of the Pyramide which is at the sixteenth step as you go up looking towards the North it is not exactly in the middle there being Three hundred and ten Foot of the side below to the East of it which being substracted from Six hundred eighty two there remain Three hundred seventy two Foot to the West side so that this side surpasses the other by Sixty two Foot. Caire lies Northward from it Now to come to this Door you must go up a little Hill A little Hill joyned to the Pyramide joyned to the Pyramide on that side which as I said before hath in my opinion been made by the Sand which the Wind hath brought there and so risen up to a heap A very great Stone over the Door of the Pyramide because it could go no further by reason of the Pyramide The Lintel over this Door is very considerable being one Stone eleven Foot long and eight Foot thick Before any go in they make the Janizary fire two or three Musquet-shot into it to frighten away as they say the Serpents that are there but I never heard of any that had been found in it The entry is square and all along of a like Dimension being three Foot six Inches High and three Foot three Inches Wide This passage or rather sink-hole as being very steep and shelving continuing in the same heighth and breadth goes sloaping down Seventy six Foot five Inches and two Barley Corns in length At the bottom of that Descent you find an Ascent of the same wideness and shelving in the same manner as the former by which one goes up some three Foot and the greatest difficulty of the Pyramide is at this place For fancy to your self that this Descent butting in the Ascent makes with it a sharp Ridg over which there is a great Stone which is the lowermost Stone of the Roof of the Descent and is perpendicular to it betwixt which and the Sand there is not above a good Foots-space to pass through so that one must slide upon his Belly close upon the Ground and for all that you rub and grate your Back against the aforesaid Stone unless you be a very slender Man and besides you must advance with your feet up in the Descent your Belly low betwixt the Descent and next Ascent and your Head rising up in the beginning of the same Ascent In short in this narrow pass one must crawl like a Serpent and therefore it is very painful so that a thick Man would be stiffled in the Sand unless he were speedily pulled out by the Feet for the Head must go first it being utterly impossible that the Feet should This passage however might be made easie and passable enough if the Moors would take the pains to clear the Hole well I mean take out the Sand For I went thither another time when we were told some of the Basha's Servants had been there three days before being curious to see what it was that obliged the Franks to go into it because none but Franks go there and we fonnd the passage so clean and easie that we passed it without putting either Belly or Knee to the Ground And I make no doubt but it is as high there as at the entry into the Pyramide but the Wind driving in much Sand it heaps up in this place and the Moors who are naturally Lazie after they have removed two or three Load carry out no more unless they be very well pay'd and threatned with a good Cudgel besides which Christians dare not do nor yet desire that their Janizary should for fear of an Avanie Having past this streight every one takes a lighted Candle and for that end you must not forget to bring several with you and a Steel and Tinder-box also because of a great many Bats that are there which sometimes put out your Candles which may go out also by many other accidents There you find a sultry stiffling Air which nevertheless you 'll be soon accustomed to before you go up the inner Ascent You 'll find an ugly Hole on your Right hand which reaches a pretty way it hath not in all probability been purposely made but only by the decayings of Time and is as narrow at the end as at the mouth Having then gone about an Hundred and eleven Foot in the aforesaid Ascent you find as it were two Passages or Galleries Two other passages in the Pyramide one low and parallel to the Horizon and the other high sloaping upwards like the former There is a Well or pit at the entry of the first passage of which I shall speak hereafter This low passage is three Foot and three Inches square and leads to a Room not far distant with a sharp-ridged Seeling or Roof and near to this or at least pretty high A Window which many alledg several affirm that there is a Window which gives a passage into other places but that one must have a Ladder to get up to it For my part I maintain that there is no such Window with respect still to those who say there is and they must have taken a kind of dampness which is in that place for a Window for three times I assayed to find it out and every time carried a Rope-Ladder which I had made with Hooks to get up with but having carefully searched about with several Torches neither I nor any that were with me could find it From the first passage you go up to the other seven or eight Foot high putting youc Feet in holes that are made in the Wall. This other passage that mounts upwards is six Foot four Inches wide and reaches in that manner an Hundred threescore and two Foot having on each side as it were two little Benches two Foot and a half high to lean upon and Holes in the Ground at every step to rest ones Feet in At the end of this passage is the Hall A Hall in the Pyramide being thirty two Foot in length nineteen in heighth and sixteen in breadth the Roof of it is flat consisting of Nine Stones the seven in the middle being sixteen Foot long and four Foot broad a piece the other two at each end appear not to be above two Foot broad a piece but the reason is because the other half of them is built into the Wall they are of the same length as the other seven all seven reaching a cross the breadth of the Hall with their ends resting upon the walls on each side At the end of that Hall there is an empty Tomb all of one stone that sounds like a great Bell it is three foot and an Inch wide three foot and four Inches high and seven foot two inches long this stone is very hard looks like a kind of Porphyrie and is very neat when polished which makes many break off pieces of it to make Seals of but it requires a strong Arm and good Hammer to knock off a bit
entred it as we did at the former it has an Hundred and forty eight steps of large Stones like the other the Platform of it is not even the Stones being put together without order which makes it easily appear that it hath not been finished and yet it is much older than the other as is evident by the Stones which are all worn out and crumbled into Sand. It is Six hundred forty three Foot square and hath its entry at the fourth part of its height looking towards the North as the former it hath on the East-side Three hundred and sixteen Foot and by consequence Three hundred twenty seven to the West There is but one single passage into it three Foot and a half broad and four Foot high which reaching Two hundred sixty seven Foot downwards ends in a Hall with a steep Ridged Roof Five and twenty Foot and a half in length and eleven in breadth in the corner of the Hall there is another Passage or Gallery parallel to the Horizon three Foot square within and nine Foot and a half long which leads to another Chamber that is One and twenty Foot in length and eleven in breadth with a very high Ridged Roof also having at the west-West-end a square Window Twenty four Foot and two thirds raised from the Floor by which one enters into a passage indifferent broad and of a Mans height Parallel to the Horizon and reaching in length thirteen Foot and two Inches There is a great Room or Hall at the end of this passage with a Ridged Roof containing in length Twenty six Foot eight Inches and in breadth Twenty four Foot and one Inch the Floor of it is the natural Rock which on all sides is rough and unequal leaving only a little smooth and even space in the middle encompassed round with the Rock and much lower than the entry into the Room or the foundation of the Wall. When we had viewed this Pyramide we returned to the Mummies and found them digging our Pit but they Cheated us as they do many others opening a Pit that had been twenty times opened before though they swore it was the first time Now this advantage is to be had by going down into a Pit never opened before that one may find Idols and other Curiosities there but when these Rascals find any thing they keep it that they may sell it in the City to the Franks and therefore never open a new Pit but when they are alone These Pits are square and built of a pretty good Stone but are full of Sand which must be taken out A descent into a Mummie-Pit When they had removed the Sand they let us down by a Rope made fast about our Middle which was held by those that were above and the Pit was two or three Pikes length deep being at the bottom we crept through a little hole upon our Belly because they had not cleared it sufficiently of the Sand and entred into a little Room walled and arched over with Stone There we found three or four Bodies but only ore that was entire the rest being broken into pieces which easily convinced us that that Pit had been opened before We were then for having that opened which was entire but they would not unless they were paid for it and therefore I gave them a Piastre which did not content them But when they perceived that I was about to break it up in spight of them without giving them one Farthing more An entire body of a Mummie they beat it into pieces This was a long and large Body in a very thick Coffin of Wood shut close on all hands the Timber was not at all Rotten and we found it to be Sycamore-Wood which in Aegypt they call Pharoah's Fig-Tree that does not rot so soon as other Wood. Upon the Coffin The Coffin of the Mummie Stone Coffins the Face of him that was within it was cut in Embossed Work. Some Coffins there are also of Stone with the Face of the Person within cut in Boss and Hieroglyphicks all along the length of it There are two of these Stones in the House of Monsieur Fouquet at St. Mande and I had two of them also of which one was broken at Alexandria and the other I brought Home with me very whole which weighs betwixt Seaven and eight hundred weight Coffins made of Cloth. Some of these Coffins are made of several pieces of Cloth pasted together which are as strong as the Wooden ones I have one of this kind in my Closet made of above forty Cloths glewed or pasted together in thickness which are not in the least Rotten it is covered all over with Idols and Hieroglyphicks painted on a very thin Plaister with which the out-side Cloth is dawbed over but it is a little spoil'd the Plaister in some places being rubbed off Among these Figures there is a Compartement at the lower end two Inches broad and a Foot long being painted cross-ways over the Coffin wherein may be seen the manner how the Ancient Aegyptians Embalmed dead Bodies In the middle of this Compartement there is a long Table shaped like a Lion on the back of which the Body that is to be Embalmed is laid at length and hard by there is a Man with a Knife in his Hand opening the Body this Man hath on a Vizard-Mask shaped like the Beak of a Sparrow-Hawk which without doubt was the custome of their Embalmers who made use of that kind of Mask that they might not breath in the Corruption that might evaporate from the dead Bodies as the Physitians of Italy do at present who in time of a Plague never stir abroad without a Mask of this kind in the long Nose of which they put Perfumes though I make no doubt but the Mask I speak of is the Head of Osiris which the Aegyptians represented with the Head of a Sparrow-Hawk as they did Anubis with the Head of a Dog the Nile with a Lions Head c. But as a surer mark that it is an Embalming there are four Vessels without Handles upon the aforesaid Table which could be nothing else but the Vessels wherein the necessary drugs were kept not only for the Embalming as Balm Cedria c. but also for the wrapping up and Incrustation of the Body as Bitumen and others by the sides of the Table there are several Persons standing and sitting in divers postures Within this Coffin is the figure of a naked Maid with her Arms streatched out But to return to my first Discourse This Wooden Coffin I mentioned being broken to pieces with Hatchets we found an entire Body in it which lay in this manner The face of the Mummie The Head of the Mummie The Face was covered as commonly all the rest are with a kind of Head-piece of Cloth fitted with Plaister on which the Countenance of that Person was represented in Gold and when we took off the Helmet we found nothing of the
which are nothing else but bundles of poles about half a foot thick they are set at about two foot and a half distance one from another and are made as high so that there remains all round without a border or side-way two or three foot broad Afterwards they lay poles cross over from one bench to another and upon them they load the goods and place their passengers every one shifting for themselves aswell as they can upon the things they carry along with them So these boats are about four fathom long and three broad below and above when they are loaded about three fathom long and two broad and they are loading and all about five or six foot high These Borrachios must be wet every half quarter of an hour for fear they should squat for want of Wind which the boat-men do with a leathern pouch tied to the end of a pole There is neither rudder nor sail as I said and the whole crue consists of three Watermen two of which row the boat with Oars which are towards one of the ends on each side one and these Oars are no more but Poles having sins about two foot and a half long fastened to the end of them they are made of several pieces of Cane six or seven Inches long and the third Waterman wets the Borrachios They have neither stem nor stern and goe any way but commonly side ways quite contrary to ours Every evening these Barrachios must be new blow'd which they do with the ends of reeds and when they are cracked they mend them These Kelecks put a shoar always twice a day that the men may do their needs They are necessitated to make use of such boats because in the Summer-time a small boat of Timber cannot go upon that River by reason of the multitude of banks Two of these Kelecks were made and so soon as they were finished I sent to take a place but the answer I had was that they would not receive me because some said I had Wine and others Musk with me the smell whereof would heat them too much However since I would by no means lose that occasion the Reverend Father John spoke to some No Wine in a Keleck who promised that I should have a place on condition that I carried no Wine with me for they fancy that Wine would sink the Keleck And indeed I saw some Christians who had a great deal of credit but not enough to embark Wine I presently sent my Servant with my things he stayed on board to look after them and sent me word that they would not put off before the next day I failed not next morning to go thither but it was in vain for our departure being put off till night and then till next day I was perswaded to return back which I did the more willingly because I perceived it would be very incommodious to spend the Night in that place However having heard the Soldiers of Bagdad who were to go with us threaten to throw over-board the Goods of those that offered to carry Wine I then resolved not to take any with me Next morning I came to the water-side where at first I had a proof of the tyranny and barbarity of these people who putting the passengers Goods on board without weighing them reckoned them double the weight they were for one hundred weight setting down two and doing the like for the provisions for one must carry every thing with him in this Voyage wherein as they say there was neither house nor harbour to be found We went to the Office and payed two Piastres for every head and four for the hundred weight of my Goods Then I came to keep my place where I suffered a great deal of heat for every thing was so hot there that whatever I touched burnt my hands and rivers of sweat ran from me on all sides During that time I saw an experiment of the dexterity the People of the Countrey have to cross the water without a Bridge I perceived forty or fifty she Buffles driven by a Boy stark naked who came to sell the milk of them these Buffles took the water and fell a swimming in a square body the little Boy stood upright upon the last and stepping from one to another drove them on with a stick and that with as much force and assurance as if he had been on dry Land sometimes sitting down upon their Buttocks He went ashoar above five hundred paces below the Town on the other side of the Water After Noon they demanded a Piastre more of each Person and I was obliged to Codgia Elias that I payed a little less But when they came to talk of putting me in the middle of the other Keleck where I should have been stifled for want of Air I demanded back my money and goods telling them that I would stay at Mosul until the heats were over In fine Codgia Elias prevailed so far that they left me my place and they sent other passengers with their goods out of our Keleck into the other which was less loaded From that time they began to shew me good countenance and to assure me that no body should molest me I think that besides the credit of Codgia Elias to whom I am much obliged for that good office and for many more that he did me the Authority of Topgi Bassa whose Kinsman I gave my self out to be in the Caravan stood me in no small stead and I had reason to say I was since in the Letters he gave me at Damascus he had called me his Brother CHAP. XIII Of the Voyage on board the Keleck to Bagdad Departure from Mosul WE parted from Mosul on Friday the eighth of August about three of the Clock in the Afternoon at least our Keleck went to the Isle on the other side where we stayed at least an hour in putting men and goods on board of the other which was less loaded than ours There was left on board of ours no more than ten hundred weight of goods and twenty passengers then they made me change my place as a sign they would oblige me and gave me a better upon the side of the Keleck all beginning to caress me We began then to set forward in good earnest and were gone but a little way when we found an Island which we left to the right hand keeping always to the left along by the shoar of Curdistan The side of Mesopotamia is well sowed but the Curdistan shoar is barren and uncultivated as if the curse of Nineveh were fallen upon it nevertheless in the Evening I saw great flocks of sheep and goats a watering The River of Tigris is more crooked and winding than any that ever I saw It maketh a great many Islands and is full of banks of stone when we passed near to any of these banks all the Turks in Chorus called Mahomet to their assistance There are a great many Birds on both sides
till within three or four days Journey of Schiras and that rain lasted from the beginning of August untill the middle of September so that it seemed the Winter of the Indies had shifted into that Countrey but that was lookt upon as a thing extraordinary The VValls of Ispahan The Circuit of Ispahan The City of Ispahan is walled round with Earthen Walls which is singular to it for in Persia most part of the Towns have none at all It requires about four or five hours to make the round of this City but there are a great many large Houses that have but few living in them and which take up a great deal of space because of the spaciousness of the Gardens Great Gardens some houses taking up twenty Acres of ground nay it is not long since there was nothing but Gardens on the side of the Fort But now there are many Buildings there and that quarter is called the New Town where the Air and Water are better than in the old Town The New Town This City hath seven Gates of which these are the Names Der-Vasal Lembon Der-Decht Der-Mark Der-Tockhi Der-Cha Gerestan Der-Nasanabad and Der-Vasalchab which is not far from the Serraglio The City of Ispahan hath also great Suburbs where many Persons of Quality live The best built most beautifull and richest of all is the Suburbs of Giolfa that lies beyond the River of Senderu and the Walls of its Gardens being near that River in this Burrough or Suburbs live the Armenians whom Schah Abbas the first transplanted thither after he had ruined a Town of that Name in the Upper Armenia And they thought fit to give to this new Habitation the Name of their ancient Town and Countrey to preserve the memory of it so that to distinguish them from the others they are commonly called Giolfalu that 's to say one of Giolfa All round Giolfa there are a great many other Cantons which are likewise pretty well built not onely of Armenians who have left their own Countrey to come and live there but also of other Nations There are the Cantons of Ecrivan Nackhuan Chaksaban Sirou-Kainan Gaur Sitchan Mekrigan c. The quarter of Taurislu called Tauris-Abad or Abis-Abad which is opposite to Giolfa on this side the River towards Ispahan is much bigger than Giolfa but neither so pleasant nor so well built The beauty of the houses of pleasure which Persons of Quality have in the Suburbs consists in great Divans having in the middle and before them Basons of Water and the Gardens which are full of two or three kinds of Flowers and these commonly Turkey Gilly-Flowers Marsh-Mallows and some other such all very ordinary Flowers but yet lasting many Months of the year give a pleasant prospect The Persians fit in the cool in these Divans every one with his Pipe of Tobacco which is the most delightfull Employment they have when they are at home There are many squares in Ispahan but of all that which is called the Meidan is not onely the loveliest but I think that of all regular Piazzas The Meidan it is the greatest and finest place in the World. It is about seven hundred common paces in length and two or three hundred in breadth so that it is above twice as long as broad It is built all about and the Houses are all in form of Portico's over which there is another second range of Arches more backwards which serve for Galleries and a passage to the rooms of some adjoyning Kervanserais and seeing these houses are all of an equal height they yield a very lovely prospect All round the place at some little distance from the Buildings there is a fair Canal of Spring-water made by the Schah Abbas the first who for greater embellishment caused plane-Trees at competent distances to be planted all along which render that place exceedingly delightfull but they dayly decay because they neglect the planting of Trees in the place of those that are wanting At one end of the place that is on the North over the Gate of the Bazar there is a Bell round which is this inscription Ave Maria gratia plena A Bell. They say that it was taken out of a Monastery of Nuns at Ormus On the two sides of that Bell are great Balconies or Galleries Galleries where every Evening at Sun-set and at midnight many men assemble who make musick some with the ordinary trumpet some with Timbrels and others with an extraordinary kind of trumpet which perhaps has not as yet been heard of in France and therefore I have thought fit to give a description of it A long copper Trumpet These trumppets are made of copper and streight about eight foot long the body of it is of an unequal bigness for the end that is put to the mouth is an inch in diameter but about an inch from it the neck is very narrow Hence our speaking Trumpets and then enlarges again to the breadth of an inch and the end or mouth out of which the sound and wind comes is almost a foot and a half in diameter These trumpets are taken in two at the middle and they put the upper part into the lower at the great end where it easily enters when they have a mind to sound they skrew the two parts together but they had need of a strong Arm to hold that long Pipe of copper out right when they sound it It makes a strong deep sound so that the musick is heard all over the City but it is not at all pleasant and is more proper to fright People with an Allarm than to divert them As you go from that place of the Meidan where these musicians meet which as I said is at the North end of it towards the South there are two Banks five or six foot high and above a fathom distant which serve for playing at the mall on horse-back and the bowl must go betwixt those Banks The Mall About the middle of the Place there is a high Tree or Mast erected on the top whereof there is a round ball A Mast where they shoot with Arrows and there Horse men practice Archery riding at full speed and not shooting their arrow till they be past which they do by turning themselves quite round upon the crupper of the horse The Gate of Aly. A little farther to the right or West-side is the Gate of Aly called Aly-Capi which is a large plane Gate over which there is a lovely Divan the roof whereof is onely supported with wooden Pillars and the King comes often to take the Air in this place Entering in at this Gate you go along a great Alley to another large Gate The threshold of a Gate in Veneration whose threshhold is a step of round stone to which the Persians shew great respect and that is it which is properly called the Gate of Aly. All malefactors that can make their escape into a Court
diligence that they were at the Gates of Bagnagar before the King had any News that they were marched from Aurangeabad so that he easily made himself Master of the Town Nevertheless the King in disguise escaped by a private door and retreated to the Fort of Golconda The Mogul plundered the Town and Palace carrying away all the Riches even to the Plates of Gold wherewith the Fleors of the Kings appartment were covered The Queen Mother at length had the Art to appease the Conquerour she treated with him in name of the King and granted him one of his Daughters in Marriage for his Son with promise that he should leave the Kingdom to him if he had no Male issue and he hath none Had it not been for that Accommodation he was upon the point of losing his Kingdom and perhaps his life too Since that time he is apprehensive of every thing and next to the Queen mother he trusts no body but Sidy Mezafer his favourite and the Bramens because that Queen is of the Bramen Castle and continually surrounded by them The King knows of nothing but by them and there are some appointed to hearken to what the Vizier himself and other Officers have to say to the King but his fear is much encreased since the Great Mogul hath been in War with the King of Viziapour whom in the beginning he assisted with Two hundred thousand Men commanded by an Eunuch who was almost as soon recalled as sent upon the complaints made by the Moguls Embassadour at Golconda The King to excuse himself said that that Army was sent without his knowledge and he is still in great apprehension of having the Moguls upon his back if they succeed against the King of Viziapour who hath hitherto defended himself very bravely This shews the weakness of that King he dares not put to death his Omras even when they deserve it and if he find them guilty of any Crime he condemns them only to pay a Fine and takes the Money Nay the Dutch begin to insult over him and it is not long since they obliged him to abandon to them an English Ship which they had seized in the Road of Masulipatan though he had undertaken to protect her There is a Prince also at his Court who begins to create him a great deal of trouble and it is he whom they call the Kings little Son-in-law who hath married the third of the Princesses his Daughters because he is of the Blood Royal He pretends to the Crown what promise soever hath been made to the Great Mogul he makes himself to be served as the King himself is who hitherto loved him very tenderly but at present he is jealous of that Son-in-law as well as of the rest and fancies that he intends to destroy him that he himself may Reign tho' he be reckoned a Man of great integrity There was in Bagnagar a Moorish Santo that lived near the Carvansery of Nimet-Ulla who was held in great veneration by the Mahometans A Moorish Santo the House he lived in was built for him by a great Omra but he kept his Windows shut all day and never opened them till towards the Evening to give his Benedictions to a great many people who asked them with cries prostating themselves and kissing the ground in his presence Most part of the Omras visited that cheat every evening and when he went abroad which happened seldom he went in a Palanquin where he shewed himself stark naked after the Indian fashion and the People reverenced him as a Saint The great Lords made him Presents and in the Court of his House he had an Elephant chained which was given him by a great Omra Whil'st I was on my Journey to Carnates the Kings little Son-in-law gave to this Santo a great many Jewels belonging to the Princess his Wife Daughter to the King and since no Man knew the motive of so great a Present which perhaps was only some Superstitious Devotion it was presently given out that it was to raise Forces against the King that with the concurrence of the Santo he might invade the Crown Whether that report was true or false it is certain that the King sent to the Santo's House to fetch from thence his Daughters Jewels and the Elephant and ordered him to depart out of the Kingdom The Kings eldest Daughter was married to the Kinsman of a Cheik of Mecha the second married Mahmoud eldest Son to Auran-Zeb for the Reasons I mentioned already and the third is Wife to the little Son-in-law Mirza Abdul-Cossin who has Male-Children by her and they say the fourth is designed for the King of Viziapour The King of Golconda has vast Revenues he is proprietory of all the Lands in his Kingdom which he Rents out to those who offer most except such as he gratifies his particular Friends with to whom he gives the use of them for a certain time Customs The Customs of Merchants Goods that pass through his Countrey and of the Ports of Masulipatan and Madrespatan yield him much and there is hardly any sort of Provisions in his Kingdom from which he hath not considerable dues Diamond Mines The Diamond-Mines pay him likewise a great Revenue and all they whom he allows to digg in those that are towards Masulipatan pay him a Pagod every hour they work there whether they find any Diamonds or not His chief Mines are in Carnates in divers places towards Viziapour and he hath Six thousand Men continually at work there who daily find near three Pound weight and no body diggs there but for the King. A rich Jewel of the King of Golconde This Prince wears on the Crown of his head a Jewel almost a Foot long which is said to be of an inestimable value it is a Rose of great Diamonds three or four Inches diameter in the top of that Rose there is a little Crown out of which issues a Branch fashioned like a Palm-Tree Branch but is round and that Palm-Branch which is crooked at the top is a good Inch in Diameter and about half a Foot long it is made up of several Sprigs which are as it were the leaves of it and each of which have at their end a lovely long Pearl shaped like a Pear at the Foot of this Posie there are two Bands of Gold in fashion of Table-bracelets in which are enchased large Diamonds set round with Rubies which with great Pearls that hang dangling on all sides make an exceeding rare shew and these Bands have Clasps of Diamonds to fasten the Jewels to the head In short That King hath many other considerable pieces of great value in his Treasury and it is not to be doubted but that he surpasses all the Kings of the Indies in pretious Stones and that if there were Merchants who would give him their worth he would have prodigious Sums of Money CHAP. VIII Of the Omras or Omros of Golconda THe Omras are the great Lords of
