the Country of Nagaia The 14. We were stay'd by a contrary wind and a tempest coming from the South-East so that we could hardly advance two werstes ere we were forc'd to cast Anchor and to continue there till the next day We lay at 80 foot water The Tartarian Prince sent us a Present of Beer Hydromel and Aquavitae with notice that if we liked it we might have more Sept. 15. the wind changing we set sail by four in the morning taking our course Southward and betimes in the morning came before the Isle of Busan 25 werstes from Astrachan and afterwards to a sixth Branch of the River Wolga called Baltzick within 15 werstes of the City The plain which reaches from that place to Astrachan gave us the sight of the City by 8 in the morning Three werstes lower and 12 from the City there is a seventh Branch of the Wolga called Knilusse which makes the Island of Dilgoi within which Astrachan is seated and having compass'd the Isle it falls into the Caspian Sea by many several chanels or ostiaes We came to Astrachan about noon and whereas the City lies on the other side of the River which in that place divides Europe and Asia we may say that as we departed out of that part of the World which we may in some manner call our Country we made our first step into the other We made some stay before the City in the midst of the River and saluted it with a Volley both of all our great Guns and small shot whereat the Inhabitants who were come in great numbers to the river-side were the more surpriz'd by reason they were not accustomed to hear Thunders of that kind It will not be amiss in this place by a short digression to give an account of the situation of Astrachan of the qualities of the Country and the life of the Inhabitants The Antient Geographers as Ptolomy Strabo and others who follow them had no knowledge of these Tartars no more than their neighbours and have not made any mention of them but only under a general name of Scythians aud Sarmatians though they should indeed have been distinguish'd into so many different Nations suitable to the diversity there is in their Names their Language and manner of Life in all which they have nothing common one with the other Mathias de Michou a Physician and Canon of Cracovia who liv'd at the beginning of the last age says that those who confound the Tartars with those Nations which the Antients called Getae Scythae and Sarmatae are much mistaken in as much as the Tartars have not been known but since the thirteenth Age. For in May 1211. there appear'd a Comet which having its tail towards the West and menacing the Don and Russia presag'd the invasion which the Tartars made into those parts the year following They were certain Indian Lords who having kill'd their King David got away first towards the Euxine Sea near the Palus Meotides where lived the antient Getae whence they afterwards advanc'd towards the Don and thence to the river Wolga where they live to this day The same Author distinguishes them into four species to wit the Zavâ—lhenses whom he also calls Czahadai Precopenses Cosanenses and Nohacenses and says they are the Tartars who live along the river Wolga which he calls Volha those of Precop those of Casan and those of Nagaia who are those of whom we are to treat of at present Alexander Guagnin of Verona divides them into eight Colonies and gives them other names but it is our design to entertain the Reader only with what we have seen and to discover that part of Tartaria through which we travel'd We say then that they call Nagaia that part of Tartary which lies between the rivers of Wolga and Iaika as far as the Caspian Sea whereof Astrachan is the principal City It is reported that a Tartar-King named Astra-chan built it and gave it his own name So that the Baron of Herberstein is very much mistaken when he says in his Relation of Muscovy that it is some days journey distant from the River whereas it is seated on the river-side and in the Isle of Dolgoi made there by two branches of the said River After several very exact observations I found the Elevation of the Pole there to be 26 degrees 22. minutes and the Climat so hot that in the Months of September and October the heats were still as great as they are in Germany in the height of Summer especially when the wind blew from-wards the Wolga East or North-East 'T is true the South-wind was there somewhat colder and brought with it the inconveniences nay indeed the scent of the neighbouring Sea wherewith it infected the whole Air. At our return that way our stay there happened to be in Iune Iuly and August and yet the heats were not absolutely insupportable in regard they were moderated by the coolness which the South-wind continually brought along with it But what is to be most admir'd is that in this hot Climat the Winter which lasts but two months is so exceeding cold that the River is frozen up and bears Sledges Which is contrary to what other Authors say of it yet the Reader may take it for most certain The Island of Dolgoi is sandy and barren insomuch that some Gardens and Lands cultivated by the Inhabitants of Astrachan excepted it produces nothing at all no more than does the Continent on the right hand but on the left towards the river Iaika there are very good pastures On this side the Wolga West-ward lies a long Heath of above 70. German leagues reaching as far as the Euxin Sea and towards the South another of above 80. leagues along the Caspian Sea as we found at our return from Persia when it was our chance to measure it by eleven very tedious dayes journeys Yet are not these Deserts so barren but they produce more Salt than the marshes in France and Spain do The Inhabitants of those parts call them Mozakofski Kainkowa and Gwostofski which are ten fifteen and thirty werstes from Astrachan and have salt veins which the Sun bakes and causes to swim upon the face of the water about a finger thick much like Rock-Christal and in such abundance that paying an Impost of a half-penny upon every Poude that is forty pound weight a man may have as much as he pleases It smells like that of France and the Muscovites drive a great Trade with it bringing it to the side of the Wolga where they put it up in great heaps till they have the convenience of transporting it elsewhere Petreius in his History of Muscovy sayes that within two leagues of Astrachan there are two mountains which he calls Busin which afford such abundance of Rock-salt that if thirty thousand men were perpetually at work about it they would not be able to exhaust the pits But I could learn nothing of
which amount to seventy five French Pistols But coming afterwards to the Crown he caus'd him immediately to be redeem'd and with the quality of Sulthan bestow'd on him the Government of Katschan The Persians put this City of Katschan at 84 degrees longitude and at thirty four distant from the Line After an exact Observation of three days I found that it is distant from it thirty three degrees and 51 minutes that is nine minutes less The City is of a great length reaching from East to West above half a German League Its Walls and bastions are of a kind of Potters day and it lies in a great Plain the ground of which is good enough for Tillage and there may be discover'd from it on the right hand Mount Taurus which the ' Porsians call Elwend As you come to the City you pass through a place appointed for tilting and running at the Ring which hath on both sides several Pillars and in the midst a high Pole for shooting at the wooden Parrat On the left hand of that place or Carriere you leave the King's Garden wherein there is one Summer-house standing in the midst of it and another near it upon the High-way We were told that the former hath a thousand Doors belonging to it comprehending in that number the Windows through which they pass into the Galleries and Balconies It is to be observ'd withall that there is no Door but hath its Counter-door in regard the Wall being above two foot thick there is a Door on each side of it so that the number is not so great as it seems to be at first In this House the King is Lodg'd when he comes to Katschan The City is no doubt one of the most populous and most eminent for Trading of any in Persia and the best Built of any we were yet come to whether in regard of its private Houses or its Palaces and Caravansera's but the Basar and Maidan and the other publick structures which have all their Store-houses Galleries and Rooms for the Merchants as well such as live within the Kingdom as Foreiners are the noblest I met with in all my Travells into those parts There is in this City at all times a great number of forein Merchants and above all Indians who are assigned there a particular place for their Habitation and Traffick as are also all the other Merchants Tradesmen especially such as make Silk-stuffs and Weavers of Gold and Silver Brocadoes work in open places where all the World may see them The Valleys are very fruitfull in Wheat Wine and Fruits which grow in such abundance there that I find no difficulty to acknowledge what Cartwright sayes of these parts to wit that the poorest and most indigent of the Inhabitants have not only what is requisite for their subsistence but also somewhat of delicacy and that what they most stand in need of is fresh water For there is not any to be had without digging very deep into the Earth and what there was so got we thought very distastfull to the Palat and so corrupt that had there not been an extraordinary necessity we should have been much troubled to swallow it I must withall confess that I could not observe that excellent order and commendable policy which Cartwright sayes he had seen there in the Institution of Youth nor that they are more carefull there than in other places to accustom it timely to pains-taking so to avoid idleness and the inconveniences consequent thereto True it is that the great number of Children which are ordinarily to be found there in Families which by reason of Polygamy are very numerous obliges the Parents to be the more carefull for their subsistence but the Persians for the most part are so little inclin'd to pains-taking that commonly you shall either see them walking in the Maidan or discoursing in the Shops while they leave most of their work to be done by their slaves Which happens hence that being themselves very temperate and content with little and on the other side Provisions being very cheap they conceive they ought not to take much pains for what is superfluous and those things whereof there is no great necessity So that there are even in these parts idle Persons and Beggers as well as in other places What the same Cartwright sayes concerning the Scorpions and other venemous Creatures is very true For of these there are about Katschan more than at any other place of Persia and such as are so dangerous that they have occasion'd that Malediction Akrab-Kaschan be destet senet may the Scorpion of Kaschan pinch thee by the hand We found some of them in our Lodging as black as cole about the length and compass of a man's finger and we were told that these were the most dangerous of any sort of them They are somewhat like our Crabs or Crevisses save that their Bodies are shorter they go faster and they have their tails alwayes sticking up Whence it comes that the Inhabitants never lay their Mattresses or Beds upon the ground as they do in other places but they set them upon a kind of Trevets or Frames which they call Tzarpay They affirm also that these Beasts have a certain respect for strangers and that to prevent their stinging they are only to pronounce these words Menkaribem I am a stranger But for my part I am of opinion that strangers who stand more in fear of them than the Inhabitants are only the more oblig'd to themselves for the care they have of their own safety though I never could hear that those who are stung by them dye of it For they have a present and easie remedy against this kind of poison by applying a piece of Copper to the place affected for which Cure they ordinarily make use of that Money which they call Pul and thence it comes that they carry some of it alwayes about them and having left that piece for the space of 24. hours upon the part stung they take it off and put on the Wound a Plaister made of Honey and Vineger It was my misfortune to be the only man of all our retinue that had occasion to make triall how venemous this Creature is For lying down upon my Bed at Scamachie in our return from Ispahan a Scorpion stung me in the throat where it made immediately a swelling about the length of my finger which was attended with insupportable pain As good fortune would have it our Physician who lay in the same Chamber immediately apply'd thereto the Oyl of Scorpion gave me some Treacle and put me into a sweat which deliver'd me from the greatest of my pains at the end of three hours but I had still some pain for the two dayes following but by intervals and it was as if I had been prick'd with a Needle nay indeed for many years afterwards I have been troubled with the same pains at certain times especially in Autumn much about the
We intended to take up our quarters that night at Tzauat but understanding that Areb Chan of Scamachie was lodg'd there with his whole Court and that he would stay there all the next day we also resolv'd to continue the 16. at the place where we were We had some reason to be distrustfull of Areb-Chan by reason of what had happen'd between us at our first passage but he made it appear that the Persians have this also common with all Generous minds that they can forget injuries For he did us no unkindness nay on the contrary as long as we were in his Government he let slip no occasion of obliging us laying the cause of our misunderstanding one the other on the Interpreter Rustan who had forsaken us and as he said had made him several bad reports of us not doubting but he had said as much to us of him and protesting that if he had him his head should go off for it He order'd us to be receiv'd by a Person of Quality of his retinue upon the first news were brought him of our being come to the River Aras and made us a Present of three baggs of Wine which came to us very seasonably in as much as that day and the day before we had been but poorly treated Aetzebeg who had been our Mehemandar at our former passage came also to visit the Ambassadors and presented them with an excellent Greyhound-bitch The 17. we cross'd over the famous River Araxes near Tzauat where they had made a Bridge of Boats which they call Tzissi The antient Historians and Geographers speak so differently of this River that I conceive it will not be amiss I said somewhat here of it by the way True it is most of them put it in the Province wherein it really lies but they are mistaken in the description of its Course in as much as they do not well understand Q. Curtius who speaks of it in two several passages but in a different sense For in the 5. Book he puts it in Persida and sayes its course is Southward and in the 7. Book he makes it pass through Media and to fall into the Caspian Sea Nor does Strabo express himself more clearly Raderus in his Commentaries upon Q. Curtius thinks to make these passages very clear by saying that the River Medus into which the Araxes fall hath its course at first from North to South and that it falls into the Caspian Sea But he is mistaken for it is impossible that River should make its way through the dreadfull mountain Taurus which is many leagues in breadth and which runs through all Persia nay indeed all Asia and pass from Persepolis towards the Caspian Sea But the truth is there are two Rivers of the same name of Araxes in Persia one in Media the other in Persida As to that which passes by the walls of Persepolis now known by the name of Schiras Q. Curtius calls it Araxes as he gives to the Iaxartes which passes to the Frontiers of the Scythians the name of Tanais and that of Cancasus to the Eastern part of the mountain Taurus for which it would much gravel him to shew any reason The Persians call that which is in Persida Bend-Emir by reason of a great Miracle which they believe Aly did there and it falls into the Ocean near the Persian Gulf. That which we cross'd over in the Heaths of Mokan still keeps its name which is deriv'd if we may credit Eustathius from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to pluck in as much as when it overflows it plucks up and carries along with it whatever lies in its way It rises out of the mountains of Armenia behind the great Ararat and receiving into its Chanel the waters of many other Rivers the chiefest whereof are Karasu Senki Kerni and Arpa it goes near Karasu a great way into the Land and falls soon after near Ordabath with such a noise as is heard above two leagues thence in the Plain of Mokan which lies very low in comparison of Armenia and Schiruan It s course there is very slow and after it is joined viz. 12. leagues above Tazuat with the River Cur or Cyrus which is as big as it self and comes Northwar'd out of Georgia or Gurtzistan it falls into the Caspian Sea Whence it appears that Ptolomy and those who follow him are mistaken when they affirm that the Araxes and the Cyrus fall into the Caspain Sea by two different chanels as also when they say that the City of Cyropolis was that which is now called Scamachie This is inferr'd by Maginus from the degrees of Latitude which Ptolomy gives him But if it were so we must put these two Rivers not above but below the City towards the South in as much as we found their Conflux or meeting together which the Persians call Kanschan at thirty nine degrees fifty four minutes and Scamachie at forty degrees fifly minutes that is thirteen leagues thence and under another Meridian And indeed we found such a distance between them when we travell'd those parts Nor is there any other River eminent enough or big enough within nineteen dayes journey of Scamachie on either side of it to deserve that name The 17. we took up our Quarters at Tzauat where we were receiv'd and magnificently treated by the Mehemandar whom the Chan had sent to us This Villâ—ge derives its name from the Arabiau word Tzauat which signifies a passage in regard that at the crossing of this River people are oblig'd to shew their pass-port which is done to prevent the entrance of the Turks into the Kingdom The 19. we travell'd eight leagues for the most part over barren Lands and a desert Country cover'd with Reeds and lodg'd that night at the foot of the mountain of Scamachie in three Matzuchs or round Hutts which had been purposely set up there for us That day dy'd our Painter whose name was Tâ—ierry Nieman after he had been shaken several months together by a quartane ague whereto a flux joyning carried him away in four dayes He died by the way in a Wagon and in ill weather We had him buried the 22. before the City of Scamachie in the Church-yard belonging to the Armenians with the ordinary Ceremonies of our own Country The 20. we were upon our way betimes in the morning that we might in good time pass over the mountain of Scamachie which extends it self in those parts like a Crescent towards the East from the Sea along the River Cyr and it is called there Lengebus tachi by reason of a Village named Lengebus which is upon the op of the mountain The rain which was then so cold that we thought Winter coming on again had so broken the high-wayes that this was one of the saddest dayes journey we had ever since our first setting forth The Ambassadors and such others as were well mounted got to the City ere day-light was shut
