perhaps as he said not in this world for 't was four years since he had heard any News of me he receiv'd me with extream kindness and gladness After we had given one another account of many things and I had been complemented by Sig Paolo his Nephew and others that were with him I told him that I had in the Galley Batoni Mariam Tinatin my spiritual Daughter and should be glad that before we departed as I thought to do with the same Gallies for Messina that she saw the Church and something of Syracuse The Bishop presently sent Signora Maria his Brother's Wife and Mother of Sig Paolo with two of her Daughters to fetch my Women from the Galley in a Coach and Sig Paolo the Receiver of Malta and my self went in another Coach to fetch them on Land After these Gentlewomen had receiv'd them with many Complements we all went together to the Nunns Church of S. Lucie where we stay'd till evening the Nunns being much delighted to behold the strange habits of my Women and to discourse with them by Interpreters In the mean time many people flock'd into the Church to see them and several Cavaliers came to complement me and make themselves known to me It being late we were accompani'd by many Gentry and people to the Palace where my Women were receiv'd by the Bishop with much Courtesie And being the Galleys were to depart for Messina this very night I desir'd leave of the Bishop to return aboard again but he would by no means grant it saying that since I was come to see him it was not fit that I should embitter his joy with so sudden a departure much less when S. Lucy's day was so near at hand for which those that are remote use to go to Syracuse and that I was the more oblig'd to stay because I had once promis'd him by a Letter as indeed I had to come to Syracuse and spend a S. Lucy's day with him so that since chance had brought it thus to pass I must needs make my word good I answer'd many things and did all I could to get away but to no purpose for the Bishop sen the Receiver to get all my goods out of the Galley for which end was necessary for the gate of the City to be kept open a good part of the night contrary to custom and besides having caus'd a very noble Apartment to be got ready for me in the new building of his Palace he would by all means have us all lodge there Wherefore seeing his pleasure was such I thought fit to obey him and accept the favour The Gentlemen and Gentlewomen after some discourse departed and we were conducted to our apartment where because the Bishop eats not at night he left us to sup and rest The two Galleys which brought us depart this night for Messina and with them F. Orisno my late Fellow-traveller who will deliver you this Letter which I conclude this Evening not omitting to acquaint you with my tarrying here for some days to the end you may understand my deliverance and the good issue of my health and so praying God for the like to you I very heartily kiss your hands LETTER XV. From Messina January 24. 1626. IN continuation of my last to you concerning the favours I receiv'd from my Lord the Bishop of Syracuse I must tell you in the first place that on the fifth of December we were conducted by a great company of Gentry of both Sexes out of the City to several reliques of ancient Syracuse We saw the Artificial Echo reported to have been made by Dionysius in a Prison where he kept many slaves to hear what they talkt within and if I mistake not Archimedes seems to have been the contriver of the Fabrick 'T is indeed one of the goodliest pieces of Art that I ever saw in the world and perhaps was ever invented imitating nature so exactly that the Echo returns words sentences sounds and songs most intire and perfect as was prov'd in our presence with sundry Instruments If a man strike a thick extended cloth with a wand it renders a sound like the shot of Artillery which to be done so well in a Grotto form'd not by Nature but by Art is indeed a strange thing and shews a prodigious wit in the Contriver I must not omit that the roof of this grotto is hollow'd in the form of a man's ear from which probably the Artificer borrow'd the Invention since just as the voice striking the ears which are so shap'd renders the sound audible so 't is seen by experience that this great artificial Ear cut by hand in hard stone being struck in like manner produces the same effect of augmenting a sound although we know not but other Natural Echoes in Caves are fram'd after the same manner Near the place of the Echo we saw the subterranean Cavities wherein the slaves were imprison'd and over them the place of Dionysius's Palace in a very goodly situation with a Prospect extending far both on Land and Sea And near the Palace we beheld many remainders of his great Theater which was not built up like other Structures but cut and hollow'd out of the hard stone all of a piece very large and of excellent Architecture As we return'd home we saw contiguous to the City on one side the Port which they call'd Marmoreo or the Marble Port from its being built all of Stone and differing from the other great one which lies under the City on the other side for at this day the City stands wholly in the Peninsula Ortygia which is almost surrounded by the Sea saving where it joyns to the Land by a narrow Euripus December 8th I accompani'd the B p to the Church of S. Francis whither because it was the Feast of the Conception he went to hear Mass being attended by the Senate and all the Nobility of the City After which I went with divers Gentlemen my Friends to see the Church of S. Lucy without the City in the place where she was martyr'd which Church though sometimes it belong'd to Priests yet is now possess'd by reform'd Franciscan Fryers Under the Church we saw certain grottoes extending to a great distance every way under ground and made I know not whether for Sepulchres of the Ancients or for places of Refuge in times of danger December 9th Two Galleys of Malta which came from Messina with Provisions for the Iland enter'd the Port in one of which was their present General Sig Don Francesco Caraffa Prior della Roccella and Son of the Prince della Roccella who had lately founded this Priorate della Roccella at his own charge always to remain in his own Family though after his death if I am rightly inform'd it shall be no longer a Priorate or Grand Cross but only a Commendum December the tenth Accompani'd by Sig. Paolo Faraone I visited the said Prior della Roccella in his own Galley having seen him several times
and in her own Dominions where I was come to visit and to do her Honour After she was gone her way I with my people enter'd into a little village and there took a lodging in an empty house belonging to a Moor of the Country and near the Palace but I caus'd my diet to be prepar'd in an other house of a neighbour Moor that so I might have the convenience of eating flesh or what I pleas'd which in the houses of Gentiles would not be suffer'd The inhabitants of Manèl are partly Gentiles and partly Malabar-Moors who have also their Meschita's there which was of much convenience to me The Name of the Queen of Olaza is Abag-deuì-Ciautrù of which words Abag is her proper Name Deuì signifies as much as Lady and with this word they are also wont to signifie all their gods nor have they any other in their Language to denote God but Deù or Deurù which are both one and equally attributed to Princes whereby it appears that the gods of the Gentiles are for the most part nothing else but such Princes as have been famous in the world and deserv'd that Honour after their deaths as likewise which is my ancient opinion that the word God where-with we by an introduc'd custom denote the Supream Creator doth not properly signifie that First Cause who alone ought to be ador'd by the World but signifi'd at first either Great Lord or the like whence it was attributed to Heroes and signal persons in the world suitable to that of the Holy Scripture Filii Deorum Filii Hominum and consequently that the gods of the Gentiles though ador'd and worship'd both in ancient and modern times were never held by us in that degree wherein we hold God the Creator of the Universe and wherein almost all Nations of the world always held and do hold him some calling him Causa Prima others Anima Mundi others Perabrahmi as the Gentiles at this day in India But that the other gods are and were always rather but as Saints are amongst us of the truth whereof I have great Arguments at least amongst the Indian Gentiles or if more then Saints yet at least Deifi'd by favour and made afterwards Divi as Hercules Romulus Augustus c. were amongst the Romans But to return to our purpose they told me the word Ciautrù the last in the Queen of Olaza's Name was a Title of Honour peculiar to all the Kings and Queens of Olaza and therefore possibly signifies either Prince or King and Queen or the like As for this Countries being subject to a Woman I understood from intelligent persons of the Country that in Olaza Men were and are always wont to reign and that 't is a custom receiv'd in India amongst the greatest part of the Gentiles the Sons do not succeed the Fathers but the Sons of their Sisters they accounting the Female-line more certain as indeed it is than the Male. Yet that the last King of Olaza having neither Nephews nor other Legitimate Heirs his Wife succeeded him and she also dying without other Heirs left this Abag-Deuì who was her Sister to succeed her To whom because she is a Woman and the descent is certain is to succeed a Son of hers of whom I shall hereafter make mention but to him being a Man not his own Sons but the Son of one of his Sisters hereafter likewise mention'd is to succeed Not to conceal what I know of the History of this Queen I shall add that after her Assumption to the Throne upon the death of her Sister she was married for many years to the King of Banghel who now is a fugitive depriv'd of his Dominions but then reign'd in his own Country which borders upon hers Yet though they were Husband and Wife more for Honors sake then any thing else they liv'd not together but apart each in their own Lands in the Confines whereof either upon Rivers where they caus'd Tents to be erected over boats or in other places of delight they came to see and converse with one another Banghel wanting not other Wives and Women who accompany'd him where-ever he went 'T is reported that this Queen had the Children which she hath by this Banghel if they were not by some other secret and more intimate Lover for they say she wants not such The Matrimony and good Friendship having lasted many years between Banghel and the Queen I know not upon what occasion discord arose between them and such discord that the Queen divorc'd Banghel sending back to him as the custom is in such case all the Jewels which he had given her as his Wife For this and perhaps for other causes Banghel became much offended with the Queen and the rupture proceeded to a War during which it so fortun'd that one day as she was going in a boat upon one of those Rivers not very well guarded he sending his people with other boats in better order took her and had her in his power Yet with fair carriage and good words she prevail'd so far that he let her go free and return to her Country In revenge of this injury she forth-with rais'd War against Banghel who relying upon the aid of the neighbouring Portugals because he was confederate with them and as they say of many Royolets of India Brother in Arms to the King of Portugal the Queen to counterpoize that force call'd to her assistance against Banghel and the Portugals who favour'd him the neighbouring King Venk-tapà Naieka who was already become very potent and fear'd by all the Neighbours and under his protection and obedience she put her self Venk-tapà Naieka sent a powerful Army in favour of the Queen took all Banghel's Territories and made them his own destroying the Fort which was there he also made prey of divers other pety Lords thereabouts demolishing their strength and rendring them his Tributaries one of which was the Queen of Curnat who was also confedrate with the Portugals and no friend to her of Olaza he came against Mangalòr where in a battel rashly undertaken by the Portugals he defeated a great number and in short the flower and strength of India carrying the Ensigns Arms and Heads of the slain to Ikkerì in triumph He did not take Mangalòr because he would not answering the Queen of Olaza who urg'd him to it That they could do that at any time with much facility and that 't was best to let those four Portugals remain in that small place which was rather a House then a Fortress in respect of the Traffick and Wares which they brought to the benefit of their Countries After which he came to a Treaty with the Portugals by which he restor'd the Colours he had taken from them and by their means Banghel surrendred the Fort which Venk-tapà as I said before demolish'd besides other conditions which are now under consideration according as is above-mention'd in my Relation of the Ambassie to Ikkerì This was the War of Banghel
