View it is much frequented by Merchants over the Deserts and no less by those from Mocha in the Red Sea and by the way of Grand Cairo it vends all Drugs and Arab Steeds and pays Gold for Indian Commodities Here they keep safe those Ships they steal or purchase for Wood no Timber growing here They are a Fierce Treacherous People gaining as much by Fraud as Merchandize The Matchless Outrages Breach of Faith the Loss of Muschat after Faith plighted committed in that Place by the Portugals was not only the Occasion of their being quite beaten out thence but of an eternal and irreconcilable Quarrel between them For where Religion backed with the greatest Interest strives for the Prize I know not whether is most concerned to gain a Conquest or to perpetrate Barbarities the common Event of such a War where to kill their Fellow-Creatures is esteemed a service to the Creator And thus it proved here For while that bold Nation persisted in its Discoveries Navigation perfecting their Geography they began to enquire into the course of Profit as well as their Ships way and found that all their Inland Trade tended to this Sinus and the Red Sea wherefore they bent themselves to be Masters of their Keys that unlocked the World's Treasures for which Muschat is very commodious of which becoming Possessors had not a too hot Zeal thrust them on they might to this day have enjoyed it with a just Commendation due to their Industry but sacrificing to Lust and Rapin what should have been to the Glory of God and True Religion which is Pure as well as Peaceable they soon were driven out thence to Ormus where we shall conclude what belongs to this Story In the mean time we had gained the Tropick of Cancer Enter the Streights of the Persian Gulf. the very day the Sun had gained the Aequinox when the North-West Winds envied our entry into the Gulf and drove us out for Sea-room on the Persian Coast nearer the Shoars of Sinda so that we spent a Week in tossing up and down and striving against a mighty Stream before we reached Muschat again but then the Winds were spent we calmly passed by some Islands in the Gulf and a South Wind gently blowing we stemmed the furious Current till we could see on each side Land from Persia and Arabia on the one side St. Jaques his head-Head-land on the other that of Mussendown appeared and afore Sun-set we entred the Streights Mouth not above a League wide It lies in Thirty six Degrees North Latitude a Mile within its Neck on a row are Four or Five Rocks or Islets by Mariners called the Coines from the resemblance of those Leavers of the same Name wherewith they raise or lower the Breeches of their Guns About Midnight we were between Ormus and Larack Forty four Miles from the entry of the Streights the biggest not above Four Mile in Length the lesser is Ormus great indeed for Name in time of yore now only famous for its Clifts of Salt which though pierced by extream Heat yet are a cure for the most burning Fever the only known Remedy for such cases in this Climate and the Castle built by the Portugals the chief strength of all these Seas Passing both these Islands we made Kismash and leaving it a-stern we turned off short to the Port of Gombroon or Bunder Abassee in which Road we found Two lusty Dutch Ships Two great ones of the Moors and One small one from Bombaim it is good Riding for Ships in this Harbour though an open Road by reason of the firm Anchor-hold it is otherwise subject to hot Blasts from the adjacent Hills which move the rowling Sands between in such sort that in the station near the shoar when these are raised to Clouds the Ships cannot be seen The 22d of March in the Forenoon we were wafted ashoar just to the English Factory Wafted ashoat at Gombroon the Sea washing the very Sand afore its Doors upon our Landing we were Welcomed with a Civility more essential to the Temper of the People than what could proceed from any Demerits of ours for they are naturally the most Courtly of the East So strange an alteration in Three hundred Leagues as passes admiration for whereas we left a Sullen Melancholy Sunburnt Nation an Open Jovial and a Clear Complexioned Race of Mankind is offered in exchange The House the English reside in was formerly a Caravan Seraw and built after the best manner with upper and lower Piazzo's flat atop with a stately Portal where every Morning the Servants belonging to it make a profound Reverence and the Puritannical Banyan will Kiss the Threshold Adoring that for his God that brings him most Profit though pretended to be done out of respect to their Masters It bears St. George his Banner at one Corner as do the Dutch and French their Flags between whose Factories it is seated Ours was the Emperor's Gift both theirs purchased the first Beautified and Strengthened with good Stone Building all the rest but the Caun's being most of Mud and Stone the usual Materials for Building in this Town without either Lime or Mortar The Structures are all plain atop The Structures only Ventoso's or Funnels for to let in the Air the only thing requisite to living in this fiery Furnace with any comfort wherefore no House is left without this contrivance which shews gracefully at a distance on Board Ship and makes the Town appear delightful enough to Beholders giving at once a pleasing Spectacle to Strangers and kind Refreshment to the Inhabitants for they are not only elegantly Adorned without but conveniently Adapted for every Apartment to receive the cool Wind within The Streets are generally Narrow especially where Merchandise are exposed to Sale the better to receive the advantages of Umbrello's extended from side to side to keep the Sun's violence from their Customers It reaches more than a Mile along the shoar has Three Block-houses and one old Castle dismantled the other stored with Guns the Portugals left behind them The Governor's Palace fronts the Sea and is a stately Mansion a Mile from the same is a Garden as good as can be imagined in this sandy Desart whither the Merchants as well as the Caun resort to Feast or upon any publick Solemnity go in Cavalcade for the more pompous observation thereof The Shawbunder has his Grandeur too The Custom properly belongs Half to the English as well as receipt of Custom for which he pays the King yearly Twenty two thousand Thomands every Thomand making Three pound and a Noble in our Accompt Half which we have a Right to were our Company as good as their words the Persians having not failed in theirs before the defection on the part of the English which I reserve for a more proper place the Agent sitting content only with one Thousand Thomands paid out of the Customs yearly and the Custom free of all the Agent
thought they had seen a Rock with which these Seas abound whereupon they cried out A Breach a Breach which made the Mates leap out of their Cabins with the same grisly Look as if going to give up their last Accounts Here was Doomsday in its right Colours Distraction Horror and Amazement had seized on all one commanding this another acting quite contrary the Breach surrounding us every one expected the fatal stroke when the Ship should be dashed in pieces In this Panick Fear had any had so much heart as to have ventured a Composition for his empty Noddle by looking over-board he might have discovered the Jig For at length it was evident that only a Chorus of Porpoises had taken the Sea in their Dance which Morris once over the Seas were quiet and our Men left to repose themselves with a shorter Nap than they thought themselves like to have Five days after our Summer Solstice we had soundings 14 Fathom and at break of day had sight of Ceilon when we altered our Course to East North-East it bore from us North by West 12 Leagues the out-out-Land low but rarely enriched with Woods of Cinamon from whence only it is brought The View of Ceilon This is the Island where if true the Elephants are bred Ceilon has the best Breed of Elephants who transported exact Homage from all Elephants of other places and they withal by prostrating as it were their Necks between their Feet submissively acknowledge it At Nights we stood off to Sea to escape the insidious Rocks The Terrhenoes a-days we made for the Land to gain the Land Breizes which are not felt far off at Sea by reason of the Constancy of the Trade-Winds They begin about Midnight and hold till Noon and are by the Portugals named Terrhenoes more North they are more strong and hardly give way to the Sea-Breizes which sometimes succeed the others twelve hours but not always on this Coast Two Days passed after we made Land we discovered three Country Junks a-head and coming up with them we commanded their Skippers on board Three Country Junks examining their Cockets they produced English Passes the Masters of two of them being Portugals the other a Moor from whom was taken a Packet of Dutch Letters Their Crew were all Moors by which Word hereafter must be meant those of the Mahometan Faith apparell'd all in white on their Heads white Scull-caps their Complexions tawny Their Junks had three Masts wearing an East-India strip'd Ancient and might contain an 100 Tuns apiece They managed their Sails but aukwardly and are unskilful in Maritime Affairs wherefore in any long Voyage they employ Europeans to navigate their Vessels Coasting along Cattamarans are Logs tied together to waft off their Goods some Cattamarans Logs lashed to that advantage that they waft off all their Goods only having a Sail in the midst and Paddles to guide them made after us but our Ships having fresh way we were unwilling to tarry for them besides at that instant we espied under the Shore a mighty Vessel with her Yards and Top-masts lower'd but they continuing to follow us the Anne lay by for one of them who affirmed that a Fleet of 24 Sail of Batavians were passed to retake St. Thomas from the French The East-India Merchant and Antelope by this were up with Vessel under shore who proved to be a great Junk of the Moors Overagainst where she rode a fair Pagod or Temple of the Gentus beleaguer'd with a Grove of Trees excepting that it was open towards the Sea cast a Lustre bright and splendid the Sun reverberating against its refulgent Spire which was crowned with a Globe white as Alabaster of the same tincture with the whole Nearer the Point we descried a Town Sandraslapatan on the Main in which a Castle over-awing it and upon the highest Pinacle Dutch Colours which high Noon gave us to be Sandraslapatan a Factory of theirs our Staff having as much as together with the Sun's declination made 11 deg 50 min. North Latitude but 10 Leagues to the South of Fort St. George where our Commanders were to touch first according to their Charter-Party Whereupon we put abroad our Jacks Resolved to fight the Flemings Ancients and Penants and running out all our Guns it was unanimously consented to fight our way through the Flemish East-Indians had we not seen a Mussoola hailing our Admiral which came off with Advice from the Agent This Afternoon therefore we lay by the Admiral calling a Council aboard him and at night our Mercury was waited on towards the Shore by the Bombaim All this while we lay in sight of Sandraslapatan whose Soil is Fat and Opulent like their Netherlands The View of Sandraslapatan The next day we saw a French Man of War and he us but would not trust us Saw a French Man of War We knew him to be French by our Intelligencer who laid us out his Station where he had encountred five Batavians and discomfited them This Day 's observation made 30 m. Dismissed the Junks to the North of Fort St. George We were beating now against the Wind which blows fiercely from the Shore and a strong Current which had set us 14 deg 20 min. North in three days time when the Junks we compelled with us hither had the liberty to make the best of their way for the Bay of Bengala for which the Winds served them well enough though full in our Teeth who laboured for the Land However Met the Freshes caused by the Rains in four days time we met with the Freshes off the Shore caused by the Upland Rains The Sea despising to defile its purer Azure with their Muddy Green The same Antipathy was held betwixt the lively Fishes and their slimy Brood they intermixing with such unfriendly Concord for playing in whole Shoals about the Edges they would not exceed the Limits the jarring Torrents had won upon each other So the fierce Tigris in his swift Career neglects the scorned Arethusa and she with the like disdain retaliates his unkindness neither Stream mixing either Fish or Water Thus quartering this Sublunary Globe Having quartered the World we Anchor at Mechlapatan out of Europe into Africa from thence cruising on the Coast of Brasil upon the American Seas till joining with the Ethiopick we double the Cape of good Hope into Africa again at last we came in sight of the Asian Shores and the latter end of June we cast Anchor in Mechlapatan Road which was composed of Shoals and Deeps where we found three Portugal Ships riding Our Fleet expressed their joy by the roaring of the wide-mouth'd Cannon and the sounding of the shriller Trumpets which the English Factory welcomed by displaying their Flag being allowed no Ordnance but what they privily plant for their own security as being under the Tutelage of the Natives as also are the Portugals and Flemmings who each have here their Staples so in
