as have been excepted from the Charm by him who made it can return back again The truth of the matter is according as I have learned from some of more sense and who have advanced a little in that way it is so bad that if one engage but in the least in it it is very hard to get back again so full it is of Precipices on all Hands Nevertheless the way seems to be so much the better that though we had warning given us we began to mount by it when our Guide suddenly called to us and made us follow him the other this Hill is called Kouchtscheizer Gheroun Kouchtscheizer Gheroun When we were over this passage we Travelled almost two hours in a Champian Ground where there are a great many little Mounts or Hillocks some one some two and some almost four Fathom high About eleven a Clock we passed by a little covered Kervanseray called Houni Sourkh that is to say red blood Houni Sourkh and is four Agatsch from Ghetschi about an hour and a half after we came to another little covered Kervanseray called Bendali Bendali which is but an Agatsch from Houni Sourkh and close by the Sea we rested there two hours because they would have fired upon us from the Fort of Bender Abassi if we had come there in the Night time and therefore we parted not from Bendali till next day at half an hour after two in the Morning and a little after five a Clock we came to the House of a Rhadar near the Town of Bender where the Jurisdiction of the Chan of Lar ends Arrival at Bender and that of the Chan of Bender begins CHAP. V. Of Bender-Abassi Ormus and the Author 's return to Schiras SO soon as we arrived the Rhadar according to the Custom carried us to the Custom-House where our Goods were searched and then we went and Lodged in a Kervanseray Before I engage to say any thing of Bender it will not be amiss here to observe some Errors in the Maps which all place the Town of Schiras almost two thirds of the way from Ispahan to Bender Erroâ—â— in Geography and nevertheless it is but one third Besides the Authors of these Maps put Bender to the South-West and almost to the West of Lar and yet it is to the Eastward of it and Lar is to the East drawing a little towards the South of Schiras All along the Road from Lar or rather from Dehi-Kou to Bender grow many of those accursed Plants which the Persians call Kherzehreh Kherzehreh upon the Road. Mortal Winds of which I have spoken before and which are pretended to have such noxious qualities that if in June or July any man breath in certain hot South Winds that come from the Sea and blow over these Plants he falls down dead and at most has no more time than to say he burns which happened at Bender Congo where that Wind rages much to the Vikil of Monsieur del ' Estoille who as soon as he had said he burnt died without remedy though there was a great deal of water presently thrown upon his body that is the reason that during these two months men Travel there but very seldom After all I can hardly agree in Opinion with the people of the Country who attribute this bad effect to that Plant I should rather think that it proceeded only from the malignity of the Wind for at Mosul where that Wind reigns also and is much dreaded I never heard any mention made of that Plant. This Wind may not be said properly to blow from Lar but from Coureston to the Sea. Gomron or Bender Abbassi The Town of Comron or Gomron otherwise called Bender-Abassi because it was the great Schah Abbas that began to put it in Vogue is inconsiderable as to what it contains for it is very little and scarcely deserves the name of a good Village nevertheless it is considerable in respect of its situation which is very advantageous for Traffick It is governed by a Chan and has a Schah Bender or Customer to gather the Customs which are worth much to the King of Persia though one half of them belong to the English Part of the Customs belong to the English by vertue of the agreement they made with that Prince when they assisted him in taking of Ormus but they receive not the fourth part the Persians giving them but as little as they can There is very little then in this Town that is worth the observing there is only one publick Gate The Fort of Bender a Bazar and a small Fort on the Sea-side which chiefly consists in a square Platform of about four Fathom each Face and some two Fathom high there are Port-holes in it for five or six pieces of Cannon but they have no more but two The English and Dutch have each of them their Houses very well built by the Sea-side with the Flag of their several Nations upon a high Pole on their Terrasses Two good Leagues to the Southward from the main Land is that so famed Isle of Ormus which is at the mouth of the Gulf of Persia that reaches from thence to Bassora Ormus which is the bottom of the Gulf. Ormus lies in the seven and twentieth Degree of North Latitude distant from Bassora an hundred and fourscore Leagues it hath a Fort which was long held by the Portuguese until the year one thousand six hundred twenty two that the great Schah Abbas King of Persia assisted by the English took it from them by force This Isle which is but three Leagues in Circuit is wholely barren for it is all over Rock that does not bear a pile of Grass nor has it a drop of Fresh water but what falls from the Sky which the Inhabitants preserve in good Cisterns that are in the Fort so that they are obliged to bring every thing from the main Land. And nevertheless in the time of the Portuguese it had a very populous Town and exceeding rich where all the Trade of the Indies was managed at present there remains no mark of it and there is nothing Inhabited but the Fort. The Portuguese lost Ormus by their own fault The Portuguese lost that Island by the fault of the Governour for all he needed to do was to have cut a little Ground to let in the Sea-water that would have surrounded the Fort which stands upon the point of the Island on the side of Gomron and then it would have been very hard to have mastered it But out of a bravery or rather pride which is natural to that people this Governour made so small account of his Enemies and trusted so much to his own Valour that he thought it would reflect upon him if he took any pains to make a Work to defend himself against them It is true also there was a point of Honour in the Case because he had not thought of that expedient himself but
water of the Sea and the first big enough to admit of Ships being besides defended by several stone-Bastions built very high upon a Rock which are mounted with many great Guns that play on all Hands so that it will be no easie task to take it unless being unprovided of Victuals an Enemy might attempt to starve it it hath no water but Cistern-water yet every House has its Cistern There is a good Port in Diu and heretofore all the Trade of the Indies was managed there and at Chaoul Chaoul belonging to the Portuguese which is another place belonging to the Portuguese but the Dutch so ordered matters that it was wholly removed to Surrat where it is at present About seven a Clock we found by observing the Land that we had made eight Leagues since the day before at noon for you must know that so soon as they make Land they heave the Log no more to know the Ships running because it is well enough known by the Land. At eight a Clock the Wind turned East and by North and we stood away South-East and by South About eleven a Clock it turned East South-East and we Steered away South That day we took no Observation because the Land interposed betwixt us and the Horizon nevertheless we lost sight of it immediately after noon and about six a Clock we tackt about and stood North-East and by East About seven a Clock we tackt again About eight a Clock we were becalmed Half an hour after nine we tackt again a third time and at ten a Clock having cast the Lead we had thirty eight Fathom water About eleven a Clock we had a good Wind at North North-East which made us bear away East Next day the second of January about five a Clock in the morning the Wind having veered about to North-East we Steered our Course East South East At break of day having furled our Main-Top-Sail we put out our Colours and waited for the Masulipatan which was close up with us he presently also shewed his Colours and within a quarter of an hour after sheered a long on head of us we hailed one another but could have no discourse together because he had stood too much on head and in a trice fell off from us This was the Hollanders fault for he was vexed that Master Manuel Mendez would not Sail with him though he had invited him and besides he was angry that we should have come up with him which was the reason he would have no Conversation with us though ever since the day before he might many times have born up near enough to have Discoursed with us when we were upon our tacks Half an hour after six we sounded and found six and twenty Fathom water About seven a Clock the Wind came in to East North-East and we Steered South-East About eight a Clock it blew much fresher from East and by North which convincing us that we were off of the mouth of the Bay of Cambaya The mouth of the Bay of Cambaya we steered away South-East and by South and about nine a Clock the Wind turning due East we stood away South South East We could have no Observation that day because of the motion of the Ship and must rest satisfied to know that from noon to noon we had made fifteen Leagues About five a Clock the Captain of the Musulipatan being in a better humour bore up with us and after the Selam and three or four Cups drunk to our good Voyage he asked us if we would go in Consort and we agreed to it About six a Clock the Wind ceased and left us becalmed About half an hour after ten we had a small Gale from North North East which made us bear away East At midnight the Wind veering in to North-East we steered away East South-East Then we heaved the Lead and found forty Fathom water Sunday morning the third of January we perceived several peices of Wood floating upon the water and some Snakes bigger than ones Thumb four or five Foot long and of a blackish colour and about noon we saw the Sea water look whitish these were so many signs that we were near the Indian shoar At noon the Gunner took an Observation but how right I cannot tell because of the Ships great Travel and he found that we were in the Latitude of nineteen degrees fifty four minutes but we could not tell how much we had run for in twenty four hours time we had not heaved the Log knowing that we were near Land we only cast the Lead and found thirty three Fathom water having cast it out again at three a Clock in the afternoon we had no more but thirty Fathom About five a Clock the Wind turned East North East and we stood away South-East Half an hour after five we had again thirty three Fathom water About eight a Clock the Wind was got into East and by North and we steered South-East and by South and had still thirty three Fathom water About half an hour after ten the Wind turned North and by East a brisk Gale and we bore away East and by North. At midnight we had twenty five Fathom water Monday the fourth of January half an hour after five in the morning we had the Wind at North-East and steered away East South-East but this hot Wind blew so fresh that we were obliged to furl our Main-Top-Sail and then we had twenty five Fathom water A North-East Wind blows commonly on that Coast all the Moon of December and the beginning of the Moon of January and after it comes the North-West Wind. About eleven a Clock the Wind flackning a little we unfurled our Main-Top-Sail again At noon the Gunner found that we were in the Latitude of nineteen degrees twenty four minutes and having cast the Lead we had two and twenty Fathom water and at five a Clock the same Half an hour after five the Wind turning North North-East we steered away East At nine a Clock we had only twenty Fathom water and at midnight but eighteen Tuesday the fifth of January after midnight the Wind was at North-East and by East but a very easie Gale and we bore away South-East and by East At five a Clock in the morning we had but four Fathom water At break of day we made the Land of Bassaim on Head which was very near us and we had made it the day before if it had not been hazy upon the Land. Bassaim Bassaim is a Town held by the Portuguese lying about the nineteenth degree and a half of North Latitude There are very high Mountains at this place At six a Clock we tacked and stood away North and by East At two a Clock in the afternoon we came to an Anchor in fourteen Fathom water because it began to Ebb and it is the custom for Ships that put into the Bay of Cambaya when they are near shoar to Tide it only up unless they have the
Wind in Poop and a fresh Gale from South for those that go upon a Wind against Tide are driven back instead of going forward the Tides running very strong on that Coast and South Winds being rare Half an hour after eight at night we weighed Anchor and stood away North and by West the Wind being then North-East and by East Wednesday the sixth of January at two a Clock in the morning we came to an Anchor in seventeen Fathom water Having weighed again about nine a Clock we steered North North-East the Wind was then at East a little to the Southward but so weak that at ten a Clock it left us becalmed About three a Clock we had a Gale from West when we least expected it for it seldom blows on that Coast that was the reason we came not to an Anchor though it began to Ebb and we stood away North and by East Half an hour after five we had twenty Fathom water and at six a Clock we were becalmed Half an hour after eight we had the Wind at East North-East which made us steer away South-East but at ten a Clock the Tide of Flood beginning to make it behoved us to tack and stand away North and by East Thursday the seventh of January about four a Clock in the morning we came to an Anchor in ninteen Fathom water About nine a Clock a small Gale blowing from South-East we weighed though it was above an hour and a half to Flood and bore away East North-East but seeing the Wind did not last about half an hour after eleven we came to an Anchor again in seven Fathom water though it was Flood then but it did us no kindness because it carried us to Surrat and we were bound for Daman being so near it that some of the Ship discovered the Steeple of a Church in the Town Half an hour after one of the Clock we had a small Gale from North-East which made us presently weigh and bear away South-East and sounding every quarter of an hour we found first fifteen Fathom water then twelve after that ten and at least nine About four a Clock we steered away East South-East about five a Clock South South-East a little after we were becalmed and having cast out the Lead found eight Fathom water About six a Clock we turned the Ships Head East and by South half an hour after North-East and by East About seven a Clock we came to an Anchor in eight Fathom water and about a good League and a half from Land because there was no Wind and the Tide of Ebb cast us toward the South-West Next morning about nine a Clock we weighed though it was still low water only we had a Gale from South-East we steered East North-East that we might stand in to shoar and about half an hour after eleven we came to an Anchor a League off of the Town of Daman and Westward from it I did not go a shoar because the Captain told me that I could not stay there above an hour or two having ordered the Boat that carried a shoar Master Manuel Mendez to return immediately and being resolved so soon as he had unloaded his Goods to weigh Anchor and wait for no body I did not think going a shoar to be worth the pains of running the risk of being taken for there are Malabar Barks commonly upon the scout especially in the evening skulking behind some Points of Land and when they perceive any small Vessel make up to it and carry it away Daman is a Town belonging to the Portuguese who have made it very strong Daman Latitude of Daman and have a good Fort in it It lyes in the twentieth degree of North Latititude and is fifteen Leagues distant from Bassaim and forty from Diu. They have most delicate Bread at Daman and drink only water of a Tanquier but which they say is very good From Daman to Cape Comorin Cape Comorin a range of very high Hills runs along the Coast This Town has no other Harbour but a little Canal or Cut which is full at high water and remains dry when the Tide is out small Barks come into it but Ships ride out in the Road. Ours stayed there a little more than four and twenty hours for the Boats that were to come for the Goods of Master Manuel Mendez came not a Board of us till the next day which was Saturday it was noon before we had loaded them and it behoved us afterwards to stay till two a Clock for our Boat though we had fired a Gun in the morning as a signal for them to put off but the Sea-men being got drunk made never the more haste for that we did not weigh Anchor then till three a Clock in the afternoon and we stood away North the Wind being then at West North-West About seven a Clock we were forced to come to an Anchor because the Wind was down and the Tide of Ebb made us lose way About nine a Clock with a little Gale at East we weighed again and bore away North in five Fathom and a half water and for above an hour we had no more Next day being Sunday the tenth of January by break of day we were got within a Cannon shot of Land which was to our Starboard and to the Larboard we saw two great Ships at Anchor they were presently known to be Ships belonging to the King of Mogul which Trade to Moca Ships of the King of Mogul whither they carry at every Voyage above two Millions We saw many other Ships on Head some at Anchor and others under Sail amongst these there were two Dutch Ships who failed not to send off their Boats to know who we were taking us to have been an English Ship. At length half an hour after ten we came to an Anchor at the Bar of Surrat The Bar of Surrat in six Fathom and a half water and presently a Custom-House Waiter came on Board of us being there accidentally for commonly they come not till after the Captain be gone a shoar Next day Monday the eleventh of January several of the Custom-House Boats came on Board of us to take in all the Passengers and their Goods we went down into them and they put off from the Ship about half an hour after two at first we made towards shoar apace the Wind being good but it being low water an hour after we stuck a ground and it behoved us to stay for Flood to get off again which was not till half an hour after three when we weighed again the Anchor which we had dropped We went on then with the Tide for the Wind was contrary and within half an hour after ran a ground again where we were another half hour before we could get off having afterwards advanced a little farther we saw a small Isle to our Right Hand and from thence the Channel grows narrower and narrower About eight a Clock we passed by the
