plac'd in posture and shew to this day admirable but when they stood in lustre and perfection were elsewhere scarce imitable From the ordinary standing we easily enjoy'd a most delightful Prospect but in the Summity or Advantage a brave Horizon of thirty Miles unlimited Plains every way gave it self to this Imperial Palace as seeming to submit it self in a happy lowliness In part of this great Room not far from the Portal in a Mirror of polish'd Marble we noted above a dozen Lines of strange Characters very fair and apparent to the Eye but so mystical so odly fram'd as no Hieroglyphick no other deep Conceit can be more difficultly fancied more adverse to the Intellect These consisting of Figures Obelisk Triangular and Pyramidal yet in such Symetry and Order as cannot well be call'd Barbarous Some resemblance I fancied some Words had of the Antique Greek shadowing out Ahasuerus Theos And though it have small concordance with the Hebrew Greek or Latin Letter yet questionless to the Inventer it was well known and peradventure may conceal some excellent Matter though to this day wrapt up in the dim Leaves of envious Obscurity Adjoyning this is another square Room from Angle to Angle ninety Paces in circuit three hundred and threescore Paces beautified with eight Doors four of them being six Paces broad and the other four three apiece all eight severally compos'd of seven great polish'd Marbles fix'd one upon another each of which Stones are four Yards long five Quarters high and most excellently engraven with Images of Lions Griffins Tygers and Bulls and in other Places for the Walls are durable Battels Hecatombs Triumphs Olympick Games and the like in very rare Sculpture and Proportion Above each Door is engraven the Idea of a Majestick Monarch his Robe is long a Tiara or Mithra on his Head his Hair very long and curl'd in one Hand he holds a Globe in the other his Scepter A Garb and Session never us'd by Persian Princes The silly Inhabitants who made no account of it till of late name him Jamshet and Aaron and Samson and Solomon A wonder they leave out Rustan their Hercules and as easie for invention A third Chamber conjoyns the last we spoke of This if they lie not that told us so was a Gynecie or Nursery It has four unequal Angles two sides are sixty the other two seventy of my largest Paces From that we issued into a fourth Room two sides whereof are twenty and the other two thirty Paces The Walls are very eminent in this Chamber of black shining Marble in many Places so bright and jetty as we could easily view our Reflex no Steel Mirror comparing with it In most parts the Walls are cut into Gygantive Images illustrated with Gold to this day permanent Somewhat further over Heaps of Stones of valuable Portraictures we mount towards the most lofty part of this Palace where we saw the Resemblances of a devout King adoring his three Deities the Sun the Fire and a Serpent all which are cut upon the perpendicular Mountain The other side of this high Hill is a Precipice down which is no descending But whether this Fabrick was Ionick Dorick or Corinthiack in the perfection I cannot determine the Ruins forbid a positive Judgment But such at this day it is that a ready Limner in three Months space can hardly to do it well depict out all her Excellencies Pity it is it is not done the barbarous People every day defacing it and cleaving it asunder for Grave-stones and Benches to sit upon Five Miles West from Chehel-manor is also a gallant Monument a Giant cut into a monstrous proportion whom the Illiterate Persians say was Rustan and from him call'd Nocta-Rustan I rather judge it the Image of Great Alexander who had a desire that after-Ages might think him more than a Man and his Men more than Monsters as appear'd in his Conceit to make many Armors big enough for three Men and scatter them in India that the People might not dare to rebell lest those Polyphems came to lash them So far Mr. Herbert Some suppose this Edifice to have been a Temple others a part of the Royal Court or a Burying-place for the Kings but Della Valle inclines to the first of these Opinions This Ruine is in truth all that is left or the ancient City Persepolis being burnt by Alexander the Great to satisfie the Humor of his Concubine Thais At the Foot of the Mountains a League Northward from Hhehel-manor are several old Images by the Inhabitants call'd Nocsci Rostam that is The Figures of Rostam who was an ancient Persian Heroe for his notable Exploits and great Atchievements very famous in their Histories as Hercules among the Greeks and Romans and said to have liv'd in the Reign of Cyrus and Cambyses Near these are also carv'd on a large and smooth Rock several other Statues or Images one whereof sitting on Horse-back is clad in a long Garment with a Cap or Bonnet on his Head In his left Hand he holds a Club as Hercules is usually represented and in his Right Hand a Ring which another Horse-man that is plac'd near him also holds both seeming to pull as if they would break it in sunder This second Horse-man is cloath'd almost after the same manner with the first but is bare-headed and hath very long Hair There is also in another place a third Horse-man accoutred after the same manner laying his left Hand on the Hilt of his Sword his right Hand grasping the Sword of a Foot-man that stands before him threatning as it were another Foot-man who is bare-headed and kneeling on one Knee before the Horse-man Not far from hence are seen the Representations of several Women of which the Inhabitants relate many Fables but especially of one who they say was the Mistress of their Renowned Rostam On another side of this Rock which is very steep like a Wall are many Holes like Windows a great distance from the Ground and some bigger than others yet the least are so large that a Man may easily lie at length in them and therefore it is very probable that these Holes serv'd for Places of Interment for the Dead for Diodorus Siculus affirms That the ancient Kings of Persia were buried in the Country about Persepolis in Holes cut in high Rocks into which they were lifted with Engines made for that purpose On another adjacent Mountain there is as Della Valle relates the Image of a Man call'd Gemschid or as others Choscid which signifies The Sun who is said to have Reign'd a considerabe time in Persia before Cyrus the Great and still lives in their Memory for his great Knowledge in Necromancy Some take this Gemscid to be Nebuchodonosor About the City Schiras lie many Hamlets and Villages as also several Lordships call'd in the Persian Tongue Mulk that is Possessions which are under one peculiar Family for the Possessors thereof hold them not of the King neither can he
The Father taking his Daughter by the Hand puts into same Water if he be rich Money and Jewels and gives it to the Bridgroom in the Name of God saying I have nothing more to do with you I here give her to you When the Father gives his Daughers Hand to the Bridegroom he also gives with her a Precious Gem call'd Tali which being a Golden Head of an Idol fastned to a String is shew'd to the Spectators and after some Prayers and Good Wishes is by the Bridgroom tied about the Brides Neck and this confirms the Marriage The Marriage proclaim'd All these Ceremonies are perform'd in the Brides Father's House besides which the Confirmation of the Marriage because it is a Business which concerne the Publick Good and a thing necessary to be known is openly proclaim'd and notified to all Persons For before they confirm the Marriage some days before the celebrating thereof they set an Arbor as a Sign before the Bride's Door as also four Pisang Trees if they can get them This Canopy is properly four erected Poles which being about seven Foot high are cover'd on the top with small Sticks on which they lay green Boughs and wind the Poles round about with Pisang Leaves in sign of joy The Bride carried home in State On the seventh day the Bride and Bridegroom go abroad or else are carry'd in a Palanquin through the most eminent Streets of the City with many Torches Cimbals and Fire-works before them accompany'd by all their Friends And thus the Bride is publickly carried to her Husbands House The Married Children of the Brahmans are no more call'd Brahmasaries but Garhasta's when they receive a second Cord consisting of three Strings like the first Every ten years that they increase in their age they add another Cord to the former and also another at the Birth of every Child But this is not so exactly observ'd by all yet the more zealous they are in their Paganism the more strictly they oblige themselves to these Circumstances They marry not out of their own Tribe They never marry their Children whether Sons or Daughters to any but those of their own Family which those of other Tribes also observe unless to those of a higher Degree But the Brahmans cannot be deceiv'd thereby because there are none above them Yet there are some Brahmans which marry Wives out of other Tribes but it is accounted so heinous a sin that their Companions believe they can never be admitted into Paradise Their Poranes or Ancient Histories also relate That a Brahman of great Quality call'd Sandragoupeti Naraia was very melancholy in his old age because his Son Barthrouherri was born of a Woman of the Soudran Family for he afterwards had familiarity with three hundred Women Abhor Fornication They abhor Fornication accounting it one of the five deadly sins and according to their Vedam he that so transgresses should have his Genitals cut off and so bleed to death Also they permit none to marry within the Degrees of Consanguinity But they differ very much from the European Nations in reckoning their Relations and Allies with whom they are not permitted to marry for they are allow'd to marry with their first Wifes Sister nay they may marry two three or more Sisters at once but if two Brothers marry two Sisters it is accounted Fornication They may also marry their Fathers Sisters Daughter but not their Fathers Brothers Daughter The Brahmans seldom desert their Wives though taken in the act of Adultery partly because it should not be publish'd and so redownd to their disgrace and partly out of the extraordinary affection which they bear to their Wives and therefore endeavor to keep all their miscarriages secret But if it be known A Womans Punishment offending in such case and civil People thereupon avoid coming to the House and they on the contrary out of an affection to their Wives have a mind to enjoy them honourably then they makes a great Feast to which they invite many Brahmans and Sanjasys on whom the Adulteress is to wait at the Table which they look upon as a sufficient Punishment for her Offence But if a Woman with her own free will consented to or sought to commit the foremention'd Crime then they immure her where