Staves and overspreading it a Scarlet Coverlet of London Cloath A Set of these Rascals who are eight in a Week's time with this Load shall run down their choicest Horses and bait them generously shall stage it a Month together For War Beasts for War and Food Elephants For to eat Sheep poor fleeced rather with Hair than Wool their Aspect bewraying as much Goat as Sheep Goats Hogs low and black unclean to the Mahometans Cows sacred to the Gentues as Serapis to the Egyptians Conies Hares Reptiles Reptiles Snakes Serpents the Amphisbena and other kinds all which they pretend to charm carrying them up and down in Baskets to get Money of the People as well as Strangers when they strike up on a Reed run through a Cocoa-Shell which makes a noise something like our Bag-Pipes and the subtle Creatures will listen to the Musick and observe a Motion correspondent to the Tune a Generation of Vipers that well deserve to be stiled so knowing when the Charmer charms wisely Fowls of all sort belonging to India are plenty Fowls but chiefly tame Geese Fishes in abundance Fishes from whence the Town derives its Etymology Mechlapatan signifying the Fish-Town For Corn Corn. they have Rice the Staff of the Land some Wheat Fruits to variety Fruits The Water they drink they dig for The Water and Air bad not that they are without Rivers but they are brackish It lies in 15 deg North Lat. 40 min. From the Lizzard 96 deg East By reason of the Multitude of People and ill Site it is unhealthy though it agree with the Natives who live to a good Old Age. The English for that cause only at the time of shipping remove to Medapollon where they have a wholsome Seat Forty Miles more North. Rain they have none from November to May Rain when it comes causes Insects all which time the Land Breezes which blow one half the day off the Sea but faintly the other torment them with a suffocating Heat so that the Birds of the Air as they fly often drop down dead the Wind coming as hot as the Steam from an Oven by the reflecting of the Sun upon the Sands which are huried about the Marshes When they feel themselves freest from Sickness though all Perspiration through the Pores by Sweat is dried up From the beginning of May they are refreshed with cooling Showers which at length with the overflowing Sea cause an Inu dation in which space the Air growing foggy Empyema's and Fluxes are rifest and Swarms of Ants Muskeetoes Flies and stinking Chints Cimices c. breed and infest them This Season we experimented which though moderately warm yet our Bodies broke out into small fiery Pimples a sign of a prevailing Crasis augmented by Muskeetoe-Bites and Chinces raising Blisters on us To arm themselves against this Plague those that live here have fine Calicut-Lawn thrown over their Beds which though white as Snow when put on shall be in an hour besmear'd all over which might be tolerable did not their daring Buzzes continually alarm and sometimes more sensibly provoke though cloath'd with long Breeches to their Toes and Mufflers on their Hands and Face and a Servant to keep them from them with a Fan without which there is no sleeping Notwithstanding these provisions yet there is another Insect more disturbing than these and not to be escaped but by this Device and that is the Ant which creeps up to all their Quarters and between their Beds if the Bed-Posts were not set in Pans of Water to hinder their Progress Chinces stick among the Cotton and in rotten Posts whose bitings wheal most sadly and if they strive to take a Revenge for that abuse and chance to squeeze them they leave a stink enough to choak them The Air so bad here The Air better up in the Countrey that it agrees with few new Comers removing Three Miles up the Countrey it is an infallible Cure for the Diseases of this place provided it be done in time Where the English have a Garden for Divertisement where also is a Burial-place graced with Monuments both of Antique and Modern Workmanship Half a Mile beyond Twelve of the King's Elephants a Dozen of the King's Elephants are stabled When we came they were feeding out of their Houses on Sugar-Canes fresh gathered and administred by their Keepers Alighting from our Palenkeens they loosed one which was Fourteen Feet high and the Black clawing his Poll with an Iron Engine he stooped down for him to get up and being upon his Back guided him as he listed His Body is a Symetrical Deformity if I may so say the Hanches and Quarters clapt together seem so many heaps his Neck short flapping Ears like Scates little-Eye'd a broad Face from which drops his Proboscis or Trunk thrusting it out or shriveling it in as he chuses through its Hollow he sucks his Liquor and with two Fingers as it were reaches the Fodder shaking off the dirt against his Thigh or Vermin such as Mice which he abhors he brings it under to his Mouth from whence proceed two huge Tusks of Ivory for Defence not Mastication for which he is supplied within with others his Tail is curt He shuffles an end a great Pace moving all the Joints of his Legs though the Motion of his Hinder-Legs imitate Human Progression having a Patella or Knee-Pan afore not articulated behind as other four-footed Beasts are When he stands his Legs appear so many Columns scollop'd at bottom being flat-hoof'd The She 's have their Paps under their Bowels afore as Laurentius truly relates Their Modesty in ingendring has given matter for dispute though doubtless they perform it after the manner of other Beasts They are of a Mouse-Colour With their Trunks they strike a violent Blow and are taught to sling Iron Links to the destruction of their Enemies That they draw their weighty Cannon is certain but that they engage with smaller on their Back I am no Eye-Witness After a Month's Stay here Our Repair aboard Ship and coming to Fort St. George a Patamar a Foot-Post from Fort St. George made us sensible of the Dutch being gone from thence to Ceilon The Treasure was reshipped and we in less than a Week through contrary Monsoons and Ill Weather the Sun being in his Zenith and encountring the Dog-Star over our heads arrived there When sliding by four French Men of War at Anchor under St. Thomas of whom the Admiral the Brittoon was a Ship of 1200 Tuns 68 Brass Guns the second had 50 Brass Guns the other two were less and the Platform of the City mounted with Brass Pieces that slung their Shot an incredible way we against all probability found the Massenberg there The Massenberg given over for lost we found here having ventured alone and but the day before us came into the Road under our Fort there also rode two Portugal Junks The Colours the Fort shewed us was
St. George's Flag it bore from us one League West low-Low-Land St. Thomas one League and an half South-West high-High-Land behind it North Lat. 12 deg 30 min. Long. from the Lizard 96 deg East CHAP. V. Gives a true Narrative of the English Chap. V. French and Dutch on the Coast of Coromandel continuing till we double the Cape for the Coast of Malabar I Went ashore in a Mussoola a Boat wherein ten Men paddle the two aftermost of whom are the Steers-men using their Paddles instead of a Rudder The Boat is not strengthned with Knee-Timber as ours are the bended Planks are sowed together with Rope-yarn of the Cocoe and calked with Dammar a sort of Rosin taken out of the Sea so artificially that it yields to every Ambitious Surf otherwise we could not get ashore the Bar knocking in pieces all that are inflexible Moving towards the Shore we left St. Thomas which lies but Three Miles to the South of Maderas Went ashore in a Boat called a Mussoola and Fort St. George in the midway Maderas River in great Rains opens its Mouth into the Sea having first saluted the Banks of Fort St. George on the West Towards the Sea the Sand is cast up into a Rampire from whence the fluid Artillery discharges it self upon us and we on the Shoulders of the Blacks must force our way through it Though we landed wet the Sand was scalding hot which made me recollect my steps Rowed by St. Thomas and hasten to the Fort. As it looked on the Water it appeared a Place of good force The Outwork is walled with Stone a good heighth thick enough to blunt a Cannon-bullet kept by half a dozen Ordnance at each side the Water-gate besides an Halfmoon of Fire-Guns At both Points are mounted twelve Guns eying the Sea Maderas and St. Thomas under these in a Line stand Pallisadoes reaching from the Wall to the Sea and hedge in at least a Mile of ground Landed are well wetted at Fort St. George On the South side they have cut a Ditch a sufficient depth and breadth to prevent scaling the Wall which is a quarter of a Mile in length afore it meets with a third Point or Bastion facing St. Thomas and the adjacent Fields who suffer a Deluge when the Rains descend the Hills From this Point to the Fourth where are lodged a Dozen Guns more that grin upon Maderas runs no Wall but what the Inhabitants compile for their Gardens and Houses planted all along the River parallel with that that braces the Sea From the first Point a Curtain is drawn with a Parapet beneath it are two Gates and Sally Ports to each for to enter Maderas over the Gates five Guns run out their Muzzels and two more within them on the Ground Over all these the Fort it self lifts up its Four Turrets The Fort described every Point of which is loaded with Ten Guns alike On the South-East Point is fixed the Standard the Forms of the Bastions are Square sending forth Curtains fringed with Battlements from one to the other in whose Interstitiums whole Culverin are traversed The Governor's House in the middle overlooks all slanting diagonally with the Court. Entring the Garrison at the Out-gate towards the Sea a Path of broad polished Stones spreads the way to pass the Second Guard into the Fort at an humble Gate opposite to this one more stately fronts the High-street on both sides thereof is a Court of Guard from whence for every