men attempted to hall her out of the water by one side that she might be emptied by the other but the weight of the water bulged one of her sides and then she overset so that despairing to recover her unless with much labour and the loss of a great deal of time and fearing besides that she might dash against the Hold of the Ship because it was then a very rough Sea they cut the Ropes and let her go though it was near a hundred Piastres loss to the Owner of the Ship This made us lose a whole hours time and in the mean while one of the Ships which the day before was to our Starboard got a Head of us About half an hour after seven in the morning we made Sail with a North Wind. About half an hour after nine we were off of an Island to our Larboard which we took to be Audarvia but we were mistaken About ten a Clock the violence of the Wind began to abate and we Steered away East South-East About two a Clock after-noon we made a little Island to the Larboard very near the main Land and knew it be Audarvia and that the other which we past about half an hour after nine in the morning and took for Audarvia was Lara This Isle of Lara is a little Desart very low place Lara close by the main Land which is the reason that it is not easily discovered it bears nothing unless it be some wild Trees and that too only at one end of it which lyes to the West North-West and was to us the beginning of the Isle as our Course lay it may be known by these Trees It lyes in length from West North-West to East South-East and is threescore and ten Leagues from Carek Audarvia The Isle of Audarvia is in like manner little low and very near the main Land and lyes in length as Lara does from West North-West to East South-East there is good water in this Island and in the middle of it some wild Trees and the Cottages of some Fishermen who come from the main Land to Fish there it being seven or eight Leagues from Lara It is worth the observing that though these two Isles be very near the Land as I have been saying yet they leave a passage betwixt them and the main Land which may admit of Ships because it is very deep water and Ships sometimes shoot that passage The Wind freshning in the afternoon at three quarters of an hour after two a Clock we were got to the farther end of the Island and an hour after made the Isle of Keis to the South-East About half an hour after four we got on Head of the Ship that was before us in the morning and at the same time we were off and on with the hithermost end of the Isle of Keis Keis which was to our Starboard side This Island is about two Leagues and a half from the main Land or three at most and about five Leagues from Audarvia though they reckon it fifteen Leagues from Lara to Keis it reaches in length from West South-West to East North-East and is about five Leagues in Circuit it is very low and flat like the two former but it is inhabited by several people who have Houses dispersed here and there upon it I was told that heretofore the Inhabitants of that Island having killed a Portuguese who had gone a shoar there for some insolence which he had committed sometime after other Portuguese Ships coming thither the Admiral called Roui-Fereyra-Andrada went a shoar upon the Island and taking a Sucking-Child put it into a Mortar and by an unparalelled piece of cruelty A horrid piece of cruelty of a Portuguese made the Father and Mother of the innocent Babe pound it themselves in the Mortar This General was a Devil incarnate and it was his usual way so to revenge himself on the Inhabitants of those Coasts when they had done him any displeasure his name is to this day so terrible unto them that they use it to still their little Children when they cry threatning them with Lowis de Fereyra In the mean time that inhumanity made many forsake the Island that they might not be exposed to such cruel usage nevertheless some abode still and have Cattel there I was told that heretofore there were all sorts of Fruits on this Island but that since the Portuguese have left off to go thither there are no more to be found I was likewise assured that there is excellent water in the North-West and East ends of the Isle About five a Clock in the evening we furled our Mizan Mizan-Top Main-Top and Fore-Top-Sails that we might not make so much way because on this Coast there are places where the water is very shallow About seven a Clock at night we were got off of the other end of the Isle of Keis and then the Wind slackened much half an hour after we came off and on a place of the main Land where the shoar opens towards the East and forms a Gulf in shape of a half Circle and the outmost point of that half Circle is called Gherd All that day we had kept very near the main Land which to that Gulf bears West North-West and East South-East When we were just off the beginning of this Gulf a gentle Gale blowing from East North-East made us to Steer our Course South-East and we made the Land called Gherd to the East South East About ten a Clock at night we stood away South South-East and heaving out the Lead found seventeen Fathom water within a quarter of an hour after the Wind turning North-West we bore away South but because it instantly blew too hard we furled the Main-Sail and Steered South South-East About three quarters after ten we Steered South-East and casting the Lead found fifteen Fathom water Sunday the two and twentieth of November at two a Clock after midnight we were got off of the Isle of Paloro to our Starboard Paloro our Course was then East South-East and having sounded we found thirteen Fathom water whereupon we turned the Ships Head South South-East A quarter after two we heaved the Lead several times and found betwixt six and seven Fathom water Three quarters after two we bore away East South-East and casting the Lead found first fifteen then ten and a little farther only eight Fathom water we had then to the Larboard a Mountain on the main Land Mount Sannas called Sannas Half an hour after five in the morning we had but five Fathom water At six a Clock we found twelve and then we Steered East North-East and at eight a Clock in the morning came before Congo distant from Keis fifteen Leagues by Land and thirty by Sea an hundred from Carek and an hundred and fifty from Bassora from Congo to Comoron it is twenty Leagues by Land and thirty by Sea. We came to an Anchor in the Road a long half League
they would be in danger of committing great errours at Sea because of the Tides and Currents that either drive the Log forwards or backwards and to be assured of the exactness of that account the Log must be fixed and immoveable But the English are not mistaken for besides that invention of Miles they dayly take an observation of the Suns height besides they heave out the Log at every change encrease or decrease of the Wind. The English reckon their Miles at five hundred Geometrical paces only that is five Foot to the pace Cape of Jasques Carpella The distance of Ormus from Cape Jasques About half an hour after six we were off of the Cape of Jasques anciently called Carpella it lyes in five and twenty degrees and a half North Latitude and in thirty Leagues from Ormus From that Cape the Land bears East and by South to the River of Indus At Cape Jasques about half a Mile or a Mile up on Land there is a kind of a sorry Fort with about forty Houses inhabited by a sort of very poor people who live on Barley and drink nothing but water and that very brackish too they have two Barks or Taranquins wherein they carry Wood to sell at Mascat That wretched place is called Jasques and depends on the Governour of Comron who sends whom he pleases to Command in it Thursday the seventeenth of December about six a Clock in the morning we clapt on our Main-Top-Galant-Sail and stood away East keeping in sight of the Land of Persia least the Wind might force us too far out to Sea which about eleven a Clock turned North-East At noon we found that from Sun setting the day before we had run threescore and one Miles or twenty Leagues and a third at the rate of three Miles a League At one of the Clock we bore away East and by South About four a Clock the Wind chopping about to West we bore away South-East and by East About half an hour after five we had East North-East of us a little low Isle close by the Persian shoar which in that place is very low About six a Clock we were off and on with that little Isle Friday the eighteenth of December in the morning we Steered our Course East and by South and at noon we found that from that time the day before we had made eight and thirty Leagues then the Wind got into North-West and we bore away South-East and by East that we might not run within Land which we obscurely made on Head a little to the Larboard Next morning the Wind abated and therefore we stood away East and by South At noon we found by our reckoning that we had in the last four and twenty hours made five and twenty Leagues and a half Then the Captain Mate and Gunner took an Observation of the Sums height with a Quadrant as well as they could for none of the three had much skill in it and the Maâ—e least of all all three agreed that we were in twenty four degrees thirty minutes Latitude About evening the Wind shifted into South-West but it was so easie that scarcely did it curl the water yet we Steered away South-East and by East that we might not be cast a shoar Sunday the twentieth of December it continued still calm weather so that at noon we found we had made but five Leagues way and our Men having taken their Observation found that we were still in the Latitude of twenty four degrees thirty minutes as we were the day before and that day every one was stinted to a measure and a half of water by day Towards the evening we made the Land of Persia and were but about five Leagues off of it which made us Steer away South-East and by South and stand out to Sea contrary to the opinion of the Mate who would have kept in by the Shoar giving this reason for it that we needed not fear to be cast too far to the Leeward as the Captain said because at that time the East Wind blows along the Coast of Sindy and besides being near Land in case it proved bad weather we might come to an Anchor and take in water which we were affraid we might come to want But the chief reason why he would have stood in to shoar and which he kept to himself was that he might know the place where he was for these are such an ignorant sort of Men that so soon as they lose sight of Land they know no more where they are The Captain made answer to all his reasons that it was bad advice to make us double our way without any necessity and that we had no reason to go look for East Winds having the Wind at South-West which though it was easie still kept us going on in our Course and would if it freshened bring us in a short time whither we were bound and in that case we needed not go look for water whereof as yet we had no want besides that by standing in to shoar we run a risk of meeting the Zinganes those Pirats I mentioned before whom no body desired to see and we put our selves also in danger of not being able to get out to Sea again for a long time if the Wind which we had lasted because we must wait for another Wind which perhaps might not offer in some weeks time In fine it behoved the Pilot to acquiesce to this judgment which was approved by all of us nay the Gunner was for having us steer our Course more to the Southward and he was not out in that for the Coast of Cape Jasques bears West and by North and East and by South and we Steered South-East and by East from which substracting a Point and a half which is the variation of the Needle and then our Course would prove to be East a Point and a half towards South and so we were but half a Point to the Windward of the Land of Persia and this Course carried us streight to the Gulf which is to the Northward of the Isle of Diu but the Captain would not change his Course fearing to meet with an East Wind which would have driven him too far above the place whither we were bound and therefore he would not bear away South till he was near the Isle of Diu. Monday the one and twentieth of December our Observers found at noon that we were in twenty four degrees twenty five minutes Latitude and that we had run ten Leagues Next day they found twenty four degrees five minutes Latitude and that we had run fourteen Leagues the last twenty four hours About four a Clock in the afternoon the Heaven was on all Hands overcast with thick black Clouds and at the same time there arose a small Gale from West North-West which presently drove the Clouds upon us we expected a strong Gust of Wind but we were excused for a shower of Rain which was indeed violent but lasted not without
The Porters of Palanquins These Machines are commonly very dear and the Pambou alone of some of them costs above an hundred Crowns but to make a-mends for that they have Porters at a very easie rate for they have but nine or ten Livres a piece by the Month and are obliged to Diet themselves It requires four Men to carry a Palanquin because each end of the Pambou rests upon the Shoulders of two Men and when the Journey is long some follow after to take their turn and ease the others when they are weary The yearly Revenue of the Province of Sinde Sinde of which we have been speaking yields not the Great Mogul above three Million four hundred thousand French Livres a Year CHAP. XXXII Of the Province of Multan MUltan which comprehends Bucor Multan has to the South the Province of Sinde and to the North the Province of Caboul as it hath Persia to the West and the Province of Lahors to the East It is watered with many Rivers that make it Fertile The Capital Town which is also called Multan was heretofore a place of very great Trade because it is not far from the River Indus but seeing at present Vessels cannot go up so far because the Chanel of that River is spoilt in some places and the Mouth of it full of shelves the Traffick is much lessened What Multan produces by reason that the charge of Land-carriage is too great However the Province yields plenty of Cotton of which vast numbers of Cloaths are made It yields also Sugar Opium Brimstone Galls and store of Camels which are transported into Persia by Gazna and Candabar or into the Indies themselves by Lahors but whereas the Commodities went heretofore down the Indus at small Charges to Tatta where the Merchants of several Countries came and bought them up they must now be carried by Land as far as Surrat if they expect a considerable price for them The Town of Multan is by some Geographers attributed to Sinde The Town of Multan Cozdar or Cordar Candavil Sandur Towns. though it make a Province by it self It lies in twenty nine Degrees forty Minutes North Latitude and hath many good Towns in its dependance as Cozdar or Cordar Candavil Sandur and others It furnishes Indostan with the finest Bows that are to be seen in it and the nimblest Dancers The Commanders and Officers of these Towns are Mahometans and by consequence it may be said that most part of the Inhabitants are of the same Religion But it contains a great many Banians also Banians for Multan is their chief Rendezvous for Trading into Persia where they do what the Jews do in other places but they are far more cunning for nothing escapes them and they let slip no occasion of getting the penny how small soever it be The Tribe of these Banians is the fourth in dignity amongst the Castes Tribes or Sects of the Gentiles of whom we shall treat in the sequel of this Relation They are all Merchants and Broakers and are so expert in business that hardly any body can be without them The Banians useful They give them Commissions of all kinds though it be known that they make their profit of every thing yet Men chuse rather to make use of them than to do their business themselves and I found often by experience that I had what they bought for me much cheaper than what I bought my self or made my servants buy They are of a pleasing humour for they reject no service whether honourable or base and are always ready to satisfie those who employ them and therefore every one hath his Banian in the Indies and some persons of Quality intrust them with all they have though they be not ignorant of their Hypocrisie and Avarice The richest Merchants of the Indies are of them and such I have met with in all places where I have been in that Country They are commonly very Jealous of their Wives who at Multan are fairer than the Men but still of a very brown complexion and love to Paint At Multan there is another sort of Gentiles whom they call Catry Catry That Town is properly their Country and from thence they spread all over the Indies but we shall treat of them when we come to speak of the other Sects both the two have in Multan a Pagod of great consideration The Pagod of Multan because of the affluence of People that came there to perform their Devotion after their way and from all places of Multan Labors and other Countries they come thither in Pilgrimage I know not the name of the Idol that is Worshipped there The Idol of Multan the Face of it is black and it is cloathed in red Leather It hath two Pearls in place of Eyes and the Emir or Governour of the Countrey takes the Offerings that are presented to it To conclude The Town of Multan is but of small extent for a Capital but it is pretty well Fortifi'd and is very considerable to the Mogul when the Persians are Masters of Candabar as they are at present The yearly Revenue of Multan What the Great Mogul receives yearly from this Province amounts to Seventeen millions Five hundred thousand Livres CHAP. XXXIII Of the Province of Candahar The Province of Candahar BEfore I speak of the Eastern Provinces of the Indies I shall proceed to treat of those which are to the West of the Indus or towards the Rivers that make part of it Candahar is one of them tho' the chief Town of it belong at present to the King of Persia who took it from Cha-Gehan contrary to the will of his Grand-mother which cost her her Life It is said That that Lady got Money from the Great Mogul to hinder the Siege of this Town Her Grand-son being ready to march she made him a thousand Entreaties to divert him from the expedition and finding that she could gain nothing of him by fair means she fell into a passion and upbraided him that he was going to squander away the Estate of Orphans This Discourse so offended the King that having asked her if that Estate belonged to any but to him The King of Persia kills his Grand-mother He cut her over the head with an Axe that he held in his hand of which she died This Province hath to the North the Country of Balc whereof an Usbec Prince is Sovereign To the East it hath the Province of Caboul to the South that of Bucor The bounds of Candahar which belongs to Multan and part of Sigestan which is of the Kingdom of Persia and to the West other Countries of the King of Persia The Province is very moutainous and Candahar its chief Town lies in the twenty third degree of Latitude though some Travellers have placed it in the four and thirtieth That Countrey produces abundantly all sorts of Provisions that are necessary for the subsistence of its
place where St. James was Beheaded The House of St. Thomas The House of St. Mark. in this Church there is a little Chappel on the left hand as you enter which is the place where St. James the Minor first Patriarch of Jerusalem was Beheaded by command of Herod Agrippa This Church has no light but by the opening in the Dome above where there is an Iron-Grate very well wrought Over against this Church is the House of St. Thomas the Apostle into which the Turks dare not enter because they say that in times past such as entered it died there Afterwards we entered into the House of St. Mark where there is a Church held by the Syrians it is the first that was built by St. Helen in Jerusalem when Herod cast St. Peter into Prison the other Apostles with the Disciples were in that House praying for his deliverance near to that we saw the Iron-Gate through which the Angel brought St. Peter Iron-Gate when he delivered him out of the Prison from whence St. Peter went to the House of St. Mark and found the other Apostles there We then visited in order the House of Zebedee the Father of St. James the Major and St. John the Evangelist The House of Zebedee which is also the place of their Nativity at present there is a Church there held by the Greeks Then we came into the Court or open place of the Church of the holy Sepulchre and on the right hand where Mount Calvary is we entered a little Door and ascending nine and thirty steps of a winding stair-case we saw two Churches held by the Abyssins And then a Chappel near to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with a Dome and fifteen steps up to it under which St. Mary the Aegyptian did Penance The place where St. Mary the Aegyptian did Penance The Prison of St. Peter when she could not get into the Holy Sepulchre This Chappel is the place where the Holy Virgin and St. John the Evangelist were when the Jews Crucified our Lord. Then we went through a place where we saw the Ruines of a great Pile of Building where heretofore the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem lived we went into the Prison where Herod put St. Peter from whence he was delivered by an Angel as we have said After we had seen all these Places we came back to the Convent about eleven a clock in the Forenoon CHAP. L. Our third Entry into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Of the City of Jerusalem SAturday the seven and twentieth of April we entered into the Holy Sepulchre where we stayed till next day being Sunday the eight and twentieth of April that the Pilgrims went to Dinner in the Convent for my part I stayed still in the holy Sepulchre Knighthood of Jerusalem where I was honoured with the Order of a Knight of the holy Sepulchre with the customary Ceremonies This Knighthood costs an hundred Crowns and has many Privileges but not acknowledged in many places That which chiefly made me desire this Knighthood was that that they assured me in several places that the Spaniards did not detain the Knights of Jerusalem Prisoners though they were French men and seeing I was afraid I might meet them at Sea upon my return into Christendome I thought my self obliged to take shelter under that protection After I had dined in the Refectory which the Monks have in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre I went to the Convent and we prepared to leave that Holy City next day I shall say nothing of the Ancient Jerusalem only give the Reader an account of the present State of it Jerusalem The City of Jerusalem is the Capital of Judea It stands on a dry and mountanous ground that bears nothing so that for three or four leagues about the Land is very barren but good at a farther distance The Streets of this City are narrow and crooked The Gates of Jerusalem It hath six Gates to wit the Sheep-Gate at present called St. Stephens Gate the Gate of Ephraim that of Damascus that of Jaffa or Bethlehem that of Sion and the Dung-Gate It hath also besides these six Gates the Golden Gate by which our Lord entered upon the Ass in Triumph but it is walled up because the Turks have a Prophesie That the Christians are to take Jerusalem by that Gate A Prophecy of the Turks And every Friday all the other Gates of the City are shut at Noon and not opened till their Noon-Prayers be over because they have another Prophecy That the Christians are to become Masters of them on a Friday during Noon-Prayer The same thing they also do in many other Cities Not far from the Golden-Gate there is on high on the outside of the City-Wall towards the Valley of Jehosophat The Valley of Jehosophat A Pillar on which Mahomet will sit at the Day of Judgment The transformation of Mahomet a little Pillar peeping out of a nich in the Wall like a Cannon out of a Port-hole and the Turks say that at the day of Judgment Mahomet shall sit upon that Pillar and observe whether our Lord Judge the Christians well or not if he Judge righteously Mahomet will give him his Sister in Marriage with a great deal of Money that then the same Mahomet shall change himself into a Sheep and all the Turks shall nestle in his Wool being all like Flees and so he shall flie in the Air shaking himself very hard and that those who stick fast to him shall be happy and such as fall off be damned The Walls are fair and strong much like to the Walls of Avignon and look as if they were new CHAP. LI. Of Emaus and Jaffa MOnday morning the nine and twentieth of April the R. F. Commissary led us to the Church of St. Saviour where having sung the Benedictus and some Prayers he gave us his Blessing and so having taken leave of him and of all the Monks of the Convent after we had given some Piastres to the Truchemen for their pains and Money to the Procurator or Steward for our diet which is given by way of Charity every one according to his liberality for they ask nothing we parted from the said Convent extremely well satisfied with the Entertainment we had received from these good Fathers who certainly are at a loss how to Treat the Pilgrims for they say if they treat them well when they return into their own Countrey they give it out that there is no need of sending any thing to the Monks because they are too rich and if they treat them not well they hinder others from sending them any Charity saying that they do not so much as entertain Pilgrims with what is given them In the mean time they need support considering the great summs of Money they yearly pay the Turks without which they would not so willingly be tolerated though indeed the League betwixt the Grand Signior and the French
