they believe that that was the night that Mahomet Ascended up to Heaven upon the Alboraoh as he mentions in the Alcoran Thursday the fourth of the Moon of Regeb they have Prayers in their Mosques till Midnight and then return home and Feast This Festival is because of the Ramadan which comes two Months after on all these Festivals and during the whole Ramadan the Minarets of the Mosques are as I said deck'd with Lamps which being contrived in several Figures when they are Lighted make a vary pretty show CHAP. XXXVI Of what renders the Turks Vnclean and of their Ablutions THE third Command of the Turks concerns Prayer Ablutions of the Turks but because they never say their Prayers till first they wash we must say somewhat of their Ablutions The Turks have two kinds of Ablutions the one is called Gousl and is a general Washing of the whole Body The other is termed Abdest and is the Ablution they commonly make before they begin their Prayers Of the Abdest for they never go to Prayers till first they have used the Abdest at least or both the Gousl and Abdest if it be needful Of the Gousl wherefore there are commonly near the Mosques Baths for the Gousl and Fountains for the Abdest There is also an Ablution that they perform after that they have done their Needs which is a kind of Abdest but they only wash their Hands They are obliged to use the Gousl after they have lain with their Wives or after Nocturnal Pollution or when Urine or any other unclean thing hath fallen upon them and therefore when they make Water they squat down like Women least any drop of it should fall upon them or their Cloaths for they think that that which pollutes their Bodies or Cloaths pollutes also their Souls as also by washing the Body they think they wash the Soul. After they have made Water they rub the Yard against a Stone to fetch off any thing that might remain and defile them by falling upon their Cloaths When they do their Needs they make not use of Paper as I have said but having eased themselves they make all clean with their Fingers that they dip into Water and then wash their Hands which they never fail to do after they have done their Needs nay and after they have made Water too wherefore there is always a Pot full of Water in their Houses of Office The Neatness of the Turks and they carry two Handkerchiefs at their girdle to dry their Hands after they have washed This cleanliness is in so great repute with them and they are so fearful least they should defile themselves with their Excrements that they take care that even their Sucking Children in Swadling Cloaths do not defile themselves and for that end they swadle them not as we do A Cradle after the Turkish fashion but put them into Cradles which have a Hole in the middle much about the place where the Child's Buttocks lie and leave always the Breech of it naked upon the Hole to the end that when it does its Business the Excrement may fall into a Pot just under the hole of the Cradle and for making of Water they have little Pipe of Box-wood crooked at one end and shaped like Tobacco-Pipes these Pipes are three Inches long and as big as ones Finger some have the Boul or Hole at the great end round and serve for Boys into which the Yard is put and fastned with some strings the others are of an Oval bore at the great end and serve for the Girls who have them tied to their Bellies and the small end passing betwixt their Thighs conveys the Urine by the hole of the Cradle into the Pot underneath without spoiling of any thing and so they spoil not so much Linnen as Children in Christendom do Now to continue the order of their Ablutions they are obliged to make the Abdest immediately after Prayers as they are to wash their Hands immediately after they have done their Needs or handled any thing that 's unclean and if they be in a place where they cannot find Water they may make use of Sand or Earth in stead of Water not only for the Abdest but the Gousl also and the washing of the Hands and that Ablution will be good The Abdest is performed in this manner First The way of doing the Abdest Turning the Face towards Mecha they wash their Hands three times from the Fingers end to the Wrist Secondly They wash the Mouth three times and make clean their Teeth with a Brush Thirdly They wash the Nose three times and suck Water up out of their Hands into their Nostrils Fourthly With their two Hands they throw Water three times upon the Face Fifthly They wash three times their right Arm from the Wrist to the Elbow and then the left Sixthly They rub the Head with the Thumb and first Finger of the right Hand from the Brow to the Pole. Seventhly With the same Finger and Thumb they wash the Ears within and without Eighthly they wash the Feet three times beginning at the Toes and going no higher than the Instep and with the right Foot first and then the left But if they have washed their Feet in the Morning before they put on their Stockins they pull them not off again but only wet the Hand and then with the aforesaid Finger and Thumb wash over the Paboutches from the Toes to the Instep beginning always with the right and then the left and do so every time that it is necessary from Morning to Night that is to say they pull not off their Stockins all day long But if their Stockins have a hole big enough for three Fingers they ought to pull them off They say that God commanded them to wash the Face but once the Hands and Arms as often to rub the Head as has been mentioned before and to wash the Feet up to the Instep God being unwilling to overcharge Man but that Mahomet added the two other times for fear they might neglect it The difference which they put betwixt that time which God commanded and the two times of Mahomet is that they call the first Fars and those of Mahomet Sunnet Mahomet ordained then that they should wash their Hands three times from the Wrist to the Fingers ends that they should use a Brush to make clean their Teeth that they should wash their Mouth three times that they should throw Water three times upon their Face with their two Hands that they should spend no more time in making clean one part than another but that they should make haste that they should wash their Ears with the same Water wherewith they washed the Head having a firm resolution to wash themselves and saying aloud or to themselves I am resolved to make my self clean That they should begin at the right side and with the Toes in washing of the Feet and the Fingers in washing the Hands and that whilst
and at the Guard four Fingers broad at least but growing broader and broader it is five Fingers broad at the end and draws not into a point this man seems to present to the Woman a Posie of Flowers with the Right Hand and rests his Left Hand upon the Handle of his Sword. A little farther about ten Fathom from thence and at the same height of Ground Two other Figures there are two other Figures of the same bigness of which the first is of a young Man without a Beard whose curled Locks hang backwards behind his Head on it he carries a great Globe it might be taken for a Turban but in my Opinion it appears not to be his Head-attire though he hath no other he looks towards the neighbouring Figure and hath the Left Hand shut wherein he seems to hold somewhat the Right Hand is stretched out as if ready to receive what is presented to him The Figure that is by him seems to be of a Woman for she hath pretty round Breasts nevertheless she wears a Sword by her side like to that which I have just now described her Head-attire seems to be the Cap of a Dervisch somewhat long and all round upon her Left Shoulder she hath a little Basket or perhaps it is only the Tresses of her Hair she seems to present something with her Right Hand to the man who is looking towards her and her Left Hand is upon the Handle of her Sword. All these Figures seem to have the Body naked and only some few foldings of a Garment towards the Legs In short the two last are almost in the same posture and action as the two first but one cannot tell what it is they present to one another for the extremities of their Hands as well as many other parts of their Bodies are worn out and eaten by the weather The Work appears very well hath been good though all the proportions be not exactly observed I looked about all along the side of the Hill but could see no more and I believe there has been some Temple there This place is so covered with Trees and encompassed by Marishes by reason of the many Springs thereabouts that few people know of it and of all the Franks the Reverend Father Athanasius a bare-Footed Carmelite living at Schiras Father Athanasius was the first that found it out by chance as he was walking in that place and it being my fortune to pass by Schiras sometime after he led me to it The people of the Country call that place Kadem-Ghah that is to say the place of the step Kadem-Ghah because say they I know not what old Man walking in that place a Spring of water gushed out under his Foot it is but a few steps wide of the High-way that leads to the Salt-Lake an Agatsch distant from thence Though all these Antiquities be curious enough yet they are not that which they call the Antiquities of Tschehel-minar so much mentioned in Relations and which are in effect the same at present in Persia as the Pyramids are in Egypt that is to say the finest thing in its kind that is to be seen and the most worthy of observation One may go thither in coming from Ispahan by Main The way to Tschehel-Minar or Abgherim and the way is not long but the way to it from Schiras is by Badgega which is the first Kervanseray upon the Road to Ispahan and after two hours march from thence there are two ways whereof that to the Left goes to Ispahan you must leave it and take the way to the Right Hand which leads to Tschehel-minar Having Travelled about two hours and a half that way in a pretty good Road amongst Heath there is a Village on the Right Hand where one may stop and bait Having passed this Village you enter into a great Plain where after you have Travelled three quarters of an hour you pass over a Causey a Fathom and a half broad and about an hundred paces in length a little after you find another three hundred paces long and a little beyond that just such another having Travelled a little farther you go over another Causey five hundred paces in length beyond which after three quarters of an hours Journy you come to a great Bridge of two large Arches which is called Pouli-Chan in the middlemost Pillar of it there is a Room with some steps to go down to it which would be very delightful to take the fresh Air in if it were not uninhabitable by reason of the prodigious swarms of Gnats that haunt it The River of Bendemir runs under this Bridge and is at that place broad deep and full of Fish the water looking very white they assured me that it swells so high in the Winter-time that it reaches over the Arches almost level with the Parapet after you have passed that Bridge and Travelled an hour longer in a Plain you leave a Village upon your Left Hand and an hour after another to the Right and then within another hour you come to the Village called Mirchas-Chan near to which is Tschehel-minar being but a quarter of an hours Journy from it This Village stands in a most spacious and Fruitful Plain watered with a great many waters there you have a Kervanseray to Lodge in because in the Winter-time it is the way from Ispahan to Schiras and going Eastward but somewhat to the South from this Village you arrive at Tschehel-minar CHAP. VII Of Tschehel-minar and Nakschi Rustan I Am of their Opinion who will have Tschehel-Minar to be part of the Ancient Persepolis which was built in the place where at present stands the large Burrough of Mirkas Chan not only because of the River which Diodorus Siculus and others mention to be there under the name of the little Araxes which is now called Bendemir but also of many other marks that cannot be called into question All Tschehel-Minar is built upon the skirt of a Hill. The first thing that presents to view upon ones arrival is a great Wall of blackish stones four Foot thick which supports a large Platform or Terrass reaching from South to North about five hundred Paces in length to the West side it hath the Plain to the East beyond a great many magnificent ruins of Buildings whereof it makes the beginning it hath the Hill which bending into a Semicircle forms a kind of Amphitheatre that embraces all those stately ruins to ascend to the top of this Terrass you must go to the farther end of it towards the North where at first you will find two Stair-Cases The first Stairs of Tschehel-Minar or rather one Stair-Case of two ascents or if you please a double Stair-Case which on each side hath fix and fifty steps of a greyish stone and are so easie that Horses go up them without any difficulty having ascended by one of the sides of that double Stair-Case up to a square Landing-place where one may
on the top you may go up to the top by a winding stair-case that is within it Burnt Pillar The other is called the burnt pillar because it is all black having been scorched by a fire that broke out in some adjoyning houses which spoil'd it so much that they have been forced to gird it about with great bars of Iron to keep it tight and hinder it from falling it is of eight pieces of Porphyrian Marble which were so well joyned together before that fire that it appeared to be but one single Stone and indeed the seams were hid and covered by Lawrel-branches cut upon them but at present they are easily seen CHAP. XVIII Of the Grand Signior's Serraglio THe Serraglio of the Grand Signior is the first thing that one sees in coming to Constantinople by Sea it affords a very pleasant Prospect Serraglio because of the Gardens on the Water-side but the Architecture of the Fabrick is nothing at all magnificent it is on the contrary very plain in respect of what the Palace of so powerful a Prince ought to be Serrai and Serraglio Serrai in Turkish signifies a Palace and the Franks by corruption call it Serraglio taking it it seems only for the Appartment where the Women are shut up as if they derived that word from the French Serrer or the Italian Serrar which signifies to close or shut but the word is Turkish and signifies a Palace and the Grand Signiors is called Serrai or Serraglio by excellence It is built in the place where in ancient times Byzantium stood upon the Hill of Sandimitri Hill of Sandrimitri which is a point of the main land looking to the Chanal of the Black Sea The Lodgings are upon the top of the Hill and the Gardens below This Palace is three miles about The bigness of the Serraglio and is of a triangular Figure of which two sides are upon the Sea enclosed within the Town Walls and betwixt the Walls and the Sea there is a little rising Key but no body dares go there especially on the side of the Port before he be past the Serraglio the third side is separated from the Town by good Walls fortified with several Towers as well as those to the Sea side in which Towers there are always some Aadgemoglans in Sentinel Aadgemoglans These Aadgemoglans are the refuse of the tribute Children out of whom they chuse the more witty and dextrous and instruct them in order to be advanced to places and those who have fewest parts are employed in mean and clownish imployments as to be Gardners Grooms and such like On the side of the Port over against Galata there is a Kionsk or Pavillion upon the Key Kionsk not raised very high from the ground it is supported by several Marble Pillars and there the Grand Signior comes often to take the Air at this place he takes water when he intends to divert himself in his Galiot upon the Sea. On the other side of the Serraglio towards the Sea and the seven Bowers Another Kiousk there is another kind of Pavillion pretty high where the Prince often diverts himself also it is built upon Arches and below it upon the Wall there are marks of Crosses the Greeks say that it was formerly a Church There is also a Fountain there where those of that Nation go on the day of the Transfiguration The Ceremony of the Greeks on the day of Transfiguration and make the Sick drink the Water of it burying them in the Sand about up to the Neck and immediately after uncovering them again and many who are very well in health do the like The Grand Signior is that day commonly at his Window where he diverts himself with the pranks they play without being seen Near to that place there is a great Window out of which those who are strangled in the Serraglio are thrown into the Sea in the night-time and as many Guns are fired as there are Bodies thrown out a great many pieces of Cannon lye there upon the shoar unmounted This Palace hath many Gates to the water-side but they are only for the Grand Signior and some of the Serraglio The chief Gate of the Serraglio the chief Gate of it looks towards Santa Sophia which is near by That being the Common Gate is guarded by Capidgis it opens into a very spacious Court where at first you see to the right Hand the Infirmerie whither they carry the sick of the Serraglio in a little close Chariot The Infirmerie of the Serraglio drawn by two men when they see that Chariot every one steps aside to make way for it even the Grand Signior if he happen'd to meet it would do so Dgebehane A little farther to the left Hand is the Dgebehane or Magazine of Cuirasses covered with Lead Vestry of Santa Sophia Second Gate of the Serraglio that building was heretofore the Vestry of Santa Sophia which shews how big a Church it has been in its time From that Court you go to the second which is not fo big as the former and is in a square extending two hundred paces every way all round it there is a Gallery in form of a Cloyster supported by several Marble Pillars and covered with Lead At the back of that Gallery to the right Hand there are nine Domes ranging from one end of the Court to the other all covered with Lead and these are the Kitchins The Kitchins of the Serraglio Stables to the left Hand at the back of the Gallery also is the Stable where none but the Horses which are for the Grand Signiors own Sadle stand the other Stables being towards the Sea along that side of the Serraglio which looks to the Propontis none but the Grand Signior enters this second Court on Horseback all others alight without at the Gate of this The Janisaries draw up in this Court under the Gallery to the right and the Horse to the left The Fountain of the Serraglio In the middle of it there is a most lovely Fountain shadowed over with several Sycamore Trees and Cypresses and near to this Fountain the Grand Signior caused heretofore the Heads of the Bashaws and other persons of Quality to be cut off At the end of this Court on the left Hand is the Hall where the Divan sits and on the right a door which gives entry into the Serraglio but that entry is only allowed to those who have orders to come that way so then since I had no call and this place being all mysterie I shall not attempt to speak of it The Fabrick of the Serraglio The Fabrick of this Serraglio by what one can see of it on the outside is no ways regular all that is to be seen are but separated Appartments in form of Domes so that there is nothing to be distinguished and one cannot tell what to make of it The Grand Signior lodges in this
Earth Without the Town there are several goodly Mosques all faced with Marble on the outside and I beleive they were places that belonged all to the ancient City From Caire till we came thither we found no Wine but there we had some pretty good wherewith we provided ourselves and might have had pretty good Brandy too if we had had occasion We stayed at Gaza all Sunday the seventh of April waiting for the Jews who had stopp'd to celebrate their Sabbath at Cauniones On Monday morning when we thought of parting the Basha put a stop to it who having had intelligence that the master of the Caravan carried money for some Jews in Jerusalem who were his Debtors would needs pay himself with it The matter being taken up we parted from Gaza Tuesday the ninth of April at six a Clock in the Morning with some Turks for a Convoy about nine a Clock we passed over a very high and broad Bridge but of one single Arch which has at the higher end a Sibil joining to it and another a little beyond it about half an hour after ten we found another Sibil and about eleven two high-ways Megdel of which leaving to the left hand the one that at a hundred paces distance passes through a Village called Megdel we took the right hand way at the entry into which we found a Sibil and at noon another besides these there are a great many Birques upon the Road. Hhansedoud At three a Clock in the Afternoon we arrived at Hhansedoud travelling all the way from Gaza thither in a lovely plain full of Corn Trees and Flowers which yielded a rare good smell A Plain of Tulips and Emonies This Plain is all embroadered with Tulips and Emonies when the season is but then it was past and these Flowers would be reckoned beautiful in France Hhansedoud is a pitiful Village where there is a Han for Caravans built of small Free-stone and the doors faced with Iron but we went not into it because we would make no stay designing to make up our Mondays journey which we lost at Gaza and therefore we encamped upon a little height about two hundred paces beyond the Village from whence we parted the same day Tuesday the ninth of April at nine a clock at night and at one a clock in the morning passed a Village called Yebna at the end of which we crossed over a Bridge that is very broad about half an hour after three we found a lovely large well and a Sibil close by it as a little farther another Wednesday the tenth of April about four of the clock in the morning Rama Ramla we arrived at Rama called in Arabick Ramla we went not into it because we had no mind to lye there but encamped in a Plain over against the Town and then went to the Town to see the French Merchants that live there Rama is a Town depending on the Basha of Gaza and therein is the House of Nicomedes The House of Nicomedes where some French Merchants and their Chaplain live In the same House there is a pretty Church and it is the House where the Franks who are on Pilgrimage lodge when they pass through Rama The Door of that House is not three foot high and so are all the Doors in the Town to hinder the Arabs from entering into their Houses on Horse-back The Church of the Forty Martyrs is also in this Town and hath a very high square Steeple which in times past was as high again Heretofore there was a stately large Convent there of which the Cloyster seems still to be very entire by what we could observe in passing by the Gate for we were told that Christians were not permitted to enter it There is another Church there also dedicated to the Honour of St. George We parted from Rama on Thursday the eleventh of April at six of the clock in the morning and a little after came to a stony way which grew worse and worse all along till we came to our Lodging About nine of the clock we saw to the right hand the Village of the Good Thief Bethlakij called in Arabick Bethlakij after that we paid the Caffaire and took a Guard as far a Jerusalem before we came to that Village we found two Ways of which that which is the good Way is on the right hand and passes through the Village and the other is on the left hand which we took to avoid a Caffaire but it led us among Hills in very bad Way and at length we encamped amidst the Mountains about half an hour after two in the afternoon in a place close by a ruinous old Building which heretofore was a Convent of Franciscan Friers there are still some Arches standing and many others under ground wherein at present the Arabs put their Cows Near to it there is a Spring of very good Water issuing out of a Rock which perhaps was formerly enclosed within the Convent Friday the twelfth of April about five of the clock in the morning we parted from that place and about seven were got out from among the Hills which last about six or seven miles and are all covered with very thick Woods and a great many Flowers in Pasture-ground After that we travelled in pretty good Plains though there be many Stones in the way About eight of the clock Dgib the Town of Samuel we saw to the right hand a Village called in Arabick Dgib which was heretofore the Town of Samuel it stands upon an Eminence and in it there is a Mosque covered with a Dome they say Samuel is interred there and the Jews visite it out of Devotion About half an hour after nine we discovered a little on the right hand the beginning of the Holy City of Jerusalem Coudscherif called by the Turks Coudscherif and after about a quarter of an hours travelling we saw it plainly before us and arrived there after ten a clock in the morning but we who were Franks stay'd at the Gates of the City till the Religious sent for us When he had waited about an hour at the Gate which is called Damascus-Gate we were introduced into the City by the Trucheman of the Convent who came with a Turk belonging to the Basha that visited our Baggage for if a Frank entered the Town of Jerusalem before the Religious had obtained a permission for him from the Basha he would have an Avanie put upon him They led us to the Convent of St. Saviour where the Monks live and where after we had dined we were shew'd into an Appartment to rest ourselves This is a very commodious Convent both for the Religious and Pilgrims The reception of Pilgrims at Jerusalem About three of the clock in the afternoon a Monk came and washed our Feet with warm water and at four we were conducted to the Church where after the Compline the Reverend Father Commissary for at that time
