bottome is a Cream about one quarter of an inch thick which suddenly becomes hard and dry and that is our Indico the best sort whereof comes from Biana near unto Agra and a coarser sort is made at Cirkeese not far from Amadamaz about which two places are a very great number of those shrubs planted which bear those leaves For their Cotton-wooll they sow seed and very large quantities of Ground in East-India are thus seeded It grows up like small Rose-bushes and then puts forth many yellow blossoms those afterward falling off there remain little Cods about the bigness of a Man's Thumb in which the substance at first is moist and yellow but as they ripen they swell bigger till they break their Covering and after in short time that within them becomes Wool as white as Snow and then they gather it Amongst that Wool they find seeds to sow again as they have occasion but those shrubs bear that Wool three or four years e're they supplant them Of this Cotton-wool they make divers sorts of white Cloth as before I observed some broad some narrow some coarse some fine and very fine indeed for some that I have seen there I believe was as fine as our purest Lawn Much of the coarser sort of that Cloth they dye into Colours or else stain in it variety of well-shaped and well-coloured Flowers or Figures which are so fixed in the Cloth that no water can wash them out That pretty Art of staining or printing fixing those variety of Colours in that white Cloth the People of Asia have engrossed to themselves where the most curious Pintadaes are made whither neighbouring as well as more remote Nations bring their Monies to fetch them thence In Decan which bounds upon the Mogol's Territories South the Princes whereof are Tributaries unto him there are many Diamond-Rocks in which are found those most pretious of all other Stones and they are to be sold in this Empire and consequently to be had by those who have skill to buy them and Money to pay for them But as all the Stones in East-India are not pretious so those that are the Natives know very well how to value But further for the Merchandizing Commodities the Mogol's Provinces afford there is Musk by reason of their abundance of Musk Cats to be had in good quantity and there are Bezar stones which are not so called from any Beast of that name but they grow in the maws of Goats which when they observe to grow exceeding lean they kill them and find those stones in them and if they did not so that stone in them would make an end of them By which we may observe how that pretious Bezar stone that proves many times such a Cordial and Preservative to the Life of Man is destructive and mortal unto the poor Creature from whence it is taken Like that pretious Word of God that may proceed from the Lips of him that hath a lean Soul and may do others good but himself nothing but mischief The greatest number of those Goats from whence those Bezars are taken feed on the Mountains of Lar in the Persians Territories the Western-Bound as before of the Mogol's great Empire They have some store of Silk here but the greatest quantity of that rich Commodity that any place in the whole World affords comes out of Georgia a Province belonging unto the King of Persia. Those Georgians and Armenians both under the Command of the Persian King are by profession Christians like those of the Greek Church And the Abissins under the Command of Prester Iohn are in profession Christians likewise but these Abissins circumcise their Males before they baptize them Alass poor People who for want of better instruction cannot know what they should and therefore know not what they do All those Armenians Georgians and Abissins as I have it from others but can relate something of it out of my own knowledge even all of them see Christ but in the dark and by reason of the general ignorance that is in them cannot know God as they ought in Jesus Christ. These are the different cases of many which profess Christ in the World some cannot know him some care not to know him and some will not know him Amongst the first of these they all may be ranked whom I but now named as many others of the Greek and those that profess Christianity in Russian Churches with many-many others of the Romish who have the Truths of God sealed up in an unknown Tongue to keep and to continue them in ignorance who instead of the two Breasts of the Church the Law and the Gospel are fed with mouldy and finnowed Traditions and their case being so our Charity towards them may lead us thus far to believe that they would do better if they knew better and this may speak much in their excuse But what Plea can be made for us of this Nation that Do not what we Know or if we be ignorant it is because we will be so not because we cannot know but because we care not for knowledge and will not know But to return to the place where I began my last digression I told you that the People here have some store of Silk of which they make Velvets Sattins Taffataes either plain or mingled or strip'd in party-colours but the best of them for richness and goodness come not near those which are made in the parts of Italy Many curious Boxes Trunks Standishes Carpets with other excellent Manufactures may be there had They have medicinal Drugs and amongst them very much Cassia growing there in Canes They have Gums well sented and much Lignum Aloes which burnt yields a perfume better than any one thing in the world that I ever smelled They have great store of Gum-lac of which they make their hard Wax and that Gum likewise they there imploy for many other neat uses The Earth there yields good Minerals of Lead Iron Copper Brass and they say they have Silver-Mines too which if true they need not open being so enriched from other Nations of Europe and other parts who yearly bring thither great quantities of Silver to purchase their Commodities Which I collect from our English Trade there for though we vent some quantity of our Wollen Cloth with some other things we carry thither yet the greatest part by far of Commodities brought thence are caught by the Silver hook And this is the way to make any Nation of the world rich to bring and leave Silver in it and to take away Commodities And as all Rivers run into the Sea so many Silver Streams run into this Monarchy and there stay the People of any Nation being there very welcome that bring in their Bullion and carry away the others Merchandizes but it is look'd on as a Crime that is not easily answered to transport any quantity of Silver thence The Coyn or Bullion brought thither from any place is presently melted and refined
