are mentioned in this Iland one whereof partly Salt partly fresh is fiue and twenty miles long and eight broad They are all in a large Plaine 120. miles in length bredth betweene 18. and 25. There is another Vale 200. miles long and broader then the former another as broad as that which is 180. miles long Bart. de las Casas telleth of a Kingdome in Hispaniola called Magua which signifieth a Plaine compassed about with Hils which watered the same with 30000. Riuers and Brookes twelue of them were very great and all which come from the West twenty thousand in number are enriched with Gold Cotobris a Plaine on the tops of Hils so high that it is subiect to the foure seasons of the yeere There is also another Region of the same name most barren and yet most rich full of Mynes otherwise vnfruitfull a thing common in Nature that great Mynes vndermine fertilitie and not strange amongst men that the greatest hoorders of Treasures are the most vnfruitfull and barren in good workes The Gold they say is as a liuing tree which rooting in the centre of the Earth sendeth forth branches vnto the vppermost face of the earth and there
meddle withall The next Tribe is there tearmed a Committy and these are generally the Merchants of this place who by themselues or their Seruants trauell into the Countrey gathering vp Callicoes from the Weauers and other Commodities which they sell againe in greater parcels in the Part Townes to Merchant Strangers taking their Commodities in bartar or at a price Others are Money Changers wherein they haue exquisite iudgement and will from a superficiall view of a piece of Gold distinguish a penny worth of difference without whose view no man dares receiue Gold it hath beene so falsified The poorest sort are plaine Chandlers and sell only Rice Butter Oyle Sugar Honey and such like belly stuffe and these men for their generall iudgement in all sorts of Commodities subtiltie in their dealings and austerity of dyet I conceiue to be naturally Banians transplanted growne vp in this Country by another name they also not eating any thing that hath life nor at all vntill they haue fresh washed their bodies and this Ceremony is also common to the former Tribe The next they call Campo Waro and these in the Countrey manure the earth as husbandmen in the City attend vpon the richer sort as Seruing men in the Forts are Souldiers and are for number the greatest Tribe these spare no flesh but Beefe and that with such reuerence that torture cannot enforce them to kill and eate and their reason for this besides the custome of their Ancestors is that from the Cow their Countrey receiues its greatest sustenance as Milke and Butter immediately then al the fruits of the earth by their assistance in tilling it so that it were the greatest inhumanity to feed vpon that which giueth them so plentifully wheron to feed and vnto vs that would take liberty in this case they wil not sell an Oxe or Cow for any consideration but from one to another for six or 8. shillings the best Boga Waro is next in English the Whoores Tribe and of this there are two sorts one that will prostitute themselues to any better Tribe then themselues but to none worse the other meeteth none bad enough to refuse and these with their Predecessors and Of-spring haue and do still continue this course of iniquity for the daughters if handsome are brought vp to the trade if otherwise they are maried to the men of this Tribe and their children if hansomer then their mothers supply their Parents defects from whence there neuer wants a sinfull succession of impudent Harlots whom the Lawes of the Country doe both allow and protect but this is not alwayes Heathenish for in most Christian Common-wealths such creatures either by permission conniuencie or neglect find meanes to set vp and customers to deale with all Being children they are taught to dance and their bodies then tender and flexible skrewed into such strange postures that it is admirable to behold impossible to expresse in words as for a child of eight yeeres of age to stand vpon one legge raysing the other vpright as I can my arme then bringing it down and laying her heele vpon her head yet all this while standing looses the wonder in my imperfect Relation but to behold is truly strange the like for their dancing and tumbling which doth as farre in actiuity exceed our mercenary Skip-iacks as the Rope-dancing woman doth a Capring Curtezan or an Vsher of a Dancing Schoole a Country Plough-Iogger The homage they owe the King is once a yeere to repaire to Golchonda to the Court and there being met together to make proofe of their actiuities where the best deseruing is guerdoned with some particuler fauour all of them gratified with Bettelee and so returne home againe to their seuerall Mansions The Gouernour of the place where they dwel exacts nothing of them but their attendance as often as he sitteth in the publike place at which times they dance gratis but at all other meetings as Circumcision wedding ships arriuals or priuate Feasts they assist and are paid for their company They are many of them rich and in their habit cleane and costly vpon their bodies they weare a fine Callico or Silken cloth so bound about them as that one part beeing made fast about the waste couereth downwards another part comes ouer the head couering all that way wearing also a thinne Wastcoat that couereth their breasts and armes vnto the elbowes all the rest of their armes couered almost with Bracelets of Gold wherein are set small Diamonds Rubies and Emeralds In their eares they weare many Rings and Iewels and some of them one through the right nosthrill wherein a Pearle or Ruby is commonly set as also about their fingers and toes about their middles one or two broad plates of Gold for Girdles and about their neckes many chaines of small Pearle and Corall or worser beads according to their estate without other ornament on their head then their own haire which being smoothly combde is tied on a knot behind them And these also in their bestuall liberty forbeare to eate Cowes flesh all other meats and drinks are common to them and they themselues common to all The Carpenters Masons Turners Founders Gold-smiths Black-smiths are all one Tribe and match into each others Family all other Mechanike Trades are Tribes by themselues as Painters Weauers Sadlers Barbers Fishermen Heardsmen Porters Washers Sweepers diuers others the worst whereof are the abhorred Piriawes who are not permitted to dwell in any Towne by any Neighbours but in a place without by themselues liue together auoyded of al but their own Fraternity whom if any man should casually touch he would presently wash his bodie These flea all dead cattle for their skins and feed vpon the flesh the skins they dresse making thereof Sandals for the Gentiles and shooes for the Moores othersome they vse to embale Merchandise to defend it against wet to conclude they are in publike Iustice the hateful executioners and are the basest most stinking ill fauoured people that I haue seene the Inhabitants of Cape bona Esperanza excepted who are in these particulars vnparalleld and so I leaue them adding onely one word of the Porters who carry the Palamkeenes a Litter so contriued euery way as to carry a man his bed and pillowes which eight of these Porters will carry foure of those leagues in a day which are 36. of our miles supporting it on their bare shoulders and running vnder it by turnes foure at a time from which continuall toyle aggrauated by the extreme heate their shoulders are become as hard as their hoofes yet this their education makes easie to them for when their children can but goe alone they lay a small sticke on their shoulders afterwards a logge which they make them carry with proportionable increase vntill Roman Milo like they are able to run vnder a Palamkeene and in that sometimes perchance an Oxe But all these thus distinguished are in Religion one body and haue
extant yea still obserued for antiquities sake in the great Church of Toledo This Musa or Muza is reckoned the first Arabian Gouernour in Spaine who beeing reuoked by Walid Abdulazis Sonne of Musa was by his Father left to gouerne Spaine who married the wife of Rodericus the Spanish King and by her perswasion crowned himselfe King whereupon the Arabs killed him at his Prayers and Ayub succeeded in the Gouernment who remoued the Courts from Siuill to Corduba But the Chalipha eiected him and placed Alabor who seuerely exacted on the first conquerours of Spaine Musa hauing by Tarrics complaints incurred disgrace and dying of griefe that what spoyles those spunges had sucked he squeised out of them made them to vomit again their sweet morsels Zama succeeded three yeeres in the Spanish Gouernment who made a Booke of the Reuenues of Spaine and of Gallia Narbonensis also For hee passed into France placed a Garrison at Narbona besieged Tolouse but by Eudo was slaine and his Arabs chased which chose Abderramen for their Leader Whiles they had feasted themselues with hopes of Gotike Gaule and conquered it in manner from the Pirenaean hils to the Alpes Pelagius Ximenes and others laid hold of such places as fitted their purposes in Spaine and beganne pettie Kingdomes therein since vnited into one Souereigntie after many ages Asam Son of Melic succeeded in Spaine who imposed the fifts on all conquered places for the Chalifas treasury and the tenths of such as yeelded