Richard a small Pinnasse of about twentie Tuns which tooke a Portugall Ship supposed of two hundred and fiftie that hauing about fourteene men and boyes this two hundred and fiftie These and other fights with them and more vnfortunate with the Dutch in those parts I haue deliuered at large in my Pilgrims or Bookes of Voyages which now together with this commeth to the publike view of the World §. V. Of the Trauels of diuers English-men in the Mogols Dominions OF the Trauells of Master Fitch in these parts wee haue alreadie spoken and of Captaine Hawkins In the yeere 1609. the Ascension by wilfulnesse of the Master as is reported foundred in the Sea twentie leagues from shoare which yet they attained being fiue and fiftie persons in the Riuer of Gandeuee from whence they trauelled twelue Course or eighteene Miles to Sabay and twelue Course more to Surrat from thence to Daytaotote which Citie hee saith could not bee conquered by the Mogol and yeelded vpon composition hauing still a Banyan King Sixe and twentie Course further is Netherbery a great Basar or Market of Brazen wares Armour and Beasts Eight and twentie Course beyond is the Towne Saddisee on the Riuer Tyndee which runs to Surrat and diuideth the Bannians and Guzurats Thence they trauelled twelue Course to a Monasterie and the next day came to Bramport where the Great Generall called Can Cannawe liueth who on the twelfth of October returned from the Warres with fifteene hundred Elephants thirtie thousand Horses ten thousand Camels three thousand Dromedaries This Citie is farre bigger then London of great Trade and faire From hence they went fifteene Courses to Caddor fourteene to Sawbon and thence with the Carauan many daies leauing which they ioyned with a Can of the Countrey bound for Agra trauelling sixe daies through a Desart wherein are store of wild Elephants Lions Tygres Cat of Mountaines Porpentines and other wild Beasts innumerable but these they saw and were forced to make fires in the nights about their Tents to guard them These Desarts are a hundred Course long each Course being a mile and halfe They had in their way after they were past this Desart the Citie Handee where the King hath a Castle and House cut out of the maine Rock and wrought with carued worke round about in it fiftie Peeces of Ordnance a Fort impregnable and made a Prison for great Men. Heere were also two Hospitals for Captaines maymed in the Warres The next day they came to Tamlico which runneth into Indus and two daies after to Agra He tells of Elephants fighting before the Mogol parted with Rackets of wilde fire made round like hoopes which they runne in their faces some fight with wild Horses sixe Horses to an Elephant which he kills with clasping his trunke about their necks and pulling them to him breakes their necks with his teeth Hee hath also Deere Rams Veruathoes or Bezors Lyons Leopards Wolues that fight before him Condemned persons may craue the combate with the Lyon one he saw that at the first encounter felled the Lyon with his Fist but was soone torne in pieces before the King Hee saw also Allegators or Crocodiles kept in Ponds for like purpose one of which killed two stoned Horses at one time There are foure great Markets euery day where things are very cheape a Hen for two pence a Sheepe for two shillings a good Hog sold by the Bannians for two shillings and other things proportionable They craued the Kings Passe for England who granting it vnder his Hand and Seale the Secretary went with them to the Third Queene of which he is said to haue ten and a thousand Concubines and two hundred Eunuchs which was Keeper of the Great Seale Hence they passed fiue in number to Fetterbarre twelue Course and twelue more to Bianie which is the chiefe Place for Indico in all the Indies where are twelue Indico Mills Indico growes on small bushes like Goose-berry bushes and beares a seed like a Cabadge-seed and being cut downe lies on heapes for halfe a yeere to rot and then brought into a Vault to bee trodden with Oxen from the stalkes and so is grownd fine at the Mils and lastly boyled in Fornaces refined and sorted the best there worth eight pence a pound Thence they passed to Hendown fiue and twentie Course an ancient faire Citie to Mogol a small Market Towne fourteene to Halstot twelue to Chatsoe twelue to Ladanna twelue to Mosabad eight to Bandason twelue Thence to Paddar a Riuer that runnes into the Persian Gulfe and parts the Indostans and Hendownes Twentie Course beyond Roree Buckar and Suckar in the Riuer of Damiadee which runnes into the same Sea At Buckar lyes Allee Can Vice-Roy of the Bulloches a stubborne People this Towne stands like an Iland in the Riuer Sucker is a clothing Towne the first of the Bulloches and Roree the last of the Moltans which are Mahumetans Here they staid foure and twentie daies for a Califa or Carauan a great company of Merchants trauelling together because the Countrey was full of Theeues Seuenteene Course from Sucker is Gorra a Towne of the Bullochees which he saith worship the Sunne and are Man-eaters of Gyant-like proportion Notry ten Course the last Towne of the Bullochees the next Puttans Here for their entertainment Aprill the first 1610. they were beset with Theeues twelue Fiddlers first meeting them but their Musicke cost deere by bribes and composition the Mogols passe hindering further outrage Seuenteene Course they trauelled to Daddor foure and thirtie ouer the Mountaines to Vachesto from thence seuen and fiftie ouer the Mountaines to Candahar a great Citie of the Puttans where Sauder Can resided as Vice-Roy where are continually seuen or eight thousand Camels occupied in Trade to and fro The Gouernour hath fortie thousand Horses in redinesse for Warre Richard Still and Iohn Crowther were lately sent from Azmere Asimere or Agimere where the Mogoll now resides to Spahan in Persia to obtaine Trade for the English by Sir Robert Sherlies meanes which was effected They passed by the way of Lahore and therefore I would desire You to beare Them company for better knowledge of the Countrey Their way was first towards Agra and Fetipore which is a faire Citie and hath in it a goodly House of the Kings built by Echebar with many spacious Gardens now it goes to ruine much of the stone carried to Agra much ground sowne within the Wals April the ninth 1614. they came to Dillee a very great and ancient Citie where many Kings lye buried and as some say the Rites of Coronation are still solemnized many Nobles and Captaines haue their Houses of Pleasure and their Sepulchres the vulgar sort beggarly most Banians On the seuenteenth they came to Sinan an ancient Citie On the one and twentieth to the old Citie Sultan poare Sixe Courses from it they passed a Riuer as broad as the Thames called Viau which runnes West into Sinda
red colour which in the ripening becommeth yellow Cardamomum is of three sorts the Indians vse it in their meates and commonly chew it in their mouthes as being good against a stinking breath and euill humours in the head it is much like to Panike Lac is a strange drugge made by certaine winged Pismires of the gumme of Trees which they sucke vp and then make the Lac round about the branches as the Bees make honey and waxe The raw Lac is of a darke red colour but being refined they make it of all colours and therewith vernish their Beds Tables and vse it for other ornaments and for hard Waxe So saith Paludanus they beate the Lac to powder and so mixe all manner of colours vpon it as they list and make thereof such rolles as are heere sold for hard Waxe Iudico or Annil growes on small bushes like Gooseberry bushes and beares a Seed like a Cabbage as is before obserued cut vp and after long rotting trodden by Oxen and ground Linschoten sayth it is sowne as other Herbs in due time pulled and dryed and then made wet and beaten and then dryed againe and prepared first it is greene and after blue Of Sanders there are three sorts white yellow and red In Tymor an Iland by Iaua are whole Woods of Sanders the trees are like Nut-trees with a fruit like a Cherry but vnprofitable onely the wood which is the Sanders is esteemed Snakewood groweth in Seylon and is good against the stinging of Snakes and other poyson a Medicine learned of the beast Quit which being in continuall enmity with Snakes herewith healeth their bytings The trees of Lignum Aloes are like Oliue trees but somewhat greater the innermost part of the wood is best with blacke and browne veines and yeelding an Oyly moysture it is sold in weight against Siluer and Gold There is another kinde wherewith they burne their dead Bramenes The best which they call Calamba growes in Malacea and is vsed much for Beads and Crucifixes Monfart sayth the Portugals pay a hundred Crownes a pound for it to make their Beades Opium is the Iuyce of the heads of blacke Poppie beeing cut a dangerous drugge vsed much in Asia and Africa which makes them goe as if they were halfe asleepe they suppose I know not what coniunction and efficacy both of Mars and Venus therein but being once vsed must daily be continued on paine of death which some escaped in Acostaes company by the helpe of wine Bangue is another Receit of like vse especially with slaues and souldiers makes them drunke merry and so to forget then labour Ciuet or Algalia is the sweate of the Ciuet Cat and growes in the outermost part of the Cods and is hote and moyst Benioin is a kind of Gumme like Frankinscence and Myrrhe but more esteemed it growes in the Kingdome of Siam Iaua Sumatra and Malacca The tree is high full of branches with leaues like those of the Lemmon tree They cut the tree and from those slits proceedeth this Gumme which is best when the tree is young and is called Benioin of the sweete smell The old trees yeeld white the young blacke Of Frankincense wee haue spoken in Arabia it is also a Gum the best on those trees that grow on hils and stony places Myrrhe is a Gumme also brought out of Arabia Foelix and the Abexine Coast Manna is brought from the Vsbeks Countrey behind Persia and reckoned to Tartarâ—â—â—â—â—d â—â—d is a dew that falleth on certaine trees and hangeth on the leaues like Ice on the Tyles of houses It is gathered and kept in glasse Vials and much vsed in India Camphora is the Gumme of certaine trees in Borneo and China as great as Nut-trees sweating out from the midst of the same Tamarind groweth on a tree as great as a Plum-tree with leaues like Mirtle the flowers white like Orange flowers The leaues of the tree turne alwayes toward the Sunne and when it goeth downe they shut together and couer the huske The fruit is about a finger long crooked with shels wherein are kernels as bigge as a beane couered about with that which they call the Tamarind Of Mirobolanes are fiue sorts almost like Plummes Spiconard is sowne and growes on plants about two or three spannes high like Corne with great veines wherein the Spiconard