she is is kept so long as she lives with a slender allowance Great Observers of Days and Times They are great Observers of Critical days and will not undertake any Business unless preceded by some good Day or happy Omen When they intend to go a Journey they often set out before their time if a good Day or fortunate Hour happens And that they may the better know these times exactly they have Books written after the manner of our Almanacks which they call Panjangam and are of two several sorts the one made by a Brahaspeti Teacher to the Dewetaes the other by Succra Tutor to the Raetsjasjaes that is The Chief of Devils The first instructs That some Days are good and some half good as also some Hours According to these Panjangams the People of this Countrey govern themselves they being made new every Year like our Almanacks The last are very exact for they make Observations on every one of the sixty Hours whereinto according to their Account the Day and Night is divided declaring whether they are fortunate or not and what may be done or let alone in every Hour for which they highly esteem this Panjangam supposing it infallible Their good and bad days As to what concerns the Good and Bad Days the Amawasi or first Day after the last Quarter of the Moon is good The Padeni or first Day after the New Moon before it is seen is bad as on the contrary the Widdia or Day on which the Moon first appears is good The fourth Day and the Lecadesi or ninth Day after the New Moon are both bad as also the eleventh their Fast-day if it happens on a Wednesday but good if on another day And thus they reckon their Good and Bad Days throughout the whole Year going from the Full to the New Moon Moreover they judge of the Hours and Minutes by the Accidents that happen to them and narrowly observe the same They all account it a good Omen when the Bird Garrouda which is a reddish Hawk with a white Circle about his Neck or the Bird Pala flie from their right to their left side or before them as they walk But the contrary in other Birds for if they flie before them cross the way from the left hand to the right it is a good sign and a bad one if from the right to the left If any be touch'd by Jackdaw of which there are many here in this Countrey flying it is a very bad Omen and they certainly believe that either the Party which is to touch'd or some of his Relations will infallibly die within six Weeks To Sneeze as they travel is accounted very ill
Valiant Massaaan Boyling Miniehi Singing Pingan A Dish or Platter Ecot A Tail Lari To shun or avoid Macanan Spittle Negri A City Cuntsican To whistle Basiudi To play Molam In the Evening Tombo Pounding Maganti A Cobweb Baiki Sending Connyt Saffron Pandecan Striking on an Anvil Pande bissi A Smith Totan To be indebted Becatta Saying Jemma Sunday Tydon Sleeping Timor Sweet Tompa To spill Tsiusi Pure or clean Gapit Snuffers Calmari Since yesterday Pande contsi A Lock-maker Gyla Folly Brossu A stink Ini brossu To stink Baiparas Fair. Sappangan A Piece Mansuiri To stick Caiu A Stick Antra To play Paian The Sight Coran Small Barat Heavy Sadab To taste Pangali A Spade Caersia baiki To furnish Sompa To swear Tsiarri To tear Battu A Stone Jurtilis A Secretary Tidor To sleep Fellimo A Sheet Andrior To melt Becatta To speak Terran To shine Prande rebor A Musician Boatsiamar To defile Romal A Napkin Suruan Sending Matti Dying Barnan Swimming Cappal A Ship Oran tua paran A Mariner Antrante To spin Itam Black Gallam To stop Campon manaro To save Dosa Sin Pucol To beat Jalan The Street Marri Tearing Tiaermin A Looking-glass Malon Disgracing Manys Sweet Addeparapas A Sister Doduer To look Baon The Shoulders Dyem To be silent Apon Fair. Matary Salt Peca Silver Tehylacca Sin Corni Business or Affairs Negle Steel Bantatan Dying Pienning A Dish Goethieng A pair of Scissers Calvenetten To pin Padang A Sword Salwacke A Shield Pockul To stand Byte secate I am sick Cras Strong Domba A Sheep Prau A Boat Dia She. Gergafien To saw Lear de caesia To look in a Glass The Speech the same but the Character different According to Della Valle all the Provinces in India have one and the same Language though peculiar Letters for notwithstanding that the Language or Speech is understood in divers Countreys yet the Characters are different The Learned sort or Brahmans have a Language and Letters by Kircher call'd Nagher which being accounted Sacred is onely known to their Tribe or Family and us'd amongst them as Latine amongst the Learned in Europe Their Characters are fair and large taking up much room They also differ much from the Letters us'd by the Benjan Merchants in Surat According to Mr. Edward Terry the Vulgar Tongue of the Countrey of Indostan hath great Affinity with the Persian and Arabian Tongues but is pleasanter and easier to pronounce It is a very fluent Language expressing many things in few words They write and read like us viz. from the Left to the Right Hand The Court-Language is wholly Persian In India and the Countreys under the Mogol's Jurisdiction the Persian Tongue is more common Indian being generally spoken by the Nobility at Court and us'd in all Publick Businesses and Writings which cannot seem strange to any considering the Mogollean Princes have their Extract from Tartary and Samarcand whence the Persian Tongue was first brought The Vulgar Mahumetans Peruschi tells us speak the Turkish Tongue but not so eloquently as the natural born Turks Learned Persons and Mahumetan Priests speak the Arabick in which the Alcoran and other Books are written The Malayan Tongue much us'd But no Language extends further and is of greater use than the Malayan so call'd from the City Malacka from whence it hath its Original It is spoken in all the Isles lying in the Straights of Sunda and through the adjacent Countrey but especially us'd by Merchants Linschot tells us That many People of divers Nations which came to build the City and settle in Malacka made this peculiar Language of all the other Indian Tongues consisting of the most pleasing Words and neatest manner and way of speaking of all other the Neighboring People which makes this Language to be the best and most eloquent of all India and also the most useful and easiest to learn For there is not one Merchant which comes from the neighboring Countreys to Trade here but learns this Tongue The Netherland East-India Company have lately printed a Dictionary of the Common Discourse in that Tongue as also the New Testament and other Books in the same Language Moreover the Holland Ministers in their several Factories in India teach in the Malayan Tongue not onely in their Churches but Schools also The Creation of the World in Ten Bodily Appearances of Wistnow or Mahadeu The Creation of the World THe Creation of the World as we have already mention'd the Brahmans ascribe to one Bramma by the Power given him from Wistnow or Mahadeu But these People rest not in the making of one for they form divers imaginary Worlds which in the form of an Egg drive on the Water which being without the Principal World is God himself as shall be declared hereafter more at large Some have not stuck to affirm That Bramma made fourteen Worlds agreeing with the Parts of Humane Bodies viz. the first and uppermost Celestial World out of the Brain the second out of the Eyes the third out of the Mouth the fourth out of the Left Ear the fifth out of the Roof of the Mouth the sixth out of the Heart the seventh out of the Belly the eighth out of the Privities the ninth out of the Left Thigh the tenth out of the Knees the eleventh out of the Legs the twelfth out of the Toes of the Right Foot the thirteenth out of the Toes of the Left Foot and the fourteenth out of the Air round about him Out of these Worlds he also created Man according to the qualities of Humane Bodies viz. Out of the first he created Men with Prudence and Understanding out of the second with Conduct in Transitory things out of the third good Orators out of the fourth subtile and crafty People out of the fifth Gluttons and debauch'd Persons out of the sixth Noble and Famous Men out of the seventh Slovens and Ill-natur'd out of the eighth Lascivious and Venerial Humorists out of the ninth Handicrafts and Husband-men out of the tenth Gard'ners and Rusticks out of the eleventh poor Laborers out of the twelfth Murderers Robbers and Thieves out of the thirteenth Oppressors of the Poor and out of the fourteenth People endued with all manner of excellent qualities In this manner they describe the great Bramma Creator of so many People and Worlds which they believe so firmly in every particular that they represent his Image in all their Pagodes or Temples with a Circle on every of the foremention'd Parts in stead of a World The World as we said before they affirm to drive on the Waters in the form of an Egg which incloses Heaven Earth and Hell In this Egg they also know how to find the fourteen Parts of the World Under the Earth they place Patalam that is The Infernal Pit above it the Surgam that is Heaven or Brammar-Lokon and above that Kailosom Lilaweicontam and Weicontam in which three last Places they say God himself resides The Earth or Globe of the
said Come swathe me up and carry me to Goggel on the opposite Shore of the Stream Siemmena into the House of the Brahman Nen whose Wife Jessouda is just deliver'd of a Daughter change me for her and leaving me there bring the other Infant hither and all things will be well But the Father replying said How is it possible for me to carry you out of this close Prison where not so much as the Wind can find any passage out or in How then shall I be able to get through these Iron Gates and great number of Centinels Trouble not your self said Kisna for that was the Name given the Infant by his Father about effecting what I have desir'd for the Doors will fly open and the Watchmen all fall asleep so that none shall discover you Which the Infant had no sooner said but the Locks and Bolts flew open and Wassendeu taking the Child in his Arms walk'd by the Watches without being seen by any of them But coming to the River Siemmena opposite to the City Goggel he was much troubled to see the Water extraordinary high and run down with great violence till Kisna commanding the River to open a way in the midst for his Father the Water immediately divided it self and stood firm on each side like Walls until they were past over Being come to the House of the holy Brahman Nen the Door whereof opened of it self Wassendeu entred boldly with his Son and found the Brahman Nen with his Wife in a sound sleep and they not hearing him he chang'd Kisna his Son for the new-born Maid with whom he return'd to the Prison the Stream Siemmena opening a Path for him as before When he was come to the Gates he found them open and the Watch still asleep but no sooner was he entred one Gate but the