liberty here that every one may do if he will and be able as much as the King himself Hence generally all live much after a genteel way and they do it securely as well because the King doth not persecute his subjects with false accusations nor deprive them of any thing when he sees them live splendidly and with the appearances of riches as is often done in other Mahometan Countries as because the Indians are inclin'd to these vanities and servants cost very little in regard of the multitude of people and the small charge wherewith the common sort are maintain'd for a simple Servant who is not an Officer commonly in the best houses between wages victuals and clothing stands not in more then three Rupià a moneth amounting to about the value of a Venetian Zecchine or ten shillings sterling Of Slaves there is a numerous company and they live with nothing their clothing is onely white linnen which though fine is bought very cheap and their dyet for the most part is nothing but Rice the ancient food of all the Indians according to Strabo of which they have infinite plenty and a little fish which is found every where in abundance So that every body even of mean fortune keeps a great family and is splendidly attended which is easie enough considering the very small charge as I said and on the other side the very considerable gains of traffick wherein most men are imploy'd and the incomes of the Land through its incredible fruitfulness I dare say unmeasurable Upon this occasion I must not forget that amongst the Indian Men both Mahometans and Pagans agreably to what Strabo testifies they did of old wear onely white linnen more or less fine according to the quality of the persons and the convenience they have of spending which linnen is altogether of Bumbast or Cotton there being no Flax in India and for the most part very fine in comparison of those of our Countries The Garment which they put next to the skin serves both for Coat and Shirt from the girdle upwards being adorn'd upon the breast and hanging down in many folds to the middle of the Leg. Under this Cassack from the girdle downwards they wear a pair of long Drawers of the same Cloth which cover not only their Thighs but legs also to the Feet and 't is a piece of gallantry to have it wrinkled in many folds upon the Legs The naked Feet are no otherwise confin'd but to a slipper and that easie to be pull'd off without the help of the Hand this mode being convenient in regard of the heat of the Country and the frequent use of standing and walking upon Tapistry in their Chambers Lastly the Head with all the hair which the Gentiles as of old they did also by the report of Strabo keep long contrary to the Mahometans who shave it is bound up in a small and very neat Turbant of almost a quadrangular form a little long and flat on the top They who go most gallant use to wear their Turbant only strip'd with silk of several colours upon the white and sometimes with Gold and likewise their girdles wrought of Silk and Gold instead of plain white I was so taken with this Indian dress in regard of its cleanness and easiness and for the goodly shew me-thought it had on hors-back with the Scemiter girt on and the buckler hanging at a shoulder belt besides a broad and short dagger of a very strange shape ty'd with tassell'd strings to the girdle that I caus'd one to be made for my self complete in every point and to carry with me to shew it in Italy The Mahometan Women especially of the Mogholians and Souldiers of other extraneous descents who yet are here esteem'd go clad likewise all in white either plain or wrought with Gold-flowers of which work there are some very goodly and fine pieces Their upper Garment is short more beseeming a Man then a Woman and much of the same shape with those of Men Sometimes they wear a Turbant too upon their heads like Men colour'd and wrought with Gold Sometimes they wear onely fillets either white or red or wrought with Gold and Silver for other colours they little use Likewise their Clothes are oftentimes red of the same rich and fine linnen and their Drawers are also either white or red and oftentimes of sundry sorts of silk-stuff strip'd with all sorts of colours When they go along the City if it be not in close Coaches but on foot or on horse-back they put on white veils wherewith they cover their faces as 't is the custome of all Mahometan Women Yet the Indian Gentile Women commonly use no other colour but red or certain linnen stamp'd with works of sundry colours which they call Cit but all upon red or wherein red is more conspicuous then the rest whence their attire seems onely red at a distance And for the most part they use no garment but wear onely a close Wastecoat the sleeves of which reach not beyond the middle of the Arm the rest whereof to the Hand is cover'd with bracelets of Gold or Silver or Ivory or such other things according to the ability of the persons From the waste downwards they wear a long Coat down to the Foot as I have formerly writ that the Women do in the Province of Moghostan in Persia near Ormùz When they go abroad they cover themselves with a Cloak of the ordinary shape like a sheet which is also us'd by the Mahometan and generally by all Women in the East yet it is of a red colour or else of Cit upon a red ground that is of linnen stamp'd with small works of sundry colours upon red Those that have them adorn themselves with many gold-works and jewels especially their Ears with pendants sufficiently enormous wearing a circle of Gold or Silver at their Ears the diametre whereof is oftentimes above half a span and 't is made of a plate two fingers broad and engraven with sundry works which is a very disproportionate thing The Pagan Women go with their faces uncover'd and are freely seen by every one both at home and a broad Nevertheless they are modest and honor'd much more then the Mahometans and amongst them 't is a certain thing that there is not any publick Courtisan but amongst the Mahometan Women there are infinite who go every day publickly to houses and where they please to play on Musick sing dance and do what else belongs to their profession But of these things enough for this time I came from Persia with a great desire to go to Cambaia in regard of what I had heard of it being told that in that City which is one of the ancientest of India the Pagans are very numerous and above measure observers of their Rites so that I might probably see more remarkable Curiosities there of those Idolaters then elsewhere Sig Alberto Scilling had the same desire so that upon
discourteous I consented to obey him And till the meat came the King commanded some of his Servants to conduct me to sit down by them in the Porch where I might sit after our manner but not in the King's sight Hereupon I with-drew with some of his Men to entertain me and in the mean time the King remain'd talking with the rest of them concerning me commending me much for several things but above all for a good presence for speaking truly and discreetly like a Gentleman and for my civil deportment But before I proceed further I will here present you with a rough and unmeasur'd draught of the King's House and the place wherein he was so far as may suffice for the better understanding of what is already spoken and is to follow after 1. At the foot of this design is the Gate of the Palace 2. The Walk leading to it and included within the House 3. A great plain and sown field 4. The turning of the Walk before the House where the short lines intersecting the outward line towards the field re-represent the Trees planted at equal distances and in order 5. Seven or eight wooden Stairs leading up to the Porch 6. The Porch of the House in which the little squares near the outer lines are the wooden pillars which support it and the ambient lines the walls 7. The King's Servants standing on either side without the little Porch of the Chamber 8. I Pietro Della Valle when I first talk'd with that King standing 9. The Room wherein the King was 10. The King sitting on the ground upon a little coarse Cloth 11. The King's Nephew sitting on the