and inriched more by trade from China seventy of these Islands are subjects or friends to the Spaniards their intestine divisions making an easy way to the Spanish Conquest They worshiped the Sun and Moon Now they have amongst them many Monasteries of Friers and Jesuites But the wicked lives of the Spaniards makes the Inhabitants abhor their Religion They carve and cut their skins in sundry fashions and devises all over their body The Island of Mauritius described The Island of Mauritius lies within the torrid Zone about one hundred Leagues from Madegascar It abounds with all good things requisite for mans use The land is high and mountainous the shape somewhat round in circuit about one hundred miles every where sweet and flourishing having an healthful air and the blooming fragrant trees abating the heat of the Sun besides the gentle Breezes moderating the weather There are delicious Rivers which make the Earth fruitful Infinite store of lofty spreading trees green all the year their boughs being never unapparrelled of their Summer livery The ground is ever spread with natures choicest Tapestry the mirthful Sun ever re-inforcing a continued vigor and activity Of the trees some are good for timber others for food all for use Here is store of Box and of Ebony of all sorts black white red and yellow the tree is high small and streight and the wood of such esteem that many ships come yearly to it to load with Ebony besides which there are Coquo trees Pines Ashes Cypresses c. As also store of rare fruits birds and fowl Hawks of all kinds Bats as big as Gos-hawks Passo-Flemingos Herons Geese and many others good in their flesh and excellent in their feathers Fish there are plenty as the Cow-fish Dolphins Abicores Cavalloes VVhale Porpice Grampasse Mullet Bream Trout Tench Soles Flounders Tortoises Eeles Sharks Pikes Crabs Lobsters Oysters Cuttle-fish Rock-fish and other strange fishes some like Hedg-hogs some like Cats others with bristles c. This Isle also affords Goats Hogs Beeves and land Tortoises so big that two men may sit on one of them and shee will go away with them Africa described in General Africa is divided on the North from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea On the South it runs on a point to the Cape of Good Hope and is bounded with the vast Ocean called there the Aethiopick Sea On the East with the Red-Sea and on the VVest with the Atlantick Ocean called Mare del Nort so that her longitude and latitude contains about four thousand and two hundred English miles It s much lesse than Asia and far bigger than Europe In most parts it s very barren and therefore hath no great plenty of Inhabitants It s full of sandy desarts which lying open to the winds and storms are often moved like to the waves of the Sea by which means Cambysis with his Army was much hazarded It s full of venemous Serpents which much endanger the Inhabitants besides other ravenous beasts which ranging about possesse themselves of a great part of this Country and make it a VVildernesse of Lions Leopards Elephants and in some places Crocodiles Hyena's Basilisks and Monsters without number and name for when for want of water Creatures of all kinds at sometimes of the year come to those few rivolets that bee to quench their thirst the Males promiscuously forcing the Females of every species that comes next him produceth this variety of forms Salust reports that there dye more of the people by beasts than by diseases And in the tracts of Barbary the Inhabitants every tenth fifteenth or five and twentieth year are visited with a Plague and with the French disease in such violence that few recover except they remove into Numidia or the land of Negros the very air whereof is an excellent Antidote against those diseases Their commodities are Elephants Camels Barbary-hoâ—ses Rams with great tails weighing above twenty pound c. Africa is divided into seven parts Barbary or Mauritania Numidia Lybia The land of Blacks Aethiopia superior Aethiopia inferior and Egypt besides the Islands Barbary hath on the North the Mediterranean Sea on the VVest the Atlantick on the South the mountain Atlas and on the East Egypt The Inhabitants are crafty covetous ambitious jealous of their VVives their Country yeelds Orenges Dates Olives Figs and a kinde of Goat whose hair makes a stuff as fine as Silk It contains in it the Kingdomes of Tunnis Algier Fess and Morocho Tunnis is famous for the chief City of the same name five miles in compasse and Carthage two and twenty miles in circuit that contended so long with Rome for the Monarchy of the world and Utica memorable for Catoes death there Algier contains in it a strong harbor for Turkish Pirates before the chief Town whereof the Emperor Charles the fifth received a mighty losse of ships Horses Ordinance and men Fess hath in it a City with seven hundred Churches one of which is a mile and an half in compasse Morocho where the chief City of the same name hath a Church larger than that of Fess and thereon a Tower so high that from thence may bee discerned the toâ— of the Mountains Azaci which are at one hundred and thirty miles distance Here is also a Castle famous for Globes of pure gold that stand on the top of it weighing one hundred and thirty thousand Barbary Duckeâ—â— Numidia the second part of Africa hath on the East Egypt on the VVest the Atlantick Ocean on the North the Mountain Atlas and on the South the desarts of Lybia It s called also the Region of Dates from the abundance that grows there The Inhabitants are very wicked stay in a place but till they have eaten down the grasse Hence there are but few Cities and those in some places three hundred miles distant Lybia on the East is bounded with Nilus on the West with the Atlantick on the North with Numidia and on the South with the Country of the Blacks It s so dry that