every where they have no Stalk but embrace the Stem Towards the head of the stem about the uppermost but one of the sets of Leaves See the following Cut. or somewhat higher out of the main stem betwixt the two Leaves a stem sprouts out as big as the shank of a Tulip and long as ones Finger from the end whereof other small stalks spring forth about fifteen in number each of which bears a Flower on the top all these Flowers together making a kind of Posie before they blow they are about the bigness of a Brass Farthing and are like a flat Button or of the same bigness and figure as some little white round Bones flat above which are to be found in the Thornback-Fish they are round below that is to say the Leaves of which it is made up joyn and make the upper side flat when they are open they look like very small Emonies These Flowers on the outside are of a dull sullied White The Flowers of Kerzehreh inclining to a Violet-colour and very sleeked in the inside the bottom is White and the point of each Leaf Purple at the bottom there is a small Pentagone Figure all Yellow whereof each Angle answers to the middle of one of the Leaves of the Flower and out of the middle of each side of that Pentagone grows as it were a Tooth White below and of a Purple colour at the top and each Tooth answers to the interstice betwixt every two Leaves the Flower may be like the Flower of a Bramble This Plant is full of a very tart Milk which immediately dries betwixt the Fingers and turns to little threads It is commonly said in Persia but I never saw the experiment of it that if a man breath in the hot Wind which in June or July passes over that Plant The bad effects of Kerzehreh Badisamour Poyson-wind A Remedy against the Badisamour it will kill him so that if one take hold of him by an Arm or a Leg and pull it it will come off like boyled Flesh and they call that Wind Badisamour which in Persian Language signifies a Poyson-Wind They add that the way to prevent it is when one feels a hot Wind and likewise hears the noise of it for it makes a whistling noise quickly to wet a Cloak or some such thing and wrap it about the Head that the wind may not pierce it and besides to lie on the ground flat on ones Face till it be over which is not above a quarter of an hour They say that that Plant is very Venemous and that therefore they call it Kerzehreh and an Armenian one day would have had me believe that if a drop of the Milk of Kerzehreh touched a mans Eye he would lose it for good and all but I was not willing to try the experiment The Connar The Cherzehre The Armenians call that Plant Badisamour but one of them very rationally told me that they had no reason to give it the name of that Pestiferous Wind and far less to attribute to it the cause of the bad effects thereof seeing the same Plant is found in many places where the Badisamour Wind rages not as at Lar and beyond it and that Wind rages only from Conveston to Bender Nay many people of Schiras told me that the Plant is to be found two Leagues from that Town where that Wind rages not and I have seen it in many places upon the Road from Carzerum to Benderick This is a good reason to prove that that Plant causes not the aforesaid Wind but it does not sufficiently prove that with that Wind it does not cause these bad effects for it may very well be said that if that hot Wind reigned in places where there were no such Plant it would not perhaps be so mortal because it may be that being already very bad of it self the malignity of it is encreased by passing over these Plants whose smell and noxious qualities it carries along with it but what in my opinion may serve to convince us of the contrary betwixt Mosul and Bagdad there being no such Plants at least I never saw nor heard there were any the Wind which in those quarters is called the Samiel is as pestiferous and mortal there as in the places where that Plant is to be found it is therefore impertinent to attibute to it the bad effects of that Wind and the rather that that Plant grows all over the Indies where it is not known what the Wind Samiel is Besides what the Armenian told me that that Plant is called Kerzehreh that is to say Asses-Gall for the reason alleadged before I found in a Dictionary Turkish and Persian that Kerzehreh signifies besides a Tree of Poyson and that man assured me that it was Poysonous if but smelt too But he gave an Original to the Wind Badisamour that had no soliditie at all for he said that it blew from the Sea A bad cause of the Badisamour and that upon that Coast the Sea often casts a shoar a kind of a Fish whereof he could not tell the name and that that Fish being out of the Sea dies and corrupts so that the Wind passing over it brings along with it that stench which renders it pestiferous A Portuguese Gentleman who lived for several years at Bender Congo near which are many Kerzehreh Trees told me this particular of it Some particularities of the Kerzehreh that that part of its Root which looks to the East is Poyson and that that which looks to the South is the Antidote and that of the Wood of that Plant they make good Coals for Gun-powder We found besides in many places Konar a Tree and chiefly all a long the Road from Dgiaroun to Benderabassi a Tree which they call Konar the Trunk of it is so big that it will require two men to grasp it round two or three Foot high it looks just like a Rock or like many Roots twisted together and is very knotty and whitish as to the rest both in shape and height it much resembles a Pear-Tree the Branches of it spread far and make a great shade the Bark of them is white as well as the inside which hath a Pith in the Heart like an Elder-Tree at all the knots where little Branches or Leaves sprout out there are two large long prickles which are strong and red bending a little down towards the ground and are not directly opposite to one another The Leaves are of the length and breadth that are marked in the following Figure They are of a varnished green colour on the one side and on the other of a pale and whitish green and have Veins like Plantain Leaves This Tree bears a Fruit which is ripe in March and in shape much resembles a little Apple of the same colour but no bigger than a Service or small Cherry There is little of it to be Eaten for the stone is much bigger than that
to those that enter the Port but they have not been continued At the end of the Mole which shuts in this Port there is a Tower to secure the Entry much about the middle of the said Mole stands another Tower on the top of which there is a great Light kindled every night to let Ships out at Sea know where they are This is but a kind of a melancholy Town though the Streets be fair and large in viewing of it I saw written over the Door of the Cathedral Church in pretty large ancient Characters Gran-Mercy a Messine when the French became Masters of Sicily Messina was the first place that surrendred unto them and that the memory of it might be preserved they caused that Inscription to be made Before this stately and large Church there is a great Square or Piazza with a Theatre in the middle of it where the Victory of Lepanto is represented on Brass and a Brazen Statue of Don John of Austria stands The Novitiate of the Jesuites stands upon a Hill higher than any place of the Town and seeing the whole Town and Harbor may be seen from the Gardens of it I readily embraced the offer that a Jesuite made me of carrying me to them Having pass'd through some spacious walks he led me to a very high Garden Scylla Charibdis from whence he shewed me Scylla and Charibdis which heretofore rendred that Streight so dangerous that all that pass'd it thought themselves certainly lost Scylla is a Rock pretty near a Castle on the Italian Shoar over against the Phare of Messina this Castle is called Scyllio from whence that Rock hath had the Name of Scylla As for Charibdis it is near and opposite to the Port of Messina but is not dangerous but when two contrary Eddies meet which making Vessels turn round for some time suck them down to the bottom without remedy To avoid them one must keep as near or as far off of the Port as possibly can be for the danger is in the middle betwixt the Port and the Land of Italy on the other side Though the greatest danger be in that place yet the Port is not free from it for the Jesuite told me that it hath sometimes happened that a Ship being got into the Harbour and having saluted the Town hath been carried out again by the currents and cast away in sight of the place The old Proverb Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charibdim was not said without reason for when Men have avoided the danger of one of these Rocks they may very easily fall upon the other if they have not a care The Fable which said that Charibdis and Scylla were two Sea Monsters surrounded with Dogs that barked has its original from the great noise these Waters make by beating and clashing one against another so that especially when they beat against Scylla one would think it were the barking of great Dogs Now to prevent the casting away of Ships in those Passages the Messineses have always a great many Pilots purposely in readiness Pilots hired by the Messineses and payed by the City of whom there is always one standing Sentinel upon a high Tower and when Ships or other Vessels finding themselves in imminent danger fire a Gun these Pilots fail not to put off in their Boats and assist them The Jesuite led me into another Garden higher than the rest hard by which there is a Bastion that Commands the Town and all that House of the Jesuites he told me that there were eighteen strong Castles in Messina Eighteen Castles in Messina The Messinese jealous of the Spaniards of which the Spaniards held but four the rest being in the hands of the Messineses who are so jealous of the Spaniards that these having built a Fort at the end of the Port they made another on the opposite side of the Water a Musket shot only distant from that of the Spaniards This is a very rich Town by reason of the great Trade in Silk that is driven there They have no Inns for Strangers which is a great inconvenience to them being obliged to lodge in a wretched Tavern upon the Harbour which they call the Barraque where the Entertainment is very bad All things are cheap there the Wine is strong but very bad and this City is an Archi-episcopal See. CHAP. III. Of Sicily Island of Sicily Capo Difaro Capo Passaro Capo Boco Pelorus Pachinis Lilibaerus SICILY is an Island of a Triangular Figure the point of each Angle making a Cape one of these Capes is called Capo Difaro the other Capo Passaro and the third Capo Boco which in ancient times were called Pelorus Pachinis and Lilibaerus Many think that heretofore it was joined to Italy from which it is but three miles distant but that it was separated from it by the force of the Sea which made to itself a passage betwixt them and others say it was done by an Earthquake The phare of Messina dangerous This Streight which is now betwixt the Island and Calabria is called the Phare of Messina and is most dangerous to be passed not only because of Charibdis and Scylla but also because the two points of Land of the Continent and Island are in a manner locked one within another This is the most considerable Island of the Mediterranean Sea as well for bigness which is near seven hundred miles in circuit as for its fruitfulness for it produces all things in abundance and because of its plenty of Corn excellent Wines Olives and many other such things it was heretofore called one of the Granaries of Rome It contains a great many very fair and rich Towns Mount Gibello Aetna but it is much infested by Mount Gibello anciently called Aetna which continually casts forth abundance of flames it is also much subject to Earthquakes which make strange havock in it It hath been under the Dominion of many Nations and hath belonged to the Greeks Carthaginians Saracens French and last of all to the King of Spain who has a Vice-Roy there The Vice-Roy of Sicily and where he resides The Manners of the Sicilians that holds his Residence six Months of the Year at Palermo and the other six at Messina This mixture of so many different Nations of whom all Sicily hath retained some vice has made the Sicilians so ill natured as they are at present they are very haughty and jealous and there is no vice that comes amiss to them Revenge continues in Families there for hundreds of Years and as their temper is extremely vindicative they are so mistrustful of the French because of the cruelty of the Sicilian Vespers that judging the nature of the French by their own they think that the other can never forget an affront that cost so much blood and was never heretofore parallel'd They wear always by their side a Dagger two hands long and three fingers broad and you shall not find a Tradesman
one by the Propontis or White Sea and the other by the Port the third is towards the land and the biggest of the three is that which lies on the Propontis and reaches from the Seraglio to the seven Towers that towards the Port is the middlemost The Seraglio is built upon the point of the Triangle The Situation of the Seraglio which runs out betwixt the Propontis and the Port and in a lower place under this Palace upon the shore are the Gardens of the Seraglio much about the place where the ancient Town of Byzantium stood which afford a very lovely Prospect to those who come to Constantinople either by the White Sea or the Black. On the other Angle The seven Towers which is upon the Chanel of the White Sea are the seven Towers covered with Lead they were built by the Christians and served a long time for keeping the Grand Seignior's Treasure at present they are made a Prison for Persons of Quality At the third Angle which is at the bottom of the Port on the Land side are the Ruines of Constantine's Palace This Town is encompassed with good Walls The Walls of Constantinople which to the Land side are double in some places built of Free-stone and in others of rough Stones and Brick Each of these Walls has a broad flat-bottom'd Ditch wharfed and faced on both sides The first Out-wall is but a Falsebray about ten foot high with many little Battlements and Casements in its Parapet and Gun-holes below aswel in the Courtine as in the Towers which are but at a little distance from one another and about two hundred and fifty in number The second Wall is of the same fashion but higher for it is at least three fathom from the ground up to the Cordon or edging it has the same number of Towers as the former but higher so that one Tower commands the other which is as a Cavalier to it In short this might be made a very strong Town but as yet the Turks have had no need of it for they have not been pursued so far The Walls on the Sea-side are not so high but they are still good and fortified but with the Ments and Turrets they run along the sides of the water upon the Streight of the Propontis unless it be at the Creeks and Stairs which are little Harbours where Boats put a shore for there they turn inwards about fifty paces to make place for them according to the turnings of the shore The bigness of Constantinople Many have imagined that Constantinople was bigger than either Caire or Paris but they are mistaken for certainly it is less than either of those two Cities Some allow it thirteen miles in circuit others sixteen and others again eighteen but I went round it once with another Frenchman we had each of us a Watch and having taken a Caique or Boat at Tophano we went over to Constantinople and landed as near as we durst to the Kionsk of the Seraglio which is upon the Port having then sent the Boat to stay for us at the seven Towers we set our Watches to Seven of the clock and walked a-foot along the Port without the Walls and also along the Land-side till we came to the seven Towers where looking on our Watches we found them both at three quarers after Eight so that we spent an hour and three quarters in performing that Journey and it requires no more than an hour to come by Water from the seven Towers to the Seraglio in a Boat with three Oars for that Way cannot be gone on foot because the Water washes the Walls but if there were a foot-Way I make no doubt but one may walk it in an hour or little more and in an hour and a quarter at most with ease and indeed that quarter is to be allowed because in the beginning we left behind us a little of the side that is on the Port seeing no body dares to walk there Thus I found that in the space of three hours at most one might make the circuit of Constantinople on foot walking a pace as we did It may be said The circuit of the Walls that without the Walls it is twelve miles in compass This Town hath two and twenty Gates six towards the Land eleven along the Port and five on the Streight of the Propontis having all their landing Places and Stairs CHAP. XVI Of Santa Sophia Solymania the New Mosque and others WHen Constantine the Emperour removed the Seat of his Empire from Rome to Constantinople he resolved to render that City which he called New-Rome so illustrious that it should at least be equal to old Rome and for that end he chose seven little Hills on the top and sides whereof in imitation of the first which is built upon seven Hills he built his Town which in progress of time he enrich'd with many ornaments as Statues Pillars c. This Town which stands on seven little hills is disposed in such order that one house takes not away the sight from another the streets are not fair but are for the most part narrow though there be several goodly Buildings in them There are many stately Mosques in it of which the most magnificent is the Santa Sophia heretofore a Christian Church built by the Emperour Justin enlarg'd enrich'd and adorned by Justinian the Emperour and dedicated to the Wisdom of God wherefore it was called Agia Sophia The Turks becoming since masters of Constantinople have changed it into a Mosque leaving it the name which it retains at present This Fabrick which is admired by all that see it is an hundred and fourteen paces in length and fourscore in breadth it is square on the outside and round within There are four Gates to enter under the Portico which reaches along the whole front of the Church but there is only a little door left open which is the wicket of a great Gate of well wrought Marble Afterwards you find seven doors to enter into a kind of Nef or body of a Church which is not very broad and then nine other great brazen Gates The middlemost whereof particularly is very great and by it they enter into the Mosque which is very spacious and hath a Dome in the middle the arch whereof is made in form of a squatted half Globe and so almost singular in its kind and architecture In the inside of this Church there is a porch that ranges all round which carries another Gallerie in like manner vaulted over thirty paces btoad supported by sixty Pillars and this carried as many more lesser ones which uphold the top of the Church all these Pillars being ranked by tens as well above as below The Ascent to the higher Gallery is by a very easie staircase and it behoved us to give a Turk money to open the door of it This gallery when the Christians were masters of it was appointed for the women who kept there