I believe it is five English-miles at the least from one side of them to the other very beautiful to behold from some Hill where they may be all seen at once They write of Xerxes that when from such a place he took a view of his very numerous Army consisting at the least of three hundred thousand men he wept saying that in less than the compass of one hundred years not one of that great mighty Host would be alive And to see such a company then together of all sorts of people and I shall give a good reason presently why I believe that mixt company of men women and children may make up such an huge number as before I named if not exceed it and to consider that death will seize upon them all within such a space of time and that the second death hath such a power over them is a thing of more sad consideration Now to make it appear that the number of people of all sorts is so exceeding great which here get and keep together in the Mogols Leskar or Camp Royal first there are one hundred thousand Souldiers which always wait about that King as before observed and all his Grandees have a very great train of followers and servants to attend them there and so have all other men according to their several qualities and all these carry their Wives and Childern and whole family with them which must needs amount to a very exceeding great number And further to demonstrate this when that King removes from one place to another for the space of twelve hours a broad passage is continually fill'd with Passengers and Elephants and Horses and Dromedaries and Camels and Coaches and Asses and Oxen on which the meaner sort of men and women with little children ride so full as they may well pass one by the other Now in such a broad passage and in such a long time a very great number of people the company continually moving on forward may pass Thus this people moving on from place to place it may be said of them what Salvian speaks of Israel while they were in their journy to the land of promise that it was Ambulans Respublica a walking Commonwealth And therefore that ancient people of God were called Hebrews which signified Passengers their dwelling so in Tents signified thus much to all the people of God in all succeeding ages that here they dwell in moveable habitations having no continuing City here but they must look for one and that is above The Tents pitch'd in that Leskar or Camp Royal are for the most part white like the cloathing of those which own them But the Mogols Tents are red reared up upon poles higher by much than the other They are placed in the middest of the Camp where they take up a very large compass of ground and may be seen every way and they must needs be very great to afford room in them for himself his Wives Children Women Eunuchs c. In the fore-front or outward part or Court within his Tent there is a very large room for access to him 'twixt seven and nine of the clock at night which as before is called his Goozulcad His Tents are encompassed round with Canats which are like our Screens to fold up together those Canats are about ten foot high made of narrow strong Callico and lined with the same stiffened at every breadth with a Cane but they are strongest lined on their out-side by a very great company of arm'd Souldiers that keep close about them night and day The Tents of his great Men are likewise large placed round about his All of them throughout the whole Leskar reared up in such a due and constant order that when we remove from place to place we can go as directly to those moveable dwellings as if we continued still in fixed and standing habitations taking our direction from several streets and Bazars or Market places every one pitched upon every remove alike upon such or such a side of the Kings Tents as if they had not been at all removed The Mogol which I should have observed before hath so much wealth and consequently so much power by reason of his marvellous great multitudes of fighting men which he always keeps in Arms commanding at all times as many of them as he pleaseth that as the Moabites truly said of Israel while they had Almighty God fighting with them and for them so it may be said of him if God restrain him not That his huge Companies are able to lick up all that are round about him as the Oxe licketh up the grass of the field Numb 22.4 When that mighty King removes from one place to another he causeth Drums to be beat about midnight which is a signal token of his removing He removes not far at one time sometimes ten miles but usually a less distance according to the best convenience he may have for water there being such an infinite company of Men and other Creatures whose drink is water that in a little time it may be as truely said of them as it was of that mighty Host of Sennacherib that Assyrian Monarch Esay 37.25 That they are able to drink up Rivers But when the place he removed to afforded plenty of good water he would usually stay there three or four days or more and when he thus rested in his Progress would go abroad to find out pastimes to which end he always carried with him divers kinds of Hawks and Dogs and Leopards which as before they train up to hunt withall and being thus provided for variety of sports would fly at any thing in the Air or seize on any Creature he desired to take on the Earth The Mogol when he was at Mandoa which was invironed with great Woods as before was observed sometimes with some of his Grandees and a very great company beside of Persian and Tartarian horse-men his Souldiers which are stout daring men would attempt to take some young wild Elephants found in these Woods which he took in strong toyls made for that purpose which taken were mann'd and made fit for his service In which hunting they likewise pursued on horse-back Lions and other wild beasts and kill'd some of them with their Bows and Carbines and Launces I waiting upon my Lord Embassadour two years and part of a third and travelling with him in Progress with that King in the most temperate moneths there 'twixt September and April were in one of our Progresses 'twixt Mandoa and Amadavar nineteen days making but short journeys in a Wilderness where by a very great company sent before us to make those passages and places fit to receive us a way was cut out and made even broad enough for our convenient passage and in the places where we pitched our Tents a great compass of ground rid and made plain for them by grubbing a number of Trees and Bushes yet there we went as readily to our Tents the same order
Imprimatur White-hall June 4. 1664. WILL. MORICE THE TRAVELS OF Sig. Pietro della Valle A Noble ROMAN INTO EAST-INDIA AND Arabia Deserta In which the several Countries together with the Customs Manners Traffique and Rites both Religious and Civil of those Oriental Princes and Nations are faithfully Described In Familiar Letters to his Friend Signior MARIO SCHIPANO Whereunto is Added A Relation of Sir ROE's Voyage into the EAST-INDIES LONDON Printed by J. Macock for Henry Herringman and are to be sold at his Shop at the Blew-Anchor in the Lower-walk of the New-Exchange 1665. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE ROGER Earl of ORRERY c. My Lord IT is not more commonly then truly observ'd That the Preeminence of Excellent Things is universally attended with a proportionable Result of Benefit to those of Inferior Degree And the same may with equal verity be affirm'd of the Glory of Great Personages Your Names serve not onely to distinguish you or by the Addition of Titles to give you higher rank in the State but like the Sun communicating Light and Life together they animate and beautifie what-ever is irradiated by them Which general Consideration though it could not give me any particular Right yet it may in some sort warrant the sutableness of dedicating this Transcript to your Lordship's Name A Name which besides having been able to revive and support a long-deprâ—ssed Interest in a Considerable Kingdom is so highly celebrated upon the account of other Performances as scarce to find a Parallel among those of your own or any other Orb. Nor is it a little ground of Confidence to me that what I present is neither wholly my own in any sort nor any of it otherwise then as an Interpreter nor lastly one of those refined Pieces of Invention which while your Protection is implored do with-all solicite your Judgment But of that kind of Writings which containing Descriptions of Countries and their Customs can onely please by the Variety of the Relations and the Veracity of the Relator He whom I have interpreted was a Noble Roman Persons of which Quality as they have greater Curiosity so they have far more Advantages in reference to making of Observations in Forreign Countries than they whose chief business is Traffick and was carried onely by his own curious Genius into those Oriental parts of the World whereof he here gives an Account which is so full of delightful Variety and considerable Remarks that as after his Return his Person was dignifiâ—d with an Honourable Office in the Court of his own Prince so since his Death his Travels have no less happily travell'd and been naturaliz'd in some other Languages The other Piece hath been judg'd fit to be adjoyned as one of the Exactest Relations of the Eastern parts of the World that hitherto hath been publish'd by any Writer either Domestick or Forreign having been penn'd by one that attended Sir Thomas Roe in his Embassy to the Great Mogol Than whom 't is acknowledg'd by one of that Country that trades most into those parts none ever gave a more faithful Account thereof It remaines onely that as by this action I have though with all the Modesty that becomes me assum'd an Interest in a Great Name so I also testifie the Honour and Veneration I bear to Great Worth and Rare Accomplishments which I shall do summarily and yet in the utmost importance of the words by professing my self My Lord Your Lordships in all Humble Respect and Observance G. Havers P. Scipionis Sgambati è Societate Jesu PETRO à VALLE PATRICIO Romano Ob cineres Conjugis ex ASIA revectos AENeadum soboles Albani sanguinis haeres Aeneae proavi quà m bene facta refers Ille senem ex Asia fertur vexisse parentem Ex Asia conjux est tibi ducta comes Par utrique fides esset nisi quòd tua major Est pietas Italûm gloria VALLIADE Ille senem extinctum Siculâ tellure reliquit Tu Romam extinctae conjugis ossa vehis THE TRAVELS OF Peter Della Valle Sirnamed The Traveller Containing a DESCRIPTION of the EAST-INDIES c. LETTER I. From Surà t March 22. Anno 1623. IN the beginning of this year at my departure from Persia I writ last to you from aboard the Ship call'd the Whale in which I was newly embarqu'd upon the coasts of that Country and had not yet begun my Voyage Since which time having sail'd over a good part of the Ocean arriv'd at the famous Countries of India travell'd and view'd no inconsiderable portion thereof by conveniency of the same Ship which brought me hither and is ready to set sail speedily towards Muchà in the Arabian Gulph and the rather for that a German Gentleman a friend of mine is embarqu'd in her with an intention to travel from thence in case he can get passage to see Aethiopia with this Letter which I recommend to him to get transmitted into Italy if possible from those Ports of the Red Sea or by the way of Cairo where they trade or by some other conveyance I come again to give you an Account of my Adventures and the Curiosities which have hitherto afforded delicious repast to my alwayes hungry Intellect To begin therefore Upon Thursday the 19 of January having dispatch'd and taken order for what was needful a little before day after the discharge of some Guns as 't is the custome at going off from any Coast we began leisurely to display our sails moving but slowly because we waited for the ship-boat which was still at shore upon whose return we unfolded all our Canvase and though with a small gale directed our course between the Islands of Ormuz and Kesom passing on the outer side of Ormuz next Arabia in regard the shallowness of the Channel towards Persia afforded not water enough for such great Ships as ours We were in company only two English Ships namely the Whale which was the Captain-ship in which I was embarqu'd commanded by Captain Nicholas Woodcock and another call'd the Dolphin which had for Captain Master Matthew Willis At noon being near Lareck and no wind stirring we cast Anchor without falling our sails and our Captain sent his long boat a shore to Lareck with two Grey-hounds which the English of Combrù had given him to catch what game they could light upon Towards night we set sail again but though the wind somewhat increas'd yet because the boat was not return'd we struck sail a little and staid for it discharging also several musket-shots to the end those that were in it might hear and see where we were And because 't was one a clock in the night and the Boat was not yet come we doubted some disaster might have befaln it in regard of the multitude of those Arabian Thieves call'd Nouteks which rob upon that Sea and frequently reside in this Island of Lareck Yet at length it return'd safe and sound and brought us abundance of Goats whereupon we again spread our sails freely to the wind
small Islands almost all united together lying in a long square form towards the West not far from the Coast of India of which Islands one of this Man's Ancestors was really King but being driven out of his Dominion by his own people fled to the Portugals and turn'd Christian with hopes of recovering his Kingdom by their help Yet the Portugals never attempted any thing in his behalf and so he and his descendents remain depriv'd of the Kingdom enjoying onely the naked Title which the Portugals being now ally'd to him still give him and because many Merchants Ships come from those Islands to trade in the Ports of the Portugals they force the said Ships to pay a small matter of Tribute to him as their lawful Sovereign of which though the Governours of Ports to whom upon necessity he must entrust purloin above half from him nevertheless he gets at this day by it about three thousand Crowns yearly and therewith supports himself The like Fates have befallen many other Princes in India who hoping in the Portugals have found themselves deluded Wherein Reason of State is but ill observ'd by the Portugals because by this proceeding they have discourag'd all others from having confidence in them whereas had they assisted and protected them as they ought and might easily and with small charge have done upon sundry fair occasions they would by this time have got the love of all India and themselves would by the strength and help of their Friends undoubtedly have become more potent as also without comparison more fear'd by their Enemies June the nine and twentieth This year the Moors began their Ramadhan according to the Rules of my Calculation July the five and twentieth being the Feast of Saint James the Protector of Spain was solemnis'd with the same gallantry of Cariers and Dresses as are above describ'd saving that the Vice-Roy heard Mass in the Church of St. James In the Evening I went with Sig Ruy Gomez Boraccio a Priest and Brother of Sig Antonio Baroccio to the Church of Saint James which stands somewhat distant without the City upon the edge of the Island towards the main Land of Adil-Scià h which is on the other side of a little River or Arm of the Sea For which reason the Island is in this as well as many other dangerous places fortifi'd with strong walls and here there is a Gate upon the pass which is almost full of people going and coming from the main Land and is call'd by the Indians Benastarni by which name some of our Historians mention it in their writings concerning these parts as Osorius Maffaeus c. which Gate as likewise many others which are upon divers places of passage about the Island is guarded continually with Souldiers commanded by a Captain who hath the care thereof and for whom there is built a fine House upon the walls of the Island which in this place are very high forming a kind of Bastion or rather a Cavaliero or mount for Ordnance not very well design'd but sufficiently strong wherein are kept pieces of Artillery for defence