there was no Guardian there attended by all the Monks and Pilgrims that were in the Convent making us sit down on a Couch of crimson Velvet washed the Feet of us four one after another in Water full of Roses then kissed them as after him did all his Monks singing in the mean time many Hymns and Anthems When this Ceremony was over they gave to each of us a white Wax-taper which they told us we should carefully keep because they carried great Indulgences with them and then we made a Procession about the Cloyster singing Te Deum laudamus to thank God for the favour he had shew'd us in bringing us sound and safe to that Holy Place They made us perform the Stations at three Altars to wit at the High Altar dedicated to the Holy Ghost at the Altar of our Lord's Supper and at the Altar of our Lord 's appearing after his Resurrection to the Apostle St. Thomas singing at every one of these Altars the proper Hymns for the places CHAP. XXXVII The first visiting of the Dolorous Way and other Holy Places I Shall not much enlarge in describing the Holy Places because I can say nothing of them but what hath been already said by so many who have visited them and especially by Monsieur Opdan who hath lately published a Book wherein all the Holy Places are very well and as fully as they can be described I shall therefore only speak of them as a Traveller and observe them in the order I saw them in The day we arrived we stirred not out of the Convent but next day after the thirteenth of April which was the Saturday before Palm-Sunday we went out of the Convent about eight of the clock in the morning The Judgement-Gate in Jerusalem with the Father who takes care of the Pilgrims to begin our Visites of the Holy Places and first we passed near to the Judgment-Gate through which our Saviour went out bearing his Cross when he went to Mount Calvary and it is called the Judgment-Gate because those that were condemned to Death went out of the City by it to the place of Execution at present it is within the City Having advanced a few steps we saw on our right hand the House of Veronica The House of Veronica who seeing our Saviour coming loaded with his Cross and his Face besmeared with Sweat and Spittle went out of her House and having made way through the Croud took a white Veil off of her Head and therewith wiped our Lord's Face who in testimony of his thankfulness for that charitable office left the Image of his Holy Face stamped upon her Veil which is shewn in St. Peter's at Rome four times a year There are four Steps up to the Door of this House Next to that on the right hand is the House of the Rich Glutton then on the left The House of the Rich Glutton the place where our Saviour said to the Women of Jerusalem who wept Weep not for me but for you and your Children A little after is the place where Simon the Cyrenean helpt our Lord to carry his Cross when he fell down under that heavy burthen Then on the right hand is the place of the Blessed Virgin 's Trance who fainted away when she saw our Lord bearing his Cross and so spightfully used Proceeding on our way about an hundred paces farther we passed under the Arch upon which Pilate set our Lord saying Behold the man it is a large Arch reaching from one side of the street to the other The Arch of Ecce Homo This Arch hath two Windows that look into the street which are separated only by a little Marble Pillar Under these Windows is this Inscription Tolle Tolle Crucifige eum Beyond that Arch at the end of a street on the left hand is the Palace of Herod where our Lord was cloathed with a white Robe in derision and sent back to Pilate with whom Herod being formerly at variance was that day reconciled Leaving that street on the left hand after a few steps you come to the Palace of Pilate on the right hand The Palace of Pilate which is at present inhabited by the Basha The Stairs of that Palace are to be seen at Rome near to St. John de Latran being sent thither by St. Helen they are at present called Scala Sancta because our Lord ascended them Scala Sancta when he was led before Pilate and came down again the same Stairs to go before Herod then being sent back by Herod he went them up again and afterwards descended them when he went to execution In place of that Stair-case there is another of eleven steps which are now sufficient because since that time the Street is much raised by the Ruines Having gone up these eleven steps you come into a Court and turning to the Left Hand you enter into the Basha's Kitchin which is the place where Pilate washed his Hands in that Kitchin there is a Window that looks into the Court or open place that is before the Temple of Salomon from that Window we saw the Front of the said Temple at one end of the Court there are several Arches that make a lovely Porch before the Door of the said Temple supported by several fair Pillars There is a hole in that Kitchin which serves at present to lay Coals in and is thought to have been the Prison into which our Lord was put Heretofore there was a passage from this Palace to the Arch of Behold the Man that we mentioned before Coming out of the Palace we went over to the other side of the Street into a Chappel called the Place of Flagellation The place of Flagellation because our Saviour was Scourged there the Turks make use of it at present for a Stable In that place ends according to the way we went or rather begins the Dolorous Way which reaches from the House of Pilate to Mount Calvary about a Mile in length Having seen these things to avoid the heat we resolved to see the most distant places before the Sun were too high and therefore went out by St. Stephen's Gate anciently called Porta Gregis Porta Gregis or the Sheep-Gate without which we saw the place where the Blessed Virgin let her Girdle fall to St. Thomas when he saw her Body and Soul carried up to Heaven then we went up to the Mount of Olives Mount of Olives in the middle whereof is the place where our Lord wept over Jerusalem foreseeing its future Ruine The truth is one has a very good view of it from that place and may at leisure there consider all the external beauties of the Temple of Salomon as also the Church of the Presentation of our Lady which joyns the said Temple and is magnificently built Here it was that the Blessed Virgin was by her Father and Mother presented to the good Widdows who lived near to the Temple and taught young
Girls Breeding and good Manners The Turks have converted this Church into a Mosque and suffer no Christian to enter into it On the top of the Mount is the place of Ascension Place of Ascension which is a Chappel with eight Fronts having a little Dome covered with Lead and supported by eight Pillars of white Marble in this Chappel you may still see the print of our Saviour's Left Foot on the Rock the impression of the other was also there but the Turks cut off part of the Rock on which the other Foot was imprinted and have carried it into the Temple of Salomon where they preserve it very honourably as they do this nay they have a little Mosque in this Chappel and they suffer Christians to come and kiss that holy Foot-step for a few Maidins In this place a Gentleman enflamed with the love of God and desirous to follow Jesus Christ whose Steps he had traced so far yielded up his Soul to the Lord. St. Pelagia A little below this place we saw the Grott where St. Pelagia a famous Courtizan of Antioch did Penance then coming down again we passed by the place where our Lord made the Prayer which we call the Lord's Prayer and a little lower to the Right the place where he Preached the last Judgment for a Memorial of which there stands a Pillar there Afterwards we came to a Grott or Church The Grott where the Creed was made The Sepulchre of Absolom The Sepulchre of Jehosaphat wherein are twelve Arches in this place it was that the Apostles made the Creed which goes by their Name and then to the Burying-place of the Prophets where there are many Grotts cut out in the Rock Next we saw two square Sepulchres each square cut out of the Rock in one entire piece the one is of Absolom the Son of David and it is encompassed with several Pillars cut out of the natural Rock and covered with a Pyramide The other is the Sepulchre of Jehosaphat who gave the name to the Valley others say it is the Sepulchre of King Manasses Absoloms is easily known by the many Stones that are always there because no Body goes near to it whether Christian Turk or Moor Man Woman or Child but throws a stone at it as detesting the memory of that Prince because of his Rebellion against his own Father Then we saw the Grott where St. James the younger hid himself when our Saviour was taken and continued there without eating or drinking until the Resurrection Being come out from thence The Sepulchre of Zacharias we saw the Sepulchre of the Prophet Zacharias the Son of Barachias who was slain betwixt the Porch and the Altar by the command of King Joas It is cut in a Diamond-point upon the Rock with many Pillars about it The Brook Kedron From thence we came to the place where the Brook Kedron runs which is many times dry without water as it was then and there we saw a Bridge hard by of one Arch under which that Brook passes when there is any water in it and upon that Bridge our Saviour fell when after his apprehension in the Garden the Jews brought him into the City using him so barbarously that as he went over that Bridge they threw him down from the top to the bottom and in the stone the prints of his Feet and Elbows are to be seen Having narrowly observed these Holy prints and passed the Brook dry-shod we came to the Valley of Jehosaphat The Valley of Jehosaphat which is about a League in length but not very broad it serves as a Ditch to the City of Jerusalem The Jews give a Chequin a day for permission to bury their Dead there besides what they pay for the Ground and all that they may be the sooner dispatched at the day of Judgment Garden of Olives because as they believe it will be held in that place There we saw the Garden of Olives and entring it we came to the same place where our Lord having been kissed by Judas was taken by the Jews it is a very little narrow place enclosed with a pitiful Wall. Afterwards we came to the place where the three Apostles St. Peter St. James and St. John the Evangelist fell asleep whilst our Saviour Prayed which made Him say to them Cannot you watch one Hour with me Then to the Garden of Bethsemanie where our Saviour left the Eight Apostles when He went to Pray in the Garden of Olives taking only Three with him to wit St. Peter St. James and St. John. Garden of Bethsemany At present the Garden of Bethsemanie makes but one with the Garden of Olives The Grott where our Lord sweat Blood and Water saying Father if Thou be willing remove this Cup from Me. And where the Angel came to comfort him is Painted since the time of St. Helen and receives light by an opening in the middle of the Vault The Sepulchre of the Virgin Mary which is supported by four Pillars Near to that is the Sepulchre of the Virgin Mary which is a Church almost under Ground of which nothing but the Front is to be seen It stands at the entry into the Valley of Jehosophat pretty near St. Stephen's Gate In the first place you go down by six steps into a Court or Walk and crossing over that descend One and fifty very large broad steps at the top whereof on the right Hand there is a Door walled up In the middle of this Stair-case there is a Chappel on the Right Hand The Sepulchres of St. Joackin and St. Ann. The Sepulchres of St. Joseph and St. Simeon wherein are the Sepulchres of St. Joachin and St. Ann on the other side to wit to the Left Hand there is a little Chappel where are the Sepulchres of St. Joseph the Virgins Husband and St. Simeon Towards the bottom of the Stairs there is a place on the Left Hand adorned but no body can tell for what for there is nothing to be seen in it but the Floor which is all of Mosaical Work and looks as if it were newly done At the end of the steps to the Right Hand there is an Altar of the Armenians and a lovely Cistern to the Left behind which there is an Altar of the Abyssins After that you come into the Church wherein turning to the Right Hand you see the Sepulchre of the Virgin The Sepulchre of the Virgin. which is almost in the middle of the Church in a little square Chappel four Paces long with two little Doors to enter into it The length of the place on which her Body was put is nine Spans the breadth four and the height as much It is covered with a Stone of a greyish Marble with Veins in it and in some places is broken This Chappel belongs to the Latin Monks and none but Latins can say Mass there which is Celebrated every Saturday behind that place there is a
there are three Cisterns and on the Right Hand of them a place Vaulted over the Arch whereof is supported by six Pillars of Garnet It was in this place that St. Jerome Read and Taught the Holy Scriptures The place of St. Jerome but the Turks at present have made a Stable of it From this second Court you go through a little Door only three Foot high and two Foot wide into a third little Court which serves for a Porch to the Church this was a very large Door but it is walled up to hinder the Arabs from entring into the Church with their Horses the Door also which is of Wood is very thick and shuts with a strong Bar behind it to hold out the Arabs after that you enter by another Door into the Church which is very spacious and we shall speak of it hereafter Turning to the Left Hand you go into a Cloyster by a little very thick Door and covered all over with Iron on the side of the Cloyster with a great Bolt and strong Bar for resisting the Arabs In this Cloyster being the Lodgings of the Latin Monks St. Catharines Church in Bethlehem whose Church is Dedicated to the Honour of St. Catharine having there said our Prayers and heard Te Deum sung the R. F. Guardian gave each of us a white Wax-Taper like to that which had been given us in the Church of St. Saviour the day we came to Jerusalem and we went in Procession to visit the holy places that are in the Convent We descended eighteen steps and came to the place where the Birth of our Saviour is represented for since the Greeks as we shall hereafter relate had taken the holy places from our Monks The place of the Representation of the Birth of our Lord. they have built a Chappel over against the real place where our Lord was Born and another over against the Manger being only separated by a Wall that is betwixt them and the Popes have granted to these two Chappels the same Indulgences as to the true ones Next we went to the Altar of St. Joseph then to the Sepulchre of the Innocents so called The Sepulchre of the Innocents The Oratory of St. Jerome because many Innocent Infants whom the Mothers had hid with themselves in that Grott were Murdered and Buried there Then to the Oratory of St. Jerome where he Translated the Bible out of Hebrew into Latin and to his Sepulchre which stands in a Chappel where there are two Altars to wit one over his Tomb which is on the Right Hand as you enter and another upon the Tomb of St. Paula and her Daughter Eustochium where there is an Epitaph made by St. Jerome The Epitaph of St. Paula in these terms Obiit hic Paula ex Nobilissimis Romanorum Corneliis Gracchas orta cum 20. Annos vixisset in coenobiis a se institutis cui tale Epitaphium posuit Hieronymus And this other besides Scipio quem genuit Paulae fudere parentes Gracchorum soboles Agamemnonis inclyta proles hoc jacet in tumulo Paulam dixere priores Eustochii genitrix Romani prima Senatus Pauperiem Christi Bethleemiti rura sequuta We made a station at the Tomb of St. Jerome St. Jerome's Tomb. and another at the Tombs of the said Saints After that we went to the Tomb of St. Eusebius the Disciple of St. Jerome singing at these several stations the proper Prayers for the places All these stations are in Grotts under Ground where there is no Light but what they bring along with them Then we come up again into the Church where the Procession ended The Church of St. Catharine was heretofore a Monastery they say that it was in that Church that our Lord Espoused St. Catharine who came to visit these holy places and the same Indulgences are there as in Mount Sinai There is a very good Cistern in that Church near the Door on the left hand as you enter It is a very pretty Church and was with the whole Convent built by St. Paula After the Procession we went to the great Church lately come into the Possession of the Greeks which for Money they gave the Turks they wrested from our Monks This Church was built by St. Helene and is a most beautiful and spacious Church it has a high Roof of Cedar-Wood extraordinary well wrought and Leaded over with many fair Windows that render it very light The Nef or Body is supported on both sides by two rows of high and great Marble Pillars all of one entire piece there being Eleven in each row so that it maketh five Isles separated one from another by these four rows of Pillars on every one of which there is the Picture of a Saint and over these Pillars all the Wall is painted in lovely Mosaick Work of Green upon a ground of fine Gold. Heretofore all this Church was lined with beautiful Marble as may be easily seen by the Cramp-Irons fixed all over in the Wall which have held the pieces but the Turks have removed these Ornaments for their Mosques As you enter that Church you see on the right hand behind the third and fourth Pillars the Greeks Font which is very fine The Quire is still very large and closed all round with a Wall the Armenians have a third part of it which was given them by the Latins whilst they possessed the Church and they have separated it from the rest by wooden Rails As you enter this Quire you see on each side a kind of Chappel and almost at the farther end of it stands the high Altar which with these two Chappels makes a Cross in that which is on the right hand there is an Altar where you see the Stone on which our Lord was Circumcised In the other Chappel on the left hand which belongs to the Armenians there is an Altar which they say is the place where the Kings alighted from their Horses when they came to adore our Lord. On the right side of the high Altar there is a pair of Stairs by which you go up to a Tower on the out-side of the Quire it was formerly the Steeple of the Church and serves at present for Lodgings for the Greeks There are also many Pillars in the Quire like to those in the Nef and which with these of the Nef make in all fifty Pillars Near to the high Altar in the Quire there are two little Marble Stair-cases one on each side having thirteen steps apiece and being gone down six of them you find a neat Brazen Door well wrought and pierced through to let in light from above passing it you come to the foot of the Stairs which lead into a little Church reaching only in length from the one Stair-case to the other Much under the great Altar of the Quire at this end betwixt the aforesaid two Stair-cases there is an Altar under which is the place where our Saviour was Born this place is