long during which the Wind was very high and stormy which exceedingly tossed us Sunday about break of day we tacked about and stood North East that we might make Candie after two hours sailing the Seamen made something dark on head which they believed to be the Land of Candie we steered our course that way all day long but could not make it plain because of Clouds We continued the same course still till eleven of the clock at night and then began to tack and beat to and again that we might bear in with the Land of Candie It blew very hard all that night and we had a violent storm Munday by break of day we had the Wind at North which being quite contrary for Candie made us resolve to quit our design of standing towards that Island which we had made but very obscurely and to bear away towards Alexandria in Egypt The distance of Candie from Alexandria four hundred miles distant from Candie and therefore we steered our course South-East Towards Evening the Wind abated and we were becalmed until Tuesday Morning when there blew a gentle breeze from South-East which made us turn the ship's head towards the North we were obliged to keep so upon tacks that we might not over shoot Alexandria from which we were not above two hundred fourscore and ten miles Then did every one blame and curse the Sea-man whose errour was the cause that we were not in the Port of Alexandria About six a Clock at Night we tacked about and stood away South-South-West it blew so hard that our Vessel shipped the Sea on both sides one after another Wednesday Morning February the sixth the Wind was so violent that we were afraid we should sail our Masts because the Stays were very slack being loosened by the force of the Wind the day before the Stay is a great Cable that holds the Mastraunt each Mast has one the main Stay which is the biggest is made fast one end to the ship's head and the other to the round top of the main Mast To prevent that disaster all the Sails were furled the ship's head turned North-East and a quarter of an hour after the Stayes being well bent we bore away West-South-West with the missen and foresail the Wind being a little fallen after dinner we spread the main Sail and about six a Clock at Night having tacked about we stood East-North-East the Wind then slackening more and more Thursday Morning we were almost becalmed but about ten of the Clock a South-East Wind blowing again we tacked and bore away South-South-West about six a Clock at Night we tacked again and stood East-North-East Friday about two or three of the Clock in the Morning immediately after the Moon was set the South-East Wind ceased and the so much desired West and North Wind came in place of it which made us turn the ship's head South-East and make all the sail we could but we made but little way for all that the Wind being so easie that it was almost a calm It continued so till about five of the Clock at Night and then the Wind changed to North-West but was so easie that the Sea was very smooth about ten a Clock at Night the Wind chopping about to the North-West in five or six hours time we made a great deal of way there being very little or no Sea going but the Wind freshened afterwards and then we spared sail that we might not run to the Lee-ward of Alexandria the ship's head in the mean time lying still South-East Saturday Morning the Weather was very hazy and a little after we were almost in a calm About eleven a Clock he that looked out made a sail and shortly after another which were known to be Saicks coming from Egypt About two a Clock after Noon the Wind turned South-East and we stood away North-East an hour after it shifted about to the North-East again but was so easie that the Sea was smooth and we steered our course South a few minutes after it turned South-East again but so gentle that the Sea was as smooth as a Looking-glass We sailed South-South-West till six at Night when having tacked we stood away East-North-East About midnight the Wind turned West-South-West and we steered our course South-South-East after an hours sailing we found the Water to be whitish which made us think we were not far from Egypt The Land of Egypt that being the onely mark that can be had for the Land is so low that one cannot make it till he be just upon it especially when it is dark as it was then and that whiteness is occasioned by the Nile which carries it a great way into the Sea. Sunday the tenth of February about break of day it was thought we had seen the Light of Alexandria but it proved onely to be a Saick and because we were apprehensive that we were to the Lee-ward of Alexandria about nine in the morning we tacked about and stood North-West and about three a Clock after Noon tacked again and bore away South-West we had afterwards several Flurries that brought great showers of rain with them which were soon over About five in the Evening the Wind turned West-North-West and we tacked about that we might get to the windward of Alexandria from which we were still about an hundred and ten Miles distant and therefore we bore away North. In this manner we plied to and again against our will and it was our misfortune that we knew not where we were onely because we had not made the Island of Candie An errour of calculation in the sailing from whence with that Wind we might easily have come to Alexandria in two Days and one Nights time and the reason why we made it not plainly was that the Ship had run two hundred Miles more than we had reckoned and that when we thought our selves to be at the beginning of Candie we were almost quite past it as we since observed The Wind blew hard and we had several gusts in the Night time We held on the same course still untill Munday when about eleven a Clock in the Fore-noon we tacked and bore away South-West In the Evening the Moon three hours after the full was eclipsed I cannot tell at what hour that Eclipse began of how many parts it was nor how long it continued because she rose overcast with Clouds so that we could not see her but when she was coming out of the Eclipse as near as I could guess she had then been up near an hour and the Sun had not been set half an hour at which time she was almost half eclipsed The Eclipse decreased from the time we perceived it and ended half an hour after The Almanacks of Marseilles foretold it to be very great about two or three a Clock after Noon and by consequence affirmed that it could not be seen In the Night the Wind abated much and so did the Sea which in the
day time had been very rough and high Tuesday morning the twelfth of February we perceived the Sea very white about us and he that looked out cryed Land some thought it to be Damiette and others Bouquer In the mean time that we might not fall to the Lee ward we continued our course South-West About eight of the Clock we tacked and stood North East and a quarter of an hour after the Wind turning North-West we bore away West-South-West after an hours sailing we found the Water to be so little brackish that it was almost fresh and he that looked out thought he made Rossetto Wherefore thinking that we knew where we were we tacked about and stood away North-North-East About Noon the Wind freshened and at Night turned Northerly but was very gentle about ten of the Clock at Night we tacked and bore away West Wednesday about four in the morning we tacked and steered our course East-North-East and two hours after the Wind blowing fresher we tacked again and stood West-South-West About seven a Clock in the Morning we saw to the Lar-board land very near us which we all took to be the Land betwixt Bouquer and Rossetto so that we continued our course hoping quickly to see the Bouquer and that till eleven in the Forenoon when having discovered the Masts of several Saicks we thought our selves to be off and on with Rossetto and so we found our selves far out in our account wherefore having tacked about we bore away East-North-East about ten of the Clock at Night we tacked again and stood West-South-West and after midnight we had several Flurries Thursday morning the fourteenth of February the Wind slackened a little but we had several gusts till Noon about eleven in the Morning he that looked out made the Bouquer Bouquer and an hour after we easily saw it upon the Deck a little after we made the Farillon or Light-house of Alexandria where we arrived about three in the Afternoon when we entered the Haven by the South CHAP. II. Of some Curiosities observed during the Voyage and in Alexandria IN this Voyage I was convinced of one thing which I had read in the Travels of Monsieur de Breves but could hardly believe it because I had never heard it mentioned by any but him and that is that when sounding upon the Coast of Egypt one has onely forty fathom water it is certain he is just forty miles from land Marks for knowing how near one is to Land upon the Coast of Egypt the depth of the water from forty fathom downwards to one marking exactly the number of miles from the place where one sounds to the Land But under the name of the Coast of Egypt we are onely to understand the Land from Damiette to Rossetto betwixt the two Branches of the Nile for this rule is onely for that extent of Land. Besides the Murenes I mentioned before we took two other fish in our Voyage Porpess to wit a Porpess which was taken with a Fish-gig above Malta over against Cape Passaro Cape Passaro it was about five foot long and almost as big as a man without scales blackish in the back and white in the belly the head of it was about a foot and a half long and a large foot over its eyes as large as a mans and betwixt the two eyes it hath a hole like the mould in the head of a man by which it sucks in and spouts out the Water making it look like a Crown it hath two Cheeks which are onely of fat two Inches thick they begin at the eyes of it and end almost round at the snout which from the Cheeks to the point is about five Inches long and is shaped much like the beak of a Goose the Tongue of it is white a finger thick and two fingers broad it had an hundred threescore and sixteen Teeth all very small Its tail stands another way than the Tails of other fish which are forked upwards and downwards answering to their back and belly for the Tail of this is forked cross ways parallel to its two sides it hath the Yard and Testicles as big and long as those of a Boar and its Entrals wholly resembling those of Swine its skin is all fat a finger thick of which Lamp-oyl is made the flesh of it is like to that of an Oxe and very good I have tasted it and by the sight and taste one would always take it for Beef it hath onely great Bones and no small ones abounds with bloud which is as hot as that of a Beast it moans and sighs like a man and dies not presently when it is out of the Water but beats furiously with the Tail wherein its greatest strength lies A Fish called Fanfre The other Fish which was also taken with a Fish-gig is by the Provincials called Fanfre and is probably the same which the English call the Pilot-Fish there was two of them then together but one escaped the stroak This Fish is shaped like a Mackerel and is of the same length and bigness I found nothing singular in it all the back of it is begirt with streaks two fingers broad the one of a dark purple almost black and the other blew which interchangeably reach from the head to the Tail and the belly of it is white The Seamen say that this Fish coming once up with a Ship never leaves following till the ship come to harbour another being taken two days after they all assured me that it was the companion of the first which had not left off following the Vessel After all to my taste it is an excellent Fish and so it seemed to all those who had eaten of them formerly and also tasted these Seeing there are but few things in Alexandria which I did not observe in my former Travels I gave my self no great trouble to charge my Memoires with them at this time This Town lies exactly in the one and thirtieth degree of latitude and Rossetto is one and thirty and a half at least a Dutch Captain who had taken the height of them assured me of it The most considerable piece of antiquity that still remains there The Pillar of Pompey is that famous Pillar of Pompey whereof as I remember I have already written Nevertheless as I took pleasure to view it over and over again so possibly the Curious will not take it ill that I impart to them my observations I measured the shadow of it at the time when shadows are equal to the bodies which cause them and I found the body of it to be threescore and fifteen foot high without reckoning the Pedestal and Cornish but the shadow was upon a very declining ground Another day when the shadows were the double of the Bodies I found near an hundred and threescore foot onely of the body of it and eight foot of diameter or breadth and I observed that the Pedestal is near twelve foot high All
was advised to it by other Portuguese for he answered haughtily that he would not be taught by any man what he was to do Nevertheless his bravery not succeeding according to his expectation Unseasonable bravery and finding himself hard put to it he became calmer and gave consent but too late to follow that Counsel for the Enemies were under the Walls and at length he was forced to Surrender the place So soon as the Persians became Masters of it they opened the Canal as well knowing the importance of it Oisters at Ormus They catch excellent Oisters about the Isle of Ormus they are as small as English Oisters but so hard that it is not possible to open them with a Knife nay it is not very easie neither to break them with a Hammer The Sand of Oâ—â—…s The Sand of Ormus is also much talked of for the dusting of writing and for that end a great deal of it is Transported into Christendom Lareca A League to the South-West of Ormus is the Isle of Lareca which is longer than Ormus but the Ground as bad and Sandy It reaches in length from North North-West to South South-East and there is nothing remarkable in it unless it be the Fort and that is no great matter neither The Dutch began it under colour of settling a Factory there but the Persians smelling out their design drove them off and finished it it is at present kept by a very few men A little farther off to the West Error in Geography Quesomo South-West about a League and a half from Lareca though it be marked five in the Map is the Isle of Quesomo which is twenty Leagues in length it is Fruitful and well Inhabited and stretches from East to West The Land about Gomron or Bender-Abassi is no better than that of Ormus The Land about Bender-Abassi or Gomron is good for nothing for it is all Sand the water they drink there is brought from a Cistern without the Town they drink also of another which is esteemed better water and that out of a Well three Parasanges distant from the Town in a place called Isin both are very dear because of the trouble in bringing them so far nevertheless the water is very unwholesome because of little Worms that are in it which if they be drank down with the water slide betwixt the Flesh and the Skin Worms between the Skin and the Flesh and fall down into the Legs where they grow to the full length of the Leg and are never bigger than a Lute-string as I have been told for I never saw any of them this causes a great deal of pain they make a little hole in the Skin through which they shew their Head and for a Cure they must be drawn by little and little out of that hole drawing only a little every day and twisting it about a stick according as they draw it out until it be wholely out but this requires a great deal of patience for if they draw too much out at one time or draw too hard it breaks and what remains in the Leg causes racking pains for which there is no other remedy but to lay open the Leg and make the Incision as long as that which remains to be taken out This water has another bad quality in that it swells the Testicles The meat is also very unwholesome at Bender-Abassi and they scarcely eat any but Kids Flesh which is the best of the bad and Pullets In fine the best way to preserve ones Health at Bender-Abassi is to keep a very regular Diet Remedies for keeping ones Health at Bender eating so moderately that one hath always an Appetite to quench a red hot Iron in the water to strain it afterwards through a Linnen Cloath and to be always chearful There is no Pasture-Ground in all that Territory and therefore the Cows Hogs and other Beasts live hardly upon any thing else but Fish-Heads Shell-Fish stones of Dates and a little Hay which is brought some Parasanges off and indeed the Milk tasts altogether Fishy for I speak by experience their Horses they feed with Hay and Barley After all there cannot be a more dangerous Air than that of Comoron especially in Summer when it is so excessively hot Cruel and dangerous heat at Bender-Abassi that the Inhabitants are forced to leave it and remove three or four Parasanges off where most of them live in Tents nay the very Garison of the Fort removes leaving only a few men who are weary of their lives Nevertheless that place so abandoned is in no danger of being surprised because that time is the Winter of the Indies wherein there is such terrible Rain Great Thunderings at Bender Wind and Thunder that it would seem the World were to be reduced to its first Chaos so that during that Season no Ship can keep the Sea where Shipwrack is inevitable And indeed there is but one Season for crossing over to the Indies which the Portuguese have named Mouson Mouson and which they have certainly borrowed from the Arabick word Mouson which signifies Season but in short that word is used in all Languages to signifie the time of Sailing which lasts one half of the Year to wit from the end of October to the end of April Bender has a pretty safe Road for to the North it hath the main Land of Persia The Road of Bender-Abassi to the South the Isle of Ormus and to the South-West Lareca which is to the Westward of Ormus from which it is but a League distant Vessels come to an Anchor in it near to the Isle of Ormus on the West side and to go to the Indies they Sail betwixt the Isle of Ormus which is to the South of Bender-Abassi and the Coast of Arabia Foelix A Parasange to the East of Comoron there is one of those Trees called the Banians Trees because the Banians make commonly Pagods under them Banians Trees the Portuguese call it the Tree of Roots because Roots come out of every Branch that fasten in the Ground and grow as other Trees do in so much that one of these Trees may make a whole Forest I shall not describe it because I never saw it since there was no going thither by reason of the excessive heat The Author saw it since in his Travels in the Indies where he has given a description of it and therefore I refer the Reader to Linschot and Jonston who have given a description of it Under this there is a Pagod or Temple of the Banians I stayed but a week at Bender-Abassi and then was obliged to turn back again there being no probability that I could embark there for the Indies seeing I must have run too great a danger if I had stayed longer for a favourable occasion There were but six Vessels there which were bound for the Indies four Dutch Ships one Armenian and a Moor as for the
