is very good Soil and if Cultivated would produce any thing but is is neglected through the Laziness of the Inhabitants who content themselves with their Dates there being in that Country vast Woods of Palm-Trees We parted from Koutmian Thursday the fifteenth of October half an hour after eight in the Morning and at first put over to the other side of the River where our Men went a shoar to Towe us our course being due North-West At that place the River grows pretty broad and I think is as broad as the River of Seine at Paris and yet is very deep and makes many Islands About Eleven a Clock we stopt at a Village to the Left Hand on the water side from whence we parted at one of the Clock About half an hour after nine at night we saw to our Right Hand the end of the Isle Dorghestan Dorghestan Koutschemal which from thence reaches to the Sea. We stopped before a Castle called Koutschemal which stands on the main Land near the end of that Island and on the same Hand This is a very large Castle and the Basha of Bassora has a Palace in it which as I was told is very beautiful and as some say he keeps his Treasure there Over against this Castle but a little higher on the other side of the water there is another square Castle with a Tower at each Angle We parted from that place Friday the sixteenth of October at six of the Clock and having the Wind at South we made Sail and stood away North-West A quarter after eleven Kout-Muethel we passed by a square Castle called Kout-Muethel which was on our Left Hand and is flanked with eight Towers one at every corner and one in the middle of each side and near to it there is a little Canal A little farther we saw a Straw-House where Officers of the Customs live who did not visit us but only ordered our Master to carry us to the Custom House of Bassora Leaving then the River of Caron we entered into a Canal called Haffar Haffar which was to our Left Hand or to the South-West of us at that place it is not two Fathom over in other places it is less but towards the middle is very broad it hath been made for a Communication betwixt the River of Schat-El-Aarab and the Caron there is good Land on each side of that Canal but it is not Cultivated and bears only plenty of Date-Trees The Canal makes many turnings it is very deep and our Men shoved the Bark forwards with Poles Three quarters of an hour after Noon we saw a Canal to the Right Hand which loses it self in the Fields and a little after another to the Left that runs into the Caron near to Kout-Mnuethel as I said before and then our Men went on shoar to Towe us There the Canal of Haffar grows very broad and at the end is above seven or eight Fathom over About four a Clock we saw a Canal that spends it self in the Fields Half an hour after we passed betwixt two square Castles each of which have a Tower at every Angle and one in the middle of each side they are called Kout-Haffar Kout-Haffar because they lye at the end of the Canal Haffar that has its mouth to the South it is about six French Leagues from thence to Bassora and about twelve to the Sea. We then entered into the River made up of the Tygris and Euphrates joyned into one the Arabs call it Schat-El Aarab that is to say the River of Aarabs We turned then to the Right Hand and stood away North-West having to our Left the Isle Dgezirak-Chader Dgezirak-Chader and seeing we had a breeze of Wind from the South we spread our Sail. Half an hour after five in the Evening we saw to our Left the end of the Isle called Dgezirak-Chader which reaches from the Canal by which they go to Bahrem to the mouth of Schat-El-Aarab there are Palm-Trees yet their Soil is not good but from the Canal of Bahrem till over against or a little above the Canal Haffar for from thence to the Sea the Land is barren perhaps because it being very low the Sea overflows it at high water Next to the Islle Chader we saw on our Left Hand the Canal by which they go to Port Calif and Bahrem it runs towards the South and passes betwixt the Isle Chader and the main Land of Bassora it is very broad and has above eight Fathom water but there are great stones in some places of it From thence to Bassora the River is above twice and a half as broad as the Seine is at Paris and yet is very deep all over Three quarters after six we saw on our Right Hand the beginning of a long Island called Dgezirat-el-Bouarin and a little after we had on the same hand the Isle El-Bochasi Dgezirat-el-Bouarin El-Bochasi El-Fayadi and not long after the Isle El-Fayadi to the Left Hand These are all great Islands full of Palm-Trees and nevertheless the Channel is every where very deep and broad The Wind slackened so at this place that we scarcely made any way at all however we drew near to the shoar on the Left Hand or West side and about half an hour after eight our Men took their Oars and Rowed till three quarters after ten at night when we stopt close by the shoar before a Castle of the Bashas that seems to be very lovely it has many Pavillions all made into Windows and Porticos for taking the fresh Air in the Summer-time and indeed these Castles are only for pleasure for they could make no great defence We parted from that place Saturday the seventeenth of October at six a Clock in the Morning half an hour after we entered into a Canal to the Left Hand which runs South-West we had on our Left Hand a very spacious Castle pretty entire on the side of the Canal but all ruinous towards the Sea-side This Canal at high water is as broad as one half of the Seine but when the Tide is out it is but a sorry Brook full of Mud. The Town of Bassora lies on the two sides of this Canal though along the sides of it there be nothing to be seen but Gardens the Houses being backwards We came along that Canal till eight a Clock in the Morning when we arrived at the Custom-House which is almost at the bottom of it and having had our Goods viewed we went to Lodge with the Reverend Fathers the bare-footed Carmelites which is not far distant at that time there was but one Religious Italian there Arrival at Bassora called Father Severin With a good Wind they come often from Bender-Rik to Bassora in a days time From Bender-Rik to Bassora in a day though sometimes it makes a Voyage of three weeks We found no preparations for War at Bassora only the Basha of the place finding that the Basha of Bagdad suffered
From thence they go to Medina where Mahomet's Tomb is but the greatest Devotion is at the Kiaabe Mahomet's Tomb. In the mean time there are many in Christendome who believe that they only undertake this Pilgrimage to visite the Tomb of Mahomet but they are mistaken for a great many do not go thither at all Nor can I tell neither whence the Fable may have arisen which is believed by many that Mahomet's Tomb is in a Room the Walls whereof are all faced with Loadstone and that his Shrine which is of iron hangs in the Air by the vertue of the Loadstone that equally attracts it on all hands For not only it is not so but indeed never was and when I made mention of it to Turks I set them a laughing and they jeered me for it the Shrine is only encompassed with great Grates of Iron and upon occasion of that they relate another foppery They say that one time two Christians being resolved to carry away that Body put themselves into the habit of Dervishes and were so constant and diligent at their Devotion that all took them for great Saints But upon a time a report being raised and spread over the City that there was a design to carry away the Body of Mahomet though no body could tell who was Authour of the Intelligence The Governour invited all the Dervishes to dine at his house that he might advise with them about that business When they were met the two Christians were missing who were sought after and being found brought before the Governour but that so soon as they appeared they were struck with such a confusion that they confessed their crime saying that they had dugg a hole under the Mosque opposite to the Body and that their design was to break through the floor at that place and make the Body fall down that so they might carry it away Wherefore to prevent the like danger for the time to come they have encompassed it with a great Iron-grate above below and on all sides CHAP. XX. Of the Aga sent to meet the Caravan upon their return and of the Gains of the Emir-Adge The return of the Caravan of the Aga that goes to meet it Fresh Provisions for the Caravan ABout six weeks after the setting out of the Caravan of Caire when they know that it is ready to return from Mecha an Aga goes from Caire to guard the fresh Provisions that the People of the Countrey send to their Friends and Relations in the Caravan every one sending according to their abilities and friendship all which are well sealed up and delivered to those they belong unto For this effect the Aga has many Camels with him and gets considerably by the Caravan which he meets half way This year it returned on Tuesday the Thirteenth of November and encamped at the Birque where the Caravan of the Magrebins arrived the day before Several come to Caire the same day and their Friends go as far as the Birque to welcome them whereupon meeting they kiss again and again five or six times and all who know them salute and kiss them in the same manner and indeed for some days after there is nothing to be seen in the City but people kissing one another or lamenting their Relations who died in the Journey Men Women and Children The time the Caravan takes in going and coming from Mecha who howl and make fearful gestures when they hear the news from the first of the Caravan whom they meet These Pilgrims are forty five days in going and as much in coming back to Caire besides some days they stay there but they make but easie Journeys it being impossible that so great a Body should march fast for they must often stop to load the Camels whose loads have fallen off to unload those that fall or die or to bury their Dead and a thousand such other accidents and when one Camel stops all the rest must wait They Travel commonly as I said in the Night-time with Links that they may avoid the heat In this Journey they find but little water and that exceeding bad too As for fresh Provisions they find none and eat only what they carry along with them But the worst thing they meet with in the Journey are certain hot Winds which stifle the breath Perhaps the Samiel which the Authour treats of in the Second Part of his Travels How many died in the Journey to Mecha and in a short time kill a great many people The Prince of Tunis told me that in one day several hundreds died of that Wind and that he himself was much afraid that he should have been one of the number In fine in this expedition there died six thousand what of Fatigue Thirst and these hot Winds In that Journey People are to be seen riding on Camels and singing Verses of the Alcoran who suddenly fall down dead Those who return with life are so altered and extenuated that they can hardly be known and nevertheless vast numbers of People from all Parts yearly perform that Pilgrimage and there passes not a year wherein Women and little Children do not make it They who have performed that Journey are called Adgi that is to say Pilgrims meaning though Adgi only the Pilgrimage of the Kiaabe and they are much respected by all as long as they live and highly credited The Emir-Adge gains much by this Journey The Gain of the Emir-Adge for the Goods of all that die belong to him besides a vast deal of other profits that he makes on several occasions and it is thought that every expedition he gets above an hundred thousand Piastres but this year he got above three hundred thousand for many people died The greatest Prerogative of this Office is that during the whole expedition he is absolute Master of the Field and administers Justice as he thinks fit Having in my hands another exact Description of Mecha besides what now I have given and considering that few or no Travellers have spoken of it with any certainty I thought it would not be amiss to add it to the former and make a particular Chapter thereof CHAP. XXI Of Mecha and Medina MEcha is seven and thirty days Journey from Caire and all over Desarts Mecha it is a days Journey from the Red-Sea the Port of it is called Gidde Gidde which is a little Town wherein are two Castles on the two sides of the Port one on each side and the Turks say that Eve lyes buried there they shew her Sepulchre which is in length thirty eight or forty steps of a Man's walk and hath no other Ornament but a Stone at each end Mecha is about the bigness of Marseilles Kiaabe Beytullah in the middle whereof is the Kiaabe or Beytullah that is to say the House of God which the Turks say was first built by the Patriarch Abraham This House is about fifteen foot in length eleven