ground upon a little matt 12. The King's Servants standing 13. I Pietro Della Valle sitting in the said room on the ground upon a little low Table whilst I eat and discours'd with the King a very long time together the place mark'd with the number 13 being that where they set the meat before me 14. A small open Court 15. A small mount or bank in the said Court leading from the more inward Chambers to that where the King was 16. Inner Chambers and Lodgings which what they were I saw not but they were of very bad earthen buildings low and coverd with thatch-like Cottages that is with Palm-leavs which are always to be understood when I speak of Cottages or Houses cover'd with thatch in India 17. I Pietro Della Valle sitting between two of the King's Servants upon the side of the Porch after having spoken the first time with the King entertaining me while the meat was preparing The meat was not long in preparing and being now in order the King call'd for me again to enter into the room where it stood ready and one of the Brachmans who spoke Portugal and was wont to accompany me ask'd me Whether it would not be more convenient for me to ungird my Sword and put off my Cassack I answer'd that my Cassack gave me no trouble nor was there occasion to lay it off but my Sword might be laid aside and therewith ungirding it I gave it him to hold which I did the rather because all Princes being commonly suspicious I imagin'd the King would not like my entring in with Arms and he that goes into another's House to visit him and do him honour is not to disgust but to comply with him in all points So I enter'd without a Sword but yet with shoes and stockins on though with them it be unusual for none should enter into that place but bare-foot and the King himself is so there according to their custum Nor did I scruple their taxing me of uncleanliness as undoubtedly they would have done in Turkie and Persia if I had enter'd into their rooms with shoes or slippers on because there all the rooms are cover'd with Carpets but there was not any in these of the King onely the pavement was gloss'd with Cow-dung Wherefore as to have put off my shoes besides that they are not so easily slip'd off as Pantofles nor does it shew well would have been an exorbitant and unnecessary humility so to enter with them on was to me convenient and decorous without any lyablenes to be accus'd of uncleanliness being the floore was not cover'd if it had been so with Carpets or the like as 't is usualin Turkie and Persia then to avoid seeming slovenly by soiling the place with my dirty shoes and my self by sitting upon them which indeed is not handsome I should have caus'd my shoes to be pull'd off for which purpose I had accordingly caus'd a pair of slippers of our fashion to be brought along with me in case there should have been need of them our kind of shoes being not so easie to be put off by shaking the foot alone without the help of the hand as those which for this end are us'd by all the Eastern people Entring in this manner and saluting the King as I pass'd I went to sit down at the upper end of the Chamber as t is above describ'd where they had prepar'd a little square board of the bigness of an ordinary stool which might serve for asingle person but rais'd no more then four fingers above the ground upon this I sat down crossing my Legs one over the other and that little elevation help'd me to keep them out from under me with such decency as I desir'd Right before the seat upon the bare floor the Indians not using any Tables they had spread instead of a dish as their custom is especially to us Christians with whom they will not defile their own vessels it not being lawful for them ever to eat again in those wherein we have eaten a great Leaf of that Tree which the Arabians and Persians call Mouz the Portugals in India Fichi d' India Indian Fig-trees and upon the said leaf they had lay'd a good quantity of Rice boyl'd after their manner onely with water and salt but for sauce to it there stood on one side a little vessel made of Palm-leavs full of very good butter melted There lay also upon another Leaf one of those Indian Figgs clean and par'd and hard by it a quantity of a certain red herb commonly eaten in India and call'd by the Portugals Brèdo which yet is the general appellation of all sort of herbs In another place lay several fruits us'd by them and amongst the rest seven of the Bambù or great Indian Cane all of them preserv'd in no bad manner which they call Acciaò besides one sort pickled with Vinegar as our Olives are Bread there was none because they use none but the Rice is instead of it which was no great defect to me because I am now accustom'd to want it and eat very little The King very earnestly pray'd me to eat excusing himself often that he gave me so small an entertainment on the sudden for if he had known my coming before-hand he would have prepar'd many Caril and divers
the unexpectedness of and our unpreparedness for the visit The first and principal Gate of the Palace opens upon a little Piazza which is beset with certain very great Trees affording a delightful shadow I saw no Guard before it it was great and open but before it was a row of Balisters about four or five foot from the ground which serv'd to keep out not onely Horses and other Animals but also Men upon occasion In the middle was a little pair of Stairs without the Gate leading into it and another within on the other side Yet I believe both the Stairs and the Balisters are moveable because 't is likely that when the King comes forth the Gate is clearly open otherwise it would not be handsome but this is onely my conjecture We enter'd this Gate ascending the Stairs upon the Rails where we were met by the Messenger whom the above-said person had sent to the King and who again invited us into the Palace by the Kings Order Within the Gate we found a great Court of a long form without any just and proportionate figure of Architecture on the sides were many lodgings in several places and in the middle were planted divers great Trees for shadow The King 's chief apartment and as I believe by what I shall mention hereafter where his Women were was at the end of the Court opposite to the left side of the Entrance The Edifice in comparison of ours was of little consideration but according to their mode both for greatness and appearance capable of a Royal Family It had a cover'd porch in that form as all their structures have and within that was a door of no great largeness leading into the House Here we found Cicco the Portugal youth become an Indian in Habit and Language but as himself told us and as his Portugal Name which he still retain'd among the Gentiles demonstrated no Renegado but a Christian which I rather believe because indeed the Indian-Gentiles admit not nor care to admit other strangers to their Religion as I have elsewhere noted for conjoyning so inseparately as they do their Religion to the Descents or Races of Men as a Man can never be of other Race then what he was born of so they also think that he neither can nor ought to be of any other Religion although in Habit Language and Customes he accommodate himself to the people with whom he lives With the said Cicco we found many other of the King's Courtiers who waited for us and here we convers'd with them a good while before the Gate