of the place We went to visit the said Captain who was then Sig Manoel Pereira de la Gerda and from the high Balconies of his House and the Bastion we enjoy'd the goodly prospect of the Fields round about both of the Island and the Continent being discernable to a great distance The Captain entertain'd us with the Musick of his three Daughters who sung and play'd very well after the Portugal manner upon the Lute after which we return'd home About the Church of Saint James are some few habitations in form of a little Town which is also call'd Santiago and the way from thence to the City is a very fine walk the Country being all green and the way-sides beset with Indian Nut-trees which the Portugals call Palms and their fruit Cocco the Gardens and Houses of Pleasure on either side contributing to the delightfulness thereof being full of sundry fruit-trees unknown to us as also because in Winter-time the very walls of the Gardens are all green with moss and other herbs growing there which indeed is one of the pleasantest sights that I have seen in my days and the rather because 't is natural and without artifice The same happens I believe not in this Island onely but in all the Region round about In the field adjoyning to the City near the ruines of a deserted building once intended for a Church but never finish'd is a work of the Gentiles sometimes Lords of this Country namely one of the greatest Wells that ever I beheld round and about twenty of my Paces in Diametre and very deep it hath Parapets or Walls breast-high round about with two Gates at one of which is a double pair of stairs leading two ways to the bottom to fetch water when it is very low July the six and twentieth I went out of the City to a place of pleasure in the Island where was a Church of Saint Anna to which there was a great concourse of people because it was her Festival This Church stands very low built amongst many Country dwellings partly of the Islanders who live there and partly of the Portugals who have Houses of Pleasure there to spend a moneth for recreation The place is very delightful amongst Palmetoes and Groves of other Trees and the way leading to it is extreamly pleasant all cover'd with green After I had heard Mass here Sig Giovanni da Costa de Menecas a Friend of mine whom I found there carry'd me to dine with him at the House of a Vicar or Parish-Priest of another Church not far distant and of small Building which they call Santa Maria di Loreto where we spent the whole day in conversation with the said Vicar and other Friends At night because it rain'd I caus'd my self to be carry'd home in one of those Carriages which the Portugals call Rete being nothing else but a net of cords ty'd at the head and feet and hanging down from a great Indian Cane in which Net which is of the length of a Man and so wide that opening in the middle for the two ends are ty'd fast to the Cane 't is capable of one person a Man lyes along very conveniently with a cushion under his head although somewhat crooked to wit with the feet and head advanc'd towards the Ligatures and the middle part of the body more pendulous under the Cane which is carry'd upon the shoulders of two men before and two behind if the person be light or the way short two Men onely bear it one before and the other behind These Nets are different from the Palanchini and the Andòr for in these from the Cane hang not nets but litters like little beds upon which a Man sits with his legs stretch'd forth or half lying along upon cushions and so is carry'd very conveniently Moreover the Palanchini and the Andòr differ from one another for that in
However I believe Venk-tapà Naieka who is not liberal will abound more in Courtesie to the Ambassador then in Gifts Vitulà Sinay said that the next day the Ambassador should be call'd to Audience three hours after noon wherefore Himself and all his Attendants continued undress'd till dinner-time I knowing the custom of Courts and that Princes will not wait but be waited for and that the hours of Audience depend upon their pleasure not upon his who is to have it dress'd my self in the morning leisurely that I might not afterwards confound my self with haste and though in such solemnities others cloth'd themselves in colours and with ornaments of Gold yet I put on onely plain black Silk as mourning for my Wife Before we had din'd and whilst we were at Table they came to call us in haste to Audience saying that Vitulà Sinay and other great Persons were come to conduct us to the King The Ambassador finding himself unready and surpris'd was forc'd to desire them not to come yet making an excuse that we were still at dinner and the Table being taken away he and all the rest retir'd to dress themselves in great confusion and greater there was in getting the Horses sadled preparing the Presents which were to be carry'd and providing other necessary things in haste for nothing was ready but the Ambassador and all his Servants were in a great hurry and confusion calling for this and the other thing which seem'd to me not to have too much of the Courtier The persons who came to fetch us stay'd a good while without but at length were brought into the Porch of the House that is into the first Entrance within the Court where Visits are receiv'd without seeing the Ambassador or any of his Attendants who were all employ'd in the above-said confusion at a good part of which these persons were present The Pomp proceeded in this manner Many Horsemen went formost who were follow'd by divers Foot arm'd with Pikes and other weapons some of them brandishing the same as they went along then march'd certain Musketiers with Drums Trumpets Pikes and Cornets sounding these cloth'd all in one colour after the Portugal manner but with coarse stuff of small value and amongst them rode a servant of the Ambassador's better clad after their fashion as Captain of the Guard Then follow'd the Ambassador in the middle between Vitulà Sinay and Musè Bà i and after him we of his retinue to wit the Chaplain Sig Consalvo Carvaglio Sig Francesco Montegro who liv'd at Barcelòr and whom we found at Ikkerì about some affairs of his own but because he wanted a horse he appear'd not in the Cavalcade After us came some other Horse-men but in summ there was but few people a small shew and little gallantry demonstrative signes of the smallness of this Court and the Prince In this manner we rode to the Palace which stands in a Fort or Citadel of good largeness incompass'd with a great Ditch and certain ill built bastions At the entrance we found two very long but narrow Bulwarks Within the Citadel are many Houses and shops also in several streets for we pass'd through two Gates at both which there stood Guards and all the distance between them was an inhabited street We went through these two Gates on Horse-back which I believe was a priviledge for few did so besides our selves namely such onely as entred where the King was the rest either remaining on Horse-back at the first Gate or alighting at the Entrance of the second A third Gate also we enter'd but on Foot and came into a kind of Court about which were sitting in Porches many prime Courtiers and other persons of quality Then we came to a fourth Gate guarded with Souldiers into which onely we Franchi or Christians and some few others of the Country were suffer'd to enter and we presently found the King who was seated in a kind of Porch on the opposite side of a small Court upon a Pavement somewhat rais'd from the Earth cover'd with a Canopy like a square Tent but made of boords and gilded The Floor was cover'd with a piece of Tapistry something old and the King sat after the manner of the East upon a little Quilt on the out-side of the Tent leaning upon one of the pillars which up-held it on the right hand having at his back two great Cushions of fine white Silk Before him lay his Sword adorn'd with Silver and a little on one side almost in the middle of the Tent was a small eight-corner'd Stand painted and gilded either to write upon or else to hold some thing or other of his On the right hand and behind the King stood divers Courtiers one of which continually wav'd a white fan made of fine linnen as if to drive away the flies from the King Besides the King there was but one person sitting and he the principal Favorite of the Court call'd Putapaià and he sat at a good distance from him on the right hand near the wall As soon as we saw the King afar off the Ambassador and we pull'd off our Hats and saluted him after our manner he seem'd not to stir at all but when we approach'd nearer the Ambassador was made to sit down within the Tent at a good distance from the King near the wall as Putapaià sate but on the left side at which we enter'd The rest of us stood a good while before the Tent on the left side also Vitulà Sinay approach'd to a Pillar opposite to that on which the King lean'd and there serv'd as Interpreter sometimes speaking with the King and sometimes with the Ambassador Musè Baì stood also on our side but distant from the King and near one of the Pillars of the Porch The King 's first words were concerning the Health of the King of Spain and the Vice-Roy and then the Ambassador subjoyn'd the causes of his coming namely to visit him and continue the Amity which his Highness held with that State of the Portugals who use that style to these Indian Kings as they did also to their King of Portugal when they had one whence this custom first arose and is still continu'd although now when they name their King of Spain so much a greater Lord then the King of Portuagl they use not the term Highness but Majesty after the manner of Europe The Ambassador added that in token of this Amity the Vice-Roy sent him that Present not as any great matter but as a small acknowledgment That their King had sent him a considerable Present from Spain which his Highness knew was lost at Sea That yet by the Ships which were coming this year he should receive another as he might see in the Vice-Roy's Letter which he presented to him And hereupon the Ambassador arising from his Seat went to present the same to him almost kneeling upon one knee and he without moving a whit took it and gave it to Vitulà Sinay who
and the High-Priest to whom all others gave Obedience the next was the Emperour in dignity the first of Souldiers or secular Princes that the first Nation was France and that for Territory and Riches Spain had most of all with many other circumstances too long to be rehearsed Which discourse led me to tell him as I did that the King of Portugal as they speak that is the King of Spain so much esteem'd in India pay'd Tribute to our Lord the Pope for the Kingdom of Naples which he held of his Holiness in homage for which he had a great conceit of the Pope Amongst the Moorish Princes I said concerning the Moghòl whom he much cryed up to me that we held him indeed for the richest in treasure but otherwise had greater esteem of the Turk and the Persian because though the Moghòl hath not an infinite number of people and without doubt more then others yet they were not people fit for war and that Scià h amongst the rest did not value him at all as manifestly appear'd in the late war Of Scià h Abbas the King profess'd to account him a great Prince a great Souldier and a great Captain and I related to him how I had been for a great while together very familiar with him and that he had done me many favours having me with him in divers notable occasions whereto he answer'd that he did not doubt it and that being such a person as I was there was no Prince but would highly favour me He ask'd me also concerning the commodities of our Countries and of those which are brought from thence into these Oriental parts and being that in India they are accustom'd to the Portugals who how great Personages soever they be are all Merchants nor is it any disparagement amongst them he ask'd me whether I had brought from my Country any thing to bargain with all either Pearls or Jewels for I knew very good ones came from thence I answer'd him that in my Country the Nobles of my rank never practis'd Merchandize but onely convers'd with Arms or Books and that I addicted my self to the latter and medled not with the former He ask'd me how I was supply'd with Money for my Travels in so remote Countries I answer'd that I had brought some along with me and more was sent me from time to time by my Agents either in Bills or in ready Money according as was most expedient in reference to the diversity of places He ask'd me whether I had either a Father or a Mother Brothers or Sisters Wife or Children remaining by that Wife who I said was pass'd to a better life I answer'd that I had not whereupon he said it was no wonder then that I pleas'd my self in wandring thus about the World being so alone and destitute of all Kinred And indeed the King did not ill inferr for had any of my dearest Relations been living as they are not perhaps I should not have gone from home nor ever seen Manèl or Olaza but since 't is God's Will to have it so I must have patience The King told me that if I could procure a good Horse out of my Country he would pay very well for it for the Indians have none good of their own breed and the good they have are brought to them either from Arabia or Persia and the Portugals make a Trade of carrying them thither to sell even the greatest Persons as Governours of places and Captains General not disdaining to do the same I standing upon the point of my Italian Nobility which allows not such things answer'd the King that to sell Horses was the Office of Merchants not my profession that I might present some good one to his Highness there being in my Country very good ones and would gladly do it if it were possible The King was much pleas'd with this Answer of mine and said to his Men that I spoke like a right Gentleman plainly and truly and did not like many who promise and say they will do many things which afterwards they perform not nor are able to do He ask'd me concerning Saffron which is much esteemed among them they use it mix'd with Sanders to paint their fore-heads withall as also for Perfumes for Meats and for a thousand other uses I answer'd that I might be able to serve his Highness that it was a thing that might be transported and that in my Country there was enough and that if it pleas'd God I arrived there alive I would send him a Present of it with other fine things of my Country which perhaps would be acceptable to him And indeed if I arrive in Italy I intend to make many Complements with this and divers other Princes whom I know in these parts for by what I have seen I may get my self a great deal of Honour amongst them with no great charge Ever now and then the King would talk with his Servants and all was in commendation of me and my discreet speaking and especially of my white complexion which they much admired although in Italy I was never counted one of the fair and after so many Travels and so many sufferings both of Body and Mind I am so changed that I can scarce acknowledge my self an Italian any longer He prayed me once with much earnestnesse and courtesie out of a juvenile curiosity to unbrace one of my sleeves a little and my breast that he might see whether my body were correspondent to my face I laughed and to please him did so When they saw that I was whiter under my clothes where the Air and Sun had not so much injured me than in the face they all remained astonished and began to cry out again that I was a Deurù that I was a Heroe a god and that blessed was the hour when I entered into their House I took my self to be Hercules lodged in the Country of Evander and the King being much satisfied with my courtesie said that he knew me to be a Noble Man by my civil compliance with his demands that if I had been some coarser person I would not have done so but perhaps have taken ill and been offended with those their curious Questions As for the Ceremonies of eating I must not omit that after he saw that I had done eating notwithstanding his many instances to me to eat more he was contented that I should make an end and because most of the meat remained untouch'd and it was not lawful for them to touch it or keep it in the House they caused my Christian Servant to come in and carry it all away that he might eat it which he did in the napkin which I had used before for to fling it away in regard of the discourtesie it would be to me they judged not convenient At length when I rose up from my seat and took leave of the King they caused my said Servant to strew a little Cow-dung which they had got ready for the purpose upon