rest and which is proportioned to the breadth of the Stairs you continue to go up by the upper part of the Stair-Case which goes contrary to the lower part my meaning is that the upper part of the Stair-Case above the Landing place goes North whereas the lower went Southward and the upper part of the other side which went North below goes Southward above so that these two Stair-Cases which bore off from one another in their first part draw near again in the second and Land in on the same place above and that upper part of the Stair-Case has forty six steps Being come to the top of the Stair-Case you find a Walk and traceing it Eastwards you see two great Pilasters in Front which bear nothing at present but seem to make the two sides of an Entry they appear to be but of one single stone apiece though they be very high On the inside of each of these Pilasters you see the Figure of a Beast cut in Demi-relief but it is hard to tell whether it be a Horse or an Elephant and I should rather take it to be the latter at least it seems to me to resemble that more however it be these Figures are about three Fathom high and are as I said in half body along the inside of the Pilaster one opposite to another the Head turned towards the Terrass-Walk and Stair-Case or if you will towards the Plain Beyond these two Pilasters there are two great Chamfered Pillars in front and which in all appearance are what remains of four in Square Then you find two other Pilasters like to the first with each a Figure on them of an Animal in Demi-relief of the same height and opposite to one another on the inside but the Figures of these seem to be Griffons and they are Back to Back with the Elephants looking Eastward to the Hill whereas the Elephants look Westward to the Plain these four Pilasters with the Pillars seem to have made a Portico Advancing a little forward you find on the Right Hand a great Oblong Square Bason A great Bason two Fathom and a half in length almost as much in breadth and about three Foot deep it is all of a greyish stone Turning from thence to the Right Hand and going about twenty steps Southward you find a second Terrass higher which hath a jutting out in the middle with a Stair-Case on each side there are two others at the two ends of the Terrass but these four Stair-Cases are almost buried under Ground nevertheless one may still see several Figures upon so much of the Terrass-Walls as are above Ground At the least which is as I said by the jutting out in the middle you see a Lion devouring a Bull which is often repeated By the other there are three Ranges of Bas-reliefs representing as I take it Sacrifices Bas-reliefs representing Sacrifices for many persons are there represented as going in Procession one after another and Armed some only with Swords and Daggers others with Swords Bows and Arrows and others again seem to be carrying Vessels There you see also several kinds of Beasts as Sheep Oxen Dromadaries and other Animals When you are at the top of these Stairs you come upon a Platform where there are a great many Pillars some buried under Ground and others broken A place full of Pillars and you only see the Bases of most of them nevertheless there are seventeen still standing and these with the others whereof nothing but the Bases are to be seen make according to my account twelve Ranges from East to West and from South to North in breadth consist of nine Pillars a piece they are about seven Fathom high and at three Fathom distance one from another all Chamfered and some with double Capitals they are all of an extraordinary Order which yet hath great affinity to the Dorick It appears by what remains upon some that all of them have supported Statues or perhaps Idols and at present they serve the Storks to build their Nests on Going on Southward from thence you see a square Building A square building much adorned with Bas-reliefs and part of the Walls thereof still standing It is pierced on all sides with Doors and Windows which are embellished with many Demi-reliefs especially the sides of the Doors which are of big greyish stones as the rest of the Edifice is Upon these sides of the Doors the Figures are much the same as on the rest of the Building and opposite to one another there you see an old Man followed by two Servants one of them holding in both his Hands a great Staff with seven branches at the end of it which uphold an Umbrello just over the Head of his Master the other holds a Manipule in one Hand and in the other a Crosier or crooked Staff liker to Cricket-sticks than the Crosiers carried by Bishops nevertheless by the way of holding it one may judge that it is something resembling a Bishops Crosier for the Crook is carried up over the Masters Head. In some of these Doors there is but one Servant as in the one he only who carries the Manipule and the Crosier and in the others he that holds the Umbrello The Doors of the other two Faces are almost a like and at the side of each Door on the inside you see a Man fighting with a Beast that is erected against him with the Left Hand he holds a short Club over the Head of it and with the Right sheaths a Dagger in its Belly all these are to the natural bigness nay some of them are bigger Next to this Building you see the ruins of a like Fabrick Buildings but hardly any thing standing on the sides of the Doors within there are still to be seen two men each holding a Pike as if they Guarded these Doors along the two sides of these Buildings there is a little Walk about a Fathom and a half broad that runs betwixt the Building and a Wall at the end of this last which is so ruinous you find a double Stair-Case cut in the Rock but it is almost hid under the ruins as well as the Wall betwixt the two which supports the Earth and is full of Demi-reliefs whereof there is no more but the Heads to be seen A little beyond that there is square Terrass not much raised from the Ground A square Terrass and supported by a Wall which is also embellished by several Figures in Demi-relief that are half covered under Ground and in this place there remain many round Bases beyond that Terrass that buts upon a large open places which reaches length from West to East as far as the Hill and fronts towards the South there is no more now remaining one comes down from thence by a pair of Stairs which turning to the Left you find at the side of the Terrass and are made in the Rock it self that in this place supports the Earth Returning back
had in all places not finding above three or four Fathom at most The Wind continued in that corner all day blowing fresher and fresher still and in the evening though the Wind was high yet the Clouds raked contrary to it from North-West to South-East from eight till ten a Clock at night we had several small showers of Rain at length after midnight the Wind changed into the so much desired North-West Wind and blew very hard Sunday the fifteenth of November the other Ships made Sail about break of day and we lay still at Anchor which extremely vexed the Merchants who thereupon came to words with the Captain but he told them that the other Ships were bound for Congo and that his must put into the Isle Carek which was near so that it would be time enough to weigh at noon that we might not run in too near the Land in danger to be cast away by so high a Wind nevertheless to please them he commanded to weigh about seven a Clock in the morning but he made Sail only with Fore-Sail Fore-Top-Sail and Sprit-Sail we Steered our Course South-East and the Ship run about four Miles and a half an hour About six a Clock at night we stood away East and about seven a Clock North-East and then furled all our Sails except the Sprit-Sail and Fore-Top-Sail having then fifteen Fathom water About ten a Clock we furled all our Sails but the Sprit-Sail Monday the sixth of November the Wind ceased about two a Clock in the morning and began to blow again about six but not so strong as the day before that we might not lose it about half an hour after we spread all our Sails and Steered away South-East It was not long before we made the main Land of Bender-Regh to the Larboard About half an hour after nine we made the Isle Carek on Head Cargou and about noon we Sailed near to the Isle Cargou which was to our Larboard This Isle reaches in length from North to South it is but small and all of white Sand which is the reason it is not inhabited it is close by and almost over against the Isle Carek but a little lower towards Bender Regh Then we furled our Mizan and Main-Sail and Steered away South At one of the Clock we found thirteen Fathom water About half an hour after we began to have the Isle Carek on our Starboard and bore away South South-East having then six Fathom water Half an hour after two we had eight Fathom water and turned the Ships Head Head South-West Three quarters after two we came to an Anchor to the East of the Island towards the point of it that looks to the South-East in ten Fathom water There we found one of the three Ships that had left us at Anchor having some Goods to unload but the other two kept out at Sea. The Isle of Carek reaches in length from South-East to North-West Carek it is very narrow and about three or four Leagues in compass it is about twelve Leagues from Bender-Regh and fifty from Bassora This Island is partly hilly and partly plain it produces Wheat Barley Dates and good Grapes there is very good water upon it also which comes from a Hill that has many ancient Wells ten or twelve Fathoms deep dug in the Rock on the top of it and as I was told there are steps in them to go down to the bottom and the people of the Island go thither to take the fresh Air in the Summer-time The water passes at the bottom of these Wells and from thence runs under ground into the Plain near to these Wells there is a Mosque upon the Hill. There may be at least an hundred and fifty Houses in all the Island as I was told but they are scattered up and down and to speak properly they are no more but pitiful Huts nevertheless every one of them has a Well of Spring-water Near to that Isle they Fish for Pearl Pearl-Fishing at the same time they do at Bahrem and I was told that during the season of Fishing which is in May June July and August there are to be seen about this Island above an hundred Taranquins or Fisher-Boats The King of Persia is Lord of it and has a Governour there who depends on the Governour of Bender Regh The people of this Island are all Fishermen and live only on Salt Fish and Dates The Ships that are bound for Bassora commonly touch at this place to take in a Pilot who conducts them to Bassora and brings them back again at four months end to the same Island where they leave him There we left ours Arrival at the Isle of Carek who had been taken in four months before But it was not only to set him a shoar that we touched at that Island our chief business was to unload Goods belonging to Codgiaminas which were Indigo Cloaths and other Indian Commodities brought in the same Ship and which not being disposed of at Bassora through the bad Conduct of the Vikil he was necessitated to reimbark and send them to Carek to be conveyed from thence to Bender-Regh and so to Ispahan Besides they made account to take on Board several Armenian Merchants and their mony who waited on this Island for a passage to the Indies for within these late years the Armenians that they may not pay Custom at Congo have taken the Course to go streight from Schiras to Bender-Regh where there is no Custom-House and from thence pass over to Carek where they wait for the opportunity of some Ships coming that way which may carry them and their mony However the Mouson before some Armenians upon their return from the Indies having put a shoar at Bender-Regh to avoid the Customs of Congo the Customer went to Law with them about it at Ispahan pretending that they ought to pay him the Custom and it was thought that it would cost them at least a good part of the mony which they must have paid at Congo and that for the future there would be a Custom-House established at Bender-Regh The Ships that touch at Carek keep out at Sea to the Westward of it to shun the danger of being cast away in that narrow streight which is betwixt Carek and Cargou As soon as we were come to an Anchor five or six small Taranquins which are those sowed Boats I described before came a Board of us to take in all the Goods that were for Persia which lasted from five till half an hour after seven a Clock at night Our Company were much deceived as to the Armenian Merchants for contrary to their expectation they found not one which was occasioned by a trick of a Dutchman Captain of the Ship called the Masulipatan The trick of a Dutch man. who had given them a cast of his Trade This Ship being gone from Bassora a day before we put out was come to Carek two days sooner than we did the
Captain making use of the occasion failed not to tell the Merchants who waited for our Ship that she would not come this year which they believed to be true and went aboard with their mony on his Ship. All this proceeded from the fault of the Vikil that stayed behind at Bassora who detained the Ship in the Harbour a Fortnight longer than he should have done to get on Board some Goods which payed not above an hundred Piastres Freight and in the mean while he lost the Freight of a great deal of Goods and Mony and of many Passengers that were at Carek Congo and Comoron who embarked in the Ships which touched at these Ports before us When we had put a shoar all the Goods and the Man who was to take care of them we weighed Anchor three quarters of an hour after seven making all the Sail we could and Steering away South South-East with a very easie Wind about ten a Clock we were becalmed till midnight when there blew a little Gale at East but as easie as the former and with it we bore away South Next day about two or three a Clock in the morning we Sailed by the Isle of Rischer which was to our Larboard This Island is very near the main Land and makes a little Port which is called Bender-Rischer a days Journy from Bender-Regh and there is a Fort on it which belonged formerly to the Portuguese At break of day we made two Ships on Head of us one of which had put out from Carek five days before us Half an hour after seven we were off of the Isle of Coucher Coucher that was to our Larboard and is a pretty big Island At eight a Clock we got a Head of one of the Ships that had been before us the other which was at some distance put us into some apprehension for a few hours time for by his manner of working he gave us cause to think that he had a mind to be up with us and we were affraid he might be a Corsair but at length he Steered the same Course that we did About ten a Clock we were becalmed Three quarters after twelve the Wind being Southerly we Steered away East A quarter after two we Steered South-East Three quarters after three a Clock the Wind chopping about to South-West we stood away South South-East And thus the Wind being but very easie did nothing but chop and change until the evening that we were becalmed Wednesday the eighteenth of November towards day having an easie Gale from East South-East we Steered our Course South South-West about half an hour after nine it blowing hard from South we bore away West South-West About three quarters of an hour after ten the Wind turned South South-East and we Steered East Half an hour after noon the Wind slackened much and about five a Clock in the evening we were becalmed About half an hour after nine we made a Sail to the Windward of us and another on Head but a great way before us we cast the Lead and found seventeen Fathom water At ten a Clock at night the Wind turned East South-East and blew pretty hard and we Steered away South South-West finding only thirteen Fathom water when we heaved the Lead After midnight we past Cape Verdestan which was to our Larboard This is a very dangerous Cape and one night several Portuguese Ships being Land-lockt there when they thought themselves far enough off of it were cast away We Sailed within three or four Leagues of it and when it was day saw it a Stern of us About half an hour after nine the Wind turned South South-East and we Steered East About noon we saw several Taranquins Half an hour after one the Wind turned South South-West and we bore away South-East We were then off and on Cape Naban to our Larboard Cape Naban and made it but very dimly but coming up more and more towards it we made it very plain and saw along the Sea-side Rocky Hills which seemed to be very steep and at the foot of them a great many Palm-Trees We continued our Course off and on with these Rocks till five a Clock that we saw the end of them at least in this place they run far up into the Land and leave a very level Coast in this low Country is the Village called Naban which gives the name to the Cape Here we cast the Lead and found only seven Fathom water there is but little water all along that Coast and therefore we presently tackt and stood off to the West about ten a Clock at night the Wind turned North-East and we Steered away South South-East Friday the twentieth of November by break of day we made the three Ships that put out the same day with us from Bassora two of which were at a pretty good distance to the Starboard and the other very near a Head of us it was this last which some days before we had taken for a Corsair we made also to our Larboard the Land of Persia but at a great distance A quarter after nine a Clock in the morning having a very easie Gale from North North-West we put out our Main and Fore-Top-Galant-Sail and kept on our Course South South-East in a short time we left all the other Ships a Stern About noon the Wind blew much fresher and about three a Clock we stood away East South-East about five a Clock we took in our Top-Galant-Sails the Mizan and Mizan-Top-Sails because it would have been dangerous to have made so much way in the night-time that was now coming on for we might have run within Land considering that the Wind freshened more and more and we bore away South South-East that we might keep without the Isle of Lara If it had been day we would have Steered our Course betwixt the main Land and that Island but we durst not venture it in the night-time being safer to leave it to the Larboard we made account to have Sailed by that Island about midnight but we saw it not though we had all along light enough to discern a little of the main Land near to which it lyes We concluded then that we had past that Isle of Lara in the night-time but next day we found that we were out in our reckoning Nevertheless seeing we did not find out our mistake till after noon about six a Clock in the morning we Steered away East bearing in towards the Land for fear we might be cast too far to the Leeward of Congo About half an hour after six our Long-Boat that was fastened to the Stern filled full of water and sunk under the surface of the Sea we presently furled all Sails but the Sprit-Sail and three Seamen swam to the Boat to fasten another Rope to it which they held by the end then they went into it and we halled it to the Leeward side of the Ship and took out a little Anchor that was in her this being done our
South South-East from the Town There were four Ships at Anchor there already and the same day four more came after us on their way from Bassora to Surrat CHAP. II. The Continuation of our Voyage from Bassora to the Indies COngo a little Town in the Kingdom of Persia lyes twenty seven degrees Congo and fifteen minutes North Latitude it stands upon the Sea-side almost at the foot of a blackish Rock which is very near the shoar and for some thousands of paces reaches from West to East it shelters all the Town from the North Wind and behind it there is a high white Hill as all the Hills along the Coast of Persia are white This Town lyes in length from West North-West to East South-East it is but very small and has a little Castle defended by three pieces of Cannon It has a safe Road for Ships though they be often tossed by high Winds whilst we were there it blew so strong an East Wind for four days time that no Boat could come or go a shoar and all the Ships that were at Anchor drove except ours though they had two Anchors a piece a broad but they being small Anchors took no strong hold in the ground but easily came home we rode it out very well with a great Anchor and all that we were affraid of was least the other Ships that drove might run foul of us as indeed it happened one night when the Wind having broken the Cables and forced a Turkish Ship from two Anchors if she had not had a third which they speedily let fall she would have put us in danger for she was just upon our Head nevertheless I never heard of any Ship cast away in that Road. The Territory of this Town is of small extent consisting of a little Plain that is to the Eastward Westward and Northward of the Town betwixt it and the Rock but this spot of ground produces good Fruits as Figs Grapes good Quinces Pears Oranges Limons very large and good Pomegranats Melons Water-Melons and plenty of good Turneps it produces also Palm-Trees and two kinds of Indian Trees to wit Mango-Trees Mango Trees Arbor de Reyzes and those Trees which are by the Portuguese called Arbor de Reyzes that is to say the Tree of Roots because their Branches take Rooting in the ground They have Schiras Wine there but it is very dear and good Brandy made of Dates There are Sulphur-Hills near this Town and Ships take in great quantities of it in flat Cakes of two or three pound weight a piece to be Transported to the Indies It is very hot in this Town but the Air is good the Water is brackish and taken out of Wells there is some pretty good but that is only for the richer sort because it is dear being brought upon Asses a Parasangue from the Town and after all it is but Well water and hath always some bad relish This Town depends on the Chan of Lar in whose absene the Schah-Bender that is to say Customer or to render it word for word King of the Port for so they call the Customers in Persia governs all This Custom-House receives a great deal of mony both for Goods Imported and unloaded there and for the Commodities of Persia that are Exported from that Port to the Indies especially within these two last years that Ships go but very seldom to Bender-Abassi because of the exactions and extorsions of the Governour of that place exacting seven Tomans for Anchorage whereas at Congo they pay much less Less to be payed at Congo than Bender-Abassi Half of the Customs of Congo belong to the King of Portugal which makes Ships from all quarters come thither when formerly they never touched there unless they had been obliged to put into it for water One half of the profit of that Custom-House belongs to the King of Portugal who after the loss of Ormus still so infested the King of Persia by his Ships that continually kept cruising along that Coast that the Persian was constrained to make peace with him upon Conditions of which this was one that he should have the half of the profits of those Customs and five Persian Horses every year and therefore the King of Portugal keeps an Agent there who has the Portuguese Colours aloft upon his House The Portuguese Augustine Monks have also a Convent and Church there The Dutch were accustomed to send a Factor thither yearly to buy the Pearls of Bahrem which are for the most part brought thither it being but fifty Leagues from Congo to Bahrem and the Pearls that go from thence to Bassora being but the smaller but this present year one thousand six hundred sixty five they have begun to settle a permanent Factory there Being at Congo I had thoughts of leaving the Ship Hopewel and to take the opportunity of a Bark for the Sindy Sindy which is the hither part of the Indies and the place where the River of Indus discharges it self into the Sea. I had two reasons to incline me to this the first that I might the more regularly make the Tour of the Indies and besides I was willing to learn at a distance news of some Hollanders my enemies who were at Surrat before I came too near them Since I had the same design at Bassora where there were two good Barks each mounted with six Brass Guns ready to set Sail for the Sindy I was resolved to have taken passage in one of them and for that end had spoken to the Reis who was a Turk of Bassora but the War of the Basha supervening he caused those Barks to be unloaded of their Goods and loaded with Corn for the Castle of Corna where he designed to maintain the brunt of the War and besides he made account in case he should be overcome to put on Board those two Barks the best of his Goods and make his escape with them not into Persia where the last time he had taken refuge there they would have Arrested him but to the Indies In the mean time that unexpected War broke all my Measures and left me none other to take for the same design because there was not a Ship at Bassora bound for that Voyage and that a little before hoping to have a passage in one of these two Barks I had let slip the occasion of a Galliot going to Congo where she expected to take in mony and then continue her Course to Sindy finding my self frustrate of my expectation I was obliged to take Shipping in the Hopewel that being come to Congo I might take the occasion of a Bark for Sindy In the beginning of December they put out from Congo for the Indies for every year in the beginning of December several small Barks Sail from Congo to Sindy but we found none there but the Galliot which set out from Bassora there being no other to make the Voyage this year I made enquiry whether or not it was