arrival at Suratta I found my health perfectly recover'd though I must also acknowledge as much contributing thereto my using of Thé to which I had so accustomed my self that I ordinarily took it twice or thrice a day The contrary wind prevented our departure the day that we came aboard so that we lay at Anchor all the night following and the next day being the seventh we set sail taking our course towards the Isle of Ormus but towards night there rose so great a tempest together with a West-wind that to avoid running upon the shore we were forced to cast Anchor in sight of the Isle Sunday being the eighth we laveer'd it with a West-wind endeavouring to pass between the Isles of Ormus and Kismich which are four Leagues distant one from the other About two in the afternoon we cast over-board the body of a young Sea-man who died of the Bloudy-flux two dayes before This Ceremony which I had not seen before put me into so much the greater fright in that being still troubled with the same disease I imagined they would shortly do as much by me The night following we pass'd in sight of the two Islands we spoke of last to wit Ormus and Kismich and the next day being the ninth we discovered the Continent of Arabia taking our course along the Coast which is thereabouts without any danger Tuesday 10. A calm staid us at the same place and the 11. we put off from the Coasts of Arabia to make towards those of Persia which we still kept in sight of till Thursday night April 12. Then a good West-north-west wind rising we took our course towards the East-south-east at 25. degrees 50. minutes elevation Friday morning we could perceive no Land but had sight of a Pirate who by his making ever and anon more or less sail discover'd he had somewhat to say to us One while he came somewhat near us another he kept at a great distance but at last perceiving we made it our business to get the wind of him he made towards the Isle of Zocotora This Island is seated at 21. degrees 40. minutes at the entrance of the Red-sea having towards the South-west and North-east the Country of Melinda or Aethiopia and towards the South Arabia from which it is distant about sixteen Leagues It is about 25. Leagues in length but not above ten in breadth having on all sides very good riding for Ships and safe Harbours It is indifferently well peopled and is subject to the King of Arabia under whom it is governed by a Sulthan The Inhabitants are of low stature and rather lean then fat of a duskish complexion and very laborious Their only sustenance is Fish and Fruits living very temperately They treat their Wives whom they buy in Arabia with much civility and have a certain respect for them but will not permit Strangers to see them They are very crafty in their trading and delight much in it though they have but few things to sell. And whereas they adulterate almost all their Commodities they are accordingly distrustful of those which are brought to them They reduce Dates into a paste and it serves them instead of Bread The Island affords very few Oranges and those not very good Tobacco and Citruls There are also some Cocos-trees but not many the fruit not coming to ripeness there by reason the ground is very full of stones Their main wealth consists in Aloes the juyce whereof they gather in bladders or Goats-skins and dry it in the Sun They have also the gummy juyce called Dragons-bloud and Civet which may be bought there at about three or four Crowns an Ounce but those who are not very well skill'd in that Drug are many times cheated for the Inhabitants of the Island put Grease and other nasty stuff into it They keep abundance of Civet-cats about their houses but they have very little tame Fowl wild none at all They have Camels Asses Oxen Cows Sheep and Goats whose hair about the thighs is curl'd much after the manner that Satyrs are painted The Town where the Sulthan hath his residence is called Tamary and hath in it a Fort which is distant from the Sea about a Canon-shot with four Guns Their Arms are a kind of broad Swords whereof the hilt is very large but without any guard In their Girdles they wear also Poniards the blades whereof are above three fingers broad towards the handle but very sharp towards the point They are so curious as to have something of Silver or Copper about the handles but their Fire-arms are not well kept and yet they are very expert at the handling of them as they are also in mannaging those little Bucklers wherewith they defend themselves in fight Ships may take in fresh water there without any trouble for the waters which come from the Mountains fall into the Sea like a River They have no other Boats then such as are absolutely flat-bottom'd which they make use of in their fishing which is very good thereabouts They have this common with the Arabians and other Mahumetans that they eat no Swines flesh but even in Tamary it self there is no Mosquey nor any other place for them to meet at to do their Devotions These they do morning and evening at the rising and setting of the Sun to which they make very low reverences and mutter certain words between their teeth this they do also three or four times a day besides The 14. of April we were at 23. degrees 24. minutes The 15. at 22. degrees 40. minutes The 16. at 22. degrees 40. min. The 17. at 21. degrees 55. minutes This day the Captain of our Ship fell sick of a burning Feayer The 18. at 21. degrees 8. minutes The 19. at 20. deg 42. min. The 20. at 20. deg 50. min. The 22. at 29. deg 50. min. The 23. at 20. degrees 18. minutes latitude The 25. of April we came before the City of Surat and cast Anchor two Leagues from Land by reason it being the Captains intention not to stay there above three or four dayes he would be sure of the convenience of parting thence when he pleas'd Besides there is no Road along that Coast where Ships can lye with any safety from May to September by reason of the continual Tempests and furious winds which reign there during that time whereas on the Eastern Coast of the Indies in the Gulf of Bengala it is fair and calm at that time The year is divided into three very different seasons for in the moneths of February March April and May it is extreamly hot weather in Iune Iuly August and September there is nothing but continual Rains with Thunder and Lighting and the moneths of October November December and Ianuary are cold at least as far as is consistent with the Climate April 26. The Captin sent one to the President of the English at Surat to give him notice of his Arrival The
out They are not eaten and are hunted only for recreation or to cleanse the Sea of them The Fish which the Portuguez call Pesce puerco and whereof there is abundance in these Seas is no bigger then a Bream and is so called only because it grunts like a Pig There are also about those parts great store of Tortoises which lie on their backs and commonly sleep upon the water when the weather is calm The Sea-men when they see them in that posture get near them cast out a hook which fastning in the shells they draw them into the Boat Their meat is as delicate as Veal and it is one of the greatest refreshments the Seamen meet with in these great and dangerous Voyages February 21. We were at one degree and twenty minutes of the Line the weather being rainy and tempestuous and continuing so much longer then we expected it should at that place for it is so unconstant there and changes so of a sudden that many times they have hardly leisure to take in their Sails to avoid the violence of the Winds which the Portuguez call Travados that is Whirlewinds The 23. died one of our Seamen who having got the Pox at Surat neglected the taking of timely Remedies for the cure of it The 24. being Sunday the President treated all the Officers of the Ship and among other dishes had the Biggel dressed and some of the Country Fowl which the Viceroy of Goa had presented to him The 25. We were surprized by a Calm which kept us in the same place all that day but the night following there rose a Tempest that put us out of our course which we could not well have kept had that not happened in regard that having the Sun in the Zenith ever since the 22. we could not take the altitude but only in the night by the Stars This inconvenience continued till the fifth of March having had the twenty seventh and twenty eighth of February the wind at South-west which put us in hope we should soon have the Manson-wind whereof we stood in need to bring us to the Cape of Good Hope But the continual changes of the Wind and Tempests which obliged the Sea-men to be alwayes about the Masts lest they should be surprized by the Travados retarded our progress very much March 5. We began to make our Observations by the Sun and found we were at eight degrees six minutes Latitude Our Ship was encompassed by a great number of all sorts of Fish which seem'd to be our protection against the Whales by whom they were pursued March 10. We were at ten degrees fourteen minutes the Wind at West which turned to a Storm that lasted ten hours March 12. and 13. We had a great Storm accompanied with Lightning and Thunder But what we thought most strange was that though we were not come to the 13. degree yet we found nothing of the ordinary Wind of the season which is commonly perceived about the eight or ninth For the South-wind which blew constantly not only retarded the prosecution of our Voyage but also forced us so much back Eastward that we were in in some fear we might be constrain'd to return upon the Coast of the Indies March 15. The Wind changed and came to the South and at Night we had it South-east so that not doubting but it was the Manson we put out all the Sail we could and made two Leagues an hour taking our course South-west During the time the Wind was thus fair for us we saw a great number of Dolphins which followed our Ship and we took as many of them as found us three good Meals March 20. We were surpriz'd by a Calm which took off much of our courage in regard our store of fresh Water being somewhat low at a time when we knew not what to hope of our Voyage we were forced to assign every Man his allowance and to make it last the longer it was resolved that for some dayes there should be no salt Meat eaten but that the Swine and some other Creatures whereof having good store some had died that day upon the eating of Mustard-seed should be kill'd and consum'd Being about this time at sixteen Degrees we found that the Compass declined thirty Minutes to the West and it continued so to the four and twentieth Degree But when the Cape of Good Hope is once doubled the Loadstone draws towards the Earth The 21. While we floated up and down without so much as a breath of wind our Ship took fire which might have proved to the ruine of us all The Butler going to remove a Vat which he had filled with Aqus vitae set it on fire whereat he was so startled that he turned it out about the Cellar where the fire took in one of the great Vessels and was going to set thirty more into a flame ahd it not been timely prevented with Coverlets The Ship was so loaden with all sorts of Gums and other fat Drugs that it would have been impossible to quench it had there not been a care taken to smother it at the beginning After that day we began to made use of the invention of drawing fresh Water out of the Sea but it was fit only to dress Meat withall in regard it had so untoward a taste that the Sea-men would not take it for their ordinary drink March 22. We made a good dayes sail by the help of the Manson getting above two Leagues an hour The same Wind continued the 23. 24. and 25. This last day a Sea-man was whipt at the Main-mast for offering to debauch two young Boyes March 26. The Wind continued still fair but in regard we had some reason to fear that in case the wind should fail us as it was likely to do we should be put to great inconveinences for want of fresh water a Councel was call'd at which it was resolv'd that we should indeavour to make for Maurice Island and there take in fresh water This resolution very much rejoyced the company The same night we discovered the Island called Diego Roiz or Diego Rodriguez at twenty degrees forty five minutes in so much that we were in hopes the next day to reach Maurice Island as being but sixty Leagues further This Island which the Portuguez call Ilha do Cerno and the Dutch have named Maurice Island from the Prince of Orange who was Admiral of the Vnited Provinces at the time of their first Voyage into the Indies lies at 20. degrees 27. minutes and is abour 15. leagues in compass The Haven of it is very good as well in regard that at the entrance of it there is a hundred fathom water as that it is able to contain above fifty great Vessels sheltred from all winds It hath some Mountains which reaching up to the Clouds are seen at a great distance and are extreamly delightful to the eye in as much as Nature maintains them in a constant verdure
though some Cocos-trees and Date-trees only excepted all the other Trees are wild In the Vallies there are some Fruit-trees but such as bear no Fruit are not the less esteemed for that for these are they which yield the fairest Ebony in all the East Some oâ— it is as black as any Jet and as smooth as Marble but the yellow and red is of greater value then the other as being more rare There is as well in the Rivers of it as the Sea about it such abundance of Fish that at one casting of the Net as many may be taken as will fill two or three Tun falted The Hollanders in their Relations affirm that they took a Thornback which found all in the Ship two good Meals and that they saw there Tortoyses so big that four Sea-men sitting on the back of one of them it went as well as if it had had no burthen at all Whereto they add that they were so large that ten Men might sit upon ones Shell The Island is not inhabited whence it comes that the Birds are so tame that a man may take them with his hand and they are commonly killed with Cudgels especially the Turtles whereof there is such abundance that the Dutch in less then two hours took above a hundred and fifty and might have taken more if they could have carried them There is also great store of Herons and a kind of Birds of the bigness of a Swan which have neither Wings nor Tail but so hard a flesh that no heat can either boyl or roast it There is no four-footed Creature in all the Island but for other refreshments and particularly for the taking in of fresh water there is not a fitter place any way near it When the Dutch came thither in September 1601. they found there a French Souldier who had left his Country some three years before with three English Ships which were the first in those parts that attempted failing into the Indies upon the account of Pyracy Of these three Ships one was cast away near the Cape of Good hope and sickness having consumed most of the men they that remained set fire on the second in regard for want of men they were not able to govern it The third was wrack'd upon the Coasts of the Indies where all the men were lost seven only excepted to wit four English men two Negroes and a French Souldier who attempted to return with some booty which they disposed into a Cannow wherein they set to Sea and made a shift to get to Maurice Island The two Negroes had a design there to rid themselves of their Camerades but being discovered they cast themselves into the Sea and were drowned The four English men would prosecute their Voyage but the French Souldier chose rather to continue in the Isle then double the Cape and expose himself to the mercy of the Sea in so small a Vessel Accordingly of the English men there was no more news heard The French man had been twenty moneths in the Island when the Dutch came thither He was stark naked in regard that having been in a burning Feaver which heightned into a degree of madness he had torn his clothes so that having not had any thing about him ever since his sickness nor fed on any thing but the raw Tortoyses he took they were not a little surpriz'd at the sight of him and conceived it would be no easie matter to restore him to his Senses though he behaved himself well enough otherwise and was in very good health We got so near Maurice Island that we clearly saw it but in regard the wind continued fair the President called together the chief Officers and represented to them that if they put into the Island they should lose at least ten dayes time whereas if the wind continued fair as it then was we might in that time reach the Cape of Good hope and so avoid the inconveniences of wintering in the Island of Madagascar whereupon it was resolved we should prosecute our Voyage which we did and the same day got out of sight of Maurice Island March 29. After Sermon the President acquainted all the men with the reasons which had obliged him to change his resolution of taking in Water at Mourice Island and made it appear that if they had gone to refresh themselves in the Island they must have lost the convenience of the Wind and the fairest Season of the year and so the means of finishing their Voyage exhorting all to take courage and execute his Orders and to be content with their allowance which should be equal to what those had who sate at his own Table March 30. We passed the Tropick of Capricorn continuing our course towards West-South-West April 1. We were at 26. degrees three minutes The Wind began to abate and towards the night it rain'd and blew not at all yet ere we were so becalm'd we had made a shift to get forty Leagues in twenty four hours The next day we saw several Whales and night the Wind rose and in a short time grew into an absolute Tempest Our course was still to the West-south-west in order to our gaining the South which was to bring us to the Cape of Good hope The 3. We altered our course a little taking it more towards the West We were then at 28. degrees 30. minutes and in 24. hours we got 50. Leagues April 5. We had but little Wind and in regard the Compass still varied and declined we took our course towards the West instead of taking it to the South as we should otherwise have done In these two days we made 73. Leagues The next day we were at 30. degrees Latitude The 7. We began to perceive that we should not long enioy the good Wind had attended us some dayes before Accordingly the next day we had a great calm at 32. degrees Latitude The 9. The Wind rising again put us into some confidence that within a few dayes we should reach the Cape of Good hope from which we could not be above three hundred Leagues distant From that day to the 14. we still advanced somewhat That being Easter day the President made a great Entertainment whereof all in the Ship participated The 15. The North-west-wind grew to a great Tempest and our Sea-men assirm'd that they smelt Land being confirm'd in their perswasion by those Birds which the Portuguez call Pintados and which alwayes keep within the distance of fourty Leagues of the Land The Tempest ceased with the morning of the 16th and our Sea-men persisted in affirming we were near the Coast in regard many Birds were seen about the Ship The 17. Towards night there blew a fresh Gale of wind but the next day and the night following we had no wind at all yet was the Sea as rough as it proved to be afterwards in the Tempest which surpriz'd us the 19. at night with the South-west wind at