in time of Divine Worship that by the sight of them the Devotion of the men might not be disturbed Constantine's Tomb. There is a Tomb to be seen there which the Turks say is the Tomb of Constantine and a stone also upon which as they believe our Lady washed our Lords Linnen and they bear great reverence to it Heretofore this Church was painted all over A Stone reverenced after the Mosaical way and some pieces of it are still to be seen as Crosses and Images which the Turks did not half deface when they endeavoured to rub them out for they suffer no Images On the outside of this Church Minarets there are four Minarets or Steeples very high and slender yet one may go up to the top of them they have several stories of Balconies all round them from whence the Muezins call to prayers This Church with the appurtenances of it was heretetofore much bigger than it is at present the Turks having cut off a great deal from it and it has served them for a pattern to build their Mosques by Close by the back of this Church in a litte street not far from its entry are two large and thick Pillars where they say Justice was heretofore administred others say that there were three of them and that upon each Constantine caused a brazen Cross to be erected and that upon every Cross one of these words Jesus Christ Surmounts was engraven in large Greek Characters Near to that place there is an old Tower where the Grand Signior's Beasts are kept there I saw Lyons Wolves Foxes Leopards a spotted Lynx Loup-cervier the skin of a Giraffe and other rare Animals Santa Sophia being the Model for all the fair Mosques of Constantinople wherein there are seven Royal ones that of Solymania Solymania is very like to it it is a great Mosque full of Lamps at the end of which there is a little Chappel or Turbe Solyman's Coffin and in it the Coffin that holds the body of Sultan Solyman the Founder of that Mosque this Coffin stands upon a Carpet spread upon the ground which was brought from Medina and over it there is a Pall brought from Mecha which Town is represented upon the Pall. At one end of the Coffin there is Turban to which are fastened two Herons tops enrich'd with precious stones and about it are many Tapers and Lamps burning with several Alcorans chained that they may not be stoln and that people may read them for the salvation of the defuncts Soul and indeed there are men there at all times reading the Alcoran who are hired to do it for the Grand Signiors take care to leave a fund for continual Prayers to be said for them after their death Near to this Chapel there is another in the middle whereof is the body of a Sultana whom Solyman loved extremely and the body also of a Son of Selim the son of Solyman the Second This Mosque hath a most lovely Cloyster with Bagnios and Fountains The New Mosque A fair Portico The new Mosque built by Sultan Achmet is one of the fairest and most magnificent in Constantinople The entry into it is through a large Court that leads to a Portico which hath a gallery covered in length by nine Domes and in breadth by six supported by marble Pillars and leaded then you enter as into a square Cloyster having many necessary houses about it Necessary Houses about the Mosque And Water near them with each a cock that gives water for purifying those that have done their needs there according to the custom of the Turks and there is also a lovely Fountain in the middle of the Cloyster the Mosque joyns to this Cloyster and the door of it is in it It is a very great Mosque and hath a stately Dome and it is full of Lamps and curiosities in glass balls of which one for instance contains a little galley well rigg'd another the model of the Mosque in wood and the rest a great many pretty knacks of that nature at the back of this Mosque there is a Turbe where are the bodies of Sultan Achmet and his children upon their Coffins there is a great Chiaoux Cap a big wax Taper standing by each of them and alwaies somebody there praying for the rest of their souls The chief entry into that Mosque is in the Atmeidan Mosque of Sultan Mehemmet Mosque of Selim Mosque of Chabzadeb Mosque of Bajazet Poor Scholars maintained at the Charge of the Mosque There are besides several other fair Mosques in Constantinople as the Mosque of Sultan Mehemmet near the angle at the end of the Port that of Sultan Selim a little more remote from it that which is called Chabzadeh Mesdgidi that 's to say the Kings Sons Mosque because a son of Solyman built it near the Oda of the Janisaries And the Mosque built by Bajazet near to the old Seraglio All these Mosques have hospitals and schools where a great many poor schollars who have not means of their own to keep them are maintained and educated CHAP. XVII Of the Hyppodrome the Pillars and Obelisks of Constantinople IN former times there were a great many fair Statues Obelisks and Pillars in Constantinople but they have been all so ruined that there are but a few of them remaining The ancient Hyppodrome is still to be seen and of the same dimensions as it was formerly of it is a very large square longer than broad Hyppodrome Atmeidan which was called Hyppodrome because horses were exercised to run there and the Turks still exercise them there daily and call it the Atmeidan which is as much as to say the place or field of horses in the middle of this place there is an Obelisk pretty entire An Obelisk marked with hieroglyphick Letters and some steps from thence a pretty high pillar A Pillar of three Serpents all made of Stones layd one upon another without any ciment A little further towards the end of the Square there is a Pillar made of three brazen serpents twisted together the heads of which at some distance from one another make the capital of the pillar Mahomet the second having taken Constantinople with the blow of a Zagaye or Mace of Arms beat off the under jaw of one of those heads Talisman against Serpents and some say that this pillar being placed there for a Talisman against serpents that breach is the cause that serpents have come there since which before they did not however they do hurt because say they the pillar is still in being there There are two other fair pillars in the Town the one very ancient Historical Pillar called the Historical Pillar because all round from the bottom to the top it is full of figures in bas relief like those of Antoninus and Trajan at Rome and it is said to be the History of an Expedition of Arcadius who erected it and put his Statue
Conventual Cordeliers and their Church is called St. Francis of the Jacobins who have St. Peters Church of the Jesuits who have St. Benet's Church and of the Capucius who have the Church of St. George By the Sea-side there is the finest Fish-market in the World it is a Street with Fish-mongers shops on both sides who have so great quantity of Fish upon their Stalls that it would surprise a man to see it There one may find all sorts of fresh Fish and at a very cheap rate The Greeks keep many Taverns or Publick Houses in Galata which draw thither many of the Rabble from Constantinople who are very insolent in their drink and very dangerous to be met with Going up from Galata you come to Pera which is likewise separated from Galata by Burying-places it is a kind of a Town where Christian Ambassadors dwell only the Ambassadors of the Emperor King of Poland and Republick of Ragousa having their residence in Constantinople The French Ambassador is very commodiously lodged in Pera having a fair large Palace which is called the Kings House and has on all hands a good Prospect looking one way towards the Serraglio of the Grand Signior over against which it stands upon a higher ground than the Serraglio Pera lying very high The Houses of Pera are handsome and hardly any body lives there but Greeks of Quality From Pera to Tophana there is a great descent and Tophana lies upon the Rivers side over against the Serraglio It is called Tophana that is to say the House of Cannon because it is the place where Guns and other Pieces of Artillery are cast and that gives the name to all that Quarter which is a kind of little Town The Houses of Galata Pera and Tophana are built in so good order that as these places stand some higher and some lower they represent a kind of Amphitheater from whence with ease and pleasure the Port and Sea may be seen CHAP. XXI Of Leander's Tower Scudaret the Princes Isle and the Black Sea. THough the Countrey about Constantinople be not so delightful nor so well peopled Iscodar as in France yet it is not without pleasant Walks you must take a Caique and go to Scudaret called in Turkish Iscodar and it is a good mile over to it You pass by the Tower of Leander which stands betwixt the Serraglio and Scudaret and you may go into it if you please This Tower is built upon a Rock in the Sea and is pretty strong there are several great Guns mounted in it which may batter the Port of Constantinople and the two mouths of the Bosphorus of Thrace and of the Propontis or as they say of the Black and White Seas there is a Well of excellent good fresh Water in this Tower but I cannot tell why they call it Leander's Tower. From thence you go to Scudaret which is a Village in Asia upon the Sea-side over against the Serraglio of Constantinople where the Grand Signior hath a sttately Serraglio and very lovely Gardens A little lower on the same side over against the seven Towers stands Chalcedon a Town anciently Famous and celebrated by the Fourth general Council that was held there but at present it is no more but a pitiful Village The Princes Isle which is four hours going from Constantinople is another Walk where the Air is excellently good though this Isle be not great yet it is very pleasant and contains two little Towns of Greeks The Chanel of the Black Sea is a rare place to take the Air upon this is the Bosphorus of Thrace which coming from the Black Sea to Constantinople enters into the Propontis and mingles its Waters with the White Sea at the broadest place it is about a mile over and is twelve miles in length Going from Tophana towards this Chanel you see to the left-hand on the side of Europe a great many lovely Houses and Gardens when you have entered into the Chanel you have on both sides the most charming and delightful Prospect in the World nothing offering to your view but stately Houses and Gardens full of all sorts of excellent Fruits Upon the side in Asia I saw a very pretty Castle where Sultan Ibrahim the Father of Sultan Mahomet who Reigns at present was hid for the space of twenty years to avoid the Death which Sultan Amurath put his other Brothers to This Castle is covered with many very high Trees that hinder it from being seen which is the reason as those who live there told us that few come to see it Along both the shores there are also a great many good Villages where one may have whatsoever is needful They take in this Chanel great quantities of good Fish of several sorts especially Sword-fish Sword-fish which are great and so called because on their Snout they have a long broad bone like a Sword or rather a Saw there are many Dolphins to be seen there which follow Boats playing and leaping out of the Water Six miles from Constantinople there are two Forts on this Sea the one in Europe and the other in Asia which serve for Prisons for Persons of quality and were built to put a stop to the Cosacks who were it not for that would often come and make Booty even in Constantinople seeing notwithstanding these Forts they sometimes give the alarm to that City In three or four hours time one comes to the end of the Chanel or Bosphorus of Thrace where the Black Sea begins In the middle of this mouth which is very narrow there is a little Isle or rather Rock distant on each hand from the main Land about fifty paces where being come you may go up to the top of it and there see a Pillar of white Marble which is called the Pillar of Pompey because they say it was raised by Pompey in memory of his Victory after that he had overcome Mithridates Close by this Rock and round it there are several others scattered here and there in the Water which many take to be the Cyanean Isles or Symplegades On the main Land of Europe side over against the Rock of Pompey's Pillar there is a Village on the Water-side with a Tower on the top whereof there is a Light for the convenience of Vessels that by mistake they may not run foul of the Rocks and be cast away for that 's a very dangerous Sea and many shipwrecks are made in it every year so that the Greeks call it Maurothalassa that is to say the Black Sea Maurothalassa not because the Waters of it are black but because Storms and Tempests rise on it so suddenly that they cause many losses and though the Weather be never so fair yet Vessels are often surprised there in a moment for besides that this Sea is not very broad there are several Currents in it caused by the Danube Boristhenes Tanais and many other smaller Rivers that discharge their Waters into it which occasion so many Eddies
Looking-glass that another holds to you you have no more to do but to pay and be gone The common price of the Bagnio is two Aspres to the Master and they who would be well served give as much to the Man. These Bagnios are very commodious and I believe the frequent use they make of them preserves them from many diseases The poorest person that is Man or Woman goes at least once a week to the Bagnio There are Bagnios whither the Men go one day and the Women another others whither the Men go in the morning and the Women afternoon and others again solely for Women When the Women are there they are served by Women and it is a capital crime for any Man of whatsoever religion or quality he be to enter into the Bagnio where the Women are The modesty of the Turks It is also a great crime but punishable only by shame or some Bastonadoes at most to show ones privy Parts or to look upon another Person 's These Bagnios are heated underneath and Lords of high quality have them in their houses for their own and Wives uses CHAP. XXIV Of the Turks way of Eating Drinking and Lying THe Turks make no sumptuous Feasts and it is never heard in Turkie that a man hath undone himself by House-keeping a small matter contents them and a good Cook in that Country would have but a very bad Trade of it The Turkish food What Pilau is for indeed they are all Cooks there and they have no Sauces but what one may learn to make at first sight Their most usual food is that which they call Pilau This Pilau is Rice put into a Pot with a Pullet a piece of Mutton and Beef or only one of these and for want of Meat with Butter and when the Rice has boyl'd a little they take it off putting it into a large dish with a great deal of Pepper upon it and sometimes Saffron to make it look yellow When it is eating time Soffra the Turks Table they spread upon the ground a Carpet of Turky Leather which they call Soffra upon which they set the Pilau and Meat and breaking the Bread into pieces they distribute it all round then they squat down upon their heels like Taylors about the Soffra and all make use of one blew Napkin that is long enough to go round the Soffra then having said Bismillah that is to say In the name of God Bismillah which to them is instead of Benedicite they eat their Pilau with wooden Spoons a foot long making a scruple to eat in Gold or Silver and nevertheless the Grand Signior has Dishes of Gold Plate as we shall shew hereafter When they have no Spoons they make an easie shift without them putting the Pilau with one hand into the other and so carrying it to their mouth When they come to the Meat one of the company with his Hands tears it to pieces using no Knife for that and then every one takes what they have a mind to They are at no trouble for the Beef and Mutton for before it be drest they cut it into small pieces whether for roasting or boyling They drink not commonly in time of meal but when they have eaten they rise and fill their bellies full of Water then they give God Thanks by a Handillah that is to say God be praised Having thus made an end of their meal they wash their hands for they wash not before they sit down to eat but only when they rise from it Their usual Drink is Water many of them also drink Wine The Turks Drink The Turks are not forbid to drink Wine and though Wine seems to be Prohibited by the Alcoran yet the good-fellows say that it is no more but an advice or council and not a precept However they drink it not publickly unless it be the Janizaries and other Desperadoes that stand in awe of no Man when they fall to drinking they drink a great deal and if they can have it for nothing they 'll drink till they fall a sleep again if they be let alone saying that it is no greater sin to drink ten quarts than one cup full they never mingle Water with it and laugh at Christians for doing so as a thing that seems altogether ridiculous to them In the Countrey about Constantinople and all over the Archipelago they have plenty of good Wine They have besides another Liquor which they call Boza Boza made of Barley or Millet and tasts somewhat like our Beer but not so pleasantly I tasted of it once but found it to be very bad and none but the meaner sort of people drink it because it is very cheap This Drink makes them drunk but they have another which they use very commonly they call it Coffee Coffee and drink of it all hours in the day This Liquor is made of a Berry that we shall mention hereafter They roast or parch it in a Fire-shovel or such like iron instrument then they peel it and beat it into powder and when they have a mind to drink of it they take a copper Pot made purposely which they call Ibrick Ibrick and having filled it with Water make it boyl when it boyls they put in this Powder to the proportion of a good spoonful for three Dishes or Cups full of Water and having let all boyl together they snatch it quickly off of the fire or stir it else it would run all over for it rises very fast Having thus boyl'd ten or twelve wambles they pour it out into China Dishes which they set upon a Trencher of painted Wood and so bring it to you scalding hot and so you must drink it but at several sips else it is not good This Liquor is bitter and black and has a kind of a burnt taste They all drink it sipping for fear of scalding themselves Coffee-bane so that being in a Coffee-hane so they call the place where they sell it ready made one hears a pretty pleasant kind of sippling musick The virtues of Coffee This Liquor is good to hinder vapours from rising up from the stomach to the head and by consequence to cure the Head-ach and for the same reason it keeps one from sleeping When Merchants have many Letters to write and intend to do it in the night-time in the Evening they take a dish or two of Coffee It is good also to comfort the Stomach and helps Digestion In short in the Turks opinion it is good against all Maladies and certainly it hath at least as much virtue as is attributed to Tea As to its taste by that time a man hath drank twice he is accustomed to it and finds it no longer unpleasant Some put Cloves to it some Cardamom-seed called in Latine Cardamomum minus which they call Cacoule and others Sugar but that mixture which renders it more agreeable to the palate makes it less wholsom and useful There
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