same shut after him and so likewise all the seven Being come into the Prison he deliver'd the Child to his Wife but the Watch awaking and quickly hearing it cry they entred the Chamber where these two unfortunate Lovers were lock'd up and taking the Child from them carried it to Ragia Cans who seeing that it was a Maid said What did this foolish Brahman Narret Prognosticate He was mad and did not know the truth of the business Cans nevertheless for fear she might hereafter bereave him of his Life resolv'd to murther her but taking the Infant by its Legs intending to strike it against the Wall it slipp'd out of his Hands and starting up said O most inhumane Blood-hound What do you seek to murder me for I am not the right Party but he that shall bereave you of Life Crown and Realm and revenge the death of his Brothers and Sister so inhumanely butcher'd by you is alive and well in the City Goggel Which said the Child flew into the Air where Mahadeu transform'd it into Lightning which was never seen before that time The Ragia Cans exceedingly amaz'd hereat and calling all his Council ask'd what this Wonder might portend They all told him that some great Event would suddenly follow yet none knew certainly what the issue thereof would be which made him sorrowful and perplex'd in mind Mean while being inform'd That in Goggel was a most beautiful Youth kept by the Pious Brahman Nen he fear'd that he might be the Revenger of the Infants death which he had murder'd as the Maid had told him therefore he seriously consider'd how this Youth might also be destroy'd which by force he durst not attempt fearing that all his Subjects would oppose him and the rather because of the Piety of the Brahman But at last he invented the following means viz. He call'd his eldest Sister Poetena saying Poetena if at once you love me your own Life and will preserve my Realm and Crown then do me this kindness viz. Take Presents with you and go to the House of the Pious Brahman Nen whose Wife hath lately been deliver'd of a Son whom I desire you by some means or other to let suck out of your Breast which you must first annoint with the most powerful Poyson that can be had that by that means when the Child comes to suck you it may be kill'd Which she promising to do was sent with many rich Presents to Goggel where so soon as she was arriv'd she went to the House of Nen whose Wife she wish'd much Joy with her young Son giving her great Presents thereby to be the less mistrusted and cover her false design and desir'd to have the Child lie in her Lap which being given her and she looking upon it said Indeed the Reports which go of this Youth in Mottera are no ways false for I never saw a more beautiful Babe in my whole life I do not repent my trouble of coming hither Thus Poetena flattering the Babe sometimes kiss'd it and danc'd it up and down the better to hide her wicked intent At last opening her poysonous Bosom she laid the Infant Kisna to the same hoping that it would there breathe its last but the Child strengthned by Mahadeu's Power against all Poysons taking the Nipple into its Mouth not onely suck'd away all her Milk but the Blood out of her Veins and also her Soul and by that means immediately growing cold and stiff she fell down dead Which when King Cans heard he grew exceeding sorrowful practising divers ways to destroy the Infant Kisna but all in vain for growing up in years he for a time became a Herdsman and under that form wrought many strange Miracles too tedious to insert And amongst others when the last Hour of his Altar was come he went out of Dowarca and taking up a handful of Dirt threw the same over the City by which means all the Golden Roofs Streets and stately Structures became nothing but Hay Clay Wood and Stones Imediately after which Kisna deserting the World ascended to Heaven so ending his Altar which had lasted only a hundred Years in the third Age call'd Duapersing containing 864000 Years Kissna of Krissna of Krexno d'achtste autaer Bhodes of Bouddhas autaer de negende Kallenkyns autaer de tiende This Kisna or Krexno is represented with four Arms whereof one of the Left is held up pointing with the Fore-finger to the Cow Camdoga one of the Right Arms holding a Periwincle in the Hand extends downwards the other two Hands seem to stop the holes of a Fife held to the Mouth of the Image The Feet also seem as if treading the Measures of a Dance The Head is cover'd with a Golden Crown with several Points rais'd and beset with Pearls and Precious Stones The Garments it has on are made after the Indian Fashion very wide and large About the Neck and Shoulders hangs a long red Scarf On each side stand two Images of Women in rich Habits each in a different posture worshipping him Bhodes or Boudhas Altar the Ninth BHodes or Boudhas hath neither Father nor Mother and is to most invisible but those few
which are opposite to a Square interlac'd with several Brooks of Water and Springs During the time that they are on the Guard the King sends them all their Victuals ready dress'd which they receive with great Ceremony and Reverence repeating three several times the Taslin or Thanks and laying their Hands upon their Heads turn their Faces towards the King's Lodgings There are yet many more Divans and Tents erected in several places which are the Apartments of divers Officers Moreover there are a great number of Carcanays which are Shops wherein Handicraftsmen follow several Employments as Embroiderers Goldsmiths Painters Taylors Shoemakers and Silkweavers each in a peculiar Shop All these Tradesmen come every Morning to work in this Carcanays and staying there all day return home to their Houses in the Evening each Man living very peaceably and quiet none aiming to be higher than their Condition hath allotted them for a Taylor breeds his Son a Taylor and so the rest and no Person converses with any Man but those of his own Trade which Custom is punctually observ'd not onely by the Heathens who are oblig'd thereto by their Laws but also amongst the Mahumetans which is the occasion of many beautiful Virgins living unmarried when as they might Match to the raising their Fortunes if their Parents would permit them to Marry a Man of another Trade or Quality which they account meaner than theirs After having pass'd all these Places before mention'd you come to the Amacas which is a large Square with Piazzaes which have no Houses over them but are divided by a Wall with a little Door or Gate through which you walk out of one part into another Beyond the great Gate which is in the midst of one of the sides of this Square you come to a large Divan which is all open towards the side of the Court and is call'd Nagar-canay because it is the place where the Trumpetters or rather Cymbal-players are who in their Turns play both day and night But this seems at first a strange sound in the Ears of Strangers who are not us'd to it there being sometimes ten or twelve of these Trumpetters and as many Cimbal-players who play all together They have Trumpets which they call Carna a Cubit and a half long with an opening at the bottom of a Foot diameter So likewise there are Cymbals of Copper or Iron half a Yard wide from whence one may judge of the noise which they make their sound is so harsh in the Ears of Strangers and so loud that they cannot endure to hear the same yet custom makes it pleasant especially in the Night when it is heard at a distance on the tops of Houses wherefore those that are appointed to play are plac'd on high at a distance from the King's Lodgings Opposite to the great Gate of the Court over which this Nagar-canay is kept is a spacious Hall built on several high Columns and open on three sides all which look towards the Court. The Pillars and Floor of this Hall are gilded and painted In the midst of the Wall which separates this Hall from the Seraglio is a very high and broad Window where the King sits on his Throne with some of his Sons by his side and some Eunuchs standing near him who either keep the Flyes from him with the Tails of Peacocks or cool him with great Fans whilst others in other postures wait to receive his Commands Below him stand all the Omrahs Rajas and Ambassadors with cast-down Eyes and their Hands on their Breasts Below these stand the Mansebdars or inferior Omrahs in the same humble postures whilst the remaining part of the Hall or Court is fill'd with divers sorts of other People In this place the King gives Audience to all Persons every day about Noon for which reason this great Hall is call'd Amcas that is The Place of Audience During the foremention'd Assembly the King to recreate himself causes a certain number of his best Horses to be led by before him that so he may see whether they are well kept which he also doth by his best Elephants which are wash'd and colour'd black all over except two broad red Stroaks which running from their Heads cross their Backs unite near the Tail The Elephants at that time also are richly caparison'd with Embroider'd Cloths and two Silver Bells which hang on each side by a thick Silver Chain which lies cross their Backs and have large and curious Cow Tails brought from Tibet hanging about their Necks Moreover two lesser Elephants are led by their sides as if their Slaves and appointed to serve the bigger These mighty great Beasts as if proud of being set forth in such a manner walk very stately and coming before the King the Riders of them sitting on their Shoulders prick them into the Skin with an Iron Hook and speaking to them make them bow their Knees throw their Noses up in the Air and make a certain kind of noise which the People look upon to be a Taslin or Salute After the Elephants they bring out several sorts of Beasts as the Nilgaux or grey Oxen a sort of Elands Rhinocerots and great Buffaloes from Bengala to fight with their great Horns against a Lion or Tyger tame Leopards or Panthers with which the King goes a Hunting This done they lead by the King's Greyhounds sent him from Usbeck Lastly divers Birds of prey amongst which some are taught to seize on a Hare The Course of the River Jeminy The River Jeminy by Pliny and Herbert call'd Jomanes and by Ptolomy Hynamanes taking its original out of the neighboring Mountains runs through and by Agra from whence it glides with many trending Bays to Piage where it discharges its Water into the Ganges The nature of the Tree Baxama There grows a certain Tree call'd Baxama with such a poisonous Root that it immediately kills those who eat thereof but the Fruit thereof which is call'd Nirabix or according to Thevet Rabuxot expells the Poison and cures those that are infected by the Root yet Thevet tells us that the Fruit of these Trees growing on the Island Queixom lying in the Bay of Persia is so poisonous that it immediately kills those that taste thereof The same power he saith the Shadow of the Tree hath if any Person lie under it but a quarter of an hour Nevertheless the same Thevet affirms that the same Root in other Countreys is an expeller of Poison The Inhabitants as well Moors as Heathens are valiant Soldiers and good Horsemen Their Arms are Bowes Arrows Lances Daggers and Steel Plates call'd Checharany two Inches broad and round like a Dish they carry seven or eight of them under their left Arm and put one of them on the fore Finger of their right Hand which turning several times they throw it at their Enemy and if it chances to fall either on their Arm or Leg it certainly cuts off the same and with this Weapon which the most