no Bark to come to Bassora laid an Embargo also upon all Vessels that were at Bassora loaded with Goods for Bagdad They had other false News at that time at Bassora to wit that the King of Persia was coming to Besiege it False News from Persia and some people of Fashion asked me the News at the Custom House but I put them out of trouble as to that assuring them that in Persia there was no appearance that the King had any thoughts of making War which was true enough They then told me how much they were troubled at the News they had of twenty French Corsairs being at Sea False News of the French raised by the Dutch. which very much terrified all the Merchants This report was raised by the Dutch who purposely broached it that all the Merchants might put their mony on board of Dutch Ships and not in Mahometan and this News was the more easily believed that it was known every where now that the French were coming to settle a Trade in the Indies and they were persuaded that all our Vessels were Pirats French Corsairs because three Years before two French Corsairs came to Moca just about the time that the Vessels put out from the Port of Moca carrying nothing but mony to Surrat from whence they bring Goods which is at the end of August The French took all these Vessels and went off If they had had a little more skill in those Seas they might have done more for they might have come into the Gulf of Persia about the end of October and there waited for the Ships of Bassora at which time they carry a great deal of mony for Trafficking in the Indies and they might easily have made themselves Masters of them and therein of several millions in ready mony there being none but Indians on Board of all these Vessels who make no resistance and that being done they might as easily have got away but they did not do it in short they left such a terrible consternation on all these Seas Fear of the French. that to name but the French to them is enough to make them all shake for fear CHAP. X. Of Bassora The situation of Bassora BAssora the Capital Town of the Kingdom or Bashaship of that name lies at the farther end of Arabia the Desart which is to the West of it and near Arabia the Happy that lies to the South two days Journy below the place where the two Rivers Euphrates and Tygris joyn upon the Banks of Schat-El-Aarab which is no other than Euphrates and Tygris joyned into one it is eighteen Leagues from the Sea The Latitude of Bassora The variation of the Loadstone The distance of Bagdad from Bassora and in the thirtieth or one and thirtieth Degree ten Minutes North Latitude The Needle declines there about thirteen Degrees and a half from North to West and from thence to the Indies it always declines about eleven Degrees and a third some say a half from North to West It is two days Journy by Land from Bagdad and by water they come from Bagdad to Bassora in great Barks in fifteen or sixteen days time and most commonly in eighteen but the Barks that go from Bassora to Bagdad are commonly fifty sixty and sometimes fourscore days in the Voyage The Circuit of Bassora because they are only drawn by men This is a great Town encompassed with Walls of Earth that are about six hours march in Circuit but they contain a great many void spaces where there are neither Houses nor Gardens It hath two Gates The Gates of Bassora the one called the East Gate and the other the West and the Gate of Bagdad because by it they go out of the Town when they are bound for Bagdad The situation of Bassora advantageous This Town in my Opinion is so advantageously seated that it might be made one of the richest and most lovely Cities in the World It would certainly be very pleasant if it were a little better built and Gardens made all along the sides of the Canal that comes from Schat-El-Aarab and runs through the whole Town For the Land about if they would Manure it and Plant Trees therein I believe it would bear any thing for the Climate is hot and the Soil of a greyish colour which seems to me to be very fertile being twice a day moistened by the River-water which the Tide carries up four days Journy and a half from Bassora the water rising at the Town a Fathom and a half but yet not salt some have told me that the Ground is too salt to bear any thing but Palm-Trees which thrive much in salt Ground Abundance of Palm-Trees and grow in greater numbers in the Country about Bassora than in any other Country in the World and to shew that it is really salt they say that if one dig two Fathom deep in the Earth they will find salt-water but perhaps it is not so in all places However it be it is certain that from November forwards that Country produces a great many Herbs as Succory Spinage Herbs and Fruits at Bassora and other Pot-Herbs and in several Gardens there are very good Apricots which last all June and July and in July and August also many Grapes as in October Melons water-Melons Pomegranats and Limons the truth is none of these Fruits will keep because of the South-East Wind that reigns during that time and is hot and moist There are pretty enough publick places in Bassora and amongst others the Meidan which is before the Bashas Palace and is very large The Meidan of Bassora there are in it twelve pieces of Cannon or Culverines mounted on their Carriages near that Palace and there are also several very fair Bazars in the Town I said that this might be made one of the richest Cities in the World The Port. of Bassora commodious for all Countries because of the Commerce that might be settled there with all parts almost of the Habitable World. Its Port is good and very safe being twelve Leagues from the Sea in the fresh water of Schat-El-Aarab and it is so broad and deep that the greatest Vessels may come to it without danger all the Goods of Europe might be brought thither by the Mediteranean because being once come to Aleppo it would not be difficult to Transport them to Bi r which is but four days Journy from Aleppo and there they might be embarked on the Euphrates on which they might in ten days time come to Rousvania from whence there is but a days Journy to Bagdad where they might embark them on the Tygris and in fifteen or sixteen days time they would come to Bassora nay and with a very little pains and industry the River Euphrates might be made Navigable for great Vessels only by clearing the Channel in some places where it is choaked up with great stones and that is the reason
Channel Haffar which was to our Larboard and there begins the Isle of Gban Isle of Gban which reaches from that place to the Sea. Tuesday the tenth of November the Tide of Ebb beginning an hour before day we weighed Anchor and continued our course betwixt the Isle Chader and the Isle Gban and there we found the water brackish At this place the Palm-Trees end and the Land on both sides is only level and barren Plains and so low that at high water they are almost all overflown about two hours after day the water cast us so much upon the Land on the South side that our Poop raked the shoar and that is in a manner unavoidable in this place where all Ships are forced a shoar nevertheless though we were so near we had two Fathom water a Stern and three a Head and the current of the water drove us forward at a great rate in the mean time our men did what they could to get out again into the Channel and at length with the help of our Boat that Towed us they accomplished it We found three Mahometan Ships which set out the same day that we did from Bassora and all three had had the same luck having been by the force of the stream cast a shoar as well as we The Course we stood from Bassora till we came to the Sea was in the beginning whilst we had the Wind at South-East South South West and after we had it at North-West we Steered always East South-East or South South-East About nine a Clock in the morning we had a pretty brisk Gale from North-West which made us spread our Mizan and Mizan-Top-Sail the Main and Main-Top-Sail and the Fore-Sail and Fore-Top-Sail and then we steered away South South-West making the more way as the Wind grew fresher the water is very broad at this place About half an hour after three a Clock in the Afternoon we came to an Anchor near the Mouth of the River because our Men would not venture out to Sea in the night-time for fear of being stranded for in the mouth of this River there is but two Fathom water when the Tide is out and the other Ships did as we did the Wind in the mean time ceased about midnight Next day we weighed Anchor about half an hour after six in the Morning and having spread the Fore-Top-Sail we Steered away South South-East but seeing it was little better than a calm we made but very little way nevertheless we began to lose sight of Land on all hands and had betwixt five and six Fathom water About nine a Clock we came to an Anchor to stay for the Tide because then we had but little water about eleven a Clock it being flood we weighed and a North-West Wind rising at the same time we clapt on all our Sails Steering our Course sometimes South-East sometimes South and sometimes South-West according to the water we found which was sometimes but three and sometimes four Fathom Half an hour after one of the Clock we had four Fathom and a half water and at two a Clock five but at the same time the Wind chopping about to South we were forced to furl our Sails and come to an Anchor It is very dangerous putting out of that River after the first days of November The season of Sailing for commonly the South Winds begin to blow at that time and last all November whereby many Ships that put out too late are cast away Thursday the twelfth of November the Sun rose with a stiff Wind from South and at the same time the Sky was on all hands over-cast with such a thick Fog that we could hardly see the other Ships which yet weighed Anchor and were Towed by their Boats we did the same though it was against the Captains mind who feared a storm and would have kept still at Anchor We got our Boat then to Tow us the Ships Head standing East South-East in five Fathom water About half an hour after eight we unfurled the Fore-Top-Sail and stood away East North-East and a little after North North-East About nine a Clock we spread the Mizan-Sail whilst our Boat still Towed us About half an hour after nine the Wind shifting about to East we presently furled our Sails and turning our Ships Head South-East came to an Anchor a quarter of an hour after in three Fathom water That day they began to allow every one but two measures of water by day one to boil the Kettle and the other to drink each measure is about three Pints About a quarter after ten a Clock we weighed Anchor and were Towed by our Boat spreading our Mizan Main-Top-Sail and Fore-Top-Sail though we had no settled Wind but sometimes one way and sometimes another and we turned the Ships Head North-East A little after the Wind getting in to South-East we bore away East and presently it shifted to South so that three quarters after ten we came to an Anchor Friday the thirteenth of November the Pilot of Carek and the Merchants prevailed so far with the Captain that he gave way to the weighing of Anchor at three quarters of an hour after seven though he was of a contrary Opinion and the truth is there was no reason to weigh because it blew a strong Wind from South-East and we had but little water on all hands We had indeed four Fathom at that time but seeing it was a Tide of Ebb we had reason to fear running a ground and to put out to Sea which was the thing the Merchants desired was to run into the storm In fine notwithstanding all these Reasons our men Towed us and we spread the Fore-Top-Sail but we held no certain Course the other Ships did as we did and perceiving us to cast Anchor three quarters of an hour after they did the like This is the inconvenience where many Ships are together that if one weigh or come to an Anchor the rest must do the same for if they should fail to do it and any misfortune happened the blame would be laid at the Masters door in that he did not do as the rest did who are all supposed to understand their Trade Saturday morning the fourteenth of November we made a Mahometan Ship coming from Bassora where we had left her for all the strong South-East Wind which had constantly blown since the day before we weighed Anchor at nine of the Clock in the morning and made Sail with our Mizan Main-Top and Fore-Top-Sails Steering our Course East North-East Half an hour after nine the Wind getting about to South-West we let fly the Mizan Top-Sail and Fore-Sail and stood away East South-East At ten a Clock we tackt about and bore away West North-West and so kept beating to and again every half hour until three quarters of an hour after eleven that the Wind chopping in to South we came to an Anchor in three Fathom water we made short Tacks because of the little water we