broad it is four Foot long I mean the Blade of it alone for the Handle is almost a Foot long and they say that this is but one half of the Blade the other half being in the Grand Signior's Treasury it is so heavy that it is as much as one can do to hold it out with one Hand Near to that Sword is the Mace of Arms of the same Roland which is an Iron-Battoon twice as thick as ones Thumb and about two Foot long the Handle of it is covered with Copper which makes it very big and the end of it is armed with a great Lion of Copper Roland's Mace. In the same Chappel there are two Coffins each covered with a Pall of black Velvet and at the end of each of them there is a Turban They say that in these Coffins are the Bodies of Roland and his Son who as they believe Died both Musulmans The Sword and Mace of Arms lie upon a Table just before the Tombs The top of this Hill is but narrow but very pleasant there being a little Wood upon it And the Turks go often there to Feast and make Merry CHAP. LIX Of the Journey from Bursa to Smyrna The Caravane of Bursa BEing at Bursa I made ready to go to Smyrna with the Caravane that every Thursday goes from Bursa to Smyrna but because it was late before I came on Thursday it behoved me to stay Eight days in the mean time I made my provisions and that care is of no small consequence for you must make account to find nothing but water upon the Road and therefore one must carry a field-Bed to lye on Bisket for Bread will be spoyled a good Pastie Wine if you have a mind to drink any in a Borachio or other Vessel Vinager Oyle Salt Candle and all sorts of Utensiles not forgeting a Candlestick in short one must carry a kind of House-hold-stuff along with him if he would Travel conveniently The Turks are very dextrous at that for without any clutter they carry along with them all that is necessary and trust not to the places upon the Road for supply nay they will as easily Boyl the Kettle in a Desert as at home in their own Houses This was the first time that ever I went in a Caravane and therefore these preparations seemed a little uncouth unto me Caravanes are assemblies of Travellers who join themselves and Baggage together that they may go in company to any Place Caravane and so be better able to defend themselves against Robbers it any be abroad in the High-ways These Caravanes never lodge in Houses nor Villages but abroad in the Fields or in their Kervanserais if any be to be found Kervanserai a Kervanserai signifies the house of the Caravane and they are vast Buildings longer than broad made like a Market or Town-Hall There is a great place in the middle of them where the Horses Mules Camels and other Beasts of the Caravane stand and this place is surrounded with a low Wall three foot high joining to the great Wall these low Walls are six Foot broad above Mastabez and are called Mastabez and there the Turks take up their Lodging making it their Hall Parlour Kitching and all some of these Kervanserais are also made like a great Stable having Mangers on the one side to which the Horses are tied and on the other Mastabez where the Men repose eat and sleep There are others which have several little Mastabies to wit one betwixt every two Horses and there are others but very rare upon this Rode where there is a Stable for the Beasts and another place much like to it but distant for the Men. On Wednesday I hired two Horses for myself and Servant of the Master of the Caravane and a Mule for my Baggage and next day Thursday the seventh of September I parted with the Caravane from Bursa about two a Clock in the Afternoon Tahhtalie We came to lye that night at a Village called Tahhtalie about ten or twelve miles from Bursa and there we lodged in a Kervanserai Friday the eighth of September we parted from Tahhtali about two a Clock in the Morning and at Noon came to Loubat thirty Miles from Tahhtali where we lay Saturday we parted from Loubat at two of the Clock in the Morning and about eleven a Clock came to Sousurluk Loubat Sousurluk five and twenty Miles from Loubat There is a River there which we cross over upon a very sorry Bridge where I was many times in fear of being drowned or breaking my Neck for we were fain to step over upon ugly Planks pretty distant from one another Sunday about three a Clock in the Morning we parted from that Place and Travelled about twenty Miles there the way began to be very bad which continued so till Wednesday Monday we set out about four a Clock in the Morning and Travelled twenty Miles Tuesday we parted about five a Clock in the Morning and about eleven came to a Village called Dgelembe Dgelembe from that Village till we came to Smyrna the way was very good Wednesday we parted from Dgelembe about five a a Clock in the Morning and about eleven came to a Village called Palamout Palamout and though there be a Kervanserai in it which is the usual Lodging-place yet we stop'd not there but went on that we might baulk the Robbers whom we were afraid we might meet and stop'd two Miles beyond it in a Plain that we might rest a little and refresh our Beasts There were a great many Robbers at that time upon the Road and they were those who had escaped from the Battel of the Dardanelles most of them Barbary Men who gave no Quarter for not thinking it enough to Rob they Killed Travellers and that made us keep a good Watch and often look to our Arms having with us besides Troopers whom the Master of the Caravane had hired to Guard the Caravane who had indeed some Allarms upon the Road but they proved always to be false We took Horse again about two in the Afternoon and about five a Clock came to a pitiful Village or Hamlet near to which we lay abroad in the Fields for till then we had always lain in Kervanserais under cover There we found a great many water Melons water Melons which were a great regale for the Turks who are great lovers of Fruits and especially of that sort and indeed every one of them eat one at least for his share We left that wretched Lodging on Thursday about five a clock in the Morning and about eight came to a great Town called Manassa Manassa and lodged in a fair Kervanserai where we found every thing necessary nay Wine too for there are several Greeks there We stayed all that day and the next in that Town and parted on Saturday the Sixteenth of September about five a Clock in the Morning and the
hundred Sail great and small having Two hundred thousand Men on board Threescore thousand of them being Pioneers and the Grand Signior in Person who much raised their Courage not only by his Promises but Threatnings and besides that daily succours came to them from Anatolia which is close by This Siege is at length described in the History of the Knights of St. John to which I refer the Reader both it and that of Malta deserving very well to be read which assuredly are two of the most memorable Sieges that any History mentions in regard of the many brave Actions performed by the Knights The Turks Attacked the place with great fury and the Knights most valiantly Defended it so that the Grand Signior despairing of taking it was about to pack up and be gone Andrea d'Amaral a Portuguese Traitor and his Army already began to dislodge When Andrea d'Amaral a Portuguese Prior of Castile and Chancellour of the Order being vexed that he was not chosen Great Master at the last Election and thereupon bearing a great spight to his Order gave him notice by a Letter which being fastned to an Arrow he shot into his Camp That the Besieged were quite spent and informed him of a weak place in the Town whereat he ought to give the Assault promising him an easie Conquest of the place if he had but patience to abide some days longer before it The Grand Signior having followed this Counsel the Town was taken by Composition for the Knights were reduced to that pass that they were not able to hold out any longer And indeed the Great Master received a great deal of Honour by this Siege having been praised by the Grand Signior himself who both honoured and pittied him offering him every thing that he stood in need of This place was surrendred to the Turks about the end of the Year 1522. after it had been kept by the Knights for the space of Two hundred and some odd Years The Town hath two Harbours the one which is the great Port being square and spacious enough but it is not very safe when it blows from East North-east or South-east and we found it bad enough for two days time that a North-Wind blew When the Knights were in possession of that Isle they designed to have made another in the corner near the Town by the Castle St. Angelo and this would have proved a safe Port from all Winds but they lost the place before they could put their design in execution On the right-hand of the entry into the Port there is a new Tower built by the Turks in place of the old one which was called the Tower of St. Nicholas it is square has a pretty Dungeon or Plat-form in the upper part of it and a Sentry-place at each Angle This Tower is well furnished with Cannon it hath a Bastion adjoyning to it behind and a Courtine that reaches to the Walls of the Town and makes one of the sides of the Port Over against this Tower on the other side of the Port there is an old Castle which when the Knights were Masters there was called the Castle of St. Angelo but it is somewhat Ruinous The Colossus of the Sun. The Castle and Tower which are above fifty Fathom distant are built upon the two places where stood the Feet of that great Colossus of Brass one of the Seven Wonders of the World betwixt the Legs of which Ships passed under Sail. This Colossus which represented the Sun was cast by Chares the Lyndian Chares the Lyndian it was Seventy Cubits high and carried in one Hand a Light-house where every Night a light was kindled to direct the Vessels that were abroad at Sea. At length since the solidest thing that can be is subject to the decays of Time this Colossus which seemed immortal Being overthrown by an Earth-quake lay there till the Saracenes having made themselves Masters of Rhodes beat it in pieces and sold it to a Jew who loaded Nine hundred Camels with the Mettal and carried it to Alexandria in the Year 954. and 1461. years after it had been made There is a Bastion on the Sea-side behind the Tower of St. Nicholas to which it is joyned on which Nine very great Guns are Mounted that defend the entry of the Port on all sides and it is Railed in with Wooden-Rails to the Land-side Next to that is the Port of the Galleys which toward the Sea is covered by a Tongue of Rock joyned to the Main-Land whereon there is a Castle built called in time of the Knights the Castle of St. Erme This is a good Harbour and able to contain many Galleys but the Mouth of it is so narrow that one Galley only can enter at a time it looks to the East North-east It 's every Night shut with a Chain that is fastned to a little Tower at the farther end of a Mole which runs out Five and twenty or thirty Paces into the Sea over against the Castle St. Erme the other end of the Chain is made fast to a piece of Rock on the Shoar seven or eight Paces from the Castle St. Erme This Mole I have been speaking of hath another little Tower on the end of it towards the Land and hard by about fifty Paces further up on Land there is a Burying-place and in it fifteen or twenty Domes of Free-stone well built most of them supported by four Arches and these are the Sepulchres of the Beys and other Persons of Quality in Rhodes who have been killed in the Wars There is a Piazza or place on the side of the Galleys Port with some Trees and a Fountain in it and at the end of that place near the bottom of the Port is the Arsenal where the Galleys and Saiques are built The Town as I said is small but very strong towards the Port it hath high and strong Walls well planted with Faulcons on the top and below there are Port-holes for great Cannon There is besides over against the Bastion that is betwixt the two Ports a good Tower with a Ditch which hath three great pieces of Cannon mounted aloft that hinder any Vessels from coming near the Port. In the middle of the Frontispiece of this Tower there is a little Statue of St. Paul The Statue of St. Paul at Rhodes with his Sword as the Inscription by his Head shews underneath this Statue is the Mitre with the two Keys which are the Arms of the Church then underneath that there are three Escutcheons one of a plain Cross another of a Cross Anchred and a third in the middle bearing a Tree which I know not It is as strong on the Land-side but strangers have less liberty to view it on that side because they have less to do there This Town hath three Gates one towards the Sea where Corn is sold and two on the Land-side through one of which I passed and it looks towards the Den of the Dragon which
was slain by the Knight Deodat de Gozon Deodat de Gozon as may be seen in the History of the Knights of St. John the Head of the Dragon was heretofore upon that Gate but some Years since the Turks removed it to the Water-gate On this side it was also that the Traytor Andrea d'Amaral shot secretly from the House of the Great Master that looks that way a Letter fastned to an Arrow into the Camp of the Turks wherein he gave the Turks notice that they could not take the Town but on that side by filling up the Ditches with the Earth of a Hill that was close by which they did and so took Rbodes from the same place the Traytor continued to acquaint the Grand Signior with the resolutions of the Council Near to this Gate within the Town are the Pits where the Knights put their Corn such as they have at present in Malta for the same use As you enter the Town by the Water-gate you go first through a little Gate over which are two Escutcheons of two Crosses the one plain and the other Anchred then to the Left hand you enter by a great Gate over which is the Dragons Head which is much Thicker Broader A Dragons head at Rhodes and Longer than a Horses Head the Jaws of it are slit up to the Ears with very great Teeth on each side it is flat above hath Eyes somewhat bigger than those of a Horse the hole of the Nostril full round and the Skin of a greyish White Colour perhaps because of the Dust that sticks to it and appears to be very hard There are three Escutcheons over that Gate also as there are many others on several places of the Walls but one dares not stop to look at them One of these Escutcheons bears a plain Cross and the other a Cross Anchred and betwixt these two there is a third bearing the Arms of France On the very top of this Gate there are three Statues in their Niches with three Lines written underneath them whereof I could only read the first Word which is D. Petrus and under that Inscription are the three above-mentioned Escutcheons This Gate is betwixt two great Towers well planted with Faulcons The Streets of the Town are pretty broad all Paved with little Stones and for the most part covered with Pent-houses which the Turks have made these Pent-houses jet out so far into the Street that they almost touch one another in the middle of it There are several fair Buildings in it but all built in time of the Knights St. John's Church is still to be seen there but it is at present a Mosque There is a little Nich over the great Gate of it that hath a round cover and upon that cover the Figures of our Saviour the Blessed Virgin and St. John holding the Cross are cut in bas relief The Gate is of Wood pretty well carv'd and on the left hand as you come out of the Church into which no Christian is now suffered to enter is the street of the Knights where all of them I believe lodged for there are several Coats of Arms upon the houses of that street out of which there is still a gate to go into St. John's This is a long streight street and mounts upwards it is paved with small Stones and in the middle of the street there is a line of white Marble a foot broad which reaches from one end to the other at the upper end of it is the Palace of the great Master but no body now lives in it None but Turks and Jews live in the City of Rhodes for Christians are not suffered to be there though they keep Shops in the Town but at night they must retire to the Villages in the Countrey about being only allowed to come to Town in the day-time CHAP. LXXIV Of the Voyage from Rhodes to Alexandria Departure from Rhodes WE stay'd at Rhodes till Christmas having all the while very bad weather great Rains and much Thunder At length on Monday Christmas-day the five and twentieth of December the wind turned North-west but because it was still close and cloudy weather our Captain would not put out that day though a great many Saiques set sail On St. Stephen's-day being Tuesday the six and twentieth of December it clearing a little up and the North-west-wind continuing we set out from Rhodes after twelve a clock making sail only with our Fore-sail that we might not leave the Island before night for fear of Corsairs The Countrey of Chares After Sun-set we spread our Main-sail and in a short time left Lindo the Countrey of Chares who made the Colossus of Rhodes a stern of us it is a little Rock at a point of the Isle of Rhodes threescore miles from the Town Scarpanto There is a small Town on it with a very good Fort. When it was two or three hours in the night we came over against the Isle of Scarpanto fifty miles from Lindo Gulf of Satalia which we left to the star-board then we entered into the Gulf of Satalia where for two or three hours time we had a rowling Sea because the Current of that Gulf makes an Eddy with the Currents of the Gulf of Venice and other places to the Westward which is the cause that the Sea is a little rough there This Passage was heretofore so dangerous that many Vessels were cast away in it but the Sea-men say that St. Helena returning from Jerusalem threw one of the Nails of our Saviour's Cross into it and that since the danger has been less After that about mid-night it began to blow so fresh from North-north-west that we reckoned our running to be ten miles an hour though we carried only our Main-sail that we might not leave a Callion or Turkish Ship that was our Consort and was a great way a stern of us She came with us from Chio and was also bound for Alexandria That wind lasted all Wednesday the seven and twentieth of December St. John the Evangelist's-day and at night it slackened a little and then changed to the North-east but so easie a gale that we got a head but little or nothing during the whole night and all next day which was St. Innocent's-day the twenty eighth of December That day towards the evening the wind blew a little fresher but shortly after was calmed by a shower of Rain About midnight it blew again so hard that Friday the nine and twentieth of December by break of day we made the Land of Aegypt Boukery and the wind chopping about to West-north-west we stood away towards Boukery five hundred miles distant from Rhodes but the wind cast us so far to the lee-ward that shortly after we found ourselves below Alexandria where we endeavoured to put in Arrival near to Alexandria beating to and again all day long but in the evening we were fain to come to an anchor five or six miles