a traveller can scarce meet with any water in seven dayes journey the Inhabitants live without any Law almost so much as that of nature The Land of Blacks or Negroes hath on the West the Atlantick on the East Aethiopia superior on the North Lybia and on the South the Kingdome of Manicongo The River Niger runs through it almost as famous as Nilus for her overflowing It yeelds store of gold silver Ivory and other commodities It hath in it four Kingdomes Tombuâ—o infinitly rich Bornaum where the people have no names proper no wives peculiar all therefore no children which they call their own Gonga the King whereof hath no estate but from his subjects as hee spends it And Gualatum a very poor Country Of this Land of Negroes one makes these verses The Land of Negroes is not far from thence neerer extended to th' Atlantick main Wherein the Black Prince keeps his residence attended by his Jetty-coloured train Who in their native beauty
Whale or as others the sperme or seed of the Whale consolidated by lying in the Sea P. Pil. v. 2. p. 772. The Herb Addad is bitter and the root of it so venemous that one drop of the juice will kill a man within the space of one hour P. Pil. v. 2. p. 850. Of Palm-trees which they keep with watering and cutting every year they make Velvets Satins Taffaties Damasks Sarcenets and such like all which are spun out of the leaves cleansed and drawn into long threads P. Pil. v. 2. p. 985. Frankincense grows in Arabia and is the gumme that issueth out of trees Idem p. 1781. In Mozambique Manna is procreated of the dew of heaven falling on a certain tree on which it hardens like Sugar sticking to the wood like Rozen whence it s gathered and put into jars and is used much for purging in India Idem p. 1554. Mastick-trees grow only in the Island of Sio the trees are low shrubs with little crooked boughs and leaves In the end of August they begin their Mastick-harvest men cutting the bark of the Tree with Iron instruments out of which the Gumme distills uncessantly for almost three months together Idem p. 1812. Spunges are gathered from the sides of Rocks fifteen fathom under water about the bottom of the Streights of Gibralter the people that get them being trained up in diving from their child-hood so that they can indure to stay very long under water as if it were their habitable Element In Manica is a tree called the Resurrection-tree which for the greatest part of the year is without leaf or greenness but if one cut off a bough and put it into the water in the space of ten hours it springs and flourisheth with green leaves but draw it out of the water as soon as it is dry it remaineth as it was before Pur. Pil. v. 2. p. 1537. There is in the Island of Teneriff which is one of the Canaries a Tree as big as an Oke of a middle size the bark white like Hornbeam six or seven yards high with ragged boughs the leaf like the Bay-leaf It beareth neither fruit nor flower it stands on the side of an hill in the day its withered and drops all night a cloud hanging thereon so that it yeelds water sufficient for the whole Island wherein are eight thousand souls and about an hundred thousand Cammels Mules Goats c. The water falls from it into a pond made of brick paved with stone from whence it s conveyed into several ponds thorough the whole Island They also water therewith their Corn-ground for they have no other water in the Island except Rain-water The Pond holds twenty thousand Tun of water and is filled in one night Many of our English that have been there have attested the truth hereof Idem p. 1369. Concerning which Tree Sylvester the Poet made these verses In th' I le of Iron one of those same seven Whereto our Elders happy name have given The Savage people never drink the streams Of Wells and Rivers as in other Realms Their drink is in the air their gushing spring A weeping tree out of it self doth wring A Tree whose tender bearded root being spread In dryest sand his sweating leaf doth shed A most sweet liquor and like as the Vine Untimely cut weeps at her wound the Wine In pearled tears incessantly distills A royal stream which all their Cisterns fills Throughout the Island for all hither hie And all their vessels cannot draw it drye Aloes grows in the Island of Socotera which is nothing but Semper vivum it is so full of a Rosin-like juice that the leaves are ready to break with it which leaves they cut in small peeces and cast them into a clean pit made in the ground and paved there it lies to ferment in the heat of the Sun whereby the juice floweth forth which they put in skins and hang them up in the wind to drye whereby it hardens P. Pil. v. 1. p. 419. Indico groweth in the Moguls Country having a small leaf like that of Sena the branches are of a wooddy substance like Broom It grows not above a yard high the stalk about the bignesse of a mans thumb The seed is included in a small round Cod of an inch long This once sowed lasteth three years that of the first year makes a weighty reddish Indico that sinks in water being not yet come to its perfection that of the second year is rich very light and of a perfect Violet colour swimming on the water that of the third year is weighty blackish and the worst of the three This herb when it s cut is put into a Cistern and pressed down with stones then covered over with water where it remains till the substance of the herb is gone into the water then it s drawn forth into another Cistern and laboured with staves till it bee like Batter then they let it seeth and so scum off the water two or three times till nothing but a thick substance remains which taking forth they spread on a cloath dry it in the Sun then make it into balls dry it on the sand which causes the sandy foot That is best which is of a pure grain Violet-colour is glossie dry and light Idem p. 430. Sir James Lancaster in his