built that Tower which is not impossible but it is more probable that the Turks have brought these stones ready cut and carved from Banias or some other place which had been possessed by the French and which the Turks had demolished for they are lazy enough to chuse rather to bring stones ready cut from a far than to be at the pains to cut them upon the places After that we saw in the Fields about some hundreds of paces off the places where the Christians and Jews are buried every Religion however having their burying-place at some distance apart Burying-place The Tomb of St. George Being gone some paces from the VValls we came to the place where St. George the Porter was stoned by the Jews who accused him of having saved St. Paul. That place is as it were a Court in the middle whereof is the Tomb of that Saint it is of Free-stone and covered with a little Pavillion in form of a Pyramid and below there is a little opening wherein the Christians commonly keep a burning Lamp their Devotion is great at that place and is even imitated by the Turks who affirm as well as the Christians that Miracles are daily wrought there and that several sick Turks having spent a Night in that place have next Morning come out in perfect health On that Saint's Holy day many People Men Women and Children aswell Turks as Christians repair to that Tomb. At the entry into the Court where it is on the left hand there is a place designed for burying of those who die for the Faith of Jesus Christ and when any Christian departs his body is first brought to that place where having said the office for the dead it is carried to the place appointed for its burial Being come out of that place we kept streight along by the City-Walls The place where St. Paul was let down and shortly after came to the place where St. Paul was let down in a Basket over the VVall. There is a Gate there which the Turks have walled up because they are perswaded that the City will never be taken but by that Gate The fatal gate and over it they have put a great Stone with some lines in Arabick cut on it intimating that that is the place where St. Paul the Apostle of Jesus came down to save himself from the Jews Afterwards we returned into the City by the Gate called Bab-Tchiaour Bab-Tchiaour we went into the streight-Street and following it came into a very large fair Bazar covered with a high ridged Timber-roof and full of shops on both sides it is called the Bazar of stuffs because nothing else is sold there The Bazar of Stuffs Rotte of Damascus and I learned by the by that the Rotte of Damascus is a weight answering to five French pounds Having crossed over half of that Bazar which is very long we struck off to the left hand and through a little street went to the house of Judas The house of Judas which is close by where it is believed in that Country that St. Paul lay hid three days and that Ananias went to him there VVe went into that house which was heretofore a fair and large Church and there is still to be seen a lovely Iron-Gate through which we passed and then came into a little Chamber where the Tomb of Ananias is raised against the VVall The Tomb of Ananias over which there is a green Cloath and on it Arabick Letters stitched I read them and found these words Veli Allah el Ahmed rivan that is the Holy God Ahmed sleeping or buried here The Turks have a great respect for it and they have taken that house because of the profit they make on 't from the Francks who give them somewhat when they go thither We then returned into the Bazar of Stuffs or the Streight-street and on the left hand from thence we came near to a Gate which separates that Bazar of Stuffs from another Bazar at the end of it where there is a Fountain with the Water whereof they say Ananias baptised St. Paul Having passed that Gate we entered into another Bazar which is still in the Streight-street the beginning of which is covered with a high-ridged Roof and the rest with a flat supported with round Joysts They sell stuffs there also Bab-Jabie The end of the streight-Street At length we came to the City-Gate called Bab-Jabie where the streight-street ends Having without it turned a few steps to the left hand we were got into a large Bazar where they sell wooden Boxes This is the largest Bazar of all it has a high ridged Timber-Roof upheld by several great stone-Arches at convenient Distances A Bazar called Sinanie That place is called Sinanie from the Name of a Basha of Damascus named Sinan who built it as he did many other fair publick Fabricks in several parts of Turkey and all his Works bear his Name As you enter into that Bazar without the Gate you see the green Mosque The green Mosque so called because it hath a Steeple faced with green glazed Bricks which renders it very resplendant it is covered on the Top with a Pavillion of the same stuff except the Spire of the Steeple which is covered with lead We passed before the door of that Mosque and I saw during the short time that I durst consider it a large Court paved with lovely Stones with a Bason or Fountain of Water in the middle at the end of that Court there is a Portico supported by eight Marble-Pillars of the Corinthian Order of which the six middlemost are chamfered these Eight Pillars uphold so many little domes leaded over that cover the Portico through which they enter into the Mosque by three doors It hath a large Dome covered over with lead and on the West side there is a Steeple or Minaret faced in the same manner and covered with a Pavillion of the same matter The Turks say that this Mosque was made in that place because that Mahomet being come so far would not enter the Town saying it was too delicious and that he might suddenly remove from it he set one foot upon a hill that is not far from it whereon there is a little Tower and from thence made but one leap to Mecha that 's the reason why they have covered that Mosque with green which is the Colour of this false Prophet Others confess indeed that Mahomet came as far as that place and would not enter the Town but they say that it was Haly who made that fair leap However it be they call Damascus Chamscherif that is to say Noble Damascus because Mahomet came thither From thence we advanced to the City-Walls and coming along the Serraglio Street we saw to the left hand a fair Tomb made in fashion of a Dome several fathom high and covered with lead next to that there is a lovely Mosque with a Court it
several Works and before these Gates within the Court there is a Portico divided into two Alleys by eight great Pillars of which four are in length and four in breadth and these Pillars support Arches over which there are two other little Arches made in form of Windows separated by a little Pillar That Portico leads into the Court which is very spacious and large and all paved with great shining Marble-stones as the Mosque and Portico's are Towards the end of the Court there is a kind of a little Chappel with a Dome covered with lead which is supported by several Marble-Pillars and they say it was the Font. From that Entry on the West one may see the East Gate at the farther End of the Court and on the right hand the Body of the Mosque On the South-side Pick a measure at the Bazar of the Pick so called because Cloath is sold there by the Pick which is a measure much about two thirds of a French Aune there is an Entry into the Mosque and two lovely Gates overlaid with Brass with Chalices cut in the middle of each of them On the East-side there are three Brass-Gates and a Portico like to that I have been speaking of and then a Court towards the end of which near the West-Gate there is another kind of Chappel much higher than that on the East-side which is supported and covered in the same manner and from that Gate one sees the West-Gate and then the Mosque is on the left hand On the North-side there is also a Brazen gate by which they enter into the Court and then have the side of the Mosque opposite unto them In the Wall of this side there are several Windows after the fashion of the Windows of our Churches but they begin three or four foot from the ground and they are glazed and letticed with wire on the outside There is in that Court also a reservatory of water under a Cupulo supported by several Pillars and besides that a Lanthorn supported onely by two This is all that I could observe of this Mosque Bab-Thoma One day I went out of the Town by the gate called Bab-Thoma and close by it I saw the Church dedicated to St. Thomas The door of it was shut because it is all ruinous in the inside and looks more like a Garden than a Church being uncovered and full of Herbs Nevertheless there still remains a kind of a portall which is a Ceinture supported by two Pillars but besides that these Pillars shew not above a Foot beneath the Capital they are sunk into the Wall Underneath there are three other Ceintures supported by three Pillars on each side and the lintel of the door is also supported by a Pillar on each side all these Pillars are of Marble and Chamfered Over-against that Gate there is a little round Tower made like a Chess-board for it is built of small Stones about half a foot square but placed in such a manner that next to each stone there is a square hole of the same bigness and so alternately all over That Tower is called the Tower of heads because a few years ago several Druses Robbers on the High-way who were briskly pursued being taken were put to death and their heads placed in these holes The Temple of Serapis a Mosque The Sepulchre of St. Simeon Stilites so that they were all filled with them From thence we turned to the left and keeping a long the Walls we came to a Mosque which they say was a Temple of Serapis Nevertheless it is pretended that the Body of St. Simeon Stilites rests there having been brought thither from Antioch However it be the Turks say that the Muesem cannot call to prayers there as at other Mosques and that when he offers to cry his Voice fails him they have a great Veneration fot it and I was told that one day a Venetian having corrupted the Servants of the Scheik who has the charge of that place with money would have taken away the Body of St. Simeon to carry it to Venice but that the Scheik having had some suspicion of it made that Venetian pay a great mulct of several thousand Crowns and since that time they have caused a Grate to be made over the Sepulchre of that Body besides there are always Scherifs there reading the Alcoran Spittle for Lepers From that Temple we went to a place where three Rivers that run through Damascus meet at the end of the Town and turn Water-mills We went next to the Spittle of Lepers which is betwixt the Gates Bab-Thoma and Bab-Charki but nearer and almost close by this last it is but a few paces distant from the City-Walls The People of the Countrey say that it is the same Hospital which Naaman Lieutenant of the King of Damascus built for Gehazi the Servant of the Prophet Elisha Naaman's Hospiral whose History is recorded in the fifth Chapter of the second Book of Kings This Hospital hath great Revenues Being come back again into the Town in the Taylers street I saw through an Iron-grate a Room where there are two Bodies which the Mahometans say are the Bodies of two Saints of their Law. A little farther there is another where there is also a Body to which they render the same honours I could not learn the Names of these false Saints There are a great many lovely Fountains in Damascus and among others that which is opposite to the gate of the great Mosque that looks to the East and covered with a Dome almost flat It is a round Bason of about two fathom in Diametre in the middle whereof there is a Pipe that throws up a great deal of Water at a time and with so much force that it spouts up almost as high as the Dome and if they pleased they might easily make it play higher because the source lies far above it in level CHAP. V. A Continuation of Observations at Damascus HAving taken a resolution whilst I was at Damascus to see what was most curious and worth the seeing in the Countrey about it I made an appointment with some Friends to go to the place which is called the Forty Martyrs We went out of the City by the Serraglio gate The forty Martyrs and crossing the horse-Market kept our way along a fair broad and long paved Street which does not a little resemble the Avenue of the Porta di Popolo at Rome It led us almost to the Village called Salain Crache Having passed this we went up a very rough and barren Hill being nothing but a natural Rock It behoved us to alight from our Asses and march on foot ascending by ways so steep that they were almost perpendicular With much trouble at length we came to the place of the forty Martyrs distant from the City a good half-League I never in my life-time mounted a steeper Hill. There is a little house on it where a Scheik liveth who led
so he might save the Caffare After Sun-set he sent for me and I crossed the Bridge where the wheels are mentioned by Belon and Pietro della Valle which draw the Water that supplies the whole Town It is the Orontes still that runs there but I cannot tell how many Arches the Bridge has for I crossed it in the Night-time My Moucre was encamped so near that all Night long we had the musick of these wheels which mingling with the Bells of our Mules as they were feeding represented very well the chiming of the Bells of a little Countrey-Church of which the wheels made the base We parted from Hama on Sunday the twenty seventh of April at break of day leaving the Caravan of Powder at Hama where the way to Constantinople strikes off from that of Aleppo we continued our way still Northwards going to the right amongst the hills where hardly had we advanced half an hour before we entered a Plain which on all sides reaches out of sight and abounds in Pasture About Eight of the Clock we passed close by a Village Taibit El-Hama Lachmi called Taibit-El-Hama and about ten we found another called Lachmi but it is forsaken because of the Robberies of the Arabs At eleven we discovered some Trees and from Damascus to that place I had not seen one unless it were in the Gardens of the Towns and Villages and indeed wood is very dear on that road Salisbury-plain not being barer of Trees than that Countrey is Han Scheikhoun A little after towards Noon we arrived at Han Scheikhoun before which we encamped finding our selves better abroad under Tents than within though that Han which stands alone be pretty enough The first entry into it is by a Gate that looks to the West which leads into a large square Court and on the right hand as you enter there is a little door by which you enter into a Stable divided in length by a range of Arches that reach from one end to the other but it is not covered At the other end of the Court almost opposite to this door there is a little house inhabited and on the left hand in the middle of the Wall there is a great Gate which leads into another Court as large as the first where there are half paces covered for Lodging of Travellers Over the Gate of that second Court there is a great square Building of pretty good work in form of a Tower with a Dungeon before it and the Dome of the Mosque is in the middle There the Aga lodges for this is a Castle depending on the Basha of Aleppo Some hundreds of paces Northwards from thence behind a Hillock there is a Village of the same Name with the Han. We parted from that place the same day about ten a Clock at Night and in our way all Night long we found a great many shallow Cisterns dug on little Hillocks for receiving the Rain-water and at the foot of the Hillock there is another opening by which they goe down three or four steps to take the Water we found already the day before some of these which are made for the Arabs and Shepherds Next day being Monday the 28th of April about two in the morning we passed by a ruinated Han called Han Hherte Han Hherte and at break of day arrived at the Town of Marra encamping just before the Han. Marra That Town is at most but a good Village we could hardly find bread in it and there is nothing to be seen on all hands but Cellars and ruined Vaults the best thing is the Han which is well built of Free-stone it is a large square Court round which there is a Portico wherein are Mastabez seeing I often make use of that Term which is the proper word of the Countrey though I have already I think made known what it means nevertheless for the satisfaction of the Reader I tell him once more that a Mastabe is a kind of a half pace that 's to say that the Floor is raised two or three foot from the ground and there the Travellers lodge In the middle of the Court of this Han there is a little Mosque with a Dome covered with Lead at the end of it there is a little Court round which runs a Portico the Roof whereof is supported on each side by two Arches separated by a Pillar between the two close by there is a Bagnio with a large Dome covered with Lead but it is shut and useless for want of Water Next you 'l find a covered street where there is a Coffee-house and five or six Shops on each side and at the farther end are four Arches the remains of an Aqueduct which butted almost in a right Angle upon these four Arches it was carried thither from a Mosque some hundreds of paces distant in the fields where there was a Wheel to draw Water out of a Brook that ran by it which came from the Countrey towards Antioch This Aqueduct brought the Water behind the upper part of the covered street into the Bagnio that is joyned on the one side to the Street and on the other side to the Han it was built of rough Stone as the Arches that still remain are which at the other end are joyned to the great Mosque This great Mosque hath six little Domes the Roofs rough cast and at the end of it there is a pretty fair Minaret The rest of the Town is altogether beggarly It had also another Han of which nothing now remains but the Gate and some Arches which daily run into decay The houses are scattered here and there and no better than Owls-nests the Walls are of Stones two or three foot high piled one upon another without any Art on all hands there are great large Free-stones and pieces of Pillars to be seen some of which still retain some fragments of inscriptions Amongst these Ruines I saw a door about four foot high and half a foot thick with crosses and roses cut upon it it is all of one piece with its hooks which enter into holes purposely made above and below That door is of a greyish Stone very hard as the sides to which it shuts are and it requires no less than two men to open and shut it it is still in case and daily made use of Marra heretofore was a good Town but the Turkish Tyranny is the cause of its desolation they say that the Ruines of a Church built by the Christians when they were Masters of that Town are still to be seen there but because it is at some distance in the Countrey I did not go thither The Francks in this place pay four Piastres for Caffare and we stopt there all that day because the Turks celebrated the Bairam the Moon having appeared the Evening before We parted not then till Tuesday the nine and twentyeth of April at two of the Clock in the Morning about break of
day we passed by a Han called Han Merai near to which there is a good Village Han Merai About an hour after we found another called Han Herbe with a Village close by it Han Herbe and not far from thence a third About Eight in the Morning we came and encamped near to another called Han Serahheb The other three as well as this are all called Han Serahheb that 's to say the Hans of Wells because in the Fields near to these Hans there are several Wells whose Mouths are even with the ground but this last has more particularly the Name of Serahheb Han Serahheb It is in bad order most of the Vaults being ruined but has a Village close by it On that road we saw a great many Olive-trees and that was the second time that we found Trees since we came from Damascus We parted from thence the same day immediately after Sun-set and about Eleven a Clock at Night Zarbel passed by a Village called Zarbel where there is a Han. We had an allarm in that place because he that marched before with a Lanthorn cried out that he saw Horse-men which made us prepare to receive them but none came Han Toman Wednesday the thirtieth of April about break of day we passed by Han Toman and three hours after arrived at the City Aleppo where so soon as I alighted I went to the great Han to lodge with Mousieur Bertet as civil a Man as lives and as zealous to serve his Friends as his Brothers are who were then at Marseilles who have all shew'd me particular Kindnesses Monsieur Bertet who resides at Aleppo had obliged me by his advice and care when I was at Damascus and therefore I thanked Monsieur Baron who had the goodness to offer me his Lodging and accepted of the former Monsieur Baron was at that time Consul for France and discharged that Office with honour and universal Approbation CHAP. VII Of Observations of Aleppo Aleppo SEeing Aleppo which I take to be the Ancient Baerea is one of the most considerable Cities of the Ottoman Empire in Asia by reason of Trade I will describe what I observed in it as exactly as possibly I can This town is distant from Alexandretta or Scanderoon Alexandretta that lies Westward from it about two and twenty Leagues and from Euphrates which it hath to the East betwixt eight and twenty and thirty This Alexandretta which serves it for a Sea-port on the Mediterranean Sea is the Ancient Hierapolis Degrees of heat at Aleppo It is very hot in Aleppo and the first day of June at Noon I found by my Thermometre that the heat was at the thirtieth Degree The Air. The Air is thin and wholsom so that about the end of May they begin to lie in the Night-time upon Terrasses untill the middle of September and that without any fear of danger or hurt for during all that time there is no Dew and they say that in the Months of May June and July there is no Cloud to be seen nevertheless whilst I was there we had Clouds often and Rain too which all wondered at The circumference of Aleppo I went the Circuit of Aleppo twice once on horse-back and another time on foot the first time I thought that in a large hour one might walk round it on foot and indeed having undertaken to do it my self with a friend keeping close by the Walls on the outside it took us up but an hour and a quarter and if we had not stopped to look about us we had certainly performed it in an hour or little more We left the Suburbs and went through the middle of Dgedid Dgedid a Suburbs which is a kind of a Burrough or Suburbs lately built as its Name implies for in Arabick it signifies new The Christians of the Countrey lodge in that quarter but there are several Turks also among them and the houses are well built The Maronites Armenians Greeks and Syrians have each of them a Church there This Suburbs lies betwixt the Gates Bab-El-Feradge and Bab-El-Nasre and is pretty near the Burying-place of the Christians The Walls of Aleppo The Walls of this City are not strong though they stand upon a Rock and there are houses built close by them The Gates of Aleppo The City of Aleppo hath ten Gates to wit Bab-Antakie the Gate of Antakia by which they go to Antakia or Antioch it looks to the West and North-West Bab-El-Dgenain the Gate that leads to a Village called Genain it looks also West-North-West Bab-El-Feradge the Gate of fair prospect because passing out at it one has a sight of several Gardens it looks likewise West-North-West Bab-El-Nasre the Gate of Victory because by that Gate the Turks entered the Town when they made themselves Masters of it the Christians call it St. George's Gate it looks North-East Bab-El-Barcousa otherwise Bab-El-Hadid or Iron-gate it looks East-South-East Bab-El-Ahmar the red Gate it looks to the South-East Bab-El-Atame the dark Gate it looks to the South-East but it has been stopt up not long since because much mischief was done there Bab-El-Nairem the Gate that leads to Nairem it looks to the South-East Bab-El-Macam so called from a Santo of that Name buried hard by it is also called Damascus Gate and looks to the South Bab-Kennesrim from the Name of a Captain that kept it in time of the Christians it is also called the Prison-Gate because the Prisons are near to it it looks to the South-West My meaning is that the City in those places where these Gates are looks to these Quarters of the World for some of the Gates look along the Walls Without the Prison's Gate there are a great many fair large Caves cut in the Rock which are wide and have a very high Roof reaching above an Hundred paces into the Rock They make ropes in the mouths of them and lay Grapes there also a drying to make Brandy of This Rock is white and pretty soft Seeing my curiosity led me to see all that could be seen they took me one day to a place called Scheik Bakir from the Name of the Founder Scheik Bakir it is a very pleasant convent of Dervishes You enter into a Court where there is a Fountain with a lovely Bason on the right hand at the end of the Court there is a fair large Hall covered with a great Dome paved with lovely greyish Marble and on the left hand stands the Mosque covered with a Dome The Water they have in that house is forced by Pousseragues From thence we past by the Garden of Sultan Amurat which signifies but little and then went to refresh our selves at the Fish-well The Fish-well which is a Court surrounded with Walls where there are a great many plane-Trees and a Canal wharfed with Marble that is filled with Water from a very good Spring hard by and that Water