expecting a new Message from the King who they told us was now bathing himself according to their custom after supper Nor was it long before Order came from the King for us to enter and accordingly we were introduc'd into that second Gate and passing by a close room like a chamber in which I saw the Image of Brahmà upon his Peacock and other Idolets we enter'd into a little open Court surrounded with two rows of narrow and low Cloysters to wit one level with the ground and the other somewhat higher The pavement of the porch was also something rais'd above the plane of the Court so much as might serve for a Man to sit after our manner The King was not in this small Court but they told us we must attend him here and he would come presently Whereupon we betook our selves to sit down upon that rais'd pavement of the porch the Courtiers standing round about us amongst which the Portugal Cicco and another Indian Man who as they said was a Christian and being sometimes a slave to the Portugals had fled hither for Liberty and was entertain'd in the King's Guard serv'd us for Interpreters but not well because the Man spoke not the Portugal Tongue so much as tolerably and Cicco having been taken when he was very young remembred but little of his own Language No sooner were we seated in this place but two Girls about twelve years old enter'd at the same Gate whereat we came in they were all naked as I said above the Women generally go saving that they had a very small blew cloth wrap'd about their immodesties and their Arms Ears and Necks were full of ornaments of Gold and very rich Jewels Their colour was somewhat swarthy as all these Nations are but in respect of others of the same Country clear enough and their shape no less proportionable and comely than their aspect was handsome and wel-favour'd They were both the Daughters as they told us of the Queen that is not of the King but of his Sister who is styl'd and in effect is Queen for these Gentiles using to derive the descent and inheritance by the line of the Women though the Government is allow'd to Men as more fit for it and he that governes is call'd King yet the King's Sister and amongst them if there be more then one she to whom by reason of Age or for other respects it belongs is call'd and properly is Queen and not any Wife or Concubine of the King who ha's many So also when the King who governes upon the account of being Son of the Queen-Mother happens to dye his own Sons succeed him not because they are not the Sons of the Queen but the Sons of his Sister or in defect of such those of the nearest Kins-women by the same Female line So that these two Girls whom I call the Nieces of the Samori were right Princesses or Infantaes of the Kingdom of Calecut Upon their entrance where we were all the Courtiers present shew'd great Reverence to them and we understanding who they were arose from our seat and having saluted them stood all the time afterwards before them bare-headed For want of Language we spoke not to them because the above-said Indian-slave was retir'd at a distance upon their coming giving place to other more noble Courtiers And Cicco stood so demurely by us that he durst not lift up his eyes to behold them much less speak having already learnt the Court-fashions and good manners of the place Nevertheless they talk'd much together concerning us as they stood and we also of them and all smil'd without understanding one another One of them being more forward could not contain but approaching gently towards me almost touch'd the Sleeve of my Coat with her hand making a sign of wonder to her Sister how we could go so wrap'd up and intangled in clothes as we seem'd to her to be Such is the power of Custom that their going naked seem'd no more strange to us than our being cloth'd appear'd extravagant to them After a short space the King came in at the same door accompany'd with many others He was a young Man of thirty or five and thirty years of Age to my thinking of a large bulk of body sufficiently fair for an Indian and of a handsome presence He is call'd as a principal Courtier whom I afterwards ask'd told me
and who was going onely to Bassora His conversation was very pleasing to me because he was a person of much and various Erudition both in Mathematicks and History besides that he was also an excellent Preacher Ianuary the eighteenth At noon I took the Altitude of the Sun whom I found forty four degrees distant from the Zenith being this day in the 27th degree of Capricorn according to Origanus and declining from the Aequinoctial towards the South 20 degrees 23′ 53″ which taken from 44 degrees leave 23 degrees 36′ 7″ So that Mascat lyes 23 degrees 36′ 7″ distant from the Aequinoctial towards the North and consequently hath the North-Pole so much elevated The same day a Petache arriv'd from Ormuz bringing News of the Arrival there of ten Ships from Surat namely six Europaean Men of War and four Merchant Ships of Moors and other people so that with those formerly arriv'd ther were at Ormuz between English and Dutch ten Ships of War and the Portugal Armada not yet arriv'd This Petache they say Ruy Freira sent to Mascat to avoid falling amongst so many Enemies being alone He stay'd still there with his Vessels of Oars yet with no hope of hindring Ormuz from being reliev'd both with Men Ammunition and Victual at their pleasure Ianuary the nineteenth I went to see a Village of the Arabians a little distant from Mascat and call'd Kelbuh it lyes without the Mountains that incompass the Castle and Houses of Mascat on the side towards Sohar the way that leads to it is a narrow passage and because dangerous for the letting in of Enemies the Portugals have wisely guarded it with a rampart and some few pieces of Artillery The Town is small consisting onely of cottages or sheds made of Palm-boughs and so low that one cannot stand upright in them but onely sitting upon the ground after the manner of the Moors yet for its bigness it hath people enough because this miserable sort of Men very wretchedly but easily accommodate themselves to their own mode in any little place LETTER X. From Bassora May 20. 1625. OUr Ship being ready to depart for Bassora and being to touch by the way about Ormuz in order to consign some things to the General Ruy Freira pertaining to the service of the Armada after all the rest that were to go were imbarqu'd amongst which were Don Francesco Contigno Covacio who intended for Ormuz two bare-footed Carmelites who were for Bassora and the F. Provincial of Maniglia in the Philippine Islands who was passing into Europe I went aboard with my people at night Ianuary the six and twentieth Yet the Vessel went not off till the next day and with no favourable wind we sail'd about six Leagues casting Anchor at night not far from the shore Ianuary the eight and twentieth Having sail'd a while a contrary wind forc'd us to Anchor again and indeed in this Persian Gulph the wind is so inconstant and with-all so strong that if it happen to be contrary there is little good to be done by contesting against it in this narrow Sea but those that sail in it must in such case either cast Anchor or be driven backwards We anchor'd so near land and in so little water under a place call'd Sibo about seven Leagues from Mascat that the contrary wind increasing and the Anchor not sufficing to retain