He being slaine Ambiza succeeded Anno Hegira 103. and made many inrodes into France imposing to that purpose double tributes on the Christians Iahya ruled two yeeres and halfe and after him Odoyfa who did little worthy memory Next was sent Yemen Anno Heg. 111. which ruled but fiue moneths and Autuman succeeded foure moneths and then followed Alhaytam tenne moneths who after many tortures and derisions dyed in Prison and Mahomet Abenabdalla ruled two moneths to whom succeeded Abderramen He entred France as farre as Rhodanus at Arles slue many committed great spoyles in Poitiers and Xantonge Eudo Duke of Aquitaine which some say had brought in the Saracen and on the day of battell forsooke them ioyning with Charles Martell against them assisted with the Germans ouerthrew them some say aboue three hundred thousand of them were slaine with that their Generall An. H. 116. Abdelmelic succeeded foure yeeres and then Ocha or Ancupa An. 119. and after him Abdelmelic againe was replenished Spaine out of Africa after much depopulations but hee being slaine in ciuill combustions Abulcatar was sent Gouernour An. 125. who was slaine by Zimael and Toban was placed in his roome Eudo being dead his Sonnes dispossessed by the French of their Inheritance called the Saracens againe into Gaule who spoyled the whole Countrey betwixt the Pyrenees and the Riuer Loire Languedoc and Prouence seised also on Auignon but were againe chased by Charles Martell An. H. 128. Thoaba ruled Spaine one yeere Iuseph succeeded At this time the Ommian Race was dispossessed of the Chalifate and that of Abbas succeeded Abderramen of the Ommian Family possessed himselfe of Spaine after which it was separated from the Asian Chalifate and became a Kingdome and these Ommians called themselues Emirelmumenim This was An. H. 142. In the yeere 149. he began the Mezquit at Corduba the chiefe of all others in his Dominion An. 171. hee dyed and was buried at Corduba He left eleuen Sons and nine Daughters Isen the eldest succeeded and warred on his brother Zulema whom he put to flight He tooke Toledo Zulema sold all his challenge in Spaine and passed the Sea to Barbary as did Abdalla also another brother Isen An. 177. sent Abdelmelic with a great Army into France which spoyled and subdued Narbone with so great a part of the Countrey that Isen perfected with the fifths of those spoyles the Temple of Corduba which his Father had begun The Christians also of Narbone carried earth thither from their owne Countrey He built the bridge at Corduba He was munificent and iust He prospered in France warred with Alfonsus King of Gallicia and hauing reigned seuen yeeres seuen moneths and seuen dayes dyed leauing his Kingdome to his Sonne Alhacam A. 179. He was wise and fortunate had seuen thousand Slaues for his Guard three thousand Renegadoes and two thousand Eunuchs he personally iudged poore mens causes and was liberall in almes He ouercame in battell Zulema and Abdalla his Vncles slue one and subiected the other He dyed An. 206. leauing nineteene Sons and one and twenty Daughters Abderramen his Sonne succeeded He recouered the Townes which in late Schismes the Christians had gotten An. 229. fifty ships and fifty foure Gallies arriued at Lisbone The next yeere a greater number of ships came and besieged Siuill and often fought with the Arabs and spoyled their Dominions with fire and sword carrying away euery thing of value and killing very many Abderramen had a great battell with them but neither part preuayled An. 236. Corduba was paued and water brought thither in pipes of lead Abderramen dyed An. 238. leauing fiue and forty Sonnes and two and forty Daughters Mahomet his Sonne succeeded who much preuayled against the Christians slue many and An. 245. tooke Toledo by composition Sixty Norman ships that yeere burned Gelzirat Alhadia and the Mezquits and thence proceeded into Africa and there committed many spoyles after which they returned and wintred in Spaine and in the Spring wen home An. 273. Mahomet dyed and left thirty foure Sonnes and twenty Daughters of which Almundir succeeded and dying two yeeres after Abdalla his brother reigned fiue and twenty yeeres After his death Abderramen Sonne of Mahomet Sonne of Abdalla succeeded An. 300. and reigned fifty yeeres He called himselfe Almunacer Ledinella that is Defender of the Law of God and Amiramomeni or King of the beleuers Hee was mightie tooke Septa in Africa adorned the Mezquit of Corduba and many others His Sonne Alhacam succeeded An. 350. whom they surnamed Almuztacarbille that is Defending himselfe with God An. 366. Isen his Sonne succeeded He entituled himselfe Almuhayatbille Labouring with God He being vnder eleuen yeeres of age Mahomet Ibne Abenhamir was made Protector or Regent in their stile Alhagib or Viceroy which ruled all and of his fortunate victories was called Almanzor two and fiftie times he led armies against the Christians His Sonne Abdelmelic succeded in his Office An. 393. and held it six yeeres and nine moneths The King was little more then titular After him Abderramen his brother who forced Isen to nominate him his Successor and was soone after slaine Then followed diuisions in the State Isen being shut vp and reported dead by Mahomet Almahadi which domineered The Earle Sancius helped the aduerse faction of Zuleman and slue of Almahadis part 36000. Neither could Isen bee accepted whom Almahadi now brought forth but Zuleman entred Corduba and
possessed the Throne which Almahadi in a great battell recouered Anno 404. but lost it soone after with his life and Isen was restored Alhameri was made Alhagiber Viceroy The Countrey was spoyled and neere Corduba almost dispeopled by Barbarians Zuleman also and Almahadis Sonne in diuers parts doing much harme against whem Isen hired Earle Sarcius restoring six Castles to him which Almanzor had taken Zuleman wan Corduba and Isen fled into Africa Now was all in combustion Ali Alcazin Hyahye Cazim Mahomet Abderramen Mahomet Hyahya Iris Isen successiuely starting in and out of the Throne so that the Kingdome of Corduba failed and euery man made himselfe Master of his charge and vsurped what he could The Ommian Race fayling the Almorauides of Africa An. 484. possessed the Kingdome Ioseph Sonne of Tessephin being called to helpe one against the other and taking all into his owne dominion He made Morocco his Seat Royall Ali his Sonne succeeded and Tessephim his Sonne was deposed An. 539. The Almoades extinguished the Almorauides After many changes and chances the Realme of Granado was erected which continued aboue two hundred and fifty yeeres vnder these Kings successiuely Mahomet Alen Alhamar Mir Almus Aben Azar Aben Leuin Ismael Mahumet Ioseph Lagus Mahumet Mah. Guadix Ioseph Balua Ioseph Aben Azar Mah. the little Ioseph M. Aben Ozmen Ismael Muley Alboracen Mah. Boabdelin Muley Boabdelin expelled by Ferdinand and Isabella A. 1492. A Relation of the Kings of Barbary after the ending of the Egyptian Chalifas to the present Xeriffian Family taken out of a Spanish Booke of that argument ABtilhac was the first King Merin in Fez He had Sonnes A Bucar and Iacob Bucar the which Iacob was Lord of Ramatto and Abtilhac left his Kingdome in his life time to his Sonne Bucar Bucar had for Sonne Yahia This Bucar ouercame King Abtolcader and dyed in the battell and he said Yahia was King vnder protection of his Vncle Iacob which was Lord of Ramatto Yahia dyed a child without issue and the said Iacob Bucar his Vncle remayned King which afterward caused himselfe to be called Muley Xeh which signifieth old King This King built new Fez which is called the white Citie hee ouercame Budebuz King of Marweccos and sometimes was Lord of Tremesen Tumbe and Sojumenza and in the yeere of our Lord 1264. he entred Spaine being called by the King of Granado Hee had three Sonnes Abuçait Aben Iacob and Aben Iucef Abuçait Abuçayt after that his father had gained Tremezen was left for King there he had one Son a child whose name is not knowne and Abuhamo begotten vpon a Christian woman Abuçait reigning in Tremezen his father Iacob Aben Iucef dyed and his younger Son Aben Iacob reigned in his steed in Marweccos Sojumenza and Algarue and besieged Tremezen against his brother Abuçait and the said Aben Iacob left two Sonnes Abucale and Aliborregira which afterward was drowned by Aborabec Abucalec the eldest Sonne of Aben Iacob had a Sonne called Abuhumer who dyed and was neuer King himselfe But left two Sons Botheyd and Aborabec both which were Kings Abuçait dying at the end of foure yeeres left as I said before two Sonnes the eldest for vnderstanding we call the Old who reigned a yeere and a halfe after the death of his father and dyed without issue and Abuhamo which afterward was King in his steed The foresaid child being dead his brother Abuhamo reigned in his steed who afterward was called Abuhertab and his Vncle Aben Iacob besieged him in Tremezen seuen yeeres after whose death the siege was raysed and the said Abuhamo afterward with the ayde of D. Iayme of Aragon gained Ceuet in the yeere of our Lord 1310. After that Aben Iacob was dead his Sonne Abucalee tooke possession of the new Citie but his Vncle for hatred that he bore him caused them to receiue for King Botheyd who was Sonne vnto Abuhamer that dyed and neuer had beene King himselfe and the said Botheyd pursued Abucalee and slue him and reigned after him Botheyd after that his Vncle had saluted