and amongst others we saw a flight altogether like Francolines save that they have an unpleasant smell though the flesh of them be firm and very good to eat They were so numerous that I think a grain of small shot could not have past through without hitting some of them and they made a Cloud above five hundred paces in length and fifty in breadth About six a Clock we began to have little hills on our right hand which lasted about two hours And we passed near to one out of which they have Sulphur which they purifie and melt into Canes This Sulphur is a very white Earth for we were pretty near that hill which is almost wholely of Sulphur We stopped on the Curdistan shoar two hundred paces from thence about Sun-setting and rested upon the ground by the Water-side some of the Company stayed on board to guard the Kelecks for the Arabs when they see Kelecks many times come swimming and take what they can and then make their escape in the same manner They have besides the cunning when they are swimming to put some branches of trees upon their heads that it may not be thought they are men The water over against these hills is no broader than the length of the Pont Marie at Paris That Night we had a very hot Wind which sometimes brought with it cold gusts also and I observed they were not so strong as the others I was afraid it might have been the Samiel because it blew from that hill of Sulphur Next Morning being Saturday the ninth of August we embarked about break of day Hills of Sulphur We still saw on the side of Mesopotamia some hills of Sulphur which we smelt We met several People Men Women and Girls that crossed the Water stark naked having a Borrachio under each Arm-pit and their baggage on their heads and amongst the rest we saw two Girls who swam over without any help Half an hour after Sun-rising we perceived on the Water-side to the left hand Houses of Arabs several of the Arabs houses square and about two fathom high they were made of Poles and covered with leaves their Cattel were hard by and also their Horses which are always saddled These are their Summer-houses for in the Winter-time they shelter themselves under their Tents of black Goats hair Alyhamam Hot Baths About six a Clock we stopt at a Village called Alyhamam in Mesopotamia there are a great many natural hot Baths there and I make no doubt but these Waters run through Sulphur The People of the Countrey have dugg great Pits in the Earth under little Domes wherein they bath themselves for my own part I thought it enough to wet a finger therein and found it very hot but not scalding Sick people come there from all quarters and are cured but especially Lepers There are a great many always there from Mosul which is but a days Journey of Caravan distant All the Houses of this Village are by the Water-side they are all about two fathom square and the Walls and Roofs are onely of Canes interlaced with branches of Trees we rested there about two hours and then continued our Voyage The Sun that day was several times overcast with Clouds that did us a great kindness after Noon we stopt a little to stay for the other Keleck which was not come up About three a Clock we came to Asiguir Asiguir which is a place where the remains of the Foundation of a Bridge are still to be seen over which the Water runs with so much noise that we heard it half an hour before we came to the place When we were got there we went a shoar on the left hand because there is onely a small passage near Land for the Kelecks and in the Summer-time it is so shallow that many times they are forced to keep in the middle and go over stones that rise to the brim of the Water and make a kind of cascade or fall We all took our Arms to defend us against the Lions which are there in great Numbers amongst little Coppises however we saw none When the Keleck had passed near the shoar the current carried it into the middle of the River so that it could not stop till it came to an Island which is about fifty paces from the main Land and thither we went to it up to the knees in water A little after we had a great many hills to the right hand and on the first of them there is still some remains of a Castle called Top-Calai that 's to say the Castle of Cannons Top-Calai they say it was built by Nimrod as well as that Bridge which he had built for his convenience in going to his Mistress whom he kept on the other side Besides that we saw a great many other hills of Sulphur and one amongst the rest very high the Sulphur whereof appeared very yellow and smelt strong About half an hour after we saw the end of these Mountains and had others on the left hand covered over with Trees A quarter of an hour after we saw on the left hand River of Zarb the place where the River of Zarb falls into the Tigris It 's a great River more than half as broad as the Tigris very rapid and the Water thereof is whitish and cold They say that it comes very far off from the Mountains of Curdistan and is onely Snow-water On the same side about a French League up in the Countrey there is a hill by it self on which are the Ruines of a Castle called Kchaf Kchaf Having passed this place which looks like a little Sea we had constantly to the left hand Woods full of Lions Boars and other wild Beasts We rowed on till the Sun was setting not knowing where to lye because we durst not go a shoar on the side of the Woods for fear of Lions and on the side of Mesopotamia we saw Arabs at length just at Sun-setting we stopt near Woods which are all of Tamarisk and Liquourice and set a guard both against Men and Beasts From Mosul to this place they reckon it two days Journey and a half by Caravan After midnight three Robbers stark naked approached but finding themselves discovered they dived into the water and disappeared nevertheless this gave us a great allarm for they who saw them ran in all haste to the Keleck crying out like men in extreme danger and the rest not knowing what the matter was and thinking that they had a Lion at their heels threw themselves desperately into the Keleck whilst those that were asleep on board awaking at the noise and imagining there was a Lion in the Keleck endeavoured to get out In short so great was the disorder that no man knowing what he did it is a wonder we did not kill one another Sunday the tenth of April about break of day we put forward again and half an hour after past by the foot of a
Mason at work there for he calls for what he wants as if he were singing and the Labourers who are always attentive to the tone serve him most punctually In Persia commonly they make the Floors of the Rooms of Joists Floros on which they lay planks and over them a Mat or Store and then a lay of Reeds which they cover with Clay half a foot thick But they observe to mingle Salt with the first lay of Earth Salt mingled with Clay that the Worms may not get into the Timber underneath They who will not be at the charge of boards or planks put onely in place of Joists pieces of Timber as thick as ones Arm and over them two Matts and then the Reeds which they cover with Clay salting also the first lay The Persians make their Lime of Stones which they burn as we doe and when they have taken them out of the Kiln they break them into small pieces When they are to use it they prepare it in the manner following The way of preparing Lime They sweep a place very clean to sift the Lime in and when it is sifted they make it up in a heap sharp at the top like a Sugar-Loaf then they sift Ashes upon it and that in almost as great a quantity as the lime that being done they sweep the adjoyning place very clean and water it and over the wet sift a very slight lay of Ashes then with Iron-shovels they throw upon it their Lime mingled with Ashes working and incorporating them well together When they have cast on three or four shovel fulls one of them throws upon it about a quarter of a Bucket full of Water or somewhat less and the rest cast very fast upon the wet Lime other Lime mingled with Ashes so that they give not the Water time to penetrate through that first lime then they throw on a good deal of water more and then another quantity of lime and ashes and they keep this course untill they have put all the lime which they had mingled with Ashes into a heap and the water they throw upon it is so little in regard of the quantity of that matter that it scarcely appears to be wet After this they sweep a neighbouring place and having watered and then covered it with a few Ashes as before they turn over again the mixture that they may well mingle and incorporate the Ashes with the lime and so turn it over from one side to another several times that 's to say nine or ten times But it is to be observed that after the first time they pour no more water upon the mixture but onely from time to time lightly sprinkle with the hand the outside of the heap to keep it a little humid without appearing to be wet but every time they cast the heap from one side to another they are sure first to sweep the place water it and then to scatter a few Ashes upon the same and then with their Iron-shovels they turn the heap I wondered to see these People when they prepared their lime that they were not afraid to burn their feet going bare footed upon that Stuff nor yet to wrong themselves by receiving into their Mouth and Nose the dust of the lime when they sifted it When they have thus well mingled the Ashes with the lime they divide the Stuff into several heaps which they spread a little giving to each about four foot of Diameter and one foot in thickness After that four of them stand round the heap and beat the Stuff with sticks somewhat crooked about two foot and a half long the handle they hold them by being two fingers thick with a little round knob at the end to keep them from slipping through their hands then they grow greater and greater till about the middle where they are as big as ones Arm and round so far and from that place where they bend and make an obtuse Angle with the other half they grow thicker and thicker according as they come nearer the end and are round on the concave side but flat on the convex and about the end are about six fingers broad These Clubs are of Ash They beat this Stuff with one hand two and two over against one another singing Y a allah Y a allah and other attributes of God and keeping time to this tune which seems to be essential to the trade they beat as our Threshers do sometimes in one place sometimes in another stooping at every blow and nothing but the flat side of the Club hits the matter They beat every heap so about half an hour without intermission and then go to another which they beat as much and continue this exercise almost an hour without resting onely now and then shifting their hand after this they take breath a little for the space of half a quarter of an hour or less and then fall to their business again In this manner they beat every heap four or five times and every time they leave it it is all reduced to the thickness of about half a foot in the middle falling thinner towards the edges and then one of the men takes a spade wherewith he breaks the Lumps and turns it all up again into a heap cooling it with a little water that he throws upon it with his hands When every heap is sufficiently beaten they spread it well so that it be alike thick in all places and a little hollow in the middle then they strow chopt Straw upon it such as they give to Horses they 'll spread upon a heap of lime about a sack full such as they give their Horses provender in so that the lime is all covered over with it with that they pour into the middle of it about four Buckets of water and mingle all together stirring it well with their shovels that the materials may be well incorporated and when all is reduced into a kind of soft morter they fall a beating it a new sometimes with their shovels and sometimes with the end of their Clubs Then they open it again in the middle making a round hole a good foot and a half wide so that it looks like a Well raised a good foot above ground they fill this hole with water pouring in about two Buckets full and so leave it after they have smoothed the outside with the back of their shovels so that it looks polished and of a blewish colour that 's to say like blew Fullers-Earth or Clay to take out grease and spots with these holes are always kept full of water till they be ready to use the Stuff When they are to use it they work it with a great deal of water and mingle therewith about half the quantity of Straw that was employed in the first working of it then they beat it well with shovels and leavers pouring on so much water that it is reduced almost into a liquid running mud I have seen it so employed for
another The Persian Apparel seemed to me to be more gay than that of the Turks but it is more clutterly and less commodious With a Turkish Habit one is immediately dressed whereas in this there must always be a Servant ready to tye the strings of the Caba and therefore the most part tye but one of them and leave the rest hanging The Persian Habit is likewise dearer and nevertheless they often change Cloaths whereas the Turks wear theirs several years and the Persians no longer than they find a spot upon them The Persians neat To the end they may be always neat they strip themselves assoon as they come home and change a Caba every day and at six Months end take one of those Cabas that they have worn already which is thought to be new because men do not remember they have seen it before they value a man for his neatness and good Cloaths They wear rings on their Fingers set with precious Stones but The Persians rings what seems to me to be very odd the men even the King himself wear no Gold rings upon their Fingers but onely Silver and none but Women wear Gold rings the men imagining that they are concerned in honour not to wear them I know not what reason they have for it and they themselves can give no good one All both high and low rub their hands and feet with Hanna The Persians paint their hands and chiefly in Winter they say that it is not so much for ornament but because it prevents the Chaps which are commoly caused by the cold and for that effect they work the Hanna in water to the consistence of morter that is somewhat hard and having wet their hands a little with fair water they spread upon them the Hanna wrought in this manner Hanna a dye and then wrap them up in linnen which they keep on all Night They who cannot reach so high as to dawb over their hands with it apply it at least to their fingers ends and heels When this stuff hath been well applied to the hands it lasts some weeks provided they be not washed for else it will quickly be gone The Persians suffer not their beard to grow long as the Turks do The Beard but they do not shave it they clip it onely with Cizzers leaving it half a fingers breadth long so that their Chin appears all black and in a manner prickly but they take special care to have thick and long Mustachoes They leave a tuff of hair on the Crown of their heads as the Turks do When they wear Mourning for any deceased Relation The Persians mourning their Mourning consists in a Girdle the two ends whereof hang down to their Stomack where they cross them As to the Women when they mourn for their dead they do it for a long while as well as in Turky and all over the Levant For during several Months as often as any woman comes to visit them they renew their lamentations some weeping others rehearsing the praises of the deceased with a low Voice and sighing but in such a tone as one would think they were a singing and others howl and cry as loud as they can in so much that all these different Voices mingling together make a kind of a Musick that moves those who are not concerned to laughter rather than compassion and which by the continuance of it becomes very uneasie to their Neighbours I have sometimes heard them make a noise in this manner a whole Day and a Night without intermission Besides that every time they go to the grave of the party deceased nay after the year is out they renew their Cries as if he were but just then departed For the men when any of their Relations die they rend their Caba before as a sign of grief and for the space of seven Days give alms which the women likewise do All the women of Persia are pleasantly apparelled The Apparel of the Persian women when they are abroad in the Streets all both rich and poor are covered with a great Veil or Sheet of very fine white Cloath of which one half like a forehead-Cloath comes down to the Eyes and going over the head reaches down to their heels and the other half muffles up their face below the Eyes and being fastened with a Pin to the left side of the head falls down to their very shoes even covering their hands with which thy hold that Cloath by the two sides so that except the Eyes they are covered all over with it Within doors they have their face and breasts uncovered VVhat the Persian women uncover but the Armenian women in their Houses have always one half of their face covered with a Cloath that goes a thwart their Nose and hangs over their Chin and Breasts except the Maids of that Nation who within doors cover onely the Chin untill they be martied It is not to be thought strange that the women are so hid for all over Persia as well as in Turky they observe the custome of not shewing themselves to men and that so strictly that when a man marries he sees not his Bride untill the wedding-day at Night and the Roman Catholicks observe the same Custom Whilst I was at Schiras the Carmelites there married a Georgian Widow to a Roman Catholick a Native of Schiras Nephew to the Signora Maani-Gioerida the first Wife of Signor Pietro della valle the truth is I was a little surprized to see that woman present her self before the Father that married her all veiled and covered over however she was married in this manner I cannot tellw hether this method will be liked by our French Ladies who take as much pans to shew themselves as the Persians do to hide themselves Rings in the Noses of the Persian women Their way of travelling Caschaves VVay of sitting Night-cloaths In Persia as well as in the rest of the Levant the Women put rings through their Noses which they pierce with Needles When they travel it is commonly upon Camels on which they are placed in Caschaves that are a sort of covered Panniers they put on each side of a Camel or Mule I have already spoken of that Engine in the relation of my first travels upon occasion of our going from Caire to Jerusalem Within doors women as well as men sit like the Turks and all the Levantins in the same manner as Taylers do in Europe They lye also as all the Orientals do upon a quilt on the ground without sheets they have always on a Smock and a pair of Drawers and many times also an Arcalick or Wast-coat Bed-covering they cover themselves with a quilted Coverlet set with Oilet-holes and over it a Cloath painted with Flowers and other Trifles these they call Indian Cloaths Indian Cloaths because most of them are made in the Indies nevertheless a great many are also made in Persia and the Flowers and