35. degrees Latitude We took in all our Sails and let down the Yards preparing our selves by that means against the Tempests which are very frequent and in a manner unavoidable about the Cape of Good hope and we hover'd up and down in that posture all the next day April 20. We perceiv'd that the Water was somewhat more whitish then it is in the main Sea and saw abundance of those Birds which the Portuguez call Mangas de valeudo and are a kind of Sea Mews being white all over the bodies and having black wings They have also this in particular that in their flight they beat their wings one against the other whereas the common Sea-Mews seldom do it but glide through the Air in an uninterrupted and even flight It is observed that where these Birds are seen there is ground within a hundred or hundred and fifty fathom at most Accordingly upon trial we found it at eighty fathom We saw also the same day a sort of Black-birds that had only â—â—â—ttle white upon the breast The Englishâ—ffirm â—ffirm they are Birds presaging misfortune as being the infallible fore-runners of a great Tempest The same day we had one with the West-north-west wind which on the 24. turn'd to a North-west During that time we were forc'd to go before the Wind the Water coming into the Ship with such violence that it took off our Carpenter but he was so fortunate as to lay hold on a Rope was cast him by which he was got aboard again We found ground at eighty fathom and in regard the Earth which stuck to the Plummet was â—lack we inferred thence that we were not far from the Cap d' Agulhas which is sixty Leagues from that of Good hope The 15. The Tempest increased so that we began to despair of escaping in regard the current of the Sea forced us towards the Coasts where we had inevitably been wrack'd if it had continued We were at thirty six degrees twenty minutes beyond the Line and this day we had like to have been destroyed by fire occasioned by a Lamp in the Presidents Chamber but it was soon put out The Storm continued all the next day Our Sea-men seeing about the Ship many of those Fish called Pesce Puercos would thence perswade us that it would not be long ere the weather changed and that the Wind would blow from the same quarter that those Fishes came Accordingly about two in the afternoon the Wind came to the North-west and the Tempest ceased so that we could spread our Sails The 27. We had no Wind at all but in the afternoon it came to the North-west which obliged us to take our Course to the North-north-west failing two Leagues an hour We saw that day a great number of Trombas from which we inferred we were not far from the Cape of Good hope These Yrombas are a kind of great Canes about the bigness of a mans arm and three or four foot long which flote upon the water with their roots as if the Sea had forced them away from the neighbouring Coast yet can it not be said whence they come nor that they are seen any where but about that Cape April 28. We discovered the Coast which before us reach'd from North to West Some thought at first it was Gabo-Falso or the Cape of Good hope but finding ground at forty Fathom and at thirty four degrees forty minutes they were soon convinced that it was the Cap d' Agulhas whence it came that we went all that day laveering with a North-west wind The 29. The Wind came to the South-east so that we continued our course to the North-west keeping still in sight of the Land That day we took as many Fith as found the whole company two or three good meals The night following the Wind changed and came to the North-west obliging us to laveer but being in a manner directly contrary we advanced but little Taking the Altitude of the Sun that day we found our selves at 34. degrees 27. minutes and consequently that we wanted 24. Leagues of being at the Altitude of Capâ—d ' Agulhas April 30. We continued laveering along the Coast the Wind being still contrary May 1. The wind coming to the North-east by East we kept along the Coast and perceived a very high shore which was at last known to be Cabo Falso which is within seven Leagues of that of Good hope It is called Cabo Falso because it is seen at a great distance extending it self into the Sea much after the same manner as the other though it be not so high The 2. A North-east wind brought us in sight of the Cape of Good hope but turning immediately to the North-west we could not possibly enter the Bay which obliged us to make off the Coast and get into the main Sea taking our course towards the South The next day with a North-west wind we had a great tempest which yet hindred us not from getting somewhat nearer the Coast. That day we cast one of our Sea men over-board with the ordinary Ceremonies used at funerals upon such occasions This was the third man died out of our Ship since our departure from Goa May 4. We doubled one of the points of the Cape of Good hope which is about ten Leagues distant from the Road or Bay and much about the same time we discovered the Mountain which the Dutch in the year 1601. named the Tafelherg it being flat and square at the top like a Table It was our intention to get into the Bay which is at the foot of the Mountain and at 34. Degrees four Minutes within fifteen Leagues of the Cape but the wind being contrary obliged us to keep along the Coast endeavouring to make the best advantage we could of it The 5. At Sun-rising we were out of sight of Land whereupon we changed our course taking it North-east and turning the prow of the Ship towards the Coast which we discovered about noon About two in the afternoon we passed in sight of the Island called St. Elizabeth which is inhabited and at night we got into the Bay and cast anchor at seven fathom water This Promontory of the Continent of Africk which extends it self into the Sea towards the South at 36. Degrees beyond the Line was named Cabo de bâ—n ' Speranza by Iohn II. King of Portugal under whom it was discovered by Bartholomew Dias about the year 1493. That Prince would needs call it so out of the hopes he conceived to discover afterwards the wealth of the East-Indies and other Nations have continued that name upon this account that having once doubled the Cape there is some assurance of compleating the Voyage whereof the Cape makes one half as lying in a manner at the equal distance of two thousand five hundred Leagues between Europe and the most Easterly Coast of the Indies Most Ships take in refreshments at this place and the Dutch are wont
we were still in the same danger having no other hope but what the next change of the Moon gave us But though she appeared the next day above the Horizon yet the tempest was nothing abated till the rain somewhat allay'd the wind the 22. so that we could make use of our sails indeavouring to keep our course Westward May 23. VVe had a calm during which the Ship stirr'd not from the same place VVe discovered the Coast North-east of us and in regard we were then at 37 Degrees six Minutes we imagined our selves to be in the same Altitude with the Coast which lies between Cabo Palso and that of Agulhas In the evening the wind increased and brought with it a tempest from the West-north-west which forc'd us to put off from the Coast. The 24. The wind continued strll contrary and in the evening there rose such a tempest as forced us to go all night before the wind The 25. We resum'd our course with a West wind taking it South-west We were that day at 36. Degrees Latitude The 26. With the Sun-rising we had the North-east wind which made us put out all our Sails taking our course West and sayling after the rate of two Leagues an hour But in the evening the wind turned to the North-west with so great likelyhood of a tempest that it was thought fit to take in part of our Sails Accordingly the wind increased so by degrees that we were forc'd to take in all but the main Sail which was not taken in till the wind grew so violent as if it would have confounded all the Elements to have swallowed us up in the disorder Nay its fury was such that our Ship which had resisted all before as a Rock was tossed by the waves like a little boat I must confess it was through Gods infinite mercy to us that we escaped that danger wherein we were in all likelihood to perish since it was a kind of Miracle that the Masts stood considering the violence of the winds was such as might have rooted up the strongest Trees This dreadfull Tempest continued the 28. and 29. with so little intermission that we began to despair of prosecuting our Voyage inasmuch as the first quarter of the Moon had brought no change of weather whereupon it was taken into consideration whether it were not our safest course to go and pass over the Winter in the Island of Madagascar It was urged that the Ship having been much batter'd by the waves would not be able to hold out much longer and that though it should our provisions would not and so it would be impossible for us to compleat our Voyage This proposal was generally approved but when it was considered on the other side that that delay which must have been at least six moneths would be an inconvenience equal to the imminent danger we were in it was thought the best course to prosecute the Voyage But May 30. The President having called all the Officers together and represented to them the condition of the Ship and the little likelihood there was of compleating the Voyage Nay on the contrary that the wind might be more violent as the Moon increased and that coming in September or October upon the Coasts of England the dangeâ— would be as great as that they were then in upon those of Africk it was resolved that to preserve the Ship we should put into the Island of Madagascar and stay there till September inasmuch as within that time there would come thither some English Vessels which might supply us with things necessary for the prosecution of our Voyage According to this resolution we tack'd about at two in the afternoon the weather so tempestuous that we could beat but two Sails We saild two Leagues an hour but the Sea was so rough that many times the waves came over the Ship This tempest continued till the next day but about noon it ceased Iune the first We faild on with a VVest wind taking our course East-ward VVe put out all our Sails so that in 24. hours we got forty Leagues The next being Whitsunday the Tigre we brought from Surat bit the President in the hand and had forc'd it off had not I and some others come seasonably in About 11. at night the wind changed and came to South-south-east which was the best point we could have wiâ—hed it in for our return insomuch that we immediately chang'd our resolution and set things in order to our return to the Cape of Good hope with an intention to take in fresh water at the Island of Saint Helene The same wind continued the third of Iune insomuch that about noon we were got to 35. Degrees 8. Minutes Iune 4. VVe saw abundance of the Manga's de Valudo but the wind changed so that we had much ado to keep on our course to South-south-west and afterwards to North-north-west towards the Coast. VVe saw also abundance of Trombas whence we inferred we were not far from the Cape of Good hope The 6. VVe had no wind at all so that we spent the day in fishing We found sometimes 43. and 48. sometimes 54. and 63. fathome water Towards night we had a good North-west wind The 7. The wind came to West and at night we had so great a tempest that we were forc'd to take in all our Sails Iune 8. The Tempest continuing with the same violence we could advance but little About midnight it came North and we took our course Northwest The 9. The wind ceased and having taken the Altitude we were at 35 Degrees 30. Minutes In the afternoon we had a North-west wind with a dreadful Tempest which forced us to take in all our Sails and go before the wind in some danger of running upon the coast This was the saddest night we had in all our Voyage For the Master of the Ship fearing the reproaches of his superiours if he came not to England within the year endeavoured all he could to prosecute the Voyage but finding at last all was to no purpose he acknowledged there was no other way to save the Ship and the persons in it but to put in somewhere Whereupon it was immediately resolv'd we should go and winter in Madagascar and so we presently changed our course The 11. The weather was fair but about midnight the sky was so overcast that it was not doubted but a Tempest was coming as indeed it did and continued the three next dayes The 15. It ceased and the wind being VVest-north-west we took our course to the North-east and in 24. hours got 33. Leagues The 16. We got 44 Leagues The 17th 50. with an East-south-east wind taking our course to the North-east The 18. VVe got 30. with a VVest-South-west wind the 19th 40. and the 20th having failed 30. Leagues we were at 31. Degrees 15. Minutes Latitude The 23. At break of day we discovered a Vessel which soon came up to us It was a Ship belonging to the
at which they met with as great difficulties as the Portuguez had done Their design was only to refresh themselves there upon this account that in those first Voyages they had so little knowledge of the disease called the Scurvy and the remedies now used for the cure of it that most of their men being not able to perform their labour they were forced to touch there in order to some relief for their diseased but ere they could meet with any refreshment there died above 70. persons out of the four Vessels whereof their Fleet consisted whom they buried in a little Island which upon that occasion they called The Dutch-Church-yard The description they make of this Island is very short and for the most part taken out of the Relation of Mark Paulo Vâ—netâ— which is none of the most exact That of Francis Couche of Rouen Printed by the means of the late M. du Puy is so exact that that of the Dutch cannot compare with it What these last relations have in particular is that the Inhabitants of Madagascar are circumcised though there be nothing otherwise that evinces them to be Mahumetans since they have no Mosques nor any exercise of Religion nor appearance of Devotion in all their Demeanour Having passed over the Winter on the other side of the Aequinoctial Line we began to set things in order for the prosecution of our Voyage and bought the 19. of August of King Masiar and two other neighbouring Princes Tsebich Tanga and Andiam Palola twenty five fat Oxen more and about a hundred Sheep and Goats besides the hundred and fifty Oxen we had bought during our aboad in the Island all which we put aboard the 20. that we might not want fresh meat during our Voyage The same day we embarked our baggage and the next day we got out of the Bay of St. Augustine and left the Island of Madagascar with a South-west wind which continuing all the night following we soon got out of sight of the Island The 22. The Manson which we could not yet have hoped for came unexpectedly upon us and advanced our progress very much taking our course to West-south-west The 23. The wind came to the East so that having it full behind us we went on merrily taking our course the more towards the South to avoid the Cape of Good hope where we intended not to touch at all The 24. and 25. the wind was somewhat abated but the 26. it blew so fresh a gale that we made a great progress We were that day at 27. degrees 27. minutes Latitude and the 28th at 28. degrees 12. minutes The 29. We had the wind East-south-east with those storms which the Portuguez call Travados They were immediately over We saw that day being at 31. degrees 15. minutes Latitude a great number of the Fishes called Pesce puercos which leaped three or four foot above water as if it had been their design to find us sport The next day we had a Tempest yet such as hindered not our getting somewhat forward so that the last of August we were at 33. degree 34. minutes September the first the wind grew so violent that we were forc'd to take in part of our sails yet we made a shift to get 50. Leagues in 24. hours The next day we got but 30. the wind being South-west The 3. The Sea being very calm we kill'd one of the Cowes we had bought in Madagascar and found three Calves in the belly of it as also a Goat that had four young Kids within it from which a man may judge of the fruitfulness of the Country At night we saw up and down certain Lights like flames but we could not judge whether they were the Fishes which the Spaniards call Doradâ—s and the English Blubbers or those Meteors which the Spaniards call Cuerpos sanctos In ancient time when there appear'd two they were called Castor and Pollux Dioscures and Tyndarides and when but one it was called Helene Some have not shaken off the superstition of believing that their fire presages a Tempest But on the contrary we had a great calm the next day and saw infinite multitudes of little Sea-birds About two in the afternoon we had a North-east wind which continuing fair all the next day we failed above two Leagues an hour September 6. We had a great tempest It continued all night and shook the Ship so that the water coming in at several places we were forc'd to pump four times an hour The same day we came 35. degrees Latitude The 7. The weather was somewhat fair so that we made use of our Sails taking our course West-north-west The Sea was very rough and forc'd us towards the Coast from which we thought our selves fourty Leagues distant and from the Cape of Good hope 130. The 8. and 9. the wind South and it proved rainy weather The 10. We had but little wind yet got 40 Leagues in 24 hours we saw many of the Mangas de Valudo whence it was inferred we could not be far from the Cape d' Agâ—lhas The 11. We made but a small progress with an East wind Casting the plummet and finding a sandy bottome one hundred and twenty fathom water we are confirmed in the opinion we had before of our being near Cape d' Agulhas The 12. The contrary wind forc'd us to laveering to the North-north-west and Southwest going either further from or neerer to the Coast which yet they could not discover In the afternoon we resumed our course to the West-north-west with a Southwest wind and at night we found a yellowish sand at 190. fathom water The 13. Our course was to the West-north-west with a South-east wind About 10. we saw a dead Whale floating upon the water and being then at 35. degree latitude we conceiv'd we might be at the altitude of the Cape of Good hope where many of these creatures are ordinarily seen The 14. we found at Sun-rising that the Compass declin'd four degrees 50. minutes to the East whence we inferr'd that we had compass'd the Cape of Good hope The next day we had the wind so full a Stern that had it been contrary it would have forc'd us once more to think of putting into some place or at least put us to the same extremities we had been in before near the Cape We therefore found the declination of the Load-stone to be one degree fifty minutes and presently after the declination of it near the Cape of Good hope is four degrees though otherwise it doth not decline so much Assoon as the Cape is past the Compass still varies towards the East in regard the Needle draws to the Earth where no doubt there is Iron and other Load-stones that draw it but the declination on that Coast never exceeds eight degrees About 20. Leagues on this side the Cape of Good hope and at 33. degrees 15. minutes lies the Island of St. Elizabeth It is not above two Leagues distant