him for King dyed without issue After that Botheyd was dead the Christians raysed his brother Aborabe for King Then the Moores would haue had Ali Berregira King younger Sonne to Aben Iacob which was the sixt King and so after much warres betweene them at length Aborabee ouercame him and commanded him to bee drowned And after Aborabee had reigned two yeeres he dyed without issue After Aborabee dyed his great Vncle Aben Iucef Abuçayt was made King in Fez hee had two Sonnes Abohali and Abuhaçen This Aben Iucef Abuçait gained many Cities in Spaine in the yeere of our Lord 1318. and 1322. Albohali wounded his father in the warres and made himselfe to bee called King of Fez and his father being sicke besieged him and they came to agreement that his father should giue him Sojumensa and the halfe of the treasure of Fez and his father should remayne with Marweccos Algarue and Fez The said Albohali had two Sonnes Buzayn and Bahamon Albuhazen was receiued for King in the life of his father for his brother Albohali was disinherited for wounding his father This Albuhaçen had three Sonnes Abtulmalic Abtolrahmin and Abuhenan he was King of Fez Marueccos Algarue Sojumenza Tremezen and Tunes Abtulmalic was King of Algezira he past into Spaine in the yeere of our Lord 1340. and was ouercome by the Christians which they call La victoria del salido and in the warres of Xeres hee dyed Abtolramin his other brother rose with the Citie Mequines and his Father cut off his head Abuhenan rose with the Kingdome of Fez and fought against his father Albuhaçen ouercame him he made in Fez the Colledge which is called The Colledge of Abuhenan He had three Sonnes Muley Buçayt and Muley Zaet and Iacob Abuçayt sent his brother Zaet to succour Gibraltar who was taken Prisoner by the Kings of Granada and Abuçayt was killed by his owne subiects leauing one Sonne called Abtilhac Zaet vnderstanding the death of his brother got liberty and ayde of the King of Grada and recouered Fez After the death of Zaet Abtilhac Sonne of Abuçayt was King who was slaine by treason by one of his owne subiects who thought to vsurpe the Kingdome but Zaet Benimerine next heire vnto Abtilhac recouered it againe by force of armes within few moneths and put to death the Vsurper Zaet left for heires two Sonnes Muley Mahamet and Muley Nacer Muley Mahamet succeeded his father in the Kingdome and had two Sonnes to wit Muley Ahmat and Muley Naçant Muley Ahmat succeeded his father and had one Daughter called Lalalu which was forced to marry with the Xarife and dyed without issue for griefe of the death of her father and three Sonnes Muley Bucar which dyed in the warre when King Buhason recouered Fez and Muley Muhamet and Muley Alcasery which was King vpon conditions in the absence of his
Confession at Ocaca ibid. Nicaragua 887. In Peru 942. 943 Congo the Historie thereof 765 Six Prouinces therein 766. their Kings Idols Conuersion 767 768. Their admirable trees 769 Constantina a Citie 643 Constantinople decyphred with due Epithites and titles 322. 323 Constellations of the Chaldaeans 52 Confusius a Philosophicall Saint in China 462. His Temple ibid. Confusian Sect their opinions and Rites 462. 463 Cookery superstitious 200. 201 Copernicus his opinion of the Spheres 8 Cophti Christians in Aegypt 657 658 Coquo-nut and Tree and the commodities thereof 567 Coray how situate 602 Corkan of the Iewes 127. 128 Cordaei or Gordiaei montes 35 Corycean Caue 301 Corterealis Discouery 860 Cortez his Conquest 858. 859. His expedition to Mexico c. 860. 861 Corybantes and bloudy Priests 86 Corvat his trauels and obseruatitions 531 Cosroes the Great his Reigne 362 363. 364 Cosumil or Acusamil 885 Cothone Iland 82 Cotton where and how it groweth 395 Couerts Trauels 531 Couetousnesse punished 331 Courts of the Iewes 98. At Bagdat 146. 147. 148 Country of Couche how situate 511 Coughing at Sermons 704 Coughing Rites in Benomotapa 722 Crabs in India fullest in the wane 566. Exceeding great Crabs ibid. Cranganor a Christian Citie in India 554 Crassus slaine at Carrae 63. His Periury 119. 353 Cray-fish of three Cubits 480. Others exceeding great ibid. Creation what it is and the Histostorie therof 5. Proued 12. Iewish dreames thereof 178. 179. Mahomets dreames 253. 254. Dreames of the Magi concerning it 670. Of the Indians 478 479. Of the Aegyptians 635 636. In Peru 934 Creed of the Moderne Iewes 171 172 Cretans called Chetim Cortim 37 Crim-Tartars 421. Their gouernment and wars 422. Religion and other Customes 423. There inuading Russia and Acts there 975. 976. seq Strange Embassage 975 Crisses a kind of Daggers 460 Crocodiles in Pegu accounted holy 507. In Iaua eaten 610 In Africa 623. In Aegypt 637. In Congo 769. A kind of Crocodile in Poland 990. Crocodiles charmed 1005 Crowes ominous 540. Fed from the King of Calecuts Table 550 Hurtfull 565. Iewish tale of a huge Crow 210 Crosses in Aegyptian Ceremonies what 636. Vsed by some Mahumetans 243. In lucatan 885 Cruelty of Abdalla the 22. Chalifa 1027 Cresias 357 Ctesiphon built by the Parthians 63 Cuba discouered 954. 955. Cubagua 951 Cubit sacred and Geometricall 33 Cucuij a strange Beetle 637 Cufa a Citie 64 Cumania described 896. Rarities and Rites ibid. Their dancing drinking 897. Their Gods Crosses and Priests 898. Their Diuinations and Funerals ibid. Curdi Mungrels in Religion 67 their habitation Rites and manner of liuing 349 Curiana how situate 895 Cusco a Citie in Peru 949. 950 Custome what and how strong 26 27 Cutha part of the Desart of Arabia 136 Cuthaeans 136. The subtilest beggers in the World 136. Cursed by the Leuits 136 Cutlu-Muses his Acts 280. 281 Cublay-can 406. His greatnesse and Conquests 407. 408 Cush his Posteritie 37. 726. Cush how vsed in Scripture ibidem Cushites who called 726 Cyaxares destroyed Niniue 66 Cybele 340 Cynocephalus worshipped Cyprus the description thereof 584 The Map of Cyprus 585 Cyrus 60. 336. Hee tooke Darius at Borsippa 63. 357. Tooke Croesus 356. The Historie of him 356. 357. seq How much he got by his warres in Asia 102 Nourished by a Bitch 350 Cyzicus a Citie of Mysia Minor 334 Czophylar a Turkish Sect 315. 316 D DAbaiba Riuer and Goddesse 893. The Pilgrimes Sacrifices Fasts Bels Priests Funerals bloudy Dances 894. 895. Monster there ibid. Dabuh a Beast 563 Dagon Idoll 77. 80. The word Dagon signifieth a Sea God 80 Dan 92. Apostasie of Dan. 94 The Citie of Dan why so called 92 Daniel expounded by Berosus 49 Set ouer the Chaldee 55. Another Daniel supposed 59. His interpretations interpreted 60. His Sepulchre 148. The place of his imprisonment 64 Daniel Sonne of Hasdai 147. his authority ouer all Congregations of the Israelites 148 Darknesse on the face of the Deepe 6. A priuation 7. Cimmerian darknesse 576 Darknesse internall externall eternall met together 518 Darius Medus 61. 359 Darius spared the Temple of Belus 56. The History of him 359 360 Darius Nothus 102 Damascus in Syria 14. The History thereof 75. 76 Damut in Aethiopia 739 Dancali Dambri Damote Dambea c. In Aethiopia 726 Damiadee Daddor Dille in the Moguls Country 534 Dances of Iewes 211 Daphne neere Antioch 71. The Fable ibid. The vanity of Antiochus there 72 Dariene described 891. Their Rites 892. 893 Date-trees planted by Mahomet 248 Date-Region 654. 706. 707. seq The effect of Dates 655 Dauid Elroi a false Messias 143 144 Dauids Sepulchres 230. His Ecclesiasticall Constitutions ibid. Iewish dreames of him 124 Captaine Dauies slaine 817. His Northwest Discoueries 813. His Discoueries in the South Sea 914 Daulas what it signifies 1036 Day Naturall and Artificiall 105 The day diuersly begun ibid. Diuided into watches 106. What dayes the Iewes fasted 113. Mundayes and Thursdayes ibid. Death spirituall naturall eternall 22. Opinions touching the dead among the Turkes 313. 314 Debts how preuented and punished in China 437. At Calecut 550 Decapolis whence so called 93. Her Townes ibid. Decanius 539 Decan Kingdomes described 539 540. Their combination against the Mogoll 996 Dedication Feast 199. 114 Degrees of the Chinians 448. 449 seq Dens or Caue 64 Decij imitated by the Turkes 401 By the Indians 478. Angolians 766 Dely a Kingdome 543. Their Religion and Rites 543. 544 Derbices their Rites 400 Derceto mother of Semiramis 68 Halfe a woman halfe a fish 69. 80 Dermschler a Turkish Order 315 Also Deruis 316. 317 Demetrius of Russia 991. 992 Desart of Arabia 224. seq Desarts of Indie 477 Desolation Iland 395 Deucalion his floud 34. Founder of the Temple at Hierapolis 68 Deuiclaci worshippers of the Sun 135 Deuils malice and policie 21. 22 Deuils worshipped 53. Mahomets opinion that the Deuils shall once bee saued by the Alcoran 263. An Altar erected to the Deuill by the Pegusians 306. Worshipped by the Cambayans and their Rites in his worship 543. 544 Dewras an impregnable Hill 563 Diamonds poyson 740. Whence taken ibid. Diana her Story 337. Worshipped in Babylon 56. At Castabala 191. In Galatia 260. Ionia and Asia her Temple Priests c. 337 Diargument or Hircania 355 356. Diasares an Arabian Deitie 228. Dido why so called 82 Digs his Iland 817 Dinias his fabulous iourney 15 Dinor a fiery Brooke 325 Dyonysius his monstrous fatnesse 226. Worshipped by the Arabians 227 Diosurias famous for many Languages 97 Diospolis or Thebes 632 Diseases amongst the Iewes and their Superstitions 205. Meanes for cure 205 Diuination 45. 51. 54. 56. 131 408 466. 686. Diuers kinds of Diuination 369. 370. Scythian Diuination 397. 398. Tartarian Diuination 416. 428. Chinian Diuinations 466. 467. 468 Diuinations in Fez 686. 687 Diuorce of Iewes 204 Dodanim Author of the Dorians and Rhodians 37 Dogzijn or Drusians their Sect Irreligion Irregularitie Infamy Incest 220. 221 Dogges