From the Mouth of Pontus to the Mouth of Maeotis Eratosthenes reckons XV. XLV or 1545 Miles which together comes to XLI LXXXIV or 4184 Miles But Artemidorus and Isidorus reckon the Whole with Aegypt as far as Tanais LXXXVIII or 8800 Miles Pliny himself by whom all these Authors are quoted in more express Terms affirm'd the Length of Asia to be LXIII DCC Miles which to hold proportion with the former Numbers can be but 7050. However here the Plinian Interpreter forgetting himself suffers it to run on to 630750 perhaps because of the DCC that comes after the LXIII But this as it would exceed the Proportion formerly observ'd so it would bring back that Contradiction to common Sense and Reason which he seem'd before to endeavor to avoid The Breadth from the Aethiopick Sea to Alexandria XVIII LXXV or 1875 Miles reckoning the Miles as the manner then was by so many thousand Paces Strabo speaking of the Mountain Taurus running through the midst of Asia from West to East and measuring the Length of Asia by it affirms the Length of the Mountain to be 45000 Furlongs which comes to 5625 Italian or English Mile Matthias Quadus though he almost follows the Words of Strabo yet he makes a longer Mount Taurus for he accounts the Length of it 58060 Furlongs that is 7257 of our Miles and four Furlongs over and without particularizing the Breadth affirms it to exceed the Breadth of Europe and Asia put together Mercator extends the Length of Asia from the most Western Meridian passing through the 57th Degree of Longitude to the most Eastern passing through the 178th Degree including 121 Degrees which reduc'd to Miles comes to 7260. The Breadth he reckons from the Aequator to the 80th Degree of Northern Latitude which amounts to 4800 Miles Cluverius allots to Asia between the Hellespont and Malacca the farthest Emporium of India the length of 1300 German Miles which is of our Miles 5200 And for Breadth between the Mouth of the Arabian Gulph and the Promontory Tabis which is at the Streight of Anian 1220 German Miles which is of our Miles 4880. With this Measure Golnitius and Lucas de Linda exactly agree Martiny determines the Extent of Asia from West to East that is from the Archipelago to the Chinese Ocean to be 1750 Leagues from South to North that is from Malacca to the Sea of Tartary 1550 Leagues P. du Val accounts its Length from West to East that is from the most Western Parts of Anatolia to the Eastern Parts of China 2500 French Leagues the Breadth not comprehending the Isles 72 Degrees that is 1700 of the same Leagues and all under the Septentrional Temperate Zone except some Peninsula's which are found in the Torrid Zone Now to reduce all these several Computations to one Standard viz. of our own Miles there will be no great difference among the three Moderns last mention'd provided we reckon in Martiny's Account three Leagues to a Mile and in P. du Val's two French Leagues to a Mile according to which Reckoning all the Modern Accounts come short of the Ancient which is the more strange in regard late Discoverers have penetrated into such remote Easterly Parts of Asia as were altogether unknown in Strabo's Pliny's or Ptolomy's time and therefore may well be suppos'd to have stretch'd it to a far greater extent But some Mistakes may possibly arise from our not exactly enough accommodating of the Ancient Numbers or Measures to our own as may evidently appear by the vast Error that might easily have slipt from an inanimadvertency of Pliny's Numbers Of the Lakes or Seas of Asia THE greatest Lake if it be not more properly call'd a Sea not onely of Asia but generally so reputed of the World is the Hircanian Lake which contains in Length 270 German Miles in Breadth above 100 and although there be no visible Entrance of any other Sea into it yet in regard its Waters are generally Salt it is suppos'd to communicate with the Ocean or some other Sea by certain Subterraneous Passages as undoubtedly it partakes also of several great Rivers since in many Places it hath Fresh Water and abounds with some sorts of Fresh-water or River Fish The Ancients believ'd this to be a Bay of the Scythian Ocean but Herodotus one of the most ancient of the Greek Writers as also Aristotle and Diodorus were of a different Opinion affirming it to be a particular Sea by it self as being no where mix'd with the Ocean And Ptolomy for that Reason would rather have it call'd a Lake than a Sea to which Opinion of his many other Writers have given their Suffrage However it hath commonly had in times past the Appellation of The Caspian Sea and at present is term'd Mare di Sala or The Sea of Sala The next great Asian Lake is call'd Lacus Asphaltites or The Lake of Brimstone the same which in Holy Writ is call'd Mare Mortuum or The Dead Sea in regard the Water remains fixt and immovable in so vast a Circuit Upon this Lake stood the Cities of Sodom and Gomorra Admah and Zeboim the two first whereof are mention'd in Sacred Scripture to have been destroy'd by Fire from Heaven whereupon it hath been also known by the Name of The Lake of Gomorra And if the fore-mention'd much more this may be term'd a Lake in regard it is but very small in respect of that Over this Lake like as over that of Avernus or Aornus in Campania no Birds endure to fly neither are any Fish able to live in it by reason of the evil and noxious Savour and intollerable Stench of the Water which is not mov'd or stirr'd by any Wind because the Bituminous Quality thereof resists by condensing the Surface of the Water which is so thick that the heaviest Creatures are born upon it without swimming But it is not Navigable by any Ships both in regard of the thickness and immovableness of the Water and the noisomness of the Lake to all Passengers The next is the Lake or Sea in Persia call'd El-Catif The fourth is the Lake of Genesareth otherwise call'd Tiberius and by some The Sea of Galilee The fifth is the Lake Samochonites between which and that of Gennesareth the River Jordan flows Of the Chief Rivers of Asia THERE are many Rivers of Principal note in Asia as Euphrates Tigris Jordan Indus Ganges Ob c. Euphrates riseth in Great Armenia and is call'd by the Inhabitants generally Phrat But in its Progress through several Countries it changeth its Name for some space from its first rising it is call'd Pyxirates towards its entrance into the Mountain Taurus Omira again coming forth from out of the said Mountain it takes the Name of Euphrates afterwards it toucheth upon Mesopotamia on the Left Hand and Syria Arabia and Babylonia on the Right and then divides it self into several Arms one whereof takes its Course to Seleucia and falls into the River Tigris another runs through Babylon and loseth
take them away On the North side of the City as you go to Ispahan lies a Mountain over which you travel along a Stony Road through which runs a Stream which waters all the adjacent Gardens and Orchards Three Leagues to the Northward of Schiras stood a large Caravansera which though half ruin'd yet by its great Walls and Arches sufficiently testifies its former Magnitude This Province contains four great Cities besides Schiras viz. Casirum Bunitzan Firusabath and Astar as also the Towns Arboy Chiminar Sava the Metropolis of Savas formerly the Country of the Massabates It comprises likewise Firusbate Berdezzil Senorgande Cazaran by Texeira call'd Carriu and by Ananie Casrum also Camara Zemilen Bendarepe Serustan Agiane c. Texeira also places in this Province these Towns and Villages viz. Tarum Iaharom or Jarum Lasta or Lastan Stahabanon Neriz Pacah Daragued and Duzgun near Lastan between Comoron and the City Lara eighteen Leagues from Ormus There are also the Cities of Rey and Gibal The first City of this Province according to Figueroa is Guin as also Benaru with the Ruins of the Castle Gabriel in the utmost Confines of the Kingdom of Lara though both Places lie very near one another in a great Plain The City Guin is separated from the rest of Persia by high Mountains over which you must travel to go to Jarum and thence with the Caravans through the Desart It is apparent that this City hath been built many Years and Peopled by a Colony of Persians because the Inhabitants are of a better Spirit and more Morallised than the neighbouring wild Arabians Their Complexion also is whiter and the Habit of the Women neater and more Civil On the left Hand going from Guin lies a Village call'd Denia full of fair Houses About two days Journey from Guin lies the little City Horum so call'd from its Beauty and great plenty of Dates as also another of the same denomination between Cabrestan and Lara Between Guin and Horum you meet with a barren and uninhabited Desart of three days Journey not having in all that way above two Pits of Water The Village Tarum which is the Chief of many Villages was much decay'd Anno 1630. The Inhabitants thereof are subject to the Prince of Lar. It hath under its Jurisdiction the Village Seid Geuder beyond which is a large Plain and at a small distance runs the Brook Absciur which signifies Salt Water A little further is a Village call'd Pelengon that is A Panther so nam'd from the great number of that sort of Beasts breeding thereabouts Two Leagues from Pelengon you come to a narrow way between the Mountains in the Persian Tongue call'd Der Tenghi Cebar Rud that is The narrow Gate of four Streams because in Rainy Weather four great Currents which come from several Places unite their Waters there After three or four Leagues travelling through a pleasant Way you come to a Place call'd Curihazirgon that is The Merchants Grave perhaps so call'd because a Merchant died and was buried there Four Leagues further lies a solitary and ruin'd Place nam'd Ser Zehi Rizevon about which stands onely a few Huts shaded on one side by a Grove of Date-trees And four Leagues further is Tastek inhabited by none but the Rabdary or Watchmen to guard the Way Two Leagues from Tastek along an even Way between the Mountains lies a Place call'd Abi Dungher the utmost extent of the Dukedom of Lar and the beginning of the Country which belong'd to the King of Ormus when he was absolute Master of Persia and Arabia The Road from Schiras to