hour after eight we had seven Fathom water About ten a Clock seven Fathom a Foot less About half an hour after eleven seven Fathom and then we set the Ships Head East South East but at midnight held our Course South Next morning half an hour after five we had thirteen Fathom water and were almost at an equal distance from the Isle of Queschimo which was to the North-East of us the Isle of Nabdgion or Pitombo South South-West of us and the Isle of Tonbo South East from us and we bore away East Queschimo is a great Isle but low Land though it hath several Hillocks Queschimo yet they are all so low that Sailing along this Island on any side you may see the Mountains of the main Land over it It lyes in length East and West is not very broad but twenty Leagues long it is to the East of Congo and West South-West from Comoron it is a fruitful and well inhabited Island the West end of it not being above a good League and a half from Congo and the East end about a League from Bender-Abassi On the East part of this Island there is a Fort before which Ships may come to an Anchor in six Fathom water to take in fresh water which is very good in this place The Portuguese formerly held this Fort and it may be worth the observing that though the Island be very near the main Land yet Barks and Galliots pass betwixt the two Nabdgion or Pitombo is a little low Desart Island lying South Nabgion or Pitombo Tonbo South-East from Queschimo Tonbo is another little low flat Island and Desart affoarding only a great many Antelopes and Conys It lyes to the East of Nabdgion or Pitombo and South from Congo from which it is but four Leagues distant Manuel Mendez who had much experience in those Seas being very young when he came into that Country where he hath during the space of many years made several Voyages made me observe that if any one should build a Fort on that Island and keep some Men of War there he might easily raise a Toll upon all the Ships that Trade in those Seas for they must of necessity Sail near to that Island on the one side or other Towards the South-East it has fifteen or twenty Wells of good water but especially one that is excellent and a good Road before it When the Portuguese were possessed of Mascate they came every year with some Galliots to the Isle of Tonbo to receive the Tribute that was paid them in all the Ports of those Seas and brought thither by those who were obliged to pay it The yearly Tribute they had from the Isle of Queschimo consisted of five Persian Horses and two Falcons Congo payed four hundred Tomans Bahrem sixteen thousand Abassis and Catif the half of the yearly profits of its Customs as for Bassora there was a Portuguese Agent that resided there who received a Chequin a day of the Basha and as often as the General came to that Town the Basha made him a Present This Island is encompassed all round with Banks under water nevertheless there is almost every where four six eight nay in some places nine Fathom water About half an hour after seven the Wind slackened much and we Steered South South East about eleven a Clock we found nine Fathom water and seeing we were almost becalmed and the Tide cast us to the Westward we were obliged to drop an Anchor half an hour after one a Clock at noon We were some three Leagues off of Sannas which was to the West North-West of us to the North-West and by West it makes a Peak but the Hill is higher than the Peak we went thither to take in water for the water is very good there though it be about two Leagues from the West point of Queschimo which was to the North-West of us About four a Clock we had a Breeze from South South-West which made us Steer our Course South-East About six a Clock we had twenty Fathom water Half an hour after seven the Wind turned North-West and we bore away East at eight a Clock we found eighteen Fathom water half an hour after that eighteen and a half and we stood away East and by North. About nine a Clock the Wind freshened a little and we had twenty Fathom water at ten a Clock we had one and twenty and about half an hour after ten we Steered our Course East Wednesday the ninth of December about day break the Wind ceased and we Steered still East the Isle of Angom was to the North-East of us and not far off and on the other side to the South-East we had a Port of Arabia Foelix called Julfar which is a good Harbour where many Indian Barks carrying mony come to buy Dates Julfar Pearl-Fishing and Pearls which are Fished all along that Coast from Mascat to Bahrem there is a good Castle at Julfar From that Port to the Cape of Mosandon the Coast of Arabia the Happy is all Mountanous bearing South-West and North-East and runs so near the Persian shoar that there is but five Leagues betwixt the main Land of Mosandon and the Isle of Lareca which is close by Comoron Betwixt Julfar and Mosandon Good Ports in the Gulf which are not set down in the Maps there are a great many good Ports that are not set down in the Maps where notwithstanding several Ships may safely Winter secure from all Winds and there is every where very good water About half an hour after seven in the morning the Wind turned North-East and we Steered our Course East South-East We were then off and on with the Point of Angom which bears West North-West Angom Angom is a little low Island to the South of Queschimo and reaches along Queschimo from West North-West to East South-East no body lives in it but two or three Fishermen who keep some Goats which they sell to Ships that come there to take in fresh water where it is very good Though this Island be very near to Queschimo yet Ships may pass betwixt them and all that take in water there shoot the Streight About noon we bore away South-East and at one a Clock having cast the Lead we had eight and thirty Fathom water we were then becalmed and made no way but by the Tide of Ebb which cast us upon Arabia so that we were obliged to stand off of it as far as we could to turn the Ships Head East North-East nevertheless towards the evening we were got very near the Mountains of Arabia wherefore to keep off of that shoar as much we could we Steered away North-East and by East and the Tide of floud did us some service About seven a Clock the Wind seemed as if it would get in to North but it blew so gentlely that it hardly curled the water Thursday the tenth of December about half an hour after four in the morning we
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
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
When these Stones are removed you go down into a Vault by a little hole opposite to the mouth of the Well and there another great Stone is to be removed before you come at the Well which is sixteen fathom deep Cimented narrow at the top and wide at the bottom Over the aforesaid Vault there are some ruines of the Buildings of a Village two little Pillars are to be seen still standing and many Olive-Trees all round Near to that is the portion of Land which Jacob gave to his Son Joseph it is a very pleasant place and his Sepulchre is in it Mount Gerezim Mount Gerezim mentioned in holy Scripture is on the right hand as you go to that Well There is a Chappel at the foot of this Mountain where the Samaritans heretofore worshipped an Idol On the South side of the Town there is another Mount called in Arabick Elmaida that is to say Table Elmaida where they say our Lord rested himself being weary upon the Road There is a Cushion of the same Stone raised upon the Rock still to be seen and some prints of Hands and Feet and they say that in times past the figure of our Lords whole Body was to be discerned upon it This is a pleasant place having a full prospect of the Town To the West of it there is a Mosque heretofore a Church built upon the same ground where the House of Jacob stood on the other side there is a ruinated Church The House of Jacob. built in honour of St. John Baptist In this Town Travellers pay a Caffare Next day after an hour and an halfs travel you strike off the high Road to the right if you would see the Town of Sebaste standing upon a little Hill Sebaste about half a League wide of the Road where you still see great ruins of Walls and several Pillars both standing and lying upon the Ground with a fair large Church some of it still standing upon lovely Marble-Pillars The high Altar on the East end must have been very fine by what may be judged from the Dome which covers it and is still in order faced with Marble-Pillars whose Capitals are most Artfully fashioned and adorned with Mosaick Painting which was built by St. Helen as the People of the Country say This Church at present is divided into two parts of which the Mahometans hold the one and the Christians the other That which belongs to the Mahometans is paved with Marble The Sepulchre of St. John Baptist Elisha and Abdias and has a Chappel under Ground with three and twenty steps down to it In this Chappel St. John Baptist was Buried betwixt the Prophets Elisha and Abdias The three Tombs are raised four Spans high and enclosed with Walls so that they cannot be seen but through three openings a span big by Lamp-light which commonly burns there In the same place as they say St. John was put in Prison and Beheaded at the desire of Herodias Others say Macherus Samaria that it was at Macherus which is a Town and Fort where King Herod kept Malefactors in Prison This Town of Sebaste was also called Samaria from the name of Simri to whom the Ground whereon it is built belonged or from the name of the Hill on which it stands which is called Chomron Having pass'd Sebaste you are out of Samaria Genny which terminates there and pursuing your Journey you come to lodge at Genny They say that in this place our Saviour cured the ten Lepers There is a Mosque there still which was formerly a Church of the Christians the Han where you lodge is great and serves for a Fort having close by it a Fountain and a Bazar where Provisions are sold The Soil is fertile enough and produces plenty of Palm-Trees and Fig-Trees There is a very great Caffare to be payed there Next day after about two Hours march Ezdrellon you enter into a great Plain called Ezdrellon about four Leagues in length at the west end whereof you see the top of Mount Carmel where the Prophet Elias lived of which we shall speak hereafter At the foot of this Hill are the ruines of the City of Jezreel founded by Achab King of Israel where the Dogs licked the Blood of his Wife Jezebel Jezreel Brook Gison as the Prophet Elias had foretold In the middle of this Plain is the Brook of Gison where Jabin King of Canaan and Sisera his Lieutenant were slain by Deborah the Prophetess and Judge of Israel and by Barak chief of the Host of Gods People Many Battels have been fought in this Plain as may be seen in holy Scripture After you have passed this Plain and travelled an hour over Hills you come to Nazareth of which and the places that are to be seen about it I have already said enough Now I 'll set down the way from Nazareth to Damascus CHAP. LVII The Road from Nazareth to Damascus SUCH as would go to Damascus may lye at Aain Ettudgiar which is a Castle about three Leagues from Nazareth mentioned by me before in the fifty fifth Chapter and there is a Caffare to be paid there The next day you lye at Menia Menia Sephet by the Sea-side of Tiberias The day following you see from several places on the Road the Town of Sephet where Queen Esther was Born standing on a Hill. Josephs Pit. About four hours Journey from Menia you see the the Pit or Well of Joseph into which he was let down by his Brothers there is no water in it the mouth of it being very narrow but the bottom indifferent wide and may be six fathom deep It is covered by a Dome standing on four Arches to three of which so many little Marble-Pillars are joined as Butteresses for the Dome the place of the fourth Pillar is still to be seen and it appears to have been not long agoe removed Close by this Pit there is a little Mosque adjoining to an old Han. Two hours journey from that Pit you cross over Jacob's Bridge Jacobs Bridge Dgeseer Jacoub which the Arabs call Dgeser Jacoub this is the place where this Patriarch was met by his Brother Esau as he was returning with his Wives and Goods from Laban his Father in law The Bridge consists of three Arches under which runs the River of Jordan and falls afterwards into the Sea of Tiberias about three hours going from thence On that side the River runs there is a great Pond to be seen When you have passed this Bridge you are out of Galilee and there you pay a great Caffare Then you come to Lodge at Coneitra which is a little Village Coneitra wherein there is a very old large Han built in form of a Fort with three Culverines within the precinct of it there is a Mosque a Bazar and a Coffee-House Saxa and there also you pay a Caffare Next day you lye at Saxa and have bad way to it