groweth Cubebus growes like Pepper or Iuy against a tree the leaues like Pepper leaues and the huskes but euery graine hath a stalke of it selfe But if I should here recite the Indian Leafe the Galanga Canna Fistula with the rest I should tire the Reader with an Apothecaries Bill These as the rarest or chiefe I haue chosen so as it were to recreate our Reader with a walke and houres view in this Indian Garden being before full cloyed with our tedious Narrations of their Superstitions I might adde heere a Discourse of Gemmes as Diamonds Rubies Emeralds c. But it becommeth not my pouerty to talke so much of Iewels Monfart tels that the King of Biznega hath a Rock of Diamonds in which he keepes fifteene thousand men at worke reseruing all the greater to himselfe so that none are sold but smaller except by stealth Hee sayth hee saw one with the Great Mogoll as bigge as a Henne Egge purloyned from this King and cost the other little lesse then a Million It waygheth foure score and eighteene Mangelins euery Mangelin fiue graines The Bezar-stones are likewise taken out of the Maw of a Persian or Indian Goat which the Persians call Pazar And in the Countrey of Pan by Malacca they finde within the Gall of an Hogge a stone of greater force against Poyson and other Diseases then that Pazar-stone It is thought that these Stones doe proceede of the pasture whereon these Beastes feede The Amber is found as well in other places as in India Garcias thinkes it to bee the nature of the Soyle as Chalke Bole-armenike c. and not the Seed of the Whale or issuing from some Fountayne in the Sea as others hold Clusius tels a probable opinion of D. Marel that it was an excrement gathered in the Whales belly But of these and of inumerable other both sensitiue and vegetable creatures the Reader in our Pilgrims or Voyages now published may obserue from others eyes much more then here is place to expresse CHAP. XIII A generall discourse of the Sea and of the Seas in and about Asia §. I. Of the true place forme greatnesse and depth of the Sea AFter our long perambulation of the Asian Continent the Sea inuironing doth sollicite our next endeuours that the Reader might there refresh his wearied sense with a new succession of Natures varieties and Humane vanities And first while our Barke be made readie to ship vs ouer to some of those Ilands let vs as it were on the shore take view of this so strong so weake so constant and
Diarbech The chiefe Cities in it are Orfa of seuen miles compasse famous say some for the death of Crassus Caramit the mother Citie of the Countrey of twelue miles compasse Mosul and Merdin of which in the next Chapter Betweene Orpha and Caramit was the Paradise of Aladeules where hee had a fortresse destroyed by Selim. This his Paradise was like to that which you shall finde in our Persian Historie Men by a potion brought into a sleepe were brought into this supposed Paradise where at their waking they were presented with all sensuall pleasures of musicke damosels dainties c. which hauing had some taste of another sleepie drinke after came againe to themselues And then did Aladeules tell them That he could bring whom hee pleased to Paradise the place where they had beene and if they would commit such murders or haughtie attempts it should bee theirs A dangerous deuice Zelim the Turke destroyed the place CHAP. XIIII Of Niniue and other neighbouring Nations WE haue hitherto spoken of Babylonia but so as in regard of the Empire and some other occurrents necessitie now and then compelled vs to make excursions into some other parts of Assyria Mesopotamia c. And I know not how this Babylon causeth confusion in that Sea of affaires and in regard of the diuision of the pennes as sometimes of tongues of such as haue written thereof Hard it is to distinguish betweene the Assyrian and Babylonian Empire one while vnited another while diuided as each partie could most preuaile and no lesse hard to reconcile the Ethnike and Diuine Historie touching the same Ptolemey straitneth Assyria on the North with part of Armenia neere the hill Niphates on the West with Mesopotamia on the South with Susiana and Media on the East But her large Empire hath enlarged the name of Syria and of Assyria which names the Greekes did not well distinguish to many Countries in that part of Asia The Scripture deriueth Syria from Aram and Assyria from Ashur Both were in their times flourishing and mention is made from Abrahams time both of the warres and kingdomes in those parts yea before from Ashur and Nimrod as alreadie is shewed Mesopotamia is so called and in the Scripture Aram or Syria of the waters because it is situate betweene Euphrates and Tygris the countries Babylonia and Armenia confining the same on the North and South Whereas therefore wee haue in our former Babylonian relation discoursed of Assyria extending the name after a larger reckoning here wee consider it more properly Euphrates is a Riuer very swift for they which goe to Bagdet buy their boats at Birra which serue them but one voyage and sell them at Felugia for seuen or eight which cost fiftie because they cannot returne But Tygris is swifter the Armenians bring victuals downe the same to Bagdet on rafts made of Goats skinnes blowne full of wind and boords laid vpon them on which they lade their goods which being discharged they open the skinnes and carrie them backe on Camels Dionysius and Strabo tell of this Riuer that it passeth through the Lake Thonitis without mixture of waters by reason of this swiftnesse which also giueth it the name for the Medes call an Arrow Tygris Lucan sayth it passeth a great way vnder ground and wearie of that burthensome iourney riseth againe as out of a new fountaine At Tygrim subito tellus absorbet hiatu Occultosque tegit cursus rursusque renatum Fonte nouo flumen pelagi non abnegat vndas The chiefe Citie in these parts was Niniue called in Ionas A great and excellent Citie of three dayes iourney It had I borrow the words of our reuerend Diocesan an ancient testimonie long before in the Booke of Genesis For thus Moses writeth That Ashur came from the land of Shinar and built Niniueh and Rehoboth and Calah and Resin At length he singleth out Niniue from the rest and setteth a speciall marke of preeminence vpon it This is a great Citie which honour by the iudgement of the most learned though standing in the last place belongeth to the first of the foure Cities namely to Niniue Others imagined but their coniecture is without ground that the foure Cities were closed vp within the same walls and made but one of an vsuall bignesse Some ascribe the building of Niniue to Ninus the sonne of Belus of whom it tooke the name to be called either Ninus as wee reade in Plinie or after the manner of the Hebrewes Niniue They conceiue it thus That when Nimrod had built Babylon Ninus disdaining his gouernment went into the fields of Ashur and there erected a Citie after his owne name betweene the riuers Lycus and Tygris Others suppose that the affinitie betwixt these names Ninus and Niniueh deceiued profane Writers touching the Author thereof and that it tooke to name Niniueh because it was beautifull or pleasant Others hold opinion that Ashur and Ninus are but one and the same person And lastly to conclude the iudgement of some learned is that neither Ashur nor Ninus but Nimrod himselfe was the founder of it But by the confession of all both sacred and Gentile Histories the Citie was very spacious hauing foure hundred and fourescore furlongs in circuit when Babylon had fewer almost as some report by an hundred and as afterwards it grew in wealth and magnificence so they write it was much more enlarged Raphael Volaterranus affirmeth That it was eight yeeres in building and not by fewer at once then tenne thousand workemen There was no Citie since by the estimation of Diodorus Siculus that had like compasse of ground or statelinesse of walls the height whereof was not lesse then an hundred foot the breadth sufficiently capable to haue receiued three Carts on a row and they were furnished and adorned besides with fifteene hundred Turrets Thus farre our reuerend and learned Bishop Diodorus telleth out of Ctesias that Ninus after he had subdued the Egyptians Phoenicians Syrians Cilicians Phrygians and others as farre as Tanais and the Hyrcanians Parthians Persians and other their neighbours he built this Citie After that hee led an armie against the Bactrians of seuenteene hundred thousand footmen and two hundred thousand horse in which Expedition he tooke Semiramis from her husband Menon who therefore impatient of loue and griefe hanged himselfe Hee had by her a sonne of his owne name and then died leauing the Empire to his wife His Sepulchre was nine furlongs in height each of which is sixe hundred feete and ten in breadth The credite of this Historie I leaue to the Author scarce seeming to agree with Moses narration of the building of Niniue any more then Semiramis building of Babylon Some write That Semiramis abusing her husbands loue obtained of him the swaying of the Empire for the space of fiue dayes in which shee depriued him of his life and succeeded in his estate But lest the
dayes there to abide without any sustenance but when this time was expired and some wondered one more nose-wise then the rest smelled the sent of flesh the Sultan hearing it committed him and his disciple to the Cadilasher who by torments caused them to confesse the coozenage for thorow a hole which was made in the wall by a caue he had broth conueyed to him and therefore they were both put to death In the yeere 1478. Chozamirech an Armenian being in his shop in Tauris an Azi or Saint of theirs came to him and willed him to deny his Christian faith he answered him courteously and prayed him not to trouble him but when he persisted hee offered him money the Saint would not haue the money but importuned his first sute Chozomirech sayd hee would not deny his Christian faith whereupon the other plucked a sword out of a mans scabard which stood by and with a wound which hee gaue the Armenian in the head killed him and ranne away But the Armenians sonne complayning to the Sultan procured his apprehension at Merin two dayes iourney from Tauris and being brought before him he with a knife killed him vvith his owne hands and caused him to be cast on a dung-hill for the dogges to eate saying Is this the way to encrease the faith of Mahomet But when some of the more zealous people went to one Daruiscassun which was in guarding of the sepulchre of Assambei the former Sultan and as it were Prior of the Hospitall and requesting of him obtayned the body to burie it the Sultan hearing it sent for him and sayde to him Darest thou countermand my commands Away and kill him which was suddenly dispatched Hee further to be reuenged of the people committed the Towne to the sack which for the space of three or foure houres was done