Ispahan Travelling from Schiras to Hispahan you pass by these Places viz. First the Village Zargan in which is a handsom and well-built Mosque Four Leagues further you come to Mahin which being an open Town contains between five and six hundred Houses but is so inclos'd with Gardens and Orchards of all sorts of Fruit-trees that it rather seems at a distance a shady Grove than a Town A little forward from Mahin you come to another Village call'd Amanzada consisting onely of a few Houses all enclosed within a Wall'd Caravansera in which stands also a rich Pagode out of whose Revenue all Travellers that rest there are maintain'd for three days The whole way from Mahin to this Caravansera is very craggy and troublesom to travel and is border'd on the left Hand by a high Mountain whose top lies crown'd with Snow till the middle of Summer Three Leagues from Amanzada lies Ugion a Village on a Plain and between both a very steep Mountain whose Southern side is full of Lentisk Trees out of which drops Mastick In this Place stands a Mosque to which the Natives shew great Reverence by reason of a Tomb in which lies Interr'd one of Aly's Successors and the Villagers report that many sick blind and decrepit People have receiv'd Health and been restor'd to their Sight and Limbs by imploring the aid of the foremention'd Person whom they account a Saint The Plain on which this Village is situate is water'd by a small River whose Stream though muddy is yet very full of Fish Four Leagues from Ugion is Acopas a small Village enclos'd with a Mud-wall and surrounded with high Mountains In the middle of the Village on a Mount stands a small decay'd Fort round about which and within the Walls are above a hundred Houses most of them Inhabited by Circassians Hard by stands a large Caravansera and not far from it a Garden planted with divers sorts of Fruit-trees and curious Walks of Cypress and Palm-trees which one Alavardy Chan planted a little before his death Four or five Leagues from Acopas lies Curcuzar a small Fortified Town with a Caravansera adjoyning All the way between Acopas and Curcuzar is low and Morassie the Air also is unwholesom Wherefore the Persians have not without great reason call'd this Place Curcuzar which signifies Infectious Air. Beyond this is the Village Dergriger three Leagues from which stands a Caravansera and another pretty Town next to which follows Comixan containing about fifteen hundred Families A little beyond Comixan lies the Dorp Mahiar And lastly between that and Hispahan about a League from the latter is a Village nam'd Jarustan The Province of Persia is water'd by a large River call'd Cur which is a corrupt Name of Cyrus Philip of Ferara in his Geography Olearius and others will have this to be the same River which the Latins call'd Begradas But Della Valle contradicts this Opinion affirming That Bendemir is the Name of a Bridge which lies cross the River near the way coming from Ispahan to Schiras but its right name is Curis as is before mention'd for Bend-Emir signifies The Bridge of Emir because the Persians call a Bridge Bend and Emir was the Name of the Builder The ancient Writers make mention of two Rivers in Asia which bear the Name of Cyrus the one whereof having washt Armenia and Albania discharges its Water into the Caspian
great Copper Spout made fast in the Wall is convey'd thither in Pipes from the Mountains lying a League from thence and serves those for Drink that are Dieted there At the end of the Garden on the same side is a fair spacious and round Arch of green and blue Stone in the middle whereof are two great Copper Candle-sticks Round about the Walls are Seats wherein the Priests Cloth'd in white Apparel us'd to Sing It is a Tradition that Schach Sefi us'd to sit every year forty days together here Fasting and Praying his daily Sustenance being onely one Almond and a little Water from whence it is call'd Tschillachane Out of this Court you pass through another Gate where there also hangs a Silver Chain given by Allican Chan of Gappan The Entrance into the Tomb is under a pretty large Room over which is a round Tower through a Door Plated with Silver and adorn'd with thick Silver Rings The Floor at the Entrance is spread with Carpets on which those that will pass to the Tomb must walk bare-footed When Schach Abbas came to visit this Tomb he pull'd off his Shoes half a League before he came to the City and walk'd thither bare-footed in testimony of the great zeal he bore to this Saint This Entry hath a little Wicket on one side cover'd with Plates of Gold which leads to a stately Room It is said that Schach Abbas made this Door as also another at the Meschet in Chorazan before Imam Risa's Tomb upon the making of a certain Vow at the time of his marching against the Usbechies in Chorazan viz. That if these Saints would help him to drive the Enemy out of Chorazan he would give each of them a Golden Door which he accordingly perform'd after his Victory The Vault is forty eight Foot long and thirty broad and set round with many Silver and Gold Branches for Lamps of an extraordinary large size near which commonly sit twelve Singing Priests call'd Hafisan with little Stools before them on which lie great Parchment Books in which as they look they move their Bodies after the same manner as those in the Tschillachane Passing through this Vault you come into a kind of Sacristy ascended unto by three Silver Steps with Rails and Balasters likewise of Silver The Persians commonly kiss these Stairs before they go up the same This Room is exceeding costly and rises with another Step upon which a Rail of massy Gold runs cross the Room and behind it the Tomb of Schach Sefi made of polish'd Marble not of Gold as some say three Foot high from the Ground about nine long and four broad The Door of the Golden Rail is always lock'd and may not be open'd to any mortal Man not to the King himself On the left hand of this Room is another Vault in which Schach Abbas the First with several other Kings lie bury'd On the right side of the foremention'd Entrance is a great Vaulted Room curiously Gilded and resembling a Church the Cieling adorn'd with several pieces of Carv'd Work but not supported by any Pillars This Room being call'd Tzenetsera is the Library where the Books lie in seveveral Chests not set side by side but heap'd one upon the other and lock'd up they are most of them in Arabick but some in the Persian and Turkish Language written neatly either on Paper or Parchment and the Histories adorn'd with various Sculptures In divers corners of this Room are Shelves and Cupboards full of Porcelane Dishes and other Vessels of which some contain the quantity of three Gallons wherein the King and other Lords are serv'd when they come hither for this being a sacred Place and a holy Gift no Silver or Golden Vessels are to be us'd in it and it is said that Schach Sefi was wont out of zeal and humility to eat here out of woodden Platters Opposite to the Library or Tzenetsera is the Kitchin the Door whereof Schach Abbas causâ—d also to be Plated with Silver Every thing in the same is kept very neat divers large Cauldrons or Boyling-places are made in the Wall with great Covers to them The Water convey'd in Pipes round about the Kitchin and let into great Vessels by Copper Cocks Out of this Kitchin above a thousand Servants belonging to the Temple besides a great number of Alms-People receive their Allowance three times a day namely Morning Noon and Night The two first times of Serving are from Schach Sefi's Donation in which are daily spent about a hundred and fifty Aba's or three Tomams which is fifty Crowns but the third Service is on the King's Account These Meal-times are proclaim'd by two Officers who go about beating on Kettle-Drums which as 't is said were us'd by Mahumed and brought thither by Schach Sedredin together with Medine's Flag upon which Signal every one repairs thither and receives from the Butlers and Manciples in a Dish Broth Flesh and Rice in such plenty that many not able to cat all themselves sell it to those that are asham'd to fetch it Out of the Kitchin you go into the Garden where are the Graves of Sultan Aider Schach Thomas and other Kings that lie bury'd under the open Skie without either Tomb-stone or any thing else The chiefest Persons that lie bury'd in several places of this Meschaich are Schach Sefi Son of Seid Tzeibrail Schach Sedredin Son of Sefi Schach Tzinid Son of Sedredin in the European Histories by a mistake call'd Guined Sultan Aider Son of Tzinid who was flay'd alive by the Turks Schach Aider Son of Sultan Aider Schach Ismael Son of Aider Schach Thomas Son of Schach Ismael Schach Ismael the second Son of Schach Thomas Schach Mahumed Chodabende Son of Ismael Ismael Myrsa and Chodabende Hemsa Myrsa Brothers and Sons to Schach Abbas By whom this Tomb was built The Persians relate that a Platform of this above described Tomb was dictated by Schach Sedredin to the chief Architect whom he employ'd in building it after a wonderful manner that is to say he caus'd him to shut his Eyes and shew'd him as in a Dream a stately Edifice according to which he built the foremention'd Structure which Schach Tzinid hath enlarg'd adding a base Court and several Houses to it so that now it is like a great Castle with a continual concourse of People walking up and down there as in a little City It hath great allowance from the King The great Revenues belonging to it besides other Revenues and daily Presents which makes it worth many Millions nay 't is said that this Metzid is able in time of War with ready Money to raise more Men than the King for besides the great Sums in yearly Money it hath many Houses and Lands belonging to it which either pay Rent or Taxes to the same which amounts in all to to a considerable Treasury viz. in Ardebil are two hundred Houses nine Hamans or Baths eight Caravansera's the great Vaulted Exchange with all the Shops and Walks