Basha abroad with his Army and three Portugal Ships to with-stand them and the City of Bassora not without fear because the Persian Army much exceeded theirs both in number and quality of Souldiers March the sixteenth News came to Bassora that the Armies were very near and almost fac'd one another and Sig Consalvo de Silveira Chief Commander of the Portugal Squadron of Ships at Bassora told me that having heard that the Persians intended to bring seven pieces of Artillery by Sea to Durec a neighboring Port of theirs to Bassora to be imploy'd in the War he had sent forth two of his Ships and one of those lighter Frigots which they call Sanguisei to meet and intercept those Gunns which would be a notable piece of service March the seventeenth Chogia Negem who might well know things as he that was imploy'd in much business by the Basha inform'd me that the Persian Army consisted of 30000 men and that there were seven Chans in it which to me seem'd not probable because if the Chan of Sciraz with his people was not sufficient 't was possible his Brother Dand Chan whose Government is near him and the Chan of Locistan might be come but that others more distant should be there for the sole war of Bassora there was no necessity and consequently no ground â—o believe He told me further that now the waters were high there was no danger nor could the Persians make much progress by reason of the great River which they were to pass and many over-flow'd Lands and Trenches full of water wherewith Bassora was now fortified But when the waters came to be low as they would be within three moneths then Bassora would be in danger that as for defence by the Portugal Ships the Persians might pass over the great River by a Bridge much higher and further from Bassora either at Hhella which is in their Hands or at Baghdad it self or some where else without the Portugals being able to hinder them that if they came but with Provision for a few dayes the Country on the West side of the River on which Bassora stands was not so desart but they might have forrage enough for a great Army If this be true as it may be then considering the power of the Persians their manner of warring the situation strength and forces of the City of Bassora I am confident that at the long run it will not scape the Persians Hands so long as he holds Baghdad although in case of need the Grand Emir of the Desart who is now Mudleg surnamed as all his Predecessors were Aburisc that is he of the Plume or Feather should come to assist the Basha who can now hope for no aid from the Turk since the taking of Baghdad He also related to me concerning Baghdad that the place was betray'd to the Sciah by Bekir Subasci call'd otherwise Dervise Mahhammed whose Father who pretended to render himself Tyrant thereof the Sciah caused publickly to be slain upon his entrance into it but kept the Traytor with him and us'd him well That besides Baghdad he took Kierkuc and Mousul by his Captains and march'd beyond Hhella into the Country of Emir Aburisc even to Anna and Taiba within a little way of Aleppo which was thereupon in great fear and that he left a Garrison at Anna. But after the Sciah and the main of his Army was retir'd into Persia Emir Aburisc who was alwayes confederate with the Turk making an excursion with his People about the Desart recover'd Taiba and Anna killing seventy Qizilbasci whom he found there in Garrison after which he turn'd his arms against Emir Nasir ben Mahanna Lord of Mesched Hussein but not so great a Prince as himself and made great destruction of his People and Country Finally He added that a potent Army of Turks had since fallen upon Persia and Baghdad and had already recover'd Mousul and Kierkuc which last News I rather suspect to be dispers'd to animate the People of Bassora then hold for true because on the other side it was reported for certain that the Sciah was reposing his Forces at Ferhabad which could not consist with the so near approach of the Turks against him March the nineteenth An eminent man of Bassora nam'd Scaich Abdassalam muster'd a great company of his kindred friends and followers with whom he intended to go to the assistance of the Basha Amongst them were muster'd about 200 Christians of S. John arm'd with Arquebuzes and other weapons like the rest but all in my judgment as much Moors as Christians little Souldiers and of no esteem in comparison of the Qizilbasci March the two and twentieth In the Piazza before the Basha's House I saw a wild Ass or little Onager which was kept there for pleasure It was of the shape of other Asses but of a brighter colour and had a ridge of white hair from the head to the tail like the mane of a Horse in running and leaping it seem'd much nimbler then the ordinary sort of Asses March the three and twentieth A Portugal came from the Basha's Camp to Bassora bringing News that the Qizilbasci were return'd home to their own Countries and that in such haste that they had left much Cattel Goods and Meat ready dress'd in the Camp where they had quarter'd Which so unexpected departure of the Persian Army could not happen through any disturbance given them by that of the Basha but perhaps they were re-call'd for some other war or service of greater necessity as that of Ormuz or against the Turks or against the Moghol at Candahar which the Sciah had lately taken March the four and twentieth I took the height of the Sun in Bassora at noon and found him decline 28 degrees 48 minutes from the Zenith He was this day according to the Ephemerides of David Origanus in 4 degrees 4 minutes 57 seconds of Aries and according to the Meridian of the said Ephemerides declin'd from the Aequinoctial North-wards degrees but according to our Meridian of Bassora calculating by proportionall parts 1 degree 38 minutes and 32 seconds which added to the 28 degrees 48 minutes of the Sun's Declination from the Zenith amount to 30 degrees 26 minutes 32 seconds So that the Zenith of Bassora is distant from the Aequinoctial 30 degrees 26 minutes 32 seconds to which the Elevation of the North-Pole at the same is equal March the one and thirtieth Return'd the two Portugal Ships above-mention'd to have been sent abroad by the General to intercept the Persian Artillery of which design they fail'd because the Persians having notice thereof stirr'd them not of the Port. Yet they took three Persian Barques call'd Terrats with much wealth in them and a rich Moor who offer'd a thousand Patacches for his Ransome but they would not accept it All the other Moors in the Vessels they killed with two young children lest as they said if they should have carry'd them into a Country of Moors the Basha
us for besides the former whose Name was Scervanli Ibrahim Aga there came another with him call'd Mahhmad Aga who had been sent by the preceding Serdar to Bassora Lahhsa and divers other adjacent places and had not dispatch'd his business in order to his return before now June the thirteenth After a long contest with our chief Camelier about hiring certain Arabian Guides which he pretended necessary to get money of us and I refus'd as superfluous since we knew the way without them and they could do us no good against the Thieves At length the business resting half undecided being I said if he would not go without those Guides I would return back to Bassora which he was loth to hear of because of restoring my money without speaking a word more about it he determin'd to proceed from Cavebeda and travelling all night we pass'd by the Pits of Ganeniat June the fourteenth Three hours before noon having travell'd till then we rested a while near certain Pits and setting forwards again in the Evening travell'd till mid-night and then we rested The next day rising early we travell'd till about noon till coming to a little bitter water we stay'd there to repose Here the great wind which blows continually in the Desart allaying the great heat of the Season having before much shatter'd our little Pavilions now broke them all in pieces so that we could no more make use of them Which indeed was a great inconvenience but for the future we had no other remedy but when we rested to ward off the Sun-beams with little sheds made of our Cloths fastned upon three Chairs wherein the Women and I were carry'd though they scarce suffic'd to cover three or four persons Yet in the night when there was no need of shadow we slept more pleasantly and coolely under the fair Canopy of the Starry Heaven After noon we proceeded further till an hour before night and then took up our lodging near another water June the sixteenth Having travell'd from break of day till noon and then rested two hours we proceeded again till night lodging in a place where the multitude of Gnats suffer'd us to sleep but little The next Morning early we pass'd by a great dry Lake which yet seem'd to have water in it at some time of the year and an hour before noon rested in a place full of Hornets very troublesome both to Men and beasts At the usual hour we set forwards again and journey'd till night June the eighteenth Rising before day-break we pass'd by at a distance leaving it on the right hand a place inhabited by Arabians which they call Argia govern'd by one Hhasan Aga Curdo a Fugitive from his own Country and by Alliance with the Arabians become great amongst them The Capigi Ibrahim Aga had a Robe to present to him from the Serdar but being we could not go to Argia by reason all the Passages were then overflown with water and the Cameliers had no mind to it in regard of a Gabel which would be requir'd there of us we repos'd our selves about noon in the place where we were Having pass'd Argia a good way the Capigi got one to swim over the waters and to advertise Hhasan Aga of the Serdar's Present which he had for him and would have deliver'd himself had the way been passable he also desir'd some Arquebusiers to accompany us over the Desart In expectation of an Answer we stay'd in this place all day where I saw upon the ground abundance of Sea-shels shining within like Mother-of-Pearl some whole and some broken I wonder'd how they came there so far from Sea I saw also many pieces of Bitumen scatter'd up and down which is produc'd in that brackish soil by the overflowing of the water at some time of the year I have a piece of it by me to shew Being suspicious of some Arabian Maedi's that is Vagrants or Vagabonds so call'd because they abide with Droves of Buffles sometimes in the Desarts and sometimes in Cities and are different from the Bedavi or Beduvi that is Deserticolae who are the noblest amongst them never residing in walled places but wandring about the Fields with black Tents as also from the Hhadesi who live in Cities and Stable-houses and are therefore accounted by them the ignoblest and meanest but indeed are of a middle condition between both the other sorts for more security we remov'd a mile further and took up our station under a little Hill near some ruins of building which we discover'd afar off and I walkt on foot to behold near hand In the revolutions of Baghdad the above-said Hhasan Aga Lord of Argia was visited by the Persians the Sciah sending a Tag to him as he uses to do to great Persons whom he intends to invite to be or declare themselves of his Party and he carri'd himself in such sort that his fidelity became something suspected to the Turks insomuch that a Basha had an intention to kill him but did not do it perhaps because he knew not how to effect his purpose wherefore to keep him still faithful as I believe since it was not possible to punish him the Serdar sent him by this Capigi the above-mention'd Present June the nineteenth Our removal hence being still deferr'd in expectation of the answer of Hhasan Aga I went in the forenoon to take a more diligent view of the ruins of the above-said ancient building What it had been I could not understand but I found it to have been built with very good Bricks most of which were stampt in the midst with certain unknown letters which appear'd very ancient I observ'd that they had been cemented together in the Fabrick not with lime but with bitumen or pitch which as I said is generated in these Desarts whence the Hill upon which these ruins are is call'd by the Arabians Muqeijer that is Pitchy In the evening two men came from Hhasan Aga to the Capigi with Letters and an Answer that he would send him some provisions but they departed discontented because the Capigi gave them nothing June the twenty first We set forth by day-light and journied till Noon and after two hours rest continued our way till night over Lands sometimes moorish with abundance of little canes sometimes whitish with salt and sometimes cover'd with thickets of Shrubs June the twenty second We travell'd again till Noon and as we were reposing in these Plains which were all cover'd with small dry grass a little sparkle falling from some of the Cameliers who according to their custom stood sucking the smoke of Tobacco set this grass on fire and the flame increas'd so suddenly that we had much ado to save our Goods from burning but at length we extinguish't it by casting cloths and thick coverings upon it for water the place afforded none and we had only enough for drink Departing thence two or three hours before night we quarter'd in another place call'd Ehathuer where two or three