East-Indy Voyage in the Isle of Sombrero found on the Sea-sands a young twig growing up to a tree and offering to pluck up the same it shrank down into the ground and when it was by strength pulled up a great Worm was the root of it and as the Tree groweth in greatnesse the Worm diminisheth This Tree plucked up the leaves and pill stripped off by that time its dryed is turned into a hard stone so that this Worm was twice transformed into different natures after a wondrous manner Of these hee brought home many P. Pil. v. 1. p. 152. About Saffron Walden in Essex there grows great store of Saffron which was first brought into England in the reign of King Edward the third This in the month of July every third year being plucked up and after twenty dayes having the root split and set again in the earth about the endâ— of September it putteth forth a whitish blew flower out of the midst whereof there come three chives which are gathered in the morning before Sun-rising and being plucked out of the flower are dried by a soft fire and so great is the increase that commeth thereof that out of every acre of ground there are made fourscore or an hundred pound weight of Saffron whilst it is moist which being dryed yeeld some twenty pound weight And the ground which three years together hath brought Saffron is so enriched thereby that it will bear very good Barley many years together without dung or manuring Camb. Brit. p. 453. All along the shores of the Red-sea are abundance of Palm-Trees of a very strange nature They grow in couples Male and Female both thrust
though the Plague rage never so much as many times it doth yet upon that very day wherein Sol enters into Leo which is usually the twelfth or thirteenth day of July it immediately ceaseth and all that are then sick amend and such as are then come abroad need fear no further danger The Turks call Aleppo Halep which signifies milk because it yeilds great store of milk It s usuall here with many Christians to take a woman of the Country provided shee bee not a Turk for its death for a Christian to meddle with them and when they have bought them to enroll them in the Cadi's book and so to use them as wives at bed and board while they sojourn there and then at their departure to leave them to shift for themselves and children Tripolis is a City on the main land of Syria neer unto Mount Libanus which is a Mountain of three days journey in length reaching from Trypolis to Damascus The Christians which dwell upon this Mountain are called Maronites they are a very simple and ignorant People yet civil kind and curteous to strangers There are now few Cedars growing here only in one place there are four and twenty growing together they are tall and as big as the greatest Oaks with diverse rows of branches one over another stretching strait out as though they were kept by Art There is no place in all the VVorld wherein they speak the Syriack tongue naturally at this day but only in four villages on this mountain which are Eden Hatcheeth Shany and Boloza Neer unto Tripolis there is a gallant plain of about a mile in length full of Olive and Fig-trees Scandaroon by Christians called Alexandretta is in the very bottome of the Straights The Air is very unwholsome and infects those that stay any time there occasioned by two high mountains which keep away the Sunne from it for a great part of the day the water also neer the Town is very unwholsome Here our Merchants land their goods and send them by Caravan upon Camels to Aleppo distant about three days journey Here are many Jackalls which in the night make a great crying and comming to a grave where a Corse hath been buried the day before if the grave bee not well filled with many great stones upon it they will scrape up the Earth and devour the corps Mr. Bidulphs Travels The Empire of Persia Described Persia at this day hath many famous Provinces subjected to her Command as Persia Parthia Media Hyrcania Bactria Sogdiana Evergeta Arâ—a Drangiana Margiana Paropamisa Caramania Gedrosia Susiana Arabia Chaldea Mesopotamia Armenia Iberia and Mengrellia twenty Noble Kingdomes of old The whole Empire is bounded East West North and South with India Arabia the Caspian and Persian Seas In length from East to West is one thousand three hundred and twenty miles and in breadth from North to South it s One thousand four hundred fourscore and eight miles So that the whole Circuit is about Four thousand miles the Revenues of the Persian King amount yearly to the sum of one million and one hundred and ninty thousand pounds sterling The Persians are usually big-boned strong straight and proper Of an Olive colour the women paint the men love Arms and all love Poetry No part of their body is allowed hair the upper lip excepted where it grows long and thick they turn it downwards the meaner sort reserve a lock in the middest of their head by which they believe Mahomet will pluck them up into Paradise Their eyes are black their foreheads high and their Noses hooked upon their heads they wear Shashes of great rowls of Calico silk and gold the higher the more beautiful They wear no bands their outside garment is usually of Calico stitched with silk quilted with Cotton the better sort have them farre richer of silk silver and gold their sleeves are straight and long their garment reaches to the Calf of the leg their wasts are girt with Towels of silk and gold very long next their skin they wear smocks of Cotton very short their breeches and stockings are sowed together from the ankle to the shooes they are naked their shooes have no latchets sharp at the toes and turn upward Circumcision is so necessary that without it none can call himself a Mussulman Both men and women use it the women at any time from nine to fifteen the men at twelve which was Ishmaels age when Abraham circumcised him