the Ship we were in great danger of being split upon the shore to the loss of all our goods and perhaps lives too the Coast being very craggy and the Sea extremely rough We were so near being lost that the Ship almost toucht the ground but a small sail hanging on the rope which runs from the top of the Mast to the Stern and is call'd by the Portugal's Sabaco sav'd us which sail alone we could make use of to keep off the shore though it being small and the Vessel heavy it suffic'd not to move it much The Arabians were already gathered together in great number upon the shore to get the booty and perhaps also to take our persons in case the Ship should be split for in these troublesom times of war they were here but little friends to the Portugals of Mascat But at length as it pleas'd God by the help of Oars and the diligence of Sig. Franc. Contigno Covacio who in many things supply'd the ignorance or negligence of other Officers of the Ship we turn'd-about the Stern of the Ship to the Sea and being deliver'd from imminent danger had time to hoise the Trinket to the wind as before we could not because it was on the other side of the Mast which they call Under-the-wind and could not be brought about without more time then our sudden and present danger permitted After which because the wind so requir'd and it was dangerous going ashore for water among the Arabians we determin'd to return to Mascat and having pass'd the Island della Vittoria so call'd from a notable Victory obtain'd by the Portugals against an Armada of Turkish Galleys which came to make war upon Mascat about evening we re-entred the port of Mascat where our Ship falling foul upon another Ship that rode there at anchor we became in a new danger of suffering shipwrack or at least some considerable dammage Many went ashore to sleep there all night but being our departure was to be speedily I only sent my servants to fetch me some refreshment Ianuary the thirtieth The Ship having taken water and all our company imbarqu'd at four a clock afternoon we set sail again from Mascat and about Ave-Mary-time repass'd the Island della Vittoria which lies only two leagues from Mascat sailing between it and the Continent as we had done before Ianuary the one and thirtieth As we were sailing with a small wind we descry'd a Sail a far off which seeing us discharg'd a Gun as a sign for us to stay till it came up to us whence we understood it to be one of Freira's Fleet for by custom the Ships of war in India do thus and other Merchant-Ships are oblig'd to stay and obey if not the War-ship may sink them Accordingly we stay'd and by the help of Oars it presently made towards us Wherein I observ'd the little Military Discipline and good order practis'd by the Portugals in India for there was all the reason in the world that if we stay'd the coming up of this Ship according to the custom yet we should not have trusted it till we knew what it was for it might have been an Enemy or a Rover as there are many in these Seas who being Portugals by Nation and banish'd for some misdemeanors betake themselves to carry Pepper Arms and other prohibited things to the Territories of the Moors Wherefore to secure our selves from all deceit and dammage which such a Ship feigning to be of Freira's Armada might have done us we should have stay'd indeed but it ought to have been with our Arms in our Hands
proceeding of the Arabians both towards me the rest and himself I rid in haste with the Notary of the Sceich and our cheating Camelier who was partly the cause of this bad usage although I dissembled my resentment thereof to him By the way I found many black Tents of his Arabians dispers'd in several places and an hour within night I came to the Tent of Sceich Abitaleb a little distant from that of his Father Sceich Nasir which Tents differ'd from the rest neither in colour nor stuff being all of coarse black Goats-hair but onely in bigness which shew'd them to be the principal We enter'd not into the Tent because we saw many of his chief Arabians sitting in a round on one side thereof upon certain colour'd and coarse woollen clothes spread on the ground and the Sceich was not there Yet he came presently after and we all rising up at his coming he went and sat down in the midst of the circle and so also did we in our places round about him Then a Candle-stick with a light being plac'd before him he perform'd his Orisons according to their manner after which sitting down again he began to read and subscribe certain Letters giving dispatch to several businesses and amongst others to the Capigi Mahhmud Aga who was there and waited for Licence to return These things being over I arose and presented him the Basha's Letter He ask'd whether I was the Frank or Christian of the Cafila Whereupon the Camelier answer'd that I was and declar'd to him the cause of my coming whereunto I added in Arabick what I thought fit He desir'd to see my Hat nearer Hand and caus'd it to be brought before him and being inform'd that I understood the Beduin-Language he told me that I must excuse what his Officers had done for he had great need of Arquebuzes for war that the Turbant and piece of Silk much pleas'd him but he would pay for them whereto I answer'd that I did not value his payment but would give him both the one and the other Then he call'd for the Turbant and having view'd and highly commended it though I told him it had been us'd as indeed I had worn it several times in Persia he enter'd into the Tent with it where his Women were and from whence was heard a great noise of Hand-mils where-with to make Meal for Bread it being the custom amongst the Arabians for even the noblest Women to do such services By and by he came out again with the Turbant upon his Head whereupon his people congratulated him for his new bravery saying to him Mubarek that is Blessed to the same purpose with our Ad multos Annos Then they set before him a brass dish full of Grapes and we being all call'd about him he began to eat and give us some of the said Grapes which were very sweet and good and the first that I had eaten this year This ended we retir'd to our places and after a short stay I took leave and departed with Mahhmad Aga to the Cafila one of his servants and the Camelier remaining behind by the Sceich's Order who said he would send a dispatch for his own and my business the next day by them Iuly the first The Camelier return'd with an Answer that the Sceich would not take the Sword and the Changier or Ponyard from me and for the Turbant and piece of Silk he sent me 29 Piastres whereof the Camelier said he had expended five to wit two to the Officer that pay'd him and three to I know not who else so that he brought me but 24 which were not a third part of what the things were worth However I took them because the barbarous dealing of the Sceich deserv'd not that I should correspond with him with better courtesie I have related this Adventure that thereby the dealings of these uncivil Barbarians may be known Iuly the second We departed from this Station early in the Morning continuing our journey but were detain'd near two hours by certain Arabian Officers of a Brother of Sceich Nasir who also would needs extort some payment upon each Camel We arriv'd late to bait near a water where we found many Arabian Tents from which and a neighbouring Village