a Iewish Dreame of her 160 Rebellions at Cufa 1022 Reconciliation-Fast 112. 197 198 Rechabites 125 Red Sea or Arabian Gulfe 582 seq Ilands therein ibidem Red Sea why so called 775. seq The chiefe Townes and Ilands in the Red Sea 777 sequitur Reisbuti or Rasboots a people subiect to the Mogoll 534. Their Countrey Religion and Rites 535. 536 Religion whence the word deriued 17. 18. How differing from Superstition called Ean-fastnesse 18. Described ibidem The vse thereof 26. It is naturall to men ibid. It is not policie nor by policie can bee abolished 27. True Religion can bee but one 27. 28 Men will rather be of false then no Religion ibidem 301 391 Religion the most mortall Make-bate 75. What was the Religion of the World before the Floud 28. 29. Whom the Heathens cal-Religious 46. Peruerters of Religion 55. 70. 75. Times religius obserued in China 47 Religions of Christians Moores and Ethnicks compared for store of followers 320 Reliques of the Arke 35. Of Mahumetans 281. Of an Apes Tooth 295. Of the Ship Argo 320. Of Adams foot-print 381 Repentance 257 Resurection denyed by the Sadduces 138. By the Samaritans ibid. Confessed by the Ancient Pharisees 126. Their three opinions thereof ibid. Denyed to Vsurers 257. Of women in male sexe 261. Resurrection of Birds and Beasts 314. Turkish opinion of the Resurrection 313 Rhameses an Aegyptian King 632 Rheubarb plentifull 413 Rhinoceros of Bengala 509 Rhinoceros of the Aire a Fowle 742. And of the Sea ibid. Rice plenteous in Pegu 498. 499 Rich Carpet 1019 Riphath and Riphaean Hils 37 Rimmon an Idoll of the Syrians 74 Rings worne in Eares Nose and Lips 873 Riuers worshipped 509. 510 Riuers of Paradise 18. Of Adonis 78. Of Iordan 90 Sabbaticall 109. Of the Hircans 361 Riuers running vnder ground 65 Riuer in Laos running backwards two moneths 489 Riuers made by hand many and great in China 455 Riuers loosing themselues in Sands 579. Great Riuers in America 793. Abassian Riuers 840. The Riuer Plate and Countries adioyning 920 Riuer-horse 623. 714 Rhodes the description thereof 584 Rhodians 39 Rihi a Sauage people 1032 Roundnesse of the World 9 Rowland a name frequent with the Colchians 348 Ruck a fabulous Bird 780 Russian Obseruations 973. sequitur Russes conuerted to Christianitie 1038 S SA Scha Saha Shaugh Xa Persian titles 365. 366 Saads cruelty 1015 Saba and Queene of Saba 225 330. 331. 332. 753. The Citie Saba described 748. 753. 754 Sabaea Regio thurifera 37 Sabbaticus a Riuer in Syria 109 A Discourse of the Sabbaticall Riuer 581. 582. A tale of a Iew that thought hee had met with the Sabbaticall Riuer 580 Sabbatha a City in Arabie Foelix 37 Sabbatharians 123 Sabbaticall yeere 99 Sabbaticall yeere of the Iewes and Samaritans 109 Sabbatary Soule of the Iewes 193 Sabbaticall Superstition of the Iewes 107. 108. 127. 192. 193 Sabbath why so called 106. A generall name ibid. Sabbath why called the Lords Day 20 Sabbath how farre Moral and Ceremoniall 15. 20. 108. Obiections answered 19. 20. 21 Sabbath of Christians 20. 21. Of Iewes 106. 109. 174. 192. Of Aethiopians 111. Of Turks 310 311. Of Peguans on Munday 507. In Iaua arbitrary in Guinea on Tuesday 718. 719. So likewise in Paucora 813 Sabbetha and his Posteritie 37 Sabtlieca and Sechalitae 37 Sabyrians 439 Sacrament of the Rain-bow 36 37 Sacrifices of Cain and Abell 27 28. Kinds of Sacrifices 28 Sacrifices consumed by fire from Heauen ibid. Sacrifice but the Apparell of Diuine worship 30 Sacrifices of the Cyrenians and Iewes 110. 115. Of Mahumemetans 273. 274. Phaenician Sacrifices 81 Sacrifices to Moloch 86. Of Arabians 227. Of Taurica 234 Galatians 329. Of Meander 337. Araxes 345. Armenians 344. Albanians 346. Scythians 397. Aegyptians at Idythya 402. Busiris 594. At Heliopolis 599. Of the Carthaginians 672. Of the Blemmies 683. Aethiopians 745. Falsly supposed of Virginians 775. In Florida 846. Panuco 853 Zaclota 920. Tezcuco 932 Of Mexicans how begunne 871 Increased 872. To their Goddesses ibid. The strange fashion of their Sacrificing 871. The Rites of humane Sacrifice 872 Sacrifices of the Iewes of eight sorts and their rites 115 Sacrifices of the Persians 373. Daily ibid. Rites of their Sacrificing 374. 375. 376. Of the Philippinas 603. Selfe-sacrificing of the Banians 240 241. Of the Nayros 553. Narsinga 580. Amouchi 638 At Quilacare 890. Iapanders 595. Humane Sacrifices at Peru 945 Sacae their Habitation and rites 399 Sacriledge how punished 120 Sachoniatho 76 Sagadana 579 Saga 350 Sabatius Saga 351 Sagada hoc riuer 683 Saddai a name of God what it signifieth 4 Sadducees the History of them 129. 130. Their crueltie ibid. Difference betwixt them and the Samaritans 138 Sanhedrin vide Elders Saints in Turkie 316. 317. 318 In Aegypt vide Nafissa Saladine 657 Salmanasar 136 Saints of Pagans 999 Salomons building the Temple 102 Salamander 565 Salsette and the Rites there 545 Salt-hill 84 Salt deare sold 722. How made ibid. Saltnesse cause of motion in the Sea 573. 574 Samarcheneth a Citie 149 Samarchand the Citie of the great Tamerlane 425 Samaria how situate 93. 136 Samaritan Sect 136. sequitur The hatred betweene them and the Iewes 137. Difference from the Sadducees 138 Samaritan Chronicle 138 Samaritan Letters and Temple 138 Samosata Lucians Birth place 68 Samoits or Samoeds 431. Their Rites 432. sequitur Their hardship and manner of trauell 432. 433. Their Images Religion Persons ibid. Samiel Semixas names of Deuils 32 Samatra the Historie thereof 612 613. The King thereof a Fisherman how hee came to the Crowne 613. 614. His Admirall Attendants Women c. ibid. The present King attended by Boyes and women ibid. His entertainments to the English 613. His letter to our King 614. His cruelties 615 Samsaeins or Sunners 133. 134 Sanballat 136. 137 Sanctuary at Tauium 325. At Ephesus 336. Canopus and other places 362 Sandars three sortes thereof 570 Sopores King of Persia his reigne 361. 362 Sangene tocoro in Iapon 586 Sangius Draconis 779 Saraca the name of an Arabian Citie 230 Saracens who and why so called 215. 229. 230. 657. Their Ancient Rites ibidem Their Religion 230. 231. Their Warres vnder Mahumet and his Successors 232. sequitur Diuisions 233. Their Califes and exploits 234. 236. sequitur Their learning and learned men 240. 241. Their Story of Mahomets life 244. 245. sequitur Their opinion of the Alcoran 258. 259. The Saracenicall Conquest and Schisme in Persia 378. 379. What Countrey of the East they possessed 657. More Saracens then Christians ibid. Captaine Saris his trauels and commendation 589. 590 Sardanapalus his Conquests 61 His destruction 61. 62. His Monument ibidem How much goods perished with him ibid. Sardis Mother Citie of Lydia 339 Sarmatians 37. 407 Sasquesahanockes a Giantly people in Virginia 842. Their Rites 843. 844 Saturni who so called 45 Saturnus the same with Cain 45 Saturne of the Phaenicians 77 His other names 80 Satourioua his Acts
argument which I haue added to my Pilgrimes Tom. 1. lib. 5. cap. vlt. Prou. 26.4 16 Increase of Arts and Knowledge by farre Discoueries Higini fab 151. k Sir Thomas Smith Gouernour of the East Indie Companie at whose House are holden the Consultations for them And l For Virginia Summers Ilands Muscouia North-West Discoueries c. I must also acknowledge His fauour to Me as of Sir Dudly Diggs M. Abbot Deputy of the East Indie Company for communicating to me their Iournals a Maginus b Discourse of China p. 381. c Gi. Bot. Ben. Richard Cocke Linschot c. 22 d Summario di pop Orientali e Nauigatio Iac. Neccij per Cornel. Nicolai Linschot vbi supra Gasp de Cruz. f This seemeth to be Mecon the riuer before mentioned P. Jarric Thes. rerum Indic l. 2. tom 1. c. 25. g Maginus G. Bot. Ben. Gas B. cap. 35. h Discourse of China p. 390. i G. Bot. Ben. lib. 2. part 3. k G. de Cruz. See my Pilgrims To. 1. l. 1. c. 10. Balth. Sequer l Bulla m Maginus G. Bot. Ben. n Treatise of the Circumference of the Earth Osor Maffaeus Barrius c Ioan. Bar. lib. 9. cap. 2. d Caes Frid. Iesuit Epist. Pet. W. Floris M. S. you haue his Iournall in my Pilgrims To. 1. li. 3. c. 14. f See Nouus orbis Bar. dec. 2. l. 6. c. 1. The Monsonsi See this historie in Moffaeus hist Ind. l. 4. Osorius l. 6. 