's sow'n with Corn. And O jam periere Ruinae the very Ruins of that place are almost all gone to Ruine The most observable thing there yet remaining is part of an exceeding great House which is continued by Tradition to have been sometimes a part of the famous Palace of great King Priamus From Smyrna he found a Passage to Alexandria in Aegypt Aegypt that is called by some in regard of the Plenty it produceth the Granary or Store-house of the World And in Egypt near Gran-Cairo antiently called Memphis he observed what remains of the once fam'd Pyramids Returning thence back to Alexandria with one Englishman more they found a pass by Sea to Jatta antiently called Joppa and there they met some others going to Jerusalem which is about twenty English miles distant from Joppa whence they departed together towards Jerusalem and found it a very solitary rocky uncomfortable way full of danger by reason of the wild Arabes who keep about those Passages to make poor Travellers their prey and spoyl But they came safe to Jerusalem now inhabited by Turks and that place called by them Cutts where he told me that himself and his Companion were courteously received by the Father Guardian of the Convent of Franciscan Friars that keep their residence in Jerusalem and by some of them were met at the Gate of the City where they were compelled by the Turkish Souldiers who keep those Gates as all others that bear the name of Christians are at their first coming thither to redeem their heads by paying each of them the value of five shillings before they could have admittance into that place which they had no sooner entred but they were presently carried by those Franciscans which met them to their Convent and then the first thing they did to or for them they washed their feet then set some comfortable refection before them and after went in Procession about a little Cloyster they had praising God that he had brought in safety those two Votaries as they called them to visit that Holy Place A day or two after they accompanied them to Bethlehem the place of our Blessed Saviour's Birth about five English miles distant from Jerusalem and in the way betwixt those two places shewed them a Rock on which as they said the Blessed Virgin sate down as she went on a time betwixt Jerusalem and Bethlehem to give her Babe suck and that the Rock might not feel hard under her it yielded as they told them to her body like a Cushion and that impression made by her so sitting remaineth unto this day and is most devoutly kissed by Votaries as they pass up and down After this they returning back shewed them all that was to be seen in and about Jerusalem Many particulars they told them stories which are there kept by Tradition concerning our Blessed Saviour and his Mother Then they had a sight of as much of Mount Calvary where our Blessed Saviour suffered as could be shewed them that Hill being now enclos'd within the walls of Jerusalem They undertook to shew them afterwards the place wherein our blessed Saviour was buried and after that upon Mount Olivet the very place whence he after Ascended where upon a Rock there was an impression of the former part of two feet such as is seen in soft earth when a man lifts up his body to leap thence and these Franciscans confidently affirmed and seemed undoubtedly to believe that it was so as they shewed and told them Many other things they affirmed which being but Circumstantials though appertaining to the best of all Stories were enough for these Pilgrims to believe and enough to make doubt of At Jerusalem this our Traveller had made upon the Wrists of his left Arm the Arms of Jerusalem a Cross Crossed or Crosslets and on the Wrist of his right a single Cross made like that of our Blessed Saviour suffered on and on the sides the Stem or Tree of that Cross these words written Via Veritas Vita some of the Letters being put on the one side of that Stem or Tree and some of them on the other and at the foot of that Cross three Nails to signifie those which fasted our Saviour unto it All these impressions were made by sharp Needles bound together that pierced onely the skin and then a black Powder put into the Places so pierced which became presently indelible Characters to continue with him so long as his flesh should be covered with skin And they were done upon his Arms so artificially as if they had been drawn by some accurate Pencil upon Parchment This poor man would pride himself very much in the beholding of those Characters and seeing them would often speak those words of Saint Paul written to the Galatians Gal. 6.17 though far besides the Apostles meaning I bear in my Body the marks of the Lord Jesus Now after that himself and Camrade had seen what they desired in and about Jerusalem they took their leave of those Franciscans leaving with them money to recompence the courtesie they had received from them the Fryers being very poor and consequently unable to entertain them freely without requitals From hence they took their way to take a view of the Dead Sea so called either because the water therein is still and moves not or because no living Creature is in it and nothing thrives on the banks thereof the place where Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboim once stood those Cities which Almighty God overthrew in anger and repented not Jer. 20.16 Hence they went to have a sight of the River Jordan which dischargeth it self into that most uncomfortable lake and from hence they journeyed North-East through those ten tribes which for the sin of Solomon were rent from his Son Rehoboam till they came to Mount Libanus Thence back to Sidon which retaineth that Name still And here he told me as his last observation made in that Land of Canaan sometimes like the Garden of the Lord flowing with milk and honey being then enriched with a very great variety and abundance of Gods good Creatures and in the dayes of David so populous that there were numbred in it at one time thirteen hundred thousand fighting men 2 Sam. 24.9 besides Women and Children and others unfit to draw swords which was a most wonderful thing to consider that such a spot of ground in comparison not above one hundred and sixty miles in length from Dan to Bersheba and not above sixty miles in breadth from Joppa to Jordan should be able to bear and feed such a numerous people and now the very self same tract of earth either for want of manuring or which is rather to be conceived for the want of the blessing of Almighty God which once shined upon it but is now long since with-drawn from it For a fruitful Land the Lord makes barren for the wickedness of them that dwell therein Psal. 107.34 is now become unable to sustain one in
be rid of their unruly Children but I never knew any who were thus supposed to be sent thither but they out-lived that Voyage For the young Gentleman I spake of his imployment was to wait upon our Chief Commander in his Cabin who very courteously when he came to Sea turn'd him before the mast amongst the common Saylors a great preferment for a Man of his Birth but for all this he out-liv'd that harsh usage and came safely to East-India and my Lord Ambassadour hearing of him and being well acquainted with his great kindred sent for him up to Court and there entertain'd him as a Companion for a year then giving him all fit accommodations sent him home again as a passenger for England where after he safely arrived But in our way towards that Court it thus happened that this hot-brains being a little behind us commanded him then near him who was the Princes servant before spoken of to hold his horse the man replied that he was none of his servant and would not do it Upon which this most intemperate mad youth who was like Philocles that angry Poet and therefore called Bilis Salsigo Choler and Brine for he was the most hasty and cholerick young man that ever I knew as will appear by his present carriage which was thus first he beat that stranger for refusing to hold his horse with his horse-whip which I must tell you that people cannot endure as if those whips stung worse than Scorpions For of any punishments that carry most disgrace in them as that people think one is to be beaten with that whip wherewithall they strike their beasts the other to be beaten and this they esteem the more disgraceful punishment of the two about the head with shooes But this stranger being whipt as before came up and complained to me but to make him amends that frantick young man mad with rage and he knew not wherefore presently followed him and being come up close to him discharg'd his Pistol laden with a brace of bullets directly at his body which bullets by the special guidance of the hand of God so flew that they did the poor man no great hurt only one of them first tearing his coat bruised all the knuckles of his left hand and the other brake his bow which he carried in the same hand We presently disarmed our young Bedlam till he might return again to his wits But our greatest business was how to pacifie the other man whom he had thus injured I presently gave him a Roopee in our money two shillings and nine pence he thanked me for it and would have taken it with his right but I desired him to take it with his maim'd hand and so he did and could clinch it very well which I was glad of Then we did shew as we had cause all the dislike we could against that desperate act of him from whom he received his hurt telling him that we were all strangers and for our parts had done him no wrong at all and therefore hoped that we should not be made any way to suffer for the faults of another and we further told him that if he would be quiet till we came up to the Court he should have all the satisfaction he could desire He told us that we were good men and had done him no wrong and that he would till then rest contented but he did not so for about two hours after we met with a great man of that Country having a mighty train with him as all the Grandees there have when they travel of whom more after-ward He presently went towards him that to him he might make his complaint and so did telling him that he was the Prince's servant why he came to us and how he had been used by us shewing him his hand and his other breaches The great man replied that it was not well done of us but he had nothing to do with it and so departed on his way That night after we came to a strong large Town and placing our selves on the side of it he did what he could as we imagined to raise up that People against us some of them coming about us to view us as we conceived but putting on the best confidence we could and standing then upon our guard and all of us watching that night but in a special manner by the good providence of God who kept us in all our journey we here felt none of that mischief we feared but early in the morning quietly departed without the least molestation After which with a little money and a great many good words we so quieted this man that we never after heard any more complaining from him So that as before I observed we were not at any time in any dangers of suffering by that people but some of our own Nation were the procuring causes of it Before I observed that for the generality of this people they have very low and timorous spirits but there are some I named in my last Section who are stout daring men as the Baloches Patans and Rashboots who as they have the honour above all the rest of the people in those large Provinces to be accounted valiant so as occasion is offered they will shew themselves so to be and therefore they are much hired as Convoys to secure Mens Persons and Goods from place to place For those Provinces they are not without Mountains of prey and Tabernacles of Robbers as David and Job speak where desperate men keep in some Woods and Deserts which are not far from great road-ways most frequented and used and there like the wild Arabes in Companies meet and spoil and destroy poor Passengers when they expect them not it being the cursed manner of those Spoilers if they prevail against them whom they surprise to kill them before they rifle them and therefore the first thing heard from them is Mor mor mor that is Kill kill kill which they all speak out as loud as they can We were often told of them as we travelled sometimes in the night by reason of the extream heat of the day after we had taken leave of the King and so were journeying towards Surat that we should meet with those cruel villains but through Gods mercy we were never in danger of them but once and that was about midnight neer a large City called Brodera but we being a competent number of English-men together about twenty and all of us resolved to sell our lives at as dear a rate as we could and having twice so many Indian servants with us which are very nimble with their Bows and Arrows we with our Pistols and Carbins which we presently discharged amongst them and our Indians plying them with their Arrows made them suddenly to retreat we receiving little hurt from them but after this we made no more night-marches Those Indians I named before are so faithful to their trusts unto whomsoever they engage to the English