be the more commodiously done they tell the Aspres upon Boards made for that purpose which they call Tahhta Tahhta that have a ledgeing to keep them from falling except at one end where it draws narrower by which they pour them into the Bagg on these Boards they pick out all the good ones and lay aside the bad They have also pieces of two three four five six ten Aspres c. And this is all the Silver Money they coin at Constantinople so that payments are hardly made in any other Money To an Aspre go six Quadrins Quadrins which are pieces of Copper about the bigness of a French Double they have also half Quadrins which they call Mangours when they say a Purse they understand five hundred Piastres or fourty five thousand Aspres which is the same thing As to their Weights Cantar Rottes Drachms Quirats Medical Oque the Cantar is a hundred and fifty Rottes the Rotte is twelve Ounces the Ounce twelve Drachms the Drachm is sixteen Quirats the Quirat four Grains the Medical is a Drachm and a half the Oque contains four hundred Drachms so that the Oque is worth three Rottes two ninths less CHAP. XLIX Of the Punishments and kinds of Death in Turkey Kinds of Punishments in Turkey .. The way of giving Bastonadoes on the Feet THE most common Punishments in Turkie are blows with a stick either upon the soles of the Feet or the Buttocks They give them on the soles of the Feet in this manner They have a great stick with two holes in it about the middle a large foot and an half distant from one another and through these two holes they put a cord He who is to be Bastanado'd lyes down upon the ground and his feet are put between that cord and the staff then two men take the staff by the two ends and each of them also pull an end of the cord that so he may not stir his feet that are fast betwixt the cord and the staff which they hold up very high In this posture he has no strength to move being only supported by his shoulders and then two other men each with a stick or switch about the bigness of the little finger beat upon the soles of the wretch one after another like Smiths striking upon an Anvil reckoning the blows aloud as fast as they lay them on until they have given as many as have been ordained or till he that hath power say It is enough The rowling of the eyes of him that suffers shews this to be a cruel punishment and there are some after it who for several months cannot go especially when they have received or as they say eaten three or four hundred blows but for the matter of thirty they are not at all disabled When they give them on the Buttocks Blows upon the Buttocks the party is laid upon his belly and receives the blows which are laid on over his Drawers in the same manner as upon the soles of the feet sometimes they give five or six hundred blows but that is the highest and when a Man hath been so handled a great deal of mortified and swollen flesh must with a Razor be cut off of his Buttocks to prevent a Gangrene and he is obliged to keep his bed five or six months without being able to sit up In this manner the Women are punished The Punishment of Women when they deserve it but never upon their soles This is a Correction frequently used by them and for a small fault and sometimes as I have said already they make him who hath received the blows pay so much money a blow Masters give no other Correction to their Servants and Slaves than blows upon the soles of their feet which they have for the least fault they commit The Turks well served and indeed they are wonderfully well served you 'l see their Servants stand in their presence a whole day together like Statues against a wall with their hands upon their belly expecting their Masters commands The Chastisement of School-boys The kinds of Death for Malefactors Christians serve for Hang-men which with the wink of an eye are obeyed School-masters chastise their Scholars with blows upon the soles of the feet instead of the whipping of Christendom The punishments of those who have deserved death are Hanging Beheading Empaling or throwing upon Tenter-hooks or Spikes of Iron When they carry any Man to be Hanged if they meet a Christian by the way they make him the Executioner and a French Merchant being on a time engaged in this office and finding no means to avoid it did what they bid him do and having hanged two asked them if they had no more to be dispatched in that manner whereat the Turks were so incensed that they threw stones at him saying That the Christian would have them all hanged so that it was his best course to make his escape In cutting off Heads they are very dextrous and never miss As for Empaling I shall speak of it in another place because it is not much practised at Constantinople Ganche a Punishment Now the Ganche or throwing upon Hooks is performed in this manner They have a very high Strappado stuck full of very sharp-pointed Hooks of Iron such as Butchers have in their Shambles and having hoisted the Malefactor up to the top of it they let him fall and as he never fails to be catched by a Hook in falling so if he hang by the middle of the body his case is none of the worst for he suddainly dies but if the Hook catch him by any other part he languishes sometimes three days upon it and at length enraged with pain hunger and thirst expires This Torment hath been thought so cruel that the Turks very seldom practice it Those that turn Christians they Burn alive hanging a bag of Powder about their neck and putting a pitched Cap upon their head But Christians that do or say any thing against the Law of Mahomet are taken with a Turkish Woman or go into a Mosque are Empaled though yet there be some Mosques into which Christians may enter at certain hours There are a great many other cases wherein if Christians do not turn Turks they are put to death for a Christian may redeem his life by making himself Turk whatsoever Crime he may have committed but the Turks have no way to save theirs CHAP. L. Of the Grand Signior's Militia HAving treated of the Grand Signior and his chief Officers we must now speak of the Forces that have got him so great a Power which he daily enlarges at the Cost of his Neighbours The Grand Signior keeps always a standing Army both in Peace and War which consisting of Horse and Foot is punctually payed once in two months The Infantry are of several Orders he hath first his Capidgis or Porters Capidgis or Porters who are as it were the Officers and Porters of the
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
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
to the Mules Belly for five or six and in some places more than seven Fathom in breadth it is so broad and deep in Winter that it can no ways be Foarded over and then they must go by a very narrow way cut out in the Hill on the Left Hand which is very dangerous for if the Mule make one false step it is lost for good and all About three quarters after ten we began to go up Hill in very bad way and that during an hour and a quarter we sometimes also went down Hill but not much and always in very bad way having the River on our Right Hand certainly I never saw worse way than what we had during that whole day At Noon we arrived at a Kervanseray called Kervanseray Narghisi Narghisi which stands on the top of the Hill it is seven Parasanges from Kameredge and was so full of people that came from Bender Rik that hardly could we have shelter you find nothing to eat there because it hath no Dukondar the River runs by the foot of the Hill on which it stands We parted from thence Sunday the fourth of October half an hour after one in the Morning and Travelled on Westward in bad enough way Three quarters after two we went down a very rugged way but the worst is at first the rest being pretty good but that it is narrow and upon the edge of an exceeding deep Precipice so that the Mules are in the same danger as in those we past which made us alight and lead down that descent we got down about half an hour past three and a little after came into a very even Plain and all Sowed Land we Travelled on there Southward until seven a Clock when to the Right Hand we again found the River of Bouschavir which we Foarded over and stopt on the other side of the water There is no Habitation there and yet the place has a name being called Sefid Rou Sefid Rou. it is four long Agatsch from Kervanseray Narghisi We parted from thence Munday the fifth of October half an hour after four a Clock in the Morning and holding streight West we Travelled in a Plain until eight a Clock that we arrived at a pitiful Kervanseray which consists in three nasty Chambers and all black with Soot it is called Tschah-Ghonbez that is to say the Well of the Vault the water that is drank there is drawn out of a Well hard by some hundred of paces distant there is a Village called Dehkone that is to say Old Village which is distant from Sefid-Rou three Agatsch and Sefid-Rou is not properly a Menzil Tschah-Ghonbez but commonly they come from Kervanseray Narghisi to Tschah-Ghonbez in a day our Muletor made us make two of it that he might keep Company with his Brother who was at Sefid-Rou and Travelled but small Journies We parted from Tschah-Ghonbez Tuesday the sixth of October at one a Clock in the Morning and continued our way over a very even Plain due West About half an hour after six we Foarded over a Salt water that was but shallow from that we had all along a Plain covered with Sand to Bender Regh where we arrived about half an hour after nine it is seven Agatsch from Tschah-Ghonbez Bender-Regh The Bender Regh that is to say sandy Port or Harbour is a little Town built along the Sea-side at a place where it runs into a long narrow Channel that turns and winds but is not deep Most of the Houses of this Town are made of Mats laid upon a Trellis or Lettice of Poles interlaced nay the Walls that encompass the Houses are of no better stuff so that there is neither Iron nor Masons work in them There are some however made of Brick baked in the Sun Cemented with morter made of Clay and Straw Most of the Inhabitants of that place are Arabs and all speak both Arabick and Persian the Governour is an Arab and depends on the Governour of Schiras The Soil about it is all Sand and the water they drink is fetched from a Well a good Agatsch from the Town nevertheless there is a great deal of Corn from the neighbouring Villages loaded at this Port to be Transported to the Isle of Bahrem and Bassora from whence they bring them Dates The Sea-Ports of Persia are Bender-Abassi Berder-Congo Sea-Ports Bender-Abassi Bender-Congo Bender-Rischer Bender-Regh Bender-Delem three days Sailing from Bender-Abassi Bender-Rischer ten days Sailing from Bender-Congo Then the Mouth of the River of Boschavir below which is Bender-Regh or Bender-Rik a days Sailing from Bender-Rischer and three days Journy by Land beyond that is Bender-Delem a days Sailing and two day Journy by Land from Bender-Rik CHAP. IX Of the Voyage from Bender-Rik to Bassora THE day we arrived at Bender-Rik a Bark put out from thence in the Morning for Bassora and the same day two Barks came from Bassora Letters from the Basha of Bassora which brought Letters to the Governour from the Basha of that place wherein he prayed him to send him twelve Barks to fit out with Soldiers for his defence against seven Bashas who by orders from the Grand Signior were preparing to attack him because he had not obeyed some Orders from the Port. This was very unpleasant News to us nevertheless being resolved to go to Bassora whatever might happen we agreed with the Patron of a Bark to pay him fifteen Abassis for the passage of the Reverend Father Provincial my self and three servants but I must first describe the fashion of these Barks They are great Boats built much like the Germes of Egypt which have no Deck Barks of Bender-Regh and are round in the inside the Bark we went on Board of was above six Fathom long two Fathom broad and no less in depth there were two little Decks in the Stern which made two small Cabins one over another he that stood by the Helm was placed on the second the other which was the lower was no more but a Hurdle of Palm-Tree Branches laid upon sticks that went cross-ways and there was a Deck also in the Stem or Head the stern was higher than the Head but was made sharp as well as it the Mast was high and big the Yard uniform with a great Sail and on each side there were four Oars that is to say so many Poles with a board a Foot and a half long and half a Foot broad fastened with three Ropes to the end of each of them but it is chiefly to be observed that there is not a bit of Iron in these Barks the truth is They have not a bit of Iron ours had an Anchor of Iron but it was a thing extraordinary because commonly they are only of Wood. The Planks of the Barks are fastened together by small Cords that go through holes made in them and that they may hold sure and the Cords keep streight they drive little pegs of Wood into the
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
made himself Master of Dgezire Besides that the Basha of Bassora holds in Arabia Foelix the Port El-Catif El-Catif Lehhsa and the Town of Lehhsa which formerly belonged to a Basha Tributary also to the Grand Seignior but twelve years since he took the Port Catif and since that having a mind also to Lehhsa he sent thither an Arab Scheik with many Arabs at whose approach the Basha of Lehhsa fled leaving them a free entry into that Town which they plundered but afterwards the Arab Scheik slighted the Basha of Bassora saying that he had not taken that Town for him but for himself and recalled the Basha of Lehhsa to whom he delivered back the Town in consideration of a sum of mony which that Basha paid him In fine last year one thousand six hundred sixty and four the Basha of Bassora finding the Grand Signior engaged in a War with the Emperour and thinking that the War would be of long continuance in the month of November put on Shipboard an Army which The Basha makes War. as I was assured consisted not of above five or six thousand Men with some Cannon though the News flew into all places that they were seven or eight times so many This Army having Landed at Port Catif and marched from thence to Lehhsa which is but three days Journy distant they presently made themselves Masters of it without any resistance the Basha of Lehhsa being upon their approach fled to Constantinople where he made his complaints to the Grand Signior who presently thereupon ordered the Bashas of Aleppo Orfa Diarbeck Mosul Bagdad and some others to the number of eight to joyn and restore the Basha of Lehhsa to his Government and turn the Basha of Bassora out of all This Basha was not daunted for all that but making a shew as if he intended to be upon his defence and indeed putting himself in a posture to do so he fortified Lehhsa sending thither a great deal of Artillery whilst on the other Hand he sent to the Port to inform the Grand Signior that he ought not to concern himself in his Conquest because he was ready to pay him for his new acquisitions the same Tribute that he formerly received It is certain that if the Turk had not made Peace with the Emperour so soon this Basha would have carried his Conquests farther on thinking of nothing less than to have made himself Master of Mascat Now though this State of Lehhsa comprehend no more but the two Towns Catif and Lehhsa it is nevertheless very considerable and of great extent having a great many good Villages but the principal Riches of that Country consists in the the Traffick of Indian Commodities which are Transported from Mascat to Port Catif from whence they come to Lehhsa Indian Commodities at Mascat and thence are dispersed all over Arabia Foelix and chiefly at Mecha where they sell very well when the Caravans come from all Parts to perform their Devotions there Port Catif is on the main Land in Arabia Foelix over against the Isle of Bahrin by corruption called Bahrem which is only seven Leagues distant from it Catif The Isle of Bahrem though it belong not to the Turk being under the Dominion of the King of Persia This Island is very famous for the Fishing of Pearls there in the months of June July August and September It must needs be great if one may judge of it by the great number of Barks that are employed therein which amount to two or three thousand In the Isle of Bahrin there is a Town and a Fort distant from it a large League and a half Though there be good water in that Town yet the Fishermen take not in fresh water there they find it more commodious to draw it out of the bottom of the Sea Three Springs of fresh water in the Sea. where there are three Springs of good water yet not all in one place but here and there and all above two Leagues distant from the Town Signor Emanuel Mendez Henriquez Agent for the King of Portugal at Congo hath often told me the way how they draw this water which is thus An extraordinary way of drawing fresh water out of the bottom of the Sea. The Barks go near to the place where the Springs are which they know by the bearing of the Island at high water there is two Fathom water in those places but when the Sea is out they have not above three Foot water and many times they are on dry Ground for Bahrem is encompassed with Banks of Sand that run out a great way where there are such flats that Vessels cannot pass them but amongst these Banks there are deep Channels which the Vessels keep and whatsoever storm may blow at Sea the Vessels that are in these Channels are safe and secure When these Barks are come near the Wells they stay till low water and then they plant two Oars in the Sand one on each side of the Well where they intend to water at then they strain a Rope under water from one Oar to the other We must know that upon every one of these Wells the Arabs have always the half of a Jarr to wit the upper half where the mouth is which may be called an Earthen Pipe they put the wider end upon the mouth of the Spring and thrust it down above four inches in the Sand they dawb it besides all round with Plaster and Bitumen that the Salt water may not get in when these half Jars break or are worn out they take care to put another in the place of them after that the Fishermen then have planted the Oars and fastened the Rope a Man goes down into the Sea with a Borrachio stopt and Diving down his Head puts himself under the strained Rope that so the force of the fresh water that gushes out of the Jarr may not raise him up again for it gushes out with great impetuosity and then he claps the mouth of his Borrachio to the mouth of the Jarr which being narrow and opened is immediatly filled with fresh water when it is full he he stops it again and brings it up to the Bark where he empties his fresh water and then goes down again for more till the Bark be supplied This Portuguese Gentleman told me that it was very easie to be done and that he himself had been so curious as to go and fill a Borrachio there Now I am speaking of Bahrem The way of Fishing for Pearls I will here relate the manner of the Pearl Fishing as the same Emanuel Mendez Henriquez who hath been at it told me This Fishing begins about the end of June and lasts till the end of September During this time there are to be seen about Bahrem above two or three thousand Fishermens Barks all Arabs who pay severally a due to the Prince whose Subjects they are for their permission to Fish and besides each Bark pays to
those Spouts not that I thought the danger so very great being they were to the Leeward of us and in reality they wrought more admiration than fear in me Nevertheless there was a great consternation amongst our Company all Hands were at work and our Franks kept a heavy stir calling and asking whether any one had the Gospel of St. John they addressed themselves to me and I told them that I was a saying it and whilst they prayed me to continue one of them brought a Knife with a black handle asking if any body knew how to cut the Spouts I made answer that I had been informed of the way that some used to cut them but that I would not put it in practise because it was a bad and unlawful superstition he objected that the Spouts were so near that they would quickly fall upon the Ship and infallibly sink her and that if he knew the secret he would do it I endeavoured to reassure him and the rest from the fear which made him speak so telling them that the Spouts being to the Leeward there was not so much danger as they imagined And in short to put that thought quite out of their Heads I plainly told them that I neither would do that superstitious Art my self nor teach any body else how to do it and that for the Gospel of St. John I should willingly persist in saying it because it was a good and lawful means to procure protection from God Almighty And indeed I forbore not to say it till all the Spouts were dispersed which was not before one a Clock after noon or thereabouts A B C D E F G H I At length seeing the Air on all Hands full of tempestuous Clouds he ordered the Ships Head to be turned North-West which was very hard to be done for the Sea hindered the Ship from coming about though the Wind was then at East and we stood in to Quesomo near which about a quarter after two we came to an Anchor in seven and twenty Fathom water to the South of that Island so that we put back again above a League Then the Pilot was for bringing the Yards by the Board and lowering the Main-Top and Fore-Top-Masts fearing they might be damaged by the storm but the Captain would not give way to it During the rest of the day we had many flurries with continual showers of Rain but whilst these are blowing over I will enlarge a little in the description of the Spouts which I have only occasionally mentioned I am apt to believe that few have considered Spouts with so much attention A description of Spouts as I did those I have been speaking of and perhaps no man hath made the Observations which chance gave me the occasion of making I shall here give an account of them with that plainness I profess in the Relation of all my Travels thereby to render things mere sensible and easie to be comprehended The first we saw was to the Northward betwixt us and the Isle of Quesomo about a Musket shot from the Ship we were then Steering North-East The first thing we perceived in that place was the water boyling up about a Foot high above the surface of the Sea it looked whitish and over it there appeared somewhat like a blackish smoak but not very thick so that the whole looked very like a bundle of straw set on fire but only as yet smoaking see the Figure A this made a dull noise like to a Torrent running impetuously in a deep Valley but it was mingled with another somewhat more distinct noise resembling the loud hissing of Serpents or Geese A little after we saw as it were a dark puff of steam much like to a smoak which turning very fast tapers up to the Clouds and this puff seemed to be a Pipe as big as ones Finger see the Figure B the same noise still continuing Then the light put it out of our sight and we knew that that Spout was spent because the water boyled no more up so that it lasted not above half a quarter of an hour This being spent we saw another Southward of us which began in the same manner as the former did presently after there appeared another by the side of this Westward and then a third by the side of the second The most remote of the three might have been somewhat more than a Musket shot distant from us and all the three appeared like so many bundles of Straw a Foot and a half or two Foot high that yielded a great deal of smoak see the Figure A and made the very same noise that the first did Afterward we saw so many Pipes reaching down from the Clouds upon the places where the water bubbled and every one of these Pipes at the end which joyned to the Cloud was as large as the wide end of a Trumpet and resembled that I may explain my self intelligibly the Teat or Dug of a Beast streatched perpendicularly downwards by some weight see the Figure C. These Channels or Pipes seemed to be of a paleish white and I believe it was the water in these transparent Pipes which made them look white for in all appearance they were already formed before the water was suckt up in them as may be judged by what follows and when they were empty they appeared not in the same manner as a Glass-Pipe that is very clear being set in the light at some distance from our Eyes appears not unless it be full of some coloured liquor These Pipes were not streight but in some places crooked see the Figure D neither were they perpendicular on the contrary from the Clouds into which they seemed to be inserted to the places where they drew up the water they sloaped very Obliquely as you may see by the Figure D and what is more singular the Cloud to which the second of these three was fastened having been driven by the Wind the Pipe followed it without breaking or leaving the place where it drew up the water and passing behind the Pipe of the first they made for sometime a Saltier or the Figure of St. Andrews Cross see the Figure E in the beginning they were all three as big as ones Finger as I have already observed but in the progress the first of the three swelled to a considerable bigness I can say nothing of the other two for the last that was formed was almost as soon spent that to the South continued about a quarter of an hour but the first on the same side lasted somewhat longer and was that which put us into the greatest fear and whereof I have still somewhat more to say at first the Pipe of it was as big as ones Finger then it swelled as big as a mans Arm after that as big as ones Leg and at length as big as the Trunk of a good Tree as much as a Man can Fathom about see the Figure F. We could plainly see through that
twenty or thirty Ells of it which are put into a Turban Cloath whereof 25 or 30 Ells do not weigh four Ounces will not weigh four Ounces These lovely Cloaths are made about Bengale They are dear and one single Turban will cost five and Twenty Crowns They who affect a Richer attire have them mixed with Gold but a Turban of that Stuff costs several Tomans and I have said elsewhere that a Toman is worth about forty five French Livres These Turbans wreathed as they ought to be The form of the Turbans at Agra much resemble the shape of the Head for they are higher behind by four or five Fingers breadth than before so that the upper part of the Head is only well covered and I have seen Paisant women in France whose Coiffing lookt pretty like that kind of Turban The Indians wear their Hair for Ornament The Indians wear their Hair. contrary to the Mahometans who shave their Heads and in that as in many other things the Indians imitate their Ancestours As for Stockings the Indians are at no charge Hose and Shoes for they use neither Stockings nor Socks but put their Shoes on their naked Feet The stuff they are made of is Maroquin or Turkey-leather and they are much of the same shape as the Papouches of the Turks but the Persons of Quality have them bordered with Gold and they have behind a kind of a heel of the same stuff as the instip which most commonly they fold down as they do who go with their Shoes slipshod However the Banians wear the heel of theirs up because being men of business they would walk with freedom which is very hard to be done when the Foot is not on all sides begirt with the Shoe. The Rich Banians cover the upper Leather of theirs with Velvet The Shoes or Papouchâ—s of the Banians Embrodered with great Flowers of Silk and the rest are satisfied with red Leather and small Flowers or some other Galantry of little value The Mogul Women who would distinguish themselves from others The Womens Apparel are Cloathed almost like the Men however the sleeves of their Smocks as those of the other Indian Women reach not below the Elbow that they may have liberty to adorn the rest of their Arm with Carkanets and Bracelets of Gold Silver and Ivory or set with Precious Stones as likewise they do the small of their Legs The Indians Smocks Their Waste-coats The ordinary Smocks of the Indian Idolatrous Women reach down only to the middle as does the Waste-coat of Sattin or Cloath which they wear over it because from the Waste downwards they wrapt themselves up in a piece of Cloath or Stuff that covers them to the Feet like a Petticoat and that Cloath is cut in such a manner that they make one end of it reach up to their Head behind their Back They wear no other Apparel neither within Doors nor abroad in the Streets and for Shoes they have high Pattins They wear a little flat Ring of Gold or Silver in their Ears The Indian Women adorn their Nose and Ears with Rings with engraving upon it and they adorn their Noses with Rings which they put through their Nostril Rings also are the Ornaments of their Fingers as they are in other places They wear a great many and as they love to see themselves they have always one with a Looking-Glass set in it A Finger Looking-glass instead of a Stone which is an Inch in diametre If these Indian Women be Idolators they go bare-faced and if Mahometans Indian Women naked to the middle they are Vailed There are some Countries in the Indies where the Women as well as Men go naked to the middle and the rest of their Body is only covered to the Knee CHAP. XXI Of other Curiosities at Agra Fighting of Beasts THere are a great many at Agra who are curious in breeding up of Beasts to have the pleasure to make them Fight together But seeing they cannot reach to Elephants and Lions because it costs dear to feed them most part content themselves with He-goats Weathers Rams Cocks Quailes Stags and Antilopes to entertain their Friends with the Fightings of these Beasts Indian Antilopes The Indian Antilopes are not altogether like those of other Countries they have even a great deal more courage and are to be distinguished by the Horns The Horns of the ordinary Antilopes are greyish and but half as long as the Horns of those in the Indies which are blackish and a large Foot and a half long These Horns grow winding to the point like a screw and the Faquirs and Santons carry commonly two of them pieced together they are armed with Iron at both ends and they make use of them as of a little Staff. Leopard When they use not a tame Leopard for catching of Antilopes they take with them a Male of the kind that is tame and fasten a Rope about his Horns with several nooses and doubles the two ends whereof are tied under his Belly so soon as they discover a Heard of Antilopes they slip this Male and he runs to joyn them The Male of the Heard advances to hinder him and making no other opposition but by playing with his Horns he fails not to be pestered and entangled with his Rival so that it being uneasie for him to retreat the Huntsman cunningly catches hold on him and carries him off but it is easier so to catch the Male than the Females Pidgeons There are Pidgeons in that Country all over green which differ from ours only in colour The Fowlers take them with Bird-lime in this manner A Screen for Fowling they carry before them a kind of light Shed or Screen that covers the whole Body and has holes in it to see through the Pidgeons seeing no Man are not at all scared when the Fowler draws near so that he cunningly catches them one after another with a Wand and Bird lime on it none offering to flie away In some places Parrocquets are taken after the same manner The Indians are very dexterous at Game they take Water-fowl with great facility as thus The Fowlers swim almost upright yet so that they have their Head above Water The catching of Water-fowl which they hide with a Pot full of holes to let in the Air and give them sight Besides this Pot is covered with Feathers to cheat the Ducks and other Fowl so that when the Fowler draws near them they are not in the least scared taking that floating head for a Fowl and then the Fowler makes sure of them by the Feet which he catches hold of under Water and draws them down The other Ducks seeing no body think that their comrades have only dived and are not at all scared so that growing acquainted with the Feathered head that still follows them they are at length all taken whil'st in vain they stay for the return