abundance of Cooks Shops Abundance of Cooks Shops wherein they sell Meat ready drest which is so common that Persons of great Quality though they have Cooks in their Houses when desirous of Varieties of Meat well drest they send to those Shops for them Those tyfeats which they baste with their Butter at first seem very ill tasled to a Palat not accustom'd thereto but afterwards obtain a more pleasing Rellish They also have a Bak ' d-meat call'd Perian and another call'd Carik dress'd after the Indian manner There are also preserv'd Cucumbers which are very palatable and in the midst of Summer cooling They have likewise a dainty Dish call'd Peluda made up of Ameldonk or Amelcores in the manner of a Tart either made white like Snow or else they colour them with Saffron The Tart cut in pieces is put into a China-Dish and Rose-water and Sugar pour'd over it and a great piece of Ice laid by it which melting in the Rose-water with the Sugar makes a delicious and cool Liquor into which are put Almonds and the Herb Purslan cut into small pieces which give it a very pleasing Rellish This Liquor put into the same Dish with the pieces of Tart is both Meat and Drink and a choice Delicate in the midst of Summer In the Southern Countreys especially Westward about Ormus they use many Herbs in their Drinks as also Brandy and other hot Liquors amongst which one call'd Jarkin which is in great esteem in the Island of Java and all the Southern Provinces of the Eastern Countreys they use also much Sale and though between Ispahan and Ferhabad there is a large Plain that yields great quantityes the Soyl being full of Salt yet they use another sort contemning this though good by reason of it's great plenty Before and after Meals the Persians both in Winter and Summer have warm Water to wash their hands which they wipe with their Handkerchiefs After Supper They paint their Skins they commonly present their Guests with dryed Leaves of Hanna or Alkanna to colour their Hands and this Ceremony is as much to the satisfaction of the Eastern Countrey-people as a Ball with Dancing or Musick after a Banquet Some discolour their skins all over in this manner when they please viz. they lay the Alkanna tempered in water on their Hands or that part of the Body which they intend to colour and binde it on with a String that it may not fall off this the Women do for the most part after Supper before they go to Bed that so the Colour lying on all Night may make the better Impression in the Morning the Paste being dry falls off and leaves an Orange-tincture on the Skin but if over-dawb'd it makes them Red or Black Amfion or Opium Thee Coffee and Tobacco MOst Persians use Amfion or Opium that is Juice or Oyl of Poppy by them call'd Offiuhn and Tiriak as the Berry Chas Cehask and by the Turks onely Maslac which they making up in little Pills like Pease swallow Those that use themselves to it may take a quarter of an Ounce or more at a time Some take it every other or third day onely to set them into an intoxicating Extasie where they please themselves with strange Imaginations They are gathered in several Places of Persia especially about Ispahan after this manner The white Poppy being cut produces a milky Juice which having stood a while and becoming black is taken and made fit to be used The Druggists and Apothecaries make great advantage thereof But Opium is not onely used much in Persia but also in Turky and India It is also said that some Women when their Husbands and they cannot agree contrive their dispatch with a Dose of Opium Coknar a sort of Drink and the use thereof From the Husk or Shell the Persians also extract a Juice which they call Coknar much drunk by the Soldiers especially in the time of Schach Abbas when they were forbidden to drink Wine for it revives the Spirits for the present but is nothing so wholsome for soon after their Bodies are so debilitated that they are unfit for Service wherefore Schach Abbas prohibited upon pain of Death either to make or fell this Liquor Moreover all Vessels with this Liquor wherever they were found were broken no and stav'd immediatly before their Doors But after all this and the before mention'd first Law made by King Abbas he preferring an Inconvenience before a Mischief permitted the People to drink Wine again as formerly in stead of Cocknar Take much Tobacco They are great Takers of Tobacco insomuch that People of all sorts and Degrees Smoak it in their Temples and other publick Places They have it from Bagdad or Babylon and Curdistan but so ill preparâ—d that they desire our European Tobacco which they call Inglis Tambacu because the English bring the greatest quantities thither They take it not as we do but suck it through two Pipes joyn'd together but first they take a Glass Bottle or Indian Nut or a Cabach which is a kind of Shell that holds about a Pint into which they put more or less sometimes sweet Water leaving sufficient room for Smoak then they put the two Pipes through the Mouth of the Bottle the one contains the Tobacco in one Bowl and through the other goes the Smoak the end of one Pipe stands as far from the bottom as the end of the other is from the Water viz. about a Thumbs breadth The Persians generally with their Tobacco drink Coffee made from the Arabian Caowa or Persian Cahwee which they dry and pulverize and after decoct as we now use and have learn'd from them of which we shall enlarge when we come to Arabia the Place where it grows They use also Tee or Tea being very common and sold in publick Houses by them call'd Chat tai Chane that is Houses of Catayan Tzai or Thee of which likewise in its proper place Of their Marriages Use Poligamy PErsons of Quality in this Countrey are seldome satisfied with one Wife and of old had many which they may turn off when they please which as Strabo relates was anciently for the Childrens sake for the Kings gave Annually Presents to those that had most Children But at this day they affect not this Multiplicity having not so many Wives as formerly yet they make no more of Wedlock than a Play of Fast and Loose turning them off when they please and are still for Variety and this Liberty they take the rather because Mahomet in his Alcoran allows Polygamy Rich Merchants who Trade in divers Places in the Countrey make a great Convenience of it having at their Countrey-houses and where else they Trade not onely Furniture but a Wife so that where e're they come they are still at Home They Marry their nearest Relations but not so incestuously as of old they were wont to do for in antient times as Brissonius affirms out of several Writers they
whose number are always kept and paid by the King and are said to be twenty thousand The second Order is that of the Vassals Vaassls or the Kings Servants which are nobler than the Musquettiers and are all Christians by Extract bought in their Infancy or presented by several People as Circassians Georgians Armenians and the like The Georgians who are the most numerous are from Christians become Mahumetans they fight all on Horse-back and use several Weapons as Spears Bowes and Arrows Musquets Iron Clubs crooked Swords Daggers and Battel-Axes The Kings Vassals are permitted to wear the Tag and use the same on certain occasions they have a peculiar Commander and are to the number of fifteen thousand viz. Those that belong to the King and are in his pay for the Chans and Grandees keep many others in their own Service Besides which there are fifteen thousand more which are no Soldiers and officiate in several places at Court or follow several employments to which they are brought up from their Infancy Martial Law is also new having been first establish'd by King Abbas from the Example of the Turks Chisilbassi or Red Caps The third Order consists in Chisilbassi that is Red Caps and is more noble than that of the Vassal these also fight on Horse-back carrying such Arms as they like best in former times they us'd onely Bowes and Arrows Shields and Swords for they despis'd Guns as base Arms for a Gentleman to use but since the Year 1620. they have all carry'd Fire-Arms beside their old Weapons Moreover some especially Knights keep their first Arms which are less troublesome to carry than the other They are free and need not serve longer than they please or are paid nay they may change their Masters if they can make any advantage thereby to themselves they may leave the Kings Service and go to a Chan or Sultan or from the one to the other as it is very common The Corci The fourth martial Order of the Persians being the most noble is that of the Corci call'd from the word Corma which in the Turkish Language signifies to keep who are in a manner like to our Life-guards because their office is to guard the King at Court and all other Places All the Chizilbassi which neither serve the Chans nor Sultans or any other people but the King himself and are in his pay are call'd Corci the number whereof amounts to twelve thousand they use the same Arms as the other Chizilbassi and fight on Horse-back they have peculiar Commanders call'd Corcibassi that is Heads of the Corci In these four Martial Orders the King 's whole Militia consists there being but few besides them Moreover there are likewise the Jasakci The Jasakci what Service they do or Precursors to clear the way for the Army and detain all those they meet with that they may not come too near the King's Wives In Sign of their Office every one wears an ordinary Arrow stuck through their Turbants but their Captains one of Gold The Lasauls what they are There are also others as Lasauls which are like Centinels and have onely a Club or Staff in their hands but these are rather Officers in the King's Court than Soldiers The Titles of their Commanders The supream General is call'd Sardar a Commander of ten or twelve thousand Bowe-men Curtzschibacht a Colonel over a thousand Minbaschi a Captain over a hundred Jusbaschi a Decurion that commands ten Ohubaschi which if they have behav'd themselves valiantly and perform'd any notable Exploit they are without any respect of their Birth or Quality bountifully rewarded and promoted to greater Dignity Valor not Extract the cause of Preferment Areb Chan a Duke of Schirwan in the Reign of Schach Sefi was but a Rustick's Son in Serab where he was first a Marshal but after behaving himself valiantly in the Wars cutting off several Turkish Commanders Heads with his own Hands he was made Chan of the foremention'd Province Others have been promoted to the same Dignity from Heardsinea Grooms or the King's Slaves but those that do not encounter valiantly with their Enemies or lose an opportunity of engaging with them or without any great reason fly from them they not onely lose their lives but are first scorn'd and derided by all men being forc'd to go through the whole Army in Womans Apparel a whole day for as Herodotus affirms nothing is accounted more vile amongst the Persians than to be esteem'd a greater Coward than a Woman The Enemies to Persia The King hath powerful Enemies both on his right and left Hand which oftentimes engage with him viz. the Tartars of Zagatay or the Usbecan Tartars in and upon the Borders of Chorasan who many times invading him with ten or twenty thousand Men pillage all the Countrey But the Turks are his greatest Enemies about Bagdat or Babylon and Iruan near which places many bloody Battels have been fought the great Mogul also makes frequent War upon them for Candahar and Herat. Boterus tells us that the Sofi troubles himself but little with the Mogul because between both Realms as betwixt Spain and France are very narrow Passages and the Situation of the Borders very Rocky and troublesome by which means the conveying of Provisions that way and the keeping of Forces there is very inconvenient The Forces in pay It is said that King Abbas Anno 1620. kept constantly one hundred thousand Horse in Pay of which about thirty thousand guarded the Cities on the Frontiers from whence they never stirr'd to any Engagement onely when it was judg'd fit then they are remov'd from one Quarter to another Besides this numerous Army which receives Pay are also many Voluntiers persons of Quality of which some keep fifty nay a hundred Men in their Service which receive annual Revenues and carrying Arms are reckon'd amongst the Militia as likewise Sutlers Merchants Handicrafts Cammel-drivers and Commissaries which all bear Arms besides their Wives which are no less in number than the Men according to the antient Custom of the People of Asia which as Xenophon affirms carry their Families with them to the Wars so that the King's Army consisting as well of other men as Soldiers amounts to between two and three hundred thousand Men. The City Ispahan with the Villages belonging to the same is able in a short time to raise sixty thousand Men besides the standing Forces The Soldiers marching in the Army observe a good Order and make little noise Their order in marching using neither Drums Trumpets nor any other Musical or Warlike Instruments none daring to take any thing but what they pay for where ever they are Quarter'd by which means the Countrey-People receive great benefits by the Army 's marching through their Towns or Villages and the Merchants or Handicrafts without any suspition of being wrong'd of their Goods let the Soldiers have such things as they want Sutlers travel with Fruit