double doors in the sides of them like those in our Balconies to open and let in fresh air which is likewise conveyed in unto them by many lesser lights made in the walls of those rooms which are always free and open The use of glass windows or any other shuttings being not known there nor in any other very hot Countreys Neither have they any Chimneys in their buildings because they never make any use of fire but to dress their food which fire they make against firm wall or without their Tents against some bank of Earth as remote as may be from the places where they use to keep that they may receive no annoyance from the heat thereof It is their manner in many places to plant about and amongst their buildings trees which grow high and broad the shadow whereof keeps their houses by far more cool this I observ'd in a special manner when we were ready to enter Amadavar for it appeared to us as if we had been entring a Wood rather than a City That Amadavar is very large and populous City entred by many fair Gates girt about with an high and thick Wall of Brick which mounts above the tops of their houses without which wall there are no suburbs Most of the houses within the City are of Brick and very many of them ridged and covered with Tiles But for their houses in their Aldeas or Villages which stand very thick in that Country they are generally very poor and base All those Countrey-dwellings are set up close together for I never observed any house there to stand single and alone Some of their houses in those villages are made with earthenwalls mingled with straw set up immediatly after their Rains and having a long season after to dry them throughly stand firm and so continue they are built low and many of them flat but for the generality of those Country-Villages the Cottages in them are miserably poor little and base so that as they are built with a very little charge set up with sticks rather than Timber if they chance to fire as many times they do for a very little they may be re-edified Those who inhabit the Countrey-Villages are called Coolees These till the ground and breed up Cattel and other things for provision as Hens c. â—hese they who plant the Sugar the Cotten-wool and Indiâ—o c. for their Trades and Manufactures they are kept in Cities and Towns about which are their choicest fruits planted In their Cities and Towns without their dwellings but fix't to them are pend-houses where they shew and sell their provisions as bread and flower-cakes made up with Sugar and fruits and other things and there they shew their manufactures and other Commodities some of which they carry twice every day to sell in the Bazar or Market I saw two houses of the Mogol's one at Mandoa the other at Amadaver which appeared large stately built of excellent stone well squared and put together each of them taking up a large compass of ground but we could never see how they were contrived within because there are none admitted strangers or others to have a sight of those houses while the King's wives and women are there which must not be seen by any but by himself and his servants the Eunuchs The Mogol's Palace Royal is at Agra his Metropolis of which more afterward but for the present I shall take a little notice of a very curious Grot I saw belonging to his house at Mandoa which stood a small distance from it for the building of which there was a way made into a firm Rock which shewed it self on the side of an Hill Canopied over with part of that Rock It was a place that had much beauty in it by reason of the curious workmanship bestowed on it and much pleasure by reason of its coolness That City Mandoa I speak of is situated upon a very high mountain the top whereof is flat and plain and spacious From all parts that lie about it but one the ascent is very high and steep and the way to us seemed exceeding long for we were two whole days climbing up the Hill with our Cariages which we got up with very much difficulty not far from the bottom of which Hill we lodged at a great town called Achabar-pore where we ferried over a broad River as we did in other places for I observed no bridges made there over any of their Rivers where their high-ways lie That Hill on which Mandoa stands is stuck round as it were with fair trees that keep their distance so one from and below the other that there is much delight in beholding them either from the bottom or top of that Hill In those vast and far extended Woods there are Lions Tygres and other beasts of Prey and many wild Elephants We lay one night in that wood with our Carriages and those Lions came about us discovering themselves by their Roaring but we keeping a very good fire all night they came not neer enough to hurt either our selves or cattel Those cruel Beasts are night-walkers for in the day they appear not After when through Gods most gracious assistance we had overcome those difficulties and dangers we came into a plain and even Countrey in which travelling a few dayes more we first met with my Lord Ambassador marching towards Mandoa with that great King with whom I then setled and continued with him till he was returned home We were in our journey to the Court from the beginning of January till the end of March we resting a while at Brampore which is a very spacious and populous City where we had a Factory And after that we were violently detained in our journy by Sultan Caroon the Prince whom we met in his march towards Brampore a very marvelous great retinue with him The reason why he interrupted us in our course was that he might see the Presents we had for his Father the King but we having command from the Ambassador to tell him that we durst not open them till we came to the King we most humbly craved his pardon to spare us in that so presenting him with a pair of Rich Gloves though they be things they wear not in those hot Countries and a rich embroidered bag for perfume which amongst many other things of the like kind were brought from England to be given away for Presents after that he had carried us back three days journy he let us go taking further order for our safe convoy And now Reader thou maist suppose us almost setled in Mandoa the place then of the Mogol's residence not much inhabited before we came thither having more ruins by far about it than standing houses But amongst the Piles of building that had held up their heads above Ruin there were not a few unfrequented Mosquits or Mahometan Churches yet I observed that though the people who attended the King there were marvellously streightned for room
to pamper and please their Appetite but to satisfie and support nature which is contented with a little every where but with less in hot Countries where mens digestion of food is not so quick and good this being further a tried truth that those bodies are most strong active and healthy which are most temperate Therefore though they have abundance of flesh and fowl and have fish too yet are they temperate in all of them For Swines flesh it is an abomination unto the Mahometans and therefore they touch it not And for other kind of flesh they eat very little of them alone to make their full meals of them for they dress no kind of flesh in great pieces or whole joynts nor scarce any of their fowls whole For boyling of flesh in water or baking or roasting any flesh are pieces of Cookery if I observed well they know not but they stew all their flesh as their Kid and other Venison c. out into sippets or slices or little parts to which they put Onions and Herbs and Roots and Ginger which they take there green out of the earth and other Spices with some butter which ingredients when as they are well proportioned make a Food that is exceedingly pleasing to all Palats at their first tasting thereof most savoury Meat haply that very dish which Jacob made for his Father Isaac when he got the blessing Gen. 27. With their flesh and herbs c. they sometimes stew Hens and other Foul cut in pieces which is like that the Spaniards call an Oleo but more toothsome But their great common standing dish there is Rice which they boyl with more Art than we for they boyl the grain so as that it is full and plump and tender but not broken in boyling they put to it a little green Ginger and Pepper and Butter and this is the ordinary way of their dressing it and so 't is very good Sometimes they boyl pieces of flesh or Hens and other Fowl cut in pieces in their Rice which dish they call Pillaw as they order it they make it a very excellent and a very well-tasted Food Once my Lord Ambassadour had an Entertainment there by Asaph Chan who invited him to dinner and this was the only respect in that kind he ever had while he was in East-India That Asaph Chan was a Man made by his great Alliances the greatest Subject and Favourite in all that Empire for his Sister was the Mogol's most beloved Wife and his Daughter was married unto Sultan Caroon the Prince and very much beloved by him but of all these more afterward This Asaph Chan entertained my Lord Ambassador in a very spacious and a very beautiful Tent where none of his followers besides my self saw or tasted of that Entertainment That Tent was kept full of a very pleasant Perfume in which sents the King and Grandees there take very much delight The floor of the Tent was first covered all over with very rich and large Carpets which were covered again in the places where our dinner stood with other good Carpets made of stitch'd Leather to preserve them which were richer and these were covered again with pure white and fine Callico Clothes and all these covered with very many dishes of Silver but for the greater part of those Silver dishes they were not larger than our largest trencher-plates the brims of all of them gilt We sate in that large Room as it were in a Triangle The Ambassadour on Chan's right hand a good distance from him and my self below all of us on the ground as they there all do when as they eat with our Faces looking each to the other and every one of us had his several mess. The Ambassadour had more dishes by ten and I less by ten than our entertainer had yet for my part I had fifty dishes They were all set before us at once and little paths left betwixt them that our entertainers servants for onely they waited might come and reach them to us one after another and so they did So that I tasted of all set before me and of most did but taste though all of them tasted very well Now of the provision it self for our larger dishes they were filled with Rice dressed as before describ'd And this Rice was presented to us some of it white in its own proper colour some of it made yellow with Saffron and some of it was made green and some of it put into a purple colour but by what Ingredient I know not but this I am sure that it all tasted very well And with Rice thus ordered several of our dishes were furnished and very many more of them with flesh of several kinds and with Hens and with other sort of Fowl cut in pieces as before I observed in their Indian Cookery To these we had many Jellies and Culices Rice ground to flower and then boyled and after sweetned with Sugar-Candy and Rose-Water to be eaten cold The flower of Rice mingled with sweet Almonds made as small as they could and with some of the most fleshy parts of Hens stewed with it and after the flesh so beaten into pieces that it could not be discern'd all made sweet with Rose-Water and Sugar-Candy and sented with Amber-Greece this was another of our dishes and a most luscious one which the Portugals call Mangee Real Food for a King Many other dishes we had made up in Cakes of several forms of the finest of the wheat-flower mingled with Almonds and Sugar-Candy whereof some were sented and some not To these Potatoes excellently well dressed and to them divers Sallads and the curious fruits of that Country some preserved in Sugar and others raw and to these many Roots candied Almonds blanched Raisons of the Sun Prunellas and I know not what of all enough to make up that number of dishes before named and with these quelque chose was that entertainment made up And it was better a great deal than if it had consisted of full and heaped up dishes such as are sometimes amongst us provided for great and profuse entertainments Our Bread was of very good and excellent Wheat made up very white and light in round Cakes and for our Drink some of it was brew'd for ought I know ever since Noah his Flood that good innocent water being all the Drink there commonly used as before and in those hot Climates it being better digested there than in any other parts it is very sweet and allayes thirst better than any other Liquor can and therefore better pleaseth and agreeth better with every Man that comes and lives there than any other Drink At this entertainment we sat long and much longer than we could with ease cross-leg'd but all considered our Feast in that place was better than Apicius that famous Epicure of Rome with all his witty Gluttony for so Paterculus calls it ingeniosa Gula could have made with all provisions had from the Earth and Air and Sea
have been and not without cause esteemed as mad-men in foretelling things which they could not know and much less bring to pass And therefore I have heard a great Master in and a publick Professor of Astronomy who could see as far into Constellations and observe as much from them as any other often say that he would go by the very self same rules that others did to predict things to come and would write that which was quite contrary to what they observed yet what he wrote should as often fall to be as true as what they foretold Yet notwithstanding the truth of these premises the great Mogol puts so much confidence in his Astrologers that he will not undertake a journey nor yet resolve to do any thing besides of the least consequence unless his Wizards tell him it is a good and a prosperous hour to begin and set upon such an undertaking and at the very instant he hath his directions from them he sets upon the thing he undertakes and not before SECTION XIII Of their Physitians Diseases Cures When they begin their year How they measure their time c. HEre are those which pretend unto much skill in Physick though for ought I could ever there observe the people make but little use of them they fearing more Medicum quam Morbum and therefore do believe the Physitian to be the more dangerous disease The common Diseases of that Countrey are Bloody-Fluxes with others that come not to blood Hot-Fevers Calentures which seize on and fire the head and brain more than other parts These many times put our men at Sea into very high distempers especially while they are under the Torrid Zone which makes the poor creatures visited with them sometimes to conceit the spacious Sea and Waves therein to be great Fields full of Haycocks and if they were not sometimes happily prevented would leap over-board to tumble in them For ordinary Agues such as are so common among us and for those two torments rather than diseases when they are felt in extremity the Gout and the Stone they have the happiness to be ignorant of them But sometimes they are visited with an inflammation or an extreme Burning such as is spoken of Deut. 28.22 or rather with a most grievous Pestilence which on a sudden sweeps away many thousands when it comes into great populous Cities This Pestilence makes the bodies of Men there which are visited with it like an House which on a sudden is covered all over with fire at once The City Amadavar at our being there with the King was visited