and then they carry it to the Sea-port Towns and especially to Surrat where the Europeans and others buy it to Ballast their Ships with and sell elsewhere This Province of Azmer pays commonly to the Great Mogul thirty two or thirty three Millions notwithstanding the barren places that are in it CHAP. XXX Of the Province of Sinde or Sindy The Province of Sinde or Sindy SInde or Sindy which some call Tatta is bounded with the province of Azmer to the East and the Mountains which border it on that side belong to the one or other Country It hath Multan to the North to the South a Desart and the Indian Sea and to the West Macran and Segestan It reaches from South to North on both sides the River Indus and that River is by the Orientals called also Sindy or Sinde The River Sinde Ginguis-Can Gelaleddin Carezmian Princes On the banks of it was fought that famous Battel betwixt Ginguis-Can first Emperour of the Tartars or Ancient Moguls and the Sultan Gelaleddin which decided the destiny of the Empire in favour of the former against the Carezmian Princes who had for a long time been Masters of the Kingdom of Persia of all Zagatay and of the greatest part of the Country of Turquestan The chief Town of this Province is Tatta and the most Southern Town Tatta Diul Dobil Diul It is still called Diul-Sind and was heretofore called Dobil It lyes in the four and twentieth or five and twentieth degree of Latitude There are some Orientals that call the Country of Sinde by the name of the Kingdom of Diul It is a Country of great Traffick and especially in the Town of Tatta where the Indian Merchants buy a great many curiosities made by the Inhabitants who are wonderfully Ingenious in all kind of Arts. The Indus makes a great many little Islands towards Tatta and these Islands being fruitful and pleasant make it one of the most commodious Towns of the Indies though it be exceeding hot there There is also a great trade at Lourebender Lourebender which is three days Journey from Tatta upon the Sea where there is a better Road for Ships than in any other place of the Indies The finest Palanquins that are in all Indostan are made at Tatta and there is nothing neater than the Chariots with two Wheels which are made there for Travelling It is true they have but few Coaches because few Europeans go thither and hardly any of the Indians make use of Coaches but they Chariots convenient for Travelling but these Chariots are convenient enough for Travelling and are not harder than Coaches They are flat and even having a border four fingers broad with Pillars all round more or fewer according to the fancy of him for whom it is made but commonly there are but eight of which there are four at the four corners of the Engine the other four at the sides and thongs of Leather are interwoven from Pillar to Pillar to keep one from falling out Some I confess have the Chariot surrounded with Ballisters of Ivory but few are willing to be at the charges of that and the Custom of making use of that Net-work of Leather makes that most part cares not for Ballisters but go so about the Town sitting after the Levantine manner upon a neat Carpet that covers the bottom of the Chariot Some cover it above with a slight Imperial but that commonly is only when they go into the Country to defend them from the Sun-beams This Machine hath no more but two Wheels put under the side of the Chariot and not advancing outwards The Wheeles of the Indian Chariots they are of the height of the fore Wheels of our Coaches have eight square spoaks are four or five fingers thick and many times are not shod Hackny-coaches to Travel in with two Oxen are hired for five and twenty pence or half a Crown a day but whatever ease the Indians may find in them our Coaches are much better because they are hung The Wheels of Waggons or Carts for carrying of Goods Cart-Wheeles have no Spoaks they are made of one whole piece of solid Timber in form of a Mill-stone and the bottom of the Cart is always a thick frame of Wood. These Carts are drawn by eight or ten Oxen according to the heaviness of the Loads When a Merchant conveys any thing of consequence he ought to have four Soldiers or four Pions by the sides of the Waggon to hold the ends of the Rope that are tyed to it to keep it from overturning if it come to heeld in bad way and that way is used in all Caravans though commonly they consist of above two hundred Waggons CHAP. XXXI Of Palanquins Palanquin INdians that are Wealthy Travel neither in Chariots nor Coaehes They make of use of an Engine which they call Palanquin and is made more neatly at Tatta than any where else It is a kind of Couch with four feet having on each side Ballisters four or five Inches high and at the head and feet a back-stay like a Childs Cradle which sometimes is open like Ballisters and sometimes close and Solid This Machine hangs by a long Pole which they call Pambou by means of two frames nailed to the feet of the Couch which are almost like to those that are put to the top of moving Doors to fasten Hangings by and these two frames which are the one at the head and the other at the opposite end have Rings through which great Ropes are put that fasten and hang the Couch to the Pambou The Pambous of Palanquins The Pambous that serve for Palanquins are thick round Canes five or six Inches in Diametre and four Fathom long crooked Arch-wise in the middle so that on each side from the bending there remains a very streight end about five or six foot long On the bending of the Pambou there is a covering laid of two pieces of Cloath sewed together betwixt which at certain distances there are little Rods cross-ways to hold the Cloaths so that they may conveniently cover the Palanquin If a Woman be in it it is covered close over with red Searge or with Velvet if she be a great Lady And if they be afraid of Rain the whole machine is covered over with a waxed Cloath In the bottom of these Palanquins there are Mats and Cushions to lie or sit upon and they move or ease themselves by means of some Straps of Silk that are fastened to the Pambou in the inside of the Machine The Ornament of Palanquins Every one adorns his Palanquin according to his humour some have them covered with plates of carved Silver and others have them only Painted with Flowers and other Curiosities or beset round with guilt Balls and the Cases or Cages wherein hang the Vessels that hold the Water which they carry with them to drink are beautified in the same manner as the Body of the Palanquin
Turks go to the House-of-office they put the left foot foremost to the end the Angel who registers their sins may leave them first and when they come out they set the right foot before that the Angel who writes down their good works may have them first under protection They also believe that after a man is buried the Soul returns to the Body and that two very terrible Angels come into the grave the one called Munkir Munkir Guanequir and the other Guanequir who take him by the head and make him kneel and that for that reason they leave a tuft of Hair on the crown of their head The examination of the Dead so soon as they are in the grave that the Angels who make them kneel may take hold of it After that the Angels examine him in this manner Who is thy God thy Religion and Prophet And he answers thus My God is the true God my Religion is the true Religion and my Prophet is Mahomet But if that Man find himself to be guilty and being afraid of their tortures shall say You are my God and my Prophet and it is in You that I believe at such an Answer these Angels smite him with a Mace of fire and depart and the earth squeezes the poor wretch so hard that his Mothers milk comes running out at his nose The state of the Wicked after death After that come two other Angels bringing an ugly creature with them that represents his sins and bad deeds changed into that form then opening a window they depart into Hell and the Man remains there with that ugly creature being continually tormented with the sight of it and the common miseries of the damned until the Day of Judgment when both go to Hell together But if he hath lived well and made the first answer above mentioned The state of the Good after death they bring him a lovely creature which represents his good actions changed into that form then the Angels opening a window go away to Paradise and the lovely creature remains which gives him a great deal of content and stays with him until the Day of Judgment when both are received into Paradise Another state of Souls after death Others say that if he make a bad answer one of these Angels gives him such a rap with a mace of Iron on the head that he beats him down seven fathom deep into the ground and the other pulls him out with an iron hook and then the first begins to strike again and so continue the one striking down and the other pulling up till the Day of Judgment And that if he answer well two white Angels shall keep him company till the Day of Judgment Whereby it appears they believe that Souls go neither to Heaven nor Hell till the Day of Judgment CHAP. XXXI Of the Beasts that shall enter into Paradise THE Turks as we said before admit of a Paradise but they believe much more than we do for they believe that not only the good Musulmans shall enter into it but also certain Beasts and Fowl Beasts in Paradise which are these that follow The first is the Camel of the Prophet Saleh the second the Ram that Abraham sacraficed Moses's Cow Salomon's Ant the Queen of Sheba's Parret the Ass of Ezra the Whale of Jonas a little Dog which they call Kitmer and the Camel of Mahomet But we must know what it is that made these Beasts to merit Paradise for they tell tales of them The Camel of Saleb And first of the Camel of Saleh This Saleh was a Prophet before the time of Mahomet in great esteem among the Arabians Persians and Turks who going to convert the Infidels in Persia and other Places they prayed him to work a Miracle which he granted them and made a Camel that had been killed by one named Chudar Chudar to come alive out of a Rock this Camel they say is still alive and the cry of it is heard at present by all who pass that way but that when Camels go that way they beat Timbrels discharge their Muskets and make a great noise for fear the Camels should hear this cry for if they heard it they would not stir Abraham's Ram is that which the Angel Gabriel brought to that Patriarch Abraham's Ram. and which he sacraficed in place of his Son Isaac when God commanded him to do it for a tryal of his Faith. That which they call the Cow of Moses The Cow of Moses is the Red Cow whose Ashes were mingled with the Water of Purification Salomon was the Greatest King that ever was for all Creatures obey'd him and brought him Presents amongst others an Ant brought him a Locust which it had dragg'd along by main force Salomon's Ant. Salomon perceiving that the Ant had brought a thing bigger than itself accepted of the Present and preferred it before all other Creatures The Parret or Hoope of the Queen of Sheba as some others will have it The Parret of the Queen of Sheba was the Messenger that carried and brought her news of Salomon Ezra the Prophet being in dispute with Infidels concerning the Resurrection he prayed to God to shew them some Miracle that might make them believe it immediately his Ass that was dead and rotten many years before rose again Ezra's Ass at which the People were converted and believed Jonas's Whale is also to go to Paradise because it cast out Jonas upon dry-land There was a King who persecuted all that served God at his Court now there were four Men Of four Sleepers faithful Servants of God who having consulted together fled and hid themselves in a Cave and as they were upon the way a little Dog followed them but when they perceived it one of them threw a stone at it and broke one of its legs immediately thereupon the Dog asked them Why have you broken my leg They answered Because you follow us and seeing we are going to serve God whom we love and fear by your means we may be apprehended and destroyed The little Dog Kitmer The Dog replied If you love God I love you and I pray you take me along with you which they did and went to the Cave where they remained with the Dog which lying under the door cried Hou that in Arabick signifies him that is to say God. There they stayed the space of three hundred threescore and twelve years and then awaking sent one of their number to the Town to buy Bread this Man coming to a Baker with his old Money was apprehended and carried before a Magistrate who questioning him where he had got that Money he related the whole affair and was then brought before the King who wondered much at the matter and went with his People to the Cave to see the rest This Man who served for a Guide coming near to the Cave prayed the King to let him go before to acquaint his
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
a corner of a Street where they think they are not perceived they 'll lift the Veil to shew themselves to some Friend or Young-man that pleases them but in that they hazard their Reputation and Bastonadoes besides Now these Women are very haughty Turkish Women are haughty all of them generally will be clad in flowered stuffs though their Husbands can hardly get Bread nevertheless they are extreamly Lazy spending the whole day sitting on a Divan and doing nothing at all unless it be embroadering Flowers upon some Handkerchief and so soon as the Husband gets a penny it must be laid out for purchasing a Woman-Slave This great Idleness makes them Vicious and employ all their thoughts how to find out ways of having their Pleasures The Turks value not women much The Turks do not believe that Women go to Heaven and hardly account them Rational Creatures the truth is they take them only for their service as they would a Horse but seeing they have many of them and that they often spend their love upon their own Sex these poor Women finding themselves so forsaken use all means to procure what they cannot have from their Husbands who are very Jealous The jealousie of the Turks and put so little confidence in the frailty of that Sex that they suffer them not to shew themselves to Men and a Woman that should allow a Man to see her Face or Hands only would be reckoned Infamous and receive Bastonadoes on the Buttocks and therefore they suffer them not to go to the Mosques The Women go not to the Mosques Upon what grounds a woman may sue out a Divorce from her Husband where they would only distract the Men from their Devotion nor to Market nor yet to enter into their Husbands Shops They never show their wives to their Friends how intimate soever they be and in short they hardly ever stir out of doors unless to the Bath and these also men of Quality have at home and those of higher Quality keep Eunuchs to look to their Wives so that the greater Quality the Husbunds have the less liberty have they The wives have not the priviledge of Divorcing their Husbands as the husbands have of Divorcing them unless he deny them the things which he is obliged to furnish them which are Bread Pilau Coffee and Money to go twice a week to the Bagnio for if he fail in giving them any of these things they may goe before the Cady and demand a Divorce because the Husband is not able to maintain them Then the Cady visits the House and finding the Wives complaints to be just grants her Suit. A Wife may also demand divorce if her Husband hath offered to use her contrary to the course of Nature then she goes before the Cady and turns up the sole of her Slipper without saying a word the Cady understanding that Language sends for the Husband who if he makes no good defence is Bastanado'd and his Wife Divorced from him CHAP. XLIII Of the way of Mourning for the Dead among the Turks their manner of Burying and of their Burying-places WHen any one Dies in Turky the Neighbours soon have the news of it Of the way of mourning for the Dead for the Women of the House fall a Howling and crying out so loud that one would think they were in Dispair all their Friends and Neighbours having notice of this come to visit them and fall to making the same musick as they do for these visits are not rendered for Comforting but for Condoling They all then together weeping and in a mournful and doleful tone but still as if they were singing fall to rehearse the praise of the Deceased as for example the Wife of him that is dead will say He loved me so well gave me plenty of every thing I stood in need of c. And then the rest say the same making now and then all with one consent such loud cries that one would think all were undone The Burying of the Dead and this musick they continue for several hours together But the best of all is that so soon as the Company is all gone the mourning is over and so soon again as any Woman cometh a new Lamentation begins This lasts several days and sometimes at the years end they 'll begin again Such as cannot or will not weep hire Mourning Women who gain a good deal of money thereby At length after all these Lamentations comes the Ceremony that is to be observed before the Deceased be put in the Grave and his Relations and Friends having laid him out upon the Ground wash his Body and shave off his Hair for the Turks love so much to have their Bodies neat and clean that they make even the Dead observe it Next they burn Incense about him which they say scares away Evil Spirits and Devils who otherwise would muster about the Body then they wrap him up in a Sheet praying God to be merciful unto him but they sew not up the shroud at head and feet to the end the Deceased may the more easily kneel when the Angels that are to examine him The colour of the Palls of the Dead command him to do so They put him afterwards into a Coffin or Beer like to ours which they cover with a Pall that ought to be red if he be a Soldier that is Dead if it be a Scherif it ought to be a green Pall and if neither of the two a black one and a thwart over it they extend a Turban according to the Office he bore If he was a Janisary they put a red Turban if a Spahi a red one and a white and if he be a Scherif a green Turban for others they put a white one He is after that carried to the Burying-place then priests going before saying certain prayers and often calling upon the name of God after the Body comes the Relations and Friends then the Women who altogether crie along the Streets like Mad-women and holding a Handkerchief about their neck with both hands they pull it sometimes this way and sometimes that way as if they were out of their wits for Grief In fine being come to the Burying-place where the Corps is to de Interr'd they take it out of the Coffin or Beer put it into the Grave and so depart leaving the Women there to make an end of their Musick If it be a Person of Quality his Horses are led in state Horses led at Funerals Now the difference of the Turkish Graves and those of the Christians of the Country in the inside is this that after the Turks have put their Dead into the Grave they lay over a sloaping Board one end of it being set in the bottom of the Grave and the other leaning on the upper end of the same above so that it covers the Body which the Christians of the Country do not but neither of the two Bury their Dead in
broad it is four Foot long I mean the Blade of it alone for the Handle is almost a Foot long and they say that this is but one half of the Blade the other half being in the Grand Signior's Treasury it is so heavy that it is as much as one can do to hold it out with one Hand Near to that Sword is the Mace of Arms of the same Roland which is an Iron-Battoon twice as thick as ones Thumb and about two Foot long the Handle of it is covered with Copper which makes it very big and the end of it is armed with a great Lion of Copper Roland's Mace. In the same Chappel there are two Coffins each covered with a Pall of black Velvet and at the end of each of them there is a Turban They say that in these Coffins are the Bodies of Roland and his Son who as they believe Died both Musulmans The Sword and Mace of Arms lie upon a Table just before the Tombs The top of this Hill is but narrow but very pleasant there being a little Wood upon it And the Turks go often there to Feast and make Merry CHAP. LIX Of the Journey from Bursa to Smyrna The Caravane of Bursa BEing at Bursa I made ready to go to Smyrna with the Caravane that every Thursday goes from Bursa to Smyrna but because it was late before I came on Thursday it behoved me to stay Eight days in the mean time I made my provisions and that care is of no small consequence for you must make account to find nothing but water upon the Road and therefore one must carry a field-Bed to lye on Bisket for Bread will be spoyled a good Pastie Wine if you have a mind to drink any in a Borachio or other Vessel Vinager Oyle Salt Candle and all sorts of Utensiles not forgeting a Candlestick in short one must carry a kind of House-hold-stuff along with him if he would Travel conveniently The Turks are very dextrous at that for without any clutter they carry along with them all that is necessary and trust not to the places upon the Road for supply nay they will as easily Boyl the Kettle in a Desert as at home in their own Houses This was the first time that ever I went in a Caravane and therefore these preparations seemed a little uncouth unto me Caravanes are assemblies of Travellers who join themselves and Baggage together that they may go in company to any Place Caravane and so be better able to defend themselves against Robbers it any be abroad in the High-ways These Caravanes never lodge in Houses nor Villages but abroad in the Fields or in their Kervanserais if any be to be found Kervanserai a Kervanserai signifies the house of the Caravane and they are vast Buildings longer than broad made like a Market or Town-Hall There is a great place in the middle of them where the Horses Mules Camels and other Beasts of the Caravane stand and this place is surrounded with a low Wall three foot high joining to the great Wall these low Walls are six Foot broad above Mastabez and are called Mastabez and there the Turks take up their Lodging making it their Hall Parlour Kitching and all some of these Kervanserais are also made like a great Stable having Mangers on the one side to which the Horses are tied and on the other Mastabez where the Men repose eat and sleep There are others which have several little Mastabies to wit one betwixt every two Horses and there are others but very rare upon this Rode where there is a Stable for the Beasts and another place much like to it but distant for the Men. On Wednesday I hired two Horses for myself and Servant of the Master of the Caravane and a Mule for my Baggage and next day Thursday the seventh of September I parted with the Caravane from Bursa about two a Clock in the Afternoon Tahhtalie We came to lye that night at a Village called Tahhtalie about ten or twelve miles from Bursa and there we lodged in a Kervanserai Friday the eighth of September we parted from Tahhtali about two a Clock in the Morning and at Noon came to Loubat thirty Miles from Tahhtali where we lay Saturday we parted from Loubat at two of the Clock in the Morning and about eleven a Clock came to Sousurluk Loubat Sousurluk five and twenty Miles from Loubat There is a River there which we cross over upon a very sorry Bridge where I was many times in fear of being drowned or breaking my Neck for we were fain to step over upon ugly Planks pretty distant from one another Sunday about three a Clock in the Morning we parted from that Place and Travelled about twenty Miles there the way began to be very bad which continued so till Wednesday Monday we set out about four a Clock in the Morning and Travelled twenty Miles Tuesday we parted about five a Clock in the Morning and about eleven came to a Village called Dgelembe Dgelembe from that Village till we came to Smyrna the way was very good Wednesday we parted from Dgelembe about five a a Clock in the Morning and about eleven came to a Village called Palamout Palamout and though there be a Kervanserai in it which is the usual Lodging-place yet we stop'd not there but went on that we might baulk the Robbers whom we were afraid we might meet and stop'd two Miles beyond it in a Plain that we might rest a little and refresh our Beasts There were a great many Robbers at that time upon the Road and they were those who had escaped from the Battel of the Dardanelles most of them Barbary Men who gave no Quarter for not thinking it enough to Rob they Killed Travellers and that made us keep a good Watch and often look to our Arms having with us besides Troopers whom the Master of the Caravane had hired to Guard the Caravane who had indeed some Allarms upon the Road but they proved always to be false We took Horse again about two in the Afternoon and about five a Clock came to a pitiful Village or Hamlet near to which we lay abroad in the Fields for till then we had always lain in Kervanserais under cover There we found a great many water Melons water Melons which were a great regale for the Turks who are great lovers of Fruits and especially of that sort and indeed every one of them eat one at least for his share We left that wretched Lodging on Thursday about five a clock in the Morning and about eight came to a great Town called Manassa Manassa and lodged in a fair Kervanserai where we found every thing necessary nay Wine too for there are several Greeks there We stayed all that day and the next in that Town and parted on Saturday the Sixteenth of September about five a Clock in the Morning and the
was slain by the Knight Deodat de Gozon Deodat de Gozon as may be seen in the History of the Knights of St. John the Head of the Dragon was heretofore upon that Gate but some Years since the Turks removed it to the Water-gate On this side it was also that the Traytor Andrea d'Amaral shot secretly from the House of the Great Master that looks that way a Letter fastned to an Arrow into the Camp of the Turks wherein he gave the Turks notice that they could not take the Town but on that side by filling up the Ditches with the Earth of a Hill that was close by which they did and so took Rbodes from the same place the Traytor continued to acquaint the Grand Signior with the resolutions of the Council Near to this Gate within the Town are the Pits where the Knights put their Corn such as they have at present in Malta for the same use As you enter the Town by the Water-gate you go first through a little Gate over which are two Escutcheons of two Crosses the one plain and the other Anchred then to the Left hand you enter by a great Gate over which is the Dragons Head which is much Thicker Broader A Dragons head at Rhodes and Longer than a Horses Head the Jaws of it are slit up to the Ears with very great Teeth on each side it is flat above hath Eyes somewhat bigger than those of a Horse the hole of the Nostril full round and the Skin of a greyish White Colour perhaps because of the Dust that sticks to it and appears to be very hard There are three Escutcheons over that Gate also as there are many others on several places of the Walls but one dares not stop to look at them One of these Escutcheons bears a plain Cross and the other a Cross Anchred and betwixt these two there is a third bearing the Arms of France On the very top of this Gate there are three Statues in their Niches with three Lines written underneath them whereof I could only read the first Word which is D. Petrus and under that Inscription are the three above-mentioned Escutcheons This Gate is betwixt two great Towers well planted with Faulcons The Streets of the Town are pretty broad all Paved with little Stones and for the most part covered with Pent-houses which the Turks have made these Pent-houses jet out so far into the Street that they almost touch one another in the middle of it There are several fair Buildings in it but all built in time of the Knights St. John's Church is still to be seen there but it is at present a Mosque There is a little Nich over the great Gate of it that hath a round cover and upon that cover the Figures of our Saviour the Blessed Virgin and St. John holding the Cross are cut in bas relief The Gate is of Wood pretty well carv'd and on the left hand as you come out of the Church into which no Christian is now suffered to enter is the street of the Knights where all of them I believe lodged for there are several Coats of Arms upon the houses of that street out of which there is still a gate to go into St. John's This is a long streight street and mounts upwards it is paved with small Stones and in the middle of the street there is a line of white Marble a foot broad which reaches from one end to the other at the upper end of it is the Palace of the great Master but no body now lives in it None but Turks and Jews live in the City of Rhodes for Christians are not suffered to be there though they keep Shops in the Town but at night they must retire to the Villages in the Countrey about being only allowed to come to Town in the day-time CHAP. LXXIV Of the Voyage from Rhodes to Alexandria Departure from Rhodes WE stay'd at Rhodes till Christmas having all the while very bad weather great Rains and much Thunder At length on Monday Christmas-day the five and twentieth of December the wind turned North-west but because it was still close and cloudy weather our Captain would not put out that day though a great many Saiques set sail On St. Stephen's-day being Tuesday the six and twentieth of December it clearing a little up and the North-west-wind continuing we set out from Rhodes after twelve a clock making sail only with our Fore-sail that we might not leave the Island before night for fear of Corsairs The Countrey of Chares After Sun-set we spread our Main-sail and in a short time left Lindo the Countrey of Chares who made the Colossus of Rhodes a stern of us it is a little Rock at a point of the Isle of Rhodes threescore miles from the Town Scarpanto There is a small Town on it with a very good Fort. When it was two or three hours in the night we came over against the Isle of Scarpanto fifty miles from Lindo Gulf of Satalia which we left to the star-board then we entered into the Gulf of Satalia where for two or three hours time we had a rowling Sea because the Current of that Gulf makes an Eddy with the Currents of the Gulf of Venice and other places to the Westward which is the cause that the Sea is a little rough there This Passage was heretofore so dangerous that many Vessels were cast away in it but the Sea-men say that St. Helena returning from Jerusalem threw one of the Nails of our Saviour's Cross into it and that since the danger has been less After that about mid-night it began to blow so fresh from North-north-west that we reckoned our running to be ten miles an hour though we carried only our Main-sail that we might not leave a Callion or Turkish Ship that was our Consort and was a great way a stern of us She came with us from Chio and was also bound for Alexandria That wind lasted all Wednesday the seven and twentieth of December St. John the Evangelist's-day and at night it slackened a little and then changed to the North-east but so easie a gale that we got a head but little or nothing during the whole night and all next day which was St. Innocent's-day the twenty eighth of December That day towards the evening the wind blew a little fresher but shortly after was calmed by a shower of Rain About midnight it blew again so hard that Friday the nine and twentieth of December by break of day we made the Land of Aegypt Boukery and the wind chopping about to West-north-west we stood away towards Boukery five hundred miles distant from Rhodes but the wind cast us so far to the lee-ward that shortly after we found ourselves below Alexandria where we endeavoured to put in Arrival near to Alexandria beating to and again all day long but in the evening we were fain to come to an anchor five or six miles