there are so great numbers of Sparrows in Persia that they destroy all things and scare-Crows are so far from frightning them that they will Pearch upon them At eight a Clock we passed by a little covered Kervanseray called Tscherchab Tscherchab which puts an end to the Corn-Fields for beyond that there is hardly any thing to be found but Desarts sowed with stones about two hours after we passed by another Kervanseray Tenghinoun like to the former called Tenghinoun and a little further to the Left Hand we saw a small Forrest of Palm-Trees We afterwards marched on for the space of about two hours through very stony Ground and then came to good even Sandy way Half an hour after one in the Afternoon we passed by a covered Kervanseray called Ouasili Ouasili and keeping on our way over little Sandy Hills we came at three a Clock to another which is also covered Schemzenghi and called Schemzenghi where we stopt and this place is seven Agatsch from Lar. These Kervanserays are not built as others are but are little covered buildings about six Fathom long and as many broad on the outside and about a Fathom and a half high in the middle of each Front there is a Gate and you enter by these Gates under so many Vaulted Walks which run cross-ways within and have each about two Fathom in length they leave in the middle or Centre of the cross they make a little Square about two Fathom every way covered with a Dome In some of them there is in each Vault a half pace of stone two foot high and about a Fathom broad in the outside is the House of the House-keeper or Condar as they call him it stands along one of the sides of the Kervanseray and instead of Walls is only enclosed with a little Hedge in the mean time all the Provisions you are to expect must be had out of these wretched Hovels When there is no body in the Kervanseray these House-keepers retire to their Village or Huts which is out of the way a quarter or half a French League from thence and sometimes Travellers must go look for them when they have had no notice of their coming In the Angles of these Kervanserays there are commonly little Chambers which have the Doors on the outside and the rest of the place is for the Horses there is no other water but what is drawn out of Cisterns of which there are many in the Fields a little way from the Kervanseray We parted from that wretched Lodging Friday the third of April about four a Clock in the Evening and Travelled through a large very even Plain where we saw in many places the Ground whitened over with Salt which is made by the Rain Bahadini Tschektschek about half an hour after five we passed by a covered Kervanseray called Bahadini and about seven by another called Tschektschek by this last there is a Hut where Rhadars Lodge about eight a Clock we entered in amongst Hills and had up Hill and down Hill in very bad stony way where having turned to and again till nine of the Clock we came into a fair large Plain and there marched on till about half an hour after eleven at Night when we passed along a great Village where grow many Palm-Trees from which it hath taken the name of Hhormont Hhormont and a little beyond it there is a covered Kervanseray where we Lodged this place is five Agatsch from Schemzenghi We parted from thence on Saturday half an hour after a eleven a Clock at Night and took our way full South by a very bad and stony Road. Sunday about four a Clock in the Morning we passed by a little covered Kervanseray called Serten then taking our way Eastward Serten Bedgi-Paria after an hours Travelling we found another called Bedgi-Paria a little after we came to a running water the clearness whereof tempted us to fill our Mataras or leathern Bottles but it was good luck that I bid one of the Company who alighted purposely from his Horse to taste it first for he found it to be as Salt as Salt it self Our way continued still bad till about seven of the Clock in the Morning that we came to a Kervanseray called Tengbidalan this Kervanseray is covered as many others are Tengbidalan but it is much finer It is a Square about eight Fathom in the middle of each Face there is a great Arch by which one enters into Vaults which make a Cross as in the others but they are higher and it is not under these Vaults that Travellers Lodge for the Chambers are in the four Corners about three Fathom square two or three foot raised from the Ground and open on the two sides within where there are great Arches from the Floor up to the Vault each Chamber hath its Chimny and other small conveniences the Place in the middle is covered with a Dome in which there is a great round opening in the top By one of the Gates of this Kervanseray there runs a very clear Brook about a good Foot broad which falls into an oblong square Bason in the middle and keeps it always full then it passes farther in such another Canal as brought it and runs out at the opposite Gate this Brook comes from a Hill two Muskets shot from the Kervanseray it falls down from it impetuously in a Channel above a Foot broad and about half as deep and is received on the first Pillar of a broken Arch which is shaped like a Well there are a great many of these broken Arches in a row with some ruins of the Pillars and I believe they have been beaten down by the force of the water which in time of Rain is very great at that place nay some of it too ran then betwixt the Pillars perhaps it was because they were afraid of that accident that they brought not the water upon these Arches which in all appearance were only made for Ornament The water falling down into this Well runs under Ground about twenty Fathom length and comes up again by the Pillar of the first of the Arches that remain entire to the number of eleven this Pillar being also like a well and rising to a height it glides away in a Channel like to that which comes from the Hill save that it is carried along these Arches that are about a Fathom and a half high till coming to a higher Ground the Canal is not above two Foot high and a little farther runs level with the Ground where making several turnings and windings it waters the Roots of a great deal of Liquorice growing by the sides of it until it come to the Kervanseray The truth is that water is not good to drink and it is only necessity that makes men use it when there is none in a Cistern close by but it serves at least to cool the Kervanseray and to wash any thing in
midnight we had a fresh Gale from North-West Monday Morning the twelfth of October the Wind slackned very much but changed not and therefore we weighed Anchor at half an hour after eight and standing away South-West we were soon after becalmed Towards Noon we Rowed a little and half an hour after had a breeze from South-West with which we bore away North-West till three in the Afternoon when we entered into the River Caron that comes from the Hills above the Town Souster Caron Souster Khusistan Susa Ahasuerus Coaspes Choasp Tiripari Zeimare which is the Capital Town of Khusistan and was in ancient times the Town of Susa where Ahasuerus held his Court. This River of Caron must be the Coaspes of the Ancients nay they assured me that there is still at present near to the Town of Souster a Hill called Choasp where the River of Caron which Sanson calls Tiripari Tiritiri and Zeimare hath its source but what reason he has for these names I cannot tell since no body could give me any account of them though I have enquired of many who all told me they knew of no such thing On the Right Hand to the West there is an Isle called Dorghestan and on the Left or towards the East Dorghestan Gheban is the Island of Gheban the point whereof is called Mouele and Gheban because all that Country is called Gheban and is the limits of the Kingdom of Bassora on that side In that place to the Left Hand there is a piece of of Palm-Tree-Wood fixed in the Ground to serve for a signal when it his high water not to go beyond it and they call that signal Dgioudoh The Land here on both sides depends on the Basha of Bassora The usual way to Bassora is by Sea to the mouth of Schat-el-Aarab The way to Bassora which they enter and go by water to Bassora but we put in to the River because our Sea-men who had nothing to do at Bassora being only come to take in Dates imposed upon us telling us that we must go to Gheban to take in fresh water and wood which we wanted and that it was also the shortest cut to Bassora but that great Barks went not that way because it was not deep enough which we too easily believed So soon as we were got into the River we came to Anchor in a Fathom water At low water the River at that place is but very little salt and a little higher it is fresh even when it is Flood Being Flood about midnight our men fell to their Oars but Rowed not above an hour and then came to an Anchor The Country about seems to be very good Land it is low even and green on all Hands and we saw many Cows there feeding in the Meadows which look much like the Meadows of Holland Tuesday the thirteenth of October about ten a Clock in the Morning our Sea-men went a shoar and Towed us up till one of the Clock when being over against a Village where there are a great many Palm-Trees we hoisted Sail with a North-West Wind that lasted not long and so came to an Anchor again Our men went a shoar to hear News as they said of Bassora and coming back in the Evening told us that all things were in confusion at Bassora that the Basha was marched with his whole Army towards Bagdad and that all Barks were taken up for Transporting of Soldiers and that therefore they durst go no farther but were resolved to return empty to Bender-Rik This was all false A cheat of the Sea-men and the truth was they had no mind to go any farther designing to take in their Cargoe at the place we were at where there is plenty of Dates and that was the reason they had brought us that way Nevertheless we must pretend to believe all the Knaves told us and try to find another Bark to carry us to Bassora We sent then a servant next day to look for one and he brought us a small thing wherein the men promised in four and twenty hours to carry us to the Town for six Abassis which we gave them These Barks are flat bottomed about a Fathom high one and a half broad and about five Fathom long The Stern is very low but the Head is as high again and draws into a sharp point as the Gondolos of Venice Barks on the River of Caron These Barks are not Caulked but only Pitched over on the outside which they do in the manner following When they are to Pitch a Daneg for so they call that sort of Bark in Arabick ten or twelve paces from the Daneg they make a Furnace of Earth the upper part whereof is made like a Cauldron into that they put the Pitch and the fire underneath and when the Pitch is almost melted but not altogether liquid a man comes with a little wet Shovel in his Hand and another lays some of this Pitch upon it The Pitching of a Daneg and then puts water upon the Pitch which the first carrying to the Daneg and stirring the Pitch with a piece of Wood to which it does not stick he that is working at the Daneg takes the Pitch in his Hand and dawbs it as one would do Plaster upon the Daneg and then with a Rowler which is not altogether round he spreads it upon the Vessel and in that manner Pitches it all over on the outside These Barks are made very strong the sides being about a Foot thick and all the Planks are Nailed with great Nails such as are driven into Gates in France they have likewise a Mast of an indifferent bigness Indeed these Barks make but heavy way especially in the middle of the water where they cannot use a Sail if they have not the Wind in Poop and nevertheless they load them so deep that they are not above half a Foot above water We embarked in one of these Boats about half an hour after three in the Afternoon it was full of a kind of very long green Rushes that have a great point at the end whereof they make very fine mats Our Crew consisted of two Sea-men and a Master the two men Towed us on Land till half an hour after six that we came before a Village to the Left Hand there we cast Anchor our Men unloaded all the Rushes and going afterwards to the Village we we saw no more of them till next day This is a great Village and has a square Castle with eight Towers to wit one at each corner and one in the middle of each side but they are all of Earth and so thin that a double Musket could batter them all down This place is called Koutmian Koutmian that is to say Castle Mian and they make many Danegs there The Country of Gheban reaches from thence to the mouth of the River of Caron and in all that space the Land on both sides the River is called Gheban it
Companions with his coming that they might not be frightened which the King having condescended to he went first to the Cave and told his Companions what had befaln him saying That the King and his People were come to see them When they heard that they glorified God saying Let us pray to God that he would now take us into Paradise for if we go out these People will Worship us as Gods Their Prayers being heard they were carried up into Paradise and the little Dog with them Jub When Mahomet went from Mecha to Medina to visite Jub a Great Captain of the Turks lying at present buried in Constantinople being mounted on his Camel he knew neither the Way nor the House but the Camel conducted him thither Mahomet's Camel. and being come to the Gate stood there making a noise with head and feet until the Gate was opened And for that piece of service it shall enter into Paradise as the rest of the Animals above mentioned CHAP. XXXII Of Circumcision WHen Mahomet founded his Law he took as we have said the Jewish and Christian Religion for the model of it and perceiving that both of them had a Character whereby a Man was made a Jew or a Christian to wit Circumcision and Baptism Circumcision he resolved to find out one for his and finding none proper but one of these two he chose Circumcision as being the most ancient way and the most commodious for the Mahometans think that a Man who has the fore-skin cut off is fittest for generation and the truth is the Arabs have so long a fore-skin that if they did not cut it it would trouble them much and you may see little Children among them who have it hanging very long besides if they did not cut their Prepuce when they made water they would still retain some drops of it that would pollute them and nevertheless that they might be distinguished in that from the Jews The difference betwixt the Circumcision of the Jews and the Turks he would not have the Circumcision of the Turks performed as that of the Jews is for the Jews circumcise their Children when they are eight days old and after they have cut off the fore-skin slit with their nails the skin also that covers the nut and turn it up with their fingers that the nut may be wholly uncovered whereas the Turks circumcise not their Children before the age of eleven or twelve years to the end they themselves may pronounce the words La illah illallah Mehemet resoul allah that is to say there is no God but God Mahomet is his Prophet which is their profession of Faith And also to the end they may understand what they say and say it with the heart aswel as mouth and they think it enough to cut off the fore-skin Some also add for a difference that the Jews make the Circumcision with a Knife of Stone and the Turks with one of Iron but it is certain A Knife of stone the Jews may do it with any Knife either of Iron Wood or Stone Rejoycing made at the Circumcision of Children The Turks aswel as the Jews make great rejoycing at the Circumcision of their Children for when a Child is come to competent age they fix a day for that Ceremony which being come the Child is set on Horse-back and led about the Town with the sound of Timbrels and Cymbals then he returns home where he makes the aforesaid profession of Faith holding up one finger and then is circumcised that being done the Father makes a Feast to which he invites all his Relations and Friends there they make merry dance and sing and the day following the Guests fail not to make Presents to the Child according to the several qualities of the Giver and Receiver When any Christian turns Turk they use the same Ceremonies but when a Jew becomes Turk he is not circumcised It is false that a Jew must become Christian before he be made a Turk because he hath been so already and though his Circumcision be different yet it is sufficient and they only make him say the profession of the Musulman Faith and then he is a Turk Many are perswaded that when a Jew turns Turk he must first become Christian which is very false for I have asked it of several Turks who alwaies laugh'd at me for my pains and indeed that which makes us Christians is Baptism Now it is certain they are never baptised it is very true that when they turn Turks as they propose to themselves to believe all that the Turks believe so they must believe that Jesus Christ is the Word of God Conceived by the breath of God and Born of the Virgin Mary a Virgin after his birth and that he is the Messias If a Renegado or natural Turk happen to die without Circumcision they break the little Finger of the left Hand and that serves him for Circumcision To conclude the Turks bear so great respect to these words La illah illallah Mahomet resoul allah that if a Christian or Jew should pronounce them even inconsiderately before Witnesses he must absolutely and without remission turn Turk or be burnt CHAP. XXXIII Of the Commands to be observed in the Turkish Religion THE Turks receive the Decalogue of Moses Commands of the Turkish Law. and cause it punctually to be observed by all but besides these they have other Commands that Mahomet gave them which are properly the Foundation of their Religion These Commands are chiefly Five the First is To Believe one only God and to Worship him as such The Second To Fast the Ramadan The Third To Pray at the hours appointed The Fourth To give yearly to the Poor the fortieth part of their substance The Fifth Once in their lives to make a Pilgrimage to Mecha Whereupon a Turk of Quality told me once that his Father meeting one day with a Beggar who begg'd an Alms of him he ask'd him what Religion he was the Beggar told him that he was a Musulman and the other putting him to it What was the duty of a Musulman the Beggar answerd That he had Five Commands to observe who would be a Musulman but that they ought to be reckoned no more now but One because said he the Rich have abolished the Second and Third by their want of Devotion and the Poor the Fourth and Fifth by their Inability having nothing to give in Charity nor to perform the Pilgrimage of Mecha so that only the First remains It is certain that they observe their First Command very punctually for they shew very great reverence to God and even to his Name The Turks have great respect for the Name of God. which they never pronounce nor hear pronounced but with signs of great submission and reverence They never set about any action let it be of never so small consequence but they first say Bismillah that is to say In the Name of God whether
Bell with a Gilt Ball over the top and four such others about it Then another little square Pavillion of far less value carried by a Man after that came eight pieces of Searge and a Man with a burden of Ropes All these things were for adorning the Kiabe or Mosque of Mecha and were accompanied by many Processions with Banners and all the Santo's with several Drums and Timbrels But strange was the pressing and crowding of the People to touch all the things that were sent in Present every one strove to get near and those who were so happy touched them most devoutly with the ends of their Fingers nay not so much as the Ropes that were Consecrated to that holy place but were touched with as much respect and devotion as the rest and they who because of the Crowd could not come near got up upon some Stone and undoing their Turban threw one end of it upon the Relicks and held the other in their Hand to pull it back by so that if they could touch them with any thing that they could afterwards kiss they were satisfied The respect of the Mahometans for the Presents that are sent to Mecha They have the same Reverence for these things that Catholicks have for their Relicks and that only because they are to be presented to the Kiabe for adorning that place which they esteem holy All those things were carried from the Castle to the House of the Emir-Adge Two days after to wit Monday the twenty third of July the Emir-Adge went out of the Town that he might Encamp abroad and prepare for the Journey to Mecha it was much the same as at the other Cavalcades as for the order of the Families of the Beys the Chiaoux and the rest Six Field-pieces for the Journey of Mecha But there was this more in this last Cavalcade that after the Families of the Beys came six Field-pieces every one of them drawn by two Horses which the Emir-Adge always carries with him in that Expedition There were besides a great many little Children some mounted on Camels some on Horses and all in Caftans presented to them these were the Sons of the Emir-Adge's Cooks Grooms and other Officers The first of these little Boys was the Son of the Smith who goes to shooe the Horses Mules and Asses of the Caravan and as a sign of that he was upon a Camel covered with a very pretty Pavillion and had on the Camels back before him an Anvil with a great Hammer in his Hand wherewith he now and then struck upon the Anvil Then passed a great many Camels loaded with Provisions for the Emir-Adge after them came the Beys and then the Emir-Adge A quarter of an Hour after came all the Santo's or Mad-men in far greater number than ever I had seen in any place some Dancing others making a thousand wry Mouths and strange Faces and clad in divers Fashions much like our Masquers in time of Carnaval Then at length came the blessed Camel which carries the Pavillion I mentioned before the other things were under that Pavillion and horrible was the crowding to get near and kiss or at least touch that same Pavillion This Camel was in goodly Trappings of Gold and Silk Four Camels kept for the service of Mahomet Five Caravans make the Journey of Mecha The Caravan of Caire The Caravan of Damascus The Caravan of the Magrebins The Caravan of Persia The Caravan of the Mogul The Emir-Adge in the Journey of Mecha takes with him 1500. Camels of his own The number of Men and Beasts in the Caravan of Caire for Mecha and was followed by another very well Accoutred too but not Loaded he went this Journey to carry the Pavillion when the other was weary Four Camels are kept for that Service of which two are employed every Year whilst the other two take their rest It is wonderful to see how many People come yearly from all places to perform that Journey for there are five Caravans to wit that of Caire which consists of Aegyptians and of all that come from Constantinople and the places about that of Damascus wherein go from Syria all who have a mind to go that of the Magrebins or Westerlings comprehending those of Barbary Fez and Morocco who meet at Caire the Caravan of Persia and that of the Indies or the Mogul But in my opinion they who come from Fez and Morocco are put to the greatest trouble for they Travel always by Land over great Desarts that takes them up a long time and indeed they employ a whole Year in the Journey and more than one half of them die by the way This Caravan of Caire was very numerous for in it there was four Beys one Janizary Agasi one Bostangi Basha and several other mighty Lords who made the Journey having all a great many Camels with them As for the Emir-Adge who travels that Journey yearly and is chief of the Caravan he has commonly Fifteen hundred Camels to carry his Baggage and to sell or let to those who want for many die by the way He hath Five hundred Camels to carry Water only for his Family and they load them with Fresh-water whereever they find any This Caravan as it was said consisted of about an Hundred thousand Persons and of above an Hundred thousand Beasts as well Camels as Horses Mules and Asses and that seemed indeed to be a great deal but we were informed afterward by the Gentleman of the Horse to the Bey of Suez that that Caravan consisted only of Eight thousand Camels and that when it amounts to Fifteen thousand Camels it is thought to be very great CHAP. XVII Of the Departure of the Caravan of Mecha from the Birque and of its Journey to Mecha THE day that the Emir-Adge parted from Caire he Encamped in Tents close by the City The Birque and a few days after he Encamped at the Birque which is a great Pond about Twelve Miles from Caire near to which they Encamp The departure of the Caravan This place is the Rendesvouz of all the Caravans The Emir-Adge parted from thence with the whole Caravan Wednesday the eighth of August it being the custome for the Caravan of Caire to set out Seven and fifty days after the beginning of the Ramadan that so it may be there punctually at the time It is very pretty to see them Encamped in the Night-time because of the infinite number of Lamps that are in the Tents and Pavillions Next day the Ninth of August the Caravan of the Magrebins parted also from the Birque and there all of Barbary who intend to make the Journey meet and make a distinct Caravan which depends not on the Emir-Adge of Caire but have a Chief of their own That Caravan never sets out but a day after the Caravan of Caire they travel commonly by night and rest in the day time The Caravans travel only by night as all other Caravans do