from the Coasts of Africk and hath a very good Haven towards the Continent at 16. fathome water The Coast of the Isle is but one continued Rock but there grows such abundance of delicate Herbs in the Island that it may be presum'd it would afford as great conveniencies and refreshments as that of St. Helene if it were planted with Citron-trees and Orange-trees and stock'd with Cattle 'T is true it hath no fresh water but what falls from the sky which in all likelihood is the reason that seldom any touch at it though there come thither such store of Sea-wolves that in a few dayes there might be as much fat gotten as would load a Vessel of 600 Tun. These creatures are called Sea-wolves though they are more like Bears both in colour and the making of their heads save that the snowt of these is somewhat sharper They have only two paws under the breast and draw the lower part of the body after them as if it were a taile yet are they so swift that it is as much as a man can do to overtake them running It is a cruel and fierce beast which fears not to set upon two or three men together and his teeth are so close and strong that he can therewith easily break the handle of a Patizan There is also in the same place a kind of Badger the flesh whereof is as delicate and wholsome as that of Lambs the birds call'd Pinguins are there better and more tender then any where else and in regard few Ships come thither these birds and some others are so tame and so little afraid of a man that he needs only put out his hand to take them The 16th The wind was contrary we being at 32. degrees Latitude The next day and the 18. with a North-north-west and South-west wind we got 64. Leagues and came to 29. degrees 16. minutes Latitude The 19. With a good South-south-west vvind vve got 40 Leagues to the North-west and were at 28 degrees Latitude The 20. With a South-east wind we got 34 Leagues continuing the same course to the North-west The 21th 28 Leagues with the same wind and keeping on the same course The 22th 20 Leagues with the same wind and in the same course The 23th 24 Leagues with the same wind taking our course West-north-west The 24th We got with the same vvind 30 Leagues continuing our course to the West-north-vvest The 25th We had so great a calm that vve advanced not any thing at all The 26th We got but 20 Leagues vvith a little East-south-east vvind continuing the same course The 27th We got 36. Leagues vvith a North-east vvind pursuing the same course and vvere come to 21 degrees Latitude The 28th With the same vvind and holding the same course vve got 46. Leagues and vvere at 20 degrees Latitude 29th With an East-north-east vvind vve got 20 Leagues continuing the same course The 30. Keeping the same course to the North-vvest vve advanced 25 Leagues October the first a South-vvest vvinde put us forvvard 25 Leagues keeping our course to North-vvest and vve got that day to 17 degrees Latitude The 2. With the same vvind vve got 25 Leagues keeping on in the same course till vve vvere come to sixteen degrees sixteen minutes Latitude The 3d. With the same vvind and in the same course 28 Leagues The 4th With the same vvind taking our course to the vvest 20 Leagues The 5th In the same course 16 Leagues The 6th We got 15 Leagues vvith a South-east vvind and came that day to the Island of St. Helene This Island lies at 16. degrees 12 minutes beyond the Aequinoctial and vvas so called by the Portuguez upon its being discovered the one and tvventieth of May on vvhich day is celebrated the memory of Saint Helene Mother to Constantine the Great It is distant from the Coast of Angola 350. Leagues from that of the Cape of Good hope 550. and from that of Bresil 510. So that it is somevvhat strange that at so great a distance from the continent the Sea should start out an Island about 7 Leagues in compass It is so fertile that there is not any Province in Europe affords such plenty of excellent fruits and breeds so many creatures as this Island Some affirm it afforded neither vvhen it vvas first discovered by the Portuguez and that the fevv Trees they planted and the little stock of Cattle they left there hath so furnished it that it is able sufficiently to refresh all the fleets that come thither At this place a man may have at any time of the year Figs Pomegranats Citrons and Oranges and there are Goats Swine Barbary-Hens Feasants Partridges Quailes Peacocks Pigeons and great store of all sorts of Birds as also salt for the keeping of them so that Ships might be sufficiently provided with all things if they would stay there any time The Sea supplies it with more Fish then can be consumed and the Earth brings forth so many excellent Herbs that the Portuguez unwilling to retard their Voyage leave at this place their sick men who recover their health within a few days and having only a little Oyl Rice Bisket and Spice make a shift to live there till the Ships come thither the next year Its Mountains are so high that they reach above the Clouds and are seen at Sea at the distance of 14 Leagues The Trees wherewith they are covered bring forth no Fruit and are fit only for firing but the Valleys are extreamly pleasant The King of Portugal would not have any establishment to be made there upon these reflections that all Ships passing that way might find refreshment there and that it would be a hard matter to keep the said Island against all the other Nations who are concerned in its being still free inasmuch as were it not for that Vessels many times would be forc'd upon the Coasts of Guiny where water is not to be had at all times and where they should be obliged to stay for Rain which would be so great an inconvenience that many of the men would in the mean time droop and die The fertility of this Island proceeds chiefly from the daily rain which falls there but they are transient showrs soon over so that the Sun shining presently after and that by intervals it must needs very much advance the maturation of all things There are three places where fresh water may be taken in to wit where the three Rivers which come out of the Mountain fall into the Sea They breed abundance of Snakes but the Dutch eat them and prefer them before Eels At 190 Leagues North-west of the Island of Saint Helene is that of the Ascension so called by the Portuguez upon its being discovered upon Ascention-day It lies at 8. degrees 30. minutes South of the Line and hath also very high mountains but it affords no fresh water nor any other refreshment nay it hath not so much as
any verdure only what may be particularly said of it is that upon the Coasts of it there are more Fish then upon those of Saint Helenes which occasions the coming thither of abundance of Birds that live only upon the said Fish These Birds are somewhat like Geese at least as the Relations describe them Assoon as a Vessel comes near there flie such numbers thereof into it that they are easily kill'd with sticks but the meat of them is not good The Earth of its Mountains is of a reddish colour much like that which the Spaniards call Almagro from the name of a City where there is much of it found October 9. The South-east wind continued but so weakly that we got that day but 15. Leagues holding our course to the South-west and we were at 16. degrees 11. minutes Latitude The 10. We had a great calm with insupportable heats so that we got that day buâ— 8. Leagues keeping the same course The 11. With an Easterly wind and keeping on the same course we got 15. Leagues The 12. We got 21. Leagues with the same wind taking our course to the North-north-west The 13. The wind came to North-east and helped us forward 25. Leagues to North-north-west to 14. Degrees 25. minutes Latitude The 14. With the same wind keeping on the same course we advanced 22. Leagues The 15. The wind came to South-east and keeping on the same course we advanced 44. Leagues The 16. The wind continued South-east and we got 46. Leagues we had that day the Sun in the Zenith so that we could not observe the Elevation The heats were very great The 17. We got 40. Leagues with the same wind The 18. With the same wind we got 42. Leagues to the fifth degree of Latitude That day we saw Millions of flying fishes and abundance of those birds the Portuguez call Mangas de Veludo The heats were excessive The 19. With a South-east wind we got 40. Leagues and got to 3. Degrees 19 minutes Latitude The 20. With the same wind we got 40. Leagues further and at one degree 18. minutes Latitude The 21. VVith the same wind we got 35. Leagues and passed under the Aequinoctial Line At one degree beyond the Line lies the Cape de Lope Gonsales upon the Coasts of Guiny the Road whereof is very good There Vessels take in refreshments in case they had not done it at Saint Helene's Island The Island of Saint Thomas so called by the Portuguez from its being discovered on 21th of December lies under the Line Though there be no talk of any Plague at that place yet is the air thereof very unwholsome and prejudicial to strangers who cannot well bear the excessive heats predominant there Whence it comes there are few gray-beards seen there and few Christians reach 50. years of Age though the Inhabitants of the Country live to above a hundred Day and Night are of an equal length there all the year long and it rains only in March and September but all the remainder of the year the Earth is moistened by a certain Dew which brings forth all sorts of fruits They who discovered the Island found it overgrown with a kind of trees the branches whereof were all streight Heretofore there grew Sugar there in such quantities as that there was enough to load thence yearly above forty Ships but it is now sometime since that there bred there a kind of Worms which so gnaw the Canes that the Island can hardly furnish six Ships therewith It affords much Wheat and Wine Millet Rye Barley Melons Cowcumbers Figs Ginger red-Parsnips Cabbages Navews Lettice Parsly all sorts of Roots Pulse and Pot-herbs and among others a certain Root named Ignaman accounted a very delicate dish by the Inhabitants It is a kind of Toad-stool the rinde whereof is black and the meat white about the bigness and not unlike the French Navew save that it casts forth several branches below It is baked in the Embers and tastes somewhat like but much better then a great Chesnut The Spaniards have planted Olive-trees there as also Peach-trees and Almond-trees which grow well enough but bear no Fruit. Among the living Creatures particularly to this Island there is a kind of Crevisses which live within the ground and work like Moles There is also abundance of Partridges Quails Black-birds Parrats and other Birds but particularly great store of excellent fish especially VVhales which are of a monstrous bulk upon the Coasts of this Island In the midst of the Island there is a Mountain covered with Trees and over-spread with a Cloud which supplies it with fresh water and that abundantly enough to water the Sugar Canes but what is most remarkable is that the higher the Sun comes over the Horizon the more water falls from the said Cloud The natural Inhabitants of it are Negroes but Forreigners continue white to the third and fourth Generation and it is reported that the lice and fleas wherewith the Negroes are extreamly troubled meddle not with the white people inasmuch as the skins of the former are much more delicate then those of the latter VVithin 35. Leagues of St. Thomas Island South-ward there is another Island which the Portuguez call Rolles Island wherein there are Oranges Citrons Bananas Ananas Ginger Poultry Swine and other refreshments in such plenty that having besides a very good Haven at ten Fathorn water it is a more commodious place then the Cape de Lope Gonsales The Island of Carisco which lies 30. minutes on this side the Line hath no other refreshment but fresh-water and is so neer the Continent that seldome any Ships Anchor there but in great extremity October 22. VVith a South-west wind we got 33. Leagues and about noon were at one degree 35. minutes Latitude North from the Line having very fair weather The 23. The same wind brought excessive heats and advanced us 26. Leagues and 3. degrees one minute Latitude The 24. VVe got but 22. Leagues having continual thunder and lightning which lasted till night The 25. The same South-east wind carried us 32. Leagues taking our course North-North-west The weather was rainy with storms and those winds which the Portuguez call Travados which are very ordinary towards the Coasts of Guiny from which we conceived our selves to be then distant about 150. Leagues The 26. The wind continuing South-east we got 25. Leagues and were at seven degrees Latitude The heat was much greater here then it had been on the other side of the Aequinoctial though the Sun were ten degrees further from our Hemisphere in as much as the Sun which had so lately warmed the Septentrional Hemisphere had not yet had time to warm the Meridional The 27. The wind changed and came to North and by East which obliged us to change our course We got that day but 13. Leagues and about noon were at seven degrees 50. minutes Latitude And as we came further off from the Coasts of
wind we got 24. Leagues keeping our course to the North-north-west and were got to 16. Degrees one minute Latitude The 5. With the same wind 31. Leagues to 17. degrees 27. minutes The 6. With the same wind and in the same course 34. Leagues to 19. degrees 10. minutes The 7. The wind continuing North-east we got 36 Leagues Not that we had still the advantage of the Manson at the Latitude but it is to be observed that the North-east wind reigns in those parts all the year long and brings Vessels as far as the Artick Tropick The 8. The wind came East-north-east and we run 32. Leagues and were got to 22. degrees 35. minutes Latitude Here we met with abundance of Sargasso which I really found like Cresses save that it was of a more yellowish green and had little seeds like those of green Goosberries Some are of opinion that the wind forces it from the Rocks upon the Coasts of the West-Indies but this is the more unlikely in that the North-east wind reigns there all the year long as we said before The 9. The same wind continuing we got 33. Leagues taking our course to the North and were at 24. degrees 32. minutes Latitude The 10. With the same wind 25. Leagues taking our course to North-north-west at 25. degrees 40. minutes Latitude The 11. The wind came to East-south-east and afterwards to South and towards evening to North-west with a great Calm so that we got that day but eight Leagues changing our course from North to West at twenty six degrees forty minutes Latitude That day we took one of those Fish the Dutch call Haye which are very common in the Indies but our Sea-men affirmed they had never seen any of them in that Sea The 12 We got 11 leagues with a North-east wind keeping our course to the North-west The 13. With a North-north-east wind we got 21. leagues taking our course West-north-west The 14. With the same wind and in the same course we got 22. leagues The 15. The wind North-east we got 20. leagues to North-west at 27. degrees 30. minutes latitude The 16. and 17. With the same wind keeping the same course we got these two dayes 32. leagues The 18. The wind South-east we run 21. leagues to the North-west at 29. degrees 20. minutes latitude The 19. The wind chang'd and came to South-south-west and brought with it Rain which lasted all day yet so as we advanced 37. Leagues taking our course North-east The 20. The wind North-west we got 12. Leagues in the same course The 11. The same wind carried us 22. Leagues The 22. The wind West-south-west we got 40. Leagues to North-north-east at 35. degrees 20. minutes Latitude The 23. With a South-west wind we got 34. Leagues to the East-north-east The 24. the same wind and course 35. Leagues The 25. With a North-west wind we got 33. Leagues to North-east and were at 38. degrees minutes Latitude The 26. Being calm weather we got but 13. Leagues The 27. We got but 12. Leagues taking our course East-north-east at 38. degrees 48. minutes Latitude The 28. The wind came to South-south-east and carried us 27. Leagues taking our course East-south-east The 29. The wind South-south-east we were at noon at 33. degrees 30. minutes We saw the Islands of Corvo and de Flores which some number among the Assores and we got that day 24. Leagues taking our course East-south-east The Islands of Corzo and Flores are not to be numbred among those which the Spaniards call the Assores by reason of the many Hawks found there when they were discovered The Dutch call them the Flemmings Islands hence that the first Inhabitants of the Island of Fajal which is one of the seven Assores were Flemmings either born in Flanders or some other Province of the Low-Countries where they speak Low Dutch The Posterity of those Flemmings live there still and observe the Customs of their own Country and have their habitations on the little River rising out of the Mountains which the Portuguez upon that occasion call Ribera dos Flamenâ—os The seven Islands called the Assores are Tercera St. Michael Santa Maria Soâ— Georges Gratiosa Pico and Fajal Tercera is the biggest of them all as being fifteen or sixteen Leagues in compass The Country is mountainous and all the Island is so encompassed with Rocks that it is in a manner inaccessible It hath no Haven but that at the City of Angra which is the Metropolis not only of Tercera but also of all the other Islands and that no Rode where Vessels might safely ride The Port of Tercera is like a Crescent between two Promotories whereof one hath two Mountains advancing so far into the Sea that they seem to be quite loosned from the Island They are called Bresil and so high that a man may from thence discover twelve or thirteen Leagues into the Sea The Governours of the Assores and the Bishop of all those Islands live in the City of Angra within three Leagues whereof lies that which they call Villa da Praya which is well built but not very populous in as much as it is a place of no Commerce by reason of a flat shore or strand thereabouts which occasioned the name of the City The City of Angra is so called from the manner of its scituation it being a term whereby the Portuguez would express the Figure of the Mount when it is half open or the New-moon It hath two Forts whereof one which is towards the Mountains serves it for a Cittadel and the other called the Castle of Saint Sebastiant is built upon one of the points which shut up the Port which it defends with the Artillery On the other point which is forked there are two Towers whence they give the signal as soon as they discover any Vessels at Sea either from Fresil-side or from Europe These Islands belong to the Crown of Portugal but during the last troubles of that Kingdom there was a Castilian Garrison there under the Command of D. A. Alvaro de Vizeros from whom the Portuguez soon took the Castle of Saint Sestastian but he kept the Cittadel till famine and the utmost extremity forced him to deliver it up on composition May 6. 1642. After the relief which had been sent from Saint Lucars Corogno and Dunkâ—rk had proved ineffectual partly through the treachery of the Portuguez who served in the Fleet and partly by their vigilance who had possess'd themselves of the Avenues of the Island The soil of it is very good nay the very Rocks yield Wine though they are in some places so steepy that it is almost a miracle how the Rock should thrust out of its Veins which are not covered with Earth the Vine-stock which does not thrive so well in the best parts of the Valley 'T is true the Wine is none of the most excellent and that such as are able to get better have it brought from Madera
and will maintain it to the utmost extremity Of this we have an example at Notebourg where two men made their capitulation in the year 1579. The Poles who had besieg'd the Castle of Suikols set it a fire as they were giving the assault yet the Muscovites made good the breach and maintain'd it even when the fire reach'd their Cloaths At the siege of the Abbey of Padis in Livonia they held out till they became so weakned for want of Provisions that they were not able to keep Guard nor to meet the Suedes at the Gate They are not indeed so fortunate in the field and very seldom gain'd any battel against the Poles or Suedes their Neighbours who have alwayes almost had the better of them so that it prov'd a harder matter to pursue them than to avoid their blows But certain it is withall that these misfortunes happen to them through the want of experience and conduct in their Generals rather than of courage in their Soldiers For as to the disgrace the Muscovites receiv'd at the Siege of Smolensko in the year 1633. it is to be ascribed to the Generals perfidiousness who paid his Master for his imprudence in putting the command of his Army into the hands of a Stranger He was a Polander named Herman Schein who to curry favour with the Duke had been so low-spirited as to receive re-baptization The Army he commanded consisted of above a hundred thousand men among whom were above 6000. Germans and several Muscovian Regiments exercised according to the German discipline and commanded by strange Officers French Germans and Scots three hundred pieces of Cannon and all other things requisite to carry on the Siege against that place which the Poles had taken some time before from the Muscovites The reduction of it had been so much the easier â—n that the City is compass'd but with one simple wall without ditch or any kind of fortification Whence it came that the Germans who had made a reasonable breach in it propos'd to have it carried at the first assault But the General oppos'd it saying That he would never suffer it should be reproach'd to the Prince his Master that he had rais'd so vast an Army to besiege a place which a handful of Germans would have taken in so few dayes and then presently to disband it The Colonels that were Strangers on the other side considering that the Great Duke's reputation would suffer by that Siege and the Army it self be destroy'd if it were not employ'd resolv'd to give the assault and were in a manner Masters of the breach when the General commanding the great Guns to be discharg'd at them they were forc'd to retreat They complain'd of that procedure so far as to make some discoveries of their distrust of his fidelity but he sent them word that if they kept not within the respect due to their General he should find a way to chastise them and that he would treat them as Muscovites So that not daring to make any further attempt the Army continu'd there some time without doing any thing and gave the King of Poland time enough to get together a small body of 5000. men who possess'd themselves of all the avenues by which the Muscovites receiv'd their provisions so as that within a few dayes their Army was more straightly besieg'd than the City it self It had been easy for the Muscovian General to prevent the Poles from taking up those posts but he gave them the leasure so to fortify themselves in them that it had been impossible for him to force them in their quarters even if he had attempted it The Muscovian Army being reduc'd to this extremity the General to hinder it from starving was forc'd to capitulate with the Poles to come in with the whole Army at mercy and with all that Noble Artillery to leave hostages for the ransome of all the Officers and Soldiers which the Great Duke was oblig'd to pay The General was so impudent as to return to Moscou and shew himself at Court where he had friends enough to protect him notwithstanding the charges put in against him by the Officers and Soldiers but the people express'd themselves so mov'd at his treachery that to prevent an insurrection which threatned both City and State they were forc'd to execute him publickly in the market-place Most of the great Ones had a finger in his Treason but lest he might accuse any they perswaded him that he should not be startled at those proceedings that it was only by way of pageant to give the people some satisfaction and that before execution his pardon would be brought him Which he the more easily credited for that his changing Religion had gain'd him the affection and favour of the Patriarch But he had no sooner layd his head upon the block ere a sign was made to the Executioner to strike it off The same day was executed also his Son who had some command under his Father at the Siege of Smolensko He was brought into the open place before the Castle where he was stripp'd stark naked and whipp'd to death All the rest of his kindred were banish'd into Siberia This execution happened in Iune 1634. The Muscovites spend not much in house-keeping nor the Bojares as well as those of a lower condition It is not above thirty years that their Lords and chiefest Merchants have built their houses of stone for before they were no better lodg'd than the meaner sort in very poor wooden buildings Their houshold-stuff are suitable to their Lodgings and commonly consist only in three or four pots and as many wooden or earthen dishes Some have pewter but very few and unless it be some few drinking cups and gobelets there is not any of silver They know not what scowring means in so much that the Great Duke's plate looks little better than the Tavern-pots which are made clean but once a year The better sort hang their rooms but with mat and to set them out yet a little better they have only two or three Images wretchedly painted They have few feather-beds but are content with mattresses nay with chaff or straw and if not that to be had they lye upon their cloaths which in Summer they lay upon a bench or table in the Winter upon their stoves which are flat as in Livonia In this Country it is that Master and Mistress Men and Maids are shuffled all together into the same room nay in some places in the Country I have seen the Poultry and the Pigs had ordinarily the same Lodging with the Masters of the house They are not acquainted with our delicate meats and sawces Their ordinary food is coarse Meal Turneps Coleworth and Cowcumbers both fresh and pickled Their great delicacy is Salt-fish which being not well salted infects the places near it so that you may smell their Fish-market at a great distance They cannot want Beef and Mutton there being good pastures all over