with this Pestilence in the moneth of May and our Family was not exempted from that most uncomfortable visitation for within the space of nine dayes seven persons that were English of our Family were taken away by it and none of those which dyed lay sick above twenty hours and the major part well and sick and dead in twelve hours As our Surgeon who was there all the Physician we had and he led the way falling sick at mid-day and the following mid-night dead And there were three more that followed him one immediately after the other who made as much haste to the Grave as he had done and the rest went after them within that space of time I named before And as before I observed all those that dyed in our Family of this Pestilence had their Bodies set all on fire by it so soon as they were first visited and when they were dying and dead broad spots of a black and blew colour appeared on their Breasts and their flesh was made so extreme hot by their most high distemper that we who survived could scarce endure to keep our hands upon it It was a most sad time a fiery Tryal indeed But such is the goodness of Almighty God that he makes the miseries of Men here Aut tolerabiles aut breves either sufferable or short so that if the thing imposed be extreme heavy to be born it continues not long as this most grievous visitation most violent for the time like a mighty storm and then blown away For here the mercy of God suddenly stept in betwixt the living and the dead so that not onely in our Family but also in that great City the Plague was stayed All our Family my Lord Ambassadour onely excepted were visited with this sickness and we all who through Gods help and goodness out-lived it had many great blisters fill'd with a thick yellow watery substance that arose upon many parts of our bodies which when they brake did even burn and corrode our skins as it ran down upon them For my part I had a Calenture before at Mandoa which brought me even into the very Jaws of Death from whence it pleased God then to rescue and deliver me which amongst thousands and millions of mercies more received from him hath and shall for ever give me cause to speak good of his Name There are very few English which come thither but have some violent sickness which if they escape and live temperately they usually enjoy very much health afterward But Death made many breaches unto my Lord Ambassador's Family for of four and twenty Waiters besides his Secretary and my self there was not above the fourth Man returned home And he himself by violent Fluxes was twice brought even to the very brink of the Grave The Natives of East-India in all their violent hot diseases make very little use of Physicians unless it be to breathe a Vein sometimes after which they use much fasting as their most hopeful remedy The foul Disease is too common in those hot Climates where the people that have it are much more affected with the trouble it brings than with the sin or shame thereof The people in East-India live up to our greatest Ages but without all question they have more old people than we a thing not to be wondered at if we consider the great Temperance of that people in general in their eating and drinking But to proceed The Hindooes or Heathens there begin their year the first day of March The Mahometans begin theirs the tenth at the very instant as the Astrologers there ghess that the Sun enters into Aries their year as ours is divided into twelve Moneths or rather into thirteen Moons for according to them they make many payments They distinguish their time in a much different manner from us dividing the day into four and the night into as many parts which they call Pores which again they subdivide each of them into eight parts which they call Grees measured according to the ancient custom by water dropping out of one vessel into another by which there alwayes stands a Man appointed for that service to turn that vessel up again when it is all dropped out and then to strike with an hammer upon the brim of a concave piece of Metal like the inner part of a large Platter hanging by the brim on a wire the number of those
interrupt his devotion for a Mahometan to pray five times a day and for one that is called a Christian not to pray some believing themselves above this and other Ordinances five times in a week a moneth a year But this will admit less cause of wonder if we consider how that many bearing the Names of Christians cannot pray at all those I mean which are prophane and filthy and who live as if there were no God to hear or to judg and no Hell to punish Such as these can but babble they cannot pray for they blaspheme the Name of God while they may think they adore it I shall add here a short story It happened that I once having some discourse with a Mahometan of good quality and speaking with him about his frequent praying I told him that if himself and others of his profession who did believe it as a duty to pray so often could conclude their Petitions in the Name of Jesus Christ they might find much comfort in those their frequent performances in that great duty He answered that I needed not to trouble my self with that for they found as great comfort as they could desire in what they did And presently he would needs infer this Relation There was said he a most devout Mussleman who had his habitation in a great City where Mahomet was zealously professed that man for many years together spent his whole day in the Mosquit or Church in the mean time he minding not the world at all became so poor that he had nothing left to buy bread for his family yet notwithstanding his poor condition he was resolved still to ply his devotions and in a morning when he perceived that there was nothing at all left for the further subsistence of himself and houshold took a solemn leave of his wife and children resolving for his part to go and pray and dye in the Mosquit leaving his family if no relief came to famish at home But that very day he put on this resolution there came to his house in his absence a very beautiful young man as he appeared to be who brought and gave unto his wife a very good quantity of Gold bound up in a white Napkin telling her that God had now remembred her husband and sent him his pay for his constant pains taken in his devotion withall charging her not to send for her husband for though he had taken such a solemn leave of her that morning yet he would come home to her again that night and so he departed from her The woman presently bought in some necessaries for her house for they had eaten up all before and further made some good provision for her husband against his coming home in the evening for so he did and finding all his family very cheerful and merry his wife presently told him that there had been such a one there as before described and left so much gold behind him with that fore-mentioned message delivered with it Her husband presently replied that it was the Angel Gabriel sent from God for the Mahometans speak much of that Angel and he further added that himself had nothing to bring home unto her but a little grett or sand which he took up in his way homeward and bound it in his girdle which he presently opening to shew her it was all turn'd into precious stones which amounted unto a very great value in money The seventh part of which as of his gold likewise he presently gave to the poor for said he a Mussleman is very charitable and then inferr'd that if we do not neglect God God will not forget us but when we stand most in need of help will supply us Unto which conclusion we may all subscribe leaving the premises which are laid down in that story unto those that dare believe them The Mahometans say that they have the Books of Moses but they have very much corrupted that story in ascribing that to Ishmael which is said of Isaac Gen. 22. as if Ishmael should have been sacrificed not Isaac of which more afterward They say that they have the Book of Davids Psalms and some Writings of Solomon with other parcels of the Old Testament which if so I believe are made much to vary from their Original They speak very much in the honour of Moses whom they call Moosa Calim-Alla Moses the publisher of the mind of God So of Abraham whom they call Ibrahim Carim-Alla Abraham the honoured or friend of God So of Ishmael whom they call Ismal The Sacrifice of God So of Jacob whom they call Acob The blessing of God So of Joseph whom they call Eesoff The betrayed for God So of David whom they call Dahood The lover and praiser of God So of Solomon whom they call Selymon The wisdom of God all expressed as the former in short Arabian words which they sing in Ditties unto their particular remembrances And by the way many of the Mahometans there are called by the names of Moosa or Ibrahim or Ismal or Acob or Eesoff or Dahood or Selymon so others are called Mahmud or Chaan which signifies the Moon or Frista which signifies a Star c. And they call their women by the names of Flowers or Fruits of their Country or by the names of Spices or Odours or of Pearls or precious Stones or else by other names of pretty or pleasing signification As Job named one of his daughters Jemimah which signifies Clear as the day the second Keziah which signifies pleasant as Cassia or sweet Spice And the name of the third Keren-happuch signifying The Horn or strength of beauty Job 42.14 But I 'll return again to that people that I may acquaint my Reader with one thing of special observation and 't is this That there is not one among the Mahometans of any understanding which at any time mentions the name of our blessed Saviour called there Hazaret Eesa the Lord Christ but he makes mention of it with high reverence and respect For they say of Christ that he was a good man and a just that he lived without sin that he did greater miracles then ever any before or since him nay further they call him Rha-how-Alla the breath of God but how he should be the Son of God they cannot conceive and therefore cannot believe Perhaps the Socinians first took that their opinion from these which bids them to have every thing they receive as truth to be cleared up unto them by the strength of Reason as if there were no need of the exercise of Faith And truly I must needs confess that to believe the Incarnation of the Son of God is one of the hardest and greatest tasks for Faith to encounter withall that God should be made a Man that this Man Christ should be born of a Virgin that Life should spring from Death and that from Contempt and Scorn Triumph and Victory should come c. But Christians must bind up all their thoughts as to
bedeckt and adorned with Jewels he continually wears for the fashion of the Habit in which he is here presented it is for the fashion the Habit of that whole vast Empire so that he who strictly views this may see the dress of the Men throughout that whole great Monarchy After this I have set up the Royal Standard of the Great Mogol which is a couchant Lyon shadowing part of the Body of the Sun And after that I have caused his Imperial Signet or Great Seal to be laid down before my Reader 's Eyes where in nine rounds or Circles are the Names and Titles of Tamberlane and his lineal successors in Persian words which I shall make presently to speak English and as I conceive no more in English than what is fully expressed in those original words This Seal as it is here made in Persian words the Great Mogol either in a large or lesser figure causeth to be put unto all Firmaunes or Letters Patents the present Kings Title put in the middle and larger Circle that is surrounded with the rest the impression whereof is not made in any kind of Wax but Ink the Seal put in the middle of the Paper and the writing about it which Paper there is made very large and smooth and good and in divers colours besides white and all to write on And the words on the Mogol's Seal being imboss'd are put upon both sides of his Silver and Gold Coin for there is no Image upon any of it And the like little Signets or Seals are used by the great Men of that Country and so by others of inferiour rank having their Names at length engraven on them with which they make impressions or subscriptions by by Ink put on them to all their acts and deeds which round Circle is their Hand and Seal too For Timur lang or Tamberlane he was famous about the year of Christ 1398. in the last year of the Reign of Richard the Second King of England And he the first of the Race of those great Monarchs hath a Title which speaks thus 1. Amir Timur Saheb Ceraâ— that is the great Conqueror or Emperor Timur or Tamberlain Lord possessor of the Corners or of the four Corners of the World 2. The second his Son was called Mirath-Sha the King and Inheritor of Conquests or the Inheritor of his Fathers Conquests 3. The third his Son was called Mirza Sultan Mahomeds The Prince and Commander for Mahomet or The Defender of the Mahometan Religion For this King as it should seem was the first Indostan Emperor that professed Mahometism which Tamberlane his Grand-father was a great Enemy to and therefore ever strongly opposed it But this third Monarch of that Line and all his Successors since have been Mahometans 4. The fourth his Son was called Sultan Abusaid The Prince and Father or Fountain of Beneficence 5. The fifth his Son was called Mirzee Amir Scheick The Imperial Princely Lord. 6. The sixth his Son was called Baba Padsha The King the Father or The King the Father of his Country 7. The seventh his Son was called Hamasaon Padsha The King Invincible 8. The eighth his Son was called Achabar Padsha The great King or Emperour that is most mighty or The King most mighty 9. The ninth his Son was called Almozaphar Noor Dein Gehangeir Padsha Gaze The most warlike and most victorious King the Light of Religion and the Conquerour of the World Here are very high Titles taken by Tamberlane and his Successors and the lower we go the greater still they are but the last of them swells biggest of all calling himself amongst other Phantsies The Conquerour of the World and so he conceits himself to be As they write of Thrasyllus the Athenian who believed that all the Ships on the Sea were his own and therefore he would call them My Ships when ever he saw them floating on the waters and thus the great Mogol imagines all the Kings Nations and People of the World to be his Slaves and Vassals And therefore when the Grand Signiour or Great Turk sent an Ambassador to the Great Mogol who came unto him attended with a great train and retinue and after when he was ready to take his leave desired of the Mogol to know what he should say to his Master when he was returned Tell thy Master said the Mogol that