day's Duty are taken Two hundred Men There being in pay for the Honourable East India Company of English and Portuguez 700. reckoning the Montrosses and Gunners The Streets are sweet and clean Neat Dwellings ranked with fine Mansions of no extraordininary Height because a Garrison-Town though Beauty which they conciliate by the Battlements and Tarras Walks on every House and Rows of Trees before their Doors whose Italian Porticos make no ordinary conveyance into their Houses built with Brick and Stone Edifices of common note are none The Portugals have a Chappel except a small Chappel the Portugals are admitted to say Mass in Take the Town in its exact proportion and it is Oblong The true Possessors of it are the English The English Masters of that Place instated therein by one of their Naiks or Prince of the Gentues 90 years ago 40 years before their total subjection to the Moors who likewise have since ratified it by a Patent from Gulconda only paying 7000 Pagods yearly for Royalties and Customs that raises the Mony fourfold to the Company Sir William Langham Agent whose Agent here is Sir William Langham a Gentleman of Indefatigable Industry and Worth He is Superintendent over all the Factories on the Coast of Coromandel as far as the Bay of Bengala and up Huygly River which is one of the Falls of Ganges Viz. Fort St. George alias Maderas Pettipolee Mechlapatan Gundore Medapâ—llon Balisore Bengala Huygly Castle Buzzar Pattanaw He has his Mint and Privilege of Coining the Country Stamp is only a Fanam which is 3 d. of Gold and their Cash twenty of which go to a Fanam Moreover he has his Justiciaries to give Sentence but not on Life and Death to the King's Liege People of England though over the rest they may His Personal Guard consists of 3 or 400 Blacks besides a Band of 1500 Men ready on Summons He never goes abroad without Fifes Drums Trumpets and a Flag with two Balls in a Red Field accompanied with his Council and Factors on Horseback with their Ladies in Palenkeens The English here are Protestants Diligence of the Fryers the Portugals Papists who have their several Orders of Fryers who to give them their due compass Sea and Land to make Proselytes many of the Natives being brought in by them The number of English here may amount to Three hundred Number of English and Portugals of Portuguez as many Thousand who made Fort St. George their Refuge when they were routed from St. Thomas by the Moors about ten years past and have ever since lived under protection of the English Thus have you the Limits and Condition of the English Town Let us now pass the Pale to the Heathen Town only parted by a wide Parrade which is used for a Buzzar or Mercate-place Maderas THEN divides it self into divers Long Streets City of Maderas and they are checquered by as many transverse It enjoys some Choultries for Places of Justice Visited a Pagod or Heathen Temple one Exchange one Pagod contained in a square Stone-wall wherein are a number of Chappels if they may be comprehended under that Classis most of them resembling rather Monuments for the Dead than Places of Devotion for the Living one for every Tribe not under one Roof but distinctly separate though altogether they bear the name of one intire Pagoda The Work is inimitably durable the biggest closed up with Arches continually shut as where is supposed to
's meer depression of Air should be ascribed to her Monthly Revolutions And here one thing may be worthy our Curiosity That after the Seasons of the Heats and Rains the Rivers Indus and Ganges are said to swell their Banks and thereby abundantly to encrease the Bordering Countries where these Rains are less frequent Whence it may be some insight may be had for the Overflows of Egypt which has set so many Wits on the Tenterhooks where it is reported it never rains But in the Countreys near the supposed Sourse of Nile it does to Excess But you who have greater Reading and Leisure to digest these Metaphysical Notions will mightily oblige me to furnish me with your solider Arguments Among which I would intreat you to consider the Variety of the Loadstone in the common Chart For what the incomparably Ingenuous Des Cartes has wrote on that Subject acquiesces only in modest Hypotheticks not any ways informing the Understanding to a clear Apprehension but after he has brought it through the Maze of Probabilities he parts with it at the same Predicament it entred Not to deviate any longer The Tail of the Elephant we are now winding about the South-West part of Ceilon where we have the Tail of the Elephant full in our mouths a Constellation by the Portugals called Rabo del Elephanto known for the breaking up of the Munsoons which is the last Flory this Season makes generally concluding with September which goes out with dismal Storms Yet so good is Providence Water-Snakes as to warn us here when all is obscured by Water-Snakes of our too near approach to the Land which are as sure Presages on the Indian Coasts as the Cape-Birds are there Here the Mountains running East and West The difference on the Malabar Coast the Winds are to the East of the South and to the West of the North else quadrating with those on Coromandel only here in April and May the Winds are variable and then they hasten to leave these Coasts for Persia the Red-Sea and South-Seas or those make in that are to return hither otherwise they run an hazard of losing their Voyage when the South to the South-East Wind is fixed which continues to the latter end of September or beginning of October Then from the North to the North-West sets in again and this Course is observed mostly on all the Indian Shores only some few days different in the beginning and ending which happen to the South and in Lands commonly earlier than to the North and break up later when they are more severe but the Intervals are milder the middle Months clearing up in the day time but from the first setting to the going out towards the North the Sun hardly shews his Face unless a Fortnight after the Full Moon in May and a Fortnight before the Elephanto On the Coast of Surat from Gemini to Libra A Rejoinder of the Seasons This happens in the Sun 's Ecliptick Road. On the Coast of Coromandel from Taurus to Scorpio And thus much may be said in general only the Land and Sea-Breezes in particular on this Coast of Surat and Malabar when the Rains are over keep exactly Land-Breezes from Midnight to Mid-day and Sea-Breezes from the Noon of Day to the Noon of Night Making Land we beheld it all a Flame they burning their Stubble for Soilage Small Birds drove to Sea the Forerunner of the ensuing Rain notwithstanding a King fisher flew aboard us with the flattering Coaks's of Halcyon days but like an unskilful Augur was deservedly reproached with the Ignorance of her own Destiny to dye in Captivity which fatal Necessity made her elect rather than suffer with whole Flocks of little Birds blown from the Main who not able to stem the boisterousness of the Winds were hurried thence to perish in the Sea And now we were begirt with Land the Maldivae Islands lying South Cape Comerin North and by West the Malabar Islands West whose Inhabitants have no relation with those on the Coast whence is brought great quantities of Ambergreece Ceilon c. The Land our Master took for a Malabar Island proved a mistake Land-lock'd betwixt Ceilon and the Cape for by a strong Current we were lock'd in between the Island Ceilon and the North East side of the Cape within that desperate Canal we before described Our Error was first corrected by some Fishermen busy at their Nets Strange colour'd Fishes who brought aboard plenty of Fishes all new to us who never had seen such coloured ones some gilded like Gold others with Vermilion varied by several Intermixtures Whilst we were lost in admiration our Mates found themselves no less at a loss in their accounts when they understood they were drove 30 Leagues to Leeward of the Cape by the broken Portugueze spoken by these Men and that we could not sail much farther than Tutticaree a Portugal Town in time of Yore where they had a Citadel and two famous Churches and before us which was the Lure a Ketch of the Dutch's which we chased for hopes of Prize was sailing to that Port and presently after anchored We were then in seven Fathom Water This is the place where they drag Pearl All along here the Top of Gates is seen above the Clouds The Mountain Gates the Ground beneath it Fair Low and Sandy Tutticaree is now in the hands of the Dutch Tutticarce our danger here running the same Risco with Columbo over-against which it lies we being now in the very Jaws of our Enemies might have here concluded our Voyage had their Fleet been nigh us The next day we were becalmed and thereby carried into the midst of the Stream and although in the Afternoon we had an humming Frisco it ran with such Violence that we lost more than we gained This Mistake cost us a Fortnights time before we could compass the Cape besides Fears and Jealousies both of our falling into the Torrent and our Enemies hands The Cape lanches into the Sea with Three Points running into a Campaign several Miles together till it grows big with Mountains procreating their prodigious Race 400 Leagues severing the Coast of Coromandel and Malabar East and West Latitude 8 deg 50 min. North Longit. 96 deg Eost Cape Comeri The Taprobanum of Pliny over-against the Prâ—montorium Celliacum Cape Comeri CHAP. VI. Views the Malabar and Canatick Coasts up to Bombaim TO prevent the mischief of ingulphing again by the Current A dark Night enlighten'd by Fish we anchored a-nights when a Pitchy Blackness was interposed betwixt us and the Skies and not a Star to be seen The Plebs Squammosa beneath the Surface of the Salt Ocean gathering their little Fry which proved to be Pilchards either by the Repercussion of the Saline Bodies of the Waves which is frequent or by the more apt Position of their Glittering Scales through that Medium to refract the hovering Light benighted in the Atmosphere