and Iberia as also a part of Armenia and some of Albania within whose Limits as Strabo tells us is inclos'd the Countrey inhabited by the Moschi for Georgia extends in length from the Eastern Shore of the Black Sea almost to the Caspian Others make Georgia comprise the ancient Iberia and the Countrey of Georgia mention'd by Pliny and Mela. It hath for Neighbor on the East the Countrey of Albania now under the Jurisdiction of the Persians and wherein the Towns of Bacu and Demircapi or Derbend lie and bending from thence a little Southerly it touches upon the Province of Scirvan in the West it verges with the Black Sea Its Bounds in the North fronts the Caspian Mountains which are Branches of Mount Caucasus and extend along from the Black to the Caspian Sea and defend Georgia from the Northern Blasts as also from the Invasion of the Salvages on the South it conterminates with that part of Armenia which borders upon Media and somewhat lower Westerly towards Trebizonde with a part of Cappadocia and is by the Circassian and Caspian Mountains divided from Muscovy It s several Denominations The right Name of this Countrey according to Texeira is Gurgistan that is The Countrey of the Gurgians It is also call'd Garia and Chartuelaba as a Georgian in the Countrey Language Chartueli or Kartueli which word Della Valle affirms to signifie a Christian The Turks name them Kurchin or Gurgin or Jurian to which must be added the Turkish word Lar a sign of the plural Number and is pronounced Jurianu-Lar The Name of Georgia or Georgians some suppose they have receiv'd from St. George whom they highly reverence and carry his Picture in their Standards though Postellus affirms from the information of the Georgians in Constantinople that the Name of St. George is altogether unknown to them Division of the Countrey Georgia is by some divided into several Provinces the chiefest whereof are Imereti or Busciaciuk Cacheti Cardel or Carduel Curiel and Mengrelia This Countrey of Georgia is very fertile It s Fertility and in many places produces plenty of Corn Wine and other Fruits Most of the Vines grow up by the Trees There are likewise many Woods and Mountains and abundance of Mulberry-ttees for the feeding of Silk-worms which furnish Persia with great quantities of Silk Wild Beasts are also here in great numbers Wild Beasts and likewise Faulcons and Eagles which they call Avigi Rivers and Lakes It is water'd by the Rivers Araxes now call'd Aras Cyrus now Cur and the Canak The Cyrus or Cur which the Natives of the Countrey call Ser the Turks Chur and others Elkar takes its original with the Araxes out of Mount Taurus in Armenia from whence it glides down to the Plains of Georgia where augmented with the Waters of many Rivers and at last united with the Araxes disembogues into the Caspian Sea There are also two very eminent Lakes the one call'd Geluchalatdu in the North is four days Journey in circumference and hath on its Banks the Castle of St. Leonard the other nam'd Esechie is taken for the ancient Lake Licinitis The People very courteous The Georgians are very civil and courteous after their manner The Nobles are call'd Asnaure which going continually Arm'd always maintain War against the Unbelievers or Mahumetans But they are not so much inclin'd to Learning as the Greeks neither are they so ambitious proud and subtle but very meek and honest of an affable nature and so easie of belief that their greatest misfortunes have fall'n upon them from the Mahumetans through their too much credulity Cootwick tells us that the Georgians are much inclin'd to Drinking and that they will not Engage with an Enemy before they have drank their Fill. The Women are very courteous civil modest and the best featur'd in all Asia both Men and Women are tall and slender having generally brown Hair black full Eyes white and ruddy Complexions occasion'd perhaps by the abundance of Wine which they drink The Language one through the whole Countrey Through the whole Countrey is but one sort of Language spoken which being peculiar and common to these People is by them call'd Cardueli it is written with two distinct Characters or Letters the one call'd Cudsuri which is us'd onely in godly Books and in their Churches and the other Chedroli is us'd in all other Affairs The Alphabet of the vulgar Georgians hath thirty six Letters shap'd like those represented in the Sculp Figueroa tells us that the Georgian Characters differ from the Caldean Hebrew and Armenian and that they write like the Europeans from the left hand to the right They are of the Greek Church The Georgians receiv'd the Christian Religion in the time of the Emperor Constantine who kept his Court at Constantinople from the Greeks by means of a strange Slavess of whom they relate many great Wonders but to this day none of them know her Name yet the Roman-Catholicks in their Book of Martyrs call her Ancella And as they receiv'd the Christian Religion from the Greeks so they likewise observe their Church Ceremonies and Liturgies They perform Divine Service in their own Language and not in the Greek as Minadoi and others affirm nor do they boast the antiquity of their Church as the Greeks do and though they acknowledge the Patriarch of Constantinople yet nevertheless they are not subject to him for they chuse their own Church-Rulers They bear great reverence to Rome St. Peter St. Paul and the Pope to whom contrary to the Greeks they attribute the antiquity of their Church They shun the company of the Armenians and abhor their Superstition but affect the Latines and Roman-Catholicks and what Conquests soever the Turks and other People have gain'd over them yet they have always remain'd firm in the Christian Faith and though their Princes have very often apostatiz'd and forc'd many after several ways to change their Opinions yet nevertheless the Christian Religion hath gotten the upper hand and the Christians have regain'd the Dominions which they had lost or forc'd their Princes again to embrace Christianity which they had forsaken Many Ways lead into Georgia especially three the first and shortest whereof is through Constantinople from whence they travel thither by Land viz. through Scutarie in Asia with the Caravans who go along the Way of Trabizonde and finish their Journey in a Moneth though it is much shorter over the Black Sea viz. in five or six days more or less according to the Season The second Way is through Persia from whence they go easily with the Caravans into the Prince Luarsab's Countrey The third and last Way is through Poland cross the Black Sea from whence in a few days you arrive in Georgia as we said before This Countrey was formerly Govern'd by a King Government whom the Persians as Texeira affirms call'd Schach of Gurgistan for Anno 1430. Cara-Issuf falling into Gurgistan
Parvati which they strew and adorn with all manner of Flowers and placing it in a Sedan carry it on the tenth day out of the City accompany'd with a great Train of People who casting the Image into a Pool of Water return home The Feast Tsewartre On the eighth of February the Seiva's and Smarta's but not the Wistnowa's keep a Feast call'd Tseweratre on which they fast a whole day and a night but the Soudra's spend the night in Dancing so to keep themselves from sleeping This Feast is kept in commemoration of what Eswara did when the Callecote Wissiam or venomous Poyson before mention'd was found in the World Another great Feast On the fourteenth day after the new Moon in August not onely the Brahmans but also the Soudra's both Men and Women keep a Feast commonly call'd Ananta Padmanaba Uratam that they may enjoy Health in this Life and merit Heaven hereafter They keep this Feast commonly near a River or else in their Houses or Pagodes with many Ceremonies and tie a red String with fourteen Knots about their Arms the Knots being the Marks of Ananta Padmanaba They keep this Feast once every year but those which have kept it for fourteen years together arc not oblig'd to keep it any more but onely to make a Treat for the Brahmans who to make this Feast esteem'd amongst the People relate several ridiculous Fables which we will here omit On the full Moon in August the Brahmans and Wistnowa's keep the Feast Tsrawanala Pondema as also the Soudra's on the eighth day after the full Moon Other Festivals peculiar to several Sects a Feast call'd Gokoulastemi in honor and commemoration of Wistnow who about that time at Midnight at the rising of the Moon was born by the Name of Cristna or Kisna in Madura and at the same instant carry'd to a Shepherds House call'd Nanta Some Deweta's as they affirm as also some of their Saints certainly knowing that he should be born at that time expected him Fasting and because the Night wherein he was born was no convenient time to keep the Feast they and be merry many Clothing themselves in rich Apparel and entertaining one another with thickned Milk Coco-nuts and all other Fruits that were to be had amongst the Shepherds and Herdsmen On the Feast-day the Streets of the Towns where it is kept are strew'd with green Herbs Many other Feasts too tedious to relate are kept by the Brahmans Soudra's and other Tribes or Sects in honor of their supream Deities Wistnow