And then he forbad further spoyle and fined the Towne in a great summe of gold Lastly hee caused the Armenians sonne to come before him and with many kind words comforted him This long history I haue inserted to shew the extremity of blind zeale and religious fury in the seculars and votaries of these Persians if iustice should not withstand their rage Before is mentioned the commemorations of their dead which is thus performed ouer their Sepulchres Thither resort great multitudes of men and women olde and yong which sit on heapes with their Priests and with their candles lighted the Priests eyther reade or pray in their language and after cause to bee brought somewhat to eate in the place the place containeth betweene foure and fiue miles the pathes which leade thither are full of poore people which beg almes some of whom offer to say some prayer for their benefactors The sepulchres haue stones vpon them engrauen with the names of the buried parties and some haue a Chappell of stone thereon At Merdin he saw a naked man which came and sate by him and pulling forth a booke read thereon and after drew neere and asked him whence he was hee answered a strangerâ— I also am a stranger saith he of this world and so are we all and therefore I haue left it with purpose to goe thus vnto mine end with many words besides touching meekenesse and the deniall of the world He said I haue seene a great part thereof and finde nothing therein that contents me and therefore haue determined to abandon it altogether To this Merdina man cannot passe but by a way made of stone continuing a mile at the head therof is a gate and way to the Towne and within the Towne is another hill with a like way of fiue hundred pases in height There is an Hospitall for entertainment of all strangers made by Ziangirboi the brother of Vsuncassan and if they be of better sort they are entertained with carpets spread for them worth an hundred ducats a peece and victuals for all commers We might heere take further view of their stately Temples their great and populous Cities and other things worthy obseruation if that our Turkish History had not related the like also among them especially touching the persons and places religious For the rest I referre the Reader to other Authors The present King Abas more as it seemeth in policie to secure himselfe of factions and against the Turke then conscience is a great persecutor of that sect of Mahomet which followeth the interpretation of Vssen and Omar This hee labours to extirpate and make odious hauing in vse once a yeere with great solemnitie to burne publikely as maine heretikes the images of Vssen and Omar Then doth he cause his great men publikely in scorne of their institution to goe with a flagon of wine carried by a footman and at euery village or where they see any assembly of people to drinke which himselfe also vseth not for loue of the wine but to scandalize the contrarie religion Yet are there of the greatest exceeding precise Turkes if they durst shew it In a Letter of Iohn Ward written in Tauris May 14. 1605. this King is blamed for making slaues of poore Armenians and forcing many to Mahumetisme pulling downe Churches and vsing more rigour then the Turke §. IIII. Of Natures wonders and the Iesuits lyes of Persia THe wonders of Nature in these parts are neere Bachu a fountaine of oyle continually running and fetched into the farthest parts of Persia and another neere Shamakie of Tarre whereof we had good vse and proofe in our ship Hereabouts you shall haue in the fields neere to any Village in the night two or three hundred Foxes howling Kine they haue like ours and another sort great boned and leane as hard sauoured as those which Pharaoh dreamed of In Persia groweth great abundance of Bombasin cotton this groweth on a certaine tree or brier not past the height of a mans waste with a slender stalk like to a brier or carnation Iuly-flower with very many branches bearing on euery branch a fruit or cod round which when it commeth to the bignesse of a Wall-nut openeth and sheweth forth the cotton which groweth still like a fleece of wooll to the bignesse of a mans fist and then being loose is gathered the seeds are flat and blacke as big as pease which they sow in their fields and plowed ground in great abundance I had thought I had ended this Chapter and our Persian Expedition but our good friends the Iesuites would needs entertaine your wearie eyes with reading an exploit of theirs related by one sometimes their fellow Catholike now I hope our fellow Christian For the credit of this honest and loyall of their honest returne not with a non est and loyall with a â—â—e all societie was a French pamphlet by them dispersed a little before the Powder-treason amongst their Catholike friends in England reporting the miraculous conuersion of the King of Persia by one Campian a Iesuite an English-man that had expelled a Deuill out of a possessed partie and commanded the Deuill
Maotis but whether in deuouring the people with their swords as they did the pastures with their cattel they came from hence or these from thence or that Pliny might easily wander in so wandering a subiect all auer that from hence they went first into Persia and in succeeding ages haue made many fertile Countries like their Turcomania where Master Ienkinson saith groweth no grasse but heath whereon the cattell feed The Ottoman-horse blasting with his breath the ground he treads on according to their owne Prouerbe there neuer groweth grasse more The Turkeman Nation is saith Haithon for the most part Mahumetan and many of them without Law at all They vse the Arabike Letters §. III. Of the Zagathayan Tartars THese Desarts and Theeues haue almost made vs forget our diuision according to which wee should haue told you that from the Caspian Sea hither you must according to Maginus call the Tartars generally Zagathayans so called of Zagathay the Great Cans brother sometime their Prince Which name comprehendeth also diuers other Nations more ciuill then the former possessing the Countries sometime knowne by the names of Bactriana Sogdiana Margiana now Ieselbas that is Greene heads of the colour of their Turbants differing from the Persians whom they call for like cause Red-heads These haue cruell warres continually with the Persians whom they call Caphars as they doe the Christians for their supposed heresie of which in the Persian relation hath beene shewed and for that they will not cut the haire of their vpper lips for which they are accounted of the Tartars great sinners In Boghar is the seat of their Metropolitane who is there more obeyed then the King and hath sometime deposed the King and placed another at his pleasure There is a little Riuer running through the Citie whose water breedeth in them that drinke thereof especially strangers a worme of an ell long which lieth in the leg betwixt the flesh and the skin and is plucked out about the anckle with great Art of Surgeons well practised herein And if it breake in plucking out the partie dieth They plucke out an inch in a day which is rolled vp and so proceed till she be all out And yet will not the Metropolitane suffer any drinke but water or Mares milke hauing Officers to make search and punish such as transgresse with great seueritie Zagatai liued the space of one hundred twentie and one yeeres before Marcus Paulus and was as hee saith a Christian but his sonne followed him in his Kingdome not in his Religion Here in this Countrey is Samarcand the Citie of Great Tamerlaine of some called Temir Cuthlu that is as Mathias a Michou interpreteth it Happy Sword whose Armie contained twelue hundred thousand whose Conquests exceed if Histories exceed not all the Great Alexanders Pompeys Caesars or any other Worthies of the World And one of the greatest Monarch now of the Earth The Great Mogore is said to descend of him Of him are many Histories written by some that haue liued since his time and could not well know his proceedings it being generally deplored that this Achilles wanted a Homer which Alexander applauded in him but wanted for himselfe onely one Alhacen an Arabian which then liued hath written largely thereof and that as he saith by Tamerlans command which Iean du Bec Abbot of Mortimer in his voyage into the East Countrie met with and had it interpreted to him by an Arabian and wee vpon his credit which if any thinke to be insufficient I leaue it to his choice and censure That Author saith that Tamerlan descended of the Tartarian Emperours and Og his father was Lord of Sachetay who gaue to his sonne Tamerlan which name signifieth Heauenly grace in their Tongue his Kingdome while hee yet liued appointing two wise Counsellours Odmar and Aly to assist him Hee was well instructed in the Arabian learning and a louer of Learned men Nature had set in his eyes such rayes of Maiestie and beautie that men could scarce endure to looke on them He wore long haire contrary to the Tartarian Custome pretending that his mother came of the race of Sampson He was strong and had a faire leg whereas Leunclauius saith he was called Tamurleng of his lamenesse His first Warre was against the Muscouite whom he ouercame The second against the King of China with like successe I mention not his battailes in ciuill warres The third against Baiazet the Turke whom he captiued passing thither by the way of Persia where Guines Author of the Sophian Sect a great Astrologer and accounted a holy man encouraged him with prophesies of his good successe This Warre he made against Baiazet in behalfe of the Greeke Emperour and others whom the Turke oppressed He went priuately to Constantinople and had sight of the Citie with all kindnesse from the Emperour He inuaded Syria and Aegypt ouerthrew the Soldan and won Cairo destroyed Damascus visited and honoured Ierusalem and the holy Sepulchre and granted great Priuiledges thereunto The Princes of Lybia and barbarie by their Embassages in Aegypt acknowledged his Soueraigntie In his returne by Persia he was encountred by Guines who brought with him an infinite number of sundry kindes of beasts which he made tame and by which he taught men As soone as he saw Tamerlan he made his Praiers towards the Heauens for his health and for the Religion of the Prophet excommunicating the Ottomans as enemies to the faithfull beleeuers Tamerlan gaue him fifteene or sixteen thousand of his prisoners which he instructed in his opinion and after conquered Persia and so returned to Samarcand where he had vowed to erect a Church and Hospitall with all sumptuous Magnificence thence he went to Mount Althay to burie his vncle and father in law the Great Chan in whose State he succeeded He enriched Samarcand with the spoiles gotten in his warres and called the Temple which he there built the Temple of Salomon wherein he hanged vp Trophees and Monuments of his victories and caused all his battailes there to be ingrauen thereby said he to acknowledge the Goodnesse of GOD. His Religion was not pure Mahumetisme for he thought GOD was delighted with varietie of worships yet he hated Polytheisme and Idols onely one GOD he acknowledged and that with much deuotion after this manner Thus he beat downe all the Idols in China but honoured the Christians with great admiration at the strict life of some Votaries When Aly his Counsellour was dead he built a stately Tombe for him at Samarcand and caused prayers to be said three dayes for his soule Being neere his end hee blessed his two sonnes laying his hand on the head of Sautochio the elder and pressing it downe but lifting vp the chinne of Letrochio the younger as it were presaging vnto him the Empire although the elder were proclaimed But this Empire was too great and too suddenly erected to continue Of his successe and successors in Persia you