upon the ground along the Hall according to their Mode it consists of about Two thousand Dishes ranked one upon two others these Dishes have feet like our Salvers but almost half a Foot high and in that manner they are seven or eight Rows high The dishes are all of Rice Broths and the like Green Red Yellow and of several Colours they have also good Joynts of Roast-meat but without any Sauce however they make some Ragoes of the Nuts of Pine-Apples Almonds and such other things they mind not the daintiness and variety but only the quantity of Victuals and that they be not spoil'd Dinner is prepared in the same manner in the Tents of the Kiaya or the Basha's Lieutenant and of his other Officers When the first have filled their Bellies A Feast for many persons in one service they rise and give place to others who Dine also and then make way for the rest so long as any remain and so several companies Dine without any new Service When the Basha has Dined he withdraws into another Pavillion where he is visited by all the Beys and other persons of Quality every one in his turn The Basha stayed there two days and the third which was Saturday The Basha's entry into Caire the Nine and twentieth of September he made his Entry in this manner First went the Servants of the Beys on Horse-back their Sword by their side and Harquebuss in hand with the but-end on their Knee they made near Five hundred Horse and among them were several of the Retinue of the Basha Next came the Spahis divided into three Banners the Green The Green Troop the Yellow and the Red. The Green called the Troop of the Charquese or Circassians marched first every Trooper having a green Guidon on the top of his Pike they were near Four hundred Men and in the Rear of the Troop came their Aga having in his hand also a Pike with a green Guidon as the rest had and after him the Timbrels and Pipes of the Troop Next to that came the Yellow all the Troopers carrying yellow Guidons Yellow Troop they made about four hundred and twenty and were brought up by their Aga followed by the Timbrels and Pipes The last was the Red Troop Red Troop consisting of near five hundred Men carrying every one a red Guidon their Aga was in the rear and after him the Timbrels and Pipes but in greater number than with the two former for that is the most honourable Troop of the three A Troop of Tartars and next to it is the Yellow After the Spahies came a Troop of Tartarian-Horse who belonged to the Basha there were above an hundred of them all apparelled after the Tartarian fashion with Pike in hand and a Guidon strip'd white yellow and red These were followed by the Muteferacaes then the Chiaoux with their great Caps of Ceremony who made about three hundred in number Next came all the Beys every one with two Pages walking a foot before them After them came seven Horse-men every one leading a Horse of the Bashas these Horses were covered with rich Housses all embroidered with Gold and Silver the Sousbasha followed them having the Master of the Horse of the Basha on his left hand All this body of Horse made about two thousand five or six hundred Men. The Azapes followed them covered for the most part with the Skins of Tigres all entire and their Muskets on their shoulders being in all above three hundred Men. And after them came the Janizaries of whom two marched before the one carrying on his shoulder a great wooden Club and the other a great wooden Hatchet as their Custome is when they march in Pomp these Janizaries made in all near a thousand Men. After them marched the forty Janizaries of the Mehkeime or Justice with their Caps of Ceremony Mehkeime Mehkeime signifies a place where Justice is rendered to all then sixteen Peicks or Bashas Lackqueys marching two and two with their Caps of Silver gilt on their heads and Plumaches of Feathers in them Then at length came the Basha mounted on a stately Horse with a Housse embroidered all over with Gold He wore a Chiaoux Cap with two black Herons tops standing upright upon it and a lovely Vest of white Sattin lined with excellent Samour or Sable After him came his Selihhtar and Tchoadar each with his long tail'd Cap hanging down behind his back and then came a great many Trumpets Flutes Drums Timbrels and such like Instruments with all his domestick Servants on Horse-back This Basha brought one thousand seven hundred Men with him of whom some were in Armour to the very fingers ends and two thousand three hundred Beasts Horses Camels and Mules It was easie to distinguish them from the rest being all much harrassed by the Journey When he entered into his Appartment which had been prepared for him several days before they killed two Bullocks CHAP. XXIV Of the Journey from Caire to Suez BEing at Caire I had a design to go see the Red-Sea The Journey from Caire to Suez and knowing that there was a Caravan ready to part for Suez I went to wait on Haly Bey the Bey of Suez who was then at Caire and made him a Present of a Box of five or six pound weight of Sweet-meats made by a French man and he when I had opened my design to him promised me his protection I went next to the Gentleman of his Horse and having retained Mules for myself and Company I made Provisions of Bread Wine Meat Provisions for going from Caire to Suez and other things necessary to serve us to Suez where they assured me I should find all things but especially Water nor forgetting neither a Quilt Coverlet and a Capot for every one of the company We should have had a Tent also with us but we carried none because the Beys Gentleman of the Horse promised us the use of his to Suez Having made ready our Provisions we loaded them on a Camel and then I parted from Caire on Thursday the seventeenth of January in the Year 1658. with a Capucine and a French man of Provence who understood Arabick very well and a Moor Servant who used to serve the French and could speak a little Lingua Franca having left my own Man who was indisposed at Caire We went from Caire to the Birque which is but four leagues distant and encamped there waiting for the rest of the Caravan that consisted of two thousand Camels loaded with Timber for building a Ship for the Grand Signior Novali Bey had orders to get her built and was gone a little before The Bey of Suez went along with this Caravan in a Litter carried by two Camels he made the Journey because one of his Galleys was arrived and that was the cause also of the Capucins going that he might Confess the Slaves on board This Birque is spacious and has always water in
Chappel belonging to the Greeks On the Right Hand of the Virgins Sepulchre there is a Turkish Mosque and on the Left a Chappel of the Jacobites This Church is pretty dark receiving no light but by the Door and a Window that is over the Altar of the Greek Chappel There are One and twenty Lamps in this Church Near to it is the place where the Virgin seeing St. Stephen stoned The place where St. Stephen was stoned Sheep Pool Salomon's Temple The house of St. Ann. prayed to God to grant him constancy enough to suffer that Martyrdom and next to it the place where that Saint was stoned Being after this come into the City by St. Stephen's Gate we saw pretty near to that Gate the Sheep-Pool close by which is the Temple of Salomon Then we came to the House of St. Ann the Mother of the Virgin. St. Helen built a Church over this House which was served by Nuns but the Turks have since turned it into a Mosque and nevertheless Christians are permitted to enter into it for a few Maidins which they give to the Santo that keeps it There is a lovely Cloyster still to be seen there by which one goes down to the House of St. Ann which is under the Church It hath two Rooms in one of which there is an Altar in the place where the Blessed Virgin was Born. After we had seen all these things we returned to the Convent at eleven a Clock in the Morning CHAP. XXXVIII Our first Entry into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre WHen we had Dined in the Convent we made ready to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and that very Evening entred into it paying Four and twenty Piastres a piece A Tax for entering into the holy Sepulchre for all Franks are Taxed at so much for the first time they go into it but the Religious pay only Twelve as also when one hath been once in he may enter it again as often as it is opened giving a Maidin to the Turks who keep the Door Before you enter into this Church you must pass over a large open place that is before it and Paved with fair broad Free-stone which the Jews dare not tread upon A fair Steeple of St. Sepulchre Then you see the Steeple which is on the left-side corner of the Front of the Church and looks great it is square and on all sides has three stories of Windows two in front separated and supported by two Marble-Pillars and heretofore there were eighteen Bells in it The Door of the Church of St. Sepulchre After that you come to the Door of the Church which is stately and Magnificent having over it many Figures in Bass-Relief representing several sacred Histories This Door is always shut and sealed up with the Basha's Seal unless when some Pilgrims or Religious Persons are to enter into it and then the Turks open it and immediately shut it again There are three holes in this Door two whereof are but small and made on purpose that they who are within may speak through them to those that are without and the third bigger to let in Victuals to such as stay within but there is a Bar of Iron cross it to hinder any from entring in that way there is another Door close by this but it is Walled up Betwixt these two Doors there is a kind of Stone-bench where the Turks that keep the Door sit So soon as we were within the Church of St. Sepulchre we went to the Chappel of the Apparition The Chappel of the Apparition so called because they say our Lord appeared first in that place to the Blessed Virgin his Mother immediately after his glorious Resurrection Here the Monks put themselves and the Pilgrims in order of Procession every Monk had a Wax-Taper given him and a Book containing proper Prayers for every station We began our Procession before the Pillar of Flagellation Pillar of Flagellation Prison of our Lord. and having there sung the Prayers proper for that station we went two and two to the Prison of our Lord where the proper Prayers for that place were sung then to the Chappel of the parting of his Garments We next went down to the Chappel of St. Helen and from thence without stopping to the Chappel of the Invention of the Cross having there sung the Prayers we came up again to the Chappel of St. Helen where having made the station Mount Calvary we ascended into the Church again and there went to the Chappel of Exprobration from thence to Mount Calvary where having performed our station we came down again from that holy place and went to the Stone of the Vnction Stone of Vnction then to the holy Sepulchre and turned thrice round it then entred into it and having there as in all other places sung the proper Prayers for the place we returned to the Chappel of the Apparition where we made the last station before the holy Sacrament and there we ended our Procession by the Litanies of the Blessed Virgin. When that was over every one had liberty to go and perform his Devotions where he pleased and view all the works and corners of that Church of which I shall give a little Description hereafter Next day being Palm-Sunday the fourteenth of April every one of us received a Palm Branch blessed upon the holy Sepulchre from the hand of the reverend Father Commissary who afterwards sung a Mass upon an Altar made on purpose before the holy Sepulchre we had there a Monk who played upon a little Organ purposely brought thither which exceedingly delighted all the Turks and Oriental Christians who much wondered how by the motion of the Fingers one could make so sweet an Harmony At the end of Mass we all received the Communion from the hands of the reverend Father Commissary and then went to Dinner in the Convent of St. Saviour CHAP. XXXIX Of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre BEfore I leave these holy Places I must according to my promise say something of them This Church is very spacious the Nef or Body of it is round and receives no Light but from the top of the Dome above which is much like the Dome of the Rotunda at Rome This Dome is on the out-side covered with Lead within it is Wainscotted with Cedar Wood which St. Helen gave for that use when she built that Church because it rots not The opening of the Dome is covered with a Wire Lettice that hinders Birds from coming into the Church In the middle of this Nef and just under the opening of the Dome is the holy Sepulchre but before you enter into that so holy place you must pass over a place raised a Foot high from the Floor of the Church there being on each side a Seat or Bank of White Marble about two Foot and a half high where the Religious that assist at the Celebration of the Mass of the holy
before that is to say the eight and twentieth or nine and twentieth day of June and though that River begin almost always to encrease from the sixteenth or twentieth day of May yet they publish it not before one of the days aforementioned when it is already pretty well encreased that is to say betwixt six and a half and eight Pics The Pic is a Measure of twenty four fingers breadth The Year before the day when they begin to cry the growth of the Nile it had encreased seven Pics and a half according to what the Criers said who nevertheless though the Nile encreases seven eight or ten fingers a day yet they never cry commonly more than two three or four according as they agree about it among themselves and keep the overplus till towards the end when the Bank is near to be cut They then add every day part of that which they have reserved to the real growth of that day they cry it on and though it have not encreased above five or six fingers breadth they 'll cry that it is risen 23 or 24 fingers to the end they may make the People joyful with the hopes of a good Year and gain the more to themselves so that at the end their account is always just They have another reason also why they reserve some fingers till the end and that is If they cried all some malicious person would look upon the Water with a bad eye as they call it A Superstition in Aegypt concerning the Nile For if a Man look upon a pretty Child or any thing else and saying it is lovely if he add not presently God grant it long life or some such Benediction they call that to look upon it with an evil eye and believe that misfortune will befal the Child It is the same with Beasts and every thing else as with Children Wherefore they apply Garlick and such other stuff to their Children to make them look ugly And in the same manner if they should declare all the growth of the Nile they would be afraid some body might say the Water is bravely increased in a short time without wishing a blessing to it and by such words occasion the decrease of the Nile which as they believe would bring a Famin all over the Land of Aegypt The publication of the growth of the Nile They began then on the 28. of June the Eye of St. Peter and St. Paul to publish the growth of the Nile which was encreased according to the Grand Signior's Measure 8. Pics The 29. it rose two fingers the 30. 2. f. The first of July 3. f. the 2. two f. the 3. 2. f. the 4. 3. f. the 5. 2. f. the 6. 3. f. the 7. 4. f. the 8. 2. f. the 9. 3. f. the 10. 4. f. the 11. 3. f. the 12. 3. f. the 13. 5. f. the 14. 4. f. the 15. 4. f. the 16. 5. f. the 17. 4. f. the 18. 4. f. the 19. 3. f. the 20. 3. f. the 21. 3. f. the 22. 4. f. the 23. 3. f. the 24. 4. f. the 25. 3. f. the 26. 3. f. the 27. 4. f. the 28. 5. f. the 29. 7. f. the 30. 8. f. the 31. 6 f. The first of August 7. f. the 2. 4. f. the 3. 4. f. the 4. 3. f. the 5. 3. f. the 6. 4. f. the 7. 3. f. the 8. 3. f. the 9. 3. f. the 10. 4. f. the 11. 5. f. the 12. 10. f. the 13. 15. f. the 14. Ouff allah which is to say Abundance from God and thereby it is understood that the River is risen 16. Pics of which if there wanted but one fingers breadth they would not cut and open the Khalis For if the Basha should open it before it were encreased 16. whole Pics and the Year not prove good the Grand Signior's Farmers in Aegypt would not be obliged to pay any thing to the Grand Signior and the Basha must answer for it and opening it after it hath encreased 16. Pics he is not responsable for the plentifulness or scarcity of the Year but if being risen 16. Pics he did not open it and that afterwards it should diminish he is answerable as if he had opened it too soon That day they cried 12. fingers The 15. day the Khalis was opened as I shall say hereafter and they cried nothing but Ouff allah and next day the sixteenth how much more it was encreased saying so many fingers upon the following Pic to wit The 16. 8. f. which are 14. f. of the 17. Pic. the 17. 4. f. which are 18. f. of the 17. Pic. the 18. 3. f. which are 21. f. of the 17. Pic. the 19. 2. f. which are 23. f. of the 17. P. the 20. 2. f. which are one finger of the 18. P. the 21. 2. f. which are 3. f. of the 18. P. the 22. the Nile grew none at all and nothing was cried the 23. 2. f. which are 5. f. of the 18. P. the 24. 3. f. which are 8. f. of the 18. P. the 25. 1. f. which makes 9. f. of the 18. P. the 26. 2. f. which are 11. f. of the 18. P. the 27. 4. f. which are 15. f. of the 18. P. the 28. 7. f. which are 22. f. of the 18. P. the 29. 6. f. which are 4. f. of the 19. P. the 30. 4. f. which are 8. f. of the 19. P. the 31. 4. f. which are 12. f. of the 19. P. The first of September 6. f. which are 18. f. of the 19. P. the 2. 5. f. which are 23. f. of the 19. P. the 3. 6. f. which are 5. f. of the 20. P. the 4. 4. f. which are 9. f. of the 20. P. the 5. 5. f. which are 14. f. of the 20. P. the 6. 4. f. which are 18. f. of the 20. P. the 7. 4. f. which are 22. f. of the 20. P. the 8. 5. f. which are 3. f. of the 21. P. the 9. 3. f. which are 6. f. of the 21. P. the 10. 3. f. which are 9. f. of the 21. P. the 11. 4. f. which are 13. f. of the 21. P. the 12. 3. f. which are 16. f. of the 21. P. the 13. 2. f. which are 18. f. of the 21. P. the 14. 3. f. which are 21. f. of the 21. P. the 15. 2. f. which are 23. f. of the 21 P. the 16. 3. f. which are 2. f. of the 22. P. the 17. 2. f. which are 4. f. of the 22. P. the 18. 2. f. which are 6. f. of the 22. P. the 19. 3. f. which are 9. f. of the 22. P. the 20. 2. f. which are 11. f. of the 22. P. the 21. 2. f. which are 13. f. of the 22. P. the 22. 3. f. which are 16. f. of the 22. P. the three and twentieth nothing because it began to decrease And the four and twentieth which is Holy-Cross-Day according to the Calender of the Greeks they neither reckon nor
hundred in Number all in good Order every one with a large Musquet on his Shoulder well Gilt nay some of them carried Blunderbusses as big as little Faulcons with their Shables by their side After them came six led Horses as if it had been before the Basha himself then many of the Chiaoux of Caire Agas and Janizaries all with their Caps of Ceremony then the two Pages of the said Bey of Girge and the eight of the Basha with their Gilt Silver-Cap and lovely Plumes of Feathers and at length came the Bey of Girge He was a Man of good presence about forty Years of Age after him came his Household to the number of three hundred Men all in good Order The ten first were cloathed in Green Velvet with a large Collar of the same Stuff covered over with Plates of Gold having neat Bows and Quivers full of pretty Arrows with Shables by their sides The ten that came next were Apparelled in Yellow Satin carrying each a Pike a Shield and a Shable The rest were all well Cloathed too every one carrying a Carbine and Shable and in the Rear of them ten played on Timbrels and as many on Trumpets and Flutes besides all these there were above sixty Men playing on Timbrels every one mounted on a Camel who being dispersed here and there through the Cavalcade made a great Noise They drew all up in the Cara Meidan but though it be a large place yet it could not contain both them and the Militia of Caire so that a good many of them were forced to March out into the Romeille to make room for the rest When the Bey came near the Kieusk he alighted from his Horse and went unto it where the Basha expected him and treated him with Coffee Sorbet and a Perfume presenting him and every one of his Officers with a Caftan a piece Whilst he was there I went to a narrow Avenue at the end of the Romeille through which he was to pass soon after we saw him and all his Men pass that way in File I reckoned all those of his Retinue who had Caftans and found them to be an hundred and eight and they marched in the same Order as they came The Kiaya of the Basha waited upon the Bey back to his House which was not far distant However that was a thing extraordinary for it is not the custome for the Kiaya of a Basha to wait upon a Bey he saluted all the People on both hands as he went who all shouted and wished him a thousand Blessings The Turks and People of the Country were much surprised to see so many Men saying That there was no King so powerful as he The truth is the Bey of Girge is a very mighty Prince when he is beloved of his Subjects who are all Warlike so that when he is at Girge he values not the Grand Signior himself And nevertheless a Year after this solemn entry the Basha of Caire having made War with him who seemed to be very well beloved of his Subjects he took him and caused him immediately to be Strangled His Arabs who were his greatest strength and in whom he put most Confidence having forsaken him but it was thought they were corrupted by the Basha This Bey kept in his House about him a Guard of Two thousand Men and the rest of his Forces returned to Bezeten and the Rode which is a Country-house belonging to him over against old Caire but they came daily to the City to know how the Affaires of their Master stood because he mistrusted some bad design against him and therefore when he went abroad in the Town he took always Three thousand Horse along with him This Bey presented the Basha in Money and Horses to the value of eighty Purses and it was judged that that Journey would cost him Three hundred Purses and indeed he had brought Two thousand Purses with him which amount to fifty Millions of Maidins or a Hundred and fifteen thousand an hundred and one Piastres seventeen Maidins When this Bey was at Girge they killed an hundred and fifty Sheep a day for his Family CHAP. LXVIII The arrival of an Ambassadour of Aethiopia at Caire With the Presents he brought for the Grand Signior IN the month of October an Ambassadour of Aethiopia came to Caire The arrival of an Ambassadour of Aethiopia at Caire An Ass of extraordinary Beauty with several Presents for the Grand Signior and among others an Ass that had a most delicate Skin if it was Natural for I will not vouch for that since I did not examine it This Ass had a black List down the Back and the rest of its Body was all begirt with White and Tawny streaks a finger broad a piece the Head of it was extraordinarily long striped and partly coloured as the rest of the Body its Ears like a Buffles were very wide at the end and black yellow and white its Legs streaked just like the Body not long ways but round the Leg in fashion of a Garter down to the Foot and all in so good proportion and Symmetry that no Lynx could be more exactly spotted nor any Skin of a Tygre so pretty The Ambassadour had two more such Asses which died by the way but he brought their Skins with him to be presented to the Grand Signior with the live one He had also several little black Slaves of Nubia and other Countreys confining on Aethiopia Civet and other costly things for his Present These little Blacks as I said before serve to look after the Women in the Serraglio after that they are Gelded The Ambassadour was an Old Man and had the end of his Nose part of the upper and under Lip cut off but was otherwise a shapely Man and of a very good Presence He was Cloathed after the Cophtish fashion wearing a Turban like them and spoke very good Italian which gave me the opportunity of conversing with him He told me his name was Michael that he was a Native of Tripoly in Syria and that he had made three or four Voyages into Christendom he even confessed to me that he was a Roman Catholick but that he durst not make profession of it in Aethiopia but only of the Abyssin that is to say the Religion of the Cophtes That eighteen months before he had parted from Gontar the Capital City of Aethiopia and was so long retarded by the way because of the contrary Winds he met with on the Red Sea by which he came That of an hundred Persons whom he had brought with him of his own Servants and the Slaves he was to present to the Grand Signior thirty or forty were Dead If he had come by Land he had not been so long by the way for from Gontar to Schouaquen it is about six weeks Journey Gontar and from Schouaquen to Caire forty or fifty days by Camels but he could not take that way because of his Train He told me many things