intreat Demetrius to come as soon as he pleas'd and take possession of the Kingdom of his Ancestors They also begg'd his pardon for what they had done through ignorance upon the instigation of Boris assured him of their affection and obedience and as a pledge of their fidelity they profer'd to put into his hands the deceased Duke's Son his Mother and all his Family to be disposed of as he should think it Upon these overtures Demetrius sent a Deak or Secretary named Iuan Bogdanou with order to strangle the Mother and Son and to give out that they were poison'd Which was accordingly executed the 10. of Iune 1605. in the second moneth of the reign of Foedor Borissouits The 16. of the same moneth Demetrius came to Moscou with his Army which strangely encreased as he came along The whole City went out to meet him and made him Presents He was Crown'd the 21. of Iuly with extrtordinary Ceremonies And that there might be no question made of the lawfulness of his birth he sent for the Mother of the true Demetrius whom Boris Gudenou had shut up in a Monastery at a great distance from Moscou He went to meet her with a Noble retinue of Courtiers lodg'd her in the Castle where he caused her to be treated with all magnificence visiting her every day and doing her all the honour a Mother could expect from a Son The good Lady knew well enough that Demetrius her Son had been kill'd but she cunningly dissembled it as well out of the resentment she had against the memory of Boris Gudenou and the fear she was in to be ill-treated by this counterfeit Demetrius as for that she was not a little pleas'd to see her self so much honour'd and enjoy the sweetness of a happy life after the miseries and afflictions she had endured in the Monastery since her Son's death But when the Muscovites found his manner of life different from that of the Great Dukes his predecessors that he was resolv'd to marry a Roman Catholick the Weywode of Sandomiria's daughter and ransack'd the Treasuries of the Kingdom to furnish her according to the advancement she expected they began to mistrust him and to perceive they had been mistaken One of the principal Knez named Vasili Zuski was the first that offer'd to speak of it to some other Lords as well Ecclesiastical as Secular and to remonstrate to them the danger whereto both the State and Religion were expos'd by the Alliance which that Counterfeit intended to make with a strange woman and of a contrary Religion adding that of necessity he was an Impostor and a lewd person Upon this it was resolv'd he should be dispatch'd out of the way but the Conspiracy being discover'd and Zuski taken Demetrius got him sentenc'd to death but sent him a pardon upon the point of execution hoping by that mildness to gain the affection of the Muscovites Accordingly all was quiet till the day of his marriage which was the 8. of May 1606. The Bride being arriv'd with a great number of Poles Armed and in a capacity to become Masters of the City the Muscovites began to open their eyes Zuski got to his own house several Knez and Bojares propos'd to their consideration the present State of Affairs the unavoidable ruine of both State and Religion and profer'd for the preservation thereof once more to expose his person and life They gave him thanks and promis'd to assist him with their Persons and Estates when there should be an opportunity to put their design in execution They had a fair one the last day of the Nuptial solemnity which was the ninth after the Wedding and the 17. of May. The Great Duke and his Company being got drunk and asleep the Muscovites caused all the Bells in the City to be rung as they are wont in case of fire to give an Alarm whereupon they immediately put themselves into Arms and set upon the Castle where having defeated the Polish Guards and forc'd the Gates they entred the Great Dukes Chamber who thought to avoid present death by leaping out at a window into the Court in hope to save himself among the Guards which were still there in Arms but he was taken and cruelly us'd The Castle was ransack'd Zuski addressing himself to the pretended Mother of Demetrius oblig'd her to swear by the Cross whether Demetrius was her Son or no to which having answer'd that he was not and that she never had but one Son who had been unfortunately murther'd they shot the Counterfeit Demetrius in the head with a Pistol They imprison'd the pretended Great Dutchess with her Father and Brother as also the Polish Ambassador The Ladies and Gentlewomen were abus'd and deflour'd and above 1700. men kill'd among whom were many Jewellers Merchants who had abundance of Jewels about them Demetrius's body was stripp'd and dragg'd to the place before the Castle where it lay expos'd for three whole days After which they buried it but it was immediately taken up again to be burnt and reduc'd to ashes This conspiracy thus succeeding the Muscovites chose into the place of Demetrius Knez Basilouits Zuski the Ring-leader of the Enterprise who was Crown'd Iune 1. 1606. But he was no sooner got into the Throne ere another Impostor disputed the possession of it His name was Knez Gregori Schacopski who at the pillaging of the Castle having found the Seals of the Kingdom fell into a League with two Polauders and made a shift to go into Poland He made use of the same invention as his Predecessor and took the name of Demetrius giving out where he came that he had escap'd the Massacre in the night time that they had kill'd another in his stead and that he was going into Poland to raise another Army to punish the Muscovites for their infidelity and ingratitude About the same time started up another Demetrius in the City of Moscou He was Clerk to one of the Secretaries of State got into the field made use of the same imposture as the two others and found abetters by whose assistance he became Master of many great Cities This occasion'd many other disorders which the Polanders countenanc'd out of their resentment of the affront they had receiv'd from the Muscovites The events of the War occasioned thereby prov'd so fatal and unhappy that the Muscovites quarrell'd at Zuski and look'd upon him as the sole cause of all their misfortunes They said his Government was unjust because unfortunate and that there must needs be something fatal in his person when victory seem'd to shun him to side with his Enemies Three Muscovian Lords Zacchary Lippanow Michael Molsaneck and Iuan Kesefski were the first that amus'd the people with these reports and perceiving they were well receiv'd among them proceeded in their design depriv'd Zuski of his Dignity shut him up in a Monastery and had him shaved Upon this the Knez and Bojares to avoid the jealousie which the
it came that he Courted our Conversation in order to the advancement of his studies He was so sedulous that in the space of five moneths that we were in company together both in Persia and by the way he made such a Progress therein that he could express himself well enough to be understood in Latine 'T is true 't was not with the Congruity requisite but what he had was very extraordinary in a Muscovite He learnt also the use of the Astrolabe as well to take the height of the Sun and find out the time of the day as to make use of it in Geometry He had one made by our Clock maker and as soon as he came to any City or Village he went out into the Street to take the Elevation of the Pole which the Muscovites not accustom'd to see their Countrey-men employ'd in those exercises thought very strange The 25. The Cuptzi sent to invite the Ambassadors to a feast the next day and desir'd them to send him the name and titles of his Highness our Master as also the names and qualities of the Ambassadors that he might send them by an express to the Chan or Governour of Schamachie in Media that when we came to the Frontiers of Persia we might find all things ready for the prosecution of our Voyage The 26. He sent seven Horses to the River-side for the Ambassadors and their retinue but they made use only of two and causing the rest to be led they ordered the Gentlemen and Officers to walk a foot according to the custom in Germany He had prepar'd the Feast in a great house which to that end he had borrow'd of the Weywode and over against it he had hir'd another Lodging where he had erected a Theater cover'd with Persian Tapistry for the Timbrels and Hawboyes who continu'd their Musick from our arrival to our departure The house where the Feast was kept was all cover'd with Turkish and Persian Tapistry The Cuptzi met the Ambassadors in the Court receiv'd them with great civility and conducted them through two Chambers hung all about into a third which was hung with Gold and Silver Brocadoe In all the Chambers there were Tables and Seats cover'd with the best Persian Tapistry which the Cuptzi had done purposely for our convenience knowing we were not yet accustomed to the mode of Persia where they sit upon the ground to eat The Tables were loaden with all sorts of Fruits and Preserves as Grapes Apples Melons Peaches Apricocks Almonds Raisins of the Sun whereof some were little and without stones Kernels of Nuts Pistachoes and several Indian fruits preserv'd in Sugar and Honey and over them were large pieces of Satin or Taffata We were hardly set ere came in the two Ambassadors of Persia and Poland who had upon their ordinary Habits the Vestiments which the King of Persia had presented them with and the Iacobin Frier had a Golden Cross upon his breast as well as the Armenian Bishop They took their places next the Ambassadors and being well skill'd in the Latine Spanish Italian and French Languages their discourses were accordingly without any trouble and full of diversion 'T is the custome of Persia to begin their Feasts with Fruits and Preserves We spent two hours in eating only those and drinking Beer Hydromel and Aquavitae Then was brought up the meat in great Silver Dishes They were full of Rice of divers colours and upon that several sorts of Meat boil'd and roasted as Beef Mutton tame Fowl wild Ducks Fish and other things all very well ordered and very delicate The Persians use no knives at Table but the Cooks send up the meat ready cut into little bits so that it was no trouble to us to accustome our selves to their manner of eating Rice serves them instead of bread They take a mouthfull of it with the two fore-fingers and the thumb and so put it into their mouths Every Table had a Carver whom they call Suffretzi who takes the meat brought up in the great Dishes to put it into lesser ones which he fills with three or four sorâ—s of meat so as that every Dish may serve two or at most three persons There was but little drunk till towards the end of the repast and then the Cups went about roundly and the Dinner was concluded with a Vessel of Porcelane full of a hot blackish kind of drink which they call Kahawa whereof we shall have occasion to say more hereafter The Persians express'd their civility towards us so highly both in word and deed at this 〈…〉 we could not have desir'd more in our own Country Having taken leave both of our Entertainer the Ambassadors of Persia and Poland and the rest of the Company which was done with much honour and civility on all sides we drew off with the noise of the Timbrels and Haâ—â—boyes which sounded a retreat after a very pleasant manner Two of the most considerable of the Company brought us to the City Gate where they renew'd their civilities and acknowledg'd the honour the Ambassadors had done them and re-assur'd us of their friendship and services As the Ambassadors went into the Shallop some of the Ship Guns were fired which had also been done when they went out of it to go to the Feast The 27. the Ambassadors with some few persons about them took a walk and having gone about the City they went a league farther to see the habitations of the Tartars We found by the way that in those parts Oxen and Horses tread out the Corn whereas in other places it is thrash'd whereby we explain'd that Law which forbids muzzling the Oxe that treadeth out the Corn. No Hut but had its Hawk or Faulcon in our return we met with one of their Princes coming from his sport having his Hawk on his fist and a Sheep-skin on his back as all the rest had He exprest his trouble that he had not been at home to entertain the Ambassadors The same day went thence the Poslanick Alexei Sawinouits continuing his Voyage to Persia by the Caspian Sea The 28. The Ambassadors were treated with the same magnificence and ceremonies by the other Persian Merchant namely Noureddin Mahumed save that the Stage or Theater for the Muscovians was erected in the Court opposite to the Table but more richly adorn'd than that of the Cuptzi He had also invited the Religious Men before spoken of certain Indians and two Muscovites who came from the Weywode and understood the Language The Ambassador Brugman being engag'd in discourse with them broke out into very injurious expressions against the Turks who though enemies to the Persians yet were not then in any hostility against the Muscovites whereupon the former fearing it might reflect on them as being the Masters of the Entertainment entreated the Ambassador not to engage into any further discourse concerning publike Affairs but to be merry and to assure himself that the expressions they then made us of
send us a Pilot we might confide in But the merry Companion was no sooner got to his own ship but he set sayl and left us in the lurch I think what troubled him was that we had not made him some present according to the custom of the Countrey but he regarded so little the slur he had put upon the Ambassadors that he had the impudence to come and Visit them in their ship in the company of several other Tartarian Lords after our arrival at Terki and made no other answer to the reproaches he receiv'd upon that occasion than ja wi nouat a great business indeed to be talk'd of Finding our selves thus abus'd we sent to the Master of the Persian ship to entreat his assistance He though Masâ—â—â— of the ship and owner of all the goods in it came aboard us to proffer us his service as a Pilot with more kindness and civility than we could have expected from a Christian and having recommended his own ship to his servants stay'd with us He was a very understanding man and was not only acquainted with the Navigation of those parts but also with the Compass much beyond what the Persians ordinarily are vers'd in who do not willingly venture very far into the Sea but for the most part keep in sight of Land So that finding the wind serv'd he caus'd the Anchor to be weigh'd about eleven at night taking his course towards the South with an East wind We observ'd it was the same day that we left Travemunde the year before and accordingly we had the same success in this second Voyage We had all that night but ten foot water but towards day we had eighteen The Countrey on our right hand which is called Suchator had four Hills which made a great Promontory reaching a great way into the Sea and from that Cape to Astrachan are counted 100 werstes and to Terki 200. but on both sides they are very short ones The 29. The weather fair we kept on our course in the morning Southward and with a South-East wind and in the afternoon South-west-ward having about twenty foot water and finding the bottom gravelly and full of little shells We could discover no Land that day and the night following we cast Anchor Here the Needle declin'd twenty degrees from North to West Octob. 30. We set sayl at the break of day and soon after Sun-rising we discover'd the Countrey of Circassia which lies all along the Sea-Coast from the South-West to North-East compassing it about much after the form of a Crescent and making a spacious Bay It was our design to get beyond the point of the Gulf but the wind coming to South-East had almost forc'd us into it which oblig'd us to cast Anchor about noon at the entrance of the Gulf at three fathom and a half water finding at the bottom a kind of fat earth about six Leagues from Terki We discover'd in the Bay about 20. or twenty five Boats and upon the first sight thereof it run into our imagination that they were the Cosaques but we were soon undeceiv'd and found them to be Tartarian Fisher-men belonging to Terki and were then coming to bring us fish to sell. For those we bought of them we gave them fifteen pence a piece but they were very great ones and we found in their bellies a great number of Crabs and Lobsters among which there were some alive The remainder of the day we spent in giving Almighty God solemn thanks for all his mercifull deliverances of us particularly that which happen'd on the very same day the year before when we were in so great danger amidst the Rocks and Shelves of Ocland Our Persian Pilot went that day to his own ship which was at some distance behind us to give his men Order what they should do leaving us somewhat of an opinion that he would shew us such another trirk as the Muscovite had done before but he afterwards made it appear that those of his Nation are not only made up of Complements for he return'd very betimes the next morning having sent his Boat before us to serve us for a Guide The last day of October we had in the morning a thick Mist with a great Calm The Sun having dispell'd the one about noon and the wind being come to the North we endeavour'd to get out of the Gulf and with much ado by laveering got the point near which we stayd at Anchor till after midnight and came very betimes in the morning on the first of November before the City of Terki We cast Anchor about a quarter of a League from the City because we could not come any nearer by reason of the shallowness of the water The night before the Cosaques had a design to set upon us but happily miss'd us in the dark and met with the little Fleet which brought the Tartar-Prince but the noise of the Strelits or Muscovian Muskettiers having discover'd to them that they were mistaken and imagining they should find a vigorous resistance they drew back but made it appear they were the Germans that they look'd for Intelligence coming in the morning to the City of this attempt of the Cosaques rais'd a verry hot Alarm there in regard it was known that Mussal their Prince was coming and that he might be in some danger The Inhabitants were confirm'd in that opinion when they heard the going off of our great Guns a noise they are not accustomed to in those parts insomuch that they began to get together and look on us as Enemies but they were put out of all fear by the arrival of their Prince who having given us a Volley as he pass'd by and invited us to honour him with a Visit at his Mother's satisfy'd the Inhabitants that there was no danger either to him or them The City of Terki lies somewhat above half a League from the Sea upon the little River Timenski which issues out of the great River Bustro and facilitates the correspondence there is between the Sea and the City to which there is is no other way to come by reason of the Fens which encompass it on all sides for a quarter of a League about It is seated in a spacious plain which is of such extent that the extremities thereof cannot be discover'd by the eye whence may be corrected the errour of the Map drawn by Nicholas Iansson Piscator alias Vischer though in all other things the best and most exact of any I could ever meet with who places the City of Terki upon a Mountain but by a mistake confounding the City of Tarku in the Province of Dagesthan with that of Terki in Circassia The Elevation of the Pole is here at 43. degrees 23 minutes It is distant from Astrachan sixty Leagues by Sea and seventy by Land and is the last place under the Jurisdiction of the Great Duke of Muscovy It is in length 2000. foot and in breadth 800. all