no Value or not worth our discourse Goats-wool becomes a thing of serious Controversy therefore it was God's Mercy we were not try'd with Stormy Weather hitherto But now we were dilemma'd not knowing what to wish when the Divine Providence sent us a West North West Gale which after we had measured the whole Coast from Persia round the Bay of Cambaia to Sinda we were drove to Diu where sounding we had Eighteen Fathom Water and bending to the South we were directed a-nights by the Light-houses and at last out-stretching the Flats we fell in with the High-lands of St. John's in India The head-Head-land of Diu is the highest Land there in view the rest of the Ground being low nor is Gates to be seen there it lies in North Latitude 21 deg 10 min. but St. John's in 10 deg being a notable high Peak on the Gaot On the first day of the Year 1978-79 and the last of the Moon the Gusts blowing horribly from Shore we were again drove to Sea till Night and anchored very uneasily while Two the next Morning when the Tide horsed us towards the Shore we not being able otherwise to prevail against the Wind with our Sails but anchoring another whole Night and Day Tollimur in Caelum curvato gurgite idem Subducta ad manes imos descendimus unda By th' rising Waves we 're lifted up on high Descending down we in the deep do lye Where we had remained had we offer'd to unfurl our Sails for the aforementioned Reasons But from our Want there sprang this Commodity our Water being well nigh all spent the Ship was better able to live her Burthen sinking aloft and thereby gave occasion to bear a steadier Poise below while we expected the abating of the Tempest in order to our happy Deliverance which at last permitted us to come more under the Land where struggling every Tide though the Water continued still troubled with foaming Billows yet observing when to gain we passed Surat River's Mouth where rode thirteen Moor Merchant-men and two great Belgians and so came to our desired Haven in Swally-hole on Twelfth-day where I remain Your Humble Servant J. F. Sending you with this the General Account of Persia which I had time to write during almost Forty Days floating upon these Waters which had like to prove as fatal to Us as the great Deluge did once to the Old World in that space of time THE Present State OF PERSIA CHAP. XI Of the various Names Situation and Bounds the Temper of the Air of the Seasons and Winds of the High and Stupendious Mountains their Advantage and Conveniency of the Fruitfulness of the Valleys occasioned by Snow upon the Hills Of the Vegetables Plants and Minerals of their Fowl Four-footed Beasts and Fishes Their Caravans Mosques Hummums Buzzars Houses and Bridges The City Suffahaun proposed as a Patern of their Government PERSIA by Classick Authors is fabled to have its Name from King Perseus Its Names Son of Andromeda it was anciently called Elam by the Hebrews and now by the Inhabitants Phursistan It is sited in the Temperate Zone Situation and Bounds under the Third Fourth Fifth and Sixth Climates In time of Yore the Monarchy of the whole World devolved upon it and which is miraculous is not quite extinguished to this day although the Bounds of the Empire were straitned or enlarged according to the ebbing or flowing of Fortune In its Infancy it was mighty for Nimrod was a Powerful Hunter that is a great Prince and as it grew up it increased in Strength but from the Grand Cyrus to Darius the Mede it seemed to be in the Flower of its Age when it was Mistress of all the Earth which the vast Ocean washes on this side and the Hellespont on the other After the Death of Alexander the Great it was miserably divided by the Contentions of his Captains and long since by the Incursions of the Saracens it has been declining unless where it has healed its self towards those Parts bordering on India by which means it has not lost much of its Modern Greatness though the Turks within this Century have forced the Low Countries of Babylon and Mesopotamia which the Persians were as willing to resign as they to take they being a continual Charge to defend and no Advantage to the Persians but rather an unnecessary Trouble On which Reflections there is nothing forbids but that with the Judicious Boterus we may state its Limits between the Caspian Sea the Persian Gulph the Lake Stoke with the Rivers Oxus and Tigris and the Bay and Kingdom of Cambaia which Tract contains in it from East to West more than Twenty Degrees and from North to South above Eighteen whereby the Days are prolonged or shortned three Hours Under this Account is to be reckoned the greater part of Georgia with the Islands in either Seas It is distinguished into Provinces the exact Number whereof as divided at present they as often changing Names as Governors I have not been certainly informed Quintus Curtius erred something when he said Temperance of the Air. Regio non alia in tota Asiâ salubrior habetur temperatum Coelum hinc perpetuum jugum opacum et umbrosum quod Aestas laevat illinc Mare adjunctum quod modico tepore terras fovet There is not a Region in all Asia esteemed healthier the Air being temperate on this hand the Heaven is shaded and the Vales defended by the Tops of Mountains which qualifies the Heat on the other surrounded with Seas and Rivers which by a friendly Warmth cherish the Land for that Places near the Tropicks make some Exceptions where in the Summer they endure great Heat not only from the nearness of the Sun because we often observe strange differences to happen in the same Climate but from the Sands and Sulphurous Exhalations steaming from the Mountains which are impregnated herewith whenas Reason persuades the Time must be hotter than in other Seasons of the Year As also in the Midland Country the Cause holds good for its intense Coldness in Winter and almost through every Quarter at Nights the Penury of Vapours where the Earth is Rocky and Mountainous the Rivers are scarce and small the Snows lye undissolved nor are there any Woods of that Bigness to hinder the freedom of the Blasts descending pure upon the Vales On which account immoderate Driness invades the Mediterranean Parts the Air is Serene and Volatile which as it is highly serviceable to the Respiration of all Living Creatures so it mightily contributes to their Preservation as well as Generation Moreover from this Rarity of the Air follows an undeniable Argument of its Frigidity and thence a farther concomitant of its Siccity from all which results a Dry Constitution for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Siccitas humores facit qualitate sicciores Driness of the Air makes the Humours drier which the Inland of Persia enjoys from a Concatenation of Causes both of Heat
I. Treats of Embarking and Passage 'till past St. Iago SIR FOR your singular Favour The Proem in seeing me Aboard-ship which might reasonably be supposed the last kind Office to a departing Friend considering the various Chances of so long a Voyage as well as the Uncertainty of my Return I must keep to that Promise whereby you obliged me to give you an account not only of my Being but of what Occurrences were worth my Animadversion You may remember Taking Ship at Gravesend and falling down to the Buoy in the Nore It was the 9th of December in the Year of our Lord 1672. when by virtue of an Order from the Honourable East-India Company I being received on Board the Vnity we took of each other a long Farewel the Ship then breaking Ground from Graves-End to fall down to the Buoy in the Nore The London Number of Ships with Letters of Mart. War with the Hollanders our Admiral lay expecting our whole East-India Fleet there which were Ten in Number to whom his Majesty Charles II. was pleased to grant Letters of Mart Which impowered them to wear the King 's Jack Ancient and Pennant and to act as Men of War the English and French at this time being at open Defiance against the Dutch When they were altogether Letter I. their Commands were to go over the Flats The reason of going over the Fâ—ats which notwithstanding the Hazard to Ships of their Burthen was thought securer now than to venture about the King's Channel where they might be exposed to the Attempts of the Hollanders By which means together with the unsteadiness of the Weather it was the day after Christmas before we arrived at the Downs where rode a rich and numerous Fleet of Merchants with their respective Convoys designed for their several Places of Traffick when the Wind should present Here Stay at the Downs as we ended the Old Year so we began the New with a desire of prosecuting our intended Voyage But a South-West Wind prevented our Course and held us there Three Weeks when an East Wind made a general delivery and a clear Downs Being at Sea we made easy Sail that our Ships might have the liberty that Night to single themselves from the Crowd of the other Ships notwithstanding which Proviso we had a shrewd Suspicion for Night hastening on and in such a swarm of Vessels of greater bulk not so readily manageable as smaller we beheld three Lights out of the Poop of a goodly Ship the same unfortunate signs our Directions bound us to take notice of which made us conclude the Damage on our side as indeed it proved by the next Morning-song for having cast our Eyes abroad to look what Ships we had in company running over a great many that had shrowded themselves under our Protection and of Six Men of War more Captain Munday Commander in chief whereof Two were Fireships sent for to meet the East India Fleet at Sancta Helena for their better Defence homeward-bound and to prevent their falling into the Enemies Hands who had lately possessed themselves of that Island we at length missed the Massenberg The Massenberg disabled on whom it seems a small Pink falling foul had carried away her Head and Boltsprit and 't is to be feared has disabled her this Voyage we saw her afterwards make for Portsmouth Off the Land's End we met with Four English Merchant Ships Leaving the Lizzard we met with Ships from Cales Two French Men of War their Convoys laden from Cales bound for London In Four â—â—ys from the Downs we were losing England on our Backs reckoning the Lizzard the most extreme part South to bear North and By East 14 Leagues from whence hereafter we were to fetch our Meridian Distance It lies in the Latitude of 50 deg 10 min. North. Thus relinquishing the British Seas We cross the Bay of Biscay to the Main Atlantick we make our selves Possessors of the Western Ocean for a while 'Till following our Compass more South we contend with the troublous Wind and tempestuous Waves for some part of the Bay of Biscay whose Mountain Seas we are to cut through to the Main Atlantick Why this Sea is always troubled What makes these Seas in such a constant Turmoil is imputed to the falling in of the whole Force of the Western Ocean into this Sinus without any Impediment 'till it recoil against its Shores so that in the calmest Season here are always high swelling Billows About the Latitude of 41 the Men of War The St. Helens Fleet stand for the Madera that came out with us determining to make the Madera Island went away more Easterly and the next day were out of sight Two days after we espied one Sail to the Leeward under a main Course Chap. I. steering very doubtfully after she had had her full view of us she made from us too nimble for us to follow we supposed her to be either an Algerine Pirate or a Dutch Privateer We still directed our Course South and in Twenty four Hours ran One hundred and seventeen Miles by our Log-board for some days together Little credit to be given to the Log board in respect of the Ships way the Weather not allowing us to observe with the Quadrant but as soon as we could take the Sun's Altitude we found our selves to be in the Latitude of 36 deg 2 min. North Longitude 7 deg 26 min. West an hundred Mâ—les in four Days more than we judged our selves to be which sufficiently proves the little credit to be given to the former way of reckoning The following day maintaining the same Course we past by the Mouth of the Streights of Gibraltar Hercules's Pillar one of Hercules's Pillars the farthest Point South of all Europe Here we began to drop the rest of our Company We lost our Companions by degrees some striking East for the Streights others West for the Canaries Virginia c. At Noon our Admiral fired a Gun and hoisted his Ancient whereby we understood he saw Land which we thought to be Porto Porto bearing off us East An hour more being hardly run we in like manner made the Madera Island The Island of Madera the largest in the Atlantick Ocean the largest of the whole Atlantick being South-East some twelve Leagues too great a distance to take a perfect Landschap it being only discernible to be Land and confirmed to be so by this days Observation which was 33 deg 17 min. to the Northward of the Equator in Latitude and Longitude from the Lizzard as before we having neither raised nor depressed it Where the Trade-winds begin to offer themselves the Mariner relaxes his anxious care of Sailing and is at more leisure to Repose he not being so often called upon to shift his Course or hand his Sails which has yet this inconvenience giving him leave now to fall into those Distempers Idleness contracts viz.