into two Pits the first is almost square and is eleven foot long and ten foot broad there is a pair of stairs to go down to it about seven or eight foot broad cut in the Rock all round and separating the Pit from the Rock so that when you go down you have one of the sides of the Well on the right hand which serves for a rail to keep one from falling or indeed seeing into the Well unless it be by windows that are at convenient distances On the left hand you have the wall which is the Rock it self This Stair-case hath been made very easie to go down and up for the convenience of the Oxen that go down to labour so that the descent is hardly sensible You go down then 220 steps finding on each side of the Pit two windows each about three foot square there are three windows in some places A hole in Joseph's Well that goes to the Pyramides but the Pit being very deep they are not sufficient to give light enough and therefore some Torches must be carried down At the bottom of these two hundred and twenty steps in the Rock on the left hand there is a great hole like a door but stopt up and they say that that hole goes as far as the Pyramides Another hole in Josephs Well which the Aegyptians say reaches as far as Suez There is another hole like the former on the right hand of the Pit and stopt up in the same manner and that they say goes as far as Suez upon the Red-Sea but I believe neither of the two Turning then to the right hand towards that hole you come to a place which is the bottome of the first Pit or story this place answers perpendicularly to the mouth of the Pit being equal to it in length and breadth so much of it as is uncovered for afterwards it strikes off to the right hand under the Rock to the place of the second story or second Pit which is narrow but deeper than the former At the top of this last Pit in the afore-mentioned place that goes under the Rock the Oxen are which by means of wheels draw a great quantity of water out of this narrow Pit or Well which falling into a Channel runs into a reservatory at one end of this place and at the bottom of the first Pit from whence at the same time it is conveyed up on high by little buckets fastened to a rope which Oxen on the top continually keep going by the means of other wheels that they turn and then it is distributed through the Castle in several pipes One may go to the bottome of this narrow Well there being several steps in it by which some have descended but there is too much mud and slime in it Now what is most wonderful all this Pit or Well is made out of the hard Rock to a prodigious breadth and depth and the water of it is from a Spring there being no Spring to the knowledge of man in all Aegypt but this Onely two Springs of Water in Aegypt and that of the Matharee which we mentioned before Many and almost all the Franks think that the water of Joseph's Well is the same that is brought from the Nile in that fair Aqueduct which comes by Old Caire to the Castle But we informed ourselves as to that of many in the Castle who all assured us that the water that is brought by that Aqueduct served only for the Bashas Horses as indeed it comes streight to the Stables in the Bashas Appartment and that it enters not at all into Joseph's Well which is in the Quarter of the Janizaries besides the water of Joseph's Well is sweetish as the water of most Wells is and differs in taste from that of the Nile Joseph's Hall. Thirty Pillars of Thebaick stone in Joseph's Hall. The Hall of Joseph's Steward Joseph's Hall is also to be seen in the Castle but much ruined it hath thirty lovely great Pillars of Thebaick-stone and a good deal of Gold and Azure still to be seen on the seeling Pretty near to that is the Hall also of Joseph's Steward which is more curious than the other but there remains still ten or twelve Pillars such as those of Joseph's Hall. It is to be observed that all the fine things of the Antients that still remain in Aegypt are attributed to Joseph and all that is ugly or infamous to Pharaoh There is to be seen also in the Castle a large old Hall well built the seeling whereof is in many places gilt and painted in Mosaick In this Hall the Vest which is yearly sent to Mecha is embroidered Then you have many high Terrasses from whence you may see all the City of New Caire the Old Boulac and a great way farther into the Desarts Joseph's Dungeon The Dungeon or Arcane is still remaining in the Castle which they say is the Prison whereinto Joseph was cast and where he interpreted the Dreams of the King's Butler and Baker but nothing makes it considerable but the Name of Joseph for it is a Prison composed of some dark nasty and stinking passages like Dungeons by what I could discover on the out-side and some who have been Prisoners there told me that it is far worse within and Prisoners are so cruelly used there that it deserves not to be look'd upon nay woe be to them who are shut up there for so soon as a Man is clapt up in it his feet are put into the Stocks and his body chained to the wall by a heavy Chain where he must sit on his breech then the Gaolers demand of him ten or twenty Piastres more or less The bad usage of Prisoners by the Gaolers of the Arcane according as they judge him able and if he give it not they throw pales of water under his breech and when he has feed the first that he may not be abused next day others come into office who use him in the same manner if he see them not also as he did the former and in a word this Prison is a Hell upon Earth People are put in there for small matters as for Debt or Batteries especially the Christians and Jews The Aga of the Janizaries lives in the Castle and Commands there Being come out of the Castle you must go see the Basha's Appartment separated from the Castle only by a Wall and I think all together made but one Castle before but the Turks make a distinction betwixt them calling the Basha's Appartment the Serraglio of the Basha and the rest the Castle you must see then the Appartment or Serraglio of the Basha which is very neat as that of the Kiayas is also Both these places have a very pleasant Prospect for from them one has a full view of Caire Old Caire Boulac the Desarts and all places about The Hall of the great Divan is in the Basha's Appartment it is long but the seeling a
first kisses that stone on a certain day on Friday that falls within the three days that they sojourn there is held to be a Saint and every one strives to kiss his Feet so that most frequently he is stifled in the crowd upon the very spot They never enter this Sacred place but four times in a year and one of these times at the Ramadan to wash it with Rose-water if any Person of Quality have a mind to go into it paying an hundred Chequins he may This House is covered all round on the outside with Stuffs which the Grand Signior and other Princes of the Musulman Law offer to it and the old ones belong to the Grand Signior when the little Bairam or Easter of Sacrifice falls upon a Friday who gives pieces of them to new Mosques which serve them for a Consecration but those years when the litte Bairam falls not on a Friday the Sultan Scherif who commands there takes off the Gold and cutting the Stuff into small pieces sells them for Relicks at the rate of several Chequins Reliks of the stuffs of Mecha Sultan Scherif This Sultan Scherif is chief at Mecha and of great Authority there he is rich and from the Pilgrims squeezes money by a thousand inventions all pretexts of Devotion Heretofore his predecessours made Pilgrims pay vast sums of money but one year the Sultana of Aegypt being at Mecha the Sultan exacted a great sum of Money from her saying that he owned no King but himself this Lady upon her return would not enter the City of Caire but sent word to her Husband that he was not King unless he revenged her Immediately thereupon the Sultan of Aegypt set out with a mighty Army fell upon the Sultan of Mecha Why the Scherif of Mecha ride on Horseback barefooted and defeated him obliging him and all the Scherifs of Mecha his Relations never to ride on Horse-back but bare-footed which to this day they observe when the Pilgrims come to Mecha there is a great Fair kept there whereall sorts of Commodities are brought from the Indies and are sold in Caves made in the Mountain CHAP. XIX Of the Ceremonies to be performed by the Pilgrims of Mecha upon their Journey OF those that make the Pilgrimage of Mecha many go out of Devotion For what use the Pilgrims of Mecha is others to trade and buy Commodities and others to avoid the Punishment they have deserved for some great Crime for this Pilgrimage absolves from all and howsoever guilty a man may be if he can make his escape and perform that Journey he is not called in question afterward but reckoned an honest Man. Now though the intentions of all that go thither may be very different yet they perform the Journey with a great deal of Devotion either real or counterfeit for all along the way they do nothing but sing verses of the Alcoran and bestow Charity according as they are able Eight days nakedness in the pilgrimage of Mecha Great continence during these eight days Two days before they arrive at Mecha all strip themselves stark naked at a place called Raback and have nothing upon their Bodies but a Napkin to cover their Privities and another about their neck they say that it is out of respect they do so and wear Sandals also that they may not tread upon so holy a Ground and in this state they continue eight days during which it is not lawful for them to be shaven to buy or sell any thing to kill any thing no not a Louse or Flea to quarrel with their Servants nor to speak an unseemly word and if any trespass against the least of these things he is obliged in Conscience to give some Alms to the Poor as to kill a Sheep after the eight days are over and distribute it among the Poor Such as are indisposed and sick strip not but instead of it give Alms. When they are come to Mecha Arrival at Mecha they stay three days there during which they visit the holy places and on one of them every one must seven times go a pretty long way round the Kiaabe saying certain Prayers but it is a very pleasant way of Praying for Don Philippo Prince of Tunis of whom I shall speak hereafter told me that being at Mecha he fell sick so that he could not practice much Devotion but that he could not forbear to laugh when he saw others say their Prayers especially a Brother of his own who went with him They have an Imam that goes before them to shew them how they are to act and all have their eyes fixed upon him that they may imitate him in every thing At first they walk softly muttering their Prayers then at certain intervals they run and skip shrugging and turning their shoulders this way and that way in a most ridiculous manner then fall to the gentle soft pace again and so continue by turns till they have done After they have been three days at Mecha they go to Minnet where they arrive the Vigil of the little Bairam Minnet Little Bairam and the day of little Bairam or Easter of Sacrifice they all Sacrifice Sheep every one according to his ability distributing a good part of them among the Poor and that day they shave themselves put on their Cloaths Mount Arafat where Abraham went to sacrifice his Son. Throwing of stones The place where the Devil tempted Abraham The place where Adam and Eve met after a search of two hundred and twenty years and appear in the same condition as they were eight days before Then they go to Mount Arafat which as I think is a short days journey from thence but every one must provide two and forty stones by the way for there are none to be found there They stay there three days more and the first day they go to the foot of the Hill after they have said their Prayers and throw seven stones against the Mount the second day they throw fourteen and the third twenty one saying that they throw these stones at the Head of the Devil who in that place tempted Abraham when he was going to sacrifice his Son Ishmael for they will have this to be the Mountain whether he led his Son and that it was Ishmael and not Isaack whom he would have Sacrificed They tell a great many other pleasant tales of this Mountain where they say that Adam and Eve sought one another for the space of two hundred and twenty years after they were driven out of the Earthly Paradise the one going up the Hill on one side while the other went down on the other and that at the end of two hundred and twenty years they met on the top of this Mountain When all these Ceremonies are over the Sultan Scherif who comes with them to the Mount says some Prayers then gives them the Benediction to which all answer Amen and so the work is concluded Journey to Medina
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
Caire a French Consul a Venetian an English and a Dutch all other Nations that Traffick in that Countrey or in any part of the Turkish Empire go under the Banner of France as the Messines Geneose c. and the French Consul protects them The Consuls in Aegypt have from the Grand Signior a yearly Pension of six thousand Maidins which amount to two hundred Piastres but the Consul of Venice has only two thousand Maidins and yet is obliged to make a Present of about two thousand Piastres to every new Basha whereas the rest are excused for about a thousand for it is the custome when a new Basha comes or a new Consul enters into Office to send the Basha a present of so many Vests and so many besides to some other Officers which are rated at above a thousand Piastres The Consuls expence towards the Basha not reckoning a great many other Vails that are to be given every day almost to the Sous-Basha and several other Knaves When the Consul hath sent his Present he demands Audience of the Basha who having assigned him a day he goes to wait upon him and the Basha makes him to sit down over against him in a Chair or Couch or else near to himself upon a Divan and when the Consul takes his leave the Basha gives him a Vest of Cloath of Tissue to put on and one to the chief Trucheman on whom also he bestows a small Pension and raises the pay of the Consuls Janizaries Herteofore the Consuls had the honour of Beys but at present they are pulled down very low and so little regarded especially in Aegypt that a Basha makes no scruple to put Avanies upon them when he pleases and while I was in Aegypt I knew the Turks and Jews squeeze from the French Nation above fourscore or an hundred thousand Piastres in one year because the Jews are very powerful in Aegypt and govern all the affairs of that Kingdom the Customes being in their hands and they being the only Serats or Bankers Besides that they enjoy some Offices about the Basha which make them have his Ear and they daily put new inventions into his Head for raising of Avanies He has three principal Officers to wit the Basha's Schelebi which is an Office instituted within these few years the Saraf Basha and the Saraf of the Basha who set their Wits continually a devising and think of nothing else but of ways how to persecute the poor Franks A Turk told me one day that the Jews were the Turks Hounds for catching Money from the Franks for the Turks of themselves are neither malicious nor cunning enough to chase the Prey but when once the Jews have made sure of the Game the Turks come in and carry all away I have known the Consuls several times put in Prison and always most unjustly An English Merchant-man bound for Aegypt was met and pursued by six Turkish Ships coming from Candie An Avanie upon the English Consul in the Chase he fired several Guns and killed three Janizaries but so soon as the Ships arrived in Aegypt and this was known the English Consul was put into Prison and for some days kept there but this is nothing in respect of what happened some time after The Turks having freighted two French Ships with goods in Alexandria An unlucky business for the Franks in Aegypt the one commanded by Captain Durbequi and the other by Captain Civilliers and one English Ship to all which they gave a good Freight Captain Durbequi instead of going to Constantinople as he ought to have done went to Legorn with a design to make the best of his Cargoe Captain Civilliers and the English Captain followed the Example upon this Ships durst not come from Christendom to Aegypt fearing the loss might be revenged upon them but in the mean time the Jews having had advice from Legorn that the Ships were arrived in that Port presently acquainted the Basha with it who at that time dissembling his Indignation sent an Aga to assure the Consuls that the Ships of their Countrey were in no Danger and that they might come as freely and with as much safety as they did before entreating the Consuls to send this advice into Christendom each Consul presented the Aga with a Vest to the value of fifty Piastres for it is a general rule that Aga's never come in Message to any person whatsoever Consul or private man Christian or Turk but they must be presented according to the merit of the business whether good or bad A few days after when they thought that the Consuls had sent Letters into Christendom according to the orders sent to them on which the Consuls did really rely one morning an Aga with a Chiaoux and such other Rogues came to their several Houses and halling them out like Thieves and Robbers by force put them upon ugly Horses without allowing them time to dress themselves one being in his Slippers and another in his Night-Cap and with all imaginable rigour carried them Prisoners to the Castle being even in danger of being knocked on the Head in the Streets for the Villains spead about a report that the Franks had robbed the Grand Signior's Money which much incensed the People The Dutch and Venetian Consuls were carried away in the same manner though they were not at all concerned in the business but they were no sooner come into the Castle when they were sent home again to their Houses though for all that it cost them an hundred Piastres a piece to the Aga's and Chiaoux as a reward for the pains they had been at The other two Consuls lay several days in Prison nay and were for the first day put in Chains and at length were not released till their Nations paid great sums for their liberty and promised the Basha to pay within a few Months the value of the Ships Loadings for which all the Merchants were obliged under hand and Seal If the Capitulations made by Monsieur de Breves were observed such violences would not be used as I my self have seen practiced by the Sous-Basha who sent his Officers one night into the quarter of the French some Merchants walking then in the open place which is at the end of their Quarter having perceived them coming retired to their homes but the Villains pursuing them to the very tops of their Houses halled them out and with all the speed they could dragged them to a nasty Prison upon pretext that they had found them abroad at unseasonable hours for it is prohibited to walk abroad in the streets in the Night-time but the French are excepted by the Capitulations which specifie that the Sous-basha is not to enter into their Quarter They ran away with them in all haste for fear they might be taken from them and to make them run the faster each of them was led by two Cowas one holding one Arm and the other the other Cowas These Cowas are Moorish Recors