down we disarmed them and clapt them down into the Hold. The Captain was for sending Men on board their Ship but it seeming to me strange that they should so lose their biggest Ship I told the Captain That perhaps they only pretended to flie to tempt our Men on board of that Ship where lying in Ambush they might Blow them all up that so coming back again they might have less trouble to take us He had some regard to my advice and sent no body For my part I would not suffer my Man to go though he had a great mind to it not only because I was afraid he might come to some harm but also that it might not be said the French had Plundered any thing At length perceiving that the Enemies Boat carried several out of that Ship on board the Vessels that fled and was coming back for more And being told by a Man who had leapt into the Sea to save himself by Swimming but was taken up that there was no danger though we assured him that he should die for it if he told a Lye Our Men boarded the Enemies Ship and presently took down the Spanish Colours They easily afterwards made themselves Masters of the Men that remained whom they brought on board of us most part all Bloody and more than half dead for fear for they expected no Quarter Among the rest the Captain was taken who was a young Dutch-man in the Spaniards Service he had two Musquet shots in his right Side and right Arm His Ship was called the Great Alexander and was the very same which Papachin had taken by Surprise and Treachery from the Chevalier de Bious and this Fleman had bought her from Papachin She carried eight and twenty Guns and sixteen Petreras and the Captain told us that the Patache which was gone with the Bark carried sixteen Guns and six and twenty Petreras and the Bark four Guns and twenty four Petreras and that among them they had in all betwixt three and four hundred Men. He then gave us an account how the day before they put to Sea out of Porto Ferraro that having made us they had born up towards us and that next morning which was the same day of this Engagement being come up with us they had held Counsel and resolved that the Great Alexander should lay us aboard and the Patache and Bark shear along our side and fire their Broad-sides into us that afterward the Bark should fall a Stern and rake us from Stern to Stem to beat our Men from the Guns whilst the Patache lay by our side and kept continually firing and therefore they had put Two hundred and twenty men on board the Great Alexander an Hundred and fifty into the Patache leaving thirty remaining in the Sloop or Bark Their resolution was in part executed for the great Ship laid us aboard and grappled with us but when the others as they sheared by us saw no Man above Deck but only six Guns to scower the Deck and many of their men fell they fired their Broad-sides according to their promise and then made the best of their way leaving the great Ship engaged who finding themselves worsted by us would have been gone also and therefore sent several Men to cast loose the Grapplings but their design being unknown to us we knocked them down as fast as they shewed themselves so that no more of them durst appear He also told us That about the end of the Engagement his Boat went three times to the Patache or smaller Ship and carried away from him every time as many Men as she could hold it being out of his power to hinder them and that several attempting to save themselves by Swimming were Drowned He seemed to be enraged against the Captain of the Patache who had so abandoned him and said That he would willingly give Three thousand pieces of Eight that he might kill him We killed on board the Great Alexander threescore and five Men and wounded above fifty We were since informed at Legorn that by their own confession they lost and had disabled in the Engagement an Hundred and fourscore Men partly killed on board their Ships partly dead of their Wounds ashoar among whom was the Lieutenant of the Great Alexander and partly Maimed The Great Alexander had four or five shot betwixt Wind and Water which would have sunk her to the bottom if our Men had not speedily stopt the Leaks and the Patache that ran for it had also three or four shot betwixt Wind and Water which would likewise have sunk her to our view if there had been any rough Sea. We took Ninety three Prisoners among whom were some French who having taken on some with Captain Lantier a Fortnight and some with Captain Fugane eight days before this Engagement had left the Ships of these two Captains at Porto Ferraro We lost but two Men both killed by one Cannon Bullet that going through and through the Gun-Room where they were carried off one half of their Head and dashed their Blood and Brains against the Tillar We had also two Men wounded in the Leg with small shot The Prisoners being searched and riffled they untied their Hands and clapt them down into the Hold where they had Victuals and Drink given them and the Wounded were carefully drest so that our Chirurgeon had none but Enemies to dress And the Chirurgeon of the Great Alexander told us That he had never had so much Practice as that day for they brought him down Wounded Men faster than he could well turn to In short all the Prisoners were so civilly used that they wondered at it and said that they lived not so well on board their own Ship But there was a good Guard placed at the Hatches both to hinder them from attempting any thing and to hand down what they wanted as for the Captain he was lodged in the great Cabin with our Captain where he was well look'd after and wanted for nothing I prayed our Captain to give the French their Liberty which he presently did very generously saying That the French might command any thing on board of his Ship. The chief Mate and some Sea-men were sent to sail the Prize The two other sail with much ado rowed off to the Isle of Elba and went back to Porto Ferraro When all things were put in order in our Ship I went along with the Captain to see the Prize we found that poor Ship sadly shattered our Cross-bar-shot had made great Havock in her one of them had split a Petrera in two and another so mangled a Gunner that we found an Arm a Belly and two Legs and no body could tell what was become of the rest of him These Cross-bar-shot are round Bars of Iron three Fingers thick and a Foot long having at each end a round knob of Iron all of one piece they are put long-ways into the Gun but when they come out they flie cross-ways every way doing
such occasions it is most dangerous to render good Offices to a Man who is in disgrace with the King. He orders many times the Ears and Nose to be cut off Schah Sefi heretofore inflicted that punishment the upon an Ancient Person of Quality who had been in great favour with the Great Schah Abbas his Predecessour This cruel Prince being angry with the good old man who was in his presence Great barbarity commanded a Son of his to cut of his Ears which that unnatural Son presently executed the King commanded him then to cut off his Nose which was likewise done with that the old man finding himself so abused by his own Son and by order of his King whom he had not offended but who acted merely in a brutish Capricio said to the cruel Prince Ah Sir after this I ought not to live any longer cause me to be put to death He had no great trouble to obtain his desire nevertheless that it might not seem to be a favour to him how inhumane soever it was the Prince as if he feared of being accused this of Clemency in granting him death would needs accompany it with this piece of Cruelty that his Son must be the instrument of that sad Office and the Executioner of his own Father He bid his Son then cut off his head and told him that he gave him all his Estate This unnatural and infamous Parricide without delay obeyed that unjust order and cut the head from the Parent who had given him his Life It is remarkable that the chief Persons of Court are not exempt from those storms and that commonly they are the Objects of these cruel Sentences and yet no body murmurs at it Sometimes he is content to take part of their Estates sometimes he takes all and never fails to do so when he puts them to disgrace His nearest Relations soonest feel the effects of this tyrannical Power For the Kings of Persia are so afraid of being deprived of that Power which they abuse and are so apprehensive of being dethroned that they destroy the Children of their Female Relations when they are brought to bed of Boys by putting them into an Earthen trough where they suffer them to starve and when they come to the Possession of the Crown and Scepter it is their first Care and first Act of Royal Authority to cause the Eyes of all their Brothers Uncles Cousins Nephews and other Princes of their Bloud barbarously to be put out which is done with the point of a Cangiar wherewith the Eyes are plucked out whole and afterwards brought to the King in a Bason and seeing the Executioners of this Tyranny are commonly the first whom the King pleases to send on that errand some of them are so unskilfull at it that they butcher them in such manner that several have thereby lost their Lives A Prince without Eyes learned in the Mathematicks At Ispahan I saw one of those Princes at his House whose Eyes had been plucked out he is a very learned man especially in the Mathematicks of which he has Books always read to him and as to Astronomy and Astrology he has the Calculations read unto him and writes them very quickly with the point of his Finger having wax which he prepares himself like small twine less than ordinary packthread and this wax he lays upon a large board or plank of wood such as Scholars make use of in some places that they may not spoil Paper when they learn to design or write and with this wax which he so applies he forms very true letters and makes great calculations then with his Fingers end he casts up all that he hath set down performing Multiplication Division and all Astronomical calculations very exactly Change of VVives Sometimes the King of Persia takes the Wife of one of the Lords of his Court and gives him another for her out of his Serraglio whom many times he takes back and restores the man his own again It may very well be believed though that those whom the King bestows so are neither Begums which is the Title of Queens and Princesses nor the chief Khanums or Ladies of his Serraglio Great Jealousie of the King of Persia For he is extremely jealous of his Wives though he has a vast number of them and his Jealousie is so extravagant that if a man had onely looked upon them he would be put to death without remission wherefore when he takes them with him into the Countrey there are Eunuchs who have power of life and death and with good blows of a Cudgel order all to keep out of the way by which they are to pass from the Palace till they be out of the Town and then they say there is Courouk on that way that 's to say Courouk that it is not lawfull to pass it nay they also pitch tents at the ends of all the Streets that lead into the way to the end that no prospect may be allowed even to the sharpest sighted though otherwise these Ladies be well enough covered in Kagia-vehs upon Camels When the King comes with them to Giolfa all the men must leave their houses and flie into the Countrey none daring to stay at home whilst the Haram is passing but the women and when he is in a tent in the Fields if the fancy take him to send for them they fail not to give notice that there is a Courouk and then all forsaking their tents run away as far as they can The Courouks are troublesome at Ispahan and yet the present King made a great many whilst I was there he hath made no less than forty in three Months time and nevertheless every man was obliged to leave his house whatsoever weather it was cold or hot and flie to the hills if he had no friend living at some distance to whom he might betake himself In former times the Courouk was onely for those places where the King past with his Haram now they make it for some Leagues round the quarter comprehending within it even the adjoyning Villages The Kings of Persia exercise also this tyranny Courouk of Provisions that they make now and then Courouks of Fish poultry and other provisions which they like and when there is such a Courouk of any thing no body dares to sell any unless it be for the King's use in my time there was a Courouk of Fish and Poultry during which it was impossible to have any for love or money and that lasted some weeks How great soever the Power of the Persian Kings may be yet sometimes they moderate it and submit to reason Familiarly of the Kings of Persia They shew great familiarity to Strangers and even to their own Subjects eating and drinking with them pretty freely which this Prince often does as I saw whilst I was at Ispahan and after my departure he sent several times for the French and made them so drunk that they fell
every where they have no Stalk but embrace the Stem Towards the head of the stem about the uppermost but one of the sets of Leaves See the following Cut. or somewhat higher out of the main stem betwixt the two Leaves a stem sprouts out as big as the shank of a Tulip and long as ones Finger from the end whereof other small stalks spring forth about fifteen in number each of which bears a Flower on the top all these Flowers together making a kind of Posie before they blow they are about the bigness of a Brass Farthing and are like a flat Button or of the same bigness and figure as some little white round Bones flat above which are to be found in the Thornback-Fish they are round below that is to say the Leaves of which it is made up joyn and make the upper side flat when they are open they look like very small Emonies These Flowers on the outside are of a dull sullied White The Flowers of Kerzehreh inclining to a Violet-colour and very sleeked in the inside the bottom is White and the point of each Leaf Purple at the bottom there is a small Pentagone Figure all Yellow whereof each Angle answers to the middle of one of the Leaves of the Flower and out of the middle of each side of that Pentagone grows as it were a Tooth White below and of a Purple colour at the top and each Tooth answers to the interstice betwixt every two Leaves the Flower may be like the Flower of a Bramble This Plant is full of a very tart Milk which immediately dries betwixt the Fingers and turns to little threads It is commonly said in Persia but I never saw the experiment of it that if a man breath in the hot Wind which in June or July passes over that Plant The bad effects of Kerzehreh Badisamour Poyson-wind A Remedy against the Badisamour it will kill him so that if one take hold of him by an Arm or a Leg and pull it it will come off like boyled Flesh and they call that Wind Badisamour which in Persian Language signifies a Poyson-Wind They add that the way to prevent it is when one feels a hot Wind and likewise hears the noise of it for it makes a whistling noise quickly to wet a Cloak or some such thing and wrap it about the Head that the wind may not pierce it and besides to lie on the ground flat on ones Face till it be over which is not above a quarter of an hour They say that that Plant is very Venemous and that therefore they call it Kerzehreh and an Armenian one day would have had me believe that if a drop of the Milk of Kerzehreh touched a mans Eye he would lose it for good and all but I was not willing to try the experiment The Connar The Cherzehre The Armenians call that Plant Badisamour but one of them very rationally told me that they had no reason to give it the name of that Pestiferous Wind and far less to attribute to it the cause of the bad effects thereof seeing the same Plant is found in many places where the Badisamour Wind rages not as at Lar and beyond it and that Wind rages only from Conveston to Bender Nay many people of Schiras told me that the Plant is to be found two Leagues from that Town where that Wind rages not and I have seen it in many places upon the Road from Carzerum to Benderick This is a good reason to prove that that Plant causes not the aforesaid Wind but it does not sufficiently prove that with that Wind it does not cause these bad effects for it may very well be said that if that hot Wind reigned in places where there were no such Plant it would not perhaps be so mortal because it may be that being already very bad of it self the malignity of it is encreased by passing over these Plants whose smell and noxious qualities it carries along with it but what in my opinion may serve to convince us of the contrary betwixt Mosul and Bagdad there being no such Plants at least I never saw nor heard there were any the Wind which in those quarters is called the Samiel is as pestiferous and mortal there as in the places where that Plant is to be found it is therefore impertinent to attibute to it the bad effects of that Wind and the rather that that Plant grows all over the Indies where it is not known what the Wind Samiel is Besides what the Armenian told me that that Plant is called Kerzehreh that is to say Asses-Gall for the reason alleadged before I found in a Dictionary Turkish and Persian that Kerzehreh signifies besides a Tree of Poyson and that man assured me that it was Poysonous if but smelt too But he gave an Original to the Wind Badisamour that had no soliditie at all for he said that it blew from the Sea A bad cause of the Badisamour and that upon that Coast the Sea often casts a shoar a kind of a Fish whereof he could not tell the name and that that Fish being out of the Sea dies and corrupts so that the Wind passing over it brings along with it that stench which renders it pestiferous A Portuguese Gentleman who lived for several years at Bender Congo near which are many Kerzehreh Trees told me this particular of it Some particularities of the Kerzehreh that that part of its Root which looks to the East is Poyson and that that which looks to the South is the Antidote and that of the Wood of that Plant they make good Coals for Gun-powder We found besides in many places Konar a Tree and chiefly all a long the Road from Dgiaroun to Benderabassi a Tree which they call Konar the Trunk of it is so big that it will require two men to grasp it round two or three Foot high it looks just like a Rock or like many Roots twisted together and is very knotty and whitish as to the rest both in shape and height it much resembles a Pear-Tree the Branches of it spread far and make a great shade the Bark of them is white as well as the inside which hath a Pith in the Heart like an Elder-Tree at all the knots where little Branches or Leaves sprout out there are two large long prickles which are strong and red bending a little down towards the ground and are not directly opposite to one another The Leaves are of the length and breadth that are marked in the following Figure They are of a varnished green colour on the one side and on the other of a pale and whitish green and have Veins like Plantain Leaves This Tree bears a Fruit which is ripe in March and in shape much resembles a little Apple of the same colour but no bigger than a Service or small Cherry There is little of it to be Eaten for the stone is much bigger than that