their Doctors neuer to reueale any of their secrets First that there was one God maker of Heauen Earth who alone not the Pagodes ought to be worshipped after that they were instructed in precepts necessary to saluation Xauerius asking what he repeated the Ten Cōmandements in order as we do and that in a mystical language known to few which their Doctors obserue in their holy things But the Bramene pronounced and explained them in the vulgar Further that the eight day or Sunday is to be kept holy then often to repeat the prayer Oncery Naraiua Noma the same which before is related and interpreted out of Heurnius this to be spoken with a lowe voice that they breake not their Oath likewise that their old bookes foretell of a time when all shall be of one Religion Fenicius another Iesuite learned of one of their Doctors other their mysteries contained in their Bookes that God produced all this world out of an Egge out of one part thereof the Land Sea and inferiour creatures out of the other the Heauens for habitation to the Gods that this World was founded on the end of a Buffals horne and because this beast leaned on one side ready to fall a huge Rocke was placed vnder him to support him But as before so here also followed some notice of better things For there was a Malabar Poet which writ 900. epigrams against their Pagodes each consisting of eight verses wherein he speakes many things elegantly of the Diuine Prouidence of Heauen and the torments of Hell and other things agreeing to the Christian Faith that God is present euery where and giues to euery one according to his estate that Celestiall blessednesse consists in the vision of God that the damned in Hell shall be tormented 400. millions of yeeres in flames and shall neuer die Thebramenes he calls fooles and blockes By this booke and by Mathematicall doctrine of the Sphere which they had scarcely euer heard of he made way for conuerting the people I haue thought good to say thus much together of them as in one view representing the Bramenes a name so anciently so vniuersally communicated to the Indian Priests although some particulars before haue beene or hereafter may be said touching some of them in other places according to the singularitie of each Nation in this so manifold a profession which they all demonstrate in their singular Superstitions CHAP. X. Of the Regions and Religions of Malabar §. I. Of the Kingdome of Calicut MAlabar extendeth it selfe from the Riuer Congeraco to the Cape Comori which some take to be the Promontory Cory in Ptolomey Maginus doubteth whether it be that which he calleth Commaria Extrema In the length it containeth little lesse then three hundred miles in bredth from that ridge of Gate to the Sea in some places fifty From Cangerecora to Puripatan are 60. miles of Coast therein Cota Colan Nilichilan Marabia Bolepatan Cananor where the Portugals haue a Fort in 12. degrees Tramapatan Chomba Main and Perepatan From thence to Chatua is the Kingdome of Calicut fourescore miles 11 coast therein Pandarane Colete Capocate Calecut in 11. 15. Chale a Portugall Fortresse Patangale Tanor a Citie Royall Pananc Baleancor and Chatua Then followes the Kingdome of Cranganor Next to that the Kingdome of Cochin then that of Porca without a good Port in her foure and fortie miles coast Coulan is next and then that of Trauancor which the Portugals called the Great King as being greater in State then the former subject to the King of Narsinga It is full of people diuided into many States by variety of Riuers which cause Horses to be vnseruiceable in their Warres and nourish many Crocodiles enrich the soyle and yeeld easie transportation of commodities which are spices of diuers kindes They haue Bats in shape resembling Foxes in bignesse Kites The chiefe Kingdomes in this tract are Kanonor Calicut Cranganor Cochin Carcolam and Trauancor About seuen hundred yeeres since it was one Kingdome gouerned by Soma or Sarama Perimal who by perswasion of the Arabian Merchants became of their Sect in which he proued so deuout that he would end his dayes at Mecca But before his departure he diuided his estate into these pety Signiories among his principall Nobles and kindred leauing vnto Coulam the spirituall preeminence and the Imperiall Title vnto his Nephew of Calicut who onely enjoyed the title of Zamori or Emperour and had prerogatiue of stamping coyne Some exempt from this Zamorin Empire and Allegeance both Coulam the Papall See of the high Bramene and Cananor and some haue since by their owne force exempted themselues This Perimal died in his holy Voyage and the Indians of Malabar reckon from this diuision their computation of yeeres as we doe from the blessed Natiuitie of our Lord He left saith Castaneda to himselfe but twelue leagues of his Countrie which lay neere to the shoare where he meant to embarque himselfe neuer before inhabited this he gaue to a Cousin of his then his Page commanding that in memorie of his embarquing there it should be inhabited and the rest to take Him for their Emperour except the Kings of Coulan and Cananor whom yet with the rest he commanded not to coine money but onely the King of Calicut For Calicut was therefore here built and the Moores for the embarquing tooke such deuotion to the place that they would no more frequent the Port of Coulan as before which therefore grew to ruine but made Calicut the Staple of their Merchandise Calicut the first in order with them shall bee so with vs The Citie is not walled nor faire built the ground not yeelding firme foundation by reason of the water which issueth if it be digged This Kingdome hath not aboue fiue and twenty leagues of Sea-coast yet rich both by the fertilitie of the soyle which yeeldeth Corne Spices Cocos Iaceros and many other fruits and by the situation as the Staple especially before the Portugals vnfriendly neighbourhood of Indian merchandise and therefore in her varietie of Merchants being a Map as it were of all that Easterne World The Egyptians Persians Syrians Arabians Indians yea euen from Catay the space of sixe thousand miles journey here had their trade and traffique The Palace also contained foure Halls of Audience according to their Religions for the Indians Moores Iewes Christians Of their Bramenes or Priests we haue already said They yeeld diuine honours to diuers of their deceased Saints and build Temples vnto beasts One of which dedicated to an Ape hath a large Porch for cattell to the vse of Sacrifice in which are saith Maffaeus seuen hundred marble Pillars not inferiour to those of Agrippa in the Roman Pantheon It seemeth that the ground in that place is not of so queasy and watery a stomacke but that it can digest deepe foundations To Elephants they attribute like Diuinitie but most of all to Kine supposing that the soules of
full of Iuyce like Lemmons at the end as Apples haue a stalke so this Fruit hath a Nut like the kidney of a Hare with kernels toothsome and wholsome The lambos exceedeth in beauty taste smell and medicinable vertue it is as bigge as a Peare smelleth like a Rose is ruddie and the tree is neuer without fruit or blossomes commonly each branch hauing both ripe and vnripe fruits and blossomes all at once Linschoten saith on the one side the tree hath ripe fruites and the leaues falne the other couered with leaues and flowres and it beareth three or foure times in a yeere The Iangomas grow on a tree like a Plum-tree full of prickles and haue power of binding The Papaios will not grow but Male and Female together but of these also the Carambolas Iambolijns and other Indian fruits I leaue to speake as not writing an Indian Herball but onely minding to mention such things which besides their Country haue some variety of Nature worthy the obseruation For the rest Gracias ab Horto translated by Carolus Clusius Paludanus Linschoten Christophorus Acosta writing particularly of these things and others in their generall Herbals may acquaint you Of this sort is the Indian Figge tree if it may be called a tree which is not aboue a mans height and within like to a Reed without any woody substance it hath loaues a fathome long and three span abroad which open and spread abroad on the top of it It yeeldeth a fruit in fashion of the clusters of Grapes and beareth but one bunch at once contayning some two hundred Figges at least which being ripe they cut the whole tree downe to the ground leauing onely the root out of which presently groweth another and within a moneth after beareth fruit and so continueth all the yeere long They are the greatest sustenance of the Country and are of very good taste and smell and in those parts men beleeue that Adam first transgressed with this fruit But of greater admiration is the Coquo tree being the most profitable tree in the world of which in the Ilands of Maldiua they make and furnish whole ships so that saue the men themselues there is nothing of the ship or in the ship neyther tackling merchandize or ought else but what this tree yeeldeth The tree groweth high and slender the wood is of a spungy substance easie to bee sowed when they make Vessels thereof with cordes made of Cocus For this Nut which is as bigge as an Estridge Egge hath two sorts of huskes as our Walnuts whereof the vppermost is hayry like hempe of which they make Ockam and Cordage of the other shell they make drinking Cups The fruit when it is almost ripe is full of water within which by degrees changeth into a white harder substance as it ripeneth The liquor is very sweet but with the ripening groweth sowre The liquor extracted out of the tree is medicinable and if it stand one houre in the Sunne it is very good Vineger which being distilled yeeldeth excellent Aquauitae and Wine Of it also they make by setting it in the Sunne Sugar Of the meate of the Nut dryed they make Oyle Of the pith or heart of the tree is made paper for Bookes and Euidences Of the leaues they make couerings for their Houses Mats Tents c. Their apparell their firing and the rest of the Commodities which