little Grains It is said that Caesar erected this Pillar in memory of the Victory which he obtained over Pompey At fome Paces distance from thence is Caesars Palace Caesars Palace in Alexandria but all ruined save some Pillars of Pomphyrie that are still entire and standing and the Frontispiece still pretty sound which is a very lovely piece About three or fourscore paces wide of that Pillar there is a Khalis or Canal of the Nile Khalis which was dug by the ancient Aegyptians to bring the water of the Nile into Alexandria having none other to drink This Canal which is much about the breadth of that that runs through Caire whereof we shall speak hereafter begins about six Leagues above Rossetto on the side of the Nile and from thence comes to Alexandria and when the Nile swells they give it a Passage through this Khalis by breaking down a bank The Cisterns of Alexandria as we shall take notice in speaking of that of Caire this Water fills the Cisterns which are purposely made underneath the Town and are very magnificent and spacious for Alexandria is all hallow under being an entire Cistern the Vaults whereof are supported by several fair Marble-Pillars and over these Arches the Houses of Alexandria were built which made men say that in Alexandria there was a Town under Ground as big as that above Ground A Subterranean Town in Alexandria and some have assured me that one may still walk under the whole Town of Alexandria in fair Streets where the shops are still to be seen but that the Turks suffer no body to go down Now the Water of the Nile which is so conveyed by the Khalis under the Town serves the Inhabitants to drink all the year round Pouseragues for every house has it drawn by Pouseragues which pour it into their private Cisterns as fast as it is drawn up These Pouseragues are Wheels with a Rope hanging round them like a string of Beads without an end to which are fastened several earthen-Potts which going empty down come always full up again and pour the Water into a Canal that conveys it whethersoever one pleases But in the Months of August and September which is the time when these Cisterns are filled the new Water is unwholsome and few that drink of it escape some Sickness or other therefore several keep of the last years water until November Besides that inconvenience the Air of Alexandria is so bad during the months of July August September and October that many who ly upon the Ground at that time fall into quartain Agues which sometimes hold them several Years I my self having known some who have kept them eight years They who ly on Board of ships though in the Port are not annoied with that bad Air. But to return to the Khalis it has Gardens all along the sides of it which are full of Limon and Orange-Trees and a great many other Trees that bear a fruit like Oranges but so big that one cannot grasp them with both hands These fruits are not good to be eaten raw but they peal off the Rind of them then cut them into quarters and clearing them of the sower stuff preserve them which make a most excellent Conserve As for the Limons there are two sorts of them some very great which are not good to eat and others as small as Wall-nuts Juice of Limons that are the best because they are full of Juice having a very thin Skin and the juice of them they squeeze upon Meat for Sauce and likewise press it out with Presses and therewith fill several Casks which they send to Venice and other places And this juice serves for making of Sorbet In these Gardens there are also Cassia-Trees Carob-Trees and the like and the Fields about Alexandria are full of Palm-Trees and Capers shrubs Having seen these things I returned into the Town by the Gate of Rossetto where are many lovely Pillars of Porphyrian Marble and I went to see the Chrrch of St. Catherine held by the Greeks there you may see the Stone on which that holy Virgin had her Head cut off The Stone on which St. Catherine was Beheaded This Stone looks like a piece of round Pillar is almost two foot high and has a hole quite through it from one end to the other big enough to receive ones Fist the Greeks say that just over that hole her Head was cut off as may be seen by the marks that are in the hole which is stained all round within with Blood and Fat as I could plainly see This stone rests upon a marble-Pillar about four foot high which the Greeks have purposely made to set it upon Then I went to see the Church of St. Mark held by the Cophtes A Picture of of St Michael made by St. Luke St. Mark. wherein is to be seen the Pulpit where that St. used to Preach as also a Picture of St. Michael which they say was drawn by St. Luke St. Mark was the first Patriarch of Alexandria where he suffered Martyrdom in the year 64. His Body was kept in that Church until Venetian Merchants transported it to Venice After that as I was going along the way that leads from Rossetto to the Town they shewed me the ruines of the Palace of St. Catherines Father The Palace of St. Catherines Father Porphyrian pillars in Alexandria Obolisks of Garnet in Alexandria which are hardly now considerable Along that way also there are a great many fair Pillars of Porphyrian Marble to be seen In another place I saw two very lovely Obelisks of Garnet such as are in many places at Rome with Hieroglyfick figures upon them in the same manner there is but one of them standing without a Pedestal the other is buried in the Ground nothing appearing above but the Foot about ten foot long each of them are of one entire piece of the same thickness and perhaps are bigger than those of Rome Near to these pillars are the ruines of the Palace of Cleopatra The palace of Cleopatra which is utterly defaced They have so much Marble Porphyrie and Garnet there that they know not what to do with it and adorn the Gates with them as the Water-gate is beautified with four lovely Pieces of Thebaick-stone or Garnet one on each side one cross over above and one below and yet that Gate is very high and wide indeed all they have to do is to remove the Earth that covers these Stones and transport them Stones engraved Among the ruines of that Town there are also some very curious stones to be found which are little like Medals and are Agats Garnets Emeralds and the like all Engraved some with a Head some with an Idol some with a Beast and so all different which heretofore have served for Medals or Talismans Talismans that is to say Charms But most of these Engraveings are so excellent that certainly such cannot be
will kill a Man for a penny and indeed they are very Poor therefore when one goes by Water upon the Nile he had need keep a good Guard against the Corsairs During our Voyage in the night-time we lighted several Matches which we fastened round about our Bark on the out-side and the Arabs seeing these Matches easily take them for so many Musquets which they are deadly afraid of as not knowing the use of them besides that we had Fire-Arms which we now and then Discharged as well by night as by day that they might hear them but notwithstanding all that a Bark of Robbers came one night up with our Caiques which one having discovered he allarmed the rest then all cried to them to keep off thereupon they made answer in Turkish that we need not be afraid for they were Friends and would go in company with us but when we called to them again that if they did not stand off we would Fire at them they went their way At Boulac we took Asses to carry us to Caire half a League distant from thence My Lord Honorie de Bermond the French Consul did me the favour to lodge me at his House The French Consul as those of other Nations resides at Caire because the Basha lives there so the Affairs of the Nation are the more conveniently managed he hath two Vice-Consuls under him whom he appoints as he thinks good one at Rossetto another at Alexandria and sometimes one at Damiette who depend upon none but him CHAP. IV. Of Caire THere are so many things to be seen at Caire that a very large Book might be fill'd with the Relation of them and seeing I made a considerable stay there and saw a good many of them I shall here describe them in order according to the several times I saw them in Caire the Capital and Metropolitan City of Aegypt Caire before it fell under the Turkish Dominion was in the later times Governed by Sultans or Kings who were taken from among the Mamalukes Mamalukes These Mamalukes were all Circassian Slaves bought of Merchants who came and sold them to the Sultan of Aegypt who presently made them renounce the Christian Religion then committed them to the care of Masters of Exercise by whom they were taught to bend the Bow shoot exact give a true thrust with a Launce make use of Sword and Buckler sit a Horse well for they were all Horse-men and skilfully manage him After that they were advanced according to their merit and the Cowards and Unhandy were left behind so that all who were brave might rise to be Sultans for by them the Sultan was chosen and none who were not Mamalukes could be Sultans nor was any received to be a Mamaluke that was not of Christian Extraction those being excluded who had either Mahometans or Jews to their Fathers These Men were exterminated in the Year 1517. that Sultan Selim the First Conquered all Aegypt and at the taking of Caire Thomambey their Sultan called Tbomambey who was the last Sultan of Aegypt falling into his hands he put him to an ignominious death the Thirteenth of April 1517. causing him to be Hang'd at one of the Gates of Caire called Babzuaila Babzuaila and for ever rooting out the Mamalukes who were cut off to the last man. Since that time the Turks have always been Masters of it This City stands ill Caire stands ill for it is at the foot of a Hill on which the Castle is built so that the Hill covers it and intercepts all the Wind and Air which causes such a stifling heat there as engenders many Diseases whereas if it stood in the place where Old Caire is in the first place they would have the benefit of the River which is of great importance were it only for water to drink for the water must be brought into all parts of Caire in Borachios upon Camels backs which feth it from Boulac above half a league from the City and yet that is the nearest place Hence it is that so much bad water is drank at Caire because those who go to bring it on their Camels that they make the more returns take it out of the Birques or stinking Pooles Birques that are nearer than the River and for all that sell it very dear They would besides have the advantage of the Wind which blows on all hands along the River so that the heat would not be so prejudicial nay more it would be a great help to Trade in that it would ease them of the labour and charges of loading their Goods on Camels to carry them from the City to the Port or from the Port to the City And indeed Memphis the Antients chose a very good Situation for Memphis on the other side of the River and Old Caire hath since been built opposite to Memphis also upon the River But the Later who ought to correct the faults of the more Ancient if they were guilty of any have committed the greatest errours for I can see no reason why they have pitched upon that incommodious Situation unless it was perhaps to joyn the City to the Castle that so it might be under the protection thereof Caire is a very great City full of Rabble it lies in form of a Crescent but is narrow and they are in the wrong who perswade themselves that Caire is bigger than Paris I once went round the City and Castle with two or three other French-men we were mounted on Asses not daring to go on foot for fear of some bad usage The circumference of Caire how many leagues but we went at a foot pace and as near as we could no faster than a man might walk and we were two hours and a quarter in making that round which is somewhat more than three but not four French Leagues I walked once on foot also the whole length of the Khalis from end to end which is exactly the length of the City of Caire for it is a Street that goes through the middle of it from one end to another I set out early in the morning with a Janizary that I might not be by any hindred in my design or abused and being come to the end about St. Michael's I alighted and having set two Watches which I had in my pocket at the same hour I began to walk pretty fast when I came to the other end of Khalis I found that we had been almost three quarters of an hour in going the length of it and I could undertake to perform it very well in half an hour if I had not on Turkish Shoes as I had at that time which was a great hindrance to me for at every turn my Paboutches slipt off my feet and besides I was in my Vest that likewise retarded my going I reckoned also all the steps I made putting at each hundred paces a bean in my pocket and at the end I found one and fifty beans in
I thought for fear of meeting with some abuse In the mean time I think that that folly may be put in the same rank with the Well that is in the Nunnery of the Cophtes in the quarter of the Greeks where they say the Blessed Virgin appears on a certain day of the year as also with the Church called Geniane that is to say the two Churches which is three days journey from Caire where the Cophtes imagine that they see Saints appear in the Dome and therefore they have it in great Veneration CHAP. XIII Of the Cavalcade of the Hazna The Grand Signiors revenue in Aegypt MOnday the eleventh of June the Hazna or Grand Signior's Revenue came down from the Castle This Hazna amounts to six hundred thousand Venetian Chequins which make 1500000 Piastres which the Basha of Aegypt sends yearly to the Grand Signior The Cavalcade at the setting out of the Grand Signiors hazna for Constantinople under the guard of a Sangiack Bey well accompanied This Hazna came down from the Castle and about eight a Clock in the morning went through Caire with a lovely Cavalcade in great pomp First went many of all the Sangiacks Servants well mounted then came the Saraf Basha and the Saraf of the Basha each with a Caftan which they had received from the Basha and next eight Clerks and other Officers of the Custome-house who had every one a Caftan given them by the Basha these were followed by all the Chiaoux's with their great Turbans after whom came the rest of the Sangiacks Servants and behind them thirty Mules loaded with the Treasure environed with several Janizaries on Foot a little after came above two thousand Janizaries on Foot marching two and two with their Musquets on their shoulders and their Shables by their sides next to them came the Sangiack Bey who was to accompany the Treasure to Constantinople he wore a Chiaoux Cap and had on a Caftan given him by the Basha he was followed by many men on Horseback carrying Colours and among others one that was made of several Flakes of Wooll fastened to the end of a Staff then came a great many men most part Moors playing upon Flutes Drums and Timbrels with many Trumpets in the Reer of all came the whole Family of the Sangiack Bey who made the Journey and it consisted of several very handsome Young-men In this Cavalcade were above two hundred Horse but the chief beauty of it was the Order wherein they marched for they went all two and two leisurely and without the least noise so that it was easie to reckon them they were all mounted on very good Horses all Armed some with Bows and Arrows others with Harquebusses Pikes and such-like Arms. They went out by the Bab Nasra that is to say the Gate of Victory and encamped a League off in Tents where they stayed about a Fortnight and then departed for Constantinople CHAP. XIV Of the Turks Carnaval TVesday Evening the twelfth of June 1657. happened the Carnaval of the Turks or the Ceremony of the beginning of the Ramadan which though it be but a trifle yet deserves once to be seen This Cavalcade is called Laylet el Kouvat Laylet el Kouvat The night when the Alcoran came down from Heaven that is to say the night of power because the Mahometans believe that that night the Alcoran descended from Heaven So soon as it is night Lamps are lighted in the streets and especially in the Bazar street through which the Procession passes it is a very long broad and streight Street where you see a great many Ropes stretched from one side to the other to which Iron-Hoops are fastened with many Lamps hanging to them there are also Baskets hanging full of Lamps these Hoops hang at about ten paces distance from one another and in every one of them there are above thirty Lamps which being all in a streight line make a very pleasant shew and great light there are besides many other great figures likewise full of Lamps and all the Minarets or Towers of the Mosques are also decked with them Vast numbers of people are abroad in the streets the shops and all places full but the Franks who would be Spectators of this Festival ought to take a room in the street of the Bazar only for the time of the Cavalcade that so they may conveniently see and be out of danger of the Rabble About the shutting in of the Night the Santos Chiaoux and all that are concerned in the Cavalcade go to the House of the Cadilesquer who tells them if they are to begin the Ramadan that night being then certain that the Moon hath been seen and that by consequence the Ramadan begins that night They begin their solemnity in this manner about an hour or two after night a great many Santos on Foot armed with Clubs and Torches in their hands and accompanied with several People carrying Links march up and down dancing singing roaring and making a noise with a Scheikh on a Mule in the middle of them whom they call Scheiks el arsat which is to say Scheikh or prime of the Cornuted and with them is a Scheikh of great reputation for when he passes the People shout and make great acclamations after him come several men mounted on Camels playing upon Drums Timbrels and other sorts of Instruments who make a sad noise then follow men in Masquerade who walk on foot some with Link-men about them and others carrying at the end of long Poles Hoops full of Fire-Launces which after they have burn'd and given light a pretty while bounce and leap among the People on all hands and during that time they let off a great many Squibs and Serpents After that come the Officers of the Bey on Horse-back all with their Harquebusses then the Chiaoux also on Horse-back next several Janizaries with their Musquets and Cimeters and after them the Sous Basha Muhtesib and many publick Magistrates well attended by Janizaries and Link-men the whole is concluded by a great many Santo's that sing some joyful Songs for the coming of the Ramadan All this Solemnity consists only of a company of Rogues got together but is pleasant enough however It is some pleasure still after all is over to see them break most of the Lamps with Stones and Sticks Then are the Shops kept open all night and so during all the Nights of the Ramadan but especially the Coffee-houses which are full of Lamps in some of which I have seen two thousand and all sorts of People Christians and others may go abroad all night long as securely as by day I have spoken at large of the Ramadan in the description of Constantinople CHAP. XV. Of the going out of a Basha Mansoul THE thirtieth of June 1657. the Basha was made Maasoul or Mansoul that is to say turned out of his Government which is done two manner of ways the one when the Beys of the Countrey make him
Year The cutting of the Khalis by the Sous-basha 1657. Thursday the ninth of August the Sousbasha attended by his Guards and two Men mounted on Camels and beating upon Timbrels went to the end of the Khalis towards the Nile where being come he alighted from his Horse and gave the first blow to the breaking of the Bank with a Hammer then he took Horse again and whilst several Moors that were there broke down all the Bank he went along the Khalis almost an Hour before the Water came he stopt before the Houses of the Consuls of the Franks who have back Doors and Windows that look into the Khalis and received a due of some Piastres which that day is payed him by these Consuls and then went on his way Then came a crowd of the Rabble some Singing and others pelting one another with Cudgels Some time after came the Water which was signified to us by a great Noise of roguish Moors both Men and little Boys that came along in it keeping pace with the Water some Swam and others threw one another into it playing a thousand foolish Tricks This Khalis filled up fifteen Foot high and all the time it was running there came Boats full of Merry Sparks who diverted themselves Singing and Playing on Instruments as they passed along As the Nile ceases to rise in the beginning of October so the Khalis leaves off to run about the end of the same Month and therefore in the said Month of October Proclamation is made in all the Streets Sakas The Sakas prohibited to take Water out of che Khalis when it runs no more Great scench and infection of the Khalis when it runs not forbidding all Sakas or Water-carriers to take any more Water out of the Khalis even before it hath wholly ceased to run because when it runs gently the filth of the City mingles too easie with it But when it has done running there is a most noisome smell not only because of the corruption of that standing Water but also because of all the filth and nasty stuff that they who have Windows upon the Khalis throw into it besides all the Carrion In short the Infection is so great that not only the Money and Plate in the Houses that are near to the Khalis is tarnished but also the Pictures and Painting are spoil'd as I have seen in several Houses which nevertheless recovered their former beauty when the Khalis was dry When I arrived at Caire the Khalis was in this manner full of standing Water and being told that it was the Khalis of which I had heard so much talk I had the curiosity to look into it out of a Window it was then Morning and the Water was so thick that the surface of it seemed to be all porphyrie appearing Green Blew Red and of all Colours But when the Sun had shone a little upon it and dissolved that scum I was soon undeceived for the scent which is smelt at a great distance made me well know what it was and I have often wondred that the horrible infection of it does not occasion a Plague every Year If the Sousbasha pleased The Sousbasha lets the water of the Khalis stand and corrupt for his own profit How the Khalis is dried that inconvenience might be remedied for the Water might be drained out but he lets it stand and corrupt so that he may afterwards sell it to the Gardeners who make use of it for watering their Gardens When then they have a mind to dry the Khalis they cast up Dams in several places of it and throw the Water from one into another and afterward take it out and sell it When a good deal of the Water hath been taken out the Ground drys very soon and when it is very dry which happens in the Month of May at least in the Year 1657. it was compleatly dry by the middle of May they set Men to work with Pick-axes to level the Ground in those places where heaps of Earth are cast up so that the Street being full of ups and downs The Nile brings much earth into the Khalis they make it even and smooth from end to end carrying away the Earth they take out upon Asses-backs into the Fields If they did not do so in three or four Years time the Khalis would be so choaked up by the abundance of new Earth that is brought into it by the Water of the Nile that all the Houses would be laid under Water CHAP. XXIII Of the Arrival of the Basha and his entry into Caire THursday the twenty seventh of September the Basha whom the Grand Signior sent to Caire in place of the Mansoul arrived before the City having been three Months on the way betwixt Constantinople and Caire but he had stopt some days at Damascus and other good Towns for from Constantinople to Caire it is reckoned but Five hundred Leagues by Land. A day before he approaches the City the Caymacam with several other Persons of Quality goes out and Encamps under Tents some Miles from the Town on the Basha's Road next day he waits for the Basha at his Tent-door and when he passes by the Tent the Caymacam salutes him then the Basha comes near the City The Tent prepared for the Basha to the place where his Tents are pitched There he finds one that the Inhabitants of Caire have prepared for him which is very stately for it hath long walls of Wax-cloth five or six Foot high Green and Red and within there are about twelve Pavillions all for the Basha's use one for giving Audience another for Sleeping in and another for a Kitchin and so of the rest In the midst of all is the Pavillion that serves for the Hall it is large and of Green Red and other Colours of Cloth over which there are a great many gilt Balls all these Pavillions are of Wax-cloth of several Colours and lined within with sets of lovely Tapistry Before the gate of the walls are two great Trees on which hang above Two hundred Lamps that are lighted in the Night-time there is the same also before the Tents of the Principal Officers Preparations for a Feast to the Basha of Caire which a Bey takes care of How much it costs At his arrival they kill a Bullock and a Sheep The Feast at the entry of the Basha of Caire how ordered Of what it consists Kiaya as in the Caravan of Mecha Now the Feast is prepared in the Hall of the Basha's Tent a Bey takes the care of it for the Beys chuse one of their number to whom they give five Purses for this Feast and he takes all upon him When the Basha comes to the Tent that is prepared for him the Bey who takes care of the Feast meets him at the Wall-gate of the Tent and there they kill a Bullock and a Sheep for a Sacrifice then the Basha enters into the Hall where he finds Dinner served in