long during which the Wind was very high and stormy which exceedingly tossed us Sunday about break of day we tacked about and stood North East that we might make Candie after two hours sailing the Seamen made something dark on head which they believed to be the Land of Candie we steered our course that way all day long but could not make it plain because of Clouds We continued the same course still till eleven of the clock at night and then began to tack and beat to and again that we might bear in with the Land of Candie It blew very hard all that night and we had a violent storm Munday by break of day we had the Wind at North which being quite contrary for Candie made us resolve to quit our design of standing towards that Island which we had made but very obscurely and to bear away towards Alexandria in Egypt The distance of Candie from Alexandria four hundred miles distant from Candie and therefore we steered our course South-East Towards Evening the Wind abated and we were becalmed until Tuesday Morning when there blew a gentle breeze from South-East which made us turn the ship's head towards the North we were obliged to keep so upon tacks that we might not over shoot Alexandria from which we were not above two hundred fourscore and ten miles Then did every one blame and curse the Sea-man whose errour was the cause that we were not in the Port of Alexandria About six a Clock at Night we tacked about and stood away South-South-West it blew so hard that our Vessel shipped the Sea on both sides one after another Wednesday Morning February the sixth the Wind was so violent that we were afraid we should sail our Masts because the Stays were very slack being loosened by the force of the Wind the day before the Stay is a great Cable that holds the Mastraunt each Mast has one the main Stay which is the biggest is made fast one end to the ship's head and the other to the round top of the main Mast To prevent that disaster all the Sails were furled the ship's head turned North-East and a quarter of an hour after the Stayes being well bent we bore away West-South-West with the missen and foresail the Wind being a little fallen after dinner we spread the main Sail and about six a Clock at Night having tacked about we stood East-North-East the Wind then slackening more and more Thursday Morning we were almost becalmed but about ten of the Clock a South-East Wind blowing again we tacked and bore away South-South-West about six a Clock at Night we tacked again and stood East-North-East Friday about two or three of the Clock in the Morning immediately after the Moon was set the South-East Wind ceased and the so much desired West and North Wind came in place of it which made us turn the ship's head South-East and make all the sail we could but we made but little way for all that the Wind being so easie that it was almost a calm It continued so till about five of the Clock at Night and then the Wind changed to North-West but was so easie that the Sea was very smooth about ten a Clock at Night the Wind chopping about to the North-West in five or six hours time we made a great deal of way there being very little or no Sea going but the Wind freshened afterwards and then we spared sail that we might not run to the Lee-ward of Alexandria the ship's head in the mean time lying still South-East Saturday Morning the Weather was very hazy and a little after we were almost in a calm About eleven a Clock he that looked out made a sail and shortly after another which were known to be Saicks coming from Egypt About two a Clock after Noon the Wind turned South-East and we stood away North-East an hour after it shifted about to the North-East again but was so easie that the Sea was smooth and we steered our course South a few minutes after it turned South-East again but so gentle that the Sea was as smooth as a Looking-glass We sailed South-South-West till six at Night when having tacked we stood away East-North-East About midnight the Wind turned West-South-West and we steered our course South-South-East after an hours sailing we found the Water to be whitish which made us think we were not far from Egypt The Land of Egypt that being the onely mark that can be had for the Land is so low that one cannot make it till he be just upon it especially when it is dark as it was then and that whiteness is occasioned by the Nile which carries it a great way into the Sea. Sunday the tenth of February about break of day it was thought we had seen the Light of Alexandria but it proved onely to be a Saick and because we were apprehensive that we were to the Lee-ward of Alexandria about nine in the morning we tacked about and stood North-West and about three a Clock after Noon tacked again and bore away South-West we had afterwards several Flurries that brought great showers of rain with them which were soon over About five in the Evening the Wind turned West-North-West and we tacked about that we might get to the windward of Alexandria from which we were still about an hundred and ten Miles distant and therefore we bore away North. In this manner we plied to and again against our will and it was our misfortune that we knew not where we were onely because we had not made the Island of Candie An errour of calculation in the sailing from whence with that Wind we might easily have come to Alexandria in two Days and one Nights time and the reason why we made it not plainly was that the Ship had run two hundred Miles more than we had reckoned and that when we thought our selves to be at the beginning of Candie we were almost quite past it as we since observed The Wind blew hard and we had several gusts in the Night time We held on the same course still untill Munday when about eleven a Clock in the Fore-noon we tacked and bore away South-West In the Evening the Moon three hours after the full was eclipsed I cannot tell at what hour that Eclipse began of how many parts it was nor how long it continued because she rose overcast with Clouds so that we could not see her but when she was coming out of the Eclipse as near as I could guess she had then been up near an hour and the Sun had not been set half an hour at which time she was almost half eclipsed The Eclipse decreased from the time we perceived it and ended half an hour after The Almanacks of Marseilles foretold it to be very great about two or three a Clock after Noon and by consequence affirmed that it could not be seen In the Night the Wind abated much and so did the Sea which in the
if fastened to the stern as ours are Bir. We came a shoar at Bi r which is a little Town in Mesopotamia upon the side of the River the houses of it beginning below at the Water-side and reaching up to the top of a hill the Castle which seems to be pretty enough is also situated upon an ascent The Walls of the Town are entire and as the houses are built of little square Stones got in the hill which is all of a soft Rock but within there is nothing but Ruines We encamped on the top of the hill without the Town and arrived there half an hour after eight having first payed custom for all Merchants goods at so much a load so soon as we crossed the River The Burying-place of Bi r is on the other side of the River in Syria and they give this reason for it that our Saviour being come as far as Euphrates gave a man a Handkerchief on which his Picture was stamped that he might therewith go and convert the people of Mesopotamia but that this man being curious to see what it was and having unfolded the Handkerchief contrary to the commands of our Lord it flew into a Well and that our Lord knowing this said that that Land was good for nothing and therefore went no farther this is the cause why they will not bury their dead there Others tell this story in another manner which I shall relate when I come to speak of Orfa Friday the fourth of July we parted from Bi r Departure from Bir. about two a Clock in the Morning and took our way a little different from what we had held till we came there for we directed our course East-North-East untill we came to Orfa About nine in the Morning we encamped in a Field near to a hill where heretofore had been a great Town called Aidar Ahmet at present there is nothing of it to be seen and a little Brook runs by it among Reeds Next day being Saturday the fifth of July we set forwards on our Journey about two a Clock in the Morning Tcharmelick and about five a Clock passed by Tcharmelick which was formerly a little Town with a Castle built by one Delivar Basha who was Basha of Diarbeck upon a little eminence with a Han for the convenience of the Caravans and that because of the many Robbers upon that road as there is still at present All was built of stones taken out of the Ruines of Aidar Ahmet but there is no more now remaining but a little of a Castle with a small Village at the foot of it and part of the Walls of the Town whereof two gates are still to be seen the Han which is still entire is very pretty We went on and about nine in the Morning encamped in a place where formerly stood a great Town called Yogonboul Yogonboul at present it is no more but a confused heap of stones amongst which there are some Wells of Rain-water We parted from thence the same day about ten of the Clock at Night and ascended by bad ways Next morning being Sunday the sixth of July at one a Clock in the Morning we travelled along a lovely way made in the Rock two fathom deep a fathom broad and eight fathom long before that way was cut there was no travelling by that road Then we went down an ugly descent which continues as far as the Town of Orfa where we arrived about two a Clock in the Morning and encamped near the Walls The Town of Orfa which is the ancient Edessa is about two hours march in circuit the Walls of it are fair and pretty entire it is almost square Orfa Edessa but within there is hardly any thing but Ruines to be seen and nevertheless it is very populous On the South-side there is an adjoining Castle upon a hill with large and deep Ditches though they be cut in the Rock it is large in compass but full of Ruines and has onely some pittifull old broken Guns on the top of the Castle there is a little square Turret from whence one may see a great way The Chamber of Elias and the People of the Countrey say that Elias lived in that little Chamber On the side that looks towards the Town there are two great Stone-pillars at six or seven steps distance one from another and standing upon their Pedestals they are of Corinthian order Pillars of Corinthian order consisting of seven and twenty lays of stone a piece each lay contains but two stones and each stone is nineteen Inches high being two foot and a half in Diametre The People of the Countrey say that heretofore there were two others like to these and that one of the Thrones of Nimrod was placed upon these four Pillars The throne of Nimrod that from this place to which they bear great reverence Abraham was thrown headlong into the Furnace that was underneath and that at the same instant a Spring of Water gushed out which is running at present and fills a Canal close by it is a great many fathom in length and five or six in breadth whose Water having washed all the Town loses it self under ground at some hours Journey from thence There is so great plenty of Fish in this Canal that they appear in great shoals and I take them to be Carps but they say that if a man should catch any in this Canal and eat of them he would not fail to fall into a Feaver and that 's the reason they suffer no body to catch them unless on the other side of a little Bridge which is at the end of the Canal for they say that being taken beyond that Bridge there is no danger in them Betwixt the Castle and the Canal there is another smaller one distant from the greater about fifty paces whose Waters joyn together at the end of the Channel Seeing the Inhabitants of Orfa fancy all to be miracle in their Countrey they say that it is another source which sprung out of a place into which they threw a slave who seeing that Abraham received no hurt by his fall and that Water gushed out miraculously from the place into which he was precipitated told Nimrod that that man was a true Prophet and not a Sorcerer as he said whereupon he caused him also to be precipitated Had it not been for that Orfa could not have subsisted so long but must have perished for drought for there is no Water in that Town but what comes from those two Sources On the South-side of the Castle there are several neighbouring Hills that command it and especially one which the People of the Countrey call Nimrod Tahhtasi that 's to say the Throne of Nimrod because they believe that his chief Throne was upon the top of that hill there are a great many Grotto's in these hills where they say an hundred thousand of Nimrod's Soldiers quartered Next day I went out of the Town
not worth Eight pence they would not take it saying that they would not give it for a Piastre but for Soap they would The Night following we had a very cold Wind but not so the day after for then it was excessively hot We parted from Alaki on Tuesday the fifteenth of July about three of the Clock in the Morning and marched on East-South East An hour after we left the bad way full of Stones which we had constantly had from Orfa and entered into a great Plain having always to the left the Mountains Caradgia which are the Mount Taurus The Mountains of Caradgia or Taurus that reaches from above Ofra to Diarbeck towards the East and from thence South-East till over against Kinzilken and till near to Nisibin towards the North-East and from thence South-East till within two days Journey of Mosul About six a Clock I was told that the Town of Diarbeck The Town of Diarbeck called in Armenian Amid was two long or three short days march to our left hand and that was the nearest we came to it Half an hour after seven we passed by a little Chappel covered with a stone-Dome wherein there is a Tomb which the People of the Countrey say is the Tomb of Job Jobs Tomb. and at present there is a Santo who prays at the back of that Chappel for this is a famous place of Pilgrimage and this Santo hath a little Cell near a Well of good Spring-water Half an hour after eight we arrived at the foot of a hillock on which stands a Village called Telghiouran Telghiouran Tel in Arabick signifies a little hill and we encamped in the Plain near a Fountain This day and the preceeding we found by the way many plants called Agnus Castus or Canabis Canabis Agnus castus for they grow three foot high and have the leaves divided by fives like a hand the middlemost being the longest and then the two next to it the two last are the least they are jagged in the middle and white underneath in short that plant ends at the top in an ear of several little Flowers of a very bright blew they grow among the Stones and may be seen there in great tufts I must here also observe some faults in Sansons Mapp of Diarbeck An errour in Geography Mid-way from Orfa to Telghiouran we should have passed a River which he calls Soaid and makes it to come from Mount Taurus pass by Caraemit and a great deal after fall into Euphrates nevertheless in all our Caravan there was not one who could give me any tidings of that Water and from Orfa to Telghiouran we passed no other Water but Dgiallab Other errours Besides he hath made so many faults in the positions of places and in their distances as also in the changing their Names that nothing is to be known by it and though I named to many of our Caravan most of the Names that he has put in his Diarbeck or rather Diarbekir the best way I could yet they knew not above two or three of them Caramid Amid and Diarbeck are but one and the same Town Alchabour He makes two Towns of Caramid and Amid and it is but one to wit Diarbeck He makes the River Alchabour the same with Dgiallab and that of Orfa That River of Alchabour takes its source about four days Journey from Mardin towards the South and falls into Euphrates They say that the Water of this River is so good that if after a man hath eaten a whole Lamb he drink of it he 'll not find it burthen his Stomach Chabur Chobar But it is to be observed that there is also another River called Chabur which is the Chobar mentioned in the Prophesie of Daniel it is less and has it source below Mosul on the left hand to those who go down the Tygris and at Bagdad loses it self in the Tygris and by what I could learn of an ancient Syrian of Mosul who hath many times travelled by divers ways from Mosul to Aleppo and from Aleppo to Mosul there are a great many other faults in the Mapp of Diarbeck which makes me to think that it hath been taken from bad Memoirs Telghiouran Telghiouran is a Castle enclosed with a great many Stones piled up one upon another in former times it was a great Town but through the Turkish Tyranny it was defeated There are about an hundred Houses of Armenians in it but none of Turks except of the Aga and his Servants which Aga is also customer and Chorbagi we found a little thick muddy Claret there which they bring from Mardin Under the trees at the foot of the hill there is a little Chappel where are Chains that they put about mad mens Necks and they say that if they are to be cured they fall off of themselves but if otherwise they must be taken off The Customer of this place came to our Caravan to receive his dues We parted from thence next day the sixteenth of July three quarters after three in the Morning and continued our way East-South-East About half an hour after five we saw by the way many stones and some walls of houses still standing About six a Clock we had a great allarm because those who were foremost had espied some Horse-men all made ready some lighted their matches ond others took their bow and two arrows in their hand some run this way and others that way and nevertheless it was in vain for me to ask where the Arabs were for no body could let me see them because then they were in a little bottom A little after we came to know that it was the Aga of Telghiouran coming from some place where his business had carried him who was accompanied with ten Horse-men armed some with Muskets and others with Lances or Darts About eight a Clock we saw on our left hand near a Well several black Tents of the Curds who flying from the Arabs came and encamped in that place and we marching forewards about three quarters after ten came and encamped near a hillock in a place called Carakouzi Carakouzi where there is a Well of good Spring-water which bears the same Name Next day Thursday the seventeenth of July we parted from thence about three quarters after two in the Morning and continued our way East-South-East we entered among the Mountains where for almost an hour we did nothing but climb up and down in ways full of great stones having past them and got again into the plain we kept on the same course approaching to the Caradgia Mountains Half an hour after six we found a Well of good Spring-water Maes Sarazin Corn. Ricinus Palma Christi at seven we saw a Field sowed with Maez or Sarazin Corn and another full of Ricinus or Palma Christi at most but a foot high a great many draw Oil from it for Lamps and to rub the Camels with to make their
called Sertschehan of which several panels of Wall still stand About eight of the Clock we found some Tents of the Curds and then crossed at least twelve Canals one after another which discharge their Water at Nisibin where we arrived three quarters of an hour after eight and encamped beyond the Bridge which consists of eleven small Arches under which a great Water runs which is divided into three by plowed Fields that reach even to the Bridge and render three of its Arches useless They call all these the Waters of Nisibin for ask them the Name of a River in what manner you please they 'll give you no other but the Name of the place it runs by This water comes from the Mountains and before it reach Nisibin they cut it into several Channels for watering of their grounds that are planted with Cotton rice and other things which require Water That 's a heavy and unwholsome Water and so is the Air which is so bad that I was told that if one sleep in it by day or by night he runs a great risk of being sick and that is the reason why the People of the Countrey are so tawny as they are Nisibin Nisibin was formerly a great Town at present it is divided into two quarters separated by a plowed field and both these quarters make but an ordinary Village Mar-Jacob Heretofore it had a Church dedicated to Mar-Jacob that 's to say St. James who is called the Brother of our Lord It was very large but at present there is nothing to be seen but the Arches of the doors and a small space which was as I think the end of the Church walled up by the Syrians where they and the Armenians at present celebrate Mass The Customer of Nisibin came and demanded his dues of our Caravan though Nisibin depend on the Basha of Merdin the Customer of which had already taken his dues at Kodgiasar but he took nothing from me because he thought I was a Greek We parted from Nisibin next day being Tuesday the two and twentieth of July about one a Clock in the Morning by Star-light and passed another Canal a strong North-Wind blew then which hardly cooled the Air. About five of the Clock we began to see on our right hand the Mountains Sendgiar which reach from North-West to South-East Mountain Sendgiar but they were about two days Journey distant from us Half an hour after seven we crossed a water half an hour after eight another and a quarter after nine we passed a third which was very lovely Dgerrahhi Soui and called Dgerrahhi Soui We thought to have encamped near it as is usual but because the Mules must have been sent to grase on the other side and that it would have been troublesome to make them cross it back again in the Evening we went farther and encamped near to a Spring of good Water Kimarlick in a place called Kimarlick from which we parted about eleven of the Clock at Night and crossed a great Water where our Caravan was a long time in passing it because of the dark and of the many great Stones that are in the Water when we passed it we stood away Eastwards Wednesday the three and twentieth of July about two a Clock in the Morning we found another Water and another again about four a Clock and three quarters of an hour after a very pleasant little River which turns and winds through a small plain encompassed with hills Three quarters after five we saw by the way to our left a Hillock on the top of which there is a Dome under which lies buried one Imam Ahmed Imam-Ahmed for whom the Turks have great Veneration and this is a place of Pilgrimage About seven a Clock we passed by a sorry Village called Candgi Candgi and half an hour after we encamped near a Spring of good Water in a plain called by the Name of the Village The Inhabitants thereabouts are so given to thieving that they stay not for the Night as others do but come into the Camp in the day-time under pretext of selling Corn for the Horses and walking up and down if they perceive any thing not well looked after they fail not to lift it We parted from thence the same day about half an hour after seven of the Clock at Night and marched East-South-East It was extreamly hot till about two a Clock next Morning that the Air grew cooler We marched without finding Water or Habitation untll half an hour after six that we came and encamped in a plain called Adgisou because of a water that runs there among the reeds and is bitter according as I had been told that from Candgi to Mosul there was neither habitation nor good water which made me provide my self before hand nevertheless having tasted it I did not find it to be so bitter Friday the five and twentieth of July we parted from Adgisou half an hour after three in the Morning for we were not willing to travel in the Night-time for fear of the Arabs We marched South and about eight of the Clock crossed a Brook of bitter water half an hour after we crossed another whose water was pretty good upon a hillock close by there stands a wall which seems to have been the Wall of a Castle whereof there is no more remaining Half an hour after nine we crossed a great Brook of brackish Water and three quarters after eleven a small River that runs under a Bridge of four Arches of which two are broken and indeed they seem to be useless for the breadth of the water reaches but to the two that are whole and it must needs be very high when it passes through the other two which stand upon a pretty high ground This Bridge is below a little ruinous Castle standing upon a hillock it hath been square but there is nothing remaining but the four Walls and a little round Tower in a corner We encamped close by this Castle all scorched with the Sun and stewed in Sweat that place is called Kesick-Cupri that 's to say broken Bridge Kesick-Cupri and the Water is called Cupri-Sou that 's to say the Bridge-water and no other Names of Rivers are to be got from them I informed my self of the source of that River An errour in Geography which Sanson seems to have confounded with that of Nisibin and I was told that it was another and that the source is not far from that Bridge This water is not very good but it is not bitter as I had been told and close by it there is a Fountain of far worse water We left that place the same day three quarters after seven at Night and took our way East-ward About eleven a Clock we passed by a Village called Wlhayat Wlhayat which is wholly forsaken because of the Tyranny of the Turks At midnight we had a great Allarm but we found it onely to