away and to be the sooner rid of him cast also a stone at him The last attempt the Devil had to make was to represent to Ismael the horrour of death and the unnatural procedure of his Father but he found the same treatment from him as he had from the other two and had a good stone flung at his head The Father and Son being come to the top of the Mountain Abraham said to his Son Ismael My Son I cannot imagine thou knowest the occasion of our journey and the reason why I have brought thee to this place It is only this that God hath commanded me to sacrifize thee whereto Ismael made answer that since it was God's pleasure it should be so his will be done only let me entreat thee Father to grant me three things The first is that thou have a care to bind me so fast that the pains of death may not engage me to attempt any thing against thee The second is that thou whet thy knife very well and after thou hast thrust it into my throat that thou hold it very fast and shut thy eyes out of a fear the cruelty of the action dishearten thee from going through with it and so leave me to languish a long time And the third that when thou art returned home thou remember my duty to my Mother Abraham having promis'd to observe all these things and whetted his knife binds his son directs the knife to his Throat and shutting his eyes holds it as fast as he could but finding when he opened his eyes again that the knife had made no entrance he is extremely troubled and tries the edge of it upon a stone which he cuts in two He was so astonish'd thereat that he address'd himself to the Knife and asked it why having so good an edge as to cut a stone it could not as well cut his Sons Throat The knife made answer that God would not have it so Whereupon the Angel Gabriel took Abraham by the hand and said to him Hold a little God would only make tryal of thy faith Unbind thy Son and sacrifize this Hee-Goat and immediately there came into the place a Hee-Goat which Abraham offered to God for a burnt-offering They affirm that the three stones which Hagar Abraham and Ishmael cast at the Devil are yet to be seen near the High-way between Medina and Meca and that there are made thereof two great heaps of stones by the means of the Pilgrims who bring every one three stones to be cast at the Devil at the same place where these heaps are to the end he may not distract them in their Devotions We saw also the same day above five hundred Women who were going before day to the Church-yard to weep over the Graves of their Husbands and others of their kinred There were some who had somewhat to eat at the same time others had some passages of the Alchoran read to them and those of any quality had Tents pitch'd there for their reception that they might not be expos'd to the sight of all that pass'd by This kind of Devotion for the Dead is commonly performed in the time of their Orut or Lent The Ambassadors were again that day treated out of Schich-Sefi's Kitchin The meat was brought in in six great Copper Vessels tinn'd over which they call Lenkeri and the Conserves in nine great Vessels of Porcelain The next day the Chan treated them very Magnificently at a Dinner he had provided in one of his Summer-houses The 27. in the evening the Governour communicated to the Ambassadors the good news he had received from Chan Rustan General of the King of Persia's Army who had writ to him that the Ianizaries in a mutiny at Constantinople had kill'd the Grand Signior and impriâ—â—n'd the most eminent Ministers of his Courr The Persians express'd their joy thereat by the fire-works which the Governour order'd to be made as also by the Musick which ecchoed all over the City The Ambassadors did the like on their part with their great Guns causing them to be fired six times over and ordering the Trumpets to sound and the Drums to beat while from the roof of their Lodgings they could see all the fires about the City The Governour was so well pleas'd to see that the Ambassadors concern'd themselves so much in the publick joy that he sent them two flaggons of Schiras Wine with a Glass-Vessel full of Sugar-candy'd May the first we Celebrated the Birth-day of the Ambassador Crusius which was concluded at night with a Magnificent Supper to which we had invited out Mehemander Netzefbek The 4. the Ambassadors receiv'd a visit from the son of Saru-Taggi Chancellor of Persia who was come purposely from Ispahan accompany'd by some persons of quality to see the Ambassadors We entertain'd him with our Musick which he seem'd to be much taken with and treated him with a sumptuous Collation during which the great Guns were discharg'd as often as there was any great health drunk May 14. the Persians began to Celebrate a mournful Festival which they call Aschur which signifies ten in regard it lasts ten days and begins with the Moon of the moneth Maheram Of all the sorts and Sects of Mabumetans the Persians only Celebrate this Feast in memory of Hossein the youngest son of Haly whom they accompt one of their greatest Saints The Legends relate of him that he was kill'd in the War he was engag'd in against the Calif Iesied He was at first according to their story of him troubled with an extraordinary thirst in regard they had depriv'd him of all water Afterwards he had seventy two wounds which he receiv'd by Arrows and at last Senan ben anessi run him through the body with a sword and Schemr Sultzausen kill'd him out-right That this Feast lasts ten dayes proceeds hence that Hossein having left Medina to go to Kufa was for ten days together pursu'd by his Enemies who treated him as we related before During all that time the Persians go in mourning express much affliction suffer not the Rasour to come near their heads though at other times they make use of it every day live very soberly drink no Wine and content themselves with Water The whole City of Ardebil was taken up in these Ceremonies and extravagant Devotions In the day time the Children and young Lads assembled themselves in great companies up and down the streets carrying in their hands great Banners at the extremities whereof there were Snakes of Pastboard winding to and fro much like Mercury's Caduceus The Persians call them Eschder They went to the Doors of their Metzits or Mosqueys and cry'd one after another ja Hossein ja Hossein that is O Hossein In the evening especially the three last days of the Festival after Sun-set men did also meet in several places under Tents with abundance of Torches and Lanthorns having at the tops of their Poles Orenges as
in the Persian and Turkish Languages but all excellently painted richly bound and cover'd with Plates of Gold and Silver carv'd and branch'd The books of History were enrich'd with several representations in colours In the Neeches of the Vault there were above three or four hundred Vessels of Porcelane some so large as that they contain'd above 40. quarts or Liquour These only are used at the entertainments which are brought from the Sepulchre to the King and other great Lords who pass that way for the holiness of that place permits not that they should make use of any Gold or Silver Nay it is reported of Schich-Sefi that he out of an excessive humility made use onely of Woodden Dishes Thence we were brought to the Kitchin the Door whereof was also cover'd with Plates of Silver and all things within it were so handsomly ordered that it was not a little to be admire'd The great Cauldrons were all set in a row and seal'd within the Wall along which pass'd a Pipe which by divers Cocks supply'd all the Kitchin with water The Cooks of all degrees had every one his place according to their functions and employments This Kitchin maintains every day above a thousand persons accompting those belonging to the house and the poor among whom they distribute thrice a day Pottage Rice and Meat to wit in the morning at six at ten and in the after-noon at three The two morning-meals are upon the accompt of Schich-Sefi who to that end lay'd a foundation of fifty Crowns per diem and the third is an Alms bestow'd there by order from the King of Persia. Besides these there are so many Alms distributed there upon the accompt of private persons that there is not only enough to maintain the poor but there is much over and above which is sold to those who are asham'd to beg At the time of these meals or distributions they sound two Timbrels which as they say were brought from Medina with the Banner of Fatima by Schach Sedredin Going out of the Kitchin we entred into a very fair Garden where we saw the Sepulchres of Sulthan Aider Schach-Tamas and several other Kings of Persia which were in the open air and without any thing over them but a smooth stone The principal Lords whose Sepulchres are to be seen in this Meschaich are 1. Shich-Sefi the son of Seid-Tzeibrail 2. Schich-Sedredin the son of Sefi 3. Schich-Tzinid the son of Sedredin whom some Europaean Authors erroneously call Guined 4. Sulthan Aider the son of Tzinid who was flead alive by the Turks 5. Schich Aider the son of Sulthan Aider 6. Schach-Ismael the son of Schich Aider 7. Schach Tamas the son of Schach-Ismael 8. Schach-Ismael the second of that name the son of Schach-Tamas 9. Schach-Mahomet Choddabende son of Schach-Ismael 10. Ismael Myrsa brother of Choddabende 11. Hemsa Myrsa 12. Schach Abas sons of Choddabende Schich-Sedredin ordered his Sepulchre to be built after the death of his Father by an Architect whom he had brought along with him from Medina and according to a Model which he drew of it himself by Miracle for the Persians affirm that both he and his Father wrought many which was that having commanded the Architect to shut his eyes he ravish'd him into an extasie during which he gave him a sight of the Model according to which he would have that Structure built and according to which it was afterwards done Schich-Tzinid adding thereto the great Court and several Houses augmented it so as that now it seems a very noble and spacious Castle whither there comes every day so great a number of persons to Discourse or Walk that there are few Princes Courts where there are more seen The foundations of several Kings its vast Revenues and the Presents which are daily made thereto do so augment the Wealth of it that some conceive its Treasure amounts to many Millions of Gold and that in case of necessity this Mesar might raise and maintain a very powerfull Army and that it would furnish more ready Money than the King could himself Besides the Farms and Dairies which depend on it it hath within the City of Ardebil two hundred Houses nine publick Baths eight Caravanseras or Store-houses that great Vault which is called the Kaiserie all the Meydan with its Vaults and Shops a hundred other Shops in the Basar and the Market-places where Cattel Wheat Salt and Oyl are sold. The Astasnischin or Regraters and Hucksters and those who sell Commodities in open Market having neither Shops nor Stalls pay certain duties thereto It is possess'd about Ardebil of thirty three Towns or Villages and in the Province of Serab of five Villages In the City of Tauris it hath sixty Houses and a hundred Shops and two Villages without the City several Caravanseras and Baths in the City of Casuan as also in the Province of Kilan and Astara The duties of Abschur and Eleschur in the Province of Mokan belong to it and one moyety of those of Chalchat Kermeruth and Haschteruth not accounting what the Tartars and Indians who make profession of the Persian Religion send thither nor the Presents which are brought from all parts in consequence of the Vows which they are wont to make in great Journeys in their Sickness nay indeed in any business of Importance which they very Religiously perform Besides all these there are so many Gifts Donations and Legacies made to it that there passes not a day but a man shall see going thither Horses Asses Camels Sheep Money and other things All these things are receiv'd by two Persons who are oblig'd by an Oath to be faithful to that sacred place and they are called Nessurtzchan from the word Nesur which signifies a Vow and they have an allowance out of the revenue of a fair Village which is within half a League of the City called Sultanabath which was granted by Schich Ismael to that purpose These Commissaries are every day in an apartment on the left hand as a man goes into the Metzid Tzillachane and are set on both sides of a Chest or Box cover'd with crimson Velver into which they put the Money that is brought them as they do also that which arises by the sale of those Horses Camels and Asses which are bestow'd on the Sepulchre for the Oxen and Sheep are kill'd and distributed among the poor They give those who bring them a small Present which is a handful of Anniseed and they are given to understand thereby that their Souls shall enjoy serenity and blisse in the other VVorld They also give the Pilgrims who come thither to do their Devotions a Certificate of their being there and of the Prayers they said there which serves not only for a Testimony of the profession of their Religion but also for a protection against several disgraces and misfortunes nay which is more for the saving of their Lives Accordingly our Interpreter Rustan having resolv'd to leave us and
own Sister thinking not her self secure thought it her best course to prevent her own destruction by attempting the King's Certain it is he dy'd a violent death on the 24. of November 1577. and that Periaconcona was the Contriver and Instrument of it but this was done so secretly that it is yet not known how Persia came to be rid of this Tyrant Ismael II. being thus remov'd out of the way they made a shift so far to satisfie Mahomet Chodabende his elder Brother of the danger whereto he expos'd his Person and the Country if he suffered the Crown to come to a strange Family that at last he resolv'd to accept of it but upon condition that before he were oblig'd to make his entrance into Caswin they should bring him the head of Periaconcona who had imbru'd her hands in the bloud of two of his Brethren and in whose power it was in some respects to dispose of the Kingdom She prostituted her self to several of the Grandees about the Court but particularly to Emeer Chan whom she had raised into some hopes of enjoying the Crown As soon as Chodabende came to the Government which was in the year â—578 he seem'd not to mind any thing so much as to imitate those among his Predecessors who had contributed most to the preservation and glory of the Kingdom of Persia. This is the Testimony given of him by F. Bizarrus but the Persian Authors affirm on the contrary that never any Prince manag'd a Scepter with greater negligence and pusillanimity in so much that finding himself not fit for the carrying on of any Military design he spent all his time within the Palace in Gaming and diverting himself with the Ladies That he was unfortunate to his Wars and that the common Enemy tasâ—ing advantage of his poorness of spirit and effeminacy made incursions into Persia to wit the Turks on one side and the Vsbeques Tartars on the other That both these Nations possess'd themselves of several Provinces belonging to that Crown and were not dispossess'd of them as long as Mahomet Chodabende liv'd Minadous observes among other passages that the Turks kill'd in one battel five thousand Persians and took three thousand prisoners whom the Turkish General ordered to have their heads cut off and having heap'd them up together he sate down upon the heap and gave audience to a young Prince of Georgia who was come to give him a Visit. Mahomed Chodabende dy'd in the year 1585. leaving three Sons Emir Hemse Ismael and Abas The former as being the eldest of the three Brethren was Crowned King of Persia but Ismael troubled to see the Crown on his Brother's head manag'd his affairs so well and insinuated himself so much into the affections of the chiefest Lords of the Kingdom that they conspir'd the death of Emir Hemse Ismael got him kill'd in the eighth moneth of his reign by a sort of people disguiz'd in VVomens Cloaths who being cover'd with Veils according to the custom of the Countrey came to the Schach's Chamber door and told the Guards that they were the VVives of some of the Chans whom the King had sent for and that they waited there in obedience to his commands The Murtherers were no sooner got into the Chamber but they fell upon the King and kill'd him But this death was soon after reveng'd upon the Contriver of it as we shall relate Abas Myrza that is to say Prince Chodabende's third Son was Governour of Herat and was come thence with an intention to see Emir Hemse his Brother but hearing in his way of the Murther committed upon him and having some reason to fear that the Murtherer might be advis'd to secure himself in the Throne by a double fratricide return'd back into his Government The year following Abas Myrsa being advanc'd as far as Caswin while the King was at Kâ—â—abach there happened such frequent differences between the people belonging to the two Brothers that they heightned the reciprocal distrust they had one of another Abas Myrsa had about him a Lord of great quality named Murschidculi-Chan who had acquir'd so great reputation by his prudence and courage that Chodabende had entrusted him with the conduct and education of that young Prince This Murschidculi knowing that Ismael who had express'd but too much animosity against his Brother would never pardon him and that his life absolutely depended on that of his Master and considering withall that if he prov'd the occasion of raising that Prince whom he had Govern'd from his youth to the Throne he would have a great share in the Government resolv'd to prevent the King who was already come into the Province of Karabach purposely to march in person against his Brother To effect this some of the great Lords of the Court who hoped to get into favour with Abas Myrsa corrupted one of Ismael's Barbers named Chudi who coming to trim him cut his Throat The Lords who were present at the execution and thought it concern'd them to justifie themselves kill'd the Barber cut his body into little bits and reduc'd it to ashes Thus dy'd Schach Ismael III. in the eighth moneth of his reign Abas Myrsa had already so for gain'd the affections of the Persians by his vivacity of spirit and the moderation they had observ'd through the whole course of his life that he ascended the Throne with the general satisfaction of all the people But the favour of Murschidculi-Chan who had most contributed to his advancement continu'd not long for assuming to himself the same authority over the King which he had had before while he was onely Myrsa or Prince he became troublesome and insupportable and that in so high a degree that one day the King desirous to give his opinion upon an affair of great importance which had been propos'd Murschidculi-Chan had the insolence to tell him before a full Council that he was not fit to speak of affairs of that nature they being such as were above the reach of his age and understanding The King dissembled for the present his Resentment thereof but considering that that Authority of Murschidculi-Chan would eclipse his own and expose him to the contempt of his Subjects he resolv'd to rid his Governour out of the way He complain'd of his Favorite's insolence to three Lords of his Council named Mehediculi-Chan Mahomed Vstadscahi and Aliculi-Chan of whom he thought he might be most confident but finding they demurr'd upon the business and being not too well assur'd what resolution the King would take in a business which to them was of the greatest consequence of any in the World that they endeavour'd to disswade him from it he told them it was his will that Murschidculi-Chan should die by their hands and that if they made any scruple to do it he should find means to be obey'd as on the contrary he should not be backward in requiting their services who upon that occasion should implicitly execute