we travelled all day long mounting through very good Corn-fields and the rest of the ground by the road that was not sowed was covered over with Daffadils and Furzes in the blossom Daffadils and Furzes with other like shrubs that yielded a very pleasant prospect So soon as we were arrived a Tchorbadgi of Damascus encamping hard by under a Tent being informed of the Moucre that there was a Franck there sent for me and having treated me with Coffee asked me if I had any relation to Monsieur Bermond a Chirurgeon of Marseilles who negotiated some Affairs at Damascus for the Merchants of Saide I told him I was without mentioning in what degree for our Kindred is onely derived from the Patriarch Noah He told me that he was his friend and made me to understand several times that if I had a mind to buy ashes he would be my merchant but all my answer was that I was too poor to be a Merchant and that my business was to go to my Kinsman Labatia is a miserable little Village where we could not find lodging Labatia and the best accommodation we had to lie in was a little place at the end whereof there was a pane of a Wall our Mules were made fast hard by and we posted our selves near the Wall in the open Air. Next day being Wednesday the twenty sixth of March we parted about five in the Morning the ground being frozen with a sharp cold Wind. Our way was bad and still upwards and we soon came in sight of a Castle upon a high hill before us The Castle of Skheip Sefet a Town which is called Skheip and is pretty large and square it depends on Sefet which is but two days Journey from it That Castle is strong by scituation for it is inaccessible but yet was inhabited VVe left it to the right and went a great way to find out a descent into a place from whence we saw a very deep Valley where a River runs which they call Leitani Leitani a River that makes many turnings and windings it is at least five fathom broad and very rapid During a quarter of an hour we descended by a very dangerous way for the least false step was enough to make one tumble down into the River and that from a great height too Being come down we kept along that VVater following the current and a little from thence crossed it upon a stone-Bridge of two Arches about three fathom high which is called Hardala A Caffare at Hardala There Passengers pay a Piastre and a half a head I mean the Christians for Turks do not pay so much Having passed the Bridge we stood off a little from the VVater still ascending and had in view the Hill that we had left on the other side which appeared pleasanter unto us than when we were upon it for it was very high and streight and all covered over with Trees After we had travelled about half an hour in ways where it would have been very dangerous to fall we came just over against the Castle of Skheip which is upon a very high and steep Hill Some time after we came into a Plain and an hour after to another far larger but uncultivated and full of stones as the former was though both looked very green In this Plain we met a Caravan of Camels loaded each with a Mill-stone I was told that these stones came from Oran Oran which is five days Journey from thence and that they carried them to Saide to be transported into Egypt Having past that Plain we came over bad way to a stone Bridge of three Arches lying over a Brook four or five fathom broad when we had crossed it we mounted by a worse way full of stones bad enough to make Mules that were not loaded to break their Necks and that lasted till we came to our Lodging at Banias where we arrived two hours after during all that way besides stones we had a great many torrents and such dirty deep ground that the Mules often stuck Banias This Village of Banias is very inconsiderable nevertheless when heretofore the Christians were Masters of it it was a good Town it lies at the foot of a Hill on the top whereof there is a great Castle uninhabited this place depends on the Basha of Damascus VVe found no better Lodging here than the Night before for having crossed a square Court we entered under a Vault two foot deep of Horse-dung and dust mingled together our Lodging was appointed us in that place and seeing the Court was vaulted all round under which they had put the Mules and a Caravan of Asses we were so incommoded there that so soon as the Beasts began to stir they raised a dust that spoilt all the Victuals we had prepared to eat all the pleasure we had came from a little door that opened towards the side of a River that runs by it and which is at least three fathom broad but very shallow though it be rapid it is called the River of Banias Next morning about five a Clock we left that nasty Lodging and after about an hours mounting upwards turning by very bad ways though the Land about was sowed we found ourselves just opposite to our Lodging having betwixt us and it a very deep Valley agreeable by its verdure and the many Trees it is filled with which are watered by a River that runs through it A little after we saw the Castle of Banias in its full extent which is large and strong VVe still mounted during the space of an hour by ways that were better than the former but we had the lovely Valley always in sight and on the road there were a great many Trees which by their verdure and shade lessened somewhat of the fatigue The truth is there was no false step to be made there because the way being very smooth and slopeing to the very bottom of the Valley one could not stop before he came to the bottom By the way we found many wild Chestnut-trees withered and without leaves and yet bearing their fruit Having descended a little we entered into a large Plain and having passed it and mounted a little amongst Trees we found stony Plains where it behoved us to march on untill about three of the Clock after Noon in the worst way imaginable for they were all great stones amongst which there was no place for a Mule to set his foot After Noon it was a little better but we saw no sowed Land all the ground about being still full of a prodigious number of stones Nevertheless our Monkires would needs have me believe that heretofore Vines had grown there Indeed in several places there are still to be seen some Hovels like to Hen-houses made of stones piled one upon another where it might be thought that they who dressed the Vines retired but since that time some Medusa's head must needs have past over these grounds or
fronts the North and at the end of the Court there is a Portico supported by six Pillars by which they enter into the Mosque which is covered with a very large Dome The Mosque of Hasan having one less on each side they are all three covered with lead Its Founder was a Basha called Hasan who at his death left money to build that Mosque and his own Tomb. The Basha's Serraglio Going forward we came to a place of the Street where on the left hand stands the Basha's Serraglio which seems pretty enough Over the Gate there is a Pavillion in form of a Pyramid but it is onely of Earth and not faced it is the appartment of the Basha's Kiaya and the Castle is on the right hand The Serraglio gate or of Bazar Espahi The Castle of Damascus The Gate called Bab-Espahi or Bab-Bazar-Espahi is in this place We entered the Town and went along by the Castle which was on our left hand the Ditch wherein there is Water being betwixt us That Castle serves for a Wall to the Town on that side and it reaches almost to the Gate of Paboutches it is a large square well built fabrick of Free-stone Table cut the Walls of it are very high and at certain distances there are large high square Towers built as the rest are and very near one another Having walked all along that side we went along the second side which serves also for a Wall to the Town There we saw a stone-Chain made of a single Stone though it consists of several Links cut one within another it is fastened very high to the Wall There was another Chain longer than this but six years agoe it was broken down by foul Weather and fell into the Ditch From thence we passed by the Gate of the Castle where we saw some Cannon that defend the entry of it then we went to the Market-place of Paboutches Two Mosques formerly Churches and having crossed it we went through little Streets to one where there are two Mosques in which are the Sepulchres of some Kings of Damascus having been formerly the Churches of the Christians There is no seeing into one of them but we looked into the other through lovely Grates of well polished Steel This Mosque is compleatly round and covered with a lovely Dome of Free-stone in which there are several Windows all round it is faced in the inside with Marble of various Colours from the Pavement to the height of three fathome or thereabouts and from thence up to the Windows there are several fair Paints of Churches and Trees after the Mosaick way In the middle of the Mosque there are two Tombs one by another upon a Floor of Marble raised about a Foot and a half high These Tombs are of Cedar-wood very well wrought they are about four or five Foot high and ridged They say that the one contains the Body of King Daer who being a Christian turned Turk and persecuted the Christians cruelly and the Turks affirm that no Candle nor Lamp can be kept lighted there it is certain that both times I past that way I saw none Near to these Tombs there are some Alcorans chained to desks of the same matter the Tombs are of and though all the times I passed that way I saw no body at them yet I imagine there are men hired to read the Alcoran for the Souls of these Kings according to the Custome of the great Lords of the Mahometan Religion who commonly at their death leave great Estates for performing such Prayers The great Mosque of Damascus Having considered this Mosque as much as we could we came to another which is called the great Mosque I took several turns about it to see it by the doors which were open for a Christian dares not set foot within it nor stand at the door neither Some Turks offered indeed to take me in with a Turkish Turban on my head but I would not embrace that offer for had I been known I must have died since by God's Assistance I would not renounce my Faith. On the West-side they enter that Mosque by two great brazen Gates near four fathom high which are very well wrought and full of odd Figures in the middle of each of them there is a Chalice well cut By the doors I saw the breadth of that Mosque which may be about eighteen fathom it hath two ranges of large thick Pillars of grey Marble of the Corinthian Order which divide it into three Isles and of all these Pillars each two support an Arch over which are two little Arches separated by small Pillars which look much like Windows The Pavement is all of lovely stones that shine like Lookinglass That great Mosque which reaches from East to West is covered with a sharp ridged wooden Roof and hath a very large Dome in the middle but on the Noth-side at the place where that Dome is largest there are little arched Windows all round and from these Windows three or four foot higher which is also their height it is faced with green Stone glazed which makes a lovely object to the sight and the rest is rough cast with Lime On each side of the Front of the Mosque there is a square Steeple with Windows like to ours but the higher and larger is on the East-side and they say it was made when that Church was first built which since hath been converted into a Mosque The Turks affirm that Jesus is to return into this World by that Steeple There is a third Steeple behind the Dome The Steeple of the Messias which is diametrically opposite to that of the Messias and this last is round and hath been built by the Turks aswell as the other less square one One Night of the Ramadan I went upon the Terrass-walks to the Windows of that Mosque which are made like the Windows of our Churches and have panes of glass set in Plaister which are wrought into Figures I looked in through a quarry of one of these Windows from whence I saw the end of the Mosque which I could not through the others because on the outside they have wire Lettices There by the Lamp-light I perceived in the Keblay which is exposed to the South a hole grated over with gilt Iron The head of St. Zachary wherein they say the Head of St. Zachary is kept I could see no more of the Ornaments except the Lamps which are in great Number and the Pillars I mentioned Besides the two ranges of Pillars which are in the Body of the Mosque to the Number of six and thirty eighteen to each rank there are at least threescore more aswell in the Court as at the Portico's which make the Entrys into the Court. Take this account of what I could observe of that Court its Porches and of all the outside of the Mosque having taken several turns round it On the West-side there are three Brazen Gates embelished with