hour after eight we had seven Fathom water About ten a Clock seven Fathom a Foot less About half an hour after eleven seven Fathom and then we set the Ships Head East South East but at midnight held our Course South Next morning half an hour after five we had thirteen Fathom water and were almost at an equal distance from the Isle of Queschimo which was to the North-East of us the Isle of Nabdgion or Pitombo South South-West of us and the Isle of Tonbo South East from us and we bore away East Queschimo is a great Isle but low Land though it hath several Hillocks Queschimo yet they are all so low that Sailing along this Island on any side you may see the Mountains of the main Land over it It lyes in length East and West is not very broad but twenty Leagues long it is to the East of Congo and West South-West from Comoron it is a fruitful and well inhabited Island the West end of it not being above a good League and a half from Congo and the East end about a League from Bender-Abassi On the East part of this Island there is a Fort before which Ships may come to an Anchor in six Fathom water to take in fresh water which is very good in this place The Portuguese formerly held this Fort and it may be worth the observing that though the Island be very near the main Land yet Barks and Galliots pass betwixt the two Nabdgion or Pitombo is a little low Desart Island lying South Nabgion or Pitombo Tonbo South-East from Queschimo Tonbo is another little low flat Island and Desart affoarding only a great many Antelopes and Conys It lyes to the East of Nabdgion or Pitombo and South from Congo from which it is but four Leagues distant Manuel Mendez who had much experience in those Seas being very young when he came into that Country where he hath during the space of many years made several Voyages made me observe that if any one should build a Fort on that Island and keep some Men of War there he might easily raise a Toll upon all the Ships that Trade in those Seas for they must of necessity Sail near to that Island on the one side or other Towards the South-East it has fifteen or twenty Wells of good water but especially one that is excellent and a good Road before it When the Portuguese were possessed of Mascate they came every year with some Galliots to the Isle of Tonbo to receive the Tribute that was paid them in all the Ports of those Seas and brought thither by those who were obliged to pay it The yearly Tribute they had from the Isle of Queschimo consisted of five Persian Horses and two Falcons Congo payed four hundred Tomans Bahrem sixteen thousand Abassis and Catif the half of the yearly profits of its Customs as for Bassora there was a Portuguese Agent that resided there who received a Chequin a day of the Basha and as often as the General came to that Town the Basha made him a Present This Island is encompassed all round with Banks under water nevertheless there is almost every where four six eight nay in some places nine Fathom water About half an hour after seven the Wind slackened much and we Steered South South East about eleven a Clock we found nine Fathom water and seeing we were almost becalmed and the Tide cast us to the Westward we were obliged to drop an Anchor half an hour after one a Clock at noon We were some three Leagues off of Sannas which was to the West North-West of us to the North-West and by West it makes a Peak but the Hill is higher than the Peak we went thither to take in water for the water is very good there though it be about two Leagues from the West point of Queschimo which was to the North-West of us About four a Clock we had a Breeze from South South-West which made us Steer our Course South-East About six a Clock we had twenty Fathom water Half an hour after seven the Wind turned North-West and we bore away East at eight a Clock we found eighteen Fathom water half an hour after that eighteen and a half and we stood away East and by North. About nine a Clock the Wind freshened a little and we had twenty Fathom water at ten a Clock we had one and twenty and about half an hour after ten we Steered our Course East Wednesday the ninth of December about day break the Wind ceased and we Steered still East the Isle of Angom was to the North-East of us and not far off and on the other side to the South-East we had a Port of Arabia Foelix called Julfar which is a good Harbour where many Indian Barks carrying mony come to buy Dates Julfar Pearl-Fishing and Pearls which are Fished all along that Coast from Mascat to Bahrem there is a good Castle at Julfar From that Port to the Cape of Mosandon the Coast of Arabia the Happy is all Mountanous bearing South-West and North-East and runs so near the Persian shoar that there is but five Leagues betwixt the main Land of Mosandon and the Isle of Lareca which is close by Comoron Betwixt Julfar and Mosandon Good Ports in the Gulf which are not set down in the Maps there are a great many good Ports that are not set down in the Maps where notwithstanding several Ships may safely Winter secure from all Winds and there is every where very good water About half an hour after seven in the morning the Wind turned North-East and we Steered our Course East South-East We were then off and on with the Point of Angom which bears West North-West Angom Angom is a little low Island to the South of Queschimo and reaches along Queschimo from West North-West to East South-East no body lives in it but two or three Fishermen who keep some Goats which they sell to Ships that come there to take in fresh water where it is very good Though this Island be very near to Queschimo yet Ships may pass betwixt them and all that take in water there shoot the Streight About noon we bore away South-East and at one a Clock having cast the Lead we had eight and thirty Fathom water we were then becalmed and made no way but by the Tide of Ebb which cast us upon Arabia so that we were obliged to stand off of it as far as we could to turn the Ships Head East North-East nevertheless towards the evening we were got very near the Mountains of Arabia wherefore to keep off of that shoar as much we could we Steered away North-East and by East and the Tide of floud did us some service About seven a Clock the Wind seemed as if it would get in to North but it blew so gentlely that it hardly curled the water Thursday the tenth of December about half an hour after four in the morning we
Wind did nothing but chop and change from North-East to South-East and all that while we kept on our Course as much as the little Wind that then blew would allow us At one of the Clock we were got very near Lareca standing North and by East and therefore we tacked about and bore away South and by East the Wind being then East and by North. About two a Clock we stood South-East and by South About seven a Clock it blew hard from North-East and we Steered our Course East South-East About eight a Clock it blew a stiff Gale from South South-East and we Steered East .. Three quarters after eight it got into South and we bore away East South-East a quarter of an hour after we had some Rain In this manner every hour or every half hour the Wind shifted about and with every change we had a scud of Wind and Rain which obliged us to furl all our Sails but the Fore-Sail but so soon as the flurry was over the Wind was but very easie Thus all night long we had flurries and changes of Wind. Sunday the thirteenth of December at six a Clock in the morning the Wind turned East South-East and we stood away South We had to the Starboard the Land of Arabia and the four Isles of Selame of which the biggest bore West and by South of us on our Larboard we had the Land of Persia part whereof called Marsan bore South-East of us and we made particularly one Hill of that Land shaped like a Sugar-Loaf About seven a Clock the Wind shifted into South-East but it was an easie Gale and we Steered East North-East About nine a Clock we had the biggest of the Isles of Selame to the South-West and by West of us and the Port of Lima to the South-West and by South Lima is a very good Port in Arabia the happy where several Ships may Winter secure from all Winds and there is good water there At noon the Wind turning South westood away East South-East At two a Clock it shifted about to South South-West and we Steered South-East Half an hour after three we tacked and bore away West At five a Clock the biggest of the Isles of Selame bore West South-West from us About seven a Clock we tacked and stood away South-East At midnight we tackt again and Steered West Monday morning at six of the Clock the Wind being at South-East we Steered our Course South South-West Half an hour after eleven we bore away East South-East because the Wind had chopt about to the South and at one a Clock being got South South-West we Steered South-East and at two of the Clock South South-East the Wind having veered about to South West Thus did we trip to and again in that Streight the Wind continually shifting and turning though it held always Southerly and seeming to play with us for it happened exactly that when we were towards the Coast of Arabia the South-West Wind that was good for us changed to South-East and when we were on the Coast of Persia the South-East that then was fair to bring us forward changed to South-West In the mean time every body was much surprised that the South Wind continued so long and an Armenian told me that in the space of eigthteen years that he had yearly made that Voyage he never knew it blow so long at a time In November December and January The East Wind commonly reigns in those quarters The proper season for Sailing to the Indies and therefore the proper Mouson for going from Persia to the Indies in a short time is in March April and the beginning of May. However we still advanced forwards a little because we had the Currents with us for from the end of July until January the Currents set from the Indies towards Ormus and from January till the month of August they set from Ormus towards the Indies About five a Clock at night being got very near a low point of Land in Persia Nataly called Nataly we cast the Lead and found twelve Fathom water and muddy ground immediately after having cast it out again we had but six Fathom water and a sandy ground which made us tack about and the rather because the Wind was South South-West we had then the biggest of the Isles of Selame to the West North-West of us Half an hour after six the Wind turnning South we stood away West South-West and in the night-time made two tacks more Tuesday the fifteenth of December about seven a Clock in the morning we were close in with the Land of Arabia and the Wind was then at South South-East and therefore we stood away East but about nine a Clock the Wind shifting to South-East we were obliged to tack and stand away South South-West About eleven a Clock the Wind came to South and we Steered North and by East that we might put into Lareca and Ormus and wait for a favourable Wind in one of those two Islands being weary of beating up and down in this manner and making no progress in our Voyage which only wore our Sails and besides we made account to take in water there for we were apprehensive it might fall short In the mean time this design was not without contradiction on the part of the Mate and Sea-men as well as of the Merchants who could not willingly resolve to lose that little way we had made however the Captain did as he intended and in the sequel they were all glad of it when about half an hour after three they perceived the Heavens over-cast with thick Clouds which shortly after broke out into bitter gusts of Wind and Rain Other Spouts with three Spouts more but at a distance from us Then did all applaud the Captains Orders every one being of opinion that if we had been surprised with that storm in the Streight where we were in the morning we should have been hard put to it and it even appeared visibly to us to be more violent in that part than any where else Nevertheless as it is usual with those kind of Men never to fear danger but when it is present no sooner did it begin to blow from South-West about five a Clock but the Merchants persuaded the Mate to pray the Captain to set Sail again and pursue our Course he presently condescended out of spight for he no ways approved the design nor indeed had he reason a fierce Wind still blowing with several Gusts and flurries however he ordered to Steer away South South-East About six a Clock at night the so much longed for North Wind began to blow but it was so high that we could carry no Sails but the Fore-Sail and Sprit-Sail and there went a rough Sea on Head that furiously beat against the Ship in the mean time we Steered away South and by East that we might not be Land lockt by the Cape of Mosandon which we had on Head. About seven a Clock the Wind
slackened much and we let loose the Main-Sail though we had still several gusts of Wind and Rain we had besides the Currents to struggle with which turned the Ships Head towards the Coast of Arabia with so much force that it was sometimes above a quarter of an hour before the Ship could be brought about again to our right Course of South and by East The Sea became smoother in the night-time though the Wind freshened a little Wednesday the sixteenth of December about break of day we made on Head six of the Ships which we left at Congo that were not to set out till some days after us during the late storms they had kept at Anchor at the Isle of Angom and the Wind being good this last night they had set Sail and coasted along Arabia and when we made them they were Steering away South-East to double Cape Jasques Half an hour after nine we set our Main-Top-Galant-Sail About a quarter after four a Clock we were got within a League and a half of the shoar of Persia off and on with a place where there are high white Hills a little up on the Land which with a blackish Rock that ranges all along the Sea-side makes a very pleasant prospect for seeing at a distance over that black a great many pieces of white Rock that rise in various figures one would take it to be a City and to the South of that imaginary Town upon the same Hill there is a piece of whiteish Rock broken off from the rest which looks like a Tower or Pillar upon a high Pedestal from thence it is but a League to Bombareca Bombareca Half an hour after five we were off of Bombareca which is only a very high square white Rock and flat on the top it seems to be very steep and at a distance one would take it for a square Fort this Rock is very near the Land and it is dangerous to approach it because it is surrounded with a Bank of Sand. A little after we came up with the Ships that were on Head of us and after the Selame or mutual Hailing they told us that it was but six days since they parted from Congo they had all signed Indentures to go in Consort and not to leave one another till they came to Surrat nevertheless one of them Hailed us and told us that if we would go in Consort with him he would leave the rest and our Captain and the Mate whose Brother was Mate of the other Ship having made answer that they were content he packt on all the Sail he could and followed us About six a Clock we got a Head of the Headmost of all the Ships and our Men handed the Main-Top-Galant-Sail and would have furled the Main-Sail to stay for our Consort who was a Stern of us but the Captain would first have the consent of the Souhreseart who was not of the same mind saying it was better to make the best of our way whilst the Wind was good so that we only took in our Main-Top-Galant-Sail and Steered our Course South-East and by South The Sea-men in the mean time kept a heavy muttering that we should leave the other Ship after we had promised to stay for her and occasioned her leaving of the rest but the clutter was far greater when our Mate who had turned in came out after an hours sleep and not seeing our Consort would needs spare Sail for when he was told what resolution had been taken he made a fearful noise complaining of our breach of promise but after all he was fain to have patience CHAP. IV. Of the rest of the Voyage to the Indies An Invention for Reckoning the Ships way WEdnesday about Sun set we began to keep reckoning of our way which is done in this manner At the Stern of the Ship they heave out a little piece of board about half a Foot long four Inches broad and very thin and smooth which is fastened to a Line at the same time they turn a minute Sand-Glass which is the sixtieth part of an hour and so long as this minute is running they veer off the Line but stop it so soon as the the Glass is out and when they have pulled it up they reckon how many Fathom have run off in that minutes time allowing for every seven Fathom a Miles running in an hour But it is to be observed that before the Glass be turned they let off with the Log fourteen Fathom of the Line and these fourteen Fathom are not accounted in the reckoning for they reckon none but those that run off whilst the Glass is running and therefore there is a mark to distinguish the beginning from the end of the first fourteen and at the instant that that mark begins to go off they turn the minute Glass This reckoning is found by experience to be pretty just and thereupon I told our Captain that I had seen the English do the same thing in the Mediterranean save that they did not allow those fourteen first Fathom and that they used but half a minute Glass or the hundred and twentieth part of an hour and that nevertheless they reckoned seven Fathom of the Line that run off during that minute for a Mile an hour of the Ships way that according to that reckoning he ought to allow fourteen Fathom for an hour his being a minute Glass and cut off these first fourteen He made me no other answer but that the Currents of the Ocean were stronger than those of the Mediterranean nevertheless one would think that since they reckon not those fourteen Fathom and turn not the Glass till they be run out they are altogether useless unless it be perhaps that they let them run off to the end that when those which they reckon begin to run the Log may be so far off that the Sea which beats against the Ship may not drive it neither forwards nor backwards and indeed before the Glass be turned they take notice whether or not the Log runs streight in the Ships wake and there is a red mark at the place where they begin to reckon to prevent their being mistaken otherwise if they should reckon as soon as they heaved out the Log the Ship runs some times so fast that they would not have time to consider whether or not the Log weâ—t streight in the Ships way Once an hour they heave that Log and then mark down every time how many knots or Fathoms of the Line has run out and every day at noon they cast up the account of their running so that they reckon by this means how many Miles the Ship has run in four and twenty hours that is to say from noon of the preceeding to noon of the present day and this they set off with a Compass upon the Sea Chart that they may know where the Ship is Though this be a very useful invention yet it is not too much to be relyed upon else