he had quite pass'd his head and shoulders the VVoman cries out and finding a Plough-share in the Room gave him so many strokes over the head and neck therewith that he dy'd of it The Neighbours coming in at the noise and immediately after the Husband found this sad Spectacle of the Abdalla and having got open the Door the VVoman swounded in the Room Being come to her self she call'd to mind that the Rogue finding himself hurt by the first blow she had given him had begg'd his life and told her that he had wherewithall to purchase it whereupon the Husband took the pains to search him and to examine his ragged Coat which had so many pieces about it as made a shift to Lodge eight hundred Chequines whereof the Peasant made his advantage The Abdalla's body was burnt The Persians interr their Dead within three hours after the Soul is gone out of the body unless it be in the night time They wash the bodies before they are interr'd and this Ceremony is perform'd in the house to persons of quality or in a place built in the Church-yard for that purpose which they call Mordeschar Cane for the common people I had the opportunity to see these Ceremonies at Caswin in our return from Ispahan 'T was the body of a young man of about twenty years of age whom they carried in his Cloaths and before he was quite cold singing all along to the Church-yard where they stripp'd him and cast him into a Cestern built about with Free-stone about sixteen foot square The Grave-maker having wash'd the body all over they put a clean shirt about him wrapp'd him in a shrowd of Cotton Cloath and lay'd him on a Bâ—er to be carry'd to the Grave which was not far thence Persons of quality have this further Ceremony done them that at their coming out of the Bath the body is set upright and they pour Camphir water which they call Kafur upon the head whence it runs down all over the body all the Overtures whereof are stopped with Cotton Then they lay it near the Grave and the Priest having read some passages of the Alcoran raises up his head a little which he presently lets down again and then he is put into the Grave without any Coffin The Graves are made very hollow and some are vaulted and others cover'd with boards the body is laid down on the right-side with the face towards the West upon this accompt that the Persians among other things are of a perswasion that at the last Judgement the Sun and Moon shall be very sad and that the Sun coming to the West shall stand still and that both those Planets shall become as black as Coal That then the Angel Gabriel shall come and beat the Sun and Moon and force them to return from the West to the East and that the last judgement shall begin at the West Then the Priest having taken up a little earth in his hand read another passage of the Alcoran went seven paces from the Grave then return'd to it again and having read another passage retir'd with all the company After these Ceremonies persons of quality are wont to make a Feast the third day after the interrment but without any Wine and if the deceas'd hath left much Wealth behind him they make another Feast on the seventh and another on the fortieth day as also at the Naurus at the Kurban and at the Ramesan being sure to distribute some Almes among the Poor The reason why they make the Graves so hollow and stop up all the Overtures of the body is the belief they are of that when the Priest goes seven paces from the Grave two Angels named Nekir and Munkir come into it and if the Overtures were not stopped might be incommodated by some uncleanness They believe that during that time the Soul returns into the body that she raises it into a sitting posture that it may give the Angels an account of all its Members had done in this World Then he makes these questions to the deceas'd In whom hast thou believ'd whereto it answers In one onely God my Heavenly Father Who is thy Prophet Mahomet Who is thy Iman Aaly If he answers pertinently to the questions and can give any account of the use of his Members there is no doubt made but he is sav'd and that the Angels thereupon seize the soul and absolutely separate it from the body There are only persons of age who are subject to this examination Children being not oblig'd to give any account of their Faith The Persians to shew that Aly's Father is infallibly sav'd affirm that he was before named Emiram and that he dy'd before Mahomet Being buried and the Angels having ask'd him who was his Prophet he made answer it was Mahomet but when they ask'd him who was his Saint he was at a loss and knew not what to say for he knew not then that his Son Aly should become so great an Imam Whereupon the Angel Gabriel going to Mahomet bid him send Aly to Abalhalib's Sepulchre and to say to him Father I am thy Imam and shall draw thee to me at the day of Judgement and that thence it comes they gave Emiram the name of Abathalib that is the seeking Father in as much as the Father had sought and found his Imam The interrments of great Lords and persons of quality are performed with great Pomp and the body is accompany'd by a great procession We made mention in the fift book of this Relation of a Gentleman of Scamachie who had drunk so much Aquavitae that he dy'd of it the next day The Ceremonies of his interrment were as followeth In the first place in the head of the Procession there marched six men carrying Banners and great and long Poles much like those we had seen at our entrance into that place with this difference only that those at this Funeral were wreath'd Next marched four Horses the first whereof carried the Bow and Arrows of the deceas'd and the other three some part of his Cloaths After these one of his Menial servants mounted on an excellent Mule carry'd his Mendil or Turbant This man was follow'd by two men carrying on their heads certain Towers which they call Nachal adorn'd with great Plumes of Feathers who danc'd and leap'd to the sound of the Musick which came after them and consisted of Tabours and Copper basins which they struck one against another Between this Musick and the Dancers there were carried eight Dishes of Preserves having each of them a Sugar-Cake in the midst cover'd with blue paper which is the colour of their Mourning and about every Cake three Wax-Candles lighted Next marched divers of the Suffi who were distinguish'd from others by their white Turbants Then follow'd two bands of Musicians who with all their might sung the la illa illaha and the Alla Ekber accompanying their cries with such distorted Countenances and Postures as Scaramuzza himself would
which might have given reputation to his Arms grew so insolent thereupon and withall so negligent that he permitted his people to enlarge their quarters to the adjacent Villages where they fell to merriment and making good cheer while he continued with some few about him at Kisma and Fumen The Chans who observ'd all his actions had no sooner notice of it but they got together again their three Bodies which made an Army of above 40000. men with which they set upon the forces of Karib-Schach in their quarters and gave them an absolute defeat As to Karib himself he had the time to get into a Garden where he hid himself behind one of those trees which produce silk and which those of the Countrey call Tut but he was there discover'd by one of the Domesticks of Emir-Chan who knew him by his Cloaths He intreated that Thebni or Servant to save his life by furnishing him with his Cloaths and promis'd him in requital a good sum of mony besides the Present he made him in hand of a great many Jewels The Servant made as if he consented but assoon as he got on Karib's Garment and Sword he said to him It is I who am now King and thou art but a Traytor and thereupon calling to some of his Camerades he seiz'd upon him and put him into the Palenk Schach-Sefi would needs see him and had him brought to Caswin where he then was making his entrance into it accompany'd by five or six hundred Curtezans who incessantly jeer'd him in his Royalty and did him a thousand indignities and affronts They began his execution by a very extraordinary punishment For Schach-Sefi caus'd him to be shod hands and feet like a Horse and told him he did it for his ease in regard that being accustom'd to go upon the fat and soft ground of Kilan he would otherwise hardly endure the stony and rugged wayes of Persia. Having suffer'd him to languish in that condition three dayes they brought him to the Maidan where they set him on the top of a Pole and kill'd him with Arrows The King having shot the first oblig'd all the Lords of the Court to follow his example bidding those that lov'd him do as he had done Upon that word he was immediately so cover'd with Arrows that there was no shape of a man to be seen The body was left in that posture three dayes expos'd to the sight of all and then it was taken thence and interr'd Saru Chan Governour of Astara had express'd most zeal courage and conduct in that War whereby he got so much into favour with Schach-Sesi that the sav'd the estate and life of a rich Merchant who was unfortunately engag'd in Karib's revolt He liv'd at the Village of Leschtensa and if he did not openly declare for Karib certain it is he knew of his design and neglected to give norice of it to the Court so that they were going to extirpate him and his family and to confiscate his Estate which amounted to above a hundred thousand pounds sterl to the King's use had not Saru-Chan's intercession procur'd his pardon Assoon as this revolt was appeas'd the Kilek were dis-arm'd and they were forbidden to buy Arms upon so great penalties that ever since that time they have not dar'd to have any not so much as a Sefir or Ring wherewith the Persians bend their Bows so far were they from being allow'd Fire-arms Swords Bows or Arrows They are only permitted the use of a certain Instrument like a Hedg-bill which they call Das having a handle of wood four foot long wherewith they cut wood dress their Viâ—es and do several other things The people called Talisch who live between Kesker and Mesanderan who express'd their fidelity and affection to the King's service in the War against Karib have on the contrary the privilege of using all sorts of Arms. The Kilek wear a shorter Garment than the other Persians by reason of the moisture and moorishness of the Country They are not of so yellowish a complexion as the rest of the Persians but of a much clearer in regard the air there is much more temperate than in other parts of the Kingdom The Women of the Talisch's are the handsomest of any in Persia and cover not their faces as much as the others do Maids have their hair ty'd up in 24. or 25. tresses which hang down over their backs and shoulders but married Women have but ten or twelve Their Garments are so short before that they hide not their Smocks and instead of shoes they were Sandals of wood which they fasten with a string to the heel and with a button or latchet of wood between the great toe and the next to it but in regard the ground is very fat there upon any rain they commonly go bare-foot as well as the men The Caps worn by the Kileck are of a coarse Cloath but those of the Talisch are of black Lambskin These two people have each of them their particular Language which differs from the Persian only as to Dialect though there be so little rapport between that of Kilan and that of the Talisch that they have much ado to understand one the other For example to signify a Dog a Persian will say Sek a Kilek Seggi and a Talisch Spech There is no Province in all Persia where the Women take more pains than they do in that of Kilan They are commonly employ'd in spinning and making Stuffs of Cotton Flax and Silk as also in making Duschab and Syrrop of Wine which they sell by jarrs and tilling the ground for the sowing of Rice about which the men and women have their several employments For the men hold the Plow and make the trenches to keep in the water for the watering of the ground The women carry the Corn to field The men sow the ground going backwards as they cast the seed into it The women weed it The men cut it and the women bind it The men bring it into the barn but the women thrash and sell it They all profess the Turkish Religion and are of the Sect of Hanife They receiv'd us so kindly that it was generally wish'd by us we might have made some stay there but we were forc'd to depart thence the 24. of Ianuary We went at first along the River side having on our left hand a forest of Olive-trees which gave us a pleasant shade against the heat of the Sun which prov'd very great that day Within a league of Pyle-rubar we saw in the midst of the River upon a great Rock the ruins of a Castle and the remainders of a Bridge both which they said had been pull'd down by Alexander the Great We afterwards pass'd over another Mountain or rather a very high and craggy Rock at the foot whereof we came into a very smooth way enamell'd with green and spread over with new springing grass checquer'd with Violets which extremely delighted not
which differs from the Soveraign only in time as that the King of Spain hath many Lords to gratifie with an Employment which enriches them sufficiently in that time For besides that his whole Court lies at the Kings charge he hath the disposal of all his Revenue and every year makes a Visit for sixty or eighty Leagues about which is worth to him very much But the Presents which the neighbouring Princes and the Governours and under Officers make him are not to be valued He hath his Council of State and his Courts of Law and Equity He is absolute Judge in all civil Causes the most important only excepted wherein there may appeal be made to the King Criminal Sentences are executed there notwithstanding the Appeal but it is not in the Viceroy's power to indict a Gentleman but he is oblig'd to send him with the Informations brought in against him to Portugal unless the King order some other course to be taken with him The Viceroy at his arrival into the Indies lands in the Island of Bardes or some other Haven on that side whence he immediately sends his Agents to Goa to take possession of his charge and what ever depends on it His Predecessour makes way for him upon the first news he receives of his Arrival unfurnishes the Palace and leaves him only the Guards and the bare walls Thus much we thought fit to say of the City of Goa Ianuary 22. about noon the President sent away the two Ships which came along with us from Surat and were to carry thither the money which had been received at Goa and after he had dismiss'd certain Iesuits and several other persons of quality of Goa who were come to visit him aboard we hoys'd sail yet expecting to come aboard our Ship the General of the Dutch Fleet whose name was Van Kenlen who had intreated him to convey some Letters to his Superiours But he came not In the Evening we saw all the Dutch Fleet under sail whence we imagin'd that the General intended to give us a visit but with the night we lost sight of them and having a reasonable good wind kept on our course Ian. 23. At break of day we had a sight of the Dutch Fleet again and then we conceiv'd they were going to relieve the King of Ceylon who had intreated the General to assist him against the Portuguez who had declar'd war against him About noon we were at thirteen degrees latitude and out of sight of land But in regard we intended to go towards the Coast of Malabar upon intelligence brought us that an English Ship coming from Bantam richly loaden with Spices had been set upon and spoil'd by the Malabar Pyrates the next day we chang'd our course and took it more Eastward so to get towards the land The Malabars had taken their advantage of the condition that Ship was in which was so over-burthen'd that she could make use of but six Guns they found indeed no great difficulty to enter her but they were no sooner in ere the English sent above six hundred of them with the upper Deck into the Sea They dispatch'd as many with the second but afterwards being themselves forc'd to go to the Stern to avoid the fire they yielded to the Malabars who with the Ship took the Captain the Masters Mate the Clark and fourteen others whom we intended to redeem About noon we pass'd in sight of Monteleone a high mountain from which the Malabars discover at a distance the Vessels they conceive they may set upon with advantage and at night we came to the Haven of Cananor where we found three English Vessels the Dragon the Catharine and the Seymour commanded by Captain Weddell one of the most experienced Sea-Captains of his time one that had been at the taking of Ormus and was then entertain'd into the service of a new Company erected not long before in England for the trade of the Indies Having fired some Guns to salute the Castle we sent to Captain Weddell to know what condition the English prisoners were in and hearing they were most of them set at liberty we would stay no longer on that Coast. The Portuguez have a Garrison in the Castle of Cananor but the City is inhabited by Malabars They call by that name all those people who live upon that Coast from the City of Goa as far as the Cape of Comory or Comorin The Country is very fertile and brings forth abundance of Spices but particularly the best Pepper in the Indies which is most esteem'd because the grain of it is bigger then it is any where else even then that which grows in Sumatra and Iava The Inhabitants go stark naked covering only those parts which Nature would not have seen even in Beasts They make holes in the tips of their Ears and are black but have not such great Lips as the Moors of Africk They tye up their Hair together upon the Crown of the Head and let their Beards grow to the full length without any ordering or trimming in so much that they are not unlike those figures under which we would represent the Devil Nor is their disposition unsuitable to this pleasant external shape for they understand nothing of civility nor are capable of any Commerce or Conversation They are for the most part Pyrates and Souldiers who may be said to have rashness rather then courage and are expert enough in the handling of their Armes which are Sword and Buckler Bows and Arrows They make also a kind of Muskets themselves and use them with advantage They obey neither the King of Cuncam nor the Viceroy of Goa but they have their particular King or Prince who also performs the functions of High-Priest and is of the Sect of the Bramans These were the most considerable enemies the Portuguez met with at the beginning of their establishment in the Indies but ever since they made a Treaty with them they have liv'd in very good correspondence Their Prince whom they call Zamorin is also King of Calicuth upon the same Coast. In the year 1604. the Dutch made a Treaty with him for the freedom of Trade but the Portuguez coming to be more powerful in those parts and the Dutch finding it easier to settle themselves in other places where they continue their Trade with greater advantage they have neglected the friendship of these Barbarians I observ'd at Cananor that there were some men among them who never par'd their Nails and that there were others who wore Bracelets and Rings about their Armes These are the Gentry of the Country whom they call Nayres that they may be distinguish'd from Persons of meaner condition whom they call Polyas The Nayres are very proud and conceited of themselves and permit not the Polyas so much as to touch them They alwayes go with their Sword and Buckler wherewith they make a noise in the Streets as they go and perpetually cry out Po Po that people