us into a Grotto hollowed in the Rock where he shewed us a place where it is said Elias fasted sometimes Elias's Grotto and was fed by a Raven In a hole hard by he shewed us the place where the People of the Countrey say the forty Martyrs are buried but no Tomb Bones nor Ashes are to be seen there He shewed us besides in the Roof of that Grott which is a natural Rock very hard and like to Pit-coal from which much water drops the figure of a hand which they say is the hand of Elias but which is indeed no more but the Veines of the Rock which represent but very imperfectly long and great fingers to the number of more than five or six and I cannot tell if ever Elias was there As to the forty Martyrs this is the Story they tell of them A Jewish Child having secretly left his Excrements in a Mosque the King or Basha being informed next Morning that such a Packet had been found there was highly enraged and caused enquiry to be made after the Authour The Jew who was an Enemy to the Christians told him that he knew for a certain that they had done it in contempt of his Religion whereupon he caused them all to be put into prison and some time after forty of them out of a charitable Zeal to save the rest confessed themselves guilty of the pretended Crime upon which he caused all the forty to be put to death though he knew very well they could not all have been guilty Upon the same hill but at some hundreds of paces from thence is the place of the seven Sleepers Seven sleepers as the People of the Countrey think There they shew a Grotto where there are seven holes stopt nay some say that they sleep there still but in relating these things they confound so many Histories that it is very hard to know the truth of what they believe We came back to the Town by the Gate of Paboutches To have a full view of Damascus The place for having a full view of Damascus one must go to that place of the forty Martyrs It lies towards the middle of a Mountain that is to the North of the City is long and narrow and reaches from East to West to the East it draws into a point and at the west-West-end is the Suburbs called Bab-Ullah which I mentioned before reaching in length above three or four Miles Westward This City is in the middle of a spacious Plain on all hands surrounded with Hills but all distant from the Town almost out of sight those on the North-side is where that of the forty Martyrs are the nearest On the North-side it hath a great many Gardens full of Trees and most Fruit-trees these Gardens take up the ground from the Hill of the forty Martyrs even to the Town so that at a distance it seems to be a Forest Another day I went by the Bashas Serraglio and having advanced a little North-wards in the first street to rhe left hand I found a Mosque which had formerly been a Church dedicated to St. Nicholas The Church of St. Nicholas now a Mosque I entered it and found it to have been a very large and stately Church with a spacious Court environed by a Cloyster whereof the Arches are supported by many great marble-Pillars All that Cloyster and Court which is still paved with large fair Stones belonged to the Church with a great space enclosed and covered which they have changed into a mosque and they have demolished all the Vaults which covered that which I call the Court and brought into it one of the Rivers of Damascus called Banias that runs through the length of it there they load the Camels that are to go to Mecha with Water and for that end alone they have brought the Course of the River that way There are a great many Trees also in it which render it a very pleasant place The Dervishes Being come out of that Court I went to the Dervishes which are a little farther on the same side They are very well lodged and have several Gardens through which the River Banias runs before it reaches the Church of St. Nicholas The Name of Dervish is made up of two Persian words to wit of Der which signifies Door and Vish signifying Threshold as if one should say the threshold of the door Their founder took that Name to intimate that his design was that that order should particularly make profession of humility by comparing themselves to the threshold of a door that all People tread upon Having viewed that house I kept on my way and came to the Green of Damascus that is not far from it It is a large Field or Grass-plat which they call the Meidan encompassed on all hands with Gardens and the River Banias runs through it About the middle of it there is a little Pillar in the ground The place where God made the first Man. about four foot high and they say that that is the place where God made the first Man. It is a very pleasant place and therefore when any Person of Quality passes by Damascus he pitches his Tents there The lovely Hospital of Morestan When I was come into that field I turned to the right and entered into the Morestan which is at the middle of one of the sides of that field I found my self in a square Cloyster covered with little Domes supported by marble Pillars the first bases of which are of Brass on the side I entered at and just opposite unto it there are Chambers for receiving Pilgrims of whatsoever Religion they be Every Chamber is covered with a great Dome and hath its Chimney two Presses and two Windows to wit one towards the Green and one on the other side The Cloyster has twice as many Domes as the Chambers have the side on the right hand is appointed for Kitchins where there are many great Kettles wherein daily and even during the Ramadan they boil Pilau and other such Food which they distribute amongst all that come of whatsoever Religion they be On the side opposite to the Kitchins is the Mosque and before it a lovely Portico covered with Domes as the rest of the Cloyster is but they are somewhat higher and supported by more lofty Pillars This Mosque is covered with a very great Dome having a lovely Minaret on each side and all these Domes and Minarets are covered with Lead Within the Green there is a fair Garden along the sides of the Cloyster where many Trees are planted it is railed with rails of Wood on the four sides of it which are five or six foot high so that it leaves in the middle a large Square paved with fair Free-Stone wherein there is a Bason of an oblong Figure or rather a very large Canal through which the River Banias runs This Hospital was built by Solyman the second who took Rhodes for the accommodation of
Hill to the left hand on which there is a Mosque with a Building like to a little Castle called Sultan-Abdullah Sultan-Abdullah heretofore it was inhabited by Dervishes and at present serves for a retreat to Arabian Robbers We saw about a score of them on the water-side with their Horses and Lances who sent three of their company towards us These Blades having stript themselves naked came swimming and asked Bread of us they had it and so returned carrying each two Loaves one upon their head and the other in one hand which they held out of the water swimming only with the other hand We had still Woods to our left and by intervals some Hills and shortly after we had Woods also to the right hand In several places on the same side we saw a great many of the Summer-houses of the Arabs but no body in them Half an hour after five in the evening we saw upon a little Hill on the same hand the ruins of a Castle called Toprac-Calasi Toprac-Calasi There were some Houses of Arabs there and the other Keleck having stopt a few minutes near Land they stole an Abe of Cloth which is a kind of a Vest and no body perceived it till they were gone These Arabs sow Millet thereabouts of which they make their Bread eating no other We stopt that day in the morning and at noon to do the needs of Nature as it was our custom and then continued our way having always Hills on the right hand and about Sun-setting we went a-shoar at a place on the left hand where there is abundance of Lions and where one must have a special care of Arabs for some time ago the Arabs robbed a Keleck in that very place having on board almost fourscore people whom they killed and then over-set the Keleck that it might be thought it over-set of it self Hardly were we arrived when three Arabs came swimming over to us from the other side we gave them Bread and so set them going We parted next morning Monday the eleventh of August at break of day and had Hills still on our right hand About eight a clock we passed near one of these Hills on which the people of the Countrey say there is a Castle named Mekhoul-Calaai by the name of a Franck who built it About nine a clock we saw the ends of these Hills Liquorice-water The Liquorice which I found by the way when we went a-shoar was very useful to me for I infused it in the water which I drank and that pleased me better than common water which not only made me sweat excessively for I voided by the pores as much as I drank but also it raised on me several Blisters that pricked me like so many needles as often as I drank or sate down whereas when I drank Liquorice-water Sumack I felt none of these inconveniences I had besides Sumack which is almost like Hemp-seed wherewith I made another sort of Drink by putting a little of that grain into water and after pounding it that yielded me a very red Water but very cooling and wholsom and if a little Salt be added to it it makes it much pleasanter They use a great deal of Sumack and when it is beat and put into Broth it is very wholsom and a good remedy against the Bloody-Flux They suffer no man to make a Tent upon these Kelecks to keep out the Sun nay they would not suffer me to hold a bough of a Tree over my head because of the wind which might over-set the Keleck but I found a way to defend my self against the heat of the Sun by lying half at length so that my head was a little higher almost as if I had been sitting In this posture I fastened one end of my Abe behind my head and covered my self with the rest in manner of a Tent by means of three sticks of which one that I held between my Legs upheld it in the middle and was like the main Pile the other two supported it on the two sides In this manner I had a pretty convenient shade and the wind ever almost on one side or other but notwithstanding all my circumspection I suffered great heats especially some days when there was not a breath of wind About noon the Hills began again and these Mountains run along as far as the Indies they call them Dgebel Hemrin Dgebel Hemrin Montes Cordaci Gioubbar Calai Altun Daghi I believe they are the Mountains called Cordaci by Quintus Curtius in his fourth Book and tenth Chapter Towards two of the clock we passed near to a Castle which is in Mesopotamia called Gioubbar Calai and some time after we saw a little Hill to the left hand called Altun Daghi that 's to say the Hill of Gold because the Arabs digging in it here and there find a little Gold. About four a clock we passed that place where they that go down the Tygris as we did begin to have the Mounts Hebrin to the left which till that place they have always had to the right and on the side of Mesopotamia It is the tradition that the River heretofore divided them and that they go by Ispahan and reach as far as the Indies and in that Countrey they affirm that these Hills which are of a white Rock encompass all the World. At Sun-setting we went a-shoar on the side of Mesopotamia over against Kizil-Han Kizil-Han which is a Han not far from it and the fifth Lodging of the Caravans that come from Mosul We did not take our Lodging on the other side as the nights before because of the Lions that are there and are to be seen in Flocks like Sheep We kept good Guard because our station was pretty near to the Houses of some Arabs besides there were some Lions also on that side Amongst the rest there is one that is in great reputation among the people of the Countrey he is called the Lion of Kizil-Han and is said to be as big as an Ass A Lion of great bigness and of extraordinary strength who never fails to take a man of every Caravan and it was very honourable for ours that we paid him not that Tribute They add that he commonly sets upon those who straggle in the rear and that it may not be thought that it 's for want of courage but only out of cunning that he does so they say he is so bold that if he see no more but two or three men he comes confidently up to them and taking one of them in his Claws lays him upon his Back and carries him away Some Caravanists told me a great many Tales upon that subject which I shall give as cheap as I had them They told me very seriously that the Lion never sets upon a man but when he is very hungry and that he feeds upon him backwards beginning always at his Buttocks because he is afraid of the face of a man. That when
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