whom they make their progenitor Their ordinary houshold furniture is a Pan a Platter and a Carpet their diet is soon drest and as soon eaten their Table is the ground covered with a Carpet over which they spread a Pintado cloth before each man they lay four or six thin Cakes of Wheat for every one a wooden spoon their handles almost a yard long and huge big mouthes Their only meat is Pelo dressed after diverse manners It consists of Rice Mutton and Hens boiled together to which they adde various sauces c. Their drink is Sherbet made of fair water sugar Rosewater and juice of Lemmons mixt together The chief Cities in Persia described The City of Lar described Lar is the chief City in the Province of Larestan It s not walled about In that Art is needlesse the lofty Rock so naturally defending her shee hath a brave Castle on the North Quarter mounted upon an imperious Hill not only threatning an enemy but awing the Town with her frowninâ— posture the ascent is narrow and steep the Castle of good stone the walls are furnished with good battlements whereon are mounted twelve brasse Cannons and two Basilisks the spoils of Ormus within the walls are one hundred houses stored with souldiers who have there a gallant Armory able to furnish with Lance Bow and Gun three thousand men The Buzzar or Market-place is a gallant Fabrick the materials a good Chalkie-stone long strong and beautiful It s covered a top arched and containing in it a Burse or Exchange wherein the shops are stored with variety of wares the walk from North to South is a hundred and seventy paces from East to West one hundred and sixty the Oval in the Center is about one hundred and ninety The Mosques or Churches are not many One especially is round figuring eternity in some places engraven with Arabick letters and painted with knots and in other places with Mosaick fancies It s low and without glasse windows woodden trellizes excellently cut after their manner supplying that want Here are the fairest Dates Orenges Lemmons and Pomecitrons in all Persia at easy rates you may have Hens Goats Rice Rache and Aquavitae The Inhabitants are for the most part naked being a mixture of Jews and Mahumetans their habit is only a wreath of Calico tyed about their heads a cloth about their loins and sandals on their feet the rest naked Herb. Trav. Shyraz described Shyraz is at this day the second City for magnificence in the Persian Monarchy It 's watered by
the River Bindamyr that springs out of the Tapirian Mountains It 's each way about three miles in length the compasse nine miles It s pleasantly seated in the North West end of a spacious plain twenty miles long and six broad environed with stupendious Hills under one of which the City is placed It s defended by Nature inriched by Trade by Art made lovely The Vine-yards Gardens Cypresses Sudatories and Temples ravish the eye and smell in every part sweet and delightful The houses are of Sun-burnt Bricks hard and durable flat and tarrassed about the Belconies and windows are curiously and largely trellized the floores spred with rich Carpets None are without their Gardens or Forrests rather of high Chenaers and Cypresses In it are fifteen brave Mosques pargetted with Azure-stones resembling Turquoises without lined within with pure black polished Marble the tops beautified with many double-guilt-spires which reflect the Sun beams with a rich and delightful splendor two excel all the rest One of them is fifty foot high in the body leaded covered with gold and blew the walls varnished and wrought with knots and poesies Above aspiring with two colums of wood round cut and garnished with great bravery very nigh as high as Pauls in London The other is Quadrangular the superficies of Arabick invention imbost with gold paved with Porphiry painted with Azure garnished with Mazes and at their festivals made resplenâ—ent with one thousand Lamps and Torches Idem When our English Embassador passed through this City hee was entertained in the Dukes Palace where all the great men of the Court and City were present and many young Ganimedes arrayed in cloath of gold went up and down with flagons of pure gold to fill out VVine to such as nodded for it they were served with a curious banquet at the end whereof came in the Duke Hee was ushered in by thirty gallant young Gentlemen vested in crimson Satten Their Tulipants were of Silk and Silver wreathed about with chains of Gold of Pearl of Rubies Turquoises and Emeralds they were all girded with rich swords and imbroidered scabbards they had Hawks on their fists each hood worth one hundred pound To these succeeded their Lord the Arch Duke of Shyraz his Coat was of blew Satten richly imbroidered with silver upon which hee wore a Robe of a great length so glorious to the eye so thick powdered with Oriental Gems as made the ground of it invisible the price invaluable His Turbant was of pure fine silk and gold bestudded with Pearl and Carbuncles his Scabbard was beset all over with Rubies Pearls and Emeralds His Sandals resâ—mbled the bespangling Firmament c. Idem The ancient Persepolis described Persepolis was a City so glorious that Quintus Curtius and Diodorus Siculus intitle it the richest and most lovely City under the Sun It was a very large City and the Metropolis of all Persia two of the gates standing twelve miles asunder which shews what the circuit of it was when in her beauty and bravery On the South side was a stately and magnificent Pallace built by King Cyrus On the North side stood a mighty strong Castle which was girt about with three walls The first wall was four and twenty foot high adorned and beautified with many turrets and spires The second was like the first but twice as high And the third was foursquare being ninety foot high all built of polished Marble On each side of the City were twelve brasen