covering a great pent-house which was made of sticks or laths laid cross ways and two Stores over them upon which they spread a very thin lay of this lime smoothing it with the Trowel Then they put upon this lay three fingers thick of Earth mingled with Straw and wrought into a morter In this which I saw prepared there were four and twenty Ass loads and four men prepared it They were near eleven hours about it and made it up into five Wells or Heaps which remained so for two days before they were used The greatest use they make of this lime mingled with Ashes and Straw Lime for fish Ponds Basons and Fountains is for Fish-ponds Basons of Fountains and other things that are to hold water When that Stuff is well made it lasts above thirty years and is harder than Stone In whitening of their Walls they use no lime but make use of a white Earth which is in small pieces like plaister and immediately dissolves in water This Earth they call Ghilsefid Ghilsefid that 's to say white Earth they dig it out of certain Pits or Quarries of which there are many about Ispahan As to their morter it is usually made of plaister The making of Morter earth and chopped straw all well wrought and incorporated together At Schiras to spare the charges of Ghilsefid they sometimes make use of plaister for whitening their Walls but they have not that bright whiteness which Ghilsefid giveth They cast their Walls pretty often also with a mixture made of Plaister and Earth which they call Zerdghil Zerdghil that 's to say yellow Earth though in reality it be not yellow but rather of a Musk or Cinnamon colour they get it on the River-side and work it in a great Earthen Vessel but they put so little earth in proportion to water that it remains liquid like muddy water or at most like strained Juice and it is altogether of the Colour of that Earth they make use of it to work the Plaister in another Earthen Vessel where they mingle this water with plaister in such a quantity that it be reduced to the thickness of morter which retains the colour of that Earth With this mixture they cast their Walls which at first look all greyish but according as they dry they grow so white that when they are fully dry they seem almost as if they were plaistered over with pure plaister This mixture is used not onely for saving of plaister but also because it holds better than plaister alone and in my opinion looks as well For making of Terrasses they lay as I have said upon the Stores and reeds almost half a foot thick of Earth The way of making Terrasses but which sinks to far less being trampled and tread upon when it is well dried in the Air they lay on more Earth mingled with a like quantity of Straw which they work well together stirring it often that they may better incorporate the Straw with the Earth And when that is well mixt and reduced to the consistence of kennel-dirt they trample it a long while with their feet and spread it very even all over This second lay is commonly about half a foot thick also but being dry is hardly half so thick when it is dry they lay on a third lay like the former so that all being dry it may be about a foot thick All this is held up by a range of broad burnt Bricks or Tiles which is laid all round the Terrass five or six high and level with the Earth in some places they make a little shelving that the rain-Water may run off into wooden Spouts which jet out for conveying it away In this manner I saw two Terrasses made which had in surface each about a fathom and a half square when they laid on the second lay two men wrought at each about an hours time stirring the Earth with shovels and incorporating it with the Straw whilst another man continually poured water upon it the last lay requires the same labour and pains At Schiras Lar and in other hot Countries they have upon the tops of their Houses an invention for catching the fresh Air An invention for having the fresh Air. It is a Wall one or two fathom high and about the same breadth to which at the intervals of about three foot other Walls about three foot broad and as high as the great Wall joyn in right Angles there are several of such on each side of the great Wall and all together support a Roof that covers them The effect of this is that from whatsoever corner the Wind blows it is straitned betwixt three Walls and the Roof over head and so easily descends into the house below by a hole that is made for it CHAP. VI. A Sequel of the Observations of Ispahan Of ARTS LET us go on in speaking of Arts and Trades Artists of Persia since we are insensibly engaged in it The Artists in Persia and all over the Levant use their Feet in working as much as their hands for their Feet serve them for a Loom hold fast and several other Instruments An imposition upon the companies of traydesmen Every Company of crafts men pays the King a certain Summ of Money which is raised upon all the Artists of the several Trades every one of them being assessed according to his incomes They have no Loom for turning as we have but put that which they have a mind to turn upon a Pivot or Spindle and wrap about it a thong of Leather leaving two ends A Boy holds the two ends of this strap and pulls towards him The way of turning wood sometimes the one and sometimes the other and in that fashion makes the piece to turn whilst the other labours whereas with us a single Person does all The use of the wimble Nor are the Wimbles of Carpenters and Joyners so convenient as with us neither They have a long Iron as thick as two of our Wimbles but square and flat at the end like a slice or Spatula yet drawing into a point with a side and edge which way soever they turn it This Iron is in a wooden handle about a foot long and above an inch thick with a weight of lead on the top with that they have a stick with a strap of Leather like a bow but very slack they turn the strap of this bow once about the handle of the Wimble and then leaning the left hand upon the head of the handle and pulling to and fro the bow with the right hand they turn the Wimble They have a most excellent Varnish for Painters Varnish it is made of Sandarack and lintseed Oyl which they mingle together and reduce all into the consistence of an Unguent when they would make use of it they dissolve it with the Oyl of Naphta but for want of the Oyl of Naphta one may use the Spirit of Wine many times
bits of Straw so that it looks more like brown Paper than bread if a Stranger were not told it he might be mistaken And some French when first these Cakes were brought before them took them for course Napkins They make great use of Earthen ware which is very pretty especially because of the lovely Varnish they give it it is made in Kerman and I was assured that the Dutch had the invention from thence of making that false purcelane which we call Hollands purcelane Butter In Persia generally they make not use of Butter of Cow's Milk alone because it is not good but they mingle it with the Butter of Ewes Milk which is much better The Yogourt is an ordinary Ragoe in that Countrey I remember that I have described it already and shall onely now add how they season it in the Spring they cut Fennel into small bits and with Turpentine-seed which in that season is still green and begins onely to look a little reddish they put it into the Yogourt to qualify the coldness of it Torschi They also make Torschi or a preserve of that seed in Vinegar into which they put the Berries to be pickled whole The Persians way of drinking VVine The Persians by their Law are prohibited to drink Wine as well as the Turks but they are not so scrupulous as to that point When they drink VVine they do it without mixture after the Levantines manner who never drink water with it but when they drink VVine they have pots of water by them whereof now and then they take large draughts Bowl of Punch The Francks use a Beverage there which they call a Bowl of Punch and is cooling They take a large Earthen Bowl that holds four or five quarts and fill it half full of water then they put in as much VVine with the Juice of Limons Sugar Cinamon and Nutmeg which they drink in full draughts in the Summer-time Ice-houses in Persia The Persians make great use of Ice even in VVinter but never of Snow they make not their Ice-houses as in France and this is their way They raise a wall towards the South three or four fathom high Along that wall on the North-side they digg a Ditch about three fathom deep and as much broad and Northwards from the Ditch they make several beds six or seven fathom long and one fathom broad which are separated one from another by little Dykes of Earth like Salt-pits some are two or three foot deep and others one foot When it is very cold they bring the River-water into these beds which freezes very quickly and when it is thick and hard they break the Ice of the hollowest beds into great pieces which they carry into the Ditch where they lay it in very good order Then they break the Ice of the shallower beds and having put it into the Ditch upon that which they had laid there before they beat it into very small morcels with a spade or shovel and fill up all the chinks that are betwixt the large pieces with them At night they throw a great deal of water over all which they do with the skins of gourds cut in two pieces and fastened to the end of long poles this water freezes in the Night-time and joyns all the Ice into one piece In the mean time they bring in more water into the beds that it may freeze there after which they remove the Ice into the Ditch where they place it above the former in the same manner untill it be a fathom and a half high then they cover all with Straw and Reeds two or three foot thick and when they would take out any for use they open the Ditch but in one place This is an easie invention at at Ispahan where the Air is very dry and where there is but little moist Weather It would seem some few of these Ice-houses might be sufficient for a whole great City and nevertheless there are a great many such made in several places near the Town A good many in Persia take Opium The use of Opium but it is a drug that so enslaves those who are addicted to it that if a man hath once made it customary to himself and after forbear to take it no less than his life is in danger so that if a Tereaqui as they call them all over the Levant go ten Leagues from the Town and forget to take Opium with him if he find none in the place he comes to though he should immediately return back again and make all the haste he can yet he would not get to the Town in time enough to save his Life CHAP. XI The Continuation of the Observations of Ispahan Of the Court of Persia HAving treated of the nature of the Persians of their Carriage Apparel and way of living we may now see how their Monarch governs them whom he makes use of for executing his Orders and at the same time observe some of his recreations Persia is a Monarchy governed by a King Monarchy of Persia The King of Persia absolute in all things who has so absolute a power over his Subjects that no limits can be set to it He meddles in Religion and they do not begin the Ramadan nor any Festival till first they have had his leave and sometimes he keeps them back a few days according to his pleasure though the Moon wherein they are to be celebrated hath been seen His Subjects never look upon him but with fear and trembling and they have such respect for him and pay so blind an obedience to all his Orders that how unjust soever his Commands might be they perform them though against all Law both of God and Nature Nay if they swear by the King's head their Oath is more Authentick and of greater credit than if they swore by all that is most sacred in Heaven and upon Earth He observes no form of Justice in most of his Decrees and without consulting any Person no not the Laws and Customes he judges of lives and fortunes as seems best to him without any regard to those who feel the weight of his power The kinds of punishments not regulated and that without observing the kinds of punishments that are in use in the Countrey but appointing such as his fancy suggests to him According to this Principle two years ago he commanded the Nazer who had vexed him to be exposed naked to the Sun and the Nazer is one of the chief Officers of that Court This was presently put into execution and he was exposed to the heat of the Sun and the rage of flies in the great place from Morning till Night at which time the King discharged him Whilst he was thus exposed no body minded him no more than if he had been a Dog which was a great instance of the inconstancy of fortune and of the friends she gives but both counterfeit and real friends have this excuse that on
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
a Dome three or four Fathom in Diametre wherein there are three Doors and as many Windows the other has a steep Roof this place is called Tschai-telhh Tschai-telhh that is to say bitter Well because of a Well not far from that Kervanseray whose water is bitter There is besides another Well behind the Kervanseray but it is dry and this place is six Agatsch from Dgiaroun Heretofore they went not by this Hill but struck off to the East and went round it and the Camel-drivers still take that way but because of five days Journey of Desart Horse-men and Muletors chuse rather to suffer the fatigue of a worse way but shorter over the Hill. Next Morning Tuesday about half an hour after four we set forward again directing our march Southwards about seven a Clock we descended into a very low place by very bad way that Hill is called Chotali Hasani Chotali Hasani or Chotali Mahhmaseni or Chotali Mahhmaseni it goes by both names towards the bottom of that descent we found a little Brook that runs out of the Ground and discharges it self into a square Bason at some few paces from the source being come down we Travelled through a very stony Plain about half an hour after Nine we came to a fair Kerva-seray standing alone by it self and called Momzir having a great square Bason before the Gate Momzir which is always filled full by a Brook that runs into it this Kervanseray is four Agatsch from Tschai-telhh we made no stop there because we found no body to sell us Provisions either for Men or Beasts so we continued our march in the stony Plain till about an hour after having found a little Brook on our Left Hand we entered about Noon into a great smooth Plain where we suffered much heat we Travelled on South-Eastward until about two of the Clock that we found a little Kervanseray close by a Village called Dehidombe Dehidombe that is to say the Village of the tail where there are some Palms and Tamarisk-Trees They drink no water there but out of a Cistern near the Kervanseray which is three or four Fathom in Diametre and covered by a Dome with six Doors this place is three long Agatsch from Momzir and is the last of the Government of Schiras after which we enter into that of Lar. We parted from thence on Wednesday the five and twentieth of March about half an hour after four in the Morning and marched over a very even Plain till half an hour after seven when we arrived at a Kervanseray at the end of a large Village called Benaru lying at the foot of the Hill that is to the right of it Benaru upon which on the other side of the Kervanseray are the ruins of many folid Buildings that reach from the top to the bottom of the Hill and seem to have been some considerable place in this Village there is plenty of Palms and Tamarisk-Trees and a great many Cisterns it is two Agatsch distant from Dehidombe We left it next day being Thursday at one a Clock in the Morning and Travelled in stony way until half an hour after two that we came into a fair fmooth way where having Travelled on till five we arrived at an ugly little Kervanseray called Dehra where there are some Rhadars we paid nothing there because of an order which Monsieur Tavernier had to pay nothing in Persia Without stopping at that place we continued our Journey but by very stony way about six of the Clock we were got amongst the Hills where having gone up Hill and down Hill until eight a Clock we came into a Plain which lasted till near nine Bihri that we arrived at a great Village called Bihri where many Palms and Tamarisk-Trees grow there are several Cisterns there but the water of them is full of Worms and therefore one must be careful to strain it through a Cloath We Lodged in a fair new built Kervanseray in that Village this is one of the lovliest Kervanserays in all Persia The fair Kervanseray of Aivaz Chan. not only for the solidity of the Fabrick being built of rough Stone and hard Flint but also for its neat Portal large square Court many spacious Rooms with several conveniences for securing Goods and fair Terrasses to which they go up by great and broad Stair-Cases In fine every thing in it is magnificent very neat and commodious even to the Houses of Office which are in each corner of the Kervanseray and on one side there is a lovely Garden full of Tulips Roses and abundance of other Flowers of all kinds it is well Planted also with Fruit-Trees and Vines and all kept in very good order the Walks very neat and covered with Artificial Arbours all round before this Garden there is a fair watering place for Horses which is always kept full of water from a Well hard by this Kervanseray was built by the Chan of Lar called Aivaz Chan and is six Agatsch from Benaru Friday the seven and twentieth of March after four a Clock in the Morning we parted from this place and Travelled Southward in a pretty good way though stony in some places about day we found a Cistern with a steep Roof and about half an hour after six we saw upon the Road a limit of stone about a Fathom high built upon a Paving of Free-stone that serves it for a Basis we were told that a man was shut up in it A man shut up in a stone according to the custom of the Country in times past when they used that particular punishment for Robbers on the High-ways others said that it was only a mark in the way which divides at that place about seven a Clock we passed by a Village called De-hi-Kourd De-hi-Kourd where there is a Kervanseray in that place are many Tamarisks some Palm-Trees and several Cisterns We left that Village on our Left Hand and continuing our way over an even Plain betwixt Corn-fields Pai Chotali about nine a Clock we came to a Kervanseray called Pai Chotali that is to say the foot of the Hill because it is near the Hills The same night I saw a Blazing Star Blazing-Star like to that which I had seen at Ispahan it was near the Dolphin and its Tail reached from East to West I saw it again all the nights following so long as our Journey lasted It rose always much about the same place of the Horizon and about the same hour or a quarter in or over On one side of this Kervanseray there is a Cistern and a Well on the other both covered with a Dome the Well is exceeding deep and it is a considerable time before the biggest stone that may be thrown into it reaches the bottom the water is drawn with a great Wheel and poured into a square Bason near to it from whence it passes through a hole into