War thinking to birth themselves before us at St. Iago where our Ships were permitted to refresh The Men of War out-sail us being otherwise tied up by Charter-party not to put in any where unless for absolute necessity made all the Sail on head they could Our Commanders were well enough content with their proffer knowing the danger of a many Ships going in there together The day ensuing plying to the West The Island Beunavista we discovered Beunovista bearing full West ten Leagues but at Noon were within two Leagues of it It is one of the Islands of the Gorgades or Cape Verde One of the Cape Verde Islands They are Nine in all because situate over against that Promontory on the Land of Negros They are said to be Nine in Number Beunovista quasi good sight it deserving that Appellation from four Hills which raising themselves to an Eminency above their Fellows yield a fair Prospect at a distance but approaching nigher it is not unlike the crawling of a Snake it 's various Hills and Vallies fluctuating as it were seem to borrow that riggling Shape the two remotest Mountains figuring her Crown and Head The View of Beunovista The View of Beunovista The succeeding day The Isle of Maijo South-East of us we saw the Isle of Maijo another of the Gorgades plentiful in nothing more than Salt whither our Traders in that Commodity often send Ships to fetch it which is brought down to them in Barrows blowed by the Wind they having Sails fitted for that purpose The View of the Isle of Maijo In two and twenty days from the Lizzard The View of Isle of Maijo early in the Morning we were close under St. Iago another Island of the same Knot whose interwoven barren Mountains are as impossibly exprest as Stonehing numbred Arriving at St. Iago we mist the Men of War Towards the South-West they are very high and burnt but steering to loof about the Bay we found it empty and the Men of War missing for all that we came to an Anchor about ten a Clock in the Forenoon in the Bay of St. Iago The View of the Bay of St. Iago The Ground was covered with Corral of all sorts The View of the Bay of St. Iago under which it was Sandy of a duskish Colour Having discovered three Buoys our Commander sent his Boat to seize on one Found three great Anchors slipped in the Bay which proved to be the Mark to a special good Anchor of 2400 weight with a Cable seven Inches Diameter the rest of the Fleet shared the other two The Bay the Ships rode in was smooth Water the Wind coming from the Shore in Figure a Semicircle in which it might contain four Miles the weathermost Point bearing South-West and half a Point West the other Point to which was an Islet East and by South and South a. Represents the young Plant as it appears firstabove ground Spring-ing from the Nut under ground b. Shews the shape of the Tree w th that of its branches new the tâ—p the under more ripe being fallen off leaving the Signes of their rects n the bark of the Stock c. The shape of the Branchâ—s w th their stemms feet as they grow from the Tree extending sometimes from the foot to the tip to near 5 ½ yards in length fringed or feathered on both sides with long narrow leaves d. The Purse or Sheath containing the branch of flowers e. The branch of Flowers which when fallen leaves the young nutts f. One of the branches grown more ripe g. One of those Nutts full ripe h. The Coco Nutt shell intire the outward Pill or husk being fallen off i. The Roots blade peircing through the holes of the Shell k. The Kernell of the Nut half the Shell being taken off l. Represents the intire tree of an older longer standing m. Represents the manner how they fasten a gourd to collect the liquor Of the Island of St. Iago one of the Cape Verde Islands IN the Afternoon I went ashore which was near two Miles from the Ship where was a convenient watering place which emptied its fresh Current into the Salt Sea the Beach was sandy and easy going ashore The Natives accost us with their Wares Here met us whole Troops of the Natives with their several Wares some offering us Cocoes others Oranges and Limes some brought Jackanaps's such green Ones as are commonly seen in England to be sold and all at the price of a cleanly Rag or a Bunch of Ribbons Before us in a Valley was a most stately Grove of Cocoes and A stately Grove Oranges through which ran the Stream our Men filled their Casks with Water surrounded with a Wall The first of which Trees so much celebrated for its usefulness deserves as much for the pleasure it affords the Sight It grows with an upright tall and slender Body the Bark of an Ash colour loricated not sending any Branches forth till it come to its chiefest Summit where it spreads its shady Branches with some resemblance to our Osmond Royal Fern Of the Cocoe Tree its beauty and usefulness but more like the Palm and under these protects its weighty Fruit which hang very thick round about the Tree to which it yields but one Stalk but that fit to support its ponderousness every Moon produces a fresh Harvest both of Fruit and Boughs the first being gathered the others being thrust off when sapless by the young ones If the Juicy ones be wounded there distills an heady Liquor which they preserve in Earthen Pots fitted to receive it but that spoils their bearing Nuts Next to the Stalk it bestows a Calix not differing only in bigness and that it is smoother from that of our Acorn from which proceeds the Rind of a lighter Green under which a fibrous substance presents its self which might supply them with Utensils for Roaps and Sails beneath which appears a spacious brown Shell proper for many Necessaries big enough for a Drinking Cup a Ladle and many more serving them for the chief part of their Housholdstuff Enclosed in this is a delicious Meat white in Colour cloathed with a pithy matter as our Hasle-nuts and not inferiour to them in Taste this they chuse for their ordinary Nourishment Nor does it afford them a less grateful emulsion contained in the Nut to the quantity of a Pint or Pint and half in colour like Whey and of that consistency but in relish far excelling When the Meat of the Nut grows rancid they express an Oyl serviceable for their Lamps Thus abundantly has Providence furnished them from this one Root The figure of the Fruit take it intire is oval and as big as the largest Melons On the other Fruits it's needless to insist Other Fruits less common as Oranges and the like being planted nearer home and therefore not such strangers Having observed enough here we entred a Door which gave us
dispersed a Lustre as bright as Day insomuch that a small Print might easily be read by it Taking advantage of the Land-Breezes and the Tides The Dutch grasp at all the Spice-Trade we scudded along the Shore which was Woody and well stock'd with Trees the Ground even for many Leagues together the Mountains peeping up behind a great way in the Country Nor indeed are Pretensions wanting How far 't is possible they holding here their Right by Conquest a fairer Claim than undermining they boasting they have in a manner subdued the Natives which is no hard matter since this Region of Malabar in which general Name I reckon as far South as the Land's End and Phalapatan North is divided into several Petit Signiories or Arch-Rebels against the Zamerhin of Calicut only paying some slight Acknowledgments of his Supremacy as their Chief Bishop and joining with him against the Great Mogul else striving to supplant each other having a Government most like Aristocracy of any in the East each State having a Representative and he to act according to the Votes of the Nairos Gentry in full Assembly which as they interfere with one anothers Interests the weakest have always been ready to call in help For which reason the Dutch were first permitted to rear Castles to secure the Sea-Coasts which they have made so good use of as to bring them under their Yoke the Great Mogul not discouraging them in the least Keeping on our Course we left Cochin to the Southward Cochin once a famous Mart of the Portugals since wrested from them and made impregnable by the Dutch At this place we bad adieu to all our bad Weather Left the Bad Weather but not the Dutch Practices though not to the Practices of the Dutch who had prevented the English at Panana also so that here neither being any Pepper we had nothing else to do but hoist Sails for Tanore where we touched the first of November the Natives having hardly shaken off the fear of the Dutch For a Boat with Sails of Mats all their small Boats making them their Sails came to take a Survey of us and made towards us uncertainly when after several Fetches to and again at last they were within Call of us We saw two Sumbrero's a Mark for some of Quality held up in the Boat-stern and a Man stand up and wave his Hat which made our Master stretch his Throat to know what he was whereupon down went the Sumbrero's held up in the Boat-stern the Boat cleverly tacked and the Men tugged stoutly at their Paddles and we as roundly sent seven Shot after them and the London as many but they were more scar'd than hurt for after we had mann'd three Boats after them they return'd with their Labour for their Pains the Boat getting safe from them At Night another Boat with an Englishman came to ask what Ships we were Whom when we answered English he boarded us and told us our unadvised Salutes were level'd at an English Merchant sent off by the Chief who notwithstanding he presented two Pistols at the Breasts of the Boatmen could not beat out of them the suspicion they were possessed with of our being Dutch Which shews how strangely they are awed by them and the rather they being solicitous Blazers of their own good Fortune upon us and our Defeat by them which they had taken care to publish to bring us into Disrepute which commonly waits on Ill Success before we could come to tell our own Tale. At our arriving ashore the Natives flocked about us and gazed upon