gates with brasen Pales set before them very curiously wrought On the East arose amiably an Hill of four Acres in which in stately Mausoleum's were entombed the Monarchs of the VVorld Many rare and admirable buildings it had amongst which the glorious Temple of Diana was the most exquisite for Art and materials in the VVorld The stones were of the richest Marble and Porphery the roof of refined gold The Pallace Royal was cut out of the Marble Rock above two miles in compasse the roof and windows were of Gold Silver Amber and Ivory The Seate within was of Gold and Oriental glittering Gems In one room was an artificial Vine the stalk of pure Gold the clusters of Grapes of Pearls and Carbuncles His bolster was valued at five thousand Talents of Gold the footstool worth three thousand Talents so that when the greedy Greeks had pillaged three dayes yet Alexander had for his share seventy two millions of Crowns of Gold besides hee loaded away three thousand Mules with two and thirty millions and seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds in Coin The ruines of this stately City are seen at this day with astonishment Herb. Trav. p. 144. The City of Spahawn described Spahawn The Metropolis of the Persian Monarchy is seated in the Parthian territory as the navel to that spacious body It 's nine English miles in compasse containing seventy thousand houses and of souls about two hundred thousand composed besides natives of English Dutch Portuguize Poles Moscovites Indians Arabians Armenians Georgians Turks Jews c. drawn thither by the magnetick power of gain and novelty The principal things observeable in it are The Bridge well built of stone supported by five and thirty Arches through which the Syndery from the Acroceraunian Mountains gently floweth The Midan or great Market-place which is the most spacious pleasant and Aromatick Market in the VVorld a thousand paces from North to South the other way above two hundred resembling our Exchange the building is of Brick well made and framed in a most delightful manner the inside is full of shops each shop full of ware arched above a top framed Tarrase-wise and cemented with excellent plaister it s placed in the heart of this triumphant City The Kings Pallace joyns to the West side of it possessing a large quantity of ground backward though to the street side it hath no magnifick front her best bravery being in the trim pargetting and painting with Azure and Gold in Mosaick and Antick sort interlaced with Poesies of Arabick But within the rooms are arched enlightened with curious trellizes the roof embossed with red white blew and gold the sides with sports and painted Images the ground spread with rich and curious Carpets of Silk and Gold Tarrased above garnished with a very high Tower excellent for view and breathing The Wildernesse behinde is filled with all sorts of birds priviledged from hurt or affrights who return their thanks in a sweet melodious consort The North Isle of the Midan contains eight or nine arched rooms hung with Lamps and Candlesticks which being lighted gives a curious splendor Opposite to this Pallace is a fair Mosque in form round and within distinguished into Isles the walls are lined fifteen foot high from the ground with white and well polisht Marble without pews or seats In the midst is a stately Tank or Pond and at the Portal another eightsquare filled with Christal streams of water wherein all Musslemen wash their hands armes eyes c. as an operative work
to purge sin and confer devotion In the Midan the shops bee uniform the Trades are no where severed all the Mercers together the Lapidaries together c. but most of them are of gums drugs and spices so sweet and delicate as can bee imagined The Hummums or Sudatories are many and very beautiful some square but most round made of white stone polished and durable the windows are large without and narrower within the glasse is thick and dark the top round tyled with a counterfeit Turquoise perfectly blew fresh and lasting they are divided into many rooms some for delight and others for sweating the paving all pure black Marble Men use them in the morning women towards night T is their Catholicon against all diseases colds catarrhes flegme aches c. The City is Oval each house made pleasant by large Cypresse Gardens The Seraglio for his women is full of precious treasures and more precious beauties but not to bee seen The Castle is very large well walled and deeply moated The City hath so many pleasant Gardens that at a distance you would take it for a Forrest so sweet you would call it a Paradise I shall only describe one of them excelling all others Going from the Midan you passe through an even delicate street two miles long most part of the way walled on both sides bedecked with Summer-houses but more remarkable in that abundance of green broad spreading Chenore Trees yeelding shade and incomparable order and beauty The Garden is circled with a stately wall three miles in compasse entred by three gallant and curious gates From North to South it is one thousand paces from East to West seven hundred from one end to the other easily seen by reason of a fair large Alley running all along in parallel distinguished into nine ascents each surmounting other a foot each distance smooth and even In the Center is a spacious Tank made into twelve equal sides each side being five foot set round with pipes of lead which spout out water in variety of conceits and postures which sort of pastime continues thence to the North gate where is raised a house of pleasure antickly garnished without within divided into four or six Chambers the lower is set out with Tanks of rich white Marble and fumes out a cool Breese the higher rooms are garnished with variety of Landskips representing their sports of hunting hawking fishing riding shooting