this tree more plentifull in the Indies then Willowes in the Low Countryes yeeldeth would be too tedious to recite They will keepe the tree from bearing fruit by cutting away the blossomes and then will hang some Vessell thereat which receiueth from thence that liquor of which you haue heard It is the Canarijns liuing and they will climbe vp these trees which yet haue no boughes but on the top like Apes This tree hath also a continuall succession of fruits and is neuer without some No lesse wonder doth that tree cause which is called Arbore de rais or the Tree of Roots Clusius calleth it by Plinies authoritie the Indian Figge tree and Goropius with more confidence then reason affirmeth it to be the Tree of Adams transgression It groweth out of the ground as other trees and yeeldeth many boughes which yeeld certayne threeds of the colour of Gold which growing down-wards to the earth doe there take root againe making as it were new trees or a wood of trees couering by this meanes the best part somtimes of a mile in which the Indians make Galleries to walke in The Figges are like the common but not so pleasant The Arbore triste deserueth mention It growes at Goa brought thither as is thought from Malacca The Hollanders saw one at Achi in Samatra In the day time and at Sunne-setting you shall not see a flowre on it but within halfe an houre after it is full of flowres which at the Sun-rising fall off the leaues shutting themselues from the Sunnes presence and the tree seeming as if it were dead The flowres in forme and greatnesse are like to those of the Orange-tree but sweeter in Acostas iudgement then any flowres which euer hee smelled the Portugals haue vsed all meanes to haue it grow in Europe but our Sunne hath refused to nourish such sullen vnthankfull Malecontents And that yee may know the Indians want not their Metamorphoses and Legends they tell that a man named Parisatico had a Daughter with whom the Sunne was in loue but lightly forsaking her he grew amorous of another whereupon this Damosell slue herselfe and of the ashes of her burned carkasse came this tree Bettele is a leafe somewhat like a Bay leafe and climbeth like Iuie and hath no other fruit neither is any fruit more in vse then these leaues at bed and boord and in the streets as they passe they chew these leaues and in their gossippings or visiting of their friends they are presently presented with them and eate them with Arecca which is a kind of Indian Nut. It saueth their teeth from diseases but coloureth them as if they were painted with blacke bloud When they chew it they spit out the iuyce and it is almost the onely exercise of some which thinke they could not liue if they should abstaine one day from it They haue an Herbe called Dutroa which causeth distraction without vnderstanding any thing done in a mans presence sometimes it maketh a man sleepe as if hee were dead the space of foure and twentie houres except his feet be washed with cold water which restoreth him to himselfe and in much quantitie it killeth Iarric cals it Doturo and sayth that Pinnerus the Iesuite and his Family at Lahor were by meanes of this herbe giuen them by a theeuish seruant distracted and the goods then carried out of their house The women giue their husbands thereof and then in their sights will prostitute their bodies to their Iewder louers and will call them Coruudos stroking them by the beard the husband sitting with his eyes open
grinning like a Foole when he returneth to himselfe knoweth nothing but that hee hath slept Another strange herbe is called Sentida or feeling for that if any passe by it and toucheth it or throweth sand or any thing else on it presently it becommeth as if it were withered and closeth the leaues so continuing as long as the man standeth by but so soone as he is gone openeth fresh and faire and touching it againe it withereth as before The Indians suppose it will procure loue and restore Virginitie A Physician amongst them became mad with studying to find out the nature of this herbe Pigafetta speakes of another sort as after shall follow But the strangest plant for so may we terme it is that at Goa the hornes of beasts slaughtered are throwne together in one place lest they should bee occasion of indignation and reproach to any the shewing or naming of a horne being there ominous These hornes thus cast forth after a certaine time take root and the roots grow two or three spannes in length Galuano telleth of a tree in Mindanao the one halfe whereof which standeth towards the East is a good remedy against poyson the Westerne halfe yeeldeth the strongest Poyson in the World There is a stone on which whosoeuer sitteth shall bee broken in his body The Tree of Iapan which thriues best with that which kils other Trees and in a Naturall antipathy to Nature is killed with that moysture which quickens others and that in Ciumbubon whose leaues are said to haue feete and to goe in their due places shall bee mentioned But of all the most wonderfull is that Plant of Sumbrero an Iland not farre from Nicubar and Sumatra growing on the Sands by the Sea side which some English then being there with Sir Iames Lancaster offering to pull vp shrunke it selfe into the ground as hauing sensitiue life and motion neyther without greater force would it bee brought forth The cause they found that the Roote is a great Worme which as the Plant growes into a greater tree dyes by degrees or exchangeth that sensitiue into a vegetatiue life The first growth is out of the mouth of the Worme being then but a small twigge full of greene leaues as bigge as a Bay leafe the Worme in processe of the growth turnes into this tall growing Tree The Reader may smile as at Virgils Polydorus or some of Ouids Metamorphosis thinking this incredible but yet behold another change They plucked vp some of these resisting Plants to bring them home for rarities as they did many stripping off the leaues and barke and thereby I know not with what naturall horrour they after found that as it dryed it died beneath the name of Death into a hard stone like white Corall Thus haue you a three-fold Retrograde in one thing From that degree of life which hath locall motion to a Stirpanimans or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sensitiue Plant which mooueth it selfe but not out of the same place as Oysters and the like from thence in a second remooue to a meere Plant or Tree and in a third degree to a Tropiditie and stonie lifelessenesse Nor doe thou deride this as mostrous incredible impossible I leaue the certaintie thereof to the Relators but examine if in thy selfe thou findest not a greater and more manifâ—ld Retrograde in this Storie of Creatures what fitter to bee obserued then MAN for whom the rest were Created in thy selfe Homo is homulus degenerate from that Man which God created after his owne Image and become the Diminutiue of Himselfe Nay lesse then that not Homulus but Mulus as the Horse and Mule that hath no vnderstanding A Mule that is a profitable beast but of Men not the Cretans alone that of Epimenides and Paul is true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are euill beasts yea euill wilde beasts yea euill wilde and venemous the word will beare it Nay Saint Paul proceeds in further degrading this proud Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bellies the worst part of the worst beasts all bellies like Spiders Nay worse for their bellies worke nets to keepe them but these are slow bellies idle nay Idol-bellies slow except in deuouring and therein the Gluttons God quorum Deus venter Magister artis ingenijque largitor Venter Euen till like Oysters wee haue but sense for sensualitie for touch and taste this Pinguis aquiliculus propenso sesquipede extans not scarcely suffering vs to moue from the Table and that also a Great and bigge Prince in our dayes hath had cut with a great in-let for his great belly The Belly as well a shapen Deitie as the Vmbilicus of Iupiter Ammon But alas the Belly and what Nature hath placed beneath it hath placed vs beneath that sensitiue life which the Belly hath and with this Plant heere mentioned wee are Wormes not Men Plants not Wormes Pôpuius primá corruptà is Populus our corruption from our first state hath made the whole people of Mankinde as a Moorish ill planted Plant Yea in the Greeke it hath a more fit name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our retrograde is into a hard stone So vaine a thing is Man §. III. Of Spices and Drugges PEpper whereof there are diuers sorts groweth at the foot of Arecca or some other Tree on which it climbeth as a Betele or Iuie growing in bunches like grapes halfe a spanne long and as bigge as ones finger greene like Iuie when it is gathered and in fiue or sixe dayes drying in the Sunne becomes blacke Cinamon is the inner barke of a Tree as bigge as an Oliue with leaues like Bay-leaues and fruit like an Oliue The drying of the barke maketh it roll together Within three yeeres after the tree yeeldeth another barke as before In Seylon is the best They of Ormuz call it Darchina that is wood of China and selling it at Alexandria call it Cinnamomum Ginger groweth like young Reedes or Gladiolus with a roote like a Lilly it is plentifull in Malabar Cloues grow in the Moluccos on trees like Bay-trees yeelding blossomes first white then greene at which time they yeeld the pleasantest smell in the world and last of all red and hard which are the Cloues They are so hot of nature that if a payle or tubbe of water should stand in the Chamber when they clense them or any vessell of Wine or other moysture in two dayes the Cloues would sucke it out and drie it The same nature is of the vnspunne Silke of China The Nutmeg-tree is like a Peach or Peare-tree and groweth most in Banda and Iaua The fruit is like a Peach the inner part whereof is the Nutmegge which is couered and interlaced with the Maâ—e or flowre and ouer that is the fruit like a Peach as I haue seene them conserued When the fruit is ripe the first and outermost part openeth as it is with our Walnuts then the Mace flourisheth in a faire