7. Barros As Dei 2. l. 4. c. 4. l. 6. c. 4. seq The bone of he Cabal Linschot R. Fitch g Bar. dec. 2. l. 6. cap. 1. f Ioan. Bar. l. 9. g G. Arthus Dantisc Hist. Ind. Orient pag. 333. h Nauig Iacob Neccij i The Hollanders saw many men women of China in their boats which were Fishers and dwelt in them but saw not a Portugall nor could procure any of the other at any sum to deliuer them a letter on shoare After 1603. the Hollanders tooke a rich ship of the Portugals at Macao laden for Iapan Cornel. de Vena k A merry madnesse of Euery one in his humour l Orbells m See the next Chapter of another way to take them Peter Williamson Floris n Pan or Pam or Pane. This King promised much fauour to the English if they would resort to his Citie which is in a little Iland o Gouernor or chiefe ouer them p I. Hermannus Hist. Nau. ab 1602. ad 1604. q Step. ab Hagen r Cornel. Mateliu Nauig pug Amsteldam Hist Io. Isacij Pontaui ſ Ex relot Gen. Saris. t Their Ship-boats u Indiae Orientalis partes 8. per T. Is de Bry. Nic. Bang Itinerat x D. Mid. voyage 1609. M.S. a G. Bot. Ben. b N. Pimenta lit F. Fernandez c A kinde of gum wrought by Pismires as Bees make waxe whereof is made our hard waxe colours c. d Fredericke saith he had 26 crowned Kings at command and that no King in the world was of greater power Caes Fred. e Balbi saith 1500000. G. Balby cap. 34. R. Fitch Cities in the way from Negrais to Pegu y There were destroyed by this flame and execution 4000. persons Arthus pag. 326. Gasper Balby c. 37. hath the same number saying That all the Citizens of Pegu were enioyned to be present at the execution He cals the place not a Wood but a Prison He was then at Pegu z The cruell tyrannie of the King of Pegu Iudas cannot be secure till he hang himselfe a And. Bouet b Iarric hath 700. Elephants 700. Horses c A cruell punishment of Cowards Sirian Iarric Thes. Indic part 1. l. 2. cap. 24. Equus Seianus Elephas Peguanus P. Iar. Thes. Rer. Ind. l. 6. c. 31. Iar. ex Fernand. lit Martauan d 1496. e 1588. M.R. Fitch Caes Fred. Balby c Linschot R. Fitch 28. Gas Balby c. 38. Arist. hist an l. 9. tels of taking the wilde with fighting on the tame and wearying them d Lins c. 17. Arthus e Hist Indiae Orient p. 313. Balby c. 37. f Caes Fred. so Balby also g R. Fitch G. Balby a R. Fitch Caes Frederike b Gas Balby saith that many of these Varelles were burned together with four thousand houses in Pegu by negligence of a Portugall Mariner c Balby c. 38. d Fernandes Epist. e R . Fitch f Balby c. 37. G. B.B. l. part 3. Arthus p. 319. g Part. 1. l. 26 h Gaspar Balby Got. Arthus Hist Ind. p. 321. i G. Balby c. 37. k Sapan Giachie l Sapan Catena m Sapan Daich n Sapan Donan o Sapan Giaimosegienon p Gasper Balby was there with other Merchants which saw him weeping q G. Balby a Magin Gio. Bot. Ben. Got. Arthus hist Ind. Orient pag. 282. b Linschot c. 16 c Adulterie punished d Linschot c. 47 e Lud. Vert. lib. 1. cap. 19. Gesnerus de Quadrup Scal. Exerc. 205. f G. Bot. Ben. g Bar. Dec. 1. l. 9. c. 1. h Balby cap. 42. i R. Fitch k Hier. Xau Eman. Pin. l Pardaw is three Testons Portugall m N. Pimentae n R. Fitch The manner of their Marriages o A right niggard p R. Fitch p Histor Relatio de Kege Mogor q Linschot r N. Pimenta Sundiua Caes Frederike Porto Grande p Ialeae q Catures r Indian ships are generally smal and of no great force for warre especially with such souldiers : you may call them Boats ſ Sup. c. 3. §. 2. t Sues in the bottome of the Red Sea Ialeae Iarric l. 6. c. 33 Sup. cap. 3. § 2. 1607. 1608. 1613. Britto empaled and cruelly slaine a Or Cumaus on which dwel Gentils called Cumai This mountaine seperates the Mogols and Tartars b 1495. 1599. c Vid. sup c. 8. §. 2. d R. Fitch e Relat. de Reg. Mog d The vncertaintie of his Religion Balby tels of reports amongst the Portugals of the conuersion of this King and of the Kingdome of China also to Christianitie both with like truth and fitting Popish reporters c Ioan. Oranus c Hier. Xauier Some call the second sonne Sultan Horat some Morad the first Selim c. d Eman. Pinner Iarric Thes. rer Indicarum l. 4. 5. Caximir Elephants trunke as a staffe to them I haue obserued of this yong Elephant now in London sent out of Spaine to his Maiestie that in rising vp when he is laid on the ground hee raiseth himselfe on his two great teeth Brampore Syra an admirable fortresse o Goa Idalcans countrey Malabar c. p Vsbechs neer the Persians Blue a mourning colour Selim poysoned Baiazet M. Clarke and M. Withington They say hee presented the King with the worth of 25000 crownes one iewell being worth 20000. a His booke or large iournall written by himselfe was communicated to me by the right worshipfull Sir Tho. Smith b Emmanuel Pinnerus c Padasha is a Persian word and signifieth King d Dec. 21. 1612. e Others say that his proper title is
great Dukes Feast * Pardon this prolixity in narration of a Feast I doe it partly for Q. Elizabeths sake to whole honour it was intended and partly to expresse the magnificence and customes of Lithuania little knowne to most Practise to poyson Sir Ier Horsey Demetrius slain and his Mother poysoned Boris is made Emperour Description of his person and qualities Boris his ruine He poysoneth himselfe The Counterfeit Demetrius raigneth He is slaine Suskoy is crowned and captiued by the Poles The Poles expelled by the Tartars * Sinus Gangeticus Zeloan or Zeilan Candy p Captaines Gouernour d Two shillings six pence sterling S. Thome See before in Balbie c. Palecat possessed by the Dutch Sir Adolfe Thomason Portugals weaknes within the Gulfe Musulipatnam or Musulipatan P. W. Floris See P. 1. l. 3. Climate and Seasons Hote and killing winds Peter Iacobson R. Stower Commodious Flouds All trees continually greene Fertilitie Golchonda described Glorious Palace The King a mahumetan Their Sects Kings title Wiues Concubines Three Decan Kings enemy to the Mogull Kings Reueue Indian Monarchie Miserable people Castles 66. * Captaines or Gouernors Castle described Intelligence by Torches * Mahumetan Churches Relgion of the Gentiles in those parts Ier 35. Their morality Their Tribes forty foure The Bramene Their writing Learning Superstition d Casta signifying a Tribe The Fangam The Committy The Campo Waro The Whoores Tribe x Moores circumcise their children Mechanikes Their Piriawes Their Idols Temples k Doulia Latria Feastiuals Tumblers Strange actiuitie Idoll-Procession Block-Saint Acts 17. Sea-feasts Other Saints Idol-Miracles * Water Suger and iuce of Limons mingled Deuil-Saint G. Ball T. Iones Vowes Bloudie Rites See the like before in Balby Houshold-gods Mariages Widowes Infants Trauell with little labour Apparell Colour Small wages Burning of wiues whence i The name of one of their Idols k Is an Officer amongst the Moores not much vnlike to the Sheriffs of London Diamonds how found The Authours iourney to the Myne Myne of Diamonds described d Or Tribe e A Vyse is three pound English weight Iron Steele Bezars how taken out of Goats Callicoes Painting and durable colours Indico See Finches Voyage Lib. 4. Their trafficke Voyage to Mocha and Mecca Bengala Bad people Crocodiles charmed Arrecan * Pegu Of the late miserable state thereof and former glory see l. 10. cap. 5 6 7 8. where other Countries of this Gulfe of Bengala and Goast of coromandel are related Zangomay or Iangoma Thomas Samuel an Englishman his Trade there and in Pegu Other English sent A Letter relating the King of Pegus entertainment to the English Peguan tyrannie Their vnfaithfulnesse and vnthriftie courses King of Pegus Letter Tannassery Syam Now in Holland Sowes fruitfull without Boxes Read M. Terries Relation of these things L . 9. c. Gen. 16 10 12. 17.20 1. Tim. 4.8 Gen. 17.27 Rom. 9.7 Gal. 4.25 Rom. 4.16 Gal. 4.28 29. Iohn 8.35.36 * Compare those Locusts Apoc. 9. with this Saracenical history which though it may be applied in part to Papists yet is literally more manifest in many things of these It was farre greater then the Roman Emâ—ire and their Religion still couereth more ground than the Christian in all professions Chalifa signifieth Vicar r Musleman or Muslim signifies a beleeuer se of that doctrine of Muhammed The name which al of that religion giue themselues Saracen and Moore c. which we giue them they know not p Misericordis miseraâ—oris gracious and mercifull their vsuall beginning of Prayers Bookes workes The Authors Preface Mahomet first Author of Islamisme that is the Mabumetan Faith praised by this author a Mahumetan t We say odious and iustly yet here and like cases follow the author The birth and genealogie of Mahomet u This M. Abugiafar was a Prince and learned Historian which died A H. 316. A.D. 922. Our of him principally is this history to that time gathered His education His vocation His doctrine * Magi were those which professed the Ethnike Religion vsed in Persia Christ blasphemed with hypocriticall honours His enemies His two wiues Aijsia Sewda The conuersion of Medina * The Hegira or flight of M. fell out on the 16. of Iuly A.D. 622. Fatima D. of Muh married to Ali his Vncles Sonne Au. H. 2. which began Iuly 5. 623. His slight skirmishes which after grew to great battels A.H. 3. which began Iune 24. A.D. 624. M. wounded A. H 4. which began Iune 13. 625. A.H. 5. Iune 2. 626. A.H. 6. which began May 23. A D. 627. Mahomets third wife M. his Coronation or installation A. H. May 11. 628. M. his Pulpit A.H. 8. April 30 629. Mecca taken A.H. 9. April 20 630. A.H. 10. which began April 9. A.D. 631. His pilgrimage A.H. 11. Mar. 28 A. Christi 632. False prophets Mahomets death His Secretaries and Officers of State This curiositie of Chronology he obserueth in the rest by vs omitted M. his respect to Christians * These Persian and Imperiall occurrents I translate also that the Reader may see how the Saracenicall Empire grew to so sudden a greatnes out of the ruines of these two Empires The Peâ—sians are said to haue preuayled in Syria Egypt One great cause of this Persian combustion Abubcer 2. hee first called himselfe Chalifa .i. Vicar or giuen of God Hee may bee called the Numa of the Saracens * Fugitiues were such as had fl d from Mecca first with M. and after from other places from which flight is their Heg. reckoned Other false Prophets A.H. 12 Ma. 18 A.C. 1633 p Irac is the name of the country where Bagdad Balsora stand extending on both sides of the bottom of the Persian Gulfe But to giue his names of countries iust interpretation is very difficult the Arabs giuing one name Tarâ—ars another and others others to the same countries which I therefore forbeare Hierac in Persia hath â—fsahon the chiefe city Stater were of diuers values some were drams a piece some betwixt some halfe that and the former some the tenth part of a dramme Alcoran first gathered together Al is the Article the coran signifieth collection of this act of Abubecr Mushaph signifies a Booke come from heauen or heauenly writing or the Scripture Coran signifies reading in publike or a collection of Surats Azoaras , some call them or chapters They hold it to excell all creatures which Christians or Iewes may not touch to sit on it were horrible or themselues to touch it vnwashed c. Omar the third Emperour or Chalifa Damascus taken A.H. 14. which began Feb. 25. A.C. 635. AH 15. Feb. 14. 636. By Romans he meaneth Subiects of the Roman Emperour which he calleth Infidels as his owne Mahumetans Muslims or right beleeuers n This seâ—meth the later Cosroes or that before of Herac is not fully true which he saith he tooke out of Christian stories The last Persian King ouercome A.H. 17. Ian. 23. A.C. 638. Egypt conquered Misra since enlarged and called