any flurry of Wind or rough water for the Sea was not at all moved At the same time these Storms began to appear in the Air others began to work in our Captains Head which caused a real Tempest in the Ship. He had drunk several Cups of Brandy which began to heat his Brains however he ordered the Sails to be taken in as it is usual when they see a Storm a comeing but presently after a fancy taking him in the Head that they accused him of timorousness and saying that he had heard some say he was affraid though no body had spoken a word he fell into a sudden rage and to shew that he was a Man of Courage commanded all the Sails high and low to be set again though the Mate prayed him not to do it and that the Sea-men stayed two or three Orders before they obeyed him which incensing him the more he swore that the Sails should stand whatsoever weather blew that he might make those dy for fear that had said he was affraid adding a thousand more impertinent raveings Never did Captain on a Stage shew so many Rodomontadoes and that for several hours during which he tried all the Ships patience without the least word of answer from any Man. At four a Clock the Wind turning West we stood away East South-East Half an hour after four we had a great shower of Rain which soon was over and immediately after the Wind fell a shifting into all the Points till at length it settled at North-East and we bore away East South-East In the mean time all our Sails were abroad except the Main-Top-Galant-Sail which he had likewise caused to be put on but was immediately after taken in About six a Clock the Wind veering about to East we Steered away South South-East At seven a Clock we were more becalmed than before and we turned the Ships Head East and by South Wednesday morning the three and twentieth of December one of our Sea-men took with a Hook a Fish called a Dorado Dorado a Fish which was about two Foot long and four Inches broad from the middle of the Back to the middle of the Belly but not very thick the Skin a long the Back and half way the Sides of it was of a Violet blue and the Belly of a yellowish white but full of little round Violet coloured specks it had along the Back a blue Skin streatched as it were upon little bones or prickles which made it bristle up about an inch and a half high the Eyes of it were large and round under the Gills it had on each side a Fin three Fingers breadth long which stood out very streight and two others under the Throat near one another and another at the Roots and then widening by degrees to the points it had two more of the same fashion near the Tail but it had no Teeth It was very brisk and lively when it was pulled out of the water but as the force of it spent that Skin which before was streatched like a piece of Cloath upright upon the Back of it flagged and fell flat to the Body as well as its Fins They told me that there were some of those Fish a Fathom and a half long that they call them Doradoes that is to say gilt because the ground of their Skin is in some manner of the colour of Gold the English call them Dolphins It is good meat and of easie digestion the Flesh of it is firm and delicate and it feeds on a kind of small flying Fish which being pursued rise out of the water and fly above a Ships length falling sometimes into Ships as one did into ours On Sunday the seven and twentieth of December I handled and considered it at leisure it was shaped like a Herring and seven inches long the Back of it was of a very dark blue and the Belly white on each side it had a Wing almost five inches long and about four inches broad these Wings are only a thin Skin of a very obscure blue colour streatched upon little Nerves or Bones which reach from the side of the Fish to the extremity of the Skin When it is pursued by the Doradoes it leaps out of the Water and flies in the Air so long as the Wings of it are moist and when they dry it falls again into the water When these Wings are dry they fold together like a Fan and that Fishes Wings which I Handled were folded in that manner it is very good to eat We could have no Observation at noon because the Sun was over Clouded and must then be satisfied with our dead reckoning according to which we had made but nine Leagues from noon to noon At eight a Clock at night a Coal of fire fell out of a Tobacco-Pipe into the Gun-Room through the hole of the Whip-staff and by good fortune the two Women slaves of Manuel Mendez who lodged in that place soon perceived it and put it out and then being all in a fright they cried out for help they who had done this were enquired after but in vain for it was impossible to find out the Authors had not God in his great mercy preserved us from the danger of that accident we must all have unfortunately perished Thursday the four and twentieth of December at four of the Clock in the morning there fell a great deal of Rain and it continued showring by intervals with great Thunder-Claps till half an hour after six when the Rain was quite over we had a good Wind from North-West which made us run a League and a half an hour but it was close weather and the Captain ordered to Steer away East whereby we altered our Course and stood in to Land when I asked him the reason of it he told me he was affraid he might find the Wind at East North-East which would force us out from the place to which we were bound but the truth was he had a mind to make the Land that he might know where we were for neither he the mate nor Gunner could tell it At eight a Clock the Wind turned Easterly and we stood away South South-East At nine a Clock it shifted to South-East and we Steered South which was a very bad Course for following it we must have run far below the place whither we were bound About ten a Clock the Wind being got into the South South-East we bore away East but all of a sudden the Wind slackened At noon we had the Wind at South and we Steered away East South-East We could have no Observation this day neither because of Cloudy weather and they found by their dead Reckoning that we had made nine Leagues most of this way we had made since six a Clock in the morning for the eighteen hours before we had advanced but little or nothing at all A quarter after twelve the Wind turned South-West and we Steered our Course North-East but we were presently after becalmed
At two a Clock we had a breeze from North-West and we bore away South-East and by East About six a Clock the Wind slackened much About seven a Clock our Ships Head stood South-East Friday the five and twentieth of December at six a Clock in the morning it blew a West North-West Wind and we steered on our Course still South-East About seven a Clock the Sky was overcast with Clouds which brought Rain with them and we saw some more Spouts at a pretty good distance and a Weather-Gall this Weather-Gall was like a Segment of a Rain-Bow rising from the Horizon about three degrees or if you will it seemed to be three Foot high Sometimes they appear over a Ship and that is commonly a presage of a Tempest and the Portuguese call this Phenomenon an Oxes Eye About eight a Clock it blew a pretty fresh Gale from North but immediately it veered about to North-East and became very weak At noon we were by our Observations in three and twenty degrees two and fifty minutes Latitude and had made from noon to noon thirteen Leagues Then the Captain and Mate made account that we were eight or ten Leagues off of the Land of Sindy and about five and twenty Leagues from Jaquelte for my part by what I could make out by my Map we were twenty Leagues off Malan and to the Southward of Malan and forty Leagues from Sindy and near threescore Leagues from Jaquelte and this agreed with the Gunners Observation but he durst not say any thing for fear of quarelling with the Captain who thought every body ignorant in respect of himself and nevertheless it was found afterwards that he and the Mate were in the mistake About four a Clock the Wind turned East South-East and we Steered North-East About five a Clock we had a great shower of Rain from a thick Cloud over head which being past we had the Wind at South-East and bore away North-East Half an hour after six we had Rain again with Lightning but we were becalmed and turned the Ships Head North-East At seven a Clock the Wind turned South and by East and we bore away East and by South Half an hour after ten we were becalmed but about eleven a Clock had a great flurry which made much noise at first and this made us furl all our Sails but a great shower of Rain soon carried it off and the Sea being smooth we Steered away South-East and by South At midnight we cast the Lead but though they veered out sixty Fathom of Rope yet we had no ground which was like to have made the Captain mad for shame for he believed us to be very near Land and he fell into a Passion with the Mate saying that he had not left importuning him for two days to heave out the Lead We were all night becalmed though at times we had several showers of Rain Saturday the six and twentieth of December about seven a Clock there blew a gentle Gale from East North-East which made us Steer away South-East and by South About half an hour after nine the Wind being all Easterly we stood away South-East then master Manuel Mendez who perceived very well that no body knew where we were advised the Captain to stand in to Land and gratifie the Pilot which highly offended him saying that since they took him for an ignorant blockhead for the future he would only sleep and take his rest and let the Ship go which way she pleased and that to content us he would put back and make the Land at Jasques however this went no farther About ten a Clock the Wind turned East North-East and we stood away South-East At noon the Gunner found by his Observations that we were in twenty three degrees forty five minutes the Captain in twenty three degrees five minutes and the Mate in twenty three fifteen minutes and in four and twenty hours we had only made about six Leagues That day we began to see of those Birds which the Portuguese call Rabo de Junco Rabo de Junco a Fowl. and are a kind of Sea-Mews only they are bigger and have the Tail all of a piece and pointed like a Rush wherefore they are called Rush Tails and they keep upon the water as the Sea-Mews do At one a Clock the Wind slackened and chopped into the East and we Steered South and by East About four a Clock we tackt and stood away North. About half an hour after five the Wind having veered about to East North-East we Steered South-East About half an hour after seven the Wind turned North-East and by East About ten a Clock it was full North-East and we bore away East South-East Sunday morning the seven and twentieth of December at five of the Clock the Wind turned East and by North and we Steered our Course South-East and by South About nine a Clock we bore away South-East because the Wind was at East North-East and blew pretty fresh Our Officers took an Observation at noon and were again of different opinions the Captain had two and twenty degrees fifty two minutes the Mate twenty three and the Gunner three and twenty degrees and two minutes and in twenty four hours we had made fourteen Leagues In the Evening a flying Fish leaped into our Ship. The Wind freshened so much in the night-time that we were obliged to furl our Top Sails Monday noon the twenty eighth of December the Captain found out by his Observation that we were in the Latitude of twenty two degrees eight minutes and the Gunner in twenty two degrees eighteen minutes in four and twenty hours we had made fourteen Leagues That day we saw a great many Weeds or Herbs floating upon the water which the Portuguese call Sargaso Herb Sargaso and that is one sign of being near the Land of the Indies many such are also to be seen towards Brasil The stalk of that Herb is small blackish and as supple as a hair the Leaves of it are long and narrow and a little jagged besides the Leaves it hath a great many small clear and transparent Berries as soft as little Goosberries that stick to the stalk This Herb grows upon the Rocks in the Sea and being torn off by storm it floats upon the water till it be cast a shoar About two in the afternoon the Wind slackened much and therefore we spread our Main-Top and Fore-Top-Sails the Sea which had been very high before growing calm and smooth within a few hours Tuesday morning the nine and twentieth of December about seven a Clock the Wind was at North North-East and we Steered our Course East At noon the Gunner found that we were in one and twenty degrees forty four minutes Latitude and that in the space of twenty four hours we had made thirteen Leagues and a half at midnight we Steered East and by South that we might keep off of the Banks that are towards Diu our Company thinking themselves nearer to
it than indeed they were Next morning we saw two Snakes upon the water Snakes upon the water are a sign of the nearness of Land. which occasioned great joy in the Ship for when they begin to see Snakes it is an infallible mark that they are not above forty Leagues off the Land of the Indies wherefore one may boldly come to sounding and indeed when at nine a Clock we heaved out the Lead we found fifty three Fathom water At noon by the Gunners Observation we were in one and twenty degrees thirty three minutes Latitude having in the last twenty four hours run five and twenty Leagues and a half we sounded a second time and had forty Fathom water whereupon we stood away South-East and by East that we might not run upon the Land of Diu where we had nothing to do and which is the Rendez-vous of the Malabar Corsairs and the Zinganes Half an hour after five in the evening we had but thirty five Fathom water and then we saw upon the water a great many little yellow Snakes a Foot long and as big as ones little Finger which made us know that we were near the Coast of Diu along which the Snakes are small for from thence forwards along the Coast of the Indies they are big That we might not then run within Land we stood away South-East About six a Clock we began to see some Excrements of the Sea which the Provensals call Carnasse the Italians Potta-Marina Carnasse or Potta Marina or Alfareca and the Portuguese call Alfareca I fancy that I have seen the figure and description of them by the name of Potta-Marina in a Treatise of Fabius Columna de Conchis which is at the end of the Treatise de Plantis of the same Author Our Ships Company told me it was like a frothy Flesh which the Fish eat and when it touches a Mans Flesh it sticks to it like Glew and puts him to hot stinging pains This puts me in mind that heretofore being at Calais a Gentleman of Honour told me that in the Sea of Calais there were some certain Sea-Excrements which stung and occasioned such burning pains when they touched a Mans Flesh that he had seen some Soldiers of the Garison run about the streets roaring and crying out like Mad-men through the violence of the pain they suffered by these Excrements which had touched their Flesh when they washed themselves in the Harbour and that this pain lasted two or three days In all probability those Excrements he spoke to me of were Carnasses If the Translatour be not mistaken the English call that Excrement a Carvel We saw so great a quantity of them all the evening that sometimes they made the Sea look all white and they lay as it were in veins so that to judge by the sight one would have taken them for great Banks of Sand but of a very white Sand or else for Rivers of Milk and certainly a Man that had never seen them nor been told what they were would think himself to be upon a Bank of Sand. No sooner was one of these veins past but we saw another a coming and each of them was above five hundred paces in length and proportionably broad Those that floated along the Ships side lookt like so many very clear Stars and at first I took them for sparks that are many times seen to flash out of the Sea when the water is very rough but having observed that they lost not their splendour as commonly that sort of sparks does which disappear as soon as they are seen I took notice of them to the Captain and the rest that were upon the Quarter Deck and asked them what they were they all told me they were Carnasses and they knew by that that we were near Land for these Excrements are not commonly seen but very near the shoar and are the fore runners of a Gale of Wind but when the Captain considered them and saw them coming in so great a quantity he acknowledged to me that he had never seen so many of them together and about eight a Clock the Lead being heaved out we found thirty Fathom water After eight a Clock we saw no more Carnasses A little after eight the Wind blew very fresh which made us take in the Main-Top-Sail At the same time we perceived to the Windward at East North-East a great light which all presently knew to be some great fire a shoar and we saw many such until midnight which confirmed us in the opinion that we were very near the Land of Diu. Wherefore we Steered on our Course South-East bearing rather to South than East About eleven a Clock the Wind slackened much Thursday the last day of the year one thousand six hundred sixty five about three a Clock in the morning the Wind turned North-East and we still Steered our Course South-East About break of day we made to the Leeward South of us a great Ship with all Sails abroad even their Top-Gallant-Sails though it was no good weather for carrying such Sails which made us conclude it was the Masulipatan which put out from Congo the same day that we did in the morning and which we thought had been at Comoron In all appearance he took our Ship for an English man for the Captain of the Masulipatan was a Hollander and therefore he had put out his Top-Gallant-Sails to run for it and the truth is he made so good way that in an hours time he was got almost out of fight Half an hour after six we cast out the Lead and had thirty five Fathom water According to the Gunners Observation at noon we were in twenty degrees forty minutes Latitude and in four and twenty hours time we had made seven and twenty Leagues and a half We were then becalmed and half an hour after five we had thirty three Fathom water At eight of the Clock at night we had a small Gale from North-East which made us Steer away East South-East At midnight having sounded we found still thirty three Fathom water Friday New-years-day one thousand six hundred sixty and six at five a Clock in the morning we had twenty six Fathom water At break of day we made to the Leeward South South-East of us the same Ship which we saw the day before but somewhat nearer to us We also made Land which was known to be the Point of main Land Point of Diu. The Isle of Diu belonging to the Portuguese Alambater called the Point of Diu and immediately after we made the Island which bears the same name and is near the main Land of the Country of Cambaya This Island was anciently called I think Alambater lyes in the Latitude of twenty degrees forty minutes or one and twenty degrees the Portuguese are masters of it and have a Town there of the same name with the Island and a Fort which is thought to be impregnable being surrounded with two Ditches filled with the