we had plenty both of sweet and sower Milk and also of Grapes Here we stay'd all day and upon a hasty quarrel between Batoni Mariam and Eugenia my Indian Maid at night the said Maid ran away from us in these desarts yet was so honest as to leave even all her own things and ornaments behind so that it was rather despair than infidelity that occasion'd her flight I had much adoe to recover her again and was in great danger of losing her in case she had fallen into the hands of any Arabian who undoubtedly would have hid her and perhaps carry'd her afar off and made her a slave for ever I mention this to the end Masters may learn not to drive their Servants into despair by too much rigor which may redound to the prejudice of themselves as well as of them Iuly the third Setting sorth early we baited before noon near a Lake of Water streaming there amongst certain Reeds and verdant Fields about which flew many Assuetae ripis Volucres some of which we took and eat F. Gregorio Orsino who was with me bathing himself here as he was wont often to do for the heat and being unskilful of swimming was in great danger of being drowned hapning unawares to go into a much deeper place of the Lake then he imagin'd We travell'd no further this day but onely at night went to joyn with the Capigi's who had pitch'd a Tent a little further from the Water to avoid the Gnats there which were very troublesome both to Men and Beasts The two next dayes we travell'd but little because of some difference between the Arabians and the chief Camelier who went back to the Sceich about it Iuly the sixth We travell'd this day over Landsfull of a white and shining Mineral which was either Talk or Salt-petre or some such thing I brought a good quantity of it away with me Iuly the seventh We travell'd from day-break till noon passing over a clayie and slippery ground where the Camels went with much difficulty We rested at a place full of prickly shrubs the leavs whereof are less then a Man's naile and of the shape of a heart the fruit was round and red like small coral-beads of taste sweet mixt with a little sharpness having little stones in them it was very pleasant to the taste and afforded no small refreshment to us in these Desarts The Mahometans celebrated their Bairam the Fast of Ramadhan being now ended Iuly the eighth We came to several places of stagnant waters and baited at one two or three hours before noon but the water was sulphureous and ill-tasted as most of the rest were also in regard of the many Minerals where-with the Earth of the Desart abounds
and small Roots for Salads and in the Southernmost parts Ginger growing almost in every place the large races whereof are there very excellently well preserved as we may know by our tasting them in England And all these things I have last named may be there likewise bought at very low rates And lastly some one kind or other of their very good and choice Fruits may be there had at every time or season of the Year And here I cannot chuse but take notice of a very pleasant and clear liquor called Toddie issuing from a Spongie Tree that grows strait and tall without Boughs to the Top and there spreads out in tender branches very like unto those that grow from the Roots of our rank and rich Artichokes but much bigger and longer This Toddie-tree is not so big but that it may be very easily embraced and the nimble people of that Countrey will climb up as fast to the top thereof the stem of the Tree being rough and crusty as if they had the advantage of Ladders to help them up In the top-tender branches of those Trees they make incisions which they open and stop again as they please under which they hang Pots made of large and light Gourds to preserve the influence which issues out of them in a large quantity in the night-season they stopping up those vents in the heat of the day That which thus distils forth in the night if it be taken very early in the morning is as pleasing to the taste as any new White-wine and much clearer than it It is a very piercing and medicinable and inoffensive Drink if taken betimes in the day only it is a little windy but if it be kept till the heat of the day the Sun alters it so as if it made it another kind of liquor for it becomes then very heady not so well relished and unwholsom and when it is so not a few of our drunken Sea-men chuse to drink it and I think they so do because it will then presently turn their brains for there are too too many of the common sort of those men who use the Sea who love those brutish distempers too much which turn a man out of himself and leave a Beast in the skin of a man But for that drink if it be taken in its best and most proper season I conceive it to be of it self very wholsom because it provokes urine exceedingly the further benefit whereof some there have found by happy experience thereby eased from their torture inflicted by that shame of Physicians and Tyrant of all Maladies the Stone And so cheap too is this most pleasing Wine that a man may there have more than enough for a very little money At Surat and so to Agra and beyond it seldom or never rains but one season of the year but yet there is a refreshing Dew during all that times the Heavens there are thus shut up which every night falls and cools and comforts and refresheth the face of the earth Those general rains begin near the time that the Sun comes to the Northern Tropick and so continue till his return back to the Line These showers at their beginning most extremely violent are usher'd in and usually take their leave with most fearful Tempests of Thunder Lightning more terrible than I can express yet seldom do harm the reason in Nature may be the subtilty of the Air in those parts wherein there are fewer Thunder-stones made than in such Climates where the Air is thick gross and cloudy During those three months it rains usually every day more or less sometimes one whole quarter of the Moon together scarce without any intermission which abundance of moisture with the heat of the Sun doth so enrich their Land which they never force if I observed right by Soyling of it as that like Aegypt by the inundation of Nilus it makes it fruitful all the year after When the time of this Rain is passed over the face of the Sky there is presently so serene and clear as that scarcely one Cloud appears in their Hemisphere the nine months after And here a strong Argument that may further and most infallibly shew the goodness of their Soil shall not escape my Pen most apparent in this That when the Ground there hath been destitute of Rain nine months together and looks all of it like the barren Sands in the Desarts of Arabia where there is not one spire of green Grass to be found within a few days after those fat enriching showers begin to fall the face of the Earth there as it were by a new Resurrection is so revived and throughout so renewed as that it is presently covered all over with a pure green Mantle And moreover to confirm that which before I observed concerning the goodness of that Soil amongst many hundred Acres of Corn of divers kinds I have there beheld I never saw any but what was very rich and good standing as thick on the Ground as the Land could well bear it They till their Ground with Oxen and Foot-Ploughs their Seed-time is May and the beginning of Iune they taking their time to dispatch all that