Cairo chiefe Citie of Egypt taken A.H. 19. which began Ian. 1. 640. New Misra walled A.H. 21. Dec. 10. 641. Persia Assyria and Syria A.H. 23. began Nou. 19. A.C. 643. Omar killed * This is noted because it was done by the Chalifa when he could possibly In his sicknes by one of the chiefe Omar first called Emir Elmumenim Priuiledges to Ierusalem * Mimi Note the cause why Iacobitisme preuailed with other Heresies in the East partly because the politike Infidels thus secured themselues by diuersitie of religion against the Romans partly the circumcised Muslims fauoured the circumcised Cophti Bi r a towne on the Riuer Euphrates Africa conquered Cyprus A.H. 31. it began Aug 24. 651. Nubia inuaded Old Persian A.H. 35. it began Iuly 11. 655. Rebellion Otsman killed Ali 5. Insurrection Swearing Prophetesse A.H. 37. Iune 19. 657. 90. Battels Ali killed Hasen 6. Muaui 7. And first on whose Posteritie in the Ommian Family the Chalifate setled Hasens holines . Old Obeid Iezid 8. Husein slaine and the Mushaf neglected Bochara in Bactria and Samarcand subiected Medina spoyled * Temple of Mecca burned Muaui 9. Abdalla 10. Mirkond and Zacuth leaue his out of their Catalogues Merwan 11. Cufans rebell i So Mirkond k To pray for him is meant to pray publikely before the people which in the Chalifas Temple none might doe but himselfe except in such fatall necassitie c. Abdulmelic 12. Cufa rebelleth a chiefe Citie in Arabia since ruined Basra now called Balsora The Charisaeans Hispaan now chiefe Citie of the Persian Securitie not secure Mecca besieged and taken Muske drunke a I suppose hee meaneth Derbent of old Caspiae portoe A.H. 76. it began April 21. 695. Note hard stony heart Arabike letters first in Coines Perhaps the tale of Muhammeds returne arose from this M. and not their first seducer of that name 81. ciuill fights Indian Christianity Tribute of Monkes Tyrannies Tyrants reward Walid 13. These countries lie East from the Caspian Bactriana Sogdiana other countries east-warst from Persia and the Caspian so that from thence North-east and from India South-east his Empire extended to the Westerne Ocean without interruption quite thorow Africa with Spaine part of France in Europe included Constantinople being also tributary the greatest Empire that euer had beene Temple at Damascus costly magnificent Spaine conquered o Rich table Rodericus Toletanus saith that Muza which sent Taric first came and got much riches amongst which a table of stone greene very great containing 365. foot all of one stone together with the feet c. p Mirkond cals him Oiasgegoue of Korason Zac. Hagog Son of Ioseph Being sicke he sent for an Astrologer which foreshewing by the starres the death of a King he cut off his head said he should die one houre before him q This Family soone after got the Chalifate Suleiman 14. Great glutton Omar 15. Chalif the 8. of the Ommians Ali cursed daily Chalifas deuotion Iezid 16. Rebellion Armada Loue odious Hisiam 17. A.H. 121. began Dec. 18. 738. Rebellion First and great Wardrobes Terrible earthquakes Note the greatnesse of the Kings of Nubia in those dayes Note of the different Patriarkes at Alexandria Wa'id 18. Women not permitted to pray with men Iezid 19. Rebellion Ibrahim 20. Merwan 21. 14. of the house of Ommia Merwan gluttony Lib. 2. Abdalla 22. O Cruelty ! * The Egyptians reckon from this yeere because of the multitude of Martyrs then slaine call it the yeere of the Martyrs Abugiafar 23. Huge slaughters Muaui of the Merwanian or Ommian race Emp in Spaine· Bagdad built Mirkond saith it had that name of Baga a Persian word which signifieth garden because of many gardens in that place before the building Scaligers conceit that it is Seleucia is by both excluded l Or pits which Maimon digged in that desert Rapacity Mu. Mahadi 24 m Irene Soz. Bounty to Poets M. Alhadi 25. Haron 26. l The Chalifas where they resided praied in their own persons and in other Prouinces their Lieutenants Their hypocrie condemneth others profanenesse which think Ieroboams Priests the basest of the people good enough for Prayer and themselues too good to be present a thing performed fiue times a day by the greatest Muhammedans Victories against the Christians His pilgrimage Learned men Abu Abdalla Alaminus 27. Z. reckons excellent Physicians in his time Gabriel Surianus Iohn Son of Masawia and Sela an Indian Almamon 28. Z. Mamon M. Mahamun He was studious of learned men and caused the Book s of Phylosophy Mathematicks Astrologie and Physicke to be translated out of Greeke and Syriake into Arabike * A.H. 200. it began Aug. 11. AD 815. Sirnames first p Of this City Tus was the Translater of Euclides Elements lately printed in Arabike at Rome q Z saith hee forbad the Posteritie of Ali to weare black but only yellow Poetry richly rewarded Alis correction of the Alcoran 1500000. giuen See before in Merwan It seemeth they rosted then sheep whole and not cut out in ioynts Mustasim 29. Z. Mutetzma 2 great louer of Physicians M. Matacon He built Samarra three miles from Tigris N. from Bagdad Idols hated Mutasims strength B. of the Ethiopians vnder the Negroes Wacic 30. Z. Elwathek M. a great famine in Persia by three yeers drought which almost di peopled it They returned after raine and warred on the Magi killing of those fire worshippers very many Mutewakkel 31. Z. Metuchal M. Almotowakel Ceremonies of inauguration i Out of thine owne mouth will I condemne thee A.H. 235. which began Iuly 26. 849. Great Earthquakes k The forme of the Alcoran before enioyned by his Predecessors Mustansir 32. Z. Mutuatzar M. Montacer Mustain 33. Mutaz 34. g Zacuth supposeth that the Chalifate was by him diuided and another set vp in Egypt which is not true as anon shall appeare Muhtadi 35. The Rihi Mutamid 36. Habibs harmes Mirkond saith that Yacub Leis a Tinker a prodigal and robber by high-waies to whom renowned for liberalitie vnthrifts resorted first got Sistom then inuaded Karason c. still giuing the spoiles to his followers took Persia went toward Bagdad to see hee said the Chalifa which would haue confirmed all he had to him if hee would haue stayed he died in his way of the Cholike hauing ruled Persia eleuen yeeres His brother Hamer succeeded him confirmed by the Chalif This Hamer seemeth Habib here mentioned if Mirkond doe at all mention him p As our Defender of the Faith in their superstitious conceit q This Ahmed would not acknowledge Mutamid and ruled Egypt as Souereigne therefore cursed as seeking to raise another Chalifa in Bagdad not any at all in Egypt which long after was done but now began to be hereditary As Persia also by Mirkonds testimony to the Family of Leys r Which is to be vnderstood of all lands taken as in our Doomesday Booke Caramites H. 279. began Aprill 3. A.D. 892. Mutadid 37. Z. Mutetzed M. Mutazed Egyptian broyles
the Countrie together with their Characters and Witcheries For before euery man adored that which best liked him some those Dragons before spoken of others Serpents which they nourished with their daintiest prouisions Some worshipped the greatest Goats they could get some Tigres and the more vncouth and deformed any beasts were the more in their beastly and deformed superstition were they obserued Bats Owles and Scritch-owles birds of darknesse were the obiects of their darkned deuotions Snakes and Adders enuenomed their soules with a more deadly poyson then they could doe their bodies Beasts Birds Herbes Trees Characters and the formes of those things painted and grauen yea the skinnes of them being dead stuffed with straw had their shares in this diffused varietie and confused masse of irreligious religion The ceremonies they vsed to them were kneeling on their knees casting themselues grouelling on the earth defiling their faces with dust verball prayers reall offerings They had their Witches which made the people beleeue that their Idols could speake and if any man had recouered of any sicknesse after hee had recommended himselfe to them they would affirme that the angrie Idoll was now appeased All these Idols King Alphonso caused to be burned in one heape in stead whereof the Portugals gaue them Images of Saints and Crucifixes to worship This may seeme an exchange rather then a ceasing from superstition were not