built upon a narrow Rock which stretches out in length from North-East to South-West this Rock is very steep so that it is almost as broad on the top as at the bottom especially on the North-West side it is in some places above seven or eight Fathom high particularly on the South-East side at the Foot of this Rock on the same South-East side there are some Gardens and some steps farther runs a little River near to which is the Kervanseray built of burnt Bricks and over the Gate there is a pretty convenient Lodging-House it stands at the Foot of a high Rock that is to the South of it from which sometimes great pieces fall and are to be seen below most of them being as big as Houses The Village of Yez-de-Kast takes up the whole Surface of the Rock on which it stands as well in length as in breadth it hath no other Walls but the Walls of the Houses which are three or four Stories high and some higher all built of Stone This Town is in manifest danger sometime or other of falling down topsie turvy all at once being so high and having nothing to support it and indeed the Inhabitants mistrust it for about ten years since they began to build another Town at some distance from the Rock and to the Northward of it and when I passed by it on my return in the Year one thousand six hundred sixty and seven a great many Houses were already finished and new ones going up all forsaking the other Seat whereas when I past it first in the Year one thousand six hundred sixty five there was not so much as one House begun The Gate of Yez-de-Kast is on the South-West side where the ground about is as high as the Rock it is but little so that not having observed it at first coming I went from the Kervanseray to the Town climbing up the Rock on the South-East side betwixt the Gardens and after much climbing up I entered by a little Gate and went on above a hundred steps in a covered way that receives no light but by ugly holes and is by consequence so dark that one must groap along as they go in it I durst proceed no farther for fear of losing my self or entering into some House by mistake and so for that time I was obliged to turn back again by the same way I came but it is not so when one enters the Town by the other Gate The Land about Yez-de-Kast bears the best Corn in Persia and indeed they make most excellent Bread there the Inhabitants as they say mingling dry Pease with the Corn which makes the Bread so good There are several fair Tombs here built in Fashion of Domes Sunday the first of March we parted from that place half an hour after midnight and took the upper way for there are two ways the one on the Left Hand East-wards which is called the lower way and the other on the Right Hand to the West side which they call the upper way because it lies among Hills in the Winter-time when this way is filled up with Snow they are obliged to go the lower way which is the longer by a days Journy but being assured that the upper way was open we took it and for that end when we set out from the Kervanseray we held Westward for some time till we came to a place where the way leads up that Hill at the Foot whereof the Kervanseray stands being got up we marched in a Plain betwixt little Hills covered with Snow streight South-East until about Three a Clock we mounted up a Hill where the ascent is not long and the descent shorter but the way very bad and therefore it is called Chotali-Naar-Schekeni Chotali-Naar-Schekeni that is to say the Hill that pulls off the Horses shoes we came afterward into a pretty good way betwixt little Hills all white with Snow at day break we passed by a little Castle called Gombez-Cala where there is a Village also but ruined Gombez-Cala Half an hour after Nine we entered into a Plain in which we Travelled on till after Eleven that we came to a Village where we Lodged in a Kervanseray This Village is called Dehi ghirdon that is to say Village of Nuts Dehi ghirdon not that it abounds in that Fruit for having informed my self I learnt that the Nuts they eat there come from Lar however I took the pains to ask the reason why it was so called but all the answer I could get was that that was the name of it it is seven Agatsch distant from Yez-de-Kast We parted from Dehi-ghirdon Monday the second of March about midnight and after two hours and a halfs Journey past by a ruinous Kervanserai beyond which we marched on in a Plain covered over with Snow where there was but one Path open and that all Frozen about seven of the Clock we crossed over a little Bridge of five Arches under which runs a River two Fathom broad and travelling on still in that white Plain we arrived about Noon at a Village called Keuschkzer that is to say the Silver-Pavillion there are two Kervanserais there Keuschkzer the one old and the other all new well built of Free-Stone and burnt Bricks with many embellishments and very commodious Lodgings and Stables near which also there are Appartments for the Winter and in these we Lodged Keuschkzer is seven long Agatsch distance from Dehi-ghirdon the Land about is very good being Sowed with Corn there are about it also a great many Meadows where the Kings Horses are sent to Grass in the Season It is always cold there and the Snow lyes all the year round upon the neighbouring Hills The Inhabitants of that Village are Circassians they make Wine and sell it but they have the Grapes from Maain of which we shall Treat in its proper place Next Morning about half an hour after Four we went on our Journey and Travelled in a way covered with Snow and full of holes but we found it worse when the Sun was up and the ground began to Thaw especially about Eleven of the Clock when we entered amongst the Hills which being full of Dirt and Stones made the way as bad as it could be This passage makes that they goe not that way in the Winter-time for in the Summer all these ways are good we kept on always ascending a little till about One a Clock that we went down Hill a good way at the the bottom of that descent a great Brook rises out of the Ground a good Fathom in breadth the water whereof is very clear this Brook runs by a Village called Asoupas Asoupas where we arrived half an hour after two in the afternoon and there we were very ill Lodged in a nasty Kervanserai this Village is five Agatsch distant from Keuschkzer and has a sorry old ruinous Castle upon a little Hill the Inhabitants are Circassians who were Transported thither
that was a building a Rich man of Schiras having left by Will money for that purpose That place is called Abgherm which signifies hot water Abgherm because the water there is a little warm it gave some of our Company a looseness but has plenty of Fish in it This place which is but four Agatsch from Main was but half of our usual days Journey however our Beasts being tired we stayed there till next day the seventh of March when we parted half an hour after Two in the Morning and put on before the Caravan that we might get to Schiras the same day There are several ways that lead to it but we kept still to the Left crossing over many Brooks about half an hour after six we came to a Causey above two Fathom broad and two thousand Paces long all well Paved with Arches in several places and chiefly in the middle where there is a Bridge an hundred Paces in length under which runs a small branch of the River of Main Poligorgh that Causey is called Poligorgh Half an hour after Seven we saw a sorry Kervanserai but a little beyond it there is a very good one which is extraordinary large and well built with many embellishments at each corner there is a little Tower the Gate is fair and high adorned with many pieces of Marble on which there are Inscriptions The Appartments of this Kervanserai are very commodious but it is so infested with Gnats that there is no being in it It was built by a Chan of Sciras who to take off the Gnats built but to no purpose a large Garden by it it is called Agassef Agassef and is three Agatsch from Abgherm its common name is Poligourg that is to say the Woolfs Bridge or Poligord We went on The way that leads to Tchebelminar Badgega and an hour after left a broad way on the left Hand which goes streight to Tchebelminar and that is the way to it from Schiras About half an hour after Two we came to a Kervanserai called Badgega three Agatsch from Agassef there we found several Horses Camels and Mules which the Vizir of Schiras sent as a present to the King for the Neurouz for it is the custom as we have already observed that all the Grandees make great Presents to the King Present for the Neurouz or a New-Years-Gift the day of the Neurouz or Spring which is the two and twentieth of March just so as New-Years Gifts are given in France on the first of January We rested in that place till Three in the Afternoon when we parted to goe to Schiras two great Agatsch distant At first we went up a great Hill and then saw to our Left hand a Dome somewhat ruinous under which there are some Tombs close by runs a very clear Brook shaded by several great Planes and many little Pomegranate-Trees which render that place extraordinarily pleasant Having Travelled near two hours in very stony way and crossed several lovely Brooks about Five a Clock at night we came to a place from whence there is a very pleasant prospect of the City for two Hills there drawing near together at the end make a narrow passage beyond which are Gardens full of lovely Cypresses and then the Town which lyes in a Plain from North to South so that it yields a most delightful prospect After we had a little advanced betwixt those two Hills we saw a great Reservatory of water which is pretty ruinous the water is stopt by a thick Wall almost two Fathom broad supported by two spurs of the same thickness which with the Wall from the bottom of the Ditch are almost three Fathom high the Reservatory was formerly much of the same depth but is at present almost filled up with the Earth that the water has brought into it the Wall hath been made to serve for a Bank to stop the waters that in Winter fall from the Hills and running too violently through that streight beat down all that stood in their way but it is dry in the Summer-time Arrival at Schiras at length we came to the City-Gate which is fair and well built CHAP. II. Of Schiras THE first thing we found upon our entry into Schiras was a great broad Street on each side bordered by Gardens with little pretty neat Houses over the Gates of them having advanced in that Street about a quarter of an hour we came to a large Stone-Bason full of water and of an Oblong Figure being about twenty or twenty five Fathom in length and more than fifteen in breadth Continuing in the same Street you see a lovely Mosque whose Dome is covered with blew Varnished Tiles Joyning to this Mosque there is a burying-place Planted with fair Trees with a round Stone-Bason full of water which renders the place very pleasant so that there are always people taking the Air in it with their Pipes of Tobacco a little farther there is a Bridge of five Arches under which runs a small River and onward in the same Street you come to a covered Bazar that puts an end to it this Street is but as a Suburbs to the City which at that place begins We struck off to the Left and alighted at the little House of the Reverend Fathers Carmelites where all the Francks goe The City of Schiras heretofore Schirsaz and which many will have to be Cyropolis is properly the Metropolis of the Province of Persia it lyes in a most pleasant and fertile Plain that yields the best Wine in Persia On the East it is at the Foot of a Hill covered with several sorts of Fruit-Trees amongst which are many Orange and Limon-Trees intermingled with Cypresses it is about two hours walk in Circumference The Circumference of Schiras and lyes from North to South it hath no Walls but only a scurvy Ditch and that is all it needs having no Enemies to be afraid of it is watered by a River which is but little and yet subject to overflowings when that happens the Inhabitants hinder it from breaking into their Gardens and carrying away their Walls by casting up Dykes to stop it they make them with Couffes Couffes that is to say great Panniers made of bruised Canes like Palm-Tree-Leaves which they fill with Earth and Stone and that hinders the passage of the water very well The Streets of Schiras are for the most part somewhat narrow though there be some fair ones having in the middle lovely Canals bordered with Stone through which a very clear Rivulet runs There are a great many fair covered Bazars long and broad with great Shops on each side well furnished with all sorts both of Indian and Turkish Commodities and every Commodity hath its particular Bazar It hath many large well built Kervanserays as to the Palaces they make no shew on the outside no more than in the rest of the Levant but all their beauty is within the Palace of the Chan himself