us as if they would have stared us through Went ashore at Tanore amidst a Lane of whom we were ushered by a few Portugals to their Chappel at the Door whereof stood the Padre to receive us and through it to conduct us to his House From whence I went to observe the Town Their Wares which is miserably poor and straggling though in the heart of it a double Row of Cottages opened their Shops of Wares which consisted of Pepper Turmerick Ginger Cassia Lignum the lesser Cardamoms Bunco i. e. Tobacco and Hubble-bubble Canes the Product of this Coast as are also Beetle-Nuts the greatest Gain from this place to Surat to be reaped by them Amongst whom were Shroffs or Money-changers On one side in a square place was their Fish-Market through which we came into another Lane at whose end there was a Mosque Their Houses are little Hovels or Hogsties Their Houses mean the best of them scarce worthy the Name of a Booth The English House is in the fashion with the rest covered all over with Cajans and seated which they mightily affect under Trees The People are Tawny not Black Their Language Malabar Here is a Specimen of their Character They are subject to the Zamerhin of Calicut Malabar Character who sent hither his Delegate to welcome us and invite us to a Continuance of Trade He gave our Fleet seven Guns which were planted near the Water-side which Compliment was returned by the Fleet. The Nation is distinguished by Three Ranks Their Nation how distinguished The Priests make the first they come abroad in several distracted Postures sometimes all naked plaister'd over with Ashes their Hair plaited like an Horse's Tail at other times appearing less barbarous being covered but as Stoical in their Behaviour The second Form is that of the Nobiles The Nairo's who are all bred Soldiers and therefore called Nairo's the one part of them wearing naked Swords rampant in one hand and a Target made of a Buffola's Hide lacquer'd and curiously painted in the other with which they defend themselves as assuredly as with an Iron Shield the rest of them walk with a spiked Lance barbed as long as a Javelin and poised at the But end with Lead at darting of which they are very expert The last and lowest are the Artizans and Tillers of the Earth The Husbandmen of which here are no great store being ever negligent in that they reap the least Benefit by wherefore their Vassals are commonly employed in that service they being Drudges both to their Masters and Prince who here as in all India is sole Proprietor of Lands allowing the Occupiers no more than a bare Subsistence and not that when a bad Year fills not the Publick Granaries drubbing the poor Hinds till their Bones rattle in their Skins they being forced often to sell their Children for Rice which is the best here on this Coast of any place else in the whole World In Habit they excel not one another Their Men how clad the Peer as well as Peasant wrapping only a Lunga about his Middle and thence reaching to his Knees Only their Men of Honour that have deserved it from the Zamerhin have their Wrists rounded with thick golden Bracelets illustrated with Precious Stones Their Women are nearer white than the Men Their Women of an Olive or Sallow Colour
the next Morning between two Islands we saw sculking Six Malabar Proes waiting their Booty but making use of their Oars as well as Sails soon outstripped us The Day after we came to an Anchor at Onor Onor the first Land we touched on the Canatick Shore the Land Hilly and Barren which I went to see it is in 13 deg 10 min. North. We passed to it through a narrow Bite which expatiates into a wide Swallow and then thrusts us up the River On the North side a Bow and Arrow Castle overlooks it while it runs peaceably to the Town Where we landed the Dutch had a House and a new Junk lanched with her Colours furl'd One end of the Town stands in an hole over a Rocky Hill stands the other part upon which the Castle with its Stone Wall faces an Heath a great way yet looking asquint on the Under-woods It is built after the exact Rules of Ancient Fortifications with a Drawbridge and a Mâ—at round now a dry Ditch the Castle without Soldiers falling to decay It was built by the Portugals seized by the Canareens by the help of the Dutch between whom and the Portugals the Town of poor Buildings is divided Many of the Natives have receiv'd the Christian Faith Though those that continue in their Paganism are the most impiously Religious of any of the Indians being too too conversant with the Devil The Nairoes have no footing here nor have the Moors much They live in no diffidence of one another nor Strangers of them journeying among them without a Guide in Broad Roads not in By-Paths as in the Nations properly called the Malabars They have well-constituted Laws and observe them obediently From hence we came to Mirja in the same Dominions At Mirja the Protector of Canora came aboard I went to view the Place the Boat that carried me was Brigantine built At the Entry into the Harbour only a Rock withstands the Washes but on the Shore huge craggy Mountains are drawn up for a second Onset all of Black Stone yet somewhat undermined by the beating of the Sea where it works its self into a Syrtes on the other side of which the Fragments of the Town are shelter'd At my Landing one of their Princes was the first that welcomed me ashore who here as well as in Italy scorn not to be Merchants he was seated under a shady Tree on a Carpet spread upon the Sand and his Retinue standing about him he it seems was expecting the Protector of Canara the Raja being in Minority who came anon with his Lords and Guards armed with Swords and Gantlets Partizans adorned with Bells and Feathers as also were the Horses that carried his Luscarry or Army with such Trappings as our finest Team-Horses in England wear He ventured off to Sea to see our Ships His obstreporous Musick he was rowed by a Gang of 36 in a great deal of Pomp his Musick was loud and with the Kettle-drums made a Noise not unlike that our Coopers make on their Hogsheads driving home their Hoops He went aboard two or three Ships who entertained him with their Guns and Chears of their Men presenting him with Scarlet Cloath He is a Gentile as are his Subjects Our Lading here was Pepper Our Lading Salt-Petre and Beetle-Nut for Surat In our way from Mirja we met with a Man of War Pink commission'd from the President for the scowring these Seas which had 22 Guns and seventy odd Men the Name The Revenge Near Carwar is the Island Angediva Fam'd for the Burial of some Hundreds of our Countreymen Carwar was the Chief Port of Visiapour on this Coast Carwar the Chief Port of Visiapour now in the hands of Seva Gi. but a Grand Traytor to that King Seva Gi is now Master of it and the adjacent Countrey as far as Guzerat having well nigh forced our Factory and done other Outrages on us which would ask our Fleet a longer time to require Satisfaction if they were able than they could stay unless they would lose their Passage round the Cape of Good Hope and content themselves to winter at the Mauritius which all Ships that outstay their time are forced to For the Sun being almost at his Southern Solstice at his return he leaves a sharp Winter which we proved and adverse Winds in those Seas they lying without the Tropick which spurs them on for expedition What this Seva Gi is and the reason of his Usurped Power a longer Duration in the Countrey must declare who is every where named with Terror he carrying all before him like a mighty Torrent The Shore is Hilly and indifferent Woody near it Islets are scattered to and again The People partly Moors The People partly Moors partly Gentues partly Gentues under the King of Visiapour who was till this turbulent Seva Gi drove all into a Commotion a perfect Monarch hardly paying the Mogul Tribute when Duccan and Visiapour were united into one Kingdom Hence it is Hilly up to Guzerat though Gates hold on where the Coasts of Guzerat begin and outstretches them Fifteen Leagues to the Norward of Carwar lies Goa Goa the only place of consequence the Portugals retain of their first Discoveries The City lies up the River out of our sight on Shipboard though we could discern the River to be thwacked with small Craft without the Bar a great Carrack unrigg'd and on both sides the River Magnificent Structures The Soil Fat Level and fit for the Share many Miles together the Hills keeping a wide distance from them About two days after we passed Goa The Portugal Armado a Ship with a Portugal Flâ—g at the Main To-Mast Head weathered our Admiral and after seâ— what we were lay by for a Fleet of six more good Ships one 〈◊〉 and half a dozen Proes being their Northern Armado they fitting out one for the South also the one against the Arabs the other against the Malabars The beginning of December the North West Wind blew bitter cold upon us 〈…〉 and would hardly give the Sun leave to be Master in his own home though a Cloud in the day time ever since the Rains cleared up could hardly vapour betwixt him and the Earth At Nights we had hospitable Lights shewed us from the Shore Light-houses to mark out the Rocks which lye very thick along to intrap the unwary Pilot. In 17 deg Rajapour 20 min. North lies Rajapore a French Factory now formerly English Twenty Miles to the Northward Choul Choul a Fortress of the Portugals lay fair in sight And having the Latitude of 18 deg 40 min. North Bombaim opened its self the Tide being spent we came to an Anchor without the Bay not having our Bearings right and December the Eighth we paid our Homage to the Union-Flag flying on the Fort of Bombaim The BAY Is indented a vast Circumference Bombaim in which it is able to contain 1000 of the best Ships in Europe