Latin Church where Moses hid himself when having desired to see God's Face the Lord told him that he could not see his Face and live but that he should hide himself in that Rock and that when he was passed by he should see his back parts His Back and Arms are very well marked on the Rock under which he hid himself It was upon the top of this Mount that Moses received from God the Ten Commandments written upon two Tables From this place one may easily see down into the Convent which is at the foot of the Mount and as it were just under those who are on the top of it There you see a fair large Church covered with Lead where they say the Body of St. Catherine is in pieces Before the door of the said Church within the Precincts of the Monastery there is beautiful Mosque As we were coming down again we found by the way a great Stone and as the Greeks say this is the place to which the Prophet Elias came having fled from Mount Carmel because of the Persecution of Jezabel Queen of Syria being come to that place where the Stone is an Angel appeared unto him and with a Rod smiting that great Stone made it fall down in the way and forbid Elias to go any farther telling him that since Moses had not been in the Holy Land he should not go to the top of this Mount. A little lower is the Foot of a Camel so well imprinted on the Rock that it cannot be better stamped upon the Sand over which a Camel passes the Moors and Arabs say it is the print of the Foot of Mahomet's Camel which it left there as he passed that way upon it they kiss it with great devotion but it is credible that the Greeks have made it to captivate their friendship to the end they may reverence those places After that in several places of the Mount we saw little Chappels which have all little Houses near them and Gardens full of Fruit-Trees Heretofore these places were inhabited by Hermites in so great number that it is said that in the Mountain of Moses there were in ancient Times above fourteen thousand Hermites afterwards the Greeks kept Monks in all these Hermitages to celebrate Divine Office but at present there are none because the Arabs too much tormented them We dined upon this Mountain on Bread Onions and Dates that we had brought with us and then went to see the Hermitages and first we found three of these Chappels altogether with a passage from one to another Behind the Altar of the third which is dedicated to the Honour of St. Elias there is a Hole in the Rock where Elias lived all the while that he sojourned in that Mount because of the Persecution of Jezabel Then we came to another place where there are three Chappels more dedicated one to the Honour of the Blessed Virgin another to the Honour of St. Ann and a third to the Honour of St. John after that to a Chappel dedicated to St. Pantaleon then to another dedicated to the Holy Virgin another to David another to the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ another to St. Anthony the Hermite to another place where there are three little Cells in which the Greeks say that two Elder Sons of the Greek Emperour shut themselves up each in his Cell causing the Doors to be walled up and leaving only a Window in each still to be seen by which they received Victuals from a Servant who lived in the third Cell that was not shut up and that both of them died in their several Cells All these Chappels are scattered up and down upon the Mount so that one must go a good way before he can visite them all Near to every one of them there is a little House a Garden and good Water From thence we went down to the great Monastery at the foot of the Mountain by steps whith heretofore reached from the said Monastery up to the top of the Mount and were in number fourteen thousand at present some of them are broken those that remain are well made and easie to go up or down The height of the Mountain of Moses One may judge of the height of St. Catherine's Mount by this which certainly is not so high by a third and yet hath fourteen thousand Steps up to it Upon the way as we came down we found two fair stone Porticos by which we passed and where the Greeks say that they who performed the Pilgrimage paid heretofore a certain small due After that we came to the great Monastery at the bottom which is welt built of good Free-stone with very high smooth Walls on the East-side there is a Window by which those that were within drew up the Pilgrims into the Monastery with a Basket which they let down by a Rope that runs in a Pully to be seen above at the Window and the Pilgrims went into it one after another and so were hoisted up by the same place they also let down Victuals to the Arabs with a Rope We entered not into that Monastery because it was shut To understand the reason of this you most know the History of this Monastery CHAP. XXIX Of the Monastery of St. Catherine The Monastery of St. Catherine FOR these thousand years the Greeks have been in Possession of this Monastery which was given them by a Greek Emperour called Justinian and they afterwards living there on a certain day Mahomet who as the Greeks say was their Camel Driver weary after the toyl of bringing in Provisions upon the Camels fell a sleep before the Gate of the Monastery while he was a sleep there came an Eagle and hovered for a long time over his Head An Eagle over Mahomet's Head. which the Porter of the Monastery observing ran in great amazement to acquaint the Abbot with it who immediately coming saw the same thing and reflecting thereupon as soon as Mahomet awoke asked him whether or not if being a Great and Mighty Lord he would be kind to them Mahomet made answer that he neither was nor ever like to be such but the other still insisting upon that Supposition Mahomet told him that he ought not at all to doubt of it but that if it were in his power he would do them all the good he could because he had his livelihood from them Mahomet's Promise the Abbot would needs have that Promise from him in writing but Mahomet affirming that he could not write the Abbot sent for an Ink-horn Mahomet could not write and Mahomet having wet his Hand in the Ink clapt it upon a leaf of clean Paper and made thereon the impression of his Hand which he gave them as a confirmation of what he said Having sometime after attained to that Grandeur which was presaged to him by the Eagle he called to mind his Promise and preserved to them their Monastery with all the Land belonging to it but upon
of the Jews This Chappel belongs to the Abyssins and has five Lamps in it Having passed this Chappel you come to a narrow Stair-case of which the first Steps are of wood and the rest cut in the Rock being nineteen in all where after you have put off your Shoes you come upon Mount Calvary upon which there are two Chappels separated by a Pillar that supports the Roof and so divides them that one may still go from the one into the other These two Chappels are adorned with Marble and the first of them which is on the left hand as you enter is the place where the Cross of our Lord was planted and in the middle of a neat Table of white Marble in form of an Altar which is about ten foot long seven foot broad and two foot raised from the floor The place where the Cross of our Lord was planted is the hole wherein the Cross of our Lord was fixed this hole is round a large half foot in diametre two foot deep and has a Silver-Plate about it on which the Mysteries of the Passion are embossed the Christians thrust their Arms into this hole and have their Chaplets touched there On our Saviour's right hand about five foot distant from him was the Cross of the Good Thief and on our Lord 's left hand six foot distant that of the Wicked Thief These three Grosses were not in a streight line but made a kind of triangle our Lord standing more backward so that he could easily see the two Thieves Where these two Crosses stood there are at present two little Marble-Pillars and Crosses upon them Betwixt the hole where the Cross of our Lord was placed and the Cross of the Wicked Thief is the Cleft of the Rock that was rent it is a foot wide and covered with a Wire-Lettice This Chappel belongs to the Greeks and there are in it eight and and forty Lamps and two Candlesticks of twelve branches a piece Near to the Cross of the Good Thief there is a Door by which the Greeks go into the Quire that belongs to them and into their Lodgings The other Chappel is called the Chappel of Crucifixion The Chappel of Crucifixion because in that place our Lord was laid upon the Cross and had his Hands and Feet pierced and nailed to it from whence he was carried to the place where the Cross was set up in the hole about six foot distant This Chappel is covered all over with Mosaick Work and upon the Pavement in the middle thereof there is a place marked with Marble of several colours and that is the very place where our Lord was Crucified and shed much Blood when his Feet and Hands were pierced This Chappel belongs to the Latin Monks and has two Altars before which are sixteen Lamps and a Candlestick of twelve branches Near to that there is another Chappel where they say the Blessed Virgin and St. John were while they Crucified our Lord and heretofore there was a Door to enter into it but at present there is no more but a Window with a Grate and the entry into it is without the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Going down the way you come up The Chappel of our Lady of Pity The Tombs of Godfrey of Boulloin and his Brother Baldowin The Epitaph of Godfrey of Boulloin The Epitaph of Baldowin you come to the Chappel of our Lady of Pity which is under Mount Calvary where are the Tombs of Godfrey of Boulloin and his Brother Baldowin Kings of Jerusalem that of Godfrey of Boulloin is on the right hand as you enter the Chappel it is made with a ridged Roof supported by four Stone-Pillars bearing this Epitaph Engrav'd on the Marble in Gothick Characters Hic jacet inclytus Dux Godefridus qui totam istam terram acquisivit cultui Christiano cujus anima regnet cum Christo Amen And Baldowin's Tomb is on the left hand but all of white Marble supported also by four little Stone-Pillars with this Epitaph Rex Baldewinus Judas alter Machabaeus spes Patriae vigor Ecclesiae virtus utriusque quem formidabant cui dona tributa ferebant Cedar Aegyptus Dan ac homicida Damascus proh dolor in modico clauditur hoc tumulo At the bottom of the same Chappel on the right hand The Tomb of Melchisedeck there is a great Tomb of curious Porphyrian-Marble about three foot high which they say is the Monument of the High Priest Melchisedeck Behind the Altar of this Chappel you may see the Cleft of the Rock underneath the place where the Cross of our Lord stood and they say that Adam's Skull was found in that place from whence Mount Calvary took the Name of Golgotha that is to say a Dead Man's Skull which we explain by the word Calvary There is always a burning Lamp in that Chappel entertained by the Georgians to whom it belongs They say that this Chappel is the place where the Blessed Virgin took our Lord in her arms when he was let down from the Cross and it is therefore called the Chappel of our Lady of Pity As you go out of that Chappel you see on the left hand before the Church-Door along the Wall four fair Sepulchres of white Marble where the Children of Baldowin are interred The Tombs of the Children of Baldowin on one of which is this Epitaph upon well cut Marble Septimus in tumulo puer isto Rex tumulatus est Baldewinus regum de sanguine natus quem tulit e mundo sors primae conditionis paradisiacae loca possideat regionis but one hath much a do to read the latter part of it because it pleased the Greeks heretofore to spoil these Tombs that they might abolish the memory of the Western Kings but at present they are not suffered to do it Near to that is the Stone of Unction The Stone of Unction upon which Joseph of Aramathea anointed the Body of our Lord after it was taken down from the Cross it is almost seven foot long and two foot broad and is now covered over with greyish Marble because the Pilgrims broke always bits off of it it is adorned all round with a chequered border of little white and red Marble-Stones and that no body should tread upon it for it is but about a foot above ground it is enclosed within an Iron-Grate the ends of which are leaded into the Pavement of the Church and there are two Copper-Candlesticks one at each end leaded in in the same manner in which the Latin Monks keep two Wax-Tapers burning There are always eight Lamps burning over that Stone which are entertained by all the eight Nations that are in the Holy Sepulchre to wit the Latins Greeks Abyssines Cophtes Armenians Nestorians and Jacobites but the Stone belongs to the Latins After that continuing to go round the Church you come to a pair of Stairs before which there is a round white Marble-Stone even with the Pavement and set
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
faced with lovely Marble in the middle whereof there is a Glory of Silver like the Sun with this Inscription about it Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est About half a Foot from this Glory there is naturally upon a Marble Stone The figure of the Virgin and of her Son naturally imprinted on Marble The place of the Manger of our Lord. a figure in red Colour of a Virgin on her Knees and a little Child lying before her which is taken for the Blessed Virgin and her Son Jesus on whose Heads they have put two little Crowns of Silver-Plate Nine and twenty Lamps are kept burning before that Chappel Then you go down by three Marble-steps into a little Chappel where was the Wooden Manger into which the Virgin laid our Lord so soon as She had brought Him into the World this Manger is now at Rome in Santa Maria Majora And in the same place St. Helen caused another of white Marble Tables to be put on one of which set against the Wall is the natural Figure of an Old Man with a Monks Hood and long Beard lying on his Back and they 'll have this to be the Figure of St. Jerome which God was pleased should be marked upon that Stone because of the great love he had for that place Ten Lamps are kept burning before that Chappel two steps from which and just over against it is the Altar of Adoration of the Three Kings where there is a little Stone for a mark of the place The place of the Kings Adoration on which sat the holy Virgin with Her dear Son in Her Arms when She saw the three Wise Men come in who having laid down their Presents upon a little Bench of Stone at the foot of the Altar on the side of the Epistle adored Jesus and then offered him their Presents The Vault in this place is very low and supported by three Pillars of Porphyrian Marble before this Altar three Lamps burn At the other end of this place there was heretofore a Door by which one came down from St. Catharine's Chappel into this Grott before the Latin Monks lost it but at present it is Walled up and close by that Door there is a hole into which the Oriental Christians say the Star sunk after it had guided the Magi into this holy place This Grott is all faced with Marble both the Walls and Floor and the Seeling or Vault is adorned with Mosaick Work blackened by the smoak of the Lamps It receives no light but by the two Doors that are upon the Stairs which affords but very little Now this place is held in very great Veneration even by the Turks who come often and say their prayers there The Church of Bethlehem serves for a lodging to the Turks that pass that way But it is a very incommodious and unseemly thing that all the Turks who pass through Bethlehem should Lodge in the great Church with their whole Families there being no convenient Lodging in Bethlehem which is a great Eye-sore to the Christians who see their Church made an Inn for the Infidels But it is above all troublesome to our Latin Monks whom they oblige to furnish them with all things necessary both for Diet and Lodging CHAP. XLVI Of the Way of making what Marks Men please upon their Arms. WE spent all Tuesday the Nine and twentieth of April The Pilgrims of Jerusalem marked in the Arm. in getting Marks put upon our Arms as commonly all Pilgrims do the Christians of Bethlehem who are of the Latin Church do that They have several Wooden Moulds of which you may chuse that which pleases you best then they fill it with Coal-dust and apply it to your Arm so that they leave upon the same the Mark of what is cut in the Mould after that with the left hand they take hold of your Arm and stretch the skin of it and in the right hand they have a little Cane with two Needles fastened in it which from time to time they dip into Ink mingled with Oxes Gall and prick your Arm all along the lines that are marked by the Wooden Mould This without doubt is painful and commonly causes a slight Fever which is soon over the Arm in the mean time for two or three days continues swelled three times as big as it ordinarily is After they have pricked all along the said lines they wash the Arm and observe if there be any thing wanting then they begin again and sometimes do it three times over When they have done they wrap up your Arm very streight and there grows a Crust upon it which falling off three or four days after the Marks remain Blew and never wear out because the Blood mingling with that Tincture of Ink and Oxes Gall retains the mark under the Skin CHAP. XLVII Of what is to be seen about Bethlehem and of the Grott of the Virgin in Bethlehem WEdnesday the Four and twentieth of April we parted from Bethlehem at five a Clock in the Morning and went to see the holy places that are about it In the first place we saw on a little Hill on our right hand Boticella Boticella which is a Town wherein none but Greeks live and the Turks cannot live there for they say that if a Turk offer to live in it he dies within eight days Then a League from Bethlehem we saw the Church of St. George where there is a great Iron-ring fastened to a Chain through which the People of the Country A Ring that eures the Sick. both Moors and Christians pass when they are troubled with any Infirmity and as they say are immediately cured of it We went not thither because the day before the Greeks having been there met with some Turks who made every one of them pay some Maidins though it was not the custom to pay any thing and our Trucheman would by no means have us go thither that we might not accustome them to a new Imposition We left St. George's on the right hand and went to see a Fountain called in holy Scripture Fons Signatus Fons Signatus the Sealed Well which is in a hole under Ground where being got down with some trouble and a lighted Candle we saw on the right hand three Springs one by another the Water whereof is by an Aqueduct that begins close by the Fountain Heads conveyed to Jerusalem Near to that place there is a pretty Castle built some fifty or sixty Years since for taking the Caffares of the Caravans of Hebron a little farther are the three Fish-Ponds of Salomon The three Fish-ponds of Salomon they are three great Reser-servatories cut in the Rock the one at the end of the other the second being a little lower than the first and the third than the second and so communicate the Water from one to another when they are full near to this place his Concubines lived Continuing our Journey we saw in
have a Patriarch there who aswel as the Primate of the Cophtes carries the Title of Patriarch of Alexandria but he resides commonly at Caire I saw him Celebrate Mass at Caire on a Holy-Thursday and shall here relate in few words what I observed of that Ceremony This Patriarch when he Celebrates is cloathed in the same Vestments as the other Patriarchs are Ceremonies at the Greeks Mass on Holy-Thursday except that he has a Stole over these Vestments which the others have not and which was given to a Patriarch of Alexandria by a Pope Over that Stole he wears the Pallium which is bigger and longer than that of the Latin Arch-Bishops then he puts upon his head a lovely Tiara or Cap of Silver gilt set thick with fine Pearls some of which are pretty big with many large Rubies Emeralds and other such Precious stones but it hath not three Crowns as the Tiara of the Popes has This Cap was presented to him by the Duke of Muscovy who is never omitted in all the Prayers of the Greeks It is certainly a very rich Cap though it come far short of the riches of the Crown of the Popes which is kept in the Castle of St. Angelo The Patriarch Celebrates Mass as all other Greek Priests do only after the Epistle hath been read in Greek it is also read in Arabick it is the same with the Gospel and some other Prayers which the Patriarch says aloud in Greek and then repeats in Arabick As to the Communion when the Patriarch hath consecrated some pieces of Bread then the Wine in a very great Chalice because of the great number of Communicants he crumbs some pieces of that Consecrated Bread into the Chalice then having publickly asked Forgiveness of all that are present he Communicates of the Lord's Body afterwards taking the Cup and having said some Prayers he says In Name of the Father and takes a little of the hallowed Cup then having said and of the Son he takes a little more and lastly and of the Holy Ghost he takes a third sip When that is done he Communicates the Priests giving each of them the Bread which they receeive in one hand and holding the other under to receive any thing that might fall they go to the side of the Altar where after some Prayers they ask Forgiveness of the rest and then Communicate after that they go to the Altar where the Patriarch gives them the Cup at three times as he took it himself saying In Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost The People Communicate without the Chancel from the hand of a Priest who taking the Chalice goes to one of the side Doors of the Chancel where in a gilt Silver-Spoon he gives of the Consecrated Bread crumbled into the Wine as I said before to all who come to receive but the truth is they go to the Communion with far less reverence than the Latins do Mass being over the Patriarch went in the body of the Church to a place Rail'd in raised about three foot from the ground at the end whereof there was a Chair for him and on each side six Chairs for twelve Priests that followed him and there being all in Copes they sate down These twelve Priests represented the twelve Apostles then a Priest went to the Chancel-door and turning his back to the Altar read the Gospel for Holy-Thursday in Greek In the mean time the Patriarch put off his Patriarchal Ornaments without the assistance of any and putting on again his Tiara he tied one Napkin about him and put another by his side then setting a great Bason and Ewer upon the ground he poured a little Water into the Bason making the sign of the Cross giving the Ewer to a Clerk who poured water upon the foot of the first of the twelve Apostles whilst the Patriarch washed and rubbed it well with his hands then wiped it with his napkin and offered to kiss it which the Priest would not suffer He did so to the rest pouring always out water for every one of them with the sign of the Cross but when he came to the twelfth that Priest who represented St. Peter rose and made as if he would not suffer the Patriarch to wash his Feet in imitation of St. Peter who was unwilling that his Master should render him that service but at length after he had spoken a little and that the Patriarch had made answer he sate down as St. Peter did who being told by Jesus Christ That he could have no part in the Kingdom of Heaven if he suffered him not to wash his Feet said Not my Feet only but my also Head and Hands During this Ceremony nothing was to be heard in the Church but the groans and lamentations of Men and Women which were so loud that they moved even the most obdurate almost to shed tears also and yet the subject of all this weeping was only to see the Patriarch wash the Feet of these Priests After this the Patriarch put on his Patriarchal Habits again and the Ewer and Bason were carried away then came such a Croud about him that carried them away that I thought they would have stifled him every one strove to dip a Handkerchief into that Foot-laver and came on so fast that before the Clerk had made six steps the Bason was as dry as ever it was Then the Gospel was read the Heads whereof the Patriarch explained in a Greek Sermon and so the Ceremony ended CHAP. LXXVIII Of the Jews and Turks that are in Aegypt IT remains now that I speak of the Jews and Turks who are in Aegypt Jews in Caire As for the Jews I have spoken of them before and shall only add here that there a great many Jews at Caire who have a Quarter where they all live by themselves this is a large Quarter and contains a great many Streets but all short narrow nasty and stinking The Jews manage all the Customs in Aegypt and all the Serafs are Jews Aegypt is Governed by a Basha Aegypt the second Bashaship of the Turkish Empire and Buda the first The Profits of the Governour sent thither by the Grand Signior and it is the second Bashaship of all the Turkish Empire that of Buda is the chief but it is only in Honour for it yields no Profit on the contrary the Grand Signior is obliged to send Money thither for maintaining the Garison But this is a profitable Government for the first day the Basha of Aegypt arrives at Caire he hath an Hundred thousand Piastres and every Month after seven Purses not reckoning the many casual Profits which he has on all occasions And indeed he buys this Government paying for it sometimes two or three hundred thousand Piastres and besides that he must furnish vast Sums from the Revenue of Aegypt before he put a Penny into his own Coffers paying yearly five Hazna Now a Hazna or Treasure Hazna in
there are a great many Fountains with lovely Basons of one entire piece of Marble brought from Genoa and as in the House of Don Philippo an open Hall with a great reservatory in the middle and walks all round it roofed over and supported by several Pillars this as also all the Rooms are paved with black and white Marble adorned with Gold and Azure and that kind of Clay or Plaister-work There are several fair appartments in all these Houses which have lovely Gardens full of Orange and several other Fruit-Trees planted in as good order as in Christendom with many neat Beds and borders of Flowers at the ends of Walks all made by Christian slaves These Houses are called Bardes from the Moresco word Berd that signifies Cold because there is a fresh Air about them Near that place there is an Aqueduct built by a Dey which brings Water four or five miles off to Tunis A few steps from that there is another Aqueduct somewhat older yet still modern which is parallel to the former and carries Water also to Tunis Another day I went to see the Cantre which belongs to Schelebi whom I mentioned Cantre the Son of Hisouf Dey and is four leagues from Tunis As you go thither you pass by the old Aqueducts of Carthage which are about half way they are at that place very entire still raised high and built of very great stones From Tunis to the Cantre most of the way is over large Fields planted with Olive-Trees some steps distant from one another but in so streight a line that they look like Walks which would be very pleasant were it not that these ways are always full of Rain-water and mire as all the Countrey about Tunis is because it lyes upon a level We came then to the Cantre so called from a Bridge which Hisouf Dey the Father of Schelebi built over a River called Magerda Magerda for Cantre in Moresco signifies Bridge This River Magerda is neither very broad nor rapid but enough to deserve the name of a fair River it runs near to the House of Schelebi and his Father built a stone Bridge to cross over it the spaces betwixt the Pillars of the seven Arches being built up from the bottom to the surface of the Water with huge pieces of Free-stone so that the water passing through the Arches and finding it lower on the other side makes at every arch a very pleasant Cascade two foot high where the Water falls with a great noise Upon that River there are several Iron-Mills as also for grinding Corn and fulling the Caps called Fez-Caps which are made at Zagouaro by Tagarins All that work in these Mills are the slaves of Schelebi At the end of the Bridge is the House of Schelebi built in form of a Castle it hath one very large Court and other smaller ones the Rooms as in other Houses are beautified with Gold Azure and Plaistering with Fountains every where and all paved with Marble so that they are more magnificent than those I had seen before There are lovely Pictures in those Rooms for formerly this Schelebi was very rich his Father having left him a vast Estate and among other things eighteen hundred Slaves but he hath run out a great deal in his Debaucheries he is a man of a generous Heart and if he were once in Christendom he would never leave it again He keeps open table for all Franks that come to see his House and is so courteous that he never refuses any thing and if he have not what is asked from him he uses means to procure it at any rate that he may freely give it When I went to his House he was not there for he was then at Tabarque a little Island in the Kingdom of Tunis within a Musquet shot of the main Land but three days Journey from Tunis That Island belongs to the Genoese who have a very good Fort and drive a great trade there and among other things in Horses which are called Barbes The Schelebi was gone thither to buy Timber for building of a Galley About three Leagues from the Cantre there is a place called Tabourbe where there are some ancient ruines and chiefly an ancient Temple but I went not to see it because then I must have lain there or at the Cantre and I had not time to spare for our Captain put us in hopes daily that he would sail next day That was the reason also that I went not to Suze neither which is a long days journey from Tunis it is the place where there are more Antiquities than any where else in the Kingdom of Tunis and I believe that thereabouts there are ruines of Churches and other things relating to St Augustin to be seen CHAP. LXXXXI Of Tunis and of the Slaves that are there TVNIS the Capital City of the Kingdom of the same name lyes in a Plain it is pretty big and the Houses are indifferently well built though they make no shew but they are all Marble Gold and Azure within The Suburbs of this City are as big as the City itself which is all paved but dirty as heretofore Paris was so that after rain there is hardly any going in the Streets There is a Castle upon an Eminence within the Town which commands it and it makes a very pretty shew There are some Guns before the Gate and the front of it looks well which is all that I could see of it nor indeed durst I eye it attentively for I had warning given me that it was dangerous for Christians to be curious in viewing that Castle I past by it then but very fast and hard by over against it there is a Burying-place Not far frem the Castle there is Bazar for Drapers it is a long broad street with shops on both sides all which have the fore part supported by four Pillars two on each side none but Drapers keep shop there but there are several other Bazars also for other Commodities Baths for Slaves at Tunis There are thirteen Baths in Tunis where all the Slaveslodge except those that are kept in their Masters Houses and as several Slaves told me there may be there in all ten or twelve thousand Christian Slaves who carry every one a great ring of Iron at their foot Knights of Malta at Tunis but the Knights of Malta have besides that a huge Iron-Chain above five and twenty pound weight which is fastened to the Ring that Chain is very troublesome to them for they must either turn it quite round their Leg and make it fast there which is very heavy when they walk or hang it by a hook that they have by their side which commonly gives them a pain in the side or else must carry it on their Shoulders In these Baths there is a great Hall where they are shut up in the Night-time there they lodge as well as they can some having little Rooms made of wood to which they
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