was advised to it by other Portuguese for he answered haughtily that he would not be taught by any man what he was to do Nevertheless his bravery not succeeding according to his expectation Unseasonable bravery and finding himself hard put to it he became calmer and gave consent but too late to follow that Counsel for the Enemies were under the Walls and at length he was forced to Surrender the place So soon as the Persians became Masters of it they opened the Canal as well knowing the importance of it Oisters at Ormus They catch excellent Oisters about the Isle of Ormus they are as small as English Oisters but so hard that it is not possible to open them with a Knife nay it is not very easie neither to break them with a Hammer The Sand of Oâ—â—…s The Sand of Ormus is also much talked of for the dusting of writing and for that end a great deal of it is Transported into Christendom Lareca A League to the South-West of Ormus is the Isle of Lareca which is longer than Ormus but the Ground as bad and Sandy It reaches in length from North North-West to South South-East and there is nothing remarkable in it unless it be the Fort and that is no great matter neither The Dutch began it under colour of settling a Factory there but the Persians smelling out their design drove them off and finished it it is at present kept by a very few men A little farther off to the West Error in Geography Quesomo South-West about a League and a half from Lareca though it be marked five in the Map is the Isle of Quesomo which is twenty Leagues in length it is Fruitful and well Inhabited and stretches from East to West The Land about Gomron or Bender-Abassi is no better than that of Ormus The Land about Bender-Abassi or Gomron is good for nothing for it is all Sand the water they drink there is brought from a Cistern without the Town they drink also of another which is esteemed better water and that out of a Well three Parasanges distant from the Town in a place called Isin both are very dear because of the trouble in bringing them so far nevertheless the water is very unwholesome because of little Worms that are in it which if they be drank down with the water slide betwixt the Flesh and the Skin Worms between the Skin and the Flesh and fall down into the Legs where they grow to the full length of the Leg and are never bigger than a Lute-string as I have been told for I never saw any of them this causes a great deal of pain they make a little hole in the Skin through which they shew their Head and for a Cure they must be drawn by little and little out of that hole drawing only a little every day and twisting it about a stick according as they draw it out until it be wholely out but this requires a great deal of patience for if they draw too much out at one time or draw too hard it breaks and what remains in the Leg causes racking pains for which there is no other remedy but to lay open the Leg and make the Incision as long as that which remains to be taken out This water has another bad quality in that it swells the Testicles The meat is also very unwholesome at Bender-Abassi and they scarcely eat any but Kids Flesh which is the best of the bad and Pullets In fine the best way to preserve ones Health at Bender-Abassi is to keep a very regular Diet Remedies for keeping ones Health at Bender eating so moderately that one hath always an Appetite to quench a red hot Iron in the water to strain it afterwards through a Linnen Cloath and to be always chearful There is no Pasture-Ground in all that Territory and therefore the Cows Hogs and other Beasts live hardly upon any thing else but Fish-Heads Shell-Fish stones of Dates and a little Hay which is brought some Parasanges off and indeed the Milk tasts altogether Fishy for I speak by experience their Horses they feed with Hay and Barley After all there cannot be a more dangerous Air than that of Comoron especially in Summer when it is so excessively hot Cruel and dangerous heat at Bender-Abassi that the Inhabitants are forced to leave it and remove three or four Parasanges off where most of them live in Tents nay the very Garison of the Fort removes leaving only a few men who are weary of their lives Nevertheless that place so abandoned is in no danger of being surprised because that time is the Winter of the Indies wherein there is such terrible Rain Great Thunderings at Bender Wind and Thunder that it would seem the World were to be reduced to its first Chaos so that during that Season no Ship can keep the Sea where Shipwrack is inevitable And indeed there is but one Season for crossing over to the Indies which the Portuguese have named Mouson Mouson and which they have certainly borrowed from the Arabick word Mouson which signifies Season but in short that word is used in all Languages to signifie the time of Sailing which lasts one half of the Year to wit from the end of October to the end of April Bender has a pretty safe Road for to the North it hath the main Land of Persia The Road of Bender-Abassi to the South the Isle of Ormus and to the South-West Lareca which is to the Westward of Ormus from which it is but a League distant Vessels come to an Anchor in it near to the Isle of Ormus on the West side and to go to the Indies they Sail betwixt the Isle of Ormus which is to the South of Bender-Abassi and the Coast of Arabia Foelix A Parasange to the East of Comoron there is one of those Trees called the Banians Trees because the Banians make commonly Pagods under them Banians Trees the Portuguese call it the Tree of Roots because Roots come out of every Branch that fasten in the Ground and grow as other Trees do in so much that one of these Trees may make a whole Forest I shall not describe it because I never saw it since there was no going thither by reason of the excessive heat The Author saw it since in his Travels in the Indies where he has given a description of it and therefore I refer the Reader to Linschot and Jonston who have given a description of it Under this there is a Pagod or Temple of the Banians I stayed but a week at Bender-Abassi and then was obliged to turn back again there being no probability that I could embark there for the Indies seeing I must have run too great a danger if I had stayed longer for a favourable occasion There were but six Vessels there which were bound for the Indies four Dutch Ships one Armenian and a Moor as for the
transparent body the water winding and turning as it mounted up and now and then the thickness of it decreased sometimes at the top see the Figure G and sometimes at the Root see the Figure H. At that time it exactly ressembled a Gut filled with some fluid matter and pressed with ones Fingers either above to make the liquor descend or below to make it mount up and I was persuaded that the violence of the Wind made these alterations making the water mount very fast when it forced upon the lower end of the Pipe and making it descend when it pressed the upper part after that the bigness of it so lessened that it was less than a Mans Arm like a Gut when it is strained and drawn perpendicularly out in length then it grew as big as ones Thigh and afterwards dwindled again very small At length I perceived that the boyling on the surface of the Sea began to settle and the end of the Pipe that touched it separated from it and shrunk together as if it had been tied see the Figure I and then the light which appeared by the blowing away of a Cloud made me lose fight of it however I still lookt out for some time if I might see it again because I had observed that the Pipe of the second on that side had appeared to us three or four times to break short off in the middle and that immediately after we had seen it whole again one half of it being only hid from us by the light but it was to no purpose for me to look sharply out for this appeared no more so that there was an end of our Spouts and I gave God thanks as all the other Franks did that he had delivered us from them They attributed that mercy to the Holy Gospel which I had said wherein I arrogate nothing to my self being not so unreasonable as to think that my merit contributed any thing but perhaps God had some respect to our good intention and the trust that all of us reposed on his Holy Gospel In fine there is nothing more certain than that notwithstanding the inconstancy of the Wind which shifted all Points none of these Spouts came nearer us than the place where first they began and this I may with sincerity affirm that in all dangers of Storms Pirats and other accidents wherein I have been often engaged it was always my practise to rehearse this Holy Gospel and God in his great mercy hath preserved me from all The effects of Spouts These Spouts are very dangerous at Sea for if they come upon a Ship they entangle the Sails so that sometimes they will lift it up and then letting it fall down again sink it to the bottom which chiefly happens when the Vessel is small but if they lift not up the Ship at least they Split all the Sails or else empty all their water into it which sinks it to rights and I make no doubt but that many Ships that have no more been heard of have been lost by such accidents seeing we have but too many instances of those which have been known to have perished so of a certain Besides the Devotion of the Holy Gospel the human remedies which Sea-men use against Spouts is to furle all the Sails and to fire some Guns with shot against the Pipe of the Spout and that their shot may be surer to hit instead of Bullet they charge the Gun with a cross-bar-shot wherewith they endeavour to cut the Pipe if the Spout be within shot of them and when they have the good luck to level their shot just they fail not to cut it short off this is the Course they take in the Mediteranean Sea but if that succeed not they betake themselves to the Superstition which I would not practise though I knew it having learned it in my former Travels One of the Ships Company kneels down by the Main-Mast and holding in one Hand a Knife with a Black Handle without which they never go on Board for that reason he Reads the Gospel of St. John and when he comes to pronounce those Holy words Et verbum caro factum est habitavit in nobis he turns towards the Spout and with his Knife cuts the Air athwart that Spout as if he would cut it and they say that then it is really cut and lets all the water it held fall with a great noise This is the account that I have had from several French Men who as they said had tried it themselves whether that hath succeeded so or not I know not but for the Knife with the black Handle it is a foul Superstition which may be accompanied with some implicit compact with the Devil and I do not think that a Christian can with a good Conscience make use of it as to the vertue of these Holy words which as I may say put God in mind of the Covenant that he hath made with Man I make no doubt but that being said with Devotion without any mixture of Superstition they are of great efficacy to draw a blessing from God upon us on all occasions And so much for the Spouts by which we were more affraid than hurt but the Storm did our Ship more prejudice in its Course for we were obliged to lye at Anchor all that day and the night following until next morning when though it blew very hard from North-East we weighed at seven a Clock and stood away East South-East About nine a Clock we Sailed along Lareca which was to the Windward or Larboard of us About three quarters after nine we saw the Sky on Head over cast and the Air black with stormy Clouds and flurries but they were to the Leeward of us and therefore at first we dreaded them not but having more attentively considered them we found that they came from South to North and seeing it blew fresher and fresher perhaps because of the resistance it met with from those Clouds driven by a contrary Wind we furled our Mizan Sail and Steered away South-East and by East that we might avoid the Storm About a quarter after ten we took in all our Sails except the Main Course and Sprit-Sail About half an hour after ten it cleared up to the South and we made the biggest of the four Isles of Cape Mosandon called Selame which bore South and by West of us and at the same time we made the fourth of these little Isles which we had not seen before to the South and by East This little Isle lyes to the Southward of the biggest and is not far from it it seemed to me to reach North and South and is very low Land except at the end towards the big Island where it rises a little About three quarters after ten we set our Mizan and Main-Top-Sail again and stood our Course South-East the Wind being then North-East and by East and immediately after we had a shower of Rain For two hours after the