another that is contiguous and afterwards fills a large and long Trough for watering of the Horses There are many other Cisterns also here and there in the Fields Two Musket-shot from the Kervanseray there is a Village called Dehi-Kouh Dehi-Kouh that is to say Hill Town because it stands on a Hill. This Kervanseray is four Agatsch from Bihri we staied there the rest of that day and all the following to comply with the humour of the Muletors it Thundered much in the night-time and we had Rain the whole next day we staied sometime thinking it might blow over but it still lasted We parted not then till Sunday the nine and twentieth of March at Noon continuing our way Southwards having set forward half a quarter of an hour we ascended the Hill which is neither very high nor very bad when we were got down on the other side we crossed several Torrents about two a Clock we found a little Kervanseray standing alone with a Cistern by it it is called Hhormont Kervanseray Hhormont from the name of the neighbouring Village so called because of the many Palm-Trees that grow about it Hhourma signifies the Fruit of the Palm-Trees or Dates On all that Road we found many of the Shrubs called Badisamour Badisamour a Shrub Hherzehre and there is hardly any thing else to be seen till you come to Bender but they give them another name in those Quarters calling them Hherzehre about four a Clock we saw on our Left Hand an Aqueduct which in former times conveyed water from a neighbouring source to Lar but it being dryed up the Aqueduct which cost a great deal of mony though it be but low and built only of rough stone is let go to ruin CHAP. IV. The continuation of the Journey to Bender and first of the Town of Lar. AFter many ups and downs and a great deal of turning and winding between Hills amongst many Tamarisk and some Conar-Trees about five a Clock we arrived at the Dutch House which is near the Town of Lar The Dutch House three Agatsch from Pai Chotali but these Agatsch seemed to me to be very long this is a very neat House with lovely Courts and Chambers and a fair Stable after the Franks Fashion it belongs to the Dutch Company There is a Kervanseray a little farther whither the Caravans go but both Franks and Armenians Lodge at the Dutch House We stayed three days in the Town of Lar which hath always been Lar. as at present it is the chief Town of the Province it was heretofore the residence of the King of that Country to wit when the Guebres were Masters of it The Guebres Masters of Lar. Ghermes the great Schah Abbas took it from them and now a Chan resides there who Commands the whole Province which is called Ghermes and reaches to the very Gates of Gomron This Town which is four days Journy from Gomron and seated on a Rock is but small it hath no Walls but only a sorry Ditch beyond which are several Houses pretty well built of which the Dutch House is one and these make a kind of Suburbs to it There is nothing to be seen at Lar but the Chans House the Market-Place the Bazars and the Castle The Chans House looks to the Ditch The House of the Chan of Lar. the Walls of it are very high on that side and at the farther end there is a Divan covered fit for taking the fresh Air in the entry into that House is from the Market-Place which is very pretty it is a Square with Arches all round and Terrasses on the top along which there is a row of Rails and Ballisters for a border these Ballisters consist of Arches interlaced about two foot high made of narrow stones about four Fingers thick In the middle of the East side of the Square is the Porch of the Chans House which juts out a little into the place and hath seven Fronts on the opposite side over against this Porch there is a large Gate over which there is a great covered Divan The entry into the Bazars is by that Gate and they are very fair and large well covered and paved with broad smooth Free-stone Lovely Bazars in Lar. amongst others there is one covered in the middle by a very large handsome Dome which hath well furnished Shops Having passed the Bazars and crossed the Town which is but narrow and reaches in length from South to North you come to the Quarter of the Jews who are very numerous in this Town Many Jews in Lar. they live near the foot of the Hill on which the Castle stands which reaches as the Hill-does South and North and is to West of the Town This Castle is very long and built all of stone The Castle of Lar. the Walls of it seem to be good and have Towers at some intervals the Hill on which it stands is a mere Rock steep almost on all sides this Castle Commands all round it and there is a Wall drawn from it with some Towers a little down the side of the Hill in short it is strong considering the Country and was built by the Guebres All the Country about Lar is full of Tamarisks which are very big Abundance of Tamarisks at Lar. and I never saw so many together in one place Gun-powder Bad water at Lar. There is good Gun-powder made in this Town Their drink is very bad for they have only Cistern-water which is very unwholesome and it is good to quench a red hot Iron in it and strain it through a Cloath because of the Worms that breed therein which being swallowed down slide betwixt the Flesh and the Skin Worms bred in the Body by the water as I shall describe when I come to speak of Gomron and get not only into the Legs but also into other parts of the Body nay and into the Testicles too so that a man will have sometimes four or five of them in several places as for our parts we drank good water there because of the Rain that fell the day when we arrived It Rained all Wednesday and next night which hindered us from setting out but Thursday the second of April about five of the Clock in the Morning we continued our Journy going streight East in a very good Sandy way betwixt Corn-Fields for the Villages are very thick thereabouts On that Road I observed a pretty pleasant thing which is practised in all that Country as far as Bendar Abassi I saw several Peasants running about the Corn-Fields who raised loud shouts and every now and then clacked whips with all their force and all this to drive away the Birds which devour all their Corn when they see Flocks of them coming from a neighbouring Ground that they may not light on theirs they redouble their cries to make them go farther and this they do every day Morning and Evening The truth is
again to the square Building I mentioned which is upon that Terrass where there are twelve ranges of Pillars of nine a piece and from thence walking streight East when you have gone about an hundred paces you find another Building of the same dimensions standing directly opposite to that you came from and at the end of this Building you find a second A Building The Figures in Demi-relief which are upon the sides of the Doors of these and of the same bigness with the Figures on the other Doors are not the same as to what they represent Here you have a Man sitting in a Chair with a Batton in his Hand and under his Feet three ranges of little Arches made by Figures of a Foot height laying their Arms upon one anothers Shoulders over his Head there is an Idol that represents a Man with Wings his body through a ring and sitting upon an Arch behind the Chair of the Man that sits there is a servant holding a kind of Chalice Two Buildings Next to these Buildings you find two others and their Doors adorned with Figures much like to those I have already described On some are Men holding Pikes on others you shall see an old Man with a servant coming after him and carrying a kind of Umbrello over his Head in fine there are Fights represented on some of them Another Terrass When you come out of these Buildings you find a Terrass directly opposite to to that which I have mentioned which puts a period to the first rank of Buildings and is of the same contrivance there also are to be seen several round Bases it buts upon the same open place that is at the Foot of the other and into which I told you one may go down by a pair of Stairs cut out of the Rock that is betwixt these two Terrasses You must then go back again by all these Buildings till you come to the first of this second rank out of which you come on the East side in the same manner as you did when you came from the first Buildings to these and you come to other Buildings Two Buildings where you see on the Jams of the Doors Figures in Demi-relief much like to those you saw in the former that is to say on some Men with Pikes and on others Combats represented in very great Figures on several of them also there is a Man sitting in a Chair but the Figures about somewhat different from those of the other Buildings for these in some places have several persons before and behind that look towards the Man and of those who are behind him one holds a Crosier over his Head. Over all there is a winged Idol such as I have described under the Feet of it there are five Ranges of Figures two Foot high which make so many ranks of little Arches by laying their Arms upon one anothers Shoulders In one of the Fronts of one of these last Buildings there is but one person behind the Man that is sitting who holds a Crosier over his Head Three Buildings the winged Idol is the same but hath only three ranges of little Arches under its Feet In fine after you have considered all these different Fabricks or to say more properly all these ruins you are to go streight to the Hill which fronts to the West and there you see a kind of Frontispiece of a Temple cut in the Rock and two stories high of which the lowermost hath five Fathom in Front and about two in height this is the order of it There are four Pillars that reach from the Ground to the top of this first Frontispiece their Capitals on each side being the Bust The Frontispiece of a Temple that is to say the Head and Neck of an Ox. In the middle of these Pillars to wit betwixt the second and third there is an Oblong square Door about a Fathom high and three Foot wide though it opens not so high by a third part because the rest of the opening is only a counterfeit upon the Rock these Pillars support an Architrave resembling much the Dorick Order and at several distances there are Lions all along it Over this first part of the Frontispiece there is a second The second Frontispiece a Fathom and a half high and of the same breadth but of pretty odd Architecture for below there are two stories of Arches made up of the Figures of Men about two Foot high a piece holding their Arms upon one anothers Shoulders in the middle above there is the Idol of a winged Man in the posture that we have already represented upon five steps on the Right Hand there is another Man Praying to him and on the Left there is a Pedestal on which nothing is to be seen but a Globe on the top at the two extremities there is a piece of a round very smooth Pillar which carries the Head of a Bull and lower on each side of that second range there are two Men one above another the lowermost resting on the first rank and each of them holding a Pike There is no going in at the Door below because it is always full of water but a little farther towards the South there is alike Frontispiece with just such another Door into which one may enter and there you see three Sepulchres cut in the Rock which are square and have a pretty near resemblance to the Basons of a Fountain Sepulchres in the Rock and in the middle of this Cave there is a stone that seems to be a Grave-stone About thirty steps from thence you see a kind of a smooth Table two Foot high from the Ground upon the Rock that looks to the South and reaches from East to West but there is nothing upon it though it seems there have been some Figures struck off with a Hammer or Chizzel on the farther side of that broad Table there is another with Demi-reliefs Bas-reliefs half buried under the Ground that is gathered about it it is three Fathom long and seems to be half as high there you see three Gigantick Figures the first seems to be a Woman with a Necklace of large Pearls and her Hair wound up in form of a long Perewinckle on her Head she hath a Crown and over it I cannot tell whether it be her Hair or the ends of Feathers she pulls towards her a Ring which on the other side draws towards it a Figure that appears to be of a Man though it hath a Necklace of Pearls he hath a very high Cap and round at the top shaped below like a Crown and long Curled Hair behind him there is another Man with a thing like a Mitre on his Head and some other ruinous Figures Fifty paces from thence there is a Frontispiece like the former but neither it nor those that follow are above a Fathom from the Ground which in this place is much raised with the time under this
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
hath its name from a King called Ahmed or Amed who caused it to be rebuilt and that it was called Guzerat as well as the Province before that King reigned Guerdabad King Chagehan named it Guerdabad the Habitation of Dust because there is always a great deal there This Governour of the Province has his residence in it and he is commonly a Son of the Great Mogul but at present a great Omra called Muhabbat-Can is the Governour and the Kings of Guzerat resided there also before King Ecbar seized it The Scituation of Amedabad Sabremetty a River This Town lies in twenty three Degrees and some Minutes North-Latitude It is built in a lovely Plain and Watered by a little River called Sabremetty not very deep but which in the time of the Rains prodigiously overflows the Plains There you may see many large Gardens enclosed with Brick-walls and which have all a kind of Pavillion at the entry After that I saw a very spacious Reservatory A Reservatory of Water with a Garden in the middle that hath in the middle a lovely Garden fourscore Paces square into which one enters by a Bridge four hundred Paces long and at the end of the Garden there are pretty convenient Lodgings Then you see several Houses here and there which makes as it were a great Village and a great many Tombs indifferently well built This might be called an Out Suburbs because from thence one enters by a Postern into a Street with Houses on each side which leads streight into the Town and is on that side the true Suburbs of Amedabad The Walls and Towers of Amedabad The Town is enclosed with Stone and Brick-walls which at certain distances are flanked with great round Towers and Battlements all over It hath twelve Gates and about a League and a half in its greatest length if you take in the Suburbs It is one of the places of Guzerat that is most carefully kept in order both as to its Walls and Garrison because it lies most conveniently for resisting the incursions of some neighbouring Rajas They are afraid particularly of the Inrodes of the Raja of Badur Raja of Badur who is powerful by reason of the Towns and Castles which he hath in the Mountains and which are not accessible but by narrow passes that can be most easily defended King Ecbar used all endeavours during the space of seven Years to ruin that Raja but he could not accomplish it and was forc'd to make Peace with him However his People are always making Incursions and he comes off by disowning them His usual Residence is in the Province of Candich So soon as I arrived at Amedabad I went to lodge in Quervanseray where I found the Monument of the Wife of a King of Guzerat After I had taken a little repose there I went to see the Dutch Factors for whom I had Letters from the Commander of Surrat Dutch in Amedabad They detain'd me and no excuse would serve but that I must needs lodge with them nay they were so kind as to accompany me by turns to all the places of Amedabad whither my Curiosity led me They are lodged in the fairest and longest Street of the Town All the Streets of Amedabad are wide but this is at least thirty Paces over and at the West end of it there are three large Arches that take up its whole breadth Going from their Lodgings one enters by these high Arches into the Meidan-Chah which signifies the Kings Square The Meidan of Amedabad It is a long Square having four hundred Paces in breadth and seven hundred in length with Trees planted on all sides The Gate of the Castle is on the West side opposite to the three Arches and the Gate of the Quervanseray on the South On the same side there are six or seven pieces of Canon mounted and on the other some more great Gates which are at the Head of pretty fair Streets In this Meidan there are several little square Buildings about three Fathom high which are Tribunals for the Cotoual who is the Criminal Judge In the middle of the place there is a very high Tree purposely planted for the exercise of those who learn to shoot with the Bow and who with their Arrows strive to hit a Ball which for that end is placed on the top of the Tree Having viewed the Meidan we entered the Castle by a very high Gate The Castle of Amedabad which is betwixt two large round Towers about eight fathom high All the Appartments of it signifie but little though the Castle be walled about with good Walls of Freestone and is as spacious as a little Town The Quervanseray in the Meidan The fair Quervanseray of the Meidan of Amedabad contributes much to the beautifying of that place It s Front is adorned with several Lodges and Balcony's supported by Pillars and all these Balcony's which are of Stone are delicately cut to let in the Light. The entry is a large eight-square Porch arched over like a Dome where you may find four Gates and see a great many Balcony's These Gates open into the body of the Building which is a Square of Freestone two Stories high and varnished over like Marble with Chambers on all sides where Strangers may lodge Near the Meidan is a Palace belonging to the King The Kings Palace in Amedabad which hath over the Gate a large Balcony for the Musicians who with their Pipes Trumpets and Hoboys come and play there in the Morning at Noon in the Evening and at Midnight In the Appartments thereof there are several Ornaments of Folliages where Gold is not spared The English Factory is in the middle of the Town They are very well lodged and have fair Courts Their Ware-houses commonly are full of the Cloaths of Lahors and Dehly with which they drive a great trade There are many Mosques great and small in Amedabad but that which is called Juma-mesgid Fridays Mosque Juma-mesgid Fridays Mosque because the devout People of all the Town flock thither on that Day is the chief and fairest of all It hath its entry from the same Street where the Dutch-house is built and they go up to it by several large Steps The first thing that appears is a square Cloyster of about an hundred and forty Paces in length and an hundred and twenty in breadth the Roof whereof is supported by four and thirty Pillasters The Circuit of it is adorn'd with twelve Domes and the Square in the middle paved with great square Bricks In the middle of the Front of the Temple there are three great Arches and at the sides two large square Gates that open into it and each Gate is beautified with Pilasters but without any order of Architecture On the outside of each Gate there is a very high Steeple which hath four lovely Balcony's from whence the Muezins or Beadles of the Mosque call the People to Prayers It s