Turky they 'l suffer no body to ride on Horse-back with both Legs on one side as Ladies did in France when I left it the reason of that odd order is because the Turks believe that the two Gyants Gog and Magog who were Rebels against God A Posture in riding forbidden rode in that manner they are so prejudiced with that false Zeal that so soon as they see any body in that posture they hurle stones at him till he has altered his way of sitting At Damascus and Aleppo when they would whiten their Walls with Lime they cut hemp into small bits and mingle it with moistened Lime The manner of preparing Lime which they dawb the Wall over with where it would not hold without the hemp because the Walls are onely of Earth Holes in Tombs and Graves I observed at Damascus that the Turks leave a hole of three fingers breadth in diametre on the top of their Tombs where there is a Channel of Earth over the dead body That serves to cool the dead for the Women going thither on Thursday to pray which they never fail to do every Week they pour in water by that hole to refresh them and quench their thirst and at the end of the grave stick in a large branch of Box which they carry with them purposely and leave it there to keep the dead cold They have another no less pleasant custome and that is when a Woman hath lost her husband The Women ask counsel of their dead Husbands she still asks his counsel about her affairs For instance a Woman sometimes two years after her husband's death will go to his grave and tell him that such a person hath wronged her or that such a Man would marry her and thereupon asks his counsel what she should do having done so she returns home expecting the answer which her late husband fails not to come and give her the Night following and always conform to the Widows desire The Womens Mourning It is a pretty ridiculous thing too to see the Mourning which the Women at Damascus appear in at the death of their relations and even the Christian women I had that diversion one Evening about eight a Clock at Night when I was at the Capucins gate I perceived several Maronite women returning from the lodging of one of their relations who died three hours before there was above twenty of them and they made a great deal of noise some singing and others crying knocking their breasts with their hands joined together and two Men carried each a Candle to light them When they were over against the Maronites Church which is before the house of the Capucins they stopt and put themselves in a ring where for a long time they snapt the fingers of the right hand as if they had been Castanets against one anothers Noses keeping time to the songs they sung as if they rejoyced whilst some of them from time to time howled and cried like mad Women At length having performed that Musick a pretty long while they made many bows to the East lifting up the right hand to their head and then stooping it down to the ground having done so they marched foreward with the same Musick as before The way of threshing Corn. At Damascus and almost all Turkey over they thresh not the Corn but after it is cut down they put it up in heaps and round the heap they spread some of it four or five foot broad and two foot thick This being done they have a kind of sled made of four pieces of Timber in square two of which serve for an Axle-tree to two great rowlers whose ends enter into these two pieces of Timber so as that they easily turn in them round each of these rowlers there are three Iron-pinions about half a foot thick and a foot in diametre these pinions are full of teeth like so many saws there is a seat placed upon the two chief pieces of Timber where a man sits and drives the horses that draw this Machine round upon the lay of Corn that is two foot thick and that cutting the straw very small makes the Corn come out of the ear without breaking it for it slides betwixt the teeth of the Iron When the straw is well cut they put in more and then separate the Corn from that hashed Straw by tossing all up together in the Air with a wooden shovel for the Wind blows the Straw a little aside and the Corn alone falls streight down The way of feeding Horses They feed their Horses with that cut Straw In some places that Machine is different as I have seen in Mesopotamia where in stead of these pinions round the rowler they have many pegs of Iron about six Inches long and three broad almost in the shape of wedges but somewhat broader below than above fastened without any order into the rowlers some streight and others cross ways and this Engine is covered with Boards over the Irons whereon he that drives the Horses sits for he has no other seat to sit upon they take the same course in Persia nevertheless in some places they cut not the Straw but onely make Oxen or Horses tread out the Corn with their feet which they separate from the Straw as I have said Of all the Corn which they prepare in this manner Barley is the oneiy grain they feed their Horses with In the Morning they give every Horse an Ocque of that Barley and four at Night which they mingle with cut Straw and that 's all they have the whole day In Persia the Horses have Barley onely at Night but in the Day-time they give them a Sack of Straw Let us now see how they make Butter at Damascus The way of making Butter which is the same way all Turkey over They fasten the two ends of a stick to the two hind feet of a Vessel that 's to say each end of the stick to each foot and the same they do to the fore-feet to the end these sticks may serve for handles Then they put the Cream into the Vessel stopping it close and then taking hold on it by the two sticks they shake it for some time and after put a little water into it Then they shake it again untill the Butter be made which being done they pour off a kind of Butter-milk by them called Yogourt which they drink When they would have this Yogourt more delicious they heat the Milk and put a spoonfull of sower Milk to it which they make sower with runnet and by that mixture all the Milk becoming Yogourt they let it cool and then use it or if they have a mind to keep it they put it with Salt into a bag which they tye very fast that what is within may be pressed and let it drop until no more come out Of that matter there remains no more in the bag but a kind of a Butter or rather white Cheese
and spread it upon the rails and the other smoothing it with a little Rowling-pin stretched it out upon a bigger After this trade came the Grocers or some such trade for they sell Oyl Grocers Olives Fruit and the like Commodities The Divan was adorned with Apples and other sorts of fruit hanging round it and below there were several Baskets filled with various things in the middle stood a little Boy holding a pair of Scales in one hand into one of which he put a handfull of fruit which afterwards he threw among the People sometimes small Nuts and sometimes Dates Apples and other Fruit. The fourth Company was the Cap-makers both for Men and Women Cap-makers these had no Divan but after the old men came several Boys attired with very long Horns some of Velvet whereof they make mens Caps and others of Cloath of Gold of which they make those of the Women some again wore Caps from which hung behind long sleeves of the same stuff and seven or eight men amongst them were cloathed all over with the same stuffs some in fashion of a Chasulle and others in the manner of Cappes much like to those which the Boys of the Quire of Nostre Dame in Paris wear but that these drew into a point on the small of the back and all were attired with great Caps of the same Stuff shaped much after the fashion of a Mitre The procession of the Coffee-sellers Target and Scabbard-makers The fifth was the Company of Coffee-sellers There were two Boys upon their Divan one turning a wheel by the handle to grind the Coffee and the other boyling it The Target-makers and Scabbard-makers followed them and upon the Divan were two young Boys one sewing a Target and the other polishing a Scabbard The procession of the Butchers Next came the Butchers whose boys that went before them having danced a little before our Khan to the Musick of their Tabors advanced to receive the Money which the Scheick Bandar gave them which was about twelve or fourteen Aspres for above a score of them which made me observe that the Turks are liberal at small cost The Masters followed the men and their Divan was stuck round with green Boughs and several pieces of flesh hanging thereat Upon it was a little Boy whetting his Knives Silk-throwsters At the heels of these came the Silk-Throwsters Upon their Divan was a little Boy who turned a wheel which make six Silk-Looms to turn and there was above a kind of a pair of yarn-Windles which turned also by one of the strings of these Looms At each end of an Axletree there were two blades cross-ways and to every Arm of the Cross two Lamps fastened which went not out nor spilt one drop of Oyl though they turned very fast a little Black-a-more of Wood held the handle of that Machine and seemed to turn it Nose-band makers The last were the makers of Nose-bands that part of the Bridle which covers the Nose of Horses at the end whereof hang Tassels of Silk their Divan was adorned all round with them and had two Boys upon it the one combing and the other sewing them Joyners Gardeners and Smiths The sixth Evening marched the Joyners Gardeners and the Smiths but there happened a scuffle amongst them the last fighting with another Company Barbers And the seventh the Barbers and many others marched before the Castle but not before the Khan A Bone-fire In fine all the solemnity was concluded by a Bone-fire that in the evening was kindled before the Castle Harvest-time Harvest began when I was at Aleppo in the beginning of June and I was told that other years they began it about the fifteenth of May and ended it in the beginning of June They reap the Corn as we doe but it is not high though it be then very ripe Work-beasts always abroad From Spring to Autumn the Turks leave their Horses Mules and Camels always abroad exposed to the Sun Rain and Wind without any fear of damage and they shackle them by the four feet to wit the two left Legs with one cord and the other two the same way and at each end of the cord there is a piece of Girth that goes about the Horses foot and a Rope fastened to it to hold it and besides that the Beast is fastened by a Rope to a stake fixed in the ground As for the Camels commonly they are not made fast onely sometimes they shackle their two hind Legs In the night-time they cover them with a Cloath of Goats hair which in Winter they line with Felt. Whilst they keep the Camels and other working Beasts abroad they give them no other food but the grass they eat and that is the reason that they are not so strong then as at other times The Litter of these Beasts for Litter they make use of their own dung for which end they leave it in the day-time in the Sun where it grows so dry that it is almost reduced to Ashes and at Night they have a great care to spread it very neatly and smooth which cannot be done with us because of the long straws that are mingled with it Pigeons Carriers At Aleppo they make use of Pigeons which in less than six hours time bring Letters from Alexandretta to Aleppo though it be two and twenty good Leagues distant Before I leave Aleppo I think my self obliged in charity to acquaint our Physicians that there is nothing for them to do in Turkey a single consultation of a quarter of an hours time at Paris is worth more than a long Cure wrought in Aleppo because the Turks are so coveteous that they will not at all be ashamed to offer twenty Sous Pence for a Cure when they are asked no more than two or three Crowns for it for which People of ordinary quality would not grudge to pay at least ten in France Nay which is worse if the patient be not cured or if he dye the Physician many times is blamed and smarts for it And I was told at Aleppo that one day a certain Doctor of that profession in whose hands a patient miscarried was led about the City of Aleppo with little Bells about him to give notice to the People that they should not employ him I warn also those that come to Aleppo that they fail not to see the Birds of Grandouilles CHAP. IX Of the Road to Mosul by Bi r and Orfa AFter two Months stay in Aleppo Caravans for Erzerum I let two Caravans go which were bound for Erzerum because one must sometimes wait a long while at Erzerum fot a Caravan to Revan and at Revan for one to Tauris and in those parts the Francks have no protection besides there is much robbing on that road At length there was one ready to set out for Mosul and I resolved to go with it contrary to the advice of all the Francks who
not worth Eight pence they would not take it saying that they would not give it for a Piastre but for Soap they would The Night following we had a very cold Wind but not so the day after for then it was excessively hot We parted from Alaki on Tuesday the fifteenth of July about three of the Clock in the Morning and marched on East-South East An hour after we left the bad way full of Stones which we had constantly had from Orfa and entered into a great Plain having always to the left the Mountains Caradgia which are the Mount Taurus The Mountains of Caradgia or Taurus that reaches from above Ofra to Diarbeck towards the East and from thence South-East till over against Kinzilken and till near to Nisibin towards the North-East and from thence South-East till within two days Journey of Mosul About six a Clock I was told that the Town of Diarbeck The Town of Diarbeck called in Armenian Amid was two long or three short days march to our left hand and that was the nearest we came to it Half an hour after seven we passed by a little Chappel covered with a stone-Dome wherein there is a Tomb which the People of the Countrey say is the Tomb of Job Jobs Tomb. and at present there is a Santo who prays at the back of that Chappel for this is a famous place of Pilgrimage and this Santo hath a little Cell near a Well of good Spring-water Half an hour after eight we arrived at the foot of a hillock on which stands a Village called Telghiouran Telghiouran Tel in Arabick signifies a little hill and we encamped in the Plain near a Fountain This day and the preceeding we found by the way many plants called Agnus Castus or Canabis Canabis Agnus castus for they grow three foot high and have the leaves divided by fives like a hand the middlemost being the longest and then the two next to it the two last are the least they are jagged in the middle and white underneath in short that plant ends at the top in an ear of several little Flowers of a very bright blew they grow among the Stones and may be seen there in great tufts I must here also observe some faults in Sansons Mapp of Diarbeck An errour in Geography Mid-way from Orfa to Telghiouran we should have passed a River which he calls Soaid and makes it to come from Mount Taurus pass by Caraemit and a great deal after fall into Euphrates nevertheless in all our Caravan there was not one who could give me any tidings of that Water and from Orfa to Telghiouran we passed no other Water but Dgiallab Other errours Besides he hath made so many faults in the positions of places and in their distances as also in the changing their Names that nothing is to be known by it and though I named to many of our Caravan most of the Names that he has put in his Diarbeck or rather Diarbekir the best way I could yet they knew not above two or three of them Caramid Amid and Diarbeck are but one and the same Town Alchabour He makes two Towns of Caramid and Amid and it is but one to wit Diarbeck He makes the River Alchabour the same with Dgiallab and that of Orfa That River of Alchabour takes its source about four days Journey from Mardin towards the South and falls into Euphrates They say that the Water of this River is so good that if after a man hath eaten a whole Lamb he drink of it he 'll not find it burthen his Stomach Chabur Chobar But it is to be observed that there is also another River called Chabur which is the Chobar mentioned in the Prophesie of Daniel it is less and has it source below Mosul on the left hand to those who go down the Tygris and at Bagdad loses it self in the Tygris and by what I could learn of an ancient Syrian of Mosul who hath many times travelled by divers ways from Mosul to Aleppo and from Aleppo to Mosul there are a great many other faults in the Mapp of Diarbeck which makes me to think that it hath been taken from bad Memoirs Telghiouran Telghiouran is a Castle enclosed with a great many Stones piled up one upon another in former times it was a great Town but through the Turkish Tyranny it was defeated There are about an hundred Houses of Armenians in it but none of Turks except of the Aga and his Servants which Aga is also customer and Chorbagi we found a little thick muddy Claret there which they bring from Mardin Under the trees at the foot of the hill there is a little Chappel where are Chains that they put about mad mens Necks and they say that if they are to be cured they fall off of themselves but if otherwise they must be taken off The Customer of this place came to our Caravan to receive his dues We parted from thence next day the sixteenth of July three quarters after three in the Morning and continued our way East-South-East About half an hour after five we saw by the way many stones and some walls of houses still standing About six a Clock we had a great allarm because those who were foremost had espied some Horse-men all made ready some lighted their matches ond others took their bow and two arrows in their hand some run this way and others that way and nevertheless it was in vain for me to ask where the Arabs were for no body could let me see them because then they were in a little bottom A little after we came to know that it was the Aga of Telghiouran coming from some place where his business had carried him who was accompanied with ten Horse-men armed some with Muskets and others with Lances or Darts About eight a Clock we saw on our left hand near a Well several black Tents of the Curds who flying from the Arabs came and encamped in that place and we marching forewards about three quarters after ten came and encamped near a hillock in a place called Carakouzi Carakouzi where there is a Well of good Spring-water which bears the same Name Next day Thursday the seventeenth of July we parted from thence about three quarters after two in the Morning and continued our way East-South-East we entered among the Mountains where for almost an hour we did nothing but climb up and down in ways full of great stones having past them and got again into the plain we kept on the same course approaching to the Caradgia Mountains Half an hour after six we found a Well of good Spring-water Maes Sarazin Corn. Ricinus Palma Christi at seven we saw a Field sowed with Maez or Sarazin Corn and another full of Ricinus or Palma Christi at most but a foot high a great many draw Oil from it for Lamps and to rub the Camels with to make their
be twelve Horse-men armed with Muskets who came from Mosul where we arrived the six and twentieth of July three quarters of an hour after five in the Morning A little before we came there one of our Company having alighted and returning back to look for his Sword which he had dropt was stript of all by the Arabs CHAP. XI Of Mosul Mosul WE entered Mosul by Bagdad Capisi that looks to the South and at that Gate I payed a Piastre to the Janissaries I went and lodged with the Capucins who were lately arrived there to settle a mission by orders of the Congregation de propaganda fide and therefore as yet they were but very ill accommodated but a house was a preparing for them which a Syrian Priest had let them at a pretty dear rate There were but two Capucins there to wit the Reverend Father John and brother George who charitably administred Physick to all the People without distinction of Religion This with the knowledge he had of all Diseases dew so many sick People to their house that it was always as full as an Hospital They came to him even ten days Journey off and the most powerfull sent and prayed him to come to them from all parts of Mesopotamia Aasour The City of Mosul anciently called Aasour stands upon the side of the Tigris which runs to the East of it it is encompassed with Walls of rough stone plastered over with little pointed Battlements on the top two fingers breadth thick and four or five broad much like to wooden Pales I think that one may walk round this Town in an hours time there is a Castle in the water which is narrow but reaches out in length from North to South and is almost of an oval figure towards the River it is all built of Free stone and the Walls are about three fathom high on the land-side it is separated from the Town by a ditch five or six fathom broad and very deep being filled with the River-Water and in this place it is about four fathom deep but is not faced with Free-stone above one fathom high from the foundation and the rest is only rough Stone The entry into it is on the side of the Town and the Gate is in the middle of a great square Tower built upon a strong and large Arch under which runs the Water of the ditch and there is a little Draw-Bridge to be past before one comes to the Gate which heretofore was strongly defended by Artillery for before it on the outside there are six large Guns still to be seen but one of them is broken and but one mounted there are about as many field-pieces and onely two of them mounted I was told that this Castle was built by the Christians and that there is a fair Church within it The Tigris seems to be somewhat broader than the River of Seine but is very deep and rapid nevertheless it has a Bridge of Boats over it a little below the Castle and opposite to one of the Gates of the City called Dgesir Capisi that 's to say the Bridge-Gate It consists of about thirty Boats on which they pass to an Isle the other end reaches not the Land unless it be by a Stone-Causey which is as long as the Bridge it self where it ends In Winter that Bridge is removed because the River then overflowing becomes as broad again as it is in Summer A few paces from the River-side there are large Ditches which it fills with water that is drawn out from thence for watering their grounds and that I think by a very silly invention They have great Buckets of Leather that hold more than a Barrel and at the bottom of the Bucket there is a large Pipe of Leather about three foot long such as I have in former times seen at Paris fastened to Casks full of water which served to water the Cours de la Reine This Bucket is fastened to a Rope put over a wheel that turns upon an Axletree whose ends enter into the Penthouses that are on each side of the Well and there is another Cord fastened to the Mouth of the Bucket that holds it upright to keep the water from spilling and this last Cord goes under the wheel these two Cords are fastened together to a great Rope and because it requires several men to draw the Bucket full of Water they fasten this great Rope to an Ox whom they drive foreward about twenty paces in descent that he may draw more easily and fast When the Bucket is up they let the water run out at the Pipe into a little furrow from whence it spreads over their grounds When that is done they bring the Ox back again and so set him a drawing as before I cannot tell why in this Countrey and in Persia they make no use of Pousseragues as in Egypt and the West of Turky Whilst I was at Mosul the Customer who learnt that I was a Franck sent for me and my servant and having presented me with Coffee he demanded of me ten Piastres for the Custome of two load of Goods which he said I had I pretended not to understand neither Turkish nor Arabick it being best to do so when one is known to be a Franck for many reasons I told him then by an Interpreter that I had not two load of Goods and that they were onely Books By chance there was a Syrian Merchant there called Codgia Elias who is very powerfull in Mosul and a friend of the Capucins and he had business with the Customer this Codgia seeing me took two Piastres out of his Purse which he threw to the Customer praying him to let me go for that but this generosity of a man whom I knew not making me distrust him I bid tell him that if he laid out any thing for me I could not repay it this put the Customer into so great a passion that having abused my servant with his tongue he sent him away to prison for my part I stayed there and he still treated me calmly and civilly enough At length Codgia Elias offering to pull out more Money I made him plainly to understand by Signs that I would not repay it wherefore he put up his Money again and departed not well satisfied with me though he brought my Servant back from prison again to whom the Customer gave leave to go to my Lodging for one of my Books that he might see it he came back and Father John with him who ordered matters so that I came off for two Piastres I thought it might not be unprofitable to relate these things Profitable advice which seem to be but trifles and yet may serve for a lesson to the Francks who travel in Turky when they find themselves in the like Circumstances and in places where there is no Consul nor Merchants for where there is any it is best to let them to whom you are recommended act because they know the
the other we lodged in the greater which is all built of great thick Flints of several colours cemented with good Plaister and the Vaults are of Brick the different colours of these Flints make a pretty pleasant Mosaick Work. The Water thereabouts is good for nothing and therefore there is no habitation there We parted from thence the same day at seven a Clock at Night and on Thursday the first of October one thousand six hundred sixty and four about two a Clock in the Morning arrived at Ispahan where I went and lodged with the reverend Fathers Capucins The Reverend Father Raphael of Mans a person of extraordinary vertue and capacity and of a most exemplary life was their Guardian Arrival at Ispahan he had two Religious with him to wit the reverend Father Valentine of Anger 's and the reverend Father John Baptista of Loche CHAP. III. Of Persia in General BEfore I enter into the description of what I have observed at Ispahan I think it will not be impertinent to give the Reader a general notion of Persia which is a Kingdom onely strong because environed with Mountains and barren Desarts that defend it against the attempts of its most powerfull Enemies And indeed the forces that are entertained therein of whom I shall speak in the Chapter of the Court or if you will the Armies that have been raised there in our days are so inconsiderable in respect of so vast a Countrey that the Persians are not to be reckoned amongst formidable Powers The cause of that weakness is the scarcity of money in those Countreys which cannot suffice to set on foot great Armies and far less to maintain them this want of money proceeds from the small trade the Persians drive having but few Goods amongst them proper to be exported to wit some Silk which is made in the Gheilan and Mazendaran Carpets and wrought Stuffs and hardly any thing else considerable In so much that it may be said of Persia that it is as a Kervanserai that serves for passage to the money that goes out of Europe and Turkey to the Indies and to the Stuffs and Spices that come from the Indies into Turkey and Europe whereof it makes some small profit in the passage The soyl of the bordering Countreys speaking generally is very bad The soil of Persia in general not onely by reason of the many Mountains but also of the want of water and wood in most places thereof there being no other Trees but fruit-Trees that are enclosed within Gardens for there are none to be found in the Fields though the Countrey People seem to be carefull and diligent enough in cultivating sowing and planting all the Land that is good It is true the great pains they take in making Gardens and cultivating them for the benefit they make of the Fruit which are exceedingly much eaten in Persia makes them a little neglect the rest of their grounds for after we had past Curdistan I saw in several places very good Land and Hills which in my opinion would be very fruitfull if they were well cultivated and manured Nay in many of these places there is plenty of excellent good water wherewith in my Judgment they might water their grounds by making Ditches through them as they do in other parts And nevertheless I cannot tell why they are desart and full of Liquorice or such like shrubs and no Trees growing in them There are so many Brooks in several Countreys of Persia that I believe the ways are very bad to travel in in the Winter-time for though we were about the end of Summer yet we passed some which were full of thick mud at the bottom The Mazandaran indeed is a very lovely Countrey Mazandaran abounding with Plants Fruit and Wood as well as Europe and good reason why for it is watered by many Springs and Rivers which having run through the Countrey fall into the Caspian Sea that is near it The chief Town of that Countrey is called Eschref Eschref and in it there is a Royal Palace where one may have all imaginable Recreations Lovely Gardens Large Gardens full of flowers with many Ponds and Fountains in these Gardens lovely Houses and artificial Mounts for taking the fresh Air all covered with Flowers with little Buildings on the top to repose in In a word it is a very pleasant place And indeed this is the onely lovely Province of all Persia and yet it hath its inconveniences The Air of Mazandaran for in Winter it is very cold there and the ways very bad In the Summer the Air is so malignant that most of the Inhabitants are obliged to remove to other Places and all the People of that Countrey look yellowish and tawny Venomous Creatures The cause of that bad Air is the vast number of Serpents and other insects that swarm there which in the Summer-time dying for want of water because most Springs in that Season are dried up cause a corruption and infection which fills the Air with contagious Vapours CHAP. IV. Of what hath been observed in Ispahan Ispahan ISpahan is the Capital City of the Province of Irac which is part of the ancient Parthia and generally of the whole Kingdom of Persia for in this Town the King holds his ordinary residence The Air of it is extremely dry therefore what the Earth produces for the food of man is easily preserved there all the year round I cannot tell but it may be attributed to this disposition of the Air what commonly happens that all the Bodies whether of Men or Beasts an hour after they are dead swell extremely which may be occasioned by this so dry an Air that penetrating into the Bodies drives out the humidity which being extravasated betwixt the Flesh and Skin endeavours to break out and so puffs them up until it hath found an Issue when the parts of it have been sufficiently subtilized The hands and feet likewise swell at the end of all Sicknesses which continues some weeks before the cause of it be discussed Nevertheless in time of Rain there are great damps so that the effects of the humidity are to be seen on all things not onely at Ispahan but also all over Persia in so much that all Instruments of Iron rust where ever they may be kept even keys in ones Pocket as I several times found by experience The truth is it rains there very seldom unless it be in Winter And whilst I was there the first Rain that fell was on the eleventh of December But likewise when it rains the Houses crumble and fall away in pieces and the Snow rots the Terrasses if they be not paved with Bricks and seeing most of them are of Earth the Snow must be thrown off assoon as it falls upon them In the year one thousand six hundred sixty and five there was a great Rain in all that extent of Countrey which reaches from Bender Abassi and Bender Cougo