they assist those whom they call Penitents Their Penance consists in forbearing to eat for many days to keep constantly standing upon a Stone for several weeks or several months to hold their Arms a cross behind their head as long as they live or to bury themselves in Pits for a certain space of time But if some of these Faquirs be good Men Faquirs Rogues there are also very Rogues amongst them and the Mogul Princes are not troubled when such of them as commit violences are killed One may meet with some of them in the Countrey stark naked with Colours and Trumpets who ask Charity with Bow and Arrow in hand and when they are the strongest they leave it not to the discretion of Travellers to give or refuse These wretches have no consideration even for those that feed them I have seen some of them in the Caravanes who made it their whole business to play tricks and to molest Travellers though they had all their subsistence from them Not long since I was in a Caravane where some of these Faquirs were who took a fancy to suffer no body to sleep All night long they did nothing but Sing and Preach and instead of banging them soundly to make them hold their peace as they ought to have been served the Company prayed them civilly but they took it ill so that they doubled their Cries and Singing and they who could not Sing laugh'd and made a mock of the rest of the Caravane These Faquirs were sent by their Superiours into I know not what Countrey full of Banians to demand of them Two thousand Roupies with a certain quantity of Rice and Mans of Butter and they had orders not to return without fulfilling their Commission This is their way all over the Indies where by their Mammeries they have accustomed the Gentiles to give them what they demand without daring to refuse There are a great many Faquirs among the Mahometans as well as amongst the Idolaters who are also Vagabonds and worse than they and commonly both of them are treated alike The Province of Halabas pays the Mogul yearly above fourteen Millions The Moguls Revenue from Halabas CHAP. XL. Of the Province of Oulesser or Bengala and of the Ganges THe Province of Oulesser which we call Bengala The Province of Ouleser or Bengala Jaganat and which the Idolaters name Jaganat because of the famous Idol of the Pagod of Jaganat which is there is Inhabited by Gentiles no less fantastical in point of Religion than those of Halabas and this one instance may serve for a proof of it Strange Penance of a Faquir A Faquir intending to invent some new spell of Devotion that was never seen before and which might cost him a great deal of pains resolved to measure with his Body the whole extent of the Moguls Empire from Bengala as far as Caboul which are the limits of it from South East to North West The pretext he had for so doing was that once in his life he might be present at the Feast of Houly which I have already described and he had a kind of novices to wait upon him and serve him The first Action he did when he set out upon his Journey was to lay himself at full length on the ground upon his belly and to order that the length of his Body might be marked there that being done he rose up and acquainted his followers with his Design which was to take a Journey as far as Caboul by lying down and rising up again continually and to walk no more at a time but the length of his Body ordering his Novices to make a mark on the ground at the Crown of his Head every time he lay down to the end he might exactly regulate the March he was to make all was punctually performed on both sides The Faquir made a Cosse and a half a day that 's to say about three quarters of a League and they who related the Story met him a year after his setting out no farther off than at the utmost bounds of the Province of Halabas In the mean time he had all imaginable respect shewed him in the places he passed through and was loaded with Charity in so much that he was obliged to distribute the Alms he got amongst the Poor who in hopes of getting by him followed him in his Journey Many Mahometans live there also but they are no better than the Gentils The people for the most part are extraordinarily voluptuous they have a captious and subtil wit and are much given to pilfring and stealing The Women themselves are bold and lascivious and use all Arts imaginable to corrupt and debauch Young Men The Inhabitants of Bengala voluptuous and especially Strangers whom they easily trapan because they are handsom and wear good Cloaths The people in this Province live much at their ease because of its fruitfulness and above Twenty thousand Christians dwell there The Countrey was kept in far better order under the Patan Kings I mean before the Mahometans and Moguls were Masters of it because then they had Uniformity in Religion Mahometanism hath introduced disorder It has been found by experience that disorder came into it with Mahometanism and that diversity of Religions hath there caused corrruption in Manners Daca or Daac Daca or Daac is properly the capital City of Bengala it lies upon the banck of the Ganges and is very narrow because it stretches out near a League and a half in length along the side of that River Most of the Houses are only built of Canes covered with Earth The English and Dutch Houses are more solid because they have spared no cost for the security of their Goods The Augustins have a Monastery at Daca Galleys of the Gulf of Bengala The Augustines have a Monastery there also The Tide comes up as far as Daca so that the Galleys which are built there may easily Trade in the gulf of Bengala and the Dutch make good use of theirs for their Commerce Towns of Bengala Philipatan Satigan Patane Casanbazar Chatigan Towns. The Dutch Factory at Patan Ananas The Countrey is full of Castles and Towns Philipatan Satigan Patane Casanbazar and Chatigan are very rich and Patane is a very large Town lying on the West side of â—he Ganges in the Countrey of Patan where the Dutch have a Factory Corn Rice Sugar Ginger long Pepper Cotton and Silk with several other Commodities are plentifully produced in that Country as well as Fruits and especially the Ananas which in the out side is much like a Pine-Apple they are as big as Melons and some of them resemble them also their colour at first is betwixt a Green and a Yellow but when they are ripe the Green is gone they grow upon a Stalk not above a Foot and a half high they are pleasant to the taste and leave the flavour of an Apricock in the mouth The Ganges The Ganges
made that Journey in six days of Caravan In short there are few or no Countries that delight Travellers with their verdure more than the Fields of this Kingdom because of the Rice and Corn that is to be seen every where and the many lovely Reservatories that are to be found in it Bagnagar Aider-abad The Capital City of this Kingdom is called Bagnagar the Persians call it Aider-abad it is fourteen or fifteen Leagues from Viziapour situated in the Latitude of seventeen Degrees ten Minutes in a very long plain hemmed in with little Hills some Coffes distant from the Town which makes the Air of that place very wholesome besides that the Countrey of Golconda lies very high The Houses of the Suburbs where we arrived are only built of Earth and thatched with Straw they are so low and ill contrived that they can be reckoned no more than Huts We went from one end to the other of that Suburbs which is very long and stopt near the Bridge which is at the farther end of it There we stayed for a note from the Cotoual to enter the Town because of the Merchants Goods of the Caravan which were to be carried to the Cotouals House to be searched But a Persian named Ak-Nazar a favorite of the Kings who knew the chief of the Caravan being informed of its arrival sent immediately a Man with orders to let us enter with all the Goods and so we past the Bridge which is only three Arches over It is about three Fathom broad Nerva and is paved with large flat Stones The River of Nerva runs under that Bridge which then seemed to be but a Brook though in time of the Rains it be as broad as the Seine before the Louvre at Paris At the end of the Bridge we found the Gates of the City which are no more but Barriers Being entered we marched a quarter of an hour through a long Street with Houses on both sides but as low as those of the Suburbs and built of the same materials though they have very lovely Gardens We went to a Carvanseray called Nimet-ulla which has its entry from the same Street Every one took his lodging there and I hired two little Chambers at two Roupies a Month. The Town makes a kind of Cross much longer than broad and extends in a streight line from the Bridge to the four Towers but beyond these Towers the Street is no longer streight and whil'st in walking I measured the length of the Town being come to the four Towers I was obliged to turn to the left and entered into a Meidan where there is another Street that led me to the Town-Gate which I looked for Having adjusted my measures I found that Bagnagar was five thousand six hundred and fifty Paces in length to wit two thousand four hundred and fifty from the Bridge to the Towers and from thence through the Meidan to the Gate which leads to Masulipatan three thousand two hundred Paces There is also beyond that Gate a Suburbs eleven hundred Paces long There are several Meidans or Publick places in this Town The Meidan of Bagnagar but the fairest is that before the Kings Palace It hath to the East and West two great Divans very deep in the Ground the Roof whereof being of Carpenters work is raised five Fathom high upon four Wooden Pillars this Roof is flat and hath Balisters of Stone cast over Arch-ways with Turrets at the corners These two Divans serve for Tribunals to the Cotoual whose Prisons are at the bottom of these Divans each of them having a Bason of Water before them The like Balisters go round the Terrass-walks of the place The Royal Palace is to the North of it and there is a Portico over against it where the Musicians come several times a day to play upon their Instruments when the King is in Town In the middle of this place and in sight of the Royal Palace there is a Wall built three Foot thick and six Fathom in height and length Fightings of Elephants for the fighting of Elephants and that Wall is betwixt them when they excite them to fight but so soon as they are wrought up to a rage they quickly throw down the Wall. The ordinary Houses there are not above two Fathom high they raise them no higher that they may have the fresh Air during the heats and most part of them are only of Earth but the Houses of Persons of Quality are pretty enough The Palace which is three hundred and fourscore Paces in length takes up not only one of the sides of the Place The Palace of Bagnagar but is continued to the four Towers where it terminates in a very loftly Pavillion The Walls of it which are built of great Stones have at certain distances half Towers and there are many Windows towards the place with an open Gallery to see the shews They say it is very pleasant within and that the Water rises to the highest Appartments The Reservatory of that Water which is brought a great way off is in the top of the four Towers from whence it is conveyed into the House by Pipes No Man enters into this Palace but by an express Order from the King who grants it but seldom nay commonly no body comes near it and in the place there is a circuit staked out that must not be passed over There is another square Meidan in this Town where many great Men have well built Houses The Carvanseras are generally all handsome and the most esteemed is that which is called Nimet-ulla in the great Street opposite to the Kings Garden It is a spacious square and the Court of it is adorned with several Trees of different kinds and a large Bason where the Mahometans performe their Ablutions That which is called the four Towers is a square building The four Towers of which each face is ten Fathom broad and about seven high It is opened in the four sides by four Arches four or five Fathom high and four Fathom wide and every one of these Arches fronts a Street of the same breadth as the Arch. There are two Galleries in it one over another and over all a Terrass that serves for a Roof bordered with a Stone-Balcony and at each corner of that Building a Decagone Tower about ten Fathom high and each Tower hath four Galleries with little Arches on the outside the whole Building being adorned with Roses and Festons pretty well cut It is vaulted underneath and appears like a Dome which has in the inside all round Balisters of Stone pierced and open as the Galleries in the outside and there are several Doors in the Walls to enter at Under this Dome there is a large Table placed upon a Divan raised seven or eight Foot from the Ground with steps to go up to it All the Galleries of that Building serve to make the Water mount up that so being afterwards conveyed to the Kings