persons of Quality sometimes have loose Coats of Chamelot which reach but to their Thighs They are by this habit distinguished from other persons and by their train of Slaves without whom they never come abroad They delight much in Horses and to have their Saddles exceeding rich which are made like our great Saddles and their trappings studded with Gold and Silver striving to appear well mounted at Assemblies and to shew the King their horsemanship and the nimbleness of their Horses The Inhabitants that live in the inner parts of the Isle of Iava are Pagans and the greatest part Pythagoreans believing a transmigration of the Soul for which reason they eat neither Fish nor Flesh. Towards the South part of the Isle there are though but few some Mahumetans as we said before and they observe the Turkish Religion in all things sending for Priests to Meca They observe two Fasts The greater of the two begins the fifth of August and at the beginning of this Lent it is the Slaves renue their submission to their Master with Ceremonies extraordinary For they take them by the feet and rub them upward to the knees then closing their hands they rub the head face and neck and then unclose them again Leut being ended they celebrate Easter entertaining their Children and all their Domesticks with a Dinner There is scarce a Man in Bantam who hath not three or four Wives and some have ten or twelve besides Concubines who wait on their Wives especially when they go abroad They make no difference betwixt legitimate and natural Children A Father hath not power to sell his Child though he had it by a Slave Children go stark naked only the Girls cover their Privities with a thin plate of Gold or Silver They marry at the age of eight nine or ten years not only to prevent the disorders which in this hot Climate were inevitable but because the King is Heir to all who dying leave their Children under age whom he makes his Slaves as he doth the Widow and Family of the deceased The Dowry Persons of Quality give with their Daughters consists in Slaves of both Sexes and in a sum of Coxas which is very considerable when it amounts to three hundred thousand which is much about two Crowns and a half French money The Women appear with great decency at the marriage of their Relations though they use no great ceremonies One may know the day by certain Poles which are stuck in the Houses of the Bride and Bridegroom with Tassels of red and white Cotton Dinner ended they bring a Horse to the Bridegroom whereon he rides about the Town till evening expecting the slaves he is to have in marriage who come commonly loaden with Presents None but the nearest Kindred sup with them and see the new married couple abed Women of Quality are kept in such restraint that they suffer not their own Sons to come within their Chambers and when they go abroad which is very seldom all give place and respect to them even the King himself would do it nor dares any man speak to a married Woman without the leave of her Husband Women of Quality are known from others only by their Train for all are dressed after the same fashion wearing a Petticoat of Cotton or Silk which comes from the Breast to the mid-leg Stockings they have none and go all bare-headed tying up their Hair together on the Crown of their Head but when they come to Weddings or other publick Assemblies they wear a Coronet of Gold and have on their Fingers and about their Arms Rings and Bracelets They are so much addicted to cleanliness that there passes not a day but they bathe themselves three or four times They do not their natural necessities nor receive their benevolences from their Husbands but they go up to the Neck in Water to cleanse themselves They do no work at all which needs be no wonder for the Husbands themselves having imployed two or three hours about their Merchandize all the day after do nothing but chew Bettele amongst their Wives who are most sollicitous by all the little kindnesses they can imagine to court their love washing and rubbing them till they are stirr'd up to voluptuousness The Magistrate of the Town of Bantam sits in Judicature in the Court of the Pacebam from four or five in the Evening till it be Night The Plaintiff and Defendant appear both in person and plead their own Cause One only punishment of Criminals is they tye them to a post and stab them to death with a Poyniard Strangers have this priviledge that giving satisfaction to the party complaining they may redeem themselves from death except they have murthered in cold bloud or upon advantage The Kings Council meets upon Affairs of State under a broad spread Tree by Moon-light where sometimes there come near five hundred persons who part not till the Moon go down When the Council is risen they go to bed and there lye till dinner time afterwards the Councellours of State give audience to all who have ought to propose to the Councel When the King comes there in person he sits in the midst of them or else with the four principal Ministers of State and propounds the point wherein he requireth their advice or causes the Governour of the Town to propound it To a Councel of War they call the three hundred Captains Commanders of the Troops the Armies consist of which is raised in the Town it self They have a particular course for quenching fire which happens but too often among them for the Women have this Office imposed upon them while the Men stand in Arms to defend them in the mean time from pillage Persons of Quality when they go to Court or through the Town have carried before them a Lance and a Sword sheath'd in a black Velvet Scabbard and by these Ensigns oblige all the Street to make way for them who retiring back fit on their Heels till these Grandees are past Their ordinary wear is of Stuff wrought with Silk and they wear Turbants of a fine Bengalian Cloath Some amongst them wear Mandillions of Velvet black or crimson and never forget the Dagger or Poyniard under their Girdle They ever go with a numerous train of Slaves one amongst them carrying the Bettele-bottle another the Chamber-pot and a third the Umbrello They all go bare-footed it being thought a disparagement among them to walk with Shooes through the Town In their Houses many wear them they are made at Achim Malacca in China and the Isle of Sumatra where are also made most part of the Umbrello's used in the Indies The Iavians are haughty self-conceited perfidious mischievous and cruel who never fail to make an end of such they once get advantage of and having once committed a murther they kill all in their power for knowing death to be their inevitable reward they discharge their fury
the Soldans of their Commerce and the Portuguez continued Masters of it while they kept that Sea but after the Hollanders appeared there they were constrained to give place and to lose an advantage which no other durst have disputed with them In the year 1511. the Portuguez discovered the Molucques Francisco Serano who first set foot on shore found so much simplicity there that Boleyfe King of Ternate and Almansor King of Tidor made it their earnest request to have the advantage of the Fort the Portuguez were about to build to secure the possession of these Isles 'T is true these two Princes were declared enemies and thought to make use of these Strangers Forces in their particular quarrels but 't is to be believed their jealousie was grounded on other principles for that Cachil Laudan King of Bachiam made the like request to Tristan de Meneses who went to relieve Serrano 'T was now some time since Pope Alexander the sixth had divided the two Indies betwixt the Kings of Castile and Portugal in so much that of the three hundred sixty degrees which compose the Globe the Spaniards were to possess what they conquered within one hundred and eighty degrees counting from the thirty sixth degree of Lisbone Westward and the Portuguez the other hundred and eighty degrees Eastward by vertue of which division the Emperour Charles the fifth pretended the Molucques belonged to the Crown of Castile by reason Ferdinand Magellanus who had done very advantageous Service in the Indies under Alphonso Albuquerque and had with little satisfaction deserted the Portuguez to serve under Charles computed by Ptolomies authority upon a false supposal that between Indus and Ganges there were thirty degrees whereas there are scarce ten that the Molucques being distant six hundred Leagues which make about thirty six degrees from Malacca Westward they belonged to the Crown of Castile He was commissioned by the Emperour to go take possession of them and upon this design parted from Saint Lucars the 21. of September 1519. and having wrought to 53. degrees and passed the Streight called to this day by his name the Streight of Magellan he came almost to the height of the Molucques but by contrary Winds and the Sea-currents he was forc'd down to the Manelles where he was slain with thirty five of his company Gonzalo Gomez d' Espinosa and Sebastian del Cano made afterwards some establishments for the Emperour taking an Oath of Fidelity of Sutrau Carala King of Ternate Predecessour of Sultan Bongue of Sultan Almanzor King of Tidor and Sultan Iusuff King of Gilolo But the possession of these Isles was of such importance to the Portuguez for continuation of their Spice trade that they did what was possible to keep them wherein they found the less trouble because the Emperour had his hands full in Europe and was but imperfectly informed of the Affairs in Asia as well by reason the Portuguez hindred the Castilian Ships passing by the Cape of good hope as that the passage by the West was so dangerous that hitherto it is not used Notwithstanding all Acts of Hostility passing between these two Nations in the Indies 't was thought convenient that Commissioners for both Kings should meet at Segovia in the year 1525. but not agreeing the meeting was removed the year following to Sevil where likewise they came to no result so as the business continued in this state till the Treaty at Saragossa in the year 1529. at which the Emperour engag'd these Islands to the King of Portugal for three hundred and fifty thousand Ducates Ever since the Portuguez have injoyed them till by the union of the Kingdom of Castile and Portugal they were confounded in Philip the Second After this the Hollandersâ—ut â—ut in there and the revolution that happened in Portugal in the year 1640. hath so changed the face of Affairs that the Spaniards must first conquer that Kingdom before they think of the Appendages belonging thereto Ternate is the first and largest Isle of the Molucques scituate twenty eight Leagues from the Isle of Banda and forty degrees on this side the Line It is about eight Leagues in compass and no bad Country yet yields but little Provisions besides Poultry and Goats It produces likewise Almonds excellent good and bigger then ordinary though there be three or four in every shell which is so hard 't is not easily to be broken with a Hammer but they make so strong a fire that Smiths and Forgemen use it instead of Coal The Inhabitants likewise plant Tobacco but 't is far short of that comes from the West-Indies The chief Town called Gamma lamma stands on the Sea-side and is but one Street about 2500. paces long Their Houses are built of Canes or Timber as are also the Masquites and Palace Royal. The Road is of no use for that the bottom being nothing but Stone and Rock an Anchor cannot fix The Holland Vessels ride before a Village called Telingamma between the Islands of Ternate and Tidor within half a League of Malay The most precious thing in these Islands is the Clove I know not if it be the same Pliny calls Garyophylla though the Persians call it Calafur and these two words seem to have the same Etymology The Spaniards sometimes called it Girofe but at present they call it Clavos by reason of its likeness to an ordinary Nail The Molucques call the Tree that bears them Siger the Leaf Varaqua and the Fruit Chamque The Tree is much like the Laurel only the Leaves something less and narrower like the Almond-tree and shoots forth its branches at the top as Myrtle doe When 't is in flower it persumes the Air round about it and the Fruit is at first white in time grows green and so brown but not black till it be gathered Some beat them down with Poles but commonly they fasten a Rope to the branch a little above the boal and drawing it to them force away the Fruit and leaves with much violence and so it is when the Inhabitants sell it and so the Chineses and Indians transport it The Trees grow of themselves as the Chesnut-trees do without planting or any cultivation In the eighth year they bear and last a hundred years bringing forth every two years for besides the injury done the branches in getting off the fruit as we said before the Inhabitants break off the young buds which shoot forth the first year that they may be sure of a better crop the next It is at its full ripeness from August till Ianuary and when it is gathered it is laid in the Sun and in two or three dayes it is sufficiently dried Avicenna affirms that the Gum of this Tree is like Turpentine but he is mistaken it being certain that it does not produce any at all For it is so hot that it does not only drink up all the Water Heaven is pleased to send it but it also
Guiny we accordingly removed out of the bad weather which had much incommodated us before The 28. The wind came to North-east which is ordinary in those parts within the 10th and 20th degrees whereas from thence it changes as it does on our Seas on this side We got that day 30. Leagues The 29. The same wind carried us 31. Leagues and at noon we were got to 10 degrees Latitude The next day with the same wind and keeping on the same course we got 28 Leagues to 11. degrees 13. minutes Latitude The next with the same wind the weather rainy 23. Leagues November 1. The same wind continuing we advanced 26. Leagues The 2. The wind North-east we got 24. Leagues holding our course to the North-west The 3. We kept on with the same wind the same course and were about noon at 14. degrees 40. minutes and consequently near the Latitude of Capo Verde which is a point of the Land reaching from the Continent of Africk into the Sea between the Rivers of Gambea and Sanaga by Ptolomy called Promontorium Arsinarium The Inhabitants are black bulky and well-shaped but mischievous and dangerous They are for the most part Pagans whereof some invocate the Moon and others adore the Devil whom they call Cammaté Some among them profess themselves to be Mahumetans but all they have of that Religion is only the name and Circumcision They are in perpetual wars with their Neighbours and are expert enough at the mannagement of their Horses which are brought them out of Barbary and very swift Their Arms are the Bow and a kind of Lance or light Pike which they handle very advantagiously The most illustrious marks of their Victories are the Privy parts which having cut off from their Enemies they present them to their Wives who dispose them into Neck-laces and account them a greater Ornament then Pearls They marry several Wives whom they force to work like Slaves as well in the fields as at home where the Husband is served up alone with what his Wife hath provided for him and as soon as he hath din'd he reassumes his Arms and goes either a hunting or about his business The Women are accustomed to such hardness that as soon as they are delivered they go and wash the Child either in the Sea or the next River The Men are for the most part much subject to drunkenness and such lovers of Wine that some have been seen to take off a Bottle of Aqua vitae at a draught Their times of debauches are at the Funerals of their Friends at which they spend four or five dayes together in weeping and drinking by intervals so that they seldom part ere they get their Skins full of Drink The Entertainments are performed with the Drum and Pipe and there is set at the head of the deceased a Pot of Wine or Water which is changed twice a day and that for several years afterwards They believe the dead will rise again but that they shall be white and trade there as the Europeans do The French Spaniards and Dutch trade much there in the Hides of Oxen Bufflers and Elks Elephants teeth Wax Rice Ambergreece which is excellent there Here it was that Peter de la Brouck a Dutch Merchant bought in the year 1606. a piece of Amber of eighty pound weight We shall here say by the way that the Portuguez began their discoveries of this Coast of Africk in the year 1417. in the reign of Iohn I. who had been Master of Avis under the direction of the Infanto D. Eurique his third Son These first Voyages had not the success he expected till that in the year 1441. Anthony Gonsales having discovered the Cape del Câ—vellero brought away with him certain Negroes whom the Infanto sent to Pope Martin V. desiring him to promote the Zeal he had for the advancement of Christian Religion and to bestow on him the places he should discover upon those Coasts which he pretended were prossessed by such as had no right thereto The Pope was pleased to make him a Present of what cost him nothing and gave him all he should discover in Africk especially in those parts towards the Indies upon condition that at his death he left them to the Crown of Portugal The Infâ—nte had discovered all the Coast between Capo de Naom as far as a hundred Leagues beyond Cabo Verde and died in the year 1453. King Alfonso V. in the year 1457. bestowed all these Conquests on D. Ferand Duke of Viseo Heir to the Infanto D. Eurique and in 1461. the same King ordered the building of a Fort in the Island of Arguin for the safety of Commerce by Suero Mendez which the King D. Iohn II. caused to be rebuilt before his coming to the Crown as Lord of those Conquests and the Commerce of Guiny by gift from the King his Father This Prince in the year 1461. farm'd it out to one named Ferdinand Gomez upon condition he should every year discover a hundred Leagues of the Coast so that in the year 1479. they had discovered the Islands of Fernando del Po St. Thomas Anno Bueno those of del Principe and the Cape of St. Katherine The wars which happened between the King D. Alfonso and the Crown of Castile hindred him from spending his thoughts on these Conquests but the King D. Iohn II. being come to the Crown sent away in December 1481. Diego d' Azambuja who came to Mina Iannary 19. 1482. to a place called then Aldea de dos partes and where reigned at that time a King or Prince named Caramansa This place on which the Portuguez bestowed the name of Mina by reason of the abundance of Gold found there is seated upon the Coast of Guiny five degrees forty minutes South of the Aequinoctial Line between the Kingdoms of Axen and Cara where within the space of fifty Leagues is carried on the trade of almost all the Gold in those parts It hath on the North-west Comana and on the North-east Afuto small Countries subject to those of Abarambues The Fort is built upon an ascent which the scituation of the Country makes by little and little at the end of a skirt of Land which advances into the Sea like a Peninsula having on the North-side the Aethiopian Sea and on the South a little River which serves it for a Ditch It may be easily kept by five hundred men and the Town which is at the foot of the Fort hath about eight hundred Inhabitants But this place is so fenny and barren that such as have settled themselves there upon the account of Traffick are forc'd to buy Provisions of those of Camana and Afuto The Inhabitants are docile enough and better natured then the Negroes though not so rational as to matter of Religion They make Divinities of all they see that 's new and and extraordinary They had at that time enclosed with a Wall a great