followers who have all their subsistence from it Some affirm that there are twenty five thousand Christian Families in Agra but all do not agree in that This indeed is certain Christians at Agra that there are few Heathen and Parsis in respect of Mahometans there and these surpass all the other Sects in power as they do in number Dutch Factory at Agra The Dutch have a Factory in the Town but the English have none now because it did not turn to account The Officers are the same as at Surrat and do the same Duties and it is just so in all the great Towns of the Empire We told you that the Foursdar or Prevost is to answer for all the Robberies committed in the Country And that was the reason why Mr. Beber one of the Envoys to the great Mogul for the concerns of the East-India Company in France Mr. Beber Robbed having been Robbed demanded from that Officer of Agra the Sum of thirty one thousand two hundred Roupies which he affirmed were taken from him That Sum astonished the Foursdar who told him that he did not believe he had lost so much and because the Envoy made Answer that the sum would certainly encrease if he delayed to pay down the Money and if he gave him time to call to mind a great many things which he had forgot He wrote to the Great Mogul and informed him that it was impossible that that Envoy could have lost so great a Sum. Monsieur Beber had also made his addresses at Court but it being pretty difficult to give an equitable sentence in the Case the King that he might make an end of it commanded the Foursdar to pay the Envoy fifteen thousand Roupies Liberality of the Great Mogul and because he was wounded when he was Robbed he ordered him out of his Exchequer ten thousand Roupies for his Blood. CHAP. XX. Of the Habits at Agra Habits at Agra FOr so many different Nations as are at Agra as well as in the rest of the Indies there is pretty great uniformity in the manner of apparel and none but the Mahometans called Moors by the Portuguese Moors distinguish themselves outwardly by a particular kind of Coif or head-attire but in all things else Breeches they are cloathed as the rest The Breeches of the Indians are commonly of Cotten-cloath they come down to the mid leg and some wear them a little longer so that they reach to the Anckle They who affect Rich cloathing wear Silk breeches striped with different colours which are so long that they must be plated upon the Leg much in the same manner as formerly Silk-stockings were worn in France Shirts The Shirt hangs over the Breeches as the fashion is all over the Levant These Shirts are fastened as the Persians are and heretofore had no greater opening than theirs but because the Moors Shirts are open from top to bottom as their upper Garments which they call Cabas are many People at present wear them in that fashion because they find them more commodious being more easily put on and off Besides that when one is alone he may open them and take the fresh Air. Arcaluck When it is cold Weather the Indians wear over their Shirt an Arcaluck or Just au corps quilted with Cotten and Pinked the outside whereof is commonly of a schite or Painted stuff The colours upon them are so good and lively that though they be soiled by wearing yet they look as fresh again as at first when they are washed They make the Flowers and other motely colours that are upon the Stuffs with Moulds Caba Over the Arcaluck they put the Caba which is an upper Garment but then it must be supposed the weather is not hot for if there be but the least heat they wear no Arcaluck and the Caba is put next the Shirt The Caba of the Indians is wider than that of the Persians and I cannot tell how to express the manner of it more intelligibly then by saying it is a kind of gown with a long Jerkin fastened to it open before and pleated from top to bottom to hinder it from being too clutterly It hath a collar two fingers breadth high of the same Stuff with the rest they button not that Vest as we do our Coats but they fold it cross ways over the Stomack first from the right to the left and then from the left to the right They tie it with Ribbons of the same Stuff which are two Fingers broad and a Foot long and there are seven or eight of them from the upper part down to the Haunches of which they only tie the first and last and let the rest hang negligently as being more graceful These Cabas are commonly made of white Stuff that 's to say of Cotten-cloath to the end they may be the lighter and the neater by being often washed and that agrees with the fashion of the Ancient Indians I say of Cotten-cloath There is no Flax in the Indies because they use no other in the Indies and have no Flax there Nevertheless some wear them of Painted cloath but that is not the Gentilest manner of Apparel and when the Rich do not wear White they use Silk and chuse the broadest Stuff they can find which commonly is streaked with several colours Girdle They use only one Girdle whereas the Persians have two nay and it is not very dear neither being only of White-cloath and it is rare to see the Indians make use of the lovely Girdles of Persia unless they be wealthy persons of Quality When it is very cold the Indians wear over all the Cloaths I have been speaking of a Garment or Vest called Cadeby Cadeby Lovely Vests at Agra and then the Rich have very costly ones They are of Cloath of Gold or other Rich Stuff and are lined with Sables which cost very dear At all times when they go abroad they wear a Chal which is a kind of toilet of very fine Wool made at Cachmir Chal or Toilet These Chals are about two Ells long and an Ell broad they are sold at five and twenty or thirty Crowns a piece if they be fine nay there are some that cost fifty Crowns but these are extraordinary fine They put that Chal about their Shoulders and tie the two ends of it upon their Stomack the rest hanging down behind to the small of their Back Some wear them like a Scarf and sometimes they bring one end to the Head which they dress in manner of a Coif They have of them of several colours but those the Banians wear are most commonly Fild-de-mort and the Poor or such as will not be at the charges wear them of plain Cloath The Turban worn in the Indies is commonly little The Turban of the Indies That of the Mahometans is always White and the Rich have them of so fine a Cloath that five and
Seat of it is very pleasant and the top of the Hill on which it stands extreamly fertile it hath still four Reservatories or Tanquies for the private use of the Inhabitants There are a great many other Trading Towns in that Province and the Great Mogul receives yearly out of it above fourteen Millions The Revenue of the Province of Malva There are two kinds of Bats in that Countrey the one is like to that we have in Europe An extraordinary Bat. but seeing the other differs much I pleased my self in examining it in a Friends House who kept one out of curiosity it is eight Inches long and covered with yellowish Hair the Body of it is round and as big as a Ducks its Head and Eyes resemble a Cats and it has a sharp Snout like to a great Rat it hath pricked black Ears and no Hair upon them it hath no Tail but under its Wings two Teats as big as the end of ones little finger it hath four Legs some call them Arms and all the four seem to be glued fast within the Wings which are joyned to the Body along the sides from the Shoulder downwards the Wings are almost two Foot long and seven or eight Inches broad and are of a black Skin like to wet Parchment each Arm is as big as a Cats thigh and towards the Joynt it is almost as big as a Mans Arm the two foremost from the Shoulder to the Fingers are nine or ten Inches long each of the two Arms is fleshed into the Wing perpendicularly to the Body being covered with Hair and terminating in five Fingers which make a kind of hand these Fingers are black and without Hair they have the same Joynts as a Mans Fingers have and these Creatures make use of them to stretch out their Wings when they have a mind to flie Each hind Leg or Arm is but half a Foot long and is also fastened to the Wing parallel to the Body it reaches to the lower part of the Wing out of which the little hand of that Arm peeping seems pretty like the hand of a Man but that instead of Nails it hath five Claws the hind Arms are black and hairy as those before are and are a little smaller These Bats stick to the Branches of Trees with their Talons or Claws they fly high almost out of sight and some who eat them say they are good meat CHAP. XLII Of the Province of Candich THe Province of Candich is to the South of Malva The Province of Candich Berar Orixa and they who have reduced the Provinces have joyned to it Berar and what the Mogul possesses of Orixa These Countries are of a vast extent full of populous Towns and Villages and in all Mogulistan few Countries are so rich as this The Moguls yearly Revenue from Candich The Memoire I have of yearly Revenues makes this Province yield the Mogul above seven and twenty Millions a year The Capital City of this Province is Brampour it lies in the twenty eighth degree of Latitude about fourscore Leagues distant from Surrat Brampour the Capital of Candich The Governour thereof is commonly a Prince of the Blood and Auren-Zeb hath been Governour of it himself Here it was that the Sieurs de La Boullaye and Beber Envoy's from the French East-India Company quarrelled with the Banians A Quarrel the Sieurs La Boullaye and Beber had with a Banian to whom they were recommended When they arrived at Brampour these Banians met them with Basons full of Sweet-meats and Roupies in their hands The Gentlemen not knowing the custom of the Countrey which is to offer Presents to Strangers whom they esteem and imagining that the five and twenty or thirty Roupies that were offered them was a sign that they thought them poor fell into a Passion railed at the Banians and were about to have beat them which was like to have bred them trouble enough if they had been well informed of the custom of the Countrey they would have taken the Money and then returned some small Present to the Banians and if they had not thought it fit to make a Present they might have given it back again after they had received it or if they would not take it touch it at least with their Fingers ends and thanked them for their civility I came to Brampour in the worst weather imaginable and it had Rained so excessively that the low Streets of that Town were full of water and seemed to be so many Rivers Brampour is a great Town standing upon very uneven ground there are some Streets very high The Ground of Brampour and others again so low that they look like Ditches when one is in the higher Streets these inequalities of Streets occur so often that they cause extraordinary Fatigue The Houses are not at all handsom The Houses of Brampour because most of them are only built of Earth however they are covered with Varnished Tiles and the various Colours of the Roofs mingling with the Verdure of a great many Trees of different kinds planted on all hands makes the Prospect of it pleasant enough There are two Carvanseras in it one appointed for lodging Strangers and the other for keeping the Kings Money which the Treasurers receive from the Province that for the Strangers is far more spacious than the other it is square and both of them front towards the Meidan That is a very large place for it is at least Five hundred paces long and Three hundred and fifty broad but it is not pleasant because it is full of ugly huts where the Fruiterers sell their Fruit and Herbs The entry into the Castle is from the Meidan The Castle of Brampour and the chief Gate is betwixt two large Towers the Walls of it are six or seven Fathom high they have Battlements all round and at certain intervals there are large round Towers which jet a great way out and are about thirty paces Diametre This Castle contains the Kings Palace The Kings Palace at Brampour and there is no entring into it without permission the Tapty running by the East side of that Town there is one whole Front of the Castle upon the River-side and in that part of it the Walls are full eight Fathom high because there are pretty neat Galleries on the top where the King when he is at Brampour comes to look about him and to see the fighting of Elephants which is commonly in the middle of the River in the same place there is a Figure of an Elephant done to the natural bigness it is of a reddish shining Stone the back parts of it are in the Water The Monument of an Elephant and it leans to the left side the Elephant which that Statue represents died in that place fighting before Cha-Geban the Father of Auran-Zeb who would needs erect a Monument to the Beast because he loved it and the Gentiles besmear it
supported only by a row of Pillars cut in the Rock and distant from the floor of the Gallery about the length of a Fathom so that it appears as if there were two Galleries Every thing there is extreamly well cut and it is really a wonder to see so great a Mass in the Air which seems so slenderly underpropped A Mass of Rock in the Air. that one can hardly forbear to shiver at first entering into it In the middle of the Court there is a Chappel whose Walls inside and outside are covered with figures in relief Diverse Antick Figures in a Chappel Lovely Pyramides They represent several sorts of Beasts as Griffons and others cut in the Rock On each side of the Chappel there is a Pyramide or Obelisk larger at the Basis than those of Rome but they are not sharp pointed and are cut out of the very Rock having some Characters upon them which I know not An Obelisk with an Elephant The Obelisk on the left hand has by it an Elephant as big as the Life cut out in the Rock as all the rest is but his Trunck has been broken At the farther end of the Court I found two Stair-cases cut in the Rock and I went up with a little Bramen who appeared to have a great deal of Wit Being at the top I perceived a kind of Platform if the space of a League and a half or two Leagues may be called a Platform full of stately Tombs The Pagods of Elora Chappels and Temples which they call Pagods cut in the Rock The little Bramen led me to all the Pagods which the small time I had allowed me to see With a Cane he shew'd me all the Figures of these Pagods told me their Names and by some Indian words which I understood I perceived very well that he gave me a short account of the Histories of them but seeing he understood not the Persian Tongue nor I the Indian I could make nothing at all of it I entered into a great Temple built in the Rock it has a flat Roof and adorned with Figures in the infide as the Walls of it are A great Temple built in the very Rock In that Temple there are eight rows of Pillars in length and six in breadth which are about a Fathom distant from one another The Temple is divided into three parts The Body of it which takes up two thirds and a half of the length is the first part and is of an equal breadth all over The Quire which is narrower makes the second part And the third which is the end of the Temple is the least and looks only like a Chappel in the middle whereof upon a very high Basis there is a Gigantick Idol with a Head as big as a Drum and the rest proportionable A Gigantick Idol All the Walls of the Chappel are covered with Gigantick Figures in relief and on the outside all round the Temple there are a great many little Chappels adorned with Figures of an ordinary bigness in relief Figures of Men and Women representing Men and Women embracing one another Leaving this place I went into several other Temples of different structure built also in the Rock and full of Figures Pilasters and Pillars I saw three Temples one over another which have but one Front all three but it is divided into three Stories supported with as many rows of Pillars and in every Story there is a great door for the Temple the Stair-cases are cut out of the Rock I saw but one Temple that was Arched and therein I found a Room whereof the chief Ornament is a square Well cut in the Rock and full of Spring-water that rises within two or three foot of the brim of the Well There are vast numbers of Pagods all along the Rock For above two Leagues there is nothing to be seen but Pagods and there is nothing else to be seen for above two Leagues They are all Dedicated to some Heathen Saints and the Statue of the false Saint to which every one of them is Dedicated stands upon a Basis at the farther end of the Pagod In these Pagods I saw several Santo's or Sogues without Cloaths except on the parts of the Body which ought to be hid They were all covered with Ashes and I was told that they let their Hair grow as long as it could If I could have stayed longer in those quarters I should have seen the rest of the Pagods and used so much diligence as to have found out some body that might have exactly informed me of every thing but it behoved me to rest satisfied as to that with the information I had from the Gentiles of Aurangeabad who upon my return told me that the constant Tradition was The time when these Pagods were made that all these Pagods great and small with their Works and Ornaments were made by Giants but that in what time it was not known However it be if one consider that number of spacious Temples full of Pillars and Pilasters and so many thousands of Figures all cut out of a natural Rock Multitudes of Figures it may be truly said that they are Works surpassing humane force and that at least in the Age wherein they have been made the Men have not been altogether Barbarous though the Architecture and Sculpture be not so delicate as with us I spent only two hours in seeing what now I have described and it may easily be judged that I needed several days to have examined all the rarities of that place but seeing I wanted time and that it behoved me to make haste if I intended to find my company still at Aurangeabad I broke off my curiosity and I must confess it was with regret I therefore got up into my Waggon again which I found at a Village called Rougequi Rougequi Sultanpoura from whence I went to Sultanpoura a little Town the Mosques and Houses whereof are built of a blackish Free-stone and the Streets paved with the same Not far from thence I found that so difficult descent which I mentioned and at length after three hours march from the time we left Elora we rested an hour under Trees near the Walls of Doltabad which I considered as much as I could CHAP. XLV Of the Province of Doltabad and of the Feats of Agility of Body Doltabad THis Town was the Capital of Balagate before it was conquered by the Moguls It belonged then to Decan and was a place of great Trade but at present the Trade is at Aurangeabad whither King Auran-Zeb used his utmost endeavours to transport it Trade transported from Doltabad to Aurangeabad when he was Governour thereof The Town is indifferently big it reaches from East to West and is much longer than broad it is Walled round with Free-stone and has Battlements and Towers mounted with Cannon But though the Walls and Towers be good yet that is not the thing that