Provinces of Judostan to those which his Father left him died in the Year 1604. Gehanguir Selim his Eldest Son was immediately Crowned by the Name of Gehan-guir and having Reigned Three and twenty Years and enlarged the Conquest he died in the Year 1627. After his death his Grandson Boulloquoy Reigned about Three Months Bulloquoy but he was strangled by Order of Sultan Corom a Rebel Son of Gehanguir Corom who having made sure of the Empire Chagehan took to himself the Name of Chagehan in the Year 1628. Seeing Blood and Rebellion raised him to the Throne he had experience of the same disorders amongst his Children which he had caused to his Father for through their jealousie his Empire was almost always in confusion Auranzeb and at length fell into the hands of Auranzeb the Third of his Four Sons who Reigns at present In mounting to the Throne this Prince imitated the crimes of his Father for he put to death Dara his Eldest Brother imprisoned Mourad his other Brother who confided in him and clapt up his own Father in Prison The death of Chagehan who died Five or Six Years after about the end of the Year 1666. The Great Mogul is certainly a most Powerful Prince The Power of the Mogul as we may Judge by his Riches Armies and the number of People that are within the extent of his Empire His yearly Revenues they say mount to above Three hundred and thirty French Millions The Canon Name The Registred Forces of the Mogul which is a Register containing a List of his Forces makes it appear that that Prince entertains Three hundred thousand Horse of which betwixt Thirty and Thirty five thousand with ten thousand Foot are for a Guard to his Person both in time of Peace and War and are commonly quartered in those places where he keeps his Court. This Empire extends from East to West above Four hundred Leagues and from North to South above Five hundred and that vast space excepting some Mountains and Deserts is so full of Towns Castles Burroughs and Villages and by consequence of Inhabitants who till the Land or emprove it by manufactures and the commerce which that Country affords that it is easie to judge of the Power of the King who is Master thereof The true bounds of his Empire are to the West The bounds of Mogulistan Macran or Sinde and Candahar to the East it reaches beyond the Ganges to the South it is limited by Decan the great Sea and the Gulf of Bengale and to the North by the Tartars The exageration of many Travellers concerning the extent of the Countries of this great King of the Indies was the cause that I made it my business to consult the most knowing Men that I might learn what they thought of the greatness of it and what now I write is their Opinion They affirm not as some do that when the Mogul makes War The true Forces of the Mogul he sends Three hundred thousand Horse into the field They say indeed that he pays so many but seeing the chief Revenues or to say better the rewards of the Great Men consist particularly in the pay which they have for more or fewer Troopers it is certain that they hardly keep on Foot one half of the Men they are appointed to have so that when the Great Mogul marches upon any expedition of War his Army exceeds not an Hundred and fifty thousand Horse with very few Foot though he have betwixt Three and four hundred thousand Mouths in the Army Besides I was informed by any Indian who pretends to know the Map of his Country that they reckon no more but twenty Provinces within the extent of Mogulistan in the Indies and that they who have reckoned more have not been well informed of their number since of one Province they have made two or three This Indian had a list of the Princes Revenues calculated for the twenty Provinces and I made no doubt of the truth of his System Twenty Provinces or Governments in Mogulistan but I had rather call them Governments and say that every Government contains several Provinces I shall observe the Revenues of the Governments in the discription I give of them and shall call each Government a Province that I may not vary from the memoires which I have and as I entered the Indies by the Province of Guzerat so I shall describe it before the others CHAP. IV. The Province of Guzerat Guzerat THe Province of Guzerat which was heretofore a Kingdom fell into the Possession of the Great Mogul Ecbar about the year 1565. He was called into it by a great Lord to whom the King of Guzerat Sultan Mamoet gave the general Government thereof when being near his death he trusted him with the tuition and regency of his only Son in the Year 1545 or 1546. during the Reign of Humayon the Father of Ecbar Government The ambition of that Governour who was envied by all the great Men of the Kingdom of Guzerat that were his declared Enemies and against whom he resolved to maintain himself at the cost of his own lawful Prince made him betake himself to the King Mogul under pretext of soliciting his protection for his Pupil named Mudafer who was already of Age but not yet of sufficient Authority to maintain his Guardian against the faction of the great Men whom he had provoked Mudafer King of Guzerat Ecbar seizes Guzerat Ecbar entered Guzerat with an Army and subdued all those who offered to make head against him and whom the Governour accused of being Enemies to his King But instead of being satisfied with one Town which with its Territories had been promised him he seized the whole Kingdom and made the King and Governour Prisoners That unfortunate Prince being never after able to recover it again not but that having made his escape he attempted once again to have reestablished himself but his efforts were in vain Mudafer kills himself for he was overcome and made Prisoner a second time so that despair at length made him destroy himself Guzerat a pleasant Province This is the pleasantest Province of Judostan though it be not the largest The Nardaba Tapty and many other Rivers that water it render it very fertile and the Fields of Guzerat look green in all the seasons of the Year because of the Corn and Rice that cover them and the various kinds of Trees which continually bear Fruit. The most considerable part of Guzerat is towards the Sea on which the Towns of Surrat and Cambaye stand The Ports of Surrat and Cambaye whose Ports are the best of all Mogulistan But seeing Amedabad is the Capital Town of the Province it is but reasonable we should treat of it before we speak of the rest Departure from Surrat to Amedabad The Boats on the Tapty incommodious February the First I parted from Surrat to go
of Marble The Sepulchre of the Governour of the King of Guzerat which a King of Guzerat raised in Honour of his Governour whom he loved exceedingly but it is kept in bad repair It contains three Courts in one of which are several Pillars of Porphyrie that still remain of a greater number There are many Sepulchres of Princes there also An Hospital for sick Beasts Heretofore there was in Combaye an Hospital for Sick Beasts but it hath been neglected and is now fallen to ruin The Suburbs are almost as big as the Town and they make Indigo there Indigo at Cambaye The Sea is half a League distant from it though heretofore it came up to the Town and that has lessened the trade of the place because great Ships can come no nearer than three or four Leagues The Tides are so swift to the North of the Gulph that a Man on Horse-back at full speed cannot keep pace with the first Waves and this violence of the Sea is one reason also why great Ships go but seldom thither The Dutch come not there but about the end of September because along the Coast of India that looks to Arabia and especially in this Gulf of Cambaye it is so bad for Ships in the beginning of this Month by reason of a violent West-wind that blows then and which is always accompanied with thick Clouds which they call Elephants because of their shape that it is almost impossible to avoid being cast away Having satisfied my curiosity as to what is remarkable in Cambaye Ways to return to Surrat I took leave of my Friends and there being several ways to go from thence to Surrat I advised which I had best to take One may go by Sea in four and twenty hours Almedie in an Almadie which is a kind of Brigantine used by the Portuguese for Trading along that Coast But these Vessels go not commonly but in the night-time that they might not be discovered by the Malabars The Gulf of Cambaye dangerous In the day-time they keep in Harbours and in the evening the Master goes up to some height to discover if there be any Malabar Barks at Sea. The Almadies Sail so fast that the Malabars cannot come up with them but they endeavour to surprise them and when they discover any one in a Harbour Malabar Gorsars they skulk behind some Rock and fall upon it in its passage Many of these Almadies are lost in the Gulf of Cambaye where the Tides are troublesome and the Banks numerous and that 's one reason why Men venture not to go to Surrat this way by Sea unless extraordinary business press them There is another way still by Sea which is to pass through the bottom of the Gulf in a Chariot over against Cambaye at low Water and one must go three Leagues and a half in Water which then is betwixt two and three foot deep But I was told that the Waves beat so rudely sometimes against the Chariot that it required a great many hands to keep it from falling and that some mischance always happened which hindred me from undertaking that course though I knew very well that when I was past it I had no more but eight and twenty Leagues to Surrat And therefore I chose rather to go by Land what danger soever there might be of Robbers as I was assured there was When my Friends found I was resolved to go that way they advised me for my security to take a Tcheron with a Woman of his Caste or tribe Tcheron to wait upon me till I were out of danger but I refused to do it and found by the success that I had reason to do as I did These Tcherons are a Caste of Gentiles who are highly esteemed amongst the Idolaters They live for most part at Baroche Cambaye and Amedabad If one have any of these with him he thinks himself safe because the Man acquaints the Robbers they meet that the Traveller is under his guard and that if they come near him he will cut his own Throat and the Woman threatens them that she 'l cut off one of her Breasts with a Razor which she shews them and all the Heathen of those places look upon it to be a great misfortune to be the cause of the death of a Tcheran because ever after the guilty person is an eye-sore to the whole tribe he is turned out of it and for his whole life-time after upbraided with the death of that Gentil Heretofore some Tcherons both Men and Women have killed themselves upon such occasions but that has not been seen of a long time and at present they say they compound with the Robbers for a certain Sum which the Traveller gives them and that many times they divide it with them The Banians make use of these People and I was told that if I would employ them I might be served for two Roupies a day Nevertheless I would not do it as looking upon it to be too low a kind of Protection So then I ordered my Coach-man to drive me the same way I came and to return to Souzentra that I might go to Surrat by the ordinary way though the compass he fetched made my Journey longer by seven Leagues and a half For all the caution I could use my men lost their way beyond Petnad and we found our selves at the Village of Bilpar the inhabitants wherof who are called Gratiates Gratiates are for the most part all Robbers I met with one of them towards a little Town named Selly he was a fellow in very bad cloaths carrying a Sword upon his Shoulder he called to the Coach-man to stop and a Boy about Nine or Ten years old that was with him ran before the Oxen My Men presently offered them a Pecha which is worth about ten French Deniers and prayed the little Boy to be gone but he would not till the Coach-man growing more obstinate obliged the Man to accept of the Pecha These Blades go sometimes in whole troops and one of them being satisfied others come after upon the same Road who must also be contented though they seldom use violence for fear of offending their Raja I wondered how that Gratiate being alone durst venture to set upon so many but the Coach-man told me that if the least injury had been offered to him he would have given the alarm by knocking with his Fingers upon his Mouth and that presently he would have been assisted by his Neighbours In the mean time this small rancounter convinced me that there was not so great danger upon the Roads as some would have made me believe We found our way again shortly after We then crossed the River of Mahy Mahy a River The Raja of the Gratiates makes good Robberies and coming out of it I gave half a Roupie to the same Gratiates whom I payed as I went to Amedabad The role belongs to the Raja of the Country who
four Leagues and a half and to go to it by Land they cross the River at the Town All Vessels heretofore came to an Anchor in this Port where the Ground is good but because the Customs were often stolen there it is prohibited and no Ship hath gone thither since the Year One thousand six hundred and sixty but the English and Dutch who are suffered to Anchor there still and have their several Magazins in that place That Port affords them a fair opportunity of getting ashore what they please Custom-free and the Coaches of the Governours Commanders or Presidents of these two Nations who often take the Air thereabouts might easily carry off any thing of small bulk from on board their Ships They have even Gardens at Soualy by the Sea-side and each a small Harbour where they put their Boats or Barks so that it is their own fault if they save not a great many things without paying Custom Since the Prohibition made to other Nations of coming to Anchor at Soualy there are always a great many Vessels at the Bar though it be an incommodious Road for them for Ships come from Persia Arabia Faelix and generally from all Countries of the Indies as formerly so that the Prohibition of putting in to Soualy hath nothing lessened the Customs which yield the King yearly twelve Lecks of Roupies each Leck being worth about an hundred thousand French Livres The Master of the Custom-House is a Moor and has his Commission from the Governour of Surrat The Clerks are Banians and the rest of the Officers of the Custom-House as Waiters Porters and others are also Moors and they are called the Pions of the Custom-House CHAP. XVI Of the Irruption of Sivagy IN January 1664. Sivagy Raja Sivagy put the Customers and their Governour to a strange plunge and seeing he is become famous by his Actions it will not be amiss I think to give a short History of him The History of Raja Sivagy This Sivagy is the Son of a Captain of the King of Visiapours and born at Bassaim being of a restless and turbulent Spirit he rebelled in his Fathers life-time and putting himself at the Head of several Banditi and a great many debauched Young-Men he made his part good in the Mountains of Visiapour against those that came to attack him and could not be reduced The King thinking that his Father kept intelligence with him caused him to be arrested and he dying in Prison Sivagy conceived so great a hatred against the King that he used all endeavours to be revenged on him In a very short time he plundered part of Vifiapour and with the Booty he took made himself so strong in Men Arms and Horses that he found himself able enough to seize some Towns and to form a little State in spight of the King who died at that time The Queen The Queen Regent of Vifiapour who was Regent having other Affairs in hand did all she could to reduce Sivagy to duty but her endeavours being unsuccessful she accepted of the Peace he propoposed to her after which she lived in quiet In the mean while the Raja who could not rest plundered some places belonging to the Great Mogul which obliged that Emperour to send Forces against him under the conduct of Chasta-Can his Uncle Chasta-Can Uncle to the Mogul Governour of Aurangeabad Châ—sta-Can having far more Forces than Sivagy had vigorously pursued him but the Raja having his retreat always in the Mountains and being extreamly cunning the Mogul could make nothing of him However that old Captain at length thinking that the turbulent Spirit of Sivagy might make him make some false step judged it best to temporize and lay a long while upon the Lands of the Raja This Patience of Chasta-Can being very troublesome to Sivagy he had his recourse to a Stratagem A Stratagem of War. He ordered one of his Captains to write to that Mogul and to perswade him that he would come over to the service of the Great Mogul and bring with him five hundred Men whom he had under his Command Chasta-Can having receiv'd the Letters durst not trust them at first but receiving continually more and more and the Captain giving him such reasons for his discontent as looked very probable he sent him word that he might come and bring his Men with him No sooner was he come into the Camp of the Moguls but he desired a Pass-port to go to the King that he might put himself into his Service But Chasta-Can thought it enough to put him in hopes of it and kept him with him Sivagy had ordered him to do what he could to insinuate himself into the favour of Chasta-Can and to spare no means that could bring that about to shew upon all occasions the greatest rancour and animosity imaginable and in a particular manner to be the first in Action against him or his Subjects He fail'd not to obey him He put all to Fire and Sword in the Raja's Lands and did much more mischief than all the rest besides which gained him full credit in the Mind of Chasta-Can who at length made him Captain of his Guards But he guarded him very ill for having one Day sent word to Sivagy that on a certain Night he should be upon Guard at the General 's Tent the Raja came there with his Men and being introduced by his Captain Sivagy surprizes Chasta-Can came to Chasta-Can who awaking flew to his Arms and was wounded in the Hand however he made a shift to escape but a Son of his was killed and Sivagy thinking that he had killed the General himself gave the signal to retreat He marched off with his Captain and all his Horse in good order He carried off the Generals Treasure and took his Daughter to whom he rendered all the Honour he could He commanded his Men under rigorous pains not to do her the least hurt but on the contrary to serve her with all respect and being inform'd that her Father was alive he sent him word That if he would send the Summ which he demanded for her Ransom he would send him back his Daughter safe and sound which was punctually performed He wrote afterwards to Chasta-Can praying him to withdraw and owned that the stratagem that had been practised was of his own contrivance that he hatched a great many others for his ruine and that if he drew not off out of his Lands Chasta-Can retires for fear of Sivagy he should certainly lose his Life Chasta-Can slighted not the Advice He informed the King that it was impossible to force Sivagy in the Mountains that he could not undertake it unless he resolved to ruine his Troops and he received Orders from Court to draw off under pretext of a new Enterprize Sivagy in the mean time was resolved to be revenged on the Mogul by any means whatsoever provided it might be to his advantage and knowing very well that the Town
Friends pour odoriferous Oyles into it and in a short time both the Bodies are consumed In other places the Bodies are carried to the River-side in a covered Liter and being washed they are put into a hutt full of odoriferous Wood if they who are dead have left enough to defray the Charges When the Wife who is to be burnt hath taken leave of her kindred and by such Galantries as may convince the Assembly which many times consists of the whole Caste that she is not at all afraid of dying A Woman that endeavours to shew a fearlesness before she is burnt Pits wherein the Bodies of the Husband and Wife are burnt she takes her place in the Hutt under the head of her Husband which she holds upon her knees and at the same time recommending her self to the Prayers of the Bramen she presses him to set fire to the Pile which he fails not to do Elsewhere they make wide and deep Pits which they fill with all sorts of combustible Matter they throw the Body of the deceased into it and then the Bramens push in the Wife after she hath Sung and Danced to shew the firmness of her resolution and sometimes it happens that Maid-Slaves throw themselves into the same Pit after their Mistresses to shew the love they bore to them and the Ashes of the burnt Bodies are afterwards scattered in the River In the other places Interment of Bodies the Bodies of the dead are interred with their Legs a cross their Wives are put into the same Grave alive and when the Earth is filled up to their neck they are strangled by the Bramens There are several other kinds of Funerals among the Gentiles of the Indies but the madness of the Women in being burnt with their Husbands is so horrid that I desire to be excused that I write no more of it To conclude Mahometanisme in the Indies is a happiness for the Women The Women are happy that the Mahometans are become the Masters in the Indies to deliver them from the tyranny of the Bramens who always desire their death because these Ladies being never burnt without all their Ornaments of Gold and Silver about them and none but they having power to touch their Ashes they fail not to pick up all that is pretious from amongst them However the Great Mogul and other Mahometan Princes having ordered their Governours to employ all their care in suppressing that abuse as much as lies in their power The Mahometan Governors endeavour to hinder the burning of the Indian Women it requires at present great Solicitations and considerable Presents for obtaining the permission of being burnt so that the difficulty they meet with in this secures a great many Women from the infamy they would incur in their Caste if they were not forced to live by a Superiour Power The end of Mogolistan THE THIRD PART OF THE TRAVELS OF Mr. de Thevenot BOOK II. Of the INDIES CHAP. I. Of Decan and Malabar DEcan was heretofore a most powerful Kingdom Decan hath been a great Kingdom if one may believe the Indians it consisted of all the Countries that are in that great Tongue of Land which is betwixt the Gulfs of Cambaye and Bengala all obeyed the same King nay and the Provinces of Balagate Telenga and Baglana which are towards the North were comprehended within it so that it may be said that at that time there was no King in the Indies more powerful than the King of Decan but that Kingdom in process of time hath been often dismembred The Arrival of the Portuguese in the Indies and in the beginning of the last Age when the Portuguese made Conquests therein it was divided into many Provinces for they found there the Kings of Calecut Cochin Cananor and Coulam upon the Coast of Malabar Another King Reigned at Narsingue there were some Common-wealths in it also and the Dominions of him who was called King of Decan reached no further than from the limits of the Kingdom of Cambaye or Guzerat to the borders of the principality of Goa which did not belong to him neither Calecut was the first place of the Indies Calecut which the Portuguese discovered in the year One thousand four hundred and ninety eight under the conduct of Vasco de Gama The King of Calecut who at first received them friendly would at length have destroyed them at the instigation of Arabian Merchants and the greatest Wars they had in the Indies was against that King. The King of Cochin made Alliance with them and the Kings of Cananor and Coulam invited them to come and Trade with them Malabar Malabar which is the Countrey of all these Kings begins at Cananor and ends at Cape Comory the most powerful of all these Princes was the King of Calecut Samorin or Emperour who took the Quality of Samorin or Emperour The Port of Calecut lying in the Latitude of eleven degrees twenty two minutes is at some distance from the Town before the coming of the Portuguese it was the most considerable Port of the Indies for Commerce and Ships came thither from all parts The Town has no VValls because there is no ground for laying a Foundation upon for water appears as soon as they begin to digg There are no good Buildings in Calecut The Town of Calecut but the Kings Palace and some Pagods the Houses joyn not they have lovely Gardens and of all things necessary for life there is plenty in that Town Cochin King of Cochin The King of Cochin was a most faithful Friend to the Portuguese for for their sake he was deprived of his Kingdom by the King of Calecut but they restored him and gained so much upon him that he gave them leave to build a Fort in that part of the Town which is called Lower-Cochin upon the Sea side The Fort of Cochin taken from the Portuguese by the Dutch. to distinguish it from the Higher-Cochin where the King resides and from which it is distant a quarter of a League The Portuguese have held that Fort a long time but three or four years since it was taken from them by the Dutch. The Port of Cochin The Port of Cochin is very good there is six Fathom water close by the Shoar and upon a Planc one may easily come from on Board the Vessels The Town of Cochin is about thirty six Leagues from Calecut it is watered by a River Abundance of Pepper at Cochin A Man with a leg like an Elephant and there is plenty of Pepper in the Countrey about it which is fruitful in nothing else There are People in that Countrey who have Legs like an Elephant and I saw a Man at Cochin with such a Leg the Son Inherits not after his Father because a Woman is allowed by the custom to lye with several Men so that it cannot be known who is the Father of the Child she brings forth