work before that long Rainy season comes and though the Ground then hath been all the time we named before without any sufficient moysture by showers or otherwise to supple and make it more fit for Tillage yet the Soil there is such a brittle fat mould which they sow year after year as that they can very easily till it Their Harvest is in November and December the most temperate months of all that year Their Ground is not enclosed unless some small quantity near Towns and Villages which stand scattered up and down this yast Empire very thick though for want of the true names not inserted in the Map They mow not their Grass as we to make Hay but cut it off the ground either green or withered as they have occasion to use it They sow Tobacco in abundance and they take it too very much but after a strange way much different from us for first they have little Earthen Pots shaped like our small Flower-pots having a narrow neck and an open round top out of the belly of which comes a small spout to the lower part of which spout they fill the Pot with water then putting their Tobacco loose in the top and a burning coal upon it they having first fastned a very small strait hollow Cane or Reed not bigger than a small Arrow within that spout a yard or ell long the Pot standing on the ground draw that smoak into their mouths which first falls upon the Superficies of the water and much discolours it And this way of taking their Tobacco they believe makes it much more cool and wholsom The Tobacco which grows there is doubtless in the Plant as good as in any other place of the world but they know not how to cure and order it like those in the West-Indies
are so extremly hot as that the wind when it blows but gently receives such heat from the parched ground that the reflection thereofis ready to blister a Man's Face that receives the breath of it And if God did not provide for those parts by sending a breeze or breath or small gale of wind daily which some-what tempers that hot sulphureous Air there were no living in that Torrid Zone for us English who have been used to breathe in a temperate Climate and notwithstanding that benefit the Air in that place is so hot to us English that we should be every day stewed in our own moisture but that we stir very little in the heat of the day and have cloathing about us as thin as we can make it And no marvel for the coldest day in the whole year at noon unless it be in the time when those Rains fall is hotter there then the hottest day in England Yet I have there observed most strange and sudden changes of heat and cold within few hours as in November and December the most temperate months of their year as before and then at mid-night the Air was so exceeding fresh and cold that it would produce a thin Ice on the water and then as we lay in our Tents we would have been very glad of the warmth of a Rugg upon us and the noon of that following day would be so extream hot as that it was troublesom then to keep on the thinnest cloathing Sometimes there the wind blows very high in those hot and dry seasons not long before the Rain begins to fall raising up into the Air a very great height thick Clouds of Dust and Sand which appear like dark Clouds full of moisture but they deceive like the brook in Iob Iob 6. 15. that hath no water in it These dry showers which Almighty God threatens to send among a people as an heavy judgement Deut. 28. 24. When he will make the Rain of a Land powder and dust most grievously annoy all those amongst whom they fall enough to smite them all with a present blindness filling their Eyes Ears Nostrils and their Mouths are not free if they be not also well guarded searching every place as well within as without our Tents or Houses so that there is not a little key-hole of any Trunk or Cabinet if it be not covered but receives some of that dust into it the dust forced to find a lodging any where every where being so driven and forced as it is by the extream violence of the wind But there is no place nor Country under Heaven nor yet ever hath been without some discommodities The Garden of Eden had a Serpent in it Gen. 3. He that made all things by his Absolute Command hath so mixed and tempered and ordered all things here below by his infinite Wisdom that either too much Heat or too much Cold either the barrenness of the Soyl or the unwholsomness of the Air or some thing else ministers matter of exception more or less against every place that the Sons of Men might hence learn that there is no true and perfect content to be found in any Kingdom but in that of Heaven For while we are here trouble and peace mourning and joy comfort and discontent come all of them by courses and succescessions so that there is no weeding up of those Tares no removing of those Annoyances from the Life of Man And so having observed what is Truth and what is enough to be said of the Inconveniences and Annoyances as well as of the Commodities and Contentments which are to be found in those parts I come now to speak of the People that inhabit there And because many particulars will necessarily fall within the compass of this part of my Observatious which would more weary my Reader if they should be presented unto him in one continued Discourse I shall therefore as I have begun break this into Sections and proceed to speak SECTION V. Of the Inhabitants of East-India who they are Of their most excellent Ingenuity expressed by their curious Manufactures their Markets at Home to buy and sell in and their Trade abroad THe Inhabitants in general of Indostan were all anciently Gentiles called in general Hindoes belonging to that very great number of those which are called Heathens which take up almost two thirds of the number of the People who inhabit the face of the whole Earth But of this more hereafter There are some Iews but they are not many here and there scattered and lost as it were in those other great numbers of People the greatest company of Iews now to be found together in any one place of the world as I have been made to believe from the observation of others are to be seen at Grand Cairo in Egypt whither they are returned and where setled to take their fill of their fore-Fathers Flesh-pots For the Inhabitants of East-India ever since they were subdued by Tamberlain they have been mixed with Mahumetans which though they be by farr in respect of their number less than those Pagans yet they bear all the sway and command all in those Countries There are besides these now become as it were Natives there a great number of Persians and Tartars who are Mahumetans by Religion that there inhabit very many of which the Mogol keeps for Souldiers to serve on Horse-back called there Haddees There are of both these many daring stout hardy and valiant Men. For the Persians there are many of them comely Persons not so swart as those of East-India But for the Tartars I have there seen and I have seen many of them they are more to be commended for their Valour than Beauty a square stout strong People having platter Faces and flat Noses There are many Armenians and some Abissins amongst them who wear the Livery of Christ in being called Christians the greatest part of whose Christianity lies in their Name Those Armenians there make some wine to sell of Raisons Sugar and other ingredients that is strong and heady and luscious tasted too much by many Christians that come thither as by those too that make it Of the green Grapes there though they have abundance and they great and sweet and good yet they make no Wine at all The Mahumetans in obedience to a Precept of Mahumets which forbids Wine neither make nor drink it and others are not suffered there to make it of those green Grapes for fear as I suppose they should make and drink too much of it To those I have named of other Nations that are to be seen in East-India there are besides some few almost of every people in Asia and many Europeans of divers parts that use to stir from their own fires to be found amongst them and among that great variety of People and Nations there to be observed I have taken special notice of divers Chinesaas and Japanesaas there and those I have seen of them for the generality are