in safe Harbour from Wind and Weather As we passed up the Bay two of the Mogul's Men of War each 300 Tun with bloody Colours out rode before Kerenjau Under the Castle besides innumerable little Vessels as Hoys Ketches and the like lay Three Men of War with their Top Armour out Waste-Cloath and Penants at every Yard-Arm to wit The Revenge 22 Guns The May-boon taken from the Dutch 220 Tuns The Hunter 14 Guns The Castle is seated towards the bottom of the Bay commanding it every way from the Points and Flankiers At Evening the next day I was sent for on Shore and received by the Honourable Gerald Aungier Governor both for the King and Company and President of all the East-Indies Thus after a plenary Anniversary this Voyage was accomplished and just that Day Twelvemmonth you left me Aboard Ship at Gravesend I set foot on Shore at Bombaim where for this Shipping I remain Yours J. F. 1. Mendam's Point 2. Malabar-Hill 3. This Great 〈◊〉 or Breach of the Sea 4. Veruâ—â— 5. Magatâ—â—-River 6. Bassein City 8. 〈◊〉 City and 〈◊〉 â— The 〈…〉 Watering place AN HISTORICAL ACâ—OUNT OF BOMBAIM And the Parts Adjacent LETTER II. CHAP. I. Mentions the Island and its Possessors SIR BY the Falcon in which Ship I am now taking my Passage to Surat I received at once the News of your good health Chap. I. and that welcome one of Peace with Holland the first I embrace as a Friend the other I congratulate with all good Men. Nulla salus Bello Pacem te poscimus omnes I shall neither apologize for my long Letter or sending this before you give me your Thoughts of the former the Distance of Place shall excuse both And I proceed where you left me last at Bombaim and so on till these Ships shall depart for England BOMBAIM In East-India is one of the Islands of Salset parted from that part of the Canarick Coast which lies nearest Duccan 60 Leagues North of Goa Islands of Salset in number seven and as many South of Surat These Islands are in number seven viz Bombaim Canorein Trumbay Elephanto the Putachoes Munchumbay and Kerenjau with the Rocâ— of Henry Kenry arising as so many Mountains out of the Sea which accords to the Fancy of the Natives who affirm that Nereus has lost these Islets with a great deal more of the Low-Lands from his Trident the Earth gaining upon the Sea And as a Remonstrance of their Credulity they bring for proof the vast Rocks that are many Miles up the Countrey bestuck with Oyster-shells and other Trophies of the Sea 's having had once Dominion there Letter II. all which they call Conchon or the Netherlands In whose opening Arm Their Situation that is from Choul Point to Bacein two famous Cities belonging to the Portugals some 30 Leagues distance lye those Spots of â—round still disputable to which side to incline For at Low Water most of them are foordable to the Main or from one to the other and at Spring-Tides again a great part of them overflowed Bombaim is the first that faces Choul The Bay makes the most commodious Port in India and ventures farthest out into the Sea making the Mouth of a spacious Bay from whence it has its Etymology Bombaim quasi Boon Bay Beyond it lies Canorein Trumbay Munchumbay with their Creeks making up the North side of the Bay Between whom and the Main lies Elephanto Kerenjau Putachoes with the great Rock or barren Islet of Henry Kenry These with some part of the Main constitute the South-East side of the Bay all which together contribute to the most notable and secure Port on the Coasts of India Ships of the greatest as well as smaller Burthen having quiet Harbour in it whither if they can they chuse to betake themselves if they happen as oft they do to lose their Voyages by the Monsoons From whence these Pieces of Land receive their general Name of Salset From whence the Island is called Bombaim if it be worth Enquiry I can only guess either because it signifies in Canorein a Granary as they are to the Portugals North of Goa and sometimes to Goa it self as at this time when their Armado of Rice was all lost which annually used to furnish them with Provisions of Corn or else analogically from the fruitful Peninsula of the same Name near which Goa its self stands But whether this be certain or not the reason of the Denomination of Bombaim is convincing To go on then from whence we deviated What Import this Island is to the English it is necessary you should be first acquainted That after Vasquez de Gama in the Year 1547 had laid open these Seas for Traffick to the East-Indies the Portugals to their Honour took for a while sure Footing of what they had industriously so long laboured for and brought most of the Borderers on the Sea-Coasts under their Subjection not all India as they have fondly reported It suffices then to avoid a Volume of Discourse that Bombaim with these Islets continued still in their hands until the Year 1661 when the Crown of Portugal parted with these together with the Haven to His Majesty of Great Britain as a Portion of the Dowry of Donna Infanta Catherina Sister to the King of Portugal and Consort to Charles the Second late King of England Scotland France and Ireland A matter of great Import to the Kingdom had it been transferred according to Contract as well in regard to the Protection of our Ships as for the Profit of the Soil to the English Inhabitants but most of all for the Awe it might impose 〈◊〉 them who are the Disturbers of our Trade here But upon what grounds they refused to surrender The Portugals loth to part with it may be understood if we consider the different Interests as well as Remoteness of the Portugueze in Europe and East-India It is confessed they will talk big of their King and how nearly allied to them as if they were all Cousin-Germans at least but for his Commands if contrary to their Factions they value no more than if they were merely titular as may appear by what follows For notwithstanding the King of England sent a Fleet of Five Royal Ships under the Command of my Lord of Malbery to waft over a Vice-Roy for them confirmed so by their own King and one of their own Nation and to take possession of these Islands in the name of the King of England yet they not only positively denied to surrender but constrained the Vice-Roy to a negation otherwise to expect never to assume that Dignity which by that Act they made him sensible was more in their disposal than the King 's Whereupon Malbery examining his Commission The English Fleet go to Swally was vexed he was pinched and knew not how to ease himself wearied therefore with Delays he retreated to Swally and there upon the Sands set the Souldery on
the George a Ship our Agent had built in this Port I was rowed in one of their Boats till the Wind grew strong enough to Sail These Boats have been in use time out of mind the Keel is made of one piece of Timber and the Planks are sewed together with an high Prow and a low Poop The next Morning we had brought Loft on the left hand of the Island Kismash leaving a Woody Island uninhabited between Kismash and the Main At Noon we came to Bassatu an old ruined Town of the Portugals fronting Congo where we touched till the Turning of the Tide and the Sea-Breeze were forcible enough to deliver us to that Port where were Five Merchant Ships and Two Trading to Mocha for Religion Congo is something better built than Gombroon Come to Congo and has some small Adâ—antage of the Air and is about Twenty Leagues nearer the Mouth of the River Euphrates As upon Land we have observed the Fruit and all things flag for want of Rain A Dearth in the Water as well as on Land so we found the same Cry to respect the Sea for want of frequent Showers the Oysters neither bringing forth nor are any Pearls produced such Influence does common Fame allow the Heavenly Moisture to have in their Generation insomuch that little Choice is to be had and whatever is of any Value is very dear Here is great Plenty of what they call Ketchery a Mixture of all together or Refuse of Rough Yellow and Unequal which they sell by Bushels to the Russians who carry them over Land to Archangelo and disperse them through the Northern Coasts for Ornaments to their Furr Caps which being no Purchase I returned Sailing abreast of Kismash Come again to Bunder Abassee I put in at Loft the chief Place of the Island and loaded with Oysters which were the nearest our English I had yet tasted here are Creyfish Crabs Shrimps Place Soles and Smelts besides Mountains of Salt-fish for Sale From hence Gombroon is furnished with Wood where arriving we saw the Phaenix another English Ship on which before I embark I shall premise somewhat material according to my Promise of Pearls in general The Pearl is a Jewel supposed to be the Geniture of a Shell-fish called Margaritifer The Pearl congealed into a very fair transparent Diaphanous beautiful Stone which is the Partus or Birth of this Fish As concerning their Original and Conception there is some difference among Authors as betwixt Pliny and Anselmus Boetius and between them and Cardanus Pliny saith that they are conceived in Oysters by a certain Maritime Dew which these Fish and so likewise Scollops do at a Set Time of the Year most thirst after and according as the Heavens are more Cloudy or Clear in the time of the taking in of this Dew so they are generated more Fair or Obscure as may be seen in his Book where he speaks of those Pearls called Vnions and of the Shell-fish in which they are found lib. 9. c. 28. But this Opinion of Pliny concerning their Conception is not by Anselmus Boetius thought consentaneous to Truth For saith he I have taken out of these Shell-fish many Margarites and they are generated in the Body of the Creature of the same Humour of which the Shell is formed which Viscous Humour is expelled sometimes not always for the Fabrick of another Shell for whenever this little Creature is ill and hath not strength enough to belch up or expel this Humour which sticketh in the Body it becometh the Rudiments or beginning of the Pearls to which new Humour being added and assimulated into the same Nature by concreting and congealing begets a new Skin or Film for the former Rudiments the continual