death at Passanan for Tecco is a healthfull place where and in the Country about the Pepper most groweth In Nicobar they are base people and till not the ground Sumbrero is ten or twelue leagues Northward from this Iland where that plant growes not a plant but a Worme but a stone before obserued The people are tawny and naked they paint their faces Their Priests in their Sacrifices weare apparell so close as if it were sowed to them and hornes on their heads turning backe with a taile also hanging downe behind for so the Deuill they say appeareth to them Their faces and haire are deformed with greene blacke and yellow colours HONDIVS his Map of Zeilan CEILAN insula §. II. Of Zeilan ZEilan which some call Seylon other Ceilan is by Barrius auerred to be Taprobana sometimes according to Marcus Paulus his reports thought to haue comprehended 3600. miles in circuit since much impayred by his ouer-mighty neighbour the Sea which hath now left not aboue 250. miles in length and an 140. miles of breadth vnto it b The Indians call it Tenarisim or the delicious land and some are of opinion that this was Paradise So iust are the iudgements of the Highest that when as man wandred from him caused him also to wander from himselfe and from his habitation yea the place it selfe hath also wandred in mens wandring conceits ouer the World yea and out of our habitable World altogether as before is shewed men now seeking it as vainly as before they lost it It is in fashion resembling an Egge by a shallow channell separated from the Cape Comori The Heauens with their dewes the Ayre with a pleasant holesomnesse and fragrant freshnesse the Waters in their many Riuers and Fountaynes the Earth diuersified in aspiring Hils lowly Vales equall and indifferent Plaines filled in her inward Chambers with Metals and Iewels in her outward Court and vpper face stored with whole Woods of the best Cinamon that the Sunne seeth besides Fruits Oranges Limons c. surmounting those of Spaine Fowles and Beasts both tame and wild among which is their Elephant honoured by a naturall acknowledgement of excellence of all other Elephants in the World These all haue conspired and ioyned in common league to present vnto Zeilan the chiefe of worldly treasures and pleasures with a long and healthfull life in the Inhabitants to enioy them No maruell then if Sense and Sensuality haue heere stumbled on a Paradise There wooddie Hils as a naturall Amphitheatre doe encompasse a large Plaine and one of them as not contenting his beetle-browes with that onely prospect disdayneth also the fellowship of the neighbouring Mountaynes lifting vp his steepe head seuen leagues in height and hath in the top a Plaine in the middest whereof is a stone of two Cubits erected in manner of a Table holding in it the print of a mans foot who they say came from Deli thither to teach them Religion The Iogues and other deuout Pilgrimes resort thither from places a thousand leagues distant with great difficulty of passage both hither and heere For they are forced to mount vp this Hill by the helpe of nayles and chaines fastened thereto Nature hauing prohibited other passage Maffaeus and Boterus could perswade themselues that this foot-step is a relike and memory of the Aethiopian Eunuch others will haue it further fetcht and father it vpon Adam the first Father of Mankinde of whom the Hill also is named Pico de Adam The Moores call it Adam Baba and say That from thence Adam ascended into Heauen The Pilgrimes are clad in their Palmers Weed with Iron chaines and skins of Lions and other wild beasts Vpon their armes and legs they weare buttons with sharpe points that cut the flesh and draw bloud which they say they doe in Gods seruice Before they come at the Mountayne they passe by a fenny Valley full of water wherein they wade vp to the waste with Kniues in their hands to scrape from their legs the bloud-leeches which else would end their Pilgrimage and life before the time For this dirty and watery passage continueth eighteen miles before they come at the Hil whose proud top would disdaine climbing if Art did not captiue Nature and binde the Hill with chaines of Iron as is said When they are mounted they wash them in a Lake or Poole of cleere springing water neere to that foot-stone and making their Prayers doe thus account themselues cleane from all their sinnes This holy iourney is generally performed by the Ilanders sayth Vertomannus once a yeere He addeth that a Moore told him that this foot-print was two spans long and that Adam heere a long time bewayled his sinne and found pardon But Odoricus affirmeth that they reported this mourning to haue beene for Abel and to haue lasted three hundred yeeres and of the teares of Abel and Eue this purifying water to haue proceeded which Odoricus proued to be a Tale because he saw the water springing continually and it runneth thence into the Sea He saith that this water had in it many precious stones and the King gaue leaue at certayne times of the yeere to poore men to take them that they might pray for his soule which they could not doe but first anointed with Limons because of the Horse-leeches in that water There are reckoned nine Kings in this Iland The first of Colmuchi to whom the rest pay tribute viz. the Kings of Ianasipatan Triquinamale Batecolon Villassem Tanamaca Laula Galle and Candy In Candy were Statues artificially wrought fiue or sixe fathomes high which these Symmetrians proportioned to the stature of Adam gathered by that print of his foot In Vintane is a Pagode or Idoll Temple the compasse whereof is an 130. paces it is very high and all white except on the top which hath the spires thereof gilded insomuch that men are not able when the Sun shineth to looke thereon It hath a Towre or square Steeple of excellent workmanship There are many other Temples and a Monastery also of Religious persons which are attired in yellow haue their crownes shauen with Beades in their hands and alwayes seeme to mumble ouer somewhat of their deuout Orisons being in high estimation of sanctity with the vulgar and freed from publike labours and burthens Their Monastery is built after the manner of the Popish being also gilded with Gold In their Chappels are many Images of both sexes which they say represent some of their Saints they are set on the Altars and are clothed with garments of gold and siluer Before them are the Images of Boyes which beare vp great Candlestickes with Wax-candles burning therein night and day Euery houre they resort to these Altars to their Mumpsimus They held a solemne Procession whiles the Hollanders were there in which their Abbot rode on an Elephant richly attired lifting vp his hands ouer his head with a golden Rod therein the Monkes went two
was hell and that the soules of their wicked Ancestors went thither to be tormented and that those who were good and valiant men went downe into the pleasant Valley where the great City di Laguna now standeth then which the Towns adioyning to it there is not in any place of the World a more delicater temperature of Ayre nor a goodlier Obiect for the eye to make a Royall Landskip of as to stand in the Centre of this Plaine and to behold how nature hath delineated all earthly beauty in the great On the North side of the Iland are many fresh waters with falling downe from the top of exceeding high Mountaynes refresh the Plaines and City di Laguna and are afterwards by the greatnesse of their torrent carried into the Ocean The Iland is parted in the midst with a ridge of Mountaynes like the roofe of a Church hauing in the midst of it like a steeple the Pyke of Teyda if you diuide the Iland into twelue parts ten of them are taken vp in impassable Rocky Hils in Woods in Vineyards and yet in this small remaynder of arrable ground there was gathered as I saw vpon their account in the yeere of our Lord 1582. 200. and 5000. Hannacks of Wheat besides infinite store of Rie and Barley One of our English quarters make foure and a halfe of their Hannacks The soyle is delicately temperate and would produce all the most excellent things the earth beareth if the Spaniards would seeke and labour them The Vineyards of account are in Buena Vista in Dante in Oratana in Tigueste and in the Ramble which place yeeldeth the most excellent Wine of all other There are two sorts of Wines in this Iland Vidonia and Muluesia Vidonia is drawne out of a long Grape and yeeldeth a dull Wine The Maluesia out of a great round Grape and this is the only Wine which passeth all the Seas of the World ouer and both the Poles without sowring or decaying whereas all other wines turne to Vineger or freeze into Ice as they approch the Southerne or Northerne Pole There are no where to be found fairer or better Mellons Pomegranates Pomecitrons Figs Orenges Limons Almonds and Dates Honey and consequently Waxe and Silke though not in great quantity yet excellent good and if they would plant there store of Mulberry trees the ground would in goodnesse and for quantity equall if not exceed eyther Florence or Naples in that commodity The North side of this Iland aboundeth aswell with wood as with water There grow the Cedar Cypresse and Bay tree the wild Oliue Masticke and Sauine goodly procerous Palme and Pine-trees which shoot vp into a beautifull streight talnese In the passage betwixt Oratana and Garachiro you ride through a whole Forrest of them the strong sauour of which perfumeth all the Aire thereabouts of these there are such abundance all the Iland ouer that all their Wine Vessels and woodden Vtensils are made of them There are of these Pine-trees two sorts the strait Pine and the other growing after the manner of our spreading Okes in England which wood the Inhabitants call the Immortall tree for that it rotteth neyther aboue nor below the ground nor in the water It is neere as red as Brasill , and as hard but nothing so vnctuous as the other kind of Pine Of these they haue such great ones that the Spaniards doe faithfully report that the wood of one Pine-tree alone couered the Church of los Remedios in the City of Laguna which is 80. foote in length and 48. foote in breadth And that one other Pine-tree couered the Church of S. Benito in the same City which is 100. foot in length and 35. in breadth The noblest and strangest tree of all the Iland is the tree called Draco his body riseth into an exceeding height and greatnesse The barke is like the scales of a Dragon and from thence I suppose it had his name On the very top of the tree doe all his armes cling and interfold together by two and by two like the Mandragoras they they are fashioned euen like the arme of a man round and smooth and as out of their fingers ends groweth the leafe about two foote in length in fashion like to our greene wild water seggs This tree hath not wood within its barke but only a light spongious pith and they commonly make Bee-hiues of the bodies of them Towards the full of the Moone it sweateth forth a cleane Vermilion Gummme which they call Sangre de Draco more excellent and astringeth by farre then that Sanguis Draconis which wee haue from Goa and from other parts of the East Indies by reason the Iewes are the only Druggists of those parts and to make mony they falsifie and multiply it with other trash foure pound waight for one The first that were knowne to inhabit this Iland are called Guanches but how they came thither it is hard to know because they were and are people meerely barbarous voyd of Letters The language of the old Guanches which remayneth to this day among them in this Iland in their Towne of Candelaria alludeth much to that of the Moores in Barbary When Betanchor the first Christian Discouerer of these parts came thither he found them to be no other then meere Gentiles ignorant of God Notwithstanding I doe not find that they had any manner of commerce with the Deuill a thing not vsuall among the Indian Gentiles They held there was a power which they called by diuers names as Achuhurahan Achuhucanar Achguayaxerax signifying the greatest the highest and the mayntayner of all If they wanted raine or had too much or any thing went ill with them they brought their sheepe and their Goats into a certaine place and seuered the young ones from the Dams and with this bleating on both sides they thought the wrath of the Supreme Power was appeased and that he would prouide them of what they wanted They had some notion of the immortality and punishment of Soules for they thought there was a Hell and that it was in the Pike of Teyda and they call Hell Echeyde and the Deuill Guayotta In ciuill affaires they were somewhat Regular as in acknowledging a King and confessing vassalage in contracting Matrimony reiecting of Bastards succession of Kings making of Lawes and subiecting themselues to them When any childe was borne they called vnto them a certaine woman and shee did with certaine words powre water vpon the childes head and euer after this woman was assumed into the number of that kindred and with her it was not lawfull euer after for any of that race to marrie or vse copulation The exercises which the young men vsed were leaping or running shooting the Dart casting of the stone and dauncing in which to this houre they do both exceedingly glorie and delight And so full of naturall vertue and honest simplicitie were these Barbarians