very much in managing their excellent Horses But so shall not I delight my Reader if I dwell too long in particulars And therefore having spoken of their Buildings I shall now invite him though not to eat or taste yet to take notice SECTION X. Of their Diet their Cookery in dressing it c. ANd though this Country affords very much variety of excellent good Provisions yet the Mahometans feed not freely on any flesh but on that which is strange and forbidden of the Hindoos Diet I shall speak afterwards but for the Mahometans they are a people as I conceive not much given to their Palate but are very careful of and temperate in their Diet as having learn'd by experience that full bellies do more oppress than strengthen the body that too much of the Creature doth not comfort but destroy Nature It being a tried truth that Gluttony reacheth and kills those whom swords cannot touch All Diseases of the body for the most part being contracted to it by Surfeits in on kinde or other and therefore they keep themselves to a thin Diet and eat not to pamper and please their Appetite but to satisfie and support nature which is contented with a little every where but with less in hot Countries where mens digestion of food is not so quick and good this being further a tried truth that those bodies are most strong active and healthy which are most temperate Therefore though they have abundance of flesh and fowl and have fish too yet are they temperate in all of them For Swines flesh it is an abomination unto the Mahometans and therefore they touch it not And for other kind of flesh they eat very little of them alone to make their full meals of them for they dress no kind of flesh in great pieces or whole joynts nor scarce any of their fowls whole For boyling of flesh in water or baking or roasting any flesh are pieces of Cookery if I observed well they know not but they stew all their flesh as their Kid and other Venison c. cut into sippets or slices or little parts to which they put Onions and Herbs and Roots and Ginger which they take there green out of the earth and other Spices with some butter which ingredients when as they are well proportioned make a Food that is exceedingly pleasing to all Palats at their first tasting thereof most savoury Meat haply that very dish which Iacob made for his Father Isaac when he got the blessing Gen. 27. With their flesh and herbs c. they sometimes stew Hens and other Foul cut in pieces which is like that the Spaniards call an Oleo but more toothsome But their great common standing dish there is Rice which they boyl with more Art than we for they boyl the grain so as that it is full and plump and tender but not broken in boyling they put to it a little green Ginger and Pepper and Butter and this is the ordinary way of their dressing it and so 't is very good Sometimes they boyl pieces of flesh or Hens and other Fowl cut in pieces in their Rice which dish they call Pillaw as they order it they make it a very excellent and a very well-tasted Food Once my Lord Ambassadour had an Entertainment there by Asaph Chan who invited him to dinner and this was the only respect in that kind he ever had while he was in East-India That Asaph Chan was a Man made by his great Alliances the greatest Subject and Favourite in all that Empire for his Sister was the Mogol's most beloved Wife and his Daughter was married unto Sultan Caroon the Prince and very much beloved by him but of all these more afterward This Asaph Chan entertained my Lord Ambassador in a very spacious and a very beautiful Tent where none of his followers besides my self saw or tasted of that Entertainment That Tent was kept full of a very pleasant Perfume in which sents the King and Grandees there take very much delight The floor of the Tent was first covered all over with very rich and large Carpets which were covered again in the places where our dinner stood with other good Carpets made of stitch'd Leather to preserve them which were richer and these were covered again with pure white and fine Callico Clothes and all these covered with very many dishes of Silver but for the greater part of those Silver dishes they were not larger than our largest trencher-plates the brims of all of them gilt We sate in that large Room as it were in a Triangle The Ambassadour on Chan's right hand a good distance from him and my self below all of us on the ground as they there all do when as they eat with our Faces looking each to the other and every one of us had his several mess. The Ambassadour had more dishes by ten and I less by ten than our entertainer had yet for my part I had fifty dishes They were all set before us at once and little paths left betwixt them that our entertainers servants for onely they waited might come and reach them to us one after another and so they did So that I tasted of all set before me and of most did but taste though all of them tasted very well Now of the provision it self for our larger dishes they were filled with Rice dressed as before describ'd And this Rice was presented to us some of it white in its own proper colour some of it made yellow with Saffron and some of it was made green and some of it put into a purple colour but by what Ingredient I know not but this I am sure that it all tasted very well And with Rice thus ordered several of our dishes were furnished and very many more of them with flesh of several kinds and with Hens and with other sort of Fowl cut in pieces as before I observed in their Indian Cookery To these we had many Jellies and Culices Rice ground to flower and then boyled and after sweetned with Sugar-Candy and Rose-Water to be eaten cold The flower of Rice mingled with sweet Almonds made as small as they could and with some of the most fleshy parts of Hens stewed with it and after the flesh so beaten into pieces that it could not be discern'd all made sweet with Rose-Water and Sugar-Candy and sented with Amber-Greece this was another of our dishes and a most luscious one which the Portugals call Mangee Real Food for a King Many other dishes we had made up in Cakes of several forms of the finest of the wheat-flower mingled with Almonds and Sugar-Candy whereof some were sented and some not To these Potatoes excellently well dressed and to them divers Sallads and the curious fruits of that Country some preserved in Sugar and others raw and to these many Roots candied Almonds blanched Raisons of the Sun Prunellas and I know not what of all enough to make up that number of dishes before named and with