wrestling and other fancies the seeling is inriched with beaten gold imbost with Azure From her Tarrasses is a dainty prospect of most part of the City This Garden is replenished with trees of all sorts for fruit shade and medicine All so green so sweet so pleasant as may well bee tearmed a Compendium of Sense-ravishing delights Within the City is a Column or Pillar at the base twenty foot round and sixty foot high made of the heads of men and beasts the occasion of this was Anno Christi 1500. when Tamas Shaw ruled Persia being much troubled with Turks and Tartars these Citizens refused not only to contribute to his Wars but denyed him enterance whereupon hee vowed revenge entred the City by force and without regarding age or sex slew three hundred thousand of them and of their heads made this Pillar as a Trophee of his victory and their basenesse En quo discordia Cives perduxit miseros When our English Embassador came to the Emperor of Persia he found him at Asharaff in Hircania two miles from the Caspian Sea when hee came to the Court with his retinue they allighted and were ushered into a little Court du Guard that stood in the center of a spacious Court the ground spread with Persian Carpets about a pretty white Marble Tank where they were feasted with Pelo and Wine the flagons cups dishes plates and covers being of pure beaten gold Thence they were led through a spacious and fragrant Garden curious to the eye and delicate to the smell to another Summer-house rich in gold imbossements and paintings but far more excellent for the admirable prospect for from thence they viewed the Caspian Sea on one side and the Mountain Taurus on the other The ground Chambers were large four-square archt and richly guilded above and on the sides below bespread with curious Carpets of Silk and Gold In the Center were Tanks of Christalline water an Element of no mean account in those Torrid habitations Round about the Tanks were placed Goblets Flagons Cisterns and Standards of pure Massy-gold some of them were filled with perfumes others with Rose-water with wine some and others with choisest Flowers From thence they were led into another large square upper Room where the roof was formed into an Artificial Element many golden Planets attracting the wandring eye to help their Motion The ground was covered with far richer Carpets than the other the Tank was larger the matter Jasper and Porphiry the silver purling-stream was forced up into another Region yet seemed here to bubble wantonly as in her proper Center about it was so much gold in vessels for use and oftentation that some Merchants with them judged it worth twenty millions of pounds sterling Another Tank there was incircled with a wall of Gold and richest Gems No other Flagons Cups nor other vessels were there but what were thick and covered over with Diamonds Rubies Pearls Emeralds Turquises Jacinths c. The seeling of this Chamber was garnished with Poetick fancies in gold and choicest colours The ground in this room was covered with such Carpets as befitted the Monarch of Persia Above sixty of the greatest Nobles sat round about it cross-legged with their bums to the ground and their backs to the wall like so many statues their eyes fixed on a constant object not daring to speak sneese Cough spit c. in the Emperors presence The Ganimed Boys in vests of Gold and richly bespangled Turbanes c. with Flagons of most glorious mettal profering wine to such as would tast it The Emperor Abbas himself sat at the upper end so much higher than the rest as two or three silken shags could elevate him his apparrel was plain c. The City of Casbine Described Casbine is at this day for multitude of Buildings and inhabitants the chiefest City in Media and next to Spahawn the greatest City in the Persian Monarchy It s compassed with a wall seven miles in compasse seated in a fair even plain having no hill of note within thirty miles compasse the Champain yeilds grain and grapes but no wood It hath a small stream to water it which gives drink to the thirsty and makes fruitfull the gardens whereby they yeild abundance of fruits and roots in variety as Grapes Orenges Limes Lemons Pomecitrons Musk melons and Water-melons Apples Pistachoes Filberts Almonds Walnuts Plums Cherries Peaches Apricocks Figs Pears Goosberries Dates and excellent Pomgranats c. The Families in it are twenty thousand and the Inhabitants about two hundred thousand The Buzzars or market places
the bowle will hold half an ounce of Tobacco into these they put Reeds about a yard long and so draw the smoak They have store of Palmita wine and gourds which grow like our Pumpions carryed up their walls of unequal size from an egge to a bushel yeelding variety of houshold vessels to eat drink and wash cloaths in they have store of great Locusts trees which yeeld clusters of Cods ripe in May which they eat They have store of Bees and Honey They have a sort of trees which on a long stalk have a great and round fruit with a pleasing pith therein on which Baboons and Monkeys feed There is a tree or shrub commonly growing on the River bank like our great Briars having a ragged leaf which leaf with the gentlest stealing touch betwixt the finger and thumb will make the whole bough to close up all his leaves and the touch of a sprig will cause the whole tree to close up all his leaves It bears a yellow flower like our Eglantines There are many Lions Jackals Ouzes and Leopards The Civit-Cats and Porcupins rob them of their Poultry There are also abundance of Elephants which going in companies spoil their Corn and Cotton grounds they feed amongst sedges and upon boughs of trees the blacks eat their flesh There are Deer of all sorts Antilops wild Bulls and huge Bears The Baboons go by three or four thousand in a Heard some of the bigest being leaders which are as big as Lions