Addition of which Humour generates an Vnion or Pearl even as Stones are generated in the Gall or Bladder of a Man and after the same manner the Bezoar is generated in the Persian Goat Cardanus lib. 7. de Lapidibus saith It is a Fabulous thing that the Pearl should be generated by the Dew of Heaven seeing the Shell-fishes in which they are conceived have their Residence in the very bottom of the Deep That which is reported of them That they are soft in the Water and grow hard like Coral as soon as they are taken out is not true saith Boetius p. 84. For the first not only common Fame but common Experience avouches for the latter I know not why it may not be as probable as for an Egg newly laid to have the Shell harden'd as soon as dropped into the Air when before in the Ovarium it participated of a Slippery Tough Glewy Substance not otherwise to be supposed to come forth than by endangering the Foetus Vnions are so much the more esteemed It s Adulteration because they cannot easily be adulterated There are fictitious Jewels made of double Glass which being set in Gold Jewellers cannot discern from Pearl except they take them out Some will adulterate them with the Powder of the Shell of the Margarite and others with Chalk covered with Leafs of Silver and then anointed with the White of an Egg. Some adulterate them with the Powder of Pearl mix'd with the White of an Egg and dried and then polished but these will easily be discovered from the True by their Weight and Colour The Vnion is in Hebrew called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Its Names as Job 28. 20. And so the Word Gabish is interpreted by Rabbi Sevi Gerson It is also taken for Margarita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in the Proverbs it is interpreted by Junius Carbunculi Prov. 11. If they be great they are called Vnions because then they are found single in a Shell If they be small they are called Margaritae many of which may be found in one Shell together In Greek they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Latin the great Pearls are called Vniones Margaritae simplicitèr Lucian calleth the Pearl Lapis Erithreus Arrianus Lapis Indicus Statius Erithreus Lapillus Virgil Bacca Bacca Conchea Pliny Vnio Câ—cero Margarita St. Jerom Granum maris rubri and others call it Perla The Germans call it Perlin In Italian Perle In Arabick Indostan Phursistan Sulu The Indians call them Moti in Malabar Mutu Letter V. The Lusitanians call it Aljofar which in Arabic sounds as much as Julfar the Port in Sinu Persico where the most excellent Pearls are caught The kinds of Pearl are no otherwise distinguished The kinds of Pearl but either first from their Greatness or Littleness that is either as they are Vnions or Margarites or Seed-Pearl and secondly as they are of transcendent Purity Beauty and Glory or Cloudy Reddish and so less beautiful The best are found in the Persian Gulph The Places where caught shared between the Persian and Arab they farming the Fishery yearly to those that bid most between the Island Ormus and Byran and were heretofore
Bill of Divorce 382 Talman a Priest 368 Tambole a Tabret 160 Tank a Pond or Cistern 27 Tarr a Coin 55 Teke the Indian Oak 142 Telinga a Speech 33 Terrhenos Land-Breezes 2â— Theatini an Ecclesiastical Order 151 Thamarind a Tree 16 Thomand an imaginary Coin 2â—â— Tindal a Boatswain â—07 Tocta a Throne 139 Tody Cocoe Wine 53 76 Token Cyr a Cypresâ—-Tree 247 Tomasia a Shew 15â— Topangee a Gunner 359 Topazes Musketeers 66 Topes Groves or places of Trees 41 Tornados Storms 10 Toss a Drinking Cup 131 398 Tropick an imaginary Circle in the Heavens Page 4 Tulse Calaminth 199 Turbat an Head-dress for Men 18 Tuthinag a Metal 86 V. Proper Names VAsquez de Gamez 62 Vangu Gi 171 Names of Places Vagarsiabat 272 Valentine ' s Peak 88 Udgewally 245 Venice 55 249 380 C. Verd 5 Verulee 67 Vingula 151 152 Virginia 3 Visiapour 58 148 165 Uncliseer 411 Urchin 259 Usbeque 167 332 373 Names of Things Ventosoes Funnels 222 Ventosoes Cupping-Horns or Glasses 114 Visier the Prime Minister of State Umbrello a Shade 222 Vocanovice a Publick Notary 80 140 Vockeel a Factor 115 Vortobeed a Monk 270 W. Proper Names WOden 402 Names of Places Wesnure 141 X. Proper Names St. XAvierus Page 150 Nameâ— of Things Xeriphan an High-Priest 95 Xeriphin a Coin 150 Y. Names of Things YAum a Root 104 Yaupengee a Felt 234 Yogdans Chests for Provisions 398 Z. Proper Names ZAmerhin the Pope of Calicut 51 Zimorat Epicurus 362 Names of Places Zergoon â—25 Zermaw 2â— Zevan 2â— Names of Things Zenith 36 76 Zodiac 187 Zone 19 A TABLE of some Principal Things herein contained neither reducible to the Index Explanatory nor the Contents A. ABASSINES and their Emperor Page 315 Abdul Caun outwitted by Seva Gi 171 Absolute Authority circumscribed by no Sanction 249 Adventures of the Portugals taught us to bring the Eastern Commodities home by Sea 55 Aegyptians given to Hieroglyphicks expressing the Year by the Palm-tree 232 Affronts not pardoned 156 Agent of Persia his Character and Emolument 223. He waits to appear before the Suffee 315 Agility of the Indian Women 31 Air and Climate what Influence 346 Air the chiefest Commodity in hot Countries 222 〈◊〉 that is thick tarnishes a thin Air 〈◊〉 â—reeds no Soil 306. Open Air not so healthy for Men as Beasts 234 Air infectious at Gombroon 227 229 Alah Adul Caun bruited to be begotten by an Elephant-keeper 169 Alcoran a Legend of Lies 372 Alexander in all probabilitâ— had been stopt in his Career of Victory had not a Persian Rustick discovered to him the Pylae Persicâ— 2â—4 Alexander's Army followed the Course of Indus 72 Alexander whether he ever conquered Porus 185 Aligators Amphibious Creatures 118 Almond-Tree Wandâ— worn by the best men in Persia 242 Alteration of Humours between Indian 〈◊〉 Persian 221 Ambition knows no mean 168 Amphisbena c. Serpents observe Musick 35 Ants and Muscetoes how remedied 35 Antilopes taken only by a Decoy 45 Hunted by Leopards 111 Guardian Angels saluted 93 Ancestry of Portugals commended 153 Animals not void of Reason 76 Antiquaries esteem things moth-eaten by Time 54 Sir Anthony Shirley 100 256 Apostacy grounded on a trivial piece of Pageantry 289 Apostates despised 138 Arms take place of the Gown 360 Arabs fly as oft as pursued 215. Are true Rovers both by Sea and Land 119. Are fierce and treacherous gain more by Fraud than Merchandise 220 Armenians use Amulets against Witchcraft 276. Are to appear in the Royal City as Merchants 268. Converted to Christianity by St. Bartholomew 270. Are most Jacobites 273. Move their Turbats as we our Hats 31 Aristocracy countenanced on the Coast of Malabar 51 Army every New Moon refresh the Officers of their Pay 139. The Cheats in the Army 140. Armies make the Indians miserable by their Devastations 142 Art of painting Calicoes most perfected at Mechlapatan 31 Arts that are profitable more in vogue than Liberal Sciences 191 Articles betwixt the Persians and English 222 Asae the Companions of Woden what relation to the Gabers or Old Persians 267 Astrolabe supplies the defect of the Quadrant when the Sun is perpendicular 11 Astrology eluded by two Examples 373 Asdrubal Hannibal's Brother Inventer of the Graver to govern Elephants 118 Author of the Goa-Stones a Florentine Apothecary 150 Aureng-Zeeb conquers Duccan Page 166 Austerities of the Pagans outdo the Papists 102 Awe teaches People to understand themselves 197 Aucto de Fie 155 Azimuth Compass corrects the common Chart and gives the Sun's Amplitude 11 B. BAlance all things in Persia 406 Baker offending thrown into his own hot Oven 339 Banyan Tree adored by the Heathens despighted by the Moors 16 17 Banyans offer to Neptune 77. Dare not kill a Flea 82. They present the Governor to keep a Mart at Swally 83. Worse Brokers than Jews Ib. Banyans whether Rechabites Ib. Servile and sneakingly officious 139. They affect not stately Buildings Besprinkle themselves with the Stale of a Cow Live sordidly Hold Transmigration 92. Banyans Largess to Beasts at their Funerals 101. Implacable in their Revenge 112. Banyan though despicable intrusted with Thousands 113. A base sort of People full of Tricks Hypocrisy and Cheats 113. Boggle at no Villany for an Emolument 192. Adore that for their God which brings them most Profit 222. Banyans in Persia not so strict Pythagoreans as in India 224. Pay 350 Thomands to excuse Beeves from the Shambles 225 Barter for clean Linnen Rags at St. Iago 7 Bashfulness unfits Women for Conversation 157 Bassa of Bussorah and his Son's Heads set on the Walls of Visiapour 164 Bassa of Bussorah protected by the Mogul 113 Beads common to Moor-men as well as Gentues to tell their Prayers 102 Behaviour of the common People rude at Church 151 Beggars discouraged in Persia 406 Beggars of the Musslemen stand on Punctilio's with God 91 Benefaction voided by â—ordid Gain 237 Benefit of the Balneos 306. Best go first 296 Bezoar-stones bred in several Creatures 238. It s Account 212 Cape-Birds and Water-Snakes presage tâ—e approach to Land Page 48 Birds fall down as they fly by reason of Heat 35 Fighting Bishops 146 Blood of the Persians how puddled 382 Bodies when dead washed and apparell'd as alive 282 Bombaim capable of securing 1000 Ships against Weather 61 Bombaim part of Q. Katherine's Dowry and would be of great Import were it transferr'd according to Contract 62 Boats housed in the Winter 55 Boat-men dive 9 or 10 Minutes 148 Books adorn'd with Gold c. in the Margin 361 Bonds how firmed 384 Bows of Horn unserviceable in Wet Weather 99 Bounty to the Brachmins 78 80 101 Breaking out in Botches a sign of a prevailing Crasis 35 Breezes from the Land 12 hours as many from the Sea 23 Bride veil'd with a Saffron-colour'd Veil 279 Bridegroom eats not till his Father-in-Law produces a Bag of Gold 278 Bury North and South among the Moors 94. Never bury in Mosques Ib. Bulls Elephants and Tygres intrapp'd 56 Bullul