Water-works which fall into Basons The sides of that Canal are paved into the Street and make a way of Free-Stone for Foot-men which eases them of the inconvenience of meeting horses that go lower in the Street In short this Street is divided by the River of Senderu on which there is built a very lovely Bridge A Bridge of lovely Structure of a pretty singular structure which joyns together the two parts of the Street This Bridge which is called by the Name of him that built it to wit Alyverdy-Chan and which is also named the Bridge of Julpha is built of good Brick with edgings of Free-Stone and supported by a great many little and low stone-Arches It is about three hundred paces long and about twenty broad but in the middle where Carts and Horses goe it is not above four fathom broad and is no higher in the middle than at the two ends On each side instead of a Parapet it hath a Gallery covered with a plat-form both which are very commodious for Passengers These Galleries are raised above the level of the Bridge above half a pikes height The going up to them is by so easie Stairs that horses may without trouble ascend them men are there secure from bad weather or the heat of the Sun and yet have an open Air and fair prospect for these vaulted Walks have a great many Windows that look upon the River If a man desire a more open passage he hath the plat-form over this gallery that equally reaches from one end of the Bridge to the other But it is so hot upon it in the Summer-time that the other way is more commonly taken which serves also many times for a Horse-way in the Winter that they may avoid the Water that fills up the middle of the Bridge when the River overflows which sometimes happens though in the Summer-time it be so low that there is hardly any Water in it so that they have been forced to use art in paving the bottom in that place very smooth that so it may fill its Channel by spreading its Waters equally This Bridge then hath five passages one in the middle and four in the two sides to wit the two covered Galleries and the two Plat-forms over them which are above twelve foot broad with Rails both towards the Bridge and River Nay there is a sixth passage when the water is low which during the great heats of Summer is very delightfull for its coolness and that is a little vaulted Gallery which crosses all the Arches from one end of the Bridge to the other it is low underneath and reacheth to the bottom of the River but there are Stones so laid that one may step over without wetting the foot they go down into it from the Bridge by steps made in the thickness of the Walls There are also two other Bridges upon that River to the right hand and all the three are at above half a miles distance from one another The first above this is very plain but the other which they call the Bridge of Schiras for one thing exceeds the first in beauty and that is a Hexagone place which it hath in the middle where the Water of the River hath a lovely fall Let us now consider Hezar Dgerib which ends the fair Street of Tcheharbag The name of it imports a thousand Dgerib and Dgerib is a certain land measure which the Persians have as we have the pearch the fathom and other measures Before this house there is a large square Court at the end whereof stands the Building which consists of a Divan onely one story high with Chambers at its four corners and it hath the same front towards the Garden which in reality is very pretty The Gardens of Hezar-gerib This Garden of Hezar-gerib hath six stories of Terrasses the Earth of which is supported by stone-Walls and these stories are raised about a fathom in height one above another There are a great many Alleys or Walks in that Garden both in length and breadth which reach all from the one end to the other and are very streight and even save that in those which reach in length at every story one must ascend seven or eight steps The chief Walk or Alley that begins at the building is very broad but that which renders it altogether charming is a stone-Canal in the middle of it of the same breadth as that of the Street Tcheharbag which answers in a streight line to this and hath no Water but what it receives from it The Canal of this Walk is far more beautifull than that of the Street and affords a lovely prospect in regard that at every two fathoms distance there are Pipes which spurt up Water very high and that at each story there is a sheet of Water that falls into a Bason underneath from whence it runs into the Canal On each side of these sheets of water there is a pair of Stairs and a way that leads streight up I leave it to the Readers imagination to conceive the pleasantness of that prospect and the beauty of these Cascades which are the first object that offers and surprises the sight of those that enter into this Garden Walking then along the great Alley after you have advanced a little you cross over a Canal a fathom broad which cuts it as it does all the other Walks that are parallel thereunto but without breaking them for it runs under little brick-Arches Mounting up to the fourth story you 'll find a large place where there is a Bason of eight sides above twenty fathom in diameter and three foot deep of water it hath Water-pipes that play all round it besides one in the middle On each side of this place you have a large covered Divan built of Brick but open on all hands with a bason of water in the middle These are really charming places especially for enjoying the cool wherein the Levantines place their greatest delight Having ascended three stories more you come to a pretty high Building which bounds the Walk and on both sides of it there is a wall that separates this part of the Garden from the other beyond it to the front of this Building there is a bason of water Then you enter into a Hall made cross-ways open on the four sides at each Corner whereof you 'll find little rooms Over that there is another story which is much the same From that Hall you enter into the other part of the Garden and recover the great Walk or Alley again which is continued in a streight line through the Hall There you have the Canal and Sheets of Water in the same manner as in the other save that in this part the basons are above the sheets of water whereas in the former they are under them Having mounted the sixth story you 'll find an octogone Bason of the same bigness as the former with a Divan or Kiosk on each hand After you have
covering a great pent-house which was made of sticks or laths laid cross ways and two Stores over them upon which they spread a very thin lay of this lime smoothing it with the Trowel Then they put upon this lay three fingers thick of Earth mingled with Straw and wrought into a morter In this which I saw prepared there were four and twenty Ass loads and four men prepared it They were near eleven hours about it and made it up into five Wells or Heaps which remained so for two days before they were used The greatest use they make of this lime mingled with Ashes and Straw Lime for fish Ponds Basons and Fountains is for Fish-ponds Basons of Fountains and other things that are to hold water When that Stuff is well made it lasts above thirty years and is harder than Stone In whitening of their Walls they use no lime but make use of a white Earth which is in small pieces like plaister and immediately dissolves in water This Earth they call Ghilsefid Ghilsefid that 's to say white Earth they dig it out of certain Pits or Quarries of which there are many about Ispahan As to their morter it is usually made of plaister The making of Morter earth and chopped straw all well wrought and incorporated together At Schiras to spare the charges of Ghilsefid they sometimes make use of plaister for whitening their Walls but they have not that bright whiteness which Ghilsefid giveth They cast their Walls pretty often also with a mixture made of Plaister and Earth which they call Zerdghil Zerdghil that 's to say yellow Earth though in reality it be not yellow but rather of a Musk or Cinnamon colour they get it on the River-side and work it in a great Earthen Vessel but they put so little earth in proportion to water that it remains liquid like muddy water or at most like strained Juice and it is altogether of the Colour of that Earth they make use of it to work the Plaister in another Earthen Vessel where they mingle this water with plaister in such a quantity that it be reduced to the thickness of morter which retains the colour of that Earth With this mixture they cast their Walls which at first look all greyish but according as they dry they grow so white that when they are fully dry they seem almost as if they were plaistered over with pure plaister This mixture is used not onely for saving of plaister but also because it holds better than plaister alone and in my opinion looks as well For making of Terrasses they lay as I have said upon the Stores and reeds almost half a foot thick of Earth The way of making Terrasses but which sinks to far less being trampled and tread upon when it is well dried in the Air they lay on more Earth mingled with a like quantity of Straw which they work well together stirring it often that they may better incorporate the Straw with the Earth And when that is well mixt and reduced to the consistence of kennel-dirt they trample it a long while with their feet and spread it very even all over This second lay is commonly about half a foot thick also but being dry is hardly half so thick when it is dry they lay on a third lay like the former so that all being dry it may be about a foot thick All this is held up by a range of broad burnt Bricks or Tiles which is laid all round the Terrass five or six high and level with the Earth in some places they make a little shelving that the rain-Water may run off into wooden Spouts which jet out for conveying it away In this manner I saw two Terrasses made which had in surface each about a fathom and a half square when they laid on the second lay two men wrought at each about an hours time stirring the Earth with shovels and incorporating it with the Straw whilst another man continually poured water upon it the last lay requires the same labour and pains At Schiras Lar and in other hot Countries they have upon the tops of their Houses an invention for catching the fresh Air An invention for having the fresh Air. It is a Wall one or two fathom high and about the same breadth to which at the intervals of about three foot other Walls about three foot broad and as high as the great Wall joyn in right Angles there are several of such on each side of the great Wall and all together support a Roof that covers them The effect of this is that from whatsoever corner the Wind blows it is straitned betwixt three Walls and the Roof over head and so easily descends into the house below by a hole that is made for it CHAP. VI. A Sequel of the Observations of Ispahan Of ARTS LET us go on in speaking of Arts and Trades Artists of Persia since we are insensibly engaged in it The Artists in Persia and all over the Levant use their Feet in working as much as their hands for their Feet serve them for a Loom hold fast and several other Instruments An imposition upon the companies of traydesmen Every Company of crafts men pays the King a certain Summ of Money which is raised upon all the Artists of the several Trades every one of them being assessed according to his incomes They have no Loom for turning as we have but put that which they have a mind to turn upon a Pivot or Spindle and wrap about it a thong of Leather leaving two ends A Boy holds the two ends of this strap and pulls towards him The way of turning wood sometimes the one and sometimes the other and in that fashion makes the piece to turn whilst the other labours whereas with us a single Person does all The use of the wimble Nor are the Wimbles of Carpenters and Joyners so convenient as with us neither They have a long Iron as thick as two of our Wimbles but square and flat at the end like a slice or Spatula yet drawing into a point with a side and edge which way soever they turn it This Iron is in a wooden handle about a foot long and above an inch thick with a weight of lead on the top with that they have a stick with a strap of Leather like a bow but very slack they turn the strap of this bow once about the handle of the Wimble and then leaning the left hand upon the head of the handle and pulling to and fro the bow with the right hand they turn the Wimble They have a most excellent Varnish for Painters Varnish it is made of Sandarack and lintseed Oyl which they mingle together and reduce all into the consistence of an Unguent when they would make use of it they dissolve it with the Oyl of Naphta but for want of the Oyl of Naphta one may use the Spirit of Wine many times
all sorts of Fowl whose Eyes they sile that they may not see How they make Falcons and then let flie the Falcon which easily takes them when they cannot see Amongst these Hawks there are Falcons for hunting the Antelope which they teach in this manner Hunting of Antelopes by Falcons They have counterfeit Antelopes on the Noses whereof they daily feed the Falcons and no where else having bred them so they go into the Fields with them and so soon as they have discovered an Antelope let flie two of these Hawks of which one of them fastens just upon the Antelope's Nose and strikes him backwards with his Talons The Antelope stops and strives to shake it off and the Hawk flutters with its Wings to keep its hold which hinders the Antelope from running fast or seeing well before him At length when with much a doe he hath shaken it off the Falcon which is aloft stoops and comes in the place of the other which immediately points up and keeps above ready to succeed to its Companion when it is forced off and in this manner they so stop the Antelopes running that the Dogs come in and catch him This sport is the more pleasant that the Countrey is open and champian there being little wood in it The King hath also a great many Elephants and many wild Beasts such as Tygres Lions and Leopards In the enumeration of the Officers of the Court of Persia I have spoken occasionally of those who administer Justice and frame publick and private acts and deeds It remains now that I should add what I have learned of the particular Laws of the Countrey Civil Laws of Persia As for civil Affairs in the distribution of inheritances in Persia the Sons have two parts and the Daughters one Division of Estates amongst the Children If there be but one Son and one Daughter the Son takes two thirds and the Daughter the other third and if there be two Sons and one Daughter the Sons have each two fifth parts and the Daughter one if there be two Daughters and a Son the Son takes two thirds and the other is divided betwixt the two Daughters and if there be two Sons and two Daughters each Son has a third and the last third is for the two Daughters An unjust law against the Christians of the Countrey But as to the right of inheritance they have a very unjust Law devised for the propagation of the Faith of Mahomet And that is if a Christian turns Mahometan when any of his kindred dies all the Estate of the departed belongs to him to the exclusion of his Children though he be no nearer to him than in the fifth Degree of Kindred He who instituted that Law Dgiafer gave it out that it was commanded by Dgiafer one of the twelve Imams and that Dgiafer affirmed that it was revealed to him from God. Nevertheless this evil is not without remedy for the Mahometan Judges knowing the Iniquity of this Law have found out a knack to cause dying Christians to make a pretended Sale of all their Goods to trusty Persons and when that is done they dispose of all their Estates by Will and the pretended Purchasers approve before the Judges of all that the deceased hath done in disposing of the Estate which he hath sold to them The Judges admit of this the more willingly that they get money by it which they could not have if a Mahometan carried away all Duschacha A kind of punishment As for Criminals they use a singular way in binding Prisoners They put a forked piece of Timber before their Throat the handle being a foot long and the two prongs of the Fork goe on each side of the Neck behind there is a wooden bar that joyns the two ends of the grains and is nailed to them so that the whole makes a triangle before the throat there is another wooden bar nailed at each end to the middle of the prongs and at the end of the handle of this fork which is cut a little hollow the Prisoners hand is put with the Wrist in the hollow and over it they put another bar half a foot long which is likewise a little hollow in the middle and the two ends thereof are nailed to the two Extremities of the handle of the Fork so that the Prisoner has his hand as it were in a Scarff and can make no use of it This Instrument may be about a foot and a half or two foot long and they call it Duschacha The rack for malefactors The ordinary Rack to extort a Confession of Robberies and other Crimes is for men to pinch off the Flesh with hot Pinsers and to give blows on the feet with a Cudgel The rack for women as in Turky For the Women they put a Rat into their Drawers so that the Rat being betwixt the Drawers and the Flesh torments them extremely King of Punishments The usual punishments they inflict upon Malefactors whom they would not put to death is to pluck out their Eyes or else to pierce the Nerves of their Ankles and then hanging them up by the feet to give them a certain number of blows with a Cudgel and sometimes also to cut the Nerves short off When they condemn any to death the most usual punishment is to rip open the Belly One day the great Schah Abbas causing the Belly of a Malefactor to be ript open in his presence observed that the Portugal Ambassadours that stood by him turned away their Eyes from beholding that Spectacle as if it raised horrour in them which made him say that certainly these torments would be too cruel and horrid if they were practised amongst Christians who are rational People but that they were absolutely necessary among the Persians who are Beasts Moreover it is very difficult for those who have committed any Crime to make their escape or avoid Justice by flying because of the good order that is observed For besides that there are but few passages to get out of the Countrey the Roads are so exactly kept by the Rahdars whom I have mentioned before and whom I found upon my entry into Persia that is almost impossible not to fall into their hands and they suffer none to go out nor come into the Kingdom till first they examine who he is and the occasion of his Journey When I came to Ispahan there were two Muscovite Ambassadours who had waited there for Audience several Months and could not obtain it and the King used them in this manner because an Ambassadour of his had not been well received in Moscovy The design of their Embassy was not known onely it was suspected that they did it for no other end but to gain credit and reputation amongst their Neighbours when they should know that the King of Persia was their friend Nevertheless they had no good success which was partly occasioned by their own fault They had made
where one may take the Air under the shade of Orange-Trees which are prodigiously big and bear much Fruit. There they have plenty also of Limon Pomegranate Date and other Fruit-Trees of all sorts nay and Vines also and the River runs in a bottom by the back of the Village in short it is a very agreeable place especially to those who have Travelled over large barren and dry Countries this Village is three Agatsch from Paira We left that pleasant Quarter Friday the Twentieth of March half an hour after one a Clock in the morning keeping still South-Eastwards in our way but a little toward the South in a fair even and smooth Road about four of the Clock we crossed a large Brook of running water which comes from the River of Paira below Chafer and a little after we crossed a Canal of running water over a little Bridge We afterwards crossed several other little Brooks having always to our Right Hand a great many Villages about break of day it behoved us to pass one large Brook more and about six a Clock in the Morning we found a little House where Rahdars lived about two or three Musket-shot from thence at the foot of a Hill Tadivan there is a Village call Tadivan where the River of Paira loses it self and ends Families of Arabs Upon that Road we met several Arabs with their Wives and Children on Camels which carried all their baggage also they were driving their Flocks of Sheep and Goats Since our departure from Schiras we dayly met such and they came from about Gomron and Lar. These Arabs Lodge under black Tents and have vast Flocks wherein consists the greatest part of their substance and that is partly the reason that they have no fixed Habitation and that they even remove from one Country into another in the different seasons of the Year just as some Birds doe For in the Spring they leave the Country of Lar and other places thereabout where the Heat is too great and packing up bag and baggage betake themselves with their whole Families towards Couchouzer which is a Village I have mentioned with very good Land about it and when Winter begins to draw nigh they pack up their Houses again and with their Flocks return towards Lar and Gomron where it is never Cold. It is not only the Heat that in the Summer-time drives them out of the hot Countrys but also the scarcity of water for they need a great deal for their Flocks They are almost all Black both men and women have long black Hair and cover not their Faces About Nine a Clock in the Morning we entered into stony way where we kept marching till half an hour after Ten that we arrived at a little Kervanseray called Mouchek Mouchek standing by it self and built in stony ground surrounded with Hills about some hundred paces behind this Kervanseray there is a great round Cistern four or five Fathom in Diametre and is very deep it is covered with a great Dome of rough stone that hath six Entries by so many Doors that are round it by which they go in to draw water which in the Spring-time is so high that it comes almost up to the Doors swelling so high by the Rain-water in the Winter-time by means of a Trench that comes from a neighbouring Hill at each Door there are steps to go down to the bottom when the water is low for there is no other water in that place They make Cisterns besides in those Quarters Cisterns after another manner they are of an Oblong Square covered with a long Convex Vault shaped much like the Roof of a Coach with a Door at each end and one of these ways are all the Cisterns from that place to Bender built We parted from that Kervanseray which is six Agatsch distant from Chafer Saturday the one and twentieth of May half an hour after Two a Clock in the Morning and had stony way till about Four after that we found a good Road which led us full South about half an hour after Five we past by the Walls of a ruinated Kervanseray with a Cistern adjoyning it about Seven a Clock we found some Brooks and then Travelled amongst good Corn-Fields until half an hour after Ten when having passed by a great many Gardens we arrived at a large Kervanseray Dgiaroun which is about an hundred paces from a little Town called Dgiaroun and is hardly worth a good Village however there is a fair Bazar in it This Town is on all Hands encompassed with Gardens full of Palm-Trees which there are so numerous and grow so near one another that they make a great Forrest and to say the truth I never saw so many together in one place Tamarisks besides the Tamarisks which are likewise plentiful in that place They have many Wells there and draw their water with Oxen as in all the rest of Persia in the manner I have described when I treated of Mosul There is a Cistern near the Kervanseray like to that of Mouchek but it is bigger having at least seven or eight Fathom in it Diametre it has a little house belonging to it which consists of a Kitchin and a Lodging-Room for the use of such as will not Lodge in the Kervanseray or cannot when it is full this place is five Agatsch distant from Mouchek there we began to feel the heat though in the Mornings a little before Sun rising we had pretty cold Winds before the Gate of the Kervanseray there is one of those Ox Wells with a great trough for watering the Horses but it is not good for men who in the Town drink running-water We stayed there all that day and the following and departed Monday the three and twentieth of March half an hour after midnight we took our way Westward by a very stony Road about an hour after we found a Cistern covered with a steep Roof half an hour after two we began to ascend the Hill of Dgiaroun The Hill of Dgiaroun to the South it is very high and the ascent not difficult save only that the way is full of stones but the higher one goes the worse it is and besides there is danger from Precipices that are on one side of it the truth is they have built little breast-walls about two foot high in some places to keep the Mules from falling down there one may see wild bitter Almond-Trees and other Trees of the Mountains We went up three or four times and down as often and the Sun found us in this exercise about five a Clock we came to a Cistern covered with a Dome and an hour after to another with a steep Roof Half an hour after seven we were passed our up Hills and down Hills but the way was still stony and bad at length about nine of the Clock we came to a little Kervanseray standing all alone near to which are two Cisterns the one covered with
are very well worth the pains of Reading by those who had rather trust to my relation than to go and see them themselves For my part I had pleasure enough in seeing them and Monsieur Doliere was with me he came from France with Monsieur Tavernier as far as Bender from whence we came back together to Schiras he with design to return to France and I to shift elsewhere and go on to the Indies I could have wished not to have left him so soon for he is an honest man and very pleasant Company To see those Antiquities so much Celebrated amongst the Curious being out of the Town of Schiras you must go streight South-East keeping the way that leads to the Lake where the Salt is made that is used in those Quarters Having Travelled on an Agatsch and a half you see to the Left Hand a Hill A Lake where Salt is made at Schiras which is almost opposite to a Village standing in the middle of the Plain you must go up to the top of that Hill and there you see the ruins of a curious Temple That place is square and in the middle of the Face that looks to the North-West Antiquity and ruins of a fair Temple a League and a half from Schiras there is a great Gate another in the middle of the side that looks to the South-East and a third in the middle of the Face that looks to the North-East there is none to be seen on the opposite side nor any sign that there has ever been any there the Jams of these Gates are each of one piece of a dark grey and very hard stone and are at least ten Foot high and somewhat more than two Foot and a half broad the Lintel and Threshold are of the same and contain about four Foot in length so that these Gates or Doors are about some ten Foot high and four Foot wide On each side of the Gate there is a Figure cut in relief as big as the life the one resembles a man holding on his Arm a kind of Manipule as Priests do when they are Cloathed for saying of Mass only with this difference that it is no broader at the ends than in the middle in the other Hand he holds a thing like a Bowl or a Heart out of which mounts up a flame The opposite Figure seems to be of a woman holding in one Hand a kind of Holy-water-pot and we could not devise what it was she held in the other it being so broken and cut with a Chizzel unless it be a Candlestick and Candle or rather a Holy-water-sprinkle There are also two Figures at each Gate which have the same postures as these or at least there is but very little difference the Heads of all these Figures have been knocked off This square is about seven Fathom long towards the middle there is a little Stone-Fat of an Oblong square with a hole in the bottom to let out the water It is probable that the Walls were all of the same stone as the Doors are because from the Door that looks to the North-East to that which faces the South-East there stands a Range still which is of the very same the rest lies under ruins or is taken away and on one of these stones that remain near the South-East-Gate there are six Figures in Bass relief but very little raised which are somewhat more than a Foot high they represent men upright and following one another at equal distances in the same manner as if they were going in Procession In one Hand they hold either a Torch or a Pike I cannot tell which for they are so spoilt that hardly any thing is to be discerned On the other side of the same Door a little towards the South there is another stone with the like Figures The people of the Country call that place Mesdgidi Mader Soliman Mesdgidi Mader Soliman that is to say the Mosque of the Mother of Soliman but can give no reason for it The Mahometans in and about Schiras go and pray in that Temple the day of the little Bairam or Courban Bairami that is to say the day of their Easter of Sacrifices In fine these Antiquities are little preludes to those of Tschehel-minar I had a man who said plaisantly that the place where they are ought to be called the little Brother of Tschehel-minar Having considered it you are to go down the other side of the Hill opposite to that by which they come up and continue your way South-East a few steps off you see to the Right Hand a Spring that runs at the Foot of the Hill and makes a little Bog shaded over by many high and great Trees which render this place very pleasant a little further you see to the Right Hand a Thicket or small Wood all of Rose-Trees which yield a very lovely prospect when they are in the Flower as I saw them You must then leave the High-way which leads to the Salt-Lake and draw near the Hills that are to the Left Hand and but very little distant from the Road and having kept going a good quarter of an hour more you come to a very delightful place for there you have a great many clear Springs full of Fish that glide under the shade of a great many Planes Ash-Trees and Willows which so extend their Boughs that at Noon day they cover you from the Sun and there you may delightfully spend the whole day in the cool When you are come into this charming place you must alight from your Horse and pass over a little water close by the Hill upon stepping stones that are there in great quantity and in a place where the Hill bending makes a kind of Semicircle you see at two Fathoms height The Antiquity of Kademghah Two Figures in a Rock The Figure of a Woman two Figures of the ordinary bigness in Relief cut in the natural Rock these Figures are somewhat hid by a Fig-Tree which hath taken Root at the Foot of the Rock but it is easie to get up betwixt the Rock and the Fig-Tree and to consider them at nearer distance The first of these seems to be the Figure of a Woman with a naked Body unless towards the Legs where one may perceive some folds of a Gown behind her Head there is a kind of Crown of Rayes cut in the Rock she stretches out both her Hands to the neighbouring Figure as to receive something that it presents to her that neighbouring Figure represents a Man with a long Beard The Figure of a Man. and his Hair made up into Tresses behind his Head-attire seems to be much like a Swisses Cap for it sets close to his Head covers all his Brow and is broader above than below there is this difference that it rises round instead of being flat on the Crown he hath a Girdle and a Sword hanging at his Left side which is above two Foot and a half long