that was a building a Rich man of Schiras having left by Will money for that purpose That place is called Abgherm which signifies hot water Abgherm because the water there is a little warm it gave some of our Company a looseness but has plenty of Fish in it This place which is but four Agatsch from Main was but half of our usual days Journey however our Beasts being tired we stayed there till next day the seventh of March when we parted half an hour after Two in the Morning and put on before the Caravan that we might get to Schiras the same day There are several ways that lead to it but we kept still to the Left crossing over many Brooks about half an hour after six we came to a Causey above two Fathom broad and two thousand Paces long all well Paved with Arches in several places and chiefly in the middle where there is a Bridge an hundred Paces in length under which runs a small branch of the River of Main Poligorgh that Causey is called Poligorgh Half an hour after Seven we saw a sorry Kervanserai but a little beyond it there is a very good one which is extraordinary large and well built with many embellishments at each corner there is a little Tower the Gate is fair and high adorned with many pieces of Marble on which there are Inscriptions The Appartments of this Kervanserai are very commodious but it is so infested with Gnats that there is no being in it It was built by a Chan of Sciras who to take off the Gnats built but to no purpose a large Garden by it it is called Agassef Agassef and is three Agatsch from Abgherm its common name is Poligourg that is to say the Woolfs Bridge or Poligord We went on The way that leads to Tchebelminar Badgega and an hour after left a broad way on the left Hand which goes streight to Tchebelminar and that is the way to it from Schiras About half an hour after Two we came to a Kervanserai called Badgega three Agatsch from Agassef there we found several Horses Camels and Mules which the Vizir of Schiras sent as a present to the King for the Neurouz for it is the custom as we have already observed that all the Grandees make great Presents to the King Present for the Neurouz or a New-Years-Gift the day of the Neurouz or Spring which is the two and twentieth of March just so as New-Years Gifts are given in France on the first of January We rested in that place till Three in the Afternoon when we parted to goe to Schiras two great Agatsch distant At first we went up a great Hill and then saw to our Left hand a Dome somewhat ruinous under which there are some Tombs close by runs a very clear Brook shaded by several great Planes and many little Pomegranate-Trees which render that place extraordinarily pleasant Having Travelled near two hours in very stony way and crossed several lovely Brooks about Five a Clock at night we came to a place from whence there is a very pleasant prospect of the City for two Hills there drawing near together at the end make a narrow passage beyond which are Gardens full of lovely Cypresses and then the Town which lyes in a Plain from North to South so that it yields a most delightful prospect After we had a little advanced betwixt those two Hills we saw a great Reservatory of water which is pretty ruinous the water is stopt by a thick Wall almost two Fathom broad supported by two spurs of the same thickness which with the Wall from the bottom of the Ditch are almost three Fathom high the Reservatory was formerly much of the same depth but is at present almost filled up with the Earth that the water has brought into it the Wall hath been made to serve for a Bank to stop the waters that in Winter fall from the Hills and running too violently through that streight beat down all that stood in their way but it is dry in the Summer-time Arrival at Schiras at length we came to the City-Gate which is fair and well built CHAP. II. Of Schiras THE first thing we found upon our entry into Schiras was a great broad Street on each side bordered by Gardens with little pretty neat Houses over the Gates of them having advanced in that Street about a quarter of an hour we came to a large Stone-Bason full of water and of an Oblong Figure being about twenty or twenty five Fathom in length and more than fifteen in breadth Continuing in the same Street you see a lovely Mosque whose Dome is covered with blew Varnished Tiles Joyning to this Mosque there is a burying-place Planted with fair Trees with a round Stone-Bason full of water which renders the place very pleasant so that there are always people taking the Air in it with their Pipes of Tobacco a little farther there is a Bridge of five Arches under which runs a small River and onward in the same Street you come to a covered Bazar that puts an end to it this Street is but as a Suburbs to the City which at that place begins We struck off to the Left and alighted at the little House of the Reverend Fathers Carmelites where all the Francks goe The City of Schiras heretofore Schirsaz and which many will have to be Cyropolis is properly the Metropolis of the Province of Persia it lyes in a most pleasant and fertile Plain that yields the best Wine in Persia On the East it is at the Foot of a Hill covered with several sorts of Fruit-Trees amongst which are many Orange and Limon-Trees intermingled with Cypresses it is about two hours walk in Circumference The Circumference of Schiras and lyes from North to South it hath no Walls but only a scurvy Ditch and that is all it needs having no Enemies to be afraid of it is watered by a River which is but little and yet subject to overflowings when that happens the Inhabitants hinder it from breaking into their Gardens and carrying away their Walls by casting up Dykes to stop it they make them with Couffes Couffes that is to say great Panniers made of bruised Canes like Palm-Tree-Leaves which they fill with Earth and Stone and that hinders the passage of the water very well The Streets of Schiras are for the most part somewhat narrow though there be some fair ones having in the middle lovely Canals bordered with Stone through which a very clear Rivulet runs There are a great many fair covered Bazars long and broad with great Shops on each side well furnished with all sorts both of Indian and Turkish Commodities and every Commodity hath its particular Bazar It hath many large well built Kervanserays as to the Palaces they make no shew on the outside no more than in the rest of the Levant but all their beauty is within the Palace of the Chan himself
report afterwards the Minister Baptises the Bridegroom and Bride and then sets them Back to Back saying some Prayers over them which compleats the Ceremony of the Marriage Every man may have two Wives both Lay-men and Ministers but all the Wives that Ministers take must be Virgins when they Marry them The Sabeans know not the Gospel They know not what the Gospel is All their Mass consists in some Prayers and in Communicating with their Host made and Consecrated after their manner and their Wine of dry Grapes They do not say Mass at Bassora because they have no Church there They Work not on Sundays and have three Festivals in the year Festival of the Sabeans to wit one at New-year which lasts three days and that is in memory of the Creation of Adam The second is at the beginning of the fourth month it likewise lasts three days and is the Festival of St. John. The third is at the beginning of the seventh month it lasts five days and is in memory of our Saviours being Baptized by St. John. They are all Baptised during these five days Pendgia once a day and they call this last Feast Pendgia They acknowledge no other Saints but St. John St. Zacharias his Father and St. Elizabeth his Mother Their belief of JESUS CHRIST The Opinion of the Sabeans concerning the other Life They acknowledge JESUS CHRIST but only as St. Johns servant As for the other World they admit not of Purgatory but only a Heaven and a Hell they say that the wicked after their death shall pass through a narrow way Guarded by Lions Serpents and such other Creatures which will devour them and the good shall go the same way but over these Beasts streight to Paradise which they fancy as well as the Turks to be Material having borrowed from them many Fables which make a great part of their belief The Meat of the Sabeans They eat no meat but what hath been killed by a Sabean and whatsoever it be else that hath been touched by any that are not of their Religion they look upon it as unclean The Sabean Ministers are their Butchers and will not eat of it Their Ministers kill their Pullets Sheep and Fish who for performing of that Office lay aside their Cloaths and put on a pair of white Drawers with a Rope for a Girdle a white Shirt girt about with a Rope a white Turban with the end of it hanging on their Left Shoulder a white Napkin about their Neck in fashion of a stole and another rag which is a Fillet like to those that are used to bind up the Arm after bloodletting these make in all seven pieces being thus accoutered they wash for instance the Feet and Beak of the Pullet they are to kill because they say it eats and many times treads upon unclean things then they kill it saying in their Language In the name of the merciful God may this be blessed to those that eat it They do the same with Sheep saving that they wash them not saying that they eat only Grass and no unclean things and the like also with Fish The power of performing this Office extends to the Children of the Minister so soon as they have attained to the sixteenth or seventeenth year of their Age provided their Fathers have discharged that duty otherwise it is not lawful for them I have been so curious as to see that pleasant Ceremony These people who think all that are not of their Religion Profane have a special care not to drink in a Vessel wherein one that is not a Sabean hath drank but if it be their own they break it The Sabeans suffer none of any other Religion to drink in their Glass The Sabeans abhor the colour Blew that so none that belong to them may be polluted by drinking in it They have another strange whimsey which is that they abhor the blew colour as much as the Jews do Hogs Flesh and that for a very ridiculous reason They say that the Jews knowing by their Books that Baptism was to destroy their Law were so malicious as that when St. John was about to Baptise our Lord they threw into Jordan a good deal of Indico thereby to spoil the water but that God sent an Angel with a Vessel full of pure clean water taken out of another place of the River of Jordan wherewith St. John Baptised our Lord and that from that time forward God cursed the blew colour This is the opinion of the Vulgar but one of them told me that the reason why they hated that colour is because there is Dogs Turd used in dying of it and they look upon a Dog to be an unclean Beast Most part of the Sabeans are Goldsmiths all very poor and a great many of them live in Bassora upon the Canal several of them also live in the Villages of Dgezire but the greatest part in Harvize and Souster Harvize two Towns belonging to the King of Persia in Chusistan The first which is four days Journy from Bassora is watered by the River Karrah which falls into the Tygris a little above the place where it joyns Euphrates Karrha The second which is Souster the chief Town of Chusistan is eight days Journy from Bassora and is watered by the River Caron as I have said already The Sabeans are extreamly ignorant and their Doctors have not much to study upon account of their Religion for they have but two Books and these not long since made neither though they give it out that they were in being in the days of Adam but the truth is their ancient Books were with their Churches burnt by Mahomet and his Successours For an instance of the stupidity of those people having asked them how many months they had in their year they made answer that they knew not and that I must ask that of their Scheik it is so with them in every thing else Nevertheless the second of November of this present year one thousand six hundred sixty five when I saw the Sacrifice of the Pullet I put so many questions to them The Sabeans Sacrifice of the Pullet The Sabeans Year that at length I learned that their year consists of three hundred threescore and six days to wit of twelve months of thirty days apiece and besides these twelve months they have six days over I also knew that they reckoned that same day the second of November to be the twentieth of their first month so that their year must have begun the thirteenth of October I did what I could to learn something of their Epoche but could not I was informed besides that their first Feast begins with their year the second three months after and the third after three months more The End of the Third Book TRAVELS INTO THE LEVANT PART II. BOOK IV. CHAP. I. Of the Voyage from Bassora to the Indies FRiday the sixth of November I Embarked at
transparent body the water winding and turning as it mounted up and now and then the thickness of it decreased sometimes at the top see the Figure G and sometimes at the Root see the Figure H. At that time it exactly ressembled a Gut filled with some fluid matter and pressed with ones Fingers either above to make the liquor descend or below to make it mount up and I was persuaded that the violence of the Wind made these alterations making the water mount very fast when it forced upon the lower end of the Pipe and making it descend when it pressed the upper part after that the bigness of it so lessened that it was less than a Mans Arm like a Gut when it is strained and drawn perpendicularly out in length then it grew as big as ones Thigh and afterwards dwindled again very small At length I perceived that the boyling on the surface of the Sea began to settle and the end of the Pipe that touched it separated from it and shrunk together as if it had been tied see the Figure I and then the light which appeared by the blowing away of a Cloud made me lose fight of it however I still lookt out for some time if I might see it again because I had observed that the Pipe of the second on that side had appeared to us three or four times to break short off in the middle and that immediately after we had seen it whole again one half of it being only hid from us by the light but it was to no purpose for me to look sharply out for this appeared no more so that there was an end of our Spouts and I gave God thanks as all the other Franks did that he had delivered us from them They attributed that mercy to the Holy Gospel which I had said wherein I arrogate nothing to my self being not so unreasonable as to think that my merit contributed any thing but perhaps God had some respect to our good intention and the trust that all of us reposed on his Holy Gospel In fine there is nothing more certain than that notwithstanding the inconstancy of the Wind which shifted all Points none of these Spouts came nearer us than the place where first they began and this I may with sincerity affirm that in all dangers of Storms Pirats and other accidents wherein I have been often engaged it was always my practise to rehearse this Holy Gospel and God in his great mercy hath preserved me from all The effects of Spouts These Spouts are very dangerous at Sea for if they come upon a Ship they entangle the Sails so that sometimes they will lift it up and then letting it fall down again sink it to the bottom which chiefly happens when the Vessel is small but if they lift not up the Ship at least they Split all the Sails or else empty all their water into it which sinks it to rights and I make no doubt but that many Ships that have no more been heard of have been lost by such accidents seeing we have but too many instances of those which have been known to have perished so of a certain Besides the Devotion of the Holy Gospel the human remedies which Sea-men use against Spouts is to furle all the Sails and to fire some Guns with shot against the Pipe of the Spout and that their shot may be surer to hit instead of Bullet they charge the Gun with a cross-bar-shot wherewith they endeavour to cut the Pipe if the Spout be within shot of them and when they have the good luck to level their shot just they fail not to cut it short off this is the Course they take in the Mediteranean Sea but if that succeed not they betake themselves to the Superstition which I would not practise though I knew it having learned it in my former Travels One of the Ships Company kneels down by the Main-Mast and holding in one Hand a Knife with a Black Handle without which they never go on Board for that reason he Reads the Gospel of St. John and when he comes to pronounce those Holy words Et verbum caro factum est habitavit in nobis he turns towards the Spout and with his Knife cuts the Air athwart that Spout as if he would cut it and they say that then it is really cut and lets all the water it held fall with a great noise This is the account that I have had from several French Men who as they said had tried it themselves whether that hath succeeded so or not I know not but for the Knife with the black Handle it is a foul Superstition which may be accompanied with some implicit compact with the Devil and I do not think that a Christian can with a good Conscience make use of it as to the vertue of these Holy words which as I may say put God in mind of the Covenant that he hath made with Man I make no doubt but that being said with Devotion without any mixture of Superstition they are of great efficacy to draw a blessing from God upon us on all occasions And so much for the Spouts by which we were more affraid than hurt but the Storm did our Ship more prejudice in its Course for we were obliged to lye at Anchor all that day and the night following until next morning when though it blew very hard from North-East we weighed at seven a Clock and stood away East South-East About nine a Clock we Sailed along Lareca which was to the Windward or Larboard of us About three quarters after nine we saw the Sky on Head over cast and the Air black with stormy Clouds and flurries but they were to the Leeward of us and therefore at first we dreaded them not but having more attentively considered them we found that they came from South to North and seeing it blew fresher and fresher perhaps because of the resistance it met with from those Clouds driven by a contrary Wind we furled our Mizan Sail and Steered away South-East and by East that we might avoid the Storm About a quarter after ten we took in all our Sails except the Main Course and Sprit-Sail About half an hour after ten it cleared up to the South and we made the biggest of the four Isles of Cape Mosandon called Selame which bore South and by West of us and at the same time we made the fourth of these little Isles which we had not seen before to the South and by East This little Isle lyes to the Southward of the biggest and is not far from it it seemed to me to reach North and South and is very low Land except at the end towards the big Island where it rises a little About three quarters after ten we set our Mizan and Main-Top-Sail again and stood our Course South-East the Wind being then North-East and by East and immediately after we had a shower of Rain For two hours after the
Seat of it is very pleasant and the top of the Hill on which it stands extreamly fertile it hath still four Reservatories or Tanquies for the private use of the Inhabitants There are a great many other Trading Towns in that Province and the Great Mogul receives yearly out of it above fourteen Millions The Revenue of the Province of Malva There are two kinds of Bats in that Countrey the one is like to that we have in Europe An extraordinary Bat. but seeing the other differs much I pleased my self in examining it in a Friends House who kept one out of curiosity it is eight Inches long and covered with yellowish Hair the Body of it is round and as big as a Ducks its Head and Eyes resemble a Cats and it has a sharp Snout like to a great Rat it hath pricked black Ears and no Hair upon them it hath no Tail but under its Wings two Teats as big as the end of ones little finger it hath four Legs some call them Arms and all the four seem to be glued fast within the Wings which are joyned to the Body along the sides from the Shoulder downwards the Wings are almost two Foot long and seven or eight Inches broad and are of a black Skin like to wet Parchment each Arm is as big as a Cats thigh and towards the Joynt it is almost as big as a Mans Arm the two foremost from the Shoulder to the Fingers are nine or ten Inches long each of the two Arms is fleshed into the Wing perpendicularly to the Body being covered with Hair and terminating in five Fingers which make a kind of hand these Fingers are black and without Hair they have the same Joynts as a Mans Fingers have and these Creatures make use of them to stretch out their Wings when they have a mind to flie Each hind Leg or Arm is but half a Foot long and is also fastened to the Wing parallel to the Body it reaches to the lower part of the Wing out of which the little hand of that Arm peeping seems pretty like the hand of a Man but that instead of Nails it hath five Claws the hind Arms are black and hairy as those before are and are a little smaller These Bats stick to the Branches of Trees with their Talons or Claws they fly high almost out of sight and some who eat them say they are good meat CHAP. XLII Of the Province of Candich THe Province of Candich is to the South of Malva The Province of Candich Berar Orixa and they who have reduced the Provinces have joyned to it Berar and what the Mogul possesses of Orixa These Countries are of a vast extent full of populous Towns and Villages and in all Mogulistan few Countries are so rich as this The Moguls yearly Revenue from Candich The Memoire I have of yearly Revenues makes this Province yield the Mogul above seven and twenty Millions a year The Capital City of this Province is Brampour it lies in the twenty eighth degree of Latitude about fourscore Leagues distant from Surrat Brampour the Capital of Candich The Governour thereof is commonly a Prince of the Blood and Auren-Zeb hath been Governour of it himself Here it was that the Sieurs de La Boullaye and Beber Envoy's from the French East-India Company quarrelled with the Banians A Quarrel the Sieurs La Boullaye and Beber had with a Banian to whom they were recommended When they arrived at Brampour these Banians met them with Basons full of Sweet-meats and Roupies in their hands The Gentlemen not knowing the custom of the Countrey which is to offer Presents to Strangers whom they esteem and imagining that the five and twenty or thirty Roupies that were offered them was a sign that they thought them poor fell into a Passion railed at the Banians and were about to have beat them which was like to have bred them trouble enough if they had been well informed of the custom of the Countrey they would have taken the Money and then returned some small Present to the Banians and if they had not thought it fit to make a Present they might have given it back again after they had received it or if they would not take it touch it at least with their Fingers ends and thanked them for their civility I came to Brampour in the worst weather imaginable and it had Rained so excessively that the low Streets of that Town were full of water and seemed to be so many Rivers Brampour is a great Town standing upon very uneven ground there are some Streets very high The Ground of Brampour and others again so low that they look like Ditches when one is in the higher Streets these inequalities of Streets occur so often that they cause extraordinary Fatigue The Houses are not at all handsom The Houses of Brampour because most of them are only built of Earth however they are covered with Varnished Tiles and the various Colours of the Roofs mingling with the Verdure of a great many Trees of different kinds planted on all hands makes the Prospect of it pleasant enough There are two Carvanseras in it one appointed for lodging Strangers and the other for keeping the Kings Money which the Treasurers receive from the Province that for the Strangers is far more spacious than the other it is square and both of them front towards the Meidan That is a very large place for it is at least Five hundred paces long and Three hundred and fifty broad but it is not pleasant because it is full of ugly huts where the Fruiterers sell their Fruit and Herbs The entry into the Castle is from the Meidan The Castle of Brampour and the chief Gate is betwixt two large Towers the Walls of it are six or seven Fathom high they have Battlements all round and at certain intervals there are large round Towers which jet a great way out and are about thirty paces Diametre This Castle contains the Kings Palace The Kings Palace at Brampour and there is no entring into it without permission the Tapty running by the East side of that Town there is one whole Front of the Castle upon the River-side and in that part of it the Walls are full eight Fathom high because there are pretty neat Galleries on the top where the King when he is at Brampour comes to look about him and to see the fighting of Elephants which is commonly in the middle of the River in the same place there is a Figure of an Elephant done to the natural bigness it is of a reddish shining Stone the back parts of it are in the Water The Monument of an Elephant and it leans to the left side the Elephant which that Statue represents died in that place fighting before Cha-Geban the Father of Auran-Zeb who would needs erect a Monument to the Beast because he loved it and the Gentiles besmear it