the Females carry their young under their bellies and if any have two shee carries one on her back There are infinite store of Guinie-hens Partridges Quails as big as Woodcocks Pidgeons Parrats and Parakitos Their greatest fowl is a Stalker who standing upright is taller than a man the next is a Wake which makes a great noise as hee flies and doth much hurt in their Rice grounds of smaller birds there are many sorts pleasant to the eye and delighting the ear Aethiopia inferior Described Aethiopia inferior hath on the East the Red-sea on the VVest the Aethiopian Ocean on the North the Land of Blacks and Aethiopia superior and on the South the Southern Ocean It hath in it these Kingdomes Atan between the mouth of the Red-Sea and the River Calimanci It abounds with flesh Honey Wax Corn Gold Ivory and abundance of Sheep whose tails usually weigh five and twenty pounds Zanzibar extending from the River Calimanci to Monomopata It s divided into fifteen Provinces or Kingdomes the chiefest whereof is Sofila where there is so much Gold and Ivory that some would have it to be Solomons Ophir Cafraria which hath on the East the River de Infanto on the VVest and South the Ocean and on the North the Mountains of the Moon it extends Southward to the Cape of Good hope first discovered by the Portugals Anno Christi 1497. The Africans at the Cape of Good Hope Described At the Cape of Good Hope the Africans are ugly black strong-limmed desperate crafty and injurious Their heads are long their hair woolly and crispt of which some shave one side leaving the other long and curled Another shaves all saving a little tuft on the top Another thinking his invention better shaves here and there the bald skull appearing in many places other some shave away all save a lock before Such as have tufts of hair hang in them brasse buttons spur rowels peeces of Pewter c. Their ears are long and made longer by heavy bables they hang in them as links of brass or Iron chains glass-beads blew-stones bullets or Oister-shels and such as cannot reach to such Jewels have singles of Dear beaks of birds Dogs or Cat stones c. Their Noses are flat crusht so in their infancy their Lips great quick crafty eyes and about their necks they have guts or raw puddings serving both for good and Ornament The better sort instead of them get hoops of Iron chains of brasse or greazy thongs of stinking Leather Their arms are loaden with voluntary shackles of Iron Ivory rusty brass or musty Copper the rest of their bodies are naked saving that they are girded with a thong of raw Leather to which is fastened a square peece like the back of a Glove to cover their privities but the women when they receive any thing return their gratitude by taking up that slap and discovering their shame But their great ones have better cloathing A nasty untanned hide of a Lyon Leopard Calf Baboon or Sheep the hair inward which they put upon their shoulders reaching to their wasts for their thighs and legs are never covered To their feet is fastened a broad peece of Leather tyed by a little strap which for the most part they hold in their hands that their feet may have liberty to steal which with their toes they can do most cunningly all the while looking you in the face as if they meant no harm Most of the men are semi-Eunuches one stone being exsected in their infancy by their nurses Both sexes hideously cut gash and pink their brows nose cheeks arms breast back belly thighs and legs in sundry works and Figures They have no houses they delight most in Caves Holes or Lyons dens unfurnished a whole Tribe commonly keeping together coupling without distinction the name of wife or brother being unknown amongst these incestuous persons They feed sleep and speak altogether without order or Law In the night they sleep round a fire a Centinel watching the Lyons their adversaries Vivitur ex rapto the one eating the other the Lyon tearing some of them and they other times training him over covered pits which catches him and so they slay and eat him to day who perhaps was a Sepulcher to their friends or parents the day before They dawb and rub their skins with grease and coals indenting and drying them in the Sun whereby they become Monsters to all civil eyes They eat men alive or dead which when they fail of dead Whales Seals Pengwins grease or raw puddings are their diet and when the frost of old age benums their limbs whereby they are unapt to provide their own food they either eat them or expose them upon the Mountains either to bee killed by famine or devoured by Lyons With these no violent death nor stroying rage Of Lust is half so dreadful as old age They have no spark of devotion no knowledge of God heaven hell or immortality no place of worship no day of rest no order in nature no shame no truth no ceremony in births or burials meer brutishnesse and stupidity over shadowing them The women carry their children on their backs and give suck with their long dugs stretched over their shoulders Anno Christi 1600. Sir James Lancaster had amongst them a thousand sheep and fifty Oxen for trifles They train their Cattle to such obedience as with a whistle great Heards will follow them like Dogs and being sold with a like call will runne away after them to the