rest and which is proportioned to the breadth of the Stairs you continue to go up by the upper part of the Stair-Case which goes contrary to the lower part my meaning is that the upper part of the Stair-Case above the Landing place goes North whereas the lower went Southward and the upper part of the other side which went North below goes Southward above so that these two Stair-Cases which bore off from one another in their first part draw near again in the second and Land in on the same place above and that upper part of the Stair-Case has forty six steps Being come to the top of the Stair-Case you find a Walk and traceing it Eastwards you see two great Pilasters in Front which bear nothing at present but seem to make the two sides of an Entry they appear to be but of one single stone apiece though they be very high On the inside of each of these Pilasters you see the Figure of a Beast cut in Demi-relief but it is hard to tell whether it be a Horse or an Elephant and I should rather take it to be the latter at least it seems to me to resemble that more however it be these Figures are about three Fathom high and are as I said in half body along the inside of the Pilaster one opposite to another the Head turned towards the Terrass-Walk and Stair-Case or if you will towards the Plain Beyond these two Pilasters there are two great Chamfered Pillars in front and which in all appearance are what remains of four in Square Then you find two other Pilasters like to the first with each a Figure on them of an Animal in Demi-relief of the same height and opposite to one another on the inside but the Figures of these seem to be Griffons and they are Back to Back with the Elephants looking Eastward to the Hill whereas the Elephants look Westward to the Plain these four Pilasters with the Pillars seem to have made a Portico Advancing a little forward you find on the Right Hand a great Oblong Square Bason A great Bason two Fathom and a half in length almost as much in breadth and about three Foot deep it is all of a greyish stone Turning from thence to the Right Hand and going about twenty steps Southward you find a second Terrass higher which hath a jutting out in the middle with a Stair-Case on each side there are two others at the two ends of the Terrass but these four Stair-Cases are almost buried under Ground nevertheless one may still see several Figures upon so much of the Terrass-Walls as are above Ground At the least which is as I said by the jutting out in the middle you see a Lion devouring a Bull which is often repeated By the other there are three Ranges of Bas-reliefs representing as I take it Sacrifices Bas-reliefs representing Sacrifices for many persons are there represented as going in Procession one after another and Armed some only with Swords and Daggers others with Swords Bows and Arrows and others again seem to be carrying Vessels There you see also several kinds of Beasts as Sheep Oxen Dromadaries and other Animals When you are at the top of these Stairs you come upon a Platform where there are a great many Pillars some buried under Ground and others broken A place full of Pillars and you only see the Bases of most of them nevertheless there are seventeen still standing and these with the others whereof nothing but the Bases are to be seen make according to my account twelve Ranges from East to West and from South to North in breadth consist of nine Pillars a piece they are about seven Fathom high and at three Fathom distance one from another all Chamfered and some with double Capitals they are all of an extraordinary Order which yet hath great affinity to the Dorick It appears by what remains upon some that all of them have supported Statues or perhaps Idols and at present they serve the Storks to build their Nests on Going on Southward from thence you see a square Building A square building much adorned with Bas-reliefs and part of the Walls thereof still standing It is pierced on all sides with Doors and Windows which are embellished with many Demi-reliefs especially the sides of the Doors which are of big greyish stones as the rest of the Edifice is Upon these sides of the Doors the Figures are much the same as on the rest of the Building and opposite to one another there you see an old Man followed by two Servants one of them holding in both his Hands a great Staff with seven branches at the end of it which uphold an Umbrello just over the Head of his Master the other holds a Manipule in one Hand and in the other a Crosier or crooked Staff liker to Cricket-sticks than the Crosiers carried by Bishops nevertheless by the way of holding it one may judge that it is something resembling a Bishops Crosier for the Crook is carried up over the Masters Head. In some of these Doors there is but one Servant as in the one he only who carries the Manipule and the Crosier and in the others he that holds the Umbrello The Doors of the other two Faces are almost a like and at the side of each Door on the inside you see a Man fighting with a Beast that is erected against him with the Left Hand he holds a short Club over the Head of it and with the Right sheaths a Dagger in its Belly all these are to the natural bigness nay some of them are bigger Next to this Building you see the ruins of a like Fabrick Buildings but hardly any thing standing on the sides of the Doors within there are still to be seen two men each holding a Pike as if they Guarded these Doors along the two sides of these Buildings there is a little Walk about a Fathom and a half broad that runs betwixt the Building and a Wall at the end of this last which is so ruinous you find a double Stair-Case cut in the Rock but it is almost hid under the ruins as well as the Wall betwixt the two which supports the Earth and is full of Demi-reliefs whereof there is no more but the Heads to be seen A little beyond that there is square Terrass not much raised from the Ground A square Terrass and supported by a Wall which is also embellished by several Figures in Demi-relief that are half covered under Ground and in this place there remain many round Bases beyond that Terrass that buts upon a large open places which reaches length from West to East as far as the Hill and fronts towards the South there is no more now remaining one comes down from thence by a pair of Stairs which turning to the Left you find at the side of the Terrass and are made in the Rock it self that in this place supports the Earth Returning back
Frontispiece there is Table of Bas-reliefs reaching down to the Ground whereon Men are represented Fighting on Horse-back but it is somewhat defaced Two steps from thence there is another Table of Bas-reliefs two Foot from the Ground about a Fathom and a half high and three Fathom broad where you see a Gigantick Horse-man Armed Capapie having a Crown on his Head with a Globe upon it his Left Hand is upon the Handle of his Sword and with the Right he lifts up a Woman whom he holds by the Arm near to whom there is a Man kneeling and in supplicant manner streatching forth his Hands The people of the Country say that this Horse-man is Rustan who would carry away his own Daughter and that his Son the Maids Brother beseeches him to let her alone Behind the Horse-man there is another great Figure standing upright but much defaced it hath a long Cap round at the top this Figure is all over full of Inscriptions which seem to be Greek but so worn out that it cannot be Read four steps from thence there is another Frontispiece like the other two at the bottom whereof there is a Bas-relief but all defaced Twenty paces from thence there is a fourth Frontispiece more of the same likeness with a Bas-relief underneath representing men a fighting but it is a little ruinated Opposite to this place at a few paces distance from the Hill there is a square Building A square Building in fashion of a Tower three Fathom broad and four high with a Terrass over on the top there is a kind of Architrave of the Dorick Order all of a white shining stone like Marble though it be not all the stones are three Foot high or thereabouts and three Fathom long so that there is but one in each Lay of the front The Gate of this Building looks to the Hill and is three Fathom high and one Fathom wide it is above half filled up with large stones that have been put into it In the Lintel of the Gate there are two great round holes into which went the ends of the shutting Gates that served for Hinges On each of the other three faces there are six inches and two other square ones over them but less they are all of greyish and black stone and sixty paces from thence there is a round piece of Bas-relief An Altar An hundred paces more foreward there is a kind of a round Altar cut in the Rock two Fathom from the Ground at the bottom of which there is a Man with a Head-piece on his Head his two Hands rest upon his Sword which stands before him with the point downwards he is accompanied with five Men on his Right Hand and four on his Left all with Head-pieces on their Heads but of these five there is no more to be seen but the Bust all the rest from the Feet up to the Breast being as it were behind a stone or Parapet which is on each side none but he in the middle is seen all over all of them have their Hair and Beards made up in Tresses Bas-relief six paces from thence there is a piece in Bas-relief a Fathom from the Ground one Fathom and a half high and four Fathom broad representing two Gigantick Horse-men facing one another so that their Horses Heads touch one of the Horse-men hath a long Cap round at the top with a brim four Fingers broad in his Left Hand he holds a great Truncheon in manner of a Scepter and with his Righ the pulls a Ring which the other pulls also with his Right Hand and hath a Globe on his Head if we may believe the people of the Country these two Horse-men are Rustan Sal and Rustan Colades behind this latter there is a great Figure of a Man or Woman somewhat defaced streatching forth the Hand to hinder as it were the Globe which is on his Head from falling to the side of each Horse there is a Vessel for holding of water fastened with Chains and shaped like a Pine-Apple after the manner of the Levantines who carry always a Mataras full of water A Pillar upon a Rock Some paces from thence upon a rising Rock there is a Pillar four Foot high a little farther likewise upon a rising Rock there are two Pedestals by one another and besides there are other Pillars scattered up and down here and there The people of the Country believe that all these things have been made by Dgius or Spirits Dgius or Spirits whom as they say Solomon who had power over them commanded to Build them The truth is whoever were the Work-men they have been Artists for they are well done and of curious design The good people say more that in the Chamber of the first Frontispiece there is a Treasure but that one cannot come at it because one must go over a Wheel of stone that is in the Chamber and that a Man having once attempted it the Wheel turned and crushed him to pieces they may say what they please as to that because to get up to it there is need of such long Ladders that few would be at the pains to attempt it They say also that on another neighbouring Hill beyond this there was a Gate of a City which they call the City of Solomon another at that Pillar I mentioned The Town of Solomon which is to be seen on the Right Hand as you come from Mirchas-Chan and a third on the other side of Tschehel-minar if so that Town must have had above eight Agatsch in Circumference As for Tschehel-minar many are of Opinion that it was the Palace of the Kings of Persia who held their usual Residence in Persepolis which Alexander the Great being Drunk Burnt at the instigation of a Miss but besides that this place is too little for the compass of a Palace that might answer the magnificence of the Kings of Persia in those days the Tombs that are in the Hill shew the contrary moreover since these places seem never to have been covered I had rather think that it hath been some Temple and that is probable enough because of the Pillars on which were Idols and all know that the Temples of the Ancient Persians were uncovered These Buildings have been spoilt not only by the weather but also by Men especially by a Governour of Schiras whom covetousness prompted to make great havock of them because he was obliged to defray the charges of all whom Curiosity brought thither to see them which was like to have cost him his Head the King having been extreamly displeased at so unworthy an action At Nakschi Rustan and Tschehel-minar there are Birds as big as Black-Birds which have the Beak of the same bigness and length but both it and the rest of their body is of a Flesh-colour so that one would think at first fight that these Birds had no Feathers unless on the Head Wings and Tail which are black they are
the Sultan or Governour of Bahrem fifteen Abassis a year The King of Persia's Right in the Pearls the King of Persia has not one penny of that Revenue for it all belongs to Mosques only all the Pearls that weigh a half Medical or more belong to him and nevertheless he makes a liberal Present to the Fisher-man that brings him such but also if any of them fail to do it and sell such a Pearl out of his Dominions were it even at the Worlds end the King is soon acquainted with it and to be revenged he puts to death the whole Family and all the Kindred of the Fisher-man even to the seventh Generation both Males and Females Every one of these Barks hath Men for Diving to the bottom of the Sea and picking up the Shell-Fish or Nacres and the rest serve to draw them up for all are not Divers The Barks go fifteen twenty or thirty Leagues off of Bahem along the Coast and when they are at a place where they think there may be good Fishing they come to an Anchor in five Fathom water and then two Divers make ready one on each side to go down for Nacres All their preparatives consist in stripping themselves naked and taking a piece of Horn cloven in the manner of a pair of Pincers as the Gentleman represented it to me which they always hang about their Necks by a piece of Pack thread before they jump into the water they put it upon their Nose like a pair of Spectacles and that keeps their Nostrils so close that the water cannot enter them nor can they fetch breath above water by the Nose neither Besides this accoutrement every Diver provides himself of a great stone which he fastens to a long Rope and of a Basket tied to another and puting the Rope to which the stone is tied betwixt the Toes of one of his Feet and taking the Basket in his Hand he leaves the ends of the two Ropes on Board and Dives into the Sea. The stone carries him immediately to the bottom where being come he casts loose the Rope of the stone from his Foot which they on Board pull up and without losiing time he quickly picks up all the Nacres he sees and puts them in his Basket and when it is full comes up again The rest hall up the Basket whilst he takes a little breath and smoaks a Pipe of Tobacco and having done so he returns again to the bottom in the same manner coming and going so from eight a Clock in the Morning till Eleven Then he goes to Dinner with his comrades and feeds on Pilau and Dates which are their common Food and about Noon he goes a Diving again and continues at work till three a Clock but no longer because the water is then too cold When they have got on Board a good quantity of these Nacres they unload them upon some bank of Sand and there open them every one having an Iron Instrument purposely for that the Master of the Bark in the mean time never taking his Eyes off of them least they might purloin a Pearl for if they be not carefully lookt to they will cunningly whip them into their Mouth as soon as they have opened the Nacre Now if the Master made them open them on Board it would be worse still for if any of them found a fair Pearl he would nimbly throw the Nacre down into the hold without being perceived and when the Bark were to be made clean he would not fail to be Swabber and throwing all the Shells and Fish into the Sea for they know not what it is to make any Works of Mother of Pearl he would hide the Pearls he had thrown down and then go sell them for a small matter in the Town and which would be worst of all he would Work no more after because when these Blades have once got at little mony by such means it is not possible to make them Fish any more so long as it lasts The Revenue of the Basha of Bassora But to return to the Basha of Baslora he has a considerable Revenue and I have been assured that it amounts to no less than eight hundred thousand Piastres though in exacting it he be a little Tyrannical The Custom-house of Bassora yields him a great deal and he lets it not out to Farm as is usual in other places but entertains a Customer or Schah Bender as they call him who has a Salary from him and is accountable for all he receives Besides he has from every Palm-Tree half a Schai a year and that branch of his Revenue he lets out to a Man who yearly pays him for it fifty thousand Piastres He gets moreover a great deal of the Persians who go every year to Mecha Pilgrims of Mecha for all of them pass by Bassora and the Basha sells them the Camels they stand in need of at what price he pleases besides they give him thirty five Chequins a Head for which he sends with them a Guard of three hundred Troopers to wait upon them to Mecha and back again to Bassora These Pilgrims willingly pay the mony to be secured from the Arabian Robbers In five and twenty days time they go from Bassora to Mecha and when they are come back the Basha buys their Camels at an easie rate and sells them Horses very dear to carry them home he takes the same course with the Merchants who during the Mouson buy Horses from him to be Transported they must buy them at what price he pleases to demand if they would have them because it is Prohibited that any man whosoever sell Horses during that time nor dare they sell at any other time without a Licence from him which is never obtained without a Present Indeed last year the Basha of Bagdad did him a bad and un-neighbourly Office for by Letters he invited the Persians that intended to go to Mecha to come and pass by Bagdad promising to give them safe Conduct for twenty Chequins a Man so that most part to save fifteen Chequins went by Bagdad and a very few came by Bassora This is the Road from Bassora to Mecha which the Pilgrims commonly take The Road from Bassora to Mecha They set out from Bassora by the East Gate and go to Dgiam-Hali three Agatsch from Bassora where there is bitter water in the Ditch of a Castle that stands in that place where heretofore the Town of Bassora was built the way to it from Bassora is by a Causey which hath salt-water on each side They go from thence to Dgebel-Senan five Agatsch off where there is fresh-water from Dgebel-Senan to Tscha-Haffer where they find a Well of indifferent good water and that is six Agatsch Journy In this place they make Provision of water for seven days Travelling in all which way there is neither water nor Habitation to be found Having Travelled seven days they find a Well of good water where
Captain making use of the occasion failed not to tell the Merchants who waited for our Ship that she would not come this year which they believed to be true and went aboard with their mony on his Ship. All this proceeded from the fault of the Vikil that stayed behind at Bassora who detained the Ship in the Harbour a Fortnight longer than he should have done to get on Board some Goods which payed not above an hundred Piastres Freight and in the mean while he lost the Freight of a great deal of Goods and Mony and of many Passengers that were at Carek Congo and Comoron who embarked in the Ships which touched at these Ports before us When we had put a shoar all the Goods and the Man who was to take care of them we weighed Anchor three quarters of an hour after seven making all the Sail we could and Steering away South South-East with a very easie Wind about ten a Clock we were becalmed till midnight when there blew a little Gale at East but as easie as the former and with it we bore away South Next day about two or three a Clock in the morning we Sailed by the Isle of Rischer which was to our Larboard This Island is very near the main Land and makes a little Port which is called Bender-Rischer a days Journy from Bender-Regh and there is a Fort on it which belonged formerly to the Portuguese At break of day we made two Ships on Head of us one of which had put out from Carek five days before us Half an hour after seven we were off of the Isle of Coucher Coucher that was to our Larboard and is a pretty big Island At eight a Clock we got a Head of one of the Ships that had been before us the other which was at some distance put us into some apprehension for a few hours time for by his manner of working he gave us cause to think that he had a mind to be up with us and we were affraid he might be a Corsair but at length he Steered the same Course that we did About ten a Clock we were becalmed Three quarters after twelve the Wind being Southerly we Steered away East A quarter after two we Steered South-East Three quarters after three a Clock the Wind chopping about to South-West we stood away South South-East And thus the Wind being but very easie did nothing but chop and change until the evening that we were becalmed Wednesday the eighteenth of November towards day having an easie Gale from East South-East we Steered our Course South South-West about half an hour after nine it blowing hard from South we bore away West South-West About three quarters of an hour after ten the Wind turned South South-East and we Steered East Half an hour after noon the Wind slackened much and about five a Clock in the evening we were becalmed About half an hour after nine we made a Sail to the Windward of us and another on Head but a great way before us we cast the Lead and found seventeen Fathom water At ten a Clock at night the Wind turned East South-East and blew pretty hard and we Steered away South South-West finding only thirteen Fathom water when we heaved the Lead After midnight we past Cape Verdestan which was to our Larboard This is a very dangerous Cape and one night several Portuguese Ships being Land-lockt there when they thought themselves far enough off of it were cast away We Sailed within three or four Leagues of it and when it was day saw it a Stern of us About half an hour after nine the Wind turned South South-East and we Steered East About noon we saw several Taranquins Half an hour after one the Wind turned South South-West and we bore away South-East We were then off and on Cape Naban to our Larboard Cape Naban and made it but very dimly but coming up more and more towards it we made it very plain and saw along the Sea-side Rocky Hills which seemed to be very steep and at the foot of them a great many Palm-Trees We continued our Course off and on with these Rocks till five a Clock that we saw the end of them at least in this place they run far up into the Land and leave a very level Coast in this low Country is the Village called Naban which gives the name to the Cape Here we cast the Lead and found only seven Fathom water there is but little water all along that Coast and therefore we presently tackt and stood off to the West about ten a Clock at night the Wind turned North-East and we Steered away South South-East Friday the twentieth of November by break of day we made the three Ships that put out the same day with us from Bassora two of which were at a pretty good distance to the Starboard and the other very near a Head of us it was this last which some days before we had taken for a Corsair we made also to our Larboard the Land of Persia but at a great distance A quarter after nine a Clock in the morning having a very easie Gale from North North-West we put out our Main and Fore-Top-Galant-Sail and kept on our Course South South-East in a short time we left all the other Ships a Stern About noon the Wind blew much fresher and about three a Clock we stood away East South-East about five a Clock we took in our Top-Galant-Sails the Mizan and Mizan-Top-Sails because it would have been dangerous to have made so much way in the night-time that was now coming on for we might have run within Land considering that the Wind freshened more and more and we bore away South South-East that we might keep without the Isle of Lara If it had been day we would have Steered our Course betwixt the main Land and that Island but we durst not venture it in the night-time being safer to leave it to the Larboard we made account to have Sailed by that Island about midnight but we saw it not though we had all along light enough to discern a little of the main Land near to which it lyes We concluded then that we had past that Isle of Lara in the night-time but next day we found that we were out in our reckoning Nevertheless seeing we did not find out our mistake till after noon about six a Clock in the morning we Steered away East bearing in towards the Land for fear we might be cast too far to the Leeward of Congo About half an hour after six our Long-Boat that was fastened to the Stern filled full of water and sunk under the surface of the Sea we presently furled all Sails but the Sprit-Sail and three Seamen swam to the Boat to fasten another Rope to it which they held by the end then they went into it and we halled it to the Leeward side of the Ship and took out a little Anchor that was in her this being done our
with Tiles made half round and half an Inch thick but ill burnt so that they look still white when they are used and do not last and it is for that reason that the Bricklayers lay them double and make them to keep whole Canes which they call Bambous serve for Laths to fasten the Tiles to Bambous and the Carpenters work which supports all this is only made of pieces of round Timber Such Houses as these are for the Rich but those the meaner sort of People live in are made of Canes and covered with the branches of Palm-trees The time to Build in Now it is better building in the Indies in the time of Rain than in fair weather because the heat is so great and the force of the Sun so violent when the Heavens are clear that every thing dries before it be consolidate and cracks and chinks in a trice whereas Rain tempers that heat and hindering the Operation of the Sun the Mason-work has time to dry When it rains the Work-men have no more to do but to cover their Work with Wax-cloath but in dry weather there is no remedy all that can be done is to lay wet Tiles upon the Work as fast as they have made an end of it but they dry so soon The Streets of Surrat that they give but little help The Streets of Surrat are large and even but they are not paved and there is no considerable publick Building within the Precinct of the Town The Meat at Surrat The Christians and Mahometans there eat commonly Cow-beef not only because it is better than the Flesh of Oxen but also because the Oxen are employed in Plowing the Land and carrying all Loads The Mutton that is eaten there is pretty good but besides that they have Pullets Chickens Pidgeons Pigs and all sorts of wild Fowl. They make use of the Oyl of Cnicus silvestris Oyles at Surrat or wild Saffron with their Food it is the best in the Indies and that of Sesamum which is common also is not so good Grapes at Surrat They eat Graps in Surrat from the beginning of February to the end of April but they have no very good taste Some think that the reason of that is because they suffer them not to ripen enough Nevertheless the Dutch who let them hang on the Vine as long as they can make a Wine of them which is so eager that it cannot be drunk without Sugar The white Grapes are big and fair to the Eye and they are brought to Surrat from a little Town called Naapoura Naapoura a Town in the Province of Balagate and four days Journey from Surrat The Strong-water of this Country is no better than the Wine that which is commonly drunk is made of Jagre or black Sugar put into Water with the bark of the tree Baboul to give it some force and then all are Distilled together They make a Strong-water also of Tary which they Distil But these Strong-waters are nothing so good as our Brandy no more than those they draw from Rice Vinegar at Surrat Sugar and Dates The Vinegar they use is also made of Jagre infused in Water There are some that put Spoilt-raisins in it when they have any but to make it better they mingle Tary with it and set it for several days in the Sun. CHAP. VIII Of Tary TAry is a liquor that they drink with pleasure in the Indies Tary It is drawn from two sorts of Palm-trees to wit from that which they call Cadgiour and from that which bears the Coco the best is got from the Cadgiour Cadgiour They who draw it gird their Loyns with a thick Leather-girdle wherewith they embrace the trunk of the Tree that they may climb up without a Ladder and when they are come to that part of the Tree from which they would draw the Tary they make an incision one Inch deep and three Inches wide with a pretty heavy Iron-Chizel so that the hole enters in to the pith of the Cadgiour which is white At the same time they fasten an earthen Pitcher half a Foot below the hole and this Pot having the back part a little raised receives the Liquor which continually drops into it whil'st they cover it with Briars or Palm branches least the birds should come and drink it Then they come down and climb not up the Tree again till they perceive that the Pitcher is full and then they empty the Tary into another Pot fastened to their girdle That kind of Palm-tree bears no Dates when they draw Tary from it but when they draw none it yields wild Dates They take another course in drawing that Liquor from the Coco-tree The Coco-tree They make no hole but only cut the lower branches to a Foot length They fasten Pots to the end of them and the Tary Distils into the Vessels Seeing the Operation I have been speaking of is but once a year performed on these Palm-trees they whose Trade it is to fell Tary have a prodigious number of these Trees and there are a great many Merchants that Farm them The best Tary is drawn in the Night-time and they who would use it with pleasure ought to drink of that because not being heated by the Sun it is of an acide sweetness which leaves in the Mouth the flavour of a Chestnut which is very agreable That which is drawn in the day-time is eager and most commonly made Vinegar of because it easily corrupts and decays That kind of Palm or Coco-tree is fit for many other uses Coco for of its trunk they make Masts and Anchors nay and the hulks of Ships also and of its bark Sails and Cables The Fruit that springs from its feathered branches is as big as an ordinary Melon and contains a very wholesome Juice which hath the colour and taste of Whitewine The Dutch have a great many of these Coco-trees in Batavia which turn to great profit to them The Revenue alone of those which belong to the Company near the Town with the imposition on every Stand of those who sell any thing in the Market-place is sufficient to pay their Garison But they are so rigorous in exacting it that if any one leave his Stand to take a minutes refreshment in the Rain or for any other necessary occasion though he immediately come back yet must he pay a second time if he will challenge the same Stand. At Surrat are sold all sorts of Stuffs and Cotton-cloaths that are made in the Indies all the Commodities of Europe nay and of China also Commodities of Surrat as Purceline Cabinets and Coffers adorned with Torqueises Agats Cornelians Ivory and other sorts of embellishments There are Diamonds Rubies Pearls and all the other pretious Stones which are found in the East to be sold there also Musk Amber Myrrh Incense Manna Sal-Armoniac Quick-Silver Lac Indigo the Root Roenas for dying Red and all sorts of Spices
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
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