some fundamentall substance of Truth communicated besides those blinde shadowes wherewith no doubt God draweth some out of darknesse this darknesse notwithstanding in a true and sauing though a dim and shadowed light wherewith as farre going before vs in affection as we before them in knowledge I dare not but in the hope of saluation of some thanke God for this glimpse of heauenly light rather then rashly to censure and sentence them to a totall and hellish darknesse Emanuel since sent supplies of religious persons to confirme them in their Christianitie and his sonne Iohn the third sent also Iesuites to that purpose who erected Schooles among them and they also send their sonnes into Portugall to learne the Sciences and knowledge of Europe God Almighty grant that those Fountaines may be clensed of all Popish mire that thence more wholesome waters may flow to the watering of this Ethiopian Vineyard They vse in Congo to make cloathes of the Enzanda tree of which some write the same things that are reported of the Indian Fig-tree that it sends forth a hairy substance from the branches which no sooner touch the ground but they take root and grow vp in such sort that one tree would multiply it selfe into a wood if Nature set not some obstacle The innermost barke of the Inzanda by beating is made excellent cloth Other trees there are which the Tides couer and are discouered by the Ebs laden at the root with Oisters But more admirable is that huge tree called Alicande of which my friend Andrew Battell supposeth some are as bigge besides their wonderfull tallnesse as twelue men can fathome It spreds like an Oake Some of them are hollow and the liberall clouds into those naturall Caskes disperse such plenty of wa er that one time three or foure thousand of them in that hote Region continued foure and twenty houres at one of those trees which yeelded them all drinke of her watery store and was not emptied Their Negros climed vp with pegs for the tree is smooth and therefore not otherwise to be climbed and so soft that it easily receiued pegs of a harder wood driuen into her yeelding substance with a stone and dipped the water as it had been out of a Well He supposed that there is forty tunne of water in some one of them It yeeldeth them good opportunitie for honey to which end the Countrey-people make a kinde of Chest with one hole into the same and hang it vpon one of these trees which they take downe once a yeere and with fire or smoke chasing or killing the Bees take thence a large quantitie of honey Neither is it liberall alone to the hungry and thirstie appetite but very bountifully it cloathes their backs with the barke thereof which being taken from the yonger Alicundes and beaten one fathome which they cut out of the tree will by this meanes extend it selfe into twenty and presently is cloth fit for wearing though not so fine as that which the Inzanda tree yeeldeth It serues them also for boats one of which cut out in proportion of a State will hold hundreths of men Of their Palme-trees which they keepe with watering and cutting euery yeere they make Veluets Sattens Taffatas Damasks Sarcenets and such like out of the clensed and and purged leaues hereof drawing long and euen threds for that purpose And for their Palme-wines which they draw out of the top of a kind of Palme which at first is strong and inebriating wine and in time declineth to a sowre and holesome vineger of the stone of the fruit which is like an Almond they also make bread of the shale of the fruit Oyle which also serueth them for Butter Lopez distinguisheth this tree from the Coco tree which is there also growing and another Palme that beareth Dates others that beare Cola like a Pine-apple excellent for the stomacke and for the Liuer most admirable it being supposed that the Liuer of a Hen or other Bird putrified sprinkled with this matter recouereth the former freshnesse and soundnesse Other sorts of Palmes yeeld other fruits and of their leaues they make Mats wherewith they couer their houses Lopez saw a Pomecitron the kernell whereof left within the rinde yeelded a pretty tall sprigge in foure dayes Of stones they haue such store to build with that in some places they may cut out a Church of one piece There are whole Mountaines of Porphorie of Iaspar of white Marble and other Marbles one especiall that yeeldeth faire Iacinths that are good Iewels straked like as it were with naturall veines The Port and I le of Loanda lying ouer against the Portugall Towne of Saint Paul about twenty miles in circuit famous for many things deserueth especiall mention for this that it yeeldeth in lesse then halfe a yard digging Waters very sweet but of so contrarie a Nature to the Sea her mighty neighbour that when the Sea ebbeth the water is Salt and when it floweth the same is sweet and fresh as if the Sea imparted that which it selfe hath not or rather enuied that which he hath and therefore alway at his comming re-demandeth that saltnesse from those springs to attend vpon their Ocean-mother So doe wee see the Siluer Lampes of Heauen in the Sunnes absence to lighten the World which yet want light when it is most plentifull to shew themselues Euen Nature sealeth and confirmeth Monopolies to her principall Courtiers alway as prouided that it thereby better serueth for the Common good and therefore no precedent to such Dropsie and spleen-like Monopolies Mony-pollings with
licence departed He sent with him many Guianians all laden with as much Gold as they could carrie but before he entred Orenoque the Orenoqueponi robbed him of all but of two Bottels of Gold beads which they had thought had beene his drinke or meate Thus escaped he to Trinidado and died after at Saint Iuan de Puerto-rico where in his extremes he vttered these things to his Confessor He called the Citie Manoa El Dorado the gilded or golden because that at their drunken Solemnities in which vice no Nation vnder Heauen excels them when the Emperour carowseth with any of his Commanders they that pledge him are stripped naked and their bodies anointed with a kinde of white Balsamum and then certaine seruants of the Emperour hauing prepared Gold made into fine powder blow it thorow hollow Canes vpon their naked bodies vntill they bee all shining from the foot to the head and in this sort they fit drinking by twenties and hundreds and continue in drunkennesse sometimes sixe or seuen dayes together Vpon this sight and for the abundance of Gold he saw in the Citie the Images in the Temples the Plates Armours and Shields of Gold vsed in their Warres he gaue the Citie that name Iuan de Castellanos reckoneth twentie seuerall Expeditions of some or other Spaniards for this Guianian Discouery with little effect saue that diuers lost their liues therein Anno 1543. Gonzalo Pizarro sent a Captaine named Orellana from the borders of Peru who with fifty men were carried by the violent current of the Riuer that they could not return to Pizarro he descended not in Orenoque the Guianian Riuer but in Maragnon called of him Orellana which Iosephus Acosta writeth from the Relation of one of their Societie who being a Boy had bin in the Expedition of Pedro de Orsua for this Discouery and had sailed the Riuer thorow that in the middest men can see nothing but the Skie as before is said and the Riuer and that it is seuentie leagues broad vnder the Aequinoctiall Martin Fernandez maketh it seuen degrees and a halfe to the North of the Line and fifteen leagues broad and the Sea of fresh water to bee another Riuer of forty leagues breadth others haue written otherwise which varying proceedeth from that varietie of Armes or mouthes of Orenoque or Raleana and Marannon or Amazones which since haue beene better discouered as Master Keymis Master Masham and others employed in this action haue found by experience It riseth in Quito Orellana sayled in it sixe thousand miles In all these parts their greatest treasure is multitude of women and children Topiawari made a heauie complaint that whereas they were wont to haue ten or twelue wiues now they had not aboue three or foure by reason of the wars with the Epuremei their Enemies whereas the Lords of the Epuremei had fifty or a hundred and their war is more for women then either for Gold or Dominion After Orellana Pedro de Orsua was employed with fiue hundred Souldiers for the conquest of the Amazons as they called it but for a beautifull woman which he had with him was slaine by conspiracie of Lope de Aguirre which loued her and Fernando de Guzman whom they saluted King c. Veg. pag. 2. lib. 8. c. 14. Berreo in the search for Guiana tooke his Iourney from Nueuo Reyno de Granado where he dwelt with seuen hundred Horse but trauelling he lost many of his company and Horse at Amapaia the soyle is a low Marish and the water issuing thorow the Bogs is red and venemous which poysoned the Horses and infected the men at noone the Sunne had made it more wholesome for their vse This new Kingdome of Granada is two hundred leagues within Land Southward from Cartagena It had that name because the Captaine that discouered it was of Granada in Spaine The plenty of Emeralds in these parts hath made that Gemme of lesse worth The next Prouince to this is called Popayan in both which the Spaniards haue many Townes And by the Riuer of Orenoque both may be inuaded All the parts from the Golden Castle and the Gulfe of Vraba to Paria yeeld Caribes or Canibals