served in his Conquests by some Mahometan Captains whom he much esteemed for their Valour he contracted with his Successour that he should leave them in the Governments of the Countries where he had placed them The truth is The new King not only confirmed them therein but that he might please Chahalem the more augmented their Governments and honoured them with a particular confidence These Captains maintained splendidly the power of their Master as long as Chahalem lived but after his death which happened in the Year One thousand five hundred and fifty his Successour having been defeated by the Mogul Humayon who returned into the Indies with the assistance that Chah-Tahmas King of Persia gave him at the Sollicitation of his Sister these Traitors instead of owning their Benefactor as they ought to have done by their Loyalty combined against him and killed all his faithful Friends A great Treason they seized his own person and having shut him up in the Castle of Beder kept him there till he died under the strickt Guard of one of the Conspirators they next invaded his Countreys divided amongst themselves his Provinces and formed them into Kingdoms The three chief Conspirators were Nizam-Cha Coth-Cha and Adil-Cha these three Usurpers made themselves Kings The Usurpers of Decan The settlement of three Kingdoms and established the Kingdoms of Viziapour Bisnagar or Carnates and Golconda Viziapour fell to the share of Nizam-Cha who is said to have been an Indian and of the Royal Blood Bisnagar to Adil-Cha and Golconda to Cobt-cha and the Successours of these several Kings have since continued to take the name of their Founders As many other Captains were concerned in the Conspiracy so were other Principalities erected in Decan but most of them fell under the power of the first three or of their Successours These three Princes possessed their Kingdoms without trouble so long as they lived together in good Intelligence and they defeated the Army of the Mogul in a famous Battel but they fell a clashing amongst themselves about the end of their Reigns and their Children succeeded to their Misunderstandings as well as to their Dominions to which the cunning of the Moguls did not a little contribute These have by degrees taken from them the Provinces of Balagate Telenga and Baglana or at least the greatest part of them Auran-Zeb and Auran-Zeb seized of a great many good Towns in Viziapour when he was no more as yet but the Governour of a Province which would not have happened if the King of Bisnagar had assisted his Neighbour as he ought to have done The want of assistance on that Kings part so exasperated the King of Viziapour that he no sooner made peace with the Mogul in the year One thousand six hundred and fifty but he made a League with the King of Golconda against the King of Bisnagar and entered into a War with him they handled him so very roughly that at length they stript him of his Dominions The King of Golconda seized those of the coast of Coromandel which lay conveniently for him and the King of Viziapour having taken what lay next to him pursued his Conquest as far as the Cape of Negapatan so that Adil-Cha was left without a Kingdom and constrained to flie into the Mountains where he still lives deprived of his Territories His chief Town was Velour Velour five days Journey from St. Thomas but that Town at present belongs to the King of Viziapour as well as Gengi and several others of Carnates Gengi Carnates Bisnagar This Kingdom of Carnates or Bisnagar which was formerly called Narsingue began three days Journey from Golconda towards the South it had many Towns and the Provinces thereof crossed from the coast of Coromandel to the coast of Malabar reaching a great way towards the Cape of Comory it had Viziapour and the Sea of Cambaye to the West and the Sea of Bengala to the East what of it belongs to the King of Viziapour is at present governed by an Enuch of Threescore and ten years of Age Raja Couli called Raja-Couli who conquered it with extraordinary expedition That Raja to whom the King gave the surname of Niecnam-Can which is as much as to say Lord of good renown is the richest Subject of the Indies Whil'st I was in Carnate the Kings of Viziapour and Golconda attacked a certain Raja who had a Fort whither he retreated betwixt the two Kingdoms there he committed an infinite number of Robberies and in the last War that the Great Mogul made in Viziapour that Raja set on by the Mogul made considerable incursions into the Countreys of the two Kings which made them force him to the utmost extremity so that they took his Fort made him Prisoner and seized all his Riches Viziapour The Kingdom of Viziapour is bounded to the East by Carnates and the Mountain of Balagate to the West by the Lands of the Portuguese to the North by Guzerat and the Province of Balagate and to the South by the Countrey of the Naique of Madura whose Territories reach to the Cape Comory This Naique is tributary to the King of Viziapour as well as the Naique of Tanjahor to whom belonged the Towns of Negapatan Trangabar and some others towards the coast of Coromandel when the King of Viziapour took them Negapatan fell since into the hands of the Portuguese but the Dutch took it from them and are at present Masters of it The Danes have also seized a place where they have built a Fort towards Trangabar which is distant from St. Thomas five days Journey of a Foot-post which they call Patamar The Pagod of Trapety As to the famous Pagod of Trapety which is not far from Cape Comory it depends on the Naique of Madura it consists of a great Temple and of many little Pagods about it and there are so many Lodgings for the Bramens and the Servants of the Temple that it looks like a Town There is a great deal of Riches in that Pagod The King of Viziapour The King of Viziapour is the most potent Prince of all those of Decan and therefore he is often called King of Decan His chief City is Viziapour which hath given the name to the Kingdom and he hath many other considerable Towns in his Provinces with three or four Ports to wit Carapatan Dabul Raja-pour and Vingourla but I am informed that Raja Sivagy hath seized some of them not long since The Town of Viziapour The Town of Viziapour is above four or five Leagues in circumference it is fortified with a double Wall with many great Guns mounted and a flat bottomed Ditch The Kings Palace is in the middle of the Town and is likewise encompassed with a Ditch full of water wherein there are some Crocodiles This Town hath several large Suburbs full of Goldsmiths and Jewellers Shops yet after all there is but little Trade and not many things remarkable in it
An Orphan adopted and made King of Viziapour The King who Reigns in Viziapour at present was an Orphan whom the late King and the Queen adopted for their Son and after the death of the King the Queen had so much interest as to settle him upon the Throne but he being as yet very young the Queen was declared Regent of the Kingdom Nevertheless there has been a great deal of weakness during her Government and Raja Sivagy hath made the best on 't for his own Elevation CHAP. III. Of Goa Goa THe Town of Goa with its Isle of the same name which is likewise called Tilsoar borders upon Viziapour directly Southward it lies in the Latitude of fifteen degrees and about forty minutes upon the River of Mandona which discharges it self into the Sea two Leagues from Goa and gives it one of the fairest Harbours in the World some would have this Countrey to be part of Viziapour but it is not and when the Portuguese came there it belonged to a Prince called Zabaim who gave them trouble enough nevertheless Zabaim Prince of Goa Albuquerque made himself Master of it in February One thousand five hundred and ten through the cowardize of the Inhabitants who put him into possession of the Town and Fort and took an Oath of Allegiance to the King of Portugal This Town hath good Walls with Towers and great Guns and the Isle it self is Walled round with Gates towards the Land to hinder the Slaves from running away which they do not fear towards the Sea because all the little Isles and Peninsules that are there belong to the Portuguese and are full of their Subjects This Isle is plentiful in Corn Beasts and Fruit and hath a great deal of good water The City of Goa is the Capital of all those which the Portuguese are Masters of in the Indies The Arch-Bishop Vice-Roy and Inquisitor General have their Residence there and all the Governours and Ecclesiastick and secular Officers of the other Countries subject to the Portuguese Nation in the Indies depend on it The death of Albuquerque The death of St. Francis of Xavier Albuquerque was buried there in the year One thousand five hundred and sixteen and St. Francis of Xavier in One thousand five hundred fifty two The River of Mendoua is held in no less veneration by the Bramens and other Idolaters than Ganges is elsewhere and at certain times and upon certain Festival days they flock thither from a far to perform their Purifications It is a great Town and full of fair Churches lovely Convents and Palaces well beautified there are several Orders of Religious both Men and Women there and the Jesuits alone have five publick Houses few Nations in the World were so rich in the Indies as the Portuguese were before their Commerce was ruined by the Dutch but their vanity is the cause of their loss and if they had feared the Dutch more than they did they might have been still in a condition to give them the Law there from which they are far enough at present There are a great many Gentiles about Goa some of them worship Apes and I observed elsewhere that in some places they have built Pagods to these Beasts Most part of the Gentiles Heads of Families in Viziapour The way of the Banians dressing their Victuals dress their own Victuals themselves he that do's it having swept the place where he is to dress any thing draws a Circle and confines himself within it with all that he is to make use of if he stand in need of any thing else it is given him at a distance because no body is to enter within that Circle and if any chanced to enter it all would be prophaned and the Cook would throw away what he had dressed and be obliged to begin again When the Victuals are ready they are divided into three parts The first part is for the Poor the second for the Cow of the House and the third Portion for the Familie and of this third they make as many Commons as there are Persons and seeing they think it not civil to give their leavings to the poor they give them likewise to the Cow. CHAP. IV. Of the Kingdom of Golconde Of Bagnagar THe most powerful of the Kings of Decan next to Viziapour is the King of Golconda His Kingdom borders on the East side Golconda upon the Sea of Bengala to the North upon the Mountains of the Countrey of Orixa to the South upon many Countries of Bisuagar or Ancient Narsingue which belongs to the King of Viziapour and to the West upon the Empire of the Great Mogul by the province of Balagate where the Village of Calvar is which is the last place of Mogolistan on that side There are very insolent collectors of Tolls at Calvar Calvar and when they have not what they demand Li li li. they cry with all their force their Li li li striking their Mouth with the palm of their Hand and at that kind of alarm-bell which is heard at a great distance naked Men come running from all parts carrying Staves Lances Swords Bows Arrows and some Musquets who make Travellers pay by force what they have demanded and when all is payed it is no easie matter still to get rid of them The bounds of Mogulistan Mahoua The boundaries of Mogulistan and Golconda are planted about a League and a half from Calvar They are Trees which the call Mahoua these mark the outmost Land of the Mogul and immediately after on this side of a Rivulet there are Cadjours or wild Palm-trees planted only in that place to denote the beginning of the Kingdom of Golconda wherein the insolence of collectors is far more insupportable than in the confines of Mogolistan for the duties not being exacted there in the Name of the King but in the Name of private Lords to whom the Villages have been given the Collectors make Travellers pay what they please We found some Officers where they made us give fifty Roupies in stead of twenty which was their due and to shew that it was an Extortion of the Exactors they refused to give us a note for what they had received 16 Officers in 23 Leagues and in the space of three and twenty Leagues betwixt Calvar and Bagnagar we were obliged with extream rigour to pay to sixteen Officers Bramens are the Collectors of these Tolls and are a much ruggeder sort of People to have to do with than the Banians The Road from Calvar to Bagnagar Malaredpet 3 or 4 Leag from Calvar Bouquenour a Town Mellinar 6 Leag from Malaredpet Dgelpeli 6 Leag from Mellinar Marcel 3 Leag from Degelpeli Bagnagar 4 Leag from Marcel In our way from Calvar to Bagnager we found no other Town but Buquenour but there are others to the right and left we passed by eighteen Villages The Nadab or Governour of the Province lives in the little Town of Marcel and we
are above four Foot Diametre and hard by there is a kind of Mahometan Chappel This Tanquie was made at the charges of a rich Banian named Gopy Gopy who built it for the publick and heretofore all the Water that was drank in Surrat came from this Reservatory for the five Wells which at present supply the whole Town were not found out till long after it was built It was begun at the same time the Castle was and they say that the one cost as much as the other It is certainly a Work worthy of a King and it may be compared to the fairest that the Romans ever made for publick benefit But seeing the Levantines let all things go to ruine for want of repair it was above six Foot filled with Earth when I saw it and in danger sometime or other to be wholly choaked up if some Charitable Banian be not at the charge of having it cleansed Having viewed that lovely Reservatory The Princesses Garden we went a quarter of a League farther to see the Princesses Garden so called because it belongs to the Great Moguls Sister It is a great Plot of Trees of several kinds as Manguiers Palms Mirabolans Wars Maisa-trees and many other planted in a streight line Amongst the Shrubs I saw the Querzehere or Aacla of which I have treated at large in my Second Part and also the Accaria of Egypt There are in it a great many very fair streight Walks and especially the four wich make a Cross over the Garden and have in the middle a small Canal of Water that is drawn by Oxen out of a Well In the middle of the Garden there is a Building with four Fronts each whereof hath its Divan with a Closet at each corner and before every one of these Divans there is a square Bason full of Water from whence flow the little Brooks which run through the chief Walks After all though that Garden be well contriv'd it is nothing to the gallantry of ours There is nothing to be seen of our Arbours Borders of Flowers nor of the exactness of their Compartments and far less of their Water-works About an hundred or an hundred and fifty Paces from that Garden The War-tree we saw the War-tree in its full extent It is likewise called Ber and the Tree of Banians as also the Tree of Roots because of the facility wherewith the branches that bear large Filaments take Rooting and by consequence produce other branches insomuch that one single Tree is sufficient to fill a great spot of Ground and this I speak of is very large and high affording a most spacious shade It s circuit is round and is fourscore Paces in Diametre which make above thirthy Fathom The Branches that had irregularly taken Root have been so skilfully cut that at present one may without any trouble walk about every where under it The Gentils of India look upon that Tree as Sacred A Sacred Tree and we might easily perceive that at a distance by the Banners which the Banians had planted on the top and highest Branches of it It hath by it a Pagod dedicated to an Idol which they call Mameva and they who are not of their Religion believe it to be a representation of Eve. We found a Bramen sitting there who put some Red Colour upon the Foreheads of those who come to pay their Devotions and received the Presents of Rice or Cocos that they offered him That Pagod is built under the Tree in form of a Grot the outside is painted with diverse Figures representing the Fables of their false Gods and in the Grot there is a Head all over Red. Charity towards Ants. In that place I saw a Man very charitable towards the Ants He carried Flower in a Sack to be distributed amongst them and left a handful every where where he met with any number Whilst we were abroad in the Fields we considered the Soyl of Surrat it is of a very brown Earth and they assured us that it was so very rich that they never dunged it After the Rains they sow their Corn that is after the Month of September and they cut it down after February They plant Sugar-Canes there also Sugar Canes and the way of planting them is to make great Furrows wherein before they lay the Canes they put a great many of the little Fish called Gudgeons Whether these Fish serve to fatten the Earth or that they add some qualitie to the Cane the Indians pretend that without that Manure the Canes would produce nothing that 's good They lay their pieces of Canes over these Fish end to end and from every joint of Cane so interred their Springs a Sugar-cane which they reap in their season The Soyl about Surrat is good for Rice also and there is a great deal sown Manguiers and Palm-trees of all kinds and other sorts of Trees thrive well there and yield great profit The Dutch water their Ground with Well-Water which is drawn by Oxen after the manner described in my Second Part but the Corn-land is never watered because the Dew that falls plentifully in the Mornings is sufficient for it The River of Tapty The River of Tapty is always brackish at Surrat and therefore the Inhabitants make no use of it neither for Drink nor Watering of their Grounds but only for washing their Bodies which they do every Morning as all the other Indians do They make use of Well-water to drink and it is brought in Borrachoes upon Oxen. This River of it self is but little for at High-water it is no broader than half of the River of Seine at Paris Nevertheless it swells so in the Winter-time by the Rain-water that it furiously overflows and makes great havock It has its source in a place called Gehar-Conde in the Mountains of Decan ten Leagues from Brampour It passes by that Town and before it discharge it self into the Sea it Waters several Countries and washes many Towns as last of all it does Surrat At low Water it runs to the Bar but when it flows the Sea commonly advances two Leagues over that Bar and so receives the Water of the Tapty CHAP. XV. The Port of Surrat The Port of Surrat THe Bar of Surrat where Ships come at present is not its true Port at best it can be called but a Road and I had reason to say in the beginning of this Book that it is called the Bar because of the Banks of Sand which hinder Ships from coming farther in The truth is there is so little Water there that though the Vessels be unloaded the ordinary Tides are not sufficient to bring them up and they are obliged to wait a Spring-tide but then they come up to Surrat especially when they want to be careen'd Small Barks come easily up to the Town with the least Tides The true Port of Surrat is Soualy two Leagues from the Bar. Soualy It is distant from the Town