It flyeth so swift saith Ouiedo that the wings cannot be seene It hath a nest proportionable I haue seene saith he one of those birds together with her nest put into the scales wherein they vse to weigh Gold and both weighed but two Tomins that is foure and twenty graines Haply it is therefore called Tomineios as weighing one Tomin The feathers are beautified with yellow greene and other colours the mouth like the eye of an Needle It liueth on dew and the juice of herbs but sitteth not on the Rose The feathers specially of the necke and brests are in great request for those feather-pictures or portraitures which the Indians make cunningly and artificially with these natural feathers placing the same in place and proportion beyond all admiration The Indian Bats should not flee your light and are for their rarity worthy consideration but that wee haue spoken before somewhat of them They haue Birds called Condores of exceeding greatnesse and force that will open a sheepe and a whole Calfe and eate the same They haue abundance of Birds in beautie of their feathers farre surpassing all in Europe wherewith the skilfull Indians will perfectly represent in feathers whatsoeuer they see drawne with the Pensill A figure of Saint Francis made of feathers was presented to Pope Sixtus Quintus whose eye could not discerne them to be naturall colours but thought them pensill-worke till he made tryall with with his fingers The Indians vsed them for the ornaments of their Kings and Temples Some Birds there are of rich commoditie onely by their dung In some Islands ioyning to Peru the Mountaines are all white like Snow which is nothing but heapes of dung of certaine Sea-fowle which frequent those places It riseth many Ells yea many Launces in height and is fetched thence in Boats to hearten the Earth which hereby is exceeding fertile To adde somewhat of the Indian Plants and Trees Mangle is the name of a Tree which multiplyeth it selfe into a wood as before we haue obserued of it the branches descending and taking root in the Earth The Plane-tree of India hath leaues sufficient to couer a man from the foot to the head but these the Coco and other Indian Trees are in the East-Indies also and there we haue mentioned them Cacao is a fruit little lesse then Almonds which the Indians vse for money and make thereof a drinke holden amongst them in high regard They haue a kinde of Apples called Ananas exceeding pleasant in colour and taste and very wholesome which yet haue force to eate iron like Aqua fortis The Mamayes Guayauos and Paltos be the Indian Peaches Apples and Peares But it would bee a weary wildernesse to the Reader to bring him into such an Indian Orchard where he might reade of such varietie of fruits but like Tantalus can taste none or to present you with a Garden of their Trees which beare flowres with other fruit as the Floripondio which all the yeere long beareth flowres sweet like a Lilly but greater the Volusuchil which beareth a flowre like to the forme of the heart and others which I omit The flowre of the Sunne is is now no longer the Marigold of Peru but groweth in many places with vs in England The flowre of the Granadille they say if they say truely hath the markes of the Passion Nayles Pillar Whips Thornes Wounds exceeding stigmaticall Francis For their Seeds and Craines Mays is principall of which they make their bread which our English ground brings forth but hardly will ripene it growes as it were on a Reed and multiplyeth beyond comparison they gather three hundred measures for one It yeeldeth more blood but more grosse then our Wheat They make drinke thereof also wherewith they will be exceedingly drunke They first steepe and after boyle it to that end In some places they first cause it to be champed with Maids in some places with old women and then make a leauen thereof which they boyle and make this inebriating drinke The Canes and leaues serue for their Mules to eate They boyle and drinke it also for paine in the back The buds of Mays serue in stead of Butter and Oyle In some parts they make bread of a great root called Yuca which they name Caçaui They first cut and straine it in a Presse for the iuyce is deadly poison the Cakes dryed are steeped in water before they can eate them Another kinde there is of this Yuca or Iucca the iuice whereof is not poison It will keepe long like Bisket They vse this bread most in Hisponiola Cuba and Iamaica where Wheat and Mays will not grow but so vnequally that at one instant some is in the grasse other in the graine They vse in some places another root called Papas like to ground Nuts for bread which they call Chuno Of other their roots and fruits I am loth to write lest I weary the Reader with tedious officiousnesse Spices grow not there naturally Ginger thriueth well brought and planted by the Spaniards They haue a good kinde of Balme though not the same which grew in Palestina Of their Amber Oiles Gums and Drugs I list not to relate further Out of Spaine they haue caried great varietie of Plants herein Americo exceeding Spaine that it receiueth and fructifieth in all Spanish Plants that are brought thither whereas the Indian thriue not in Spaine as Vines Oliues Mulberies Figs Almonds Limons Quinces and such like And to end this Chapter with a comparison of our World with this of America Our aduantages and preferments are many Our Heauen hath more Stars and greater as Acosta by his owne sight hath obserued challenging those Authors which haue written otherwise of fabling Our Heauen hath the North-Starre within three degrees and a third of the Pole their Crosier or foure Stars set a-crosse which they obserue for the Antarticke is thirtie degrees off The Sunne commucateth his partiall presence longer to our Tropike then that of Capricorne remaining in the Southerne Signes 178. dayes one and twenty houres and twelue minutes in the Northerne 186. dayes eight houres and twelue minutes B. Keckerman System Astron L. 1. Tycho Brahe L. 1. reckoneth these a hundred fourescore and sixe dayes houres eighteene and a halfe dayes eight and one third part fere plus quam in Australi c. This want of the Sunne and Stars is one cause of greater cold in those parts then in these Our Earth exceeds theirs for the situation extending it selfe more between East and West fittest for humane life whereas theirs trends most towards the two Poles Our Sea is more fauourable in more Gulfes and Bayes especially such as goe farre within Land besides the Mid-Land-Sea equally communicating her selfe to Asia Africa and Europa This conuenience of traffique America wanteth Our beasts wilde and tame are farre the more noble as the former discourse sheweth For what haue they to oppose to our Elephants Rhinocerotes Camels Horses
bigger and white which bite like Dogs they termed Margaulx Although it be 14. leagues from the Mayne yet Beares swim thither to feast with these Birds One they saw as great as a Kow saith Cartier and as white as a Swan which they did kill and eate and the flesh was as good as of a two yeere old Calfe About the Port of Brest they found so many Ilets as they were impossible to bee numbred continuing a great space The Iland of Assumption by the Sauages called Natiscotec standeth in 49. degrees The Sauages dwell in houses made of Fir-trees bound together in the top and set round like a Doue-house This as before is said is at the entry of the Riuer into the Gulfe of Saint Lawrence The bankes of this Riuer are inhabited of people that worship the Deuill and sometimes sacrifice to him their owne bloud Francis the first King of France sent thither Iames Breton and Henry his Sonne Nicolas Villaegagnon but the greatest riches they found were the Diamonds of Canada and those of small value for their brittlenesse Thus Boterus Iaques Cartier made three Voyages into these parts First in the yeere 1534. Then was hee gladly welcommed of the Sauages singing dancing and expressing other signes of ioy as rubbing his armes with their hands and then lifting him vp to Heauen giuing all to their naked skin though all were worse then nothing for the trifles hee gaue them They went naked sauing their priuities which were couered with a skin and certaine old skinnes they cast vpon them Some they saw whose heads were altogether shauen except one bush of haire which they suffer to grow vpon the top of their crowne as long as a Horse-tayle and tyed vp with leather strings in a knot They haue no dwelling but their Boats which they turne vpside downe and vnder them lay themselues along on the bare ground They eate their flesh and fish almost raw only a little heated on the coales The next yeere Captaine Cartier returned and carried backe two Sauages which hee before had carried into France to learne the language He then passed vp to Hochelaga They found Rats which liued in the water as bigge as Conies and were very good meate Hochelaga is a Citie round compassed about with timber with three course of Rampiers one within another framed sharpe about two rods high It hath but one gate which is shut with piles and barres There are in it about fifty great houses and in the midst of euery one a Court in the middle whereof they make their fire Before they came there they were forced to leaue their boats behind because of certaine fals