and Eswara besides which they also keep several in honor of their Deities as amongst others the Feast Pongol in honor of the Sun on the ninth of January which day the Brahmans hold to be Sancramanam which signifies a Good day This Feast is kept after the following manner viz. They boyl Rice with Milk or Water in the open Air that the Sun may shine upon it they put not the Rice into the Milk or Water before it boyls which they so order that it is just Noon when it is put in when boyling up it begins to run over they cry aloud Pongol Pongol Pongol Pongol The reason why they boyl the Rice in Milk is because it comes from the Cow Amortam The Water wherein it is boyl'd is not thrown away as at other times but left standing so long till the Rice hath soak'd it up Rice thus boyl'd is accounted very wholsom for the Body and is kept as long as possibly can be They worship several Deities The Brahmans shew Reverence to others which they account lesser Gods and build Pagodes in honor of them and amongst others worship Garrouda Annemonta Vigneswara and Vierrepadra of a all which they chiefly respect Vigneswara Son of Eswara whose Image most Indians keeping in their Houses worship it for their domestick God They also worship and make Offerings to Dewendre and other Princes of the lower Region as Achni Wayouvia Warrouvo Isan-ja and several others but erect no Temple to them viz. They Offer Jagam to Indre that thereby they may obtain plenty of Meat Clothes and Women Achni they reverence to procure Fame and Honor Warrouva that they may have strength and power of Body From Cubera they implore Riches And from Isan-ja they crave Power and Dominion The Brahmans affirm that their worshipping of the inferior Deities is onely advantageous to them in this World but by the Service perform'd to their supream Gods they merit Heaven they therefore account it no sin to worship the lesser Deities provided they adore them not with that zeal as they do their supream which if they should they would be guilty of mortal sin Some affirm that there are no Pagodes built in honor of Bramma neither is he worshipp'd notwithstanding he hath so great a Command amongst them the reasons thereof the say is this viz. That anciently a Saint commanded that they should erect no Temples of Bramma but others suppose this to be onely a pretence of the Brahmans that they themselves may be better and more esteem'd of amongst the People and have some advantage from them Yet Della Valle tells us that there is a Pagode built in honor of Bramma in a Village call'd Agra not far from the City Cambaya wherein are erected divers white Marble Images and in the midst of the Pagode the Image of Bramma naked with many Arms three Faces and a long picked Beard but roughly Carv'd at his Feet stand two other Images of his Children the one call'd Savetri and the other Garetri and in another corner of the Temple on the left Hand of Bramma stand two Images more being the Representations of two of Bramma's Disciples one call'd Cheskuer and the other Ciavan The Indians are very zealous in serving their Idols daily perfuming washing and setting Meat before them They Offer to the Dâ—vils According to a Custom us'd anciently by most People they also worship and make Offerings to evil Spirits of which the chiefest in esteem are Ganga and Gournatha The Image of Ganga hath one Head and four Arms in one of the left Hands it holds a Cup and in one of the right a Trident. In most parts of the Countrey are Pagodes built in honor of this Demon but none for Gournatha though he is above Ganga and the Son of Eswara notwithstanding the Wistnowa's account him a Demon yet nevertheless though it be not customary there is a Pagode built in honor of him at Carmellon a Place not far from Paliacatta but in the Fields they erect several Images in honor of him but commonly they worship him under a Tree where they pretend to have seen him In ancient times as these Heathens make mention they offer'd yearly a Man to Ganga but they say he hath of late been satisfi'd with a Buffalo but no such bloody Offerings are made to Wistnow or Eswara and though this kind of diabolical Worship be very common amogst the Soudra's yet it is not allow'd
to use Elephants travel on them in little Towers which are like Bedsteads hung round with Cloth of Gold and Silk they stand longways cross the Beast and are so long that a Man may easily lie at his full length in them but the breadth is such that two can but just lie together side by side They also use these kind of Towers on Elephants in the Wars placing nine or ten Musquetteers or Bowemen in them according to the manner of the Countrey He that guides the Elehant sits stradling upon his Neck and governs him not with a Bridle but with a sharp Iron Hook with which he pricks his Ears Mouth or any other part The Palakins being like little Beds cover'd with Cloth are carry'd by four or six Men with a great Cane which reaching from one end to the other lies on their Shoulders These Bearers go not on the sides but two before and two behind This way of being carry'd is very easie and common in India insomuch that all Europeans when they travel are carry'd after this manner Their Musick The common Musick of the Indians is very unpleasing consisting onely in making of a strange noise But they have amongst them an Instrument not altogether unharmonious which is made of two black varnish'd Globes of Wood with Holes through for the sound to pass through These two Globles are fastned to both ends of a little Board about three spans long on which are strung several Brass or Copper Wyres which are supported in as many places as there are Notes in the Tune which they intend to play The Musician playing with his right Hand takes away the Supporters of the Strings with his left when he pleases to alter the Notes though not with his Fingers but with certain Iron Wyres made fast to little Rings which he moves on the ends of his Fingers with which striking gently on the Strings he makes a pleasant noise For the more ease in playing the Musician hangs this Instrument about his Neck and holds it before him like a Lute The Indians also have Flutes so big that an Elephant carrying one on each side and an Indian in the middle hath a sufficient Load They have also Trumpets of a vast bigness Many of the Sea-bordering Places of India are at present under the Subjection of the English Hollanders Spaniards and Portuguese who there possess several Towns Forts and Factories for the accommodation of Trade The greatest Monarch which is at present in India is call'd The Great Mogol and not Mogor as Boterus and other Geographers have wrongly pronounced because he possesses the greatest part of India which is the most considerable part of Asia The chief Officers of the Mogol's Court. The chief Offices and Employments at the Mogol's Court are officiated by Eunuchs His first and prime Councellor is the Visier or chief Chancellor of the Realm who Commands like a Vice-Roy hearing and determining all grand Causes that are brought before the Mogol But though this Chancellor's Honor be very great yet he is in continual danger of his Life as may appear by several Examples of which this is one A certain Chancellor perswading his King not to War against Schach Abbas King of Persia was flea'd alive Next to the first Visier is the Wasanbasi or Treasurer who keeps one and twenty sworn Secretaries who attend every forenoon with their Books before the Corchana or Treasury keeping an exact Account of all things that come in or go out of the same The Accompts being adjusted are Sign'd by the Mogol himself the first Visier Treasurer and Diwanbeck or Judge This Officer being one of the powerfullest of all those that belong to the King is commonly clad in a long Coat of Cloth of Tissue He is often carry'd in a Palakin with four silver Scepters and ten Standards before him all Men shewing as much honor to him as to the King himfelf The Execution of Criminals The third Person of Quality in order is the prime Judge who Condemns and Examines all Criminals who are not Executed by a common Executioner but by one of the People that are present when they receive their Sentence who willingly perform the Office If any Person have committed Murder he is deliver'd into the hands of his Relations who Execute him according to the Sentence pass'd upon him The King's Guard The next Person in order is a Rassy or Ragia who Commands twelve thousand Slaves who always are at or about the Court at Lahor or Agra and are as the King's Guard travelling with him wheresoe're he goes The Nassire or King's Steward is also in high esteem and provides all Necessaries and Provisions for the Court. The Nobles that attend upon the King are styl'd Omrahs and receive a Sallary from him more or less according to the number of Horse they Command Besides these Omrahs there are several eminent Lords call'd Chans or Ragias who are always near the Mogol and wait upon him with great humility though not without fear for he that is in favor one hour often chances the next to be in high displeasure and danger of losing his Life Three Orders of Chans Della Valle tells us that there are three prime Persons in the Realm who are next to the King the first whereof is call'd Chan Chanon that is Chief of Nobles or Lord of Lords for Chan properly signifies Lord. The second bears the Name and Quality of Mir Miron or Emir Emirs which signifies also Lord of Lords though in a meaner sence than the former The third is the Chani Alem that is Chan or Prince of the People Many of the Mogol's Commanders are Quizilbascies from Persia who constrain'd by poverty forsaking the King of Persia's Service offer themselves to the Great Mogol where they generally come to great Preferment Besides these there are several other Officers and Magistrates who hear and determine Causes and pronounce Sentence verbatim and not in writing for they having no written Laws not onely the King's word is absolute but also his Governors being authoriz'd by him The King sits in Person in Court Once a week the King sits in Person in open Court and passes Sentence on Criminals and also gives Judgment in Civil Causes It is not the practice of the Great Mogol to strangle his Brothers or put out their Eyes when he comes to the Crown as is usual with several of the Eastern Princes Variety of punishment for Crimiâ—â—â—â— Criminals are punish'd several ways some they sew up in an Ox or Asses Hide while it is moist that when drying it comes to shrink it may crush them to death Some they condemn to go through every Street in the City with Oxes Horns on their Heads Some they deoculate Poyson some and Hang others But when Noblemen are condemn'd to die they have the priviledge to fight for their Lives with a Lyon which the King never refuses them except they are convicted of High-Treason Those that