which eate mans flesh and geld children to make them more fat and tender for their diet And in all Inland parts neere Peru and in the Hils called Andes which some call Golden Castile they little differ Ciezar saith That in the Valley of Anzerma they keepe certaine Tablets amongst the Reeds wherein they carue the Image of the Deuill in a terrible shape also the figures of Cats and other Idols which they worship To them they pray for raine or faire weather they haue commerce with the Deuill and obserue such Superstitions as he enioyneth them They are great man-eaters At the doores of their houses they haue small Courts wherein are their graues in deepe Vaults opening to the East in which they bury their great men with all their wealh The Curies are not far from them they haue no Temple nor Idoll They haue conference with the Deuill They marry with their Neeces and Sisters and are man-eaters They call the Deuill Xaxarama They esteeme Virginitie little worth In the Prouince of Arma the Deuill doth often appeare to the Indians in honour of whom they sacrifice their Captiues taken in Warre hanging them vp by the shoulders and pulling out the hearts of some of them In Paucora they haue like Deuillish Deuotions and their Priests are their Oracles Before the house of the chiefe Lord was an Idoll as bigge as a man with his face to the East and his armes open They sacrificed two Indians euery Tuesday in this Prouince to the Deuill In the Prouince of Pozo in the houses of their Lords they had many Idols in such resemblance as the Deuill had assumed in his Apparitions And in those Idols he would also speake and giue answeres In Carrapa they are extreame Drunkards when any is sicke they offer Sacrifices to the Deuill for his recouery In Quinbaya is a Hill which casteth forth smoke but a more Hellish smoke is their conference and commerce with the Deuill like the former In the Prouince of Cali they likewise conferre with the Deuill they haue no Temples or Houses of Religion They make deepe pits for Sepulchres of their great men where their Armour Wealth and food is set about them Their lust subiecteth the Neece and Sister to their Marriages In Popayan they are man-eaters as also in the forenamed Prouinces They obserue the same Caninall and Deuillish Rites with the former framing their Superstitions to the Deuils direction in their mutuall Colloquies They bury with their Lords some of his Wiues and Prouision Some of them are great Wizards and Sorcerers In Pasto they talke also with the Deuill a thing common to al these parts of the Indies But let vs leaue these steepe and cold Hils these men of the Deuill whom they worship
and Deuils to men whom they deuoure and see if in the lower Countries wee can find higher and nobler spirits CHAP IIII. Of Brasil §. I. The Discouerie and Relations thereof by MAFFAEVS c. AS Guiana is bounded with those mighty Riuers of Orenoque and Maragnon so Brasil extendeth it selfe North and South betweene Maragnon and the Riuer of Plata or Siluer which there we haue already shewed to be the greatest Riuers in the World The Westerne borders are not so well discouered The Easterne are washed by the Sea Maffaeus hath largely described the same whose words Bertius Maginus and Gasper Ens haue transcribed the summe whereof Iarric and Boterus haue inserted into their French and Italian Relations Petrus Aluarius Capralis being sent by Emanuel King of Portugall in the yeere 1500. vnto the East-Indies to auoid the calmes on the Guinnee shore fetched a further compasse West and so discouered the Continent which now of that Red Wood there plentifully growing is called Brasil but by him was named the Land of the Holy Crosse because hee had there erected a Crosse with much ceremony since vsually named Brasil of the store of Brasil-Wood there growing This Brasil was soone after by Americus Vesputius at the charges of the said King further discouered The Region is pleasant and wholesome the Hils and Valleyes equally agreeing in their vnequalnesse the soyle fat and fertile there are plentie of Sugar-Canes a kind of Balme expressed out of the Herbe Copaibas the Zabucals which yeild a kind of Nuts growing in great hard cups of taste like a Chesnut the Auanaz excellent in scent and taste the Pacouere a tree so tender that it may bee cut with a knife a fadome high the leaues two foot broad seuen foot long the fruit a foot long like a Cucumber called Pacoua thirtie or fortie together in clusters neuer hearing fruit but once the like is in the East-Indies as Theuet our Authour affirmeth and many other fruits which the Countrey naturally produceth besides those which our Europe hath communicated Many sorts there are of Beasts as a kind of Swine which liue in both Elements their fore-feet being short in proportion to the hinder make them slow in running and therefore being hunted commit themselues quickly to the water Antae resembling a Mule but somwhat lesse slender-snowted the nether chap very long like a Trumpet with round eares and short tailes hiding themselues in the day-time and feeding in the night the flesh tasteth like Beefe there is also the Armadillo the Tygre which being hungry is very hurtfull being full will flee from a Dogge There is a deformed beast of such slow pace that in fifteene dayes it will scarce goe a stones cast It liueth on the leaues of trees on which it is two dayes in climing and as many in descending neither shouts nor blowes forcing herto amend her pace The Tamendoas are as big as a Ramme with long and sharpe snowts a tayle like a Squirrell twice as long as the body and hairy where-under they hide themselues will put out their tongue two foote out of the mouth as round as an Oyle-cruze to gather plentie of Ants into their mouthes hauing scraped vp the places where they keep with their pawes The Portugals haue there raised plentie of Horses and Sheepe The men worship no God at all but are giuen to South-sayings The men and women goe altogether naked are flat-nosed make themselues blacke with the fruit Genipapi weare their haire hanging from the hinder part of the head not suffering it else-where to grow in their nether lips weare long stones for a gallantry which being remoued they seeme in deformed manner to haue a double mouth they goe together by companies with great silence the Wife going before her Husband which some say is done for iealousie They entertain and welcome Strangers at first with weeping and deepe sighes pittying their tedious iourney and presently drie their eyes hauing teares at command Women in trauell are deliuered without great difficultie and presently goe about their houshold businesse the Husband in her stead keepeth his bed is visited of the neighbours hath his broths made him and iunkets sent to comfort him They are ignorant of numbring and Letters some Tradition they are said to haue touching Noe and the Floud Vnder the same Roofe which is like a Boat with the Keele vpwards liue many Families they lye in Nets or beds hanging aboue the ground which is vsuall in a great part of the Indies to auoid hurtfull creatures they minde the day and are not carefull for the morrow easily communicate what they haue are very patient of labour and hunger feasting if they haue wherewith from morning till night and fasting other-whiles when they want three dayes together In swimming they are miraculously skilfull and will diue whole houres to search any thing vnder the water They beleeue not any reward or punishment after this life ended but thinke that as men die so they goe to the other World maimed wounded sicke or whole and therefore bury the bodies with a Net to lye in and food for some dayes thinking that they both sleepe and eate They are excellent Archers and what enemies they take in their warres they feed well many dayes and then kill and eate them for great Dainties They dwell in Houses scattered and separated from each other their Language is almost generally the same they haue no Lawes nor Magistrates the women call certaine things by one name and the Men by another They haue no vse of three Letters in the Alphabet L F R a reason whereof some haue wittily giuen because they haue no Law Faith nor Ruler They are vnmindfull of good turnes and too mindfull of iniuries impotent of Lust and Rage and in summe more like beasts then men Thus farre Maffaeus In the yeere 1503. Giouanni da Empoli a Florentine sayled thither with the Portugals who reporteth the like of their nakednesse irreligion and of their man-eating saying that they dry it in the smoke as we doe Bacon The same doth Albericus Vesputius report that he had seene amongst them and that he had heard one of them boast that hee had in his time eaten three hundred men He weighed the long stones which they vsed to weare in their faces seuen in number about sixteene ounces He saith they liue an hundred and fiftie yeeres and that their Women are out of measure luxurious that they alway haue an Easterly wind which tempereth their Aire Let vs in the next place heare such as haue liued in the Countrie of which Lerius and Theuet two Frenchmen and Ioannes Stadius a Germane haue written seuerall Treatises But none hath more fully described them then a Portugall Frier and Anthonie Kniuet our Countriman §. II. More full Relations by STADIVS LERIVS and PETER CARDER IOannes Stadius in the yeere 1554. was Prisoner to the Tuppin Imbas and because he serued the Portugals should haue beene