and heard that there were three more higher vp the streame towards Sanguenay which in his third Voyage were discouered Concerning the Religion in these parts of Canada euen amongst the Sauages wee finde some tracts and foot-prints thereof which neither the dreadfull Winters haue quite frozen to death nor these great and deepe waters haue wholly drowned but that some shadow thereof appeareth in these shadowes of Men howsoeuer wild and sauage like to them which giue her entertainment This people beleeueth saith Iaques Cartier in one which they call Cudruaigni who say they often speakes to them and tels them what weather will follow whether good or bad Moreouer when hee is angry with them hee casts dust into their eyes They beleeue that when they die they goe into the Stars and thence by little and little descend downe into the Horizon euen as the Starres doe after which they goe into certaine greene fields full of goodly faire and precious trees flowres and fruits The Frenchmen told them Cudruaigni was a Deuill and acquainted them with some mysteries of the Christian Religion whereupon they condescended and desired Baptisme the French excused and promised after to bring Priests for that purpose They liue in common together and of such commodities as their Countrey yeeldeth they are well stored They wed two or three wiues a man which their husbands being dead neuer marrie againe but for their widowes liuery weare a blacke wood all the dayes of their life besmearing their faces with coale-dust and grease mingled together as thicke as the backe of a Knife They haue a filthy and detestable vse in marrying their Maydens first putting them being once of lawfull age to marry in a common place as Harlots free for euery man that will haue to doe with them vntill such time as they find a match I haue seene houses as full of such Prostitutes as the Schooles in France are full of children They there vse much misrule riot and wantonnesse They dig their ground with certaine pieces of wood as big as halfe a Sword where they sow their Maiz The men also doe much vse Tobacco The women labour more then the men in fishing and husbandry They are more hardy then the beasts and would come to our ships starke naked going vpon Snow and Ice in which season they take great store of beasts Stags Beares Marternes Hares and Foxes whose flesh they eate raw hauing first dryed it in the Sun or smoke and so they doe their fish They haue also Otters Weasils Beauers Badgers Conies Fowle and Fish great varietie and one fish called Adhothuis whose bodie and head is like to a Greyhound white as Snow Their greatest Iewel is Chains of Esurgnie which are shel-fishes exceeding white which they take on this manner When a captiue or other man is condemned to death they kill him and then cut slashes in his most fleshie parts and hurle him into the Riuer Cornibots whence after twelue houres they draw him finding in those cuts these Esurgnie whereof they make Beads and Chaines They are excellent for stanching of bloud Thus much out of Cartier In the yeere 1542. Monsieur Roberual was sent to inhabit those parts He saith that he built a Fort faire and strong the people haue no certayne dwelling place but goe from place to place as they may find best food carrying all their goods with them It is more cold in that then in other places of like height as Iohn Alphonse of Xanctoigne affirmeth because of the greatnesse of the Riuer which is fresh water and because the Land is vntilled and full of Woods We may adde the cold vapours which the Sunne exhaleth in that long passage ouer the Ocean the abundance of Ice that commeth out of the North-seas and the winds which blow from them and from the cold snowie hils in the way §. III. Late Plantations of New-France and Relations of the Natiues SAmuel Champlain made a Voyage to Canada 1603. and encountred with a banke of Ice eight leagues long in 45. degrees two third parts with infinite smaller The Streits mouth from Cape Ray to the Cape of Saint Laurence within the Gulfe of Canada is eighteene leagues He obserued a Feast made by Anadabijon the great Sagamo in his Cabin in which eight or ten
which I haue obserued in this long and tedious Pilgrimage there is some sparke left of Religion euen in the acknowledgement of a Deuill and of eternall rewards and punishments §. II. Of their Priests or Magicians THis is further confirmed by that which is written of certaine Magicians or Priests amongst them which perswade the people that they haue dealings with Spirits that by their meanes they haue their Roots and sustinance and may by them haue fortitude I saith Lerius was present at one of their Assemblies where sixe hundred were gathered together which diuided themselues into three parts the men went into one house the women into a second the children into a third The Cariabes forbade the women and children to depart their houses but to attend diligently to singing and we saith he were commanded to abide with the women Anon the men in one house fell to singing He He He answered by the women in the other with the same They howled it out for a quarter of an houre shaking their brests and foming at the mouth and as if they had had the falling sicknesse some falling downe in a swoune the Deuill in seeming entring into them The children also followed in the same harsh deuotions After this the men sung pleasantly which caused me to goe thither where I found them singing and dancing in three seuerall Rings in the middest of each three or foure Caraibes adorned with Hats and Garments of Feathers euery one hauing a Maraca or Rattle in both his hands These Rattles are made of a fruit bigger then an Ostriches Egge out of which they said that the Spirit would speake and they continually shooke them for the due consecration These Caraibes danced to and fro and blowed the smoke of Petum on the standers by saying Receiue yee all the Spirit of Fortitude whereby yee may ouercome your Enemies This they did often the solemnitie continued two houres the men ignorant of Musicke and yet rauishing my spirit with the delight I conceiued in their Song Their words sounded this that they were grieued for the losse of their Progenitors but were comforted in the hope that they should one day visit them beyond the Hils and then threatned the Ouetacates which dwell not far from them and are at enmitie with all their Neighbours as swift as Harts wearing their haire to the buttockes eating raw flesh and differing from all others in Rites and Language and now prophesied their destruction at hand Somewhat also they added in their Song of the floud that once had drowned all the World but their Ancestors which escaped by climbing high trees That day they feasted with great cheere This solemnitie is celebrated euery third yeere and then the Caraibes appoint in euery Family three or foure Maraca to bee adorned with the best Feathers and sticked in the ground with meate and drinke set before them and the people beleeue they eate it They minister vnto their Maraca fifteene dayes after which in a superstitious conceit they think that a Spirit speakes to them while they rattle their Maraca They were exceedingly offended if any tooke away any of this Prouision as the French sometimes did for which and denying other the Caraibes lyes those Priests hated them exceedingly Yet doe they not adore their Maraca or any thing else Peter Carder saith he could obserue no Religion amongst them but the worship of the Moone specially the New Moone whereat they reioyced leaping singing and clapping of hands Stadius tels as you heard that they ascribed his taking to the prediction of Maraca Hee tels of their consecration that the Paygi so hee cals them enioyne that euery one should carry their Tamaraka to the house where they should receiue the faculty of speech Euery ones Rattle is pitched in the ground by the steele or stalke and all of them offer to the Wizard which hath the chiefe place Arrowes Feathers and Eare-rings he that breathes Petum on euery Rattle puts it to his mouth shakes it and saith Nec Kora that is Speake if thou be within anon followeth a squeaking voyce which I saith Stadius thought the Wizard did but the people ascribed it to the Tamaraka Then those Wizards perswade them to make warres saying that those spirits long to feed on the flesh of Captiues This done euery one takes his Rattle and builds vp a Roome for it to keepe it in where he sets victuals requireth and asketh all necessaries thereof as we doe of God and these as Stadius affirmeth are their Gods These Paygi doe initiate Women vnto Witchcraft by such Ceremonies of smoke dancing c. till shee fall as in the Falling sicknesse and then hee sayth hee will reuiue her and make her able to foretell things to come and therefore when they goe to the Warre they will consult with these Women which pretend conference with Spirits Andrew Theuet which was in this Antarctike France with Villagagnon agreeth in many of the former Reports he addeth that for feare of Aignan they will not goe out but they will carry fire with them which they thinke forceable against him He writes that they acknowledge a Prophet called Toupan which they say makes it thunder and raine but they assigne no time nor place to his worship They tell of a Prophet which taught them to plant their Hetich or Root which they cut in pieces and plant in the Earth and is their chiefe food of which they haue two kinds The first Discouerers they much honoured as Caraibes or Prophets and as much haue distasted the Christians since calling them Mahira the name of an ancient Prophet detested by them But Toupan they say goeth about and reuealeth secrets to their Caraibes Theuet addes that they obserue Dreames and their Payges or Caraibes professe the interpretation of them which are also esteemed as Witches which conferre with Spirits and vse to hurt others with the poyson called Ahouay a kind of Nut. They doe a kind of worship to these Payages and will pray them that they may not bee sicke and will kill them if they promise falsly In their consultations they will prouide a new lodging for the Wizard with a cleane white bed and store of Cahouin which is their ordinary drinke made by a Virgin of ten or twelue yeeres old and of their Root-food into the which they conuey him being before washed hauing abstained nine dayes from his Wife Then doth he lye on that Bed and inuocate none being with him in the House and rayseth his Spirit called Hauioulsira which sometimes as some Christians affirmed to our Authour appeareth so as all the people may heare though they see him not And then they question him of their successe in their enterprises They beleeue the soules Immortality which they call Cherepiconare with rewards to the valiant Man-eaters in goodly Paradises and Agnans punishments to others But his boldnesse makes me the lesse bold in following him in these and other things which I