forth cods full of seed but the Female is only fruitful and that not except growing by the male and having her seed mixed with his The pith of these Trees is an excellent sallet better than an Artâ—choke Of the branches are made bedsteads Lattices c. Of the leaves Baskets Mats Fans c. Of the outward husk of the cod cordage of the inward brushes The fruit it beareth is like a Fig and finally it is said to yeild whatsoever is necessary for the life of man It is the nature of this tree that if never so great a weight bee laid upon it it will lift and raise up it self the more for which it was given to conquerors in token of victory Herb. Trav. In Italy there grows an Hearb called Balilisco which hath this innate property that if it bee laid under a stone in some moist place in two days space it produceth a Scorpion Raimunds Mercu. Ital. The Assa-Faetida Tree is like our Bryer in height the Leaves resemble Fig-leaves the root is like our Radish though the smell bee so base yet the taste is so pleasing that no meat no sauce no vessell is pleasing to the Gusarats pallats where it grows except it relish of it Herb. Trav. Benjamin is either pure cleer and white or yellow and streaked This Gum issues from an high tree small and furnished with fruitlesse branches the leaves are not unlike to those of the Olive Pegu and Siam yeild the best The Coco tree is very rife in the East-Indies In the whole world there is not a tree more profitable than this is neither do men reap more benefit of any other tree than of this The heart of the Tree makes good Timber Planks and masts for ships with the leaves thereof they make sails with the rinde of it they make cordage A Gum that grows out of it caulks the ship the fruit of it is a kinde of Nut which being full of kernel and a sweet liquor serves for meat and drink much Wine also it yeilds and of the wine they make Sugar and Placetto The wine they gather in the spring of the year out of the middle of the Tree from whence there runs continually a white thin liquor at which time they put a vessel under it and take it away full every morning and evening and then distilling it they make a very strong liquor of it Of the Nuts also they make great store of Oil out of the tree they make bows Beadsteads of the leaves also they make very fine mats which whilst green are full of an excellent sweet liquor with which if a man bee thirsty hee may satisfy himself with the bark they make spoons dishes and platters for meat The first rinde of the nut they stamp and make thereof perfect Ockam and the store of these nuts serve for merchandise So that out of this one Tree they build and rig ships furnish them with meat drink utensils and merchandise without the least help of any other whatsoever Pur. Pil. v. 2. p. 1466. and 1704. Mr. Herbert in his Travels thus describes it The Tree that bears the Coco is strait lofty without any branches save at the very top where it spreads its beautiful plumes and Nuts like Pearls or pendants adorning them It is good Timber for Canoes Masts Anchors The leaves for Tents or thatching the rinde for sailes Matteresses Cables and Linnen the shels for furniture the meat for victualling The Nut is covered with a thick rinde equall in bignesse to a Cabbage The shell is like the skull of a man or rather a deaths head the eyes nose and mouth being easily discerned within it is contained a quart of sweet and excellent liquor like new white-wine but farre more aromatick tasted the meat or kernel is better relished than our Philberds and is enough to satisfy the appetite of two reasonable men The Indian Nut alone Is cloathing meat and trencher drink and Can. Boat Cable Sail Mast Needle all in one Herb. And Sylvester hath set them forth to the life in these verses The Indian Isles most admirable be In those rare fruits call'd Coquos commonly The which alone far richer wonder yeilds Then all our Groves Meads gardens orchards Fields What wouldst thou drink the wounded leaves drop wine Lackst thou fine linnen dresse the tender rine Dresse it like Flax spin it then weave it well It shall thy Cambrike and thy Lawn excell Longst thou for Butter bite the poulpous part For never better came to any mart Do'st need good Oyle then boult it to and fro And passing Oyle it soon becometh so Or Vinegar to whet thine appetite Why Sun it well and it will sharply bite Or want's thou Sugar steep the same a stownd And sweeter Sugar is not to bee found 'T is what you will or will bee what you would Should Midas touch it sure it would bee gold And God all-good to crown our life with Bayes The Earth with plenty and his Name with praise Had done enough if hee had made no more But this one plant so full of choicest store Save that the world where one thing breeds satiety Could not bee fair without so great variety The Plantan Tree is of a reasonable height the body about the bigness of a mans thigh compacted of many leaves wrapped one upon another adorned with leaves in stead of boughs from the very ground which are for the most part about two ells long and an ell broad having a large rib in the middle thereof The fruit is a bunch of ten or twelve Plantans each a span long and as big almost as a mans wrist the rind being stripped off the fruit is yellowish and of a pleasant taste Pur. Pil. p. 416. The Cedars of Mount Libanus grow higher than Pines and so big that four or five men with their arms can but fathom them the boughs rise not upward but stretch out a cross largely spread and thickly enfolded one in another as if done by Art so that men may sit and lye along upon the boughs the leaves are thick narrow hard prickly and alwayes green the wood is hard incorruptible and sweet smelling the fruit like the Cones of Cypress gummy and marvellous fragrant Pur. Pil. v. 2. p. 1500. In Africa are many Palmeta trees whence they draw a sweet and wholesome Wine by cutting or boring holes into the body of the Tree into which a Cane is put that receives the sap and conveyes it into Gourds It tastes like white Wine but it will not last above four and twenty hours Idem In New-Spain there are many trees which they call Manguey It hath great and large leaves at the end whereof is a strong and sharp point which they use for pins and needles and out of the leaf they draw a kind of thred which they use much to sew with The body of the Tree is big which when it is tender they cut and out of the hole proceeds a liquor which they drink