he is my Slave for my Ancestor conquered him The Mogol feeds and feasts himself with this conceit that he is Conquerour of the World and therefore I conceive that he was troubled upon a time when my Lord Ambassador having business with him and upon those terms there is no coming unto that King empty-handed without some Present or other of which more afterward and having at that time nothing left which he thought fit to give him presented him with Mercators great Book of Cosmography which the Ambassador had brought thither for his own use telling the Mogol that that Book described the four parts of the World and all several Countries in them contained The Mogol at the first seem'd to be much taken with it desiring presently to see his own Territories which were immediately shewen unto him he asked which were those Countries about them he was told Tartaria and Persia as the names of the rest which confine with him and then causing the Book to be turn'd all over and finding no more to fall to his share but what at first he saw and he calling himself the Conquerour of the World and having no greater share in it seemed to be a little troubled yet civilly told the Ambassador that neither himself nor any of his People did understand the Language in which that Book was written and because so he further told him that he would not rob him of such a Jewel and therefore returned it unto him again And the Truth is that the Great Mogol might very well bring his Action against Mercator and others who describe the World but streighten him very much in their Maps not allowing him to be Lord and Commander of those Provinces which properly belong unto him But it is true likewise that he who hath the greatest share on the face of the Earth if it be compared with the whole World appears not great As it was said of the Lands of Alcibiades that compared with the Globe of the whole Earth they did not appear bigger then a small tittle The Mogol's Territories are more apparent large and visible as one may take notice who strictly views this affixed Map which is a true representation of that great Empire in its large dimensions So that although the Mogol be not Master of the whole World yet hath he a great share in it if we consider his very large Territories and his abundant riches as will after more appear whose wealth and strength makes him so potent as that he is able whensoever he pleaseth to make inroades upon and to do much mischief unto any of his Neighbours but I
gay and gorgious apparel for the Country is so hot that they cannot endure any thing that is very warm or massie or rich about them The Mogol himself for the most part is covered with a garment as before described made of pure white and fine Callico-laune and so are his Nobles which garments are washed after one days wearing But for the Mogol though his cloathing be not rich and costly yet I believe that there is never a Monarch in the whole world that is daily adorned with so many Jewels as himself is Now they are Jewels which make mens covering most rich such as people in other parts sometimes wear about them that are otherwise most meanly habited To which purpose I was long since told by a Gentleman of honour sent as a Companion to the old Earl of Nottingham when he was imployed as an extraordinary Embassadour by King James to confirm the peace made 'twixt himself and the King of Spain which Embassadour had a very great many Gentlemen in his train in as rich clothing as Velvets and Silks could make but then there did appear many a great Don or Grandee in the Spanish Court in a long black bays Cloak and Cassack which had one Hatband of Diamonds which was of more worth by far than all the bravery of the Ambassadors many Followers But for the Mogol I wonder not at his many Jewels he being as I conceive the greatest and richest Master of precious stones that inhabits the whole earth For Diamonds which of all other are accounted most precious stones they are found in Decan where the Rocks are out of which they are digged the Princes whereof are the next Neighbours and Tributaries to the great Mogol and they pay him as Tribute many Diamonds yearly and further he hath the refusal of all those rich stones they sell he having Gold and Silver in the greatest abundance and that will purchase any thing but heaven he wil part with any mony for any Gems beside that are precious and great whether Rubies or any other stones of value as also for rich Pearls And his Grandees follow him in that fancy for one of his great Lords gave our Merchants there twelve hundred pounds sterling for one Pearl which was brought out of England The Pearl was shaped like a Pear very large beautiful and orient and so its price deserved it should be Now the Mogol having such an abundance of Jewels wears many of them daily enow to exceed those women which Rome was wont to shew in their Star-like dresses who in the height and prosperity of that Empire were said to wear The spoils of Nations in one ear Or Lollia Paulina who was hid with Jewels For the great Mogol the Diamonds and Rubies and Pearls which are very many and daily worn by him are all of an extraordinary greatness and consequently of an exceeding great value And besides those he wears about his Shash or head covering he hath a long Chain of Jewels hanging about his Neck as long as an ordinary Gold-Chain others about his wrists and the Hilts of his Sword and Dagger are most curiously enriched with those precious Stones beside others of very great value which he wears in Rings on his fingers The first of March the Mogol begins a royal Feast like that which Ahasuerus made in the third year of his Reign Esth. 1. wherein he shewed the riches of his glorious Kingdom This feast the Mogol makes is called the Nooroos that signifies Nine-days which time it continues to usher in the new year which begins with the Mahometans there the tenth day of March. Against which Feast the Nobles assemble themselves together at that Court in their greatest Pomp presenting their King with great gifts and he requiting them again with Princely rewards at which time I being in his presence beheld most immense and incredible riches to my amazement in Gold Pearls Precious stones Jewels and many other glittering vanities This Feast is usually kept by the Mogol while he is in his Progress and lodges in Tents Whether his Diet at this time be greater than ordinary I know not for he always eats in private amongst his Women where none but his own Family see him while he is eating which Family of his consists of his Wives and Children and Women and Eunuchs and his Boys and none but these abide and lodge in the Kings Houses or Tents and therefore how his Table is spread I could never know but doubtless he hath of all those varieties that Empire affords if he so please His food they say is served in unto him in Vessels of Gold which covered and brought unto him by his Eunuchs after it is proved by his Tasters he eats not at any set times of the day but he hath provision ready at all times and calls for it when he is hungry and never but then The first of September which was the late Mogol's birth-day he retaining an ancient yearly Custom was in the presence of his chief Grandees weighed in a Balance the Ceremony was performed within his House or Tent in a fair spacious Room whereinto none were admitted but by special leave The Scales in which he was thus weighed were plated with Gold and so the beam on which they hung by great Chains made likewise of that most precious Metal the King sitting in one of them was weighed first against silver Coin which immediately after was distributed among the poor then was he weighed against Gold after that against Jewels as they say but I observed being present there with my Lord Ambassador that he was weighed against three several things laid in silken Bags on the contrary Scale When I saw him in the Balance I thought on Belshazzar who was found too light Dan. 5.27 By his weight of which his Physicians yearly keep an exact account they presume to guess of the present estate of his body of which they speak flatteringly however they think it to be When the Mogol is thus weighed he casts about among the standers by thin pieces of silver and some of Gold made like flowers of that Countrey and some of them are made like Cloves and some like Nutmegs but very thin and hollow Then he drinks to his Nobles in his Royal wine as that of Ahasuerus is called Esth. 1.7 who pledge his health at which solemnity he drank to my Lord Ambassadour in a Cup of Gold most curiously enameled and set all over the outside with stones which were small Rubies Turkesses and Emeralds with a Cover or Plate to set in it in both of pure Gold the brims of which plate and the cover were enameled and set with stones as the other and all these together weighed twenty and four ounces of our English weights which he then gave unto my Lord Ambassadour whom he ever used with very much respect and would moreover often ask him why he did not desire some good and great gifts at his hands be being a
when the King sits and speaks to any of his people publickly there is not a word falls from him that is not written by some Scriveners or Scribes that stand round about him In the year 1618. when we lived at that Court there appeared at once in the moneth of November in their Hemisphear two great Blazing-stars the one of them North the other South which unusual sight appeared there for the space of one moneth One of those strange Comets in the North appeared like a long blazing-torch or Launce fired at the upper end the other in the South was round like a pot boiling out fire The Mogol consulted with his flattering Astrologers who spake of these Comets unto the King as Daniel sometimes did of Nebuchadnezzars dream Dan. 4.19 My Lord the dream is to them that hate thee and the interpretation thereof unto thine enemies For his Astrologers told him that he needed not trouble himself with the thought thereof for it concerned other places and people not him nor his But not long after this their season of Rain before spoken of which was never known to fail till then failed them and this caused such a famine and mortality in the South parts of his Empire that it did very much unpeople it and in the Northern part thereof whither the Mogol then repaired his third Son Sultan Caroom raised and kept together very great forces and stood upon his guard and would not disband till his Father had delivered his eldest Son Sultan Coobseroo into his hands And how when he had him in his power he used him you shall after hear In the mean time take one admirable example of a very gross flatterer but a great Favorite of that King who was noted above others of that Nation to be a great neglecter of God believing it Religion enough to please the Mogol his Master This man was a Souldier of an approved valour But upon a time he sitting in dalliance with one of his women she pluckt an hair from his breast which grew about his Nipple in wantonness without the least thought of doing him hurt But the little wound that small and unparalle'd instrument of death made presently began to fester and in short time after became a Canker incurable in fine when he saw that he must needs dye he uttered these words which are worth the remembring of all that shall ever hear them saying Who would not have thought but that I who have been so long bred a Souldier should have dyed in the face of mine Enemy either by a Sword or a Launce or an Arrow or a Bullet or by some such instrument of death But now though too late I am forc'd to confess that there is a great God above whose Majesty I have ever despised that needs no bigger Launce than an hair to kill an Atheist or a despiser of his Majesty And so desiring that those his last words might be told unto the King his Master he died The Mogol never advanceth any but he gives him a new name and this of some pretty signification as Pharoah did unto Joseph when he made him great in his Court Gen. 41.45 The new names I say that the Mogol gives unto those he advances and favours are significant As Asaph Chan The gathering or rich Lord whose Sister the Mogol married and she was his most beloved Wife and her Brothers marvellous great riches answered his name for he died worth many Millions as I have been credibly informed the greatest Subject I believe for wealth that ever the World had So another of the Mogols Grandees was called Mahobet-Chan The beloved Lord. Another Chan-Iahan The Lord of my heart Another Chan-Allaam The Lord of the World Another Chan-Channa The Lord of Lords He called his chief Physician Mocrob-Chan The Lord of my health and many other names like these his Grandees had which at my being there belonged to his most numerous Court And further for their Titles of honour there all the Kings Children are called Sultans or Princes his Daughters Sultana's or Princesses the next title is Nabob equivalent to a Duke the next Channa a double Lord or Earl the next Chan a Lord. So Meirsa signifies a Knight that hath been a General or Commander in the Wars Vmbra a Captain Hadde a Cavalier or Souldier on horse-back who have all allowed them means by the King as before proportionable for the supports of their Honours and Titles and Names His Officers of State are his Treasurers which receive his revenues in his several Provinces and take care for the payment of his great Pensions which when they are due are paid without any delay There his chief Eunuchs which command the rest of them take care for the ordering of his House and are Stewards and Controulers of it his Secretaries the Masters of his Elephants and the Masters of his Tents are other of his great Officers and so are the keepers of his Ward-robe who are entrusted with his Plate and Jewels To 〈◊〉 I may add those which take care of his Customs for Goods brought into his Empire as for commodities carried thence But these are not many because his Sea-ports are but few The Customs paid in his Ports are not high that strangers of all Nations may have the greater encouragement to Trade there with him But as he expects money from all strangers that Trade there So it is a fault he will not pardon as before for any to carry any quantity of silver thence He hath other Officers that spread over his Empire to exact monies out of all the labours of that people who make the curious manufactures So that like a great Tree he receives nourishment from every even the least Roots that grow under his shadow and therefore though his Pensions are exceeding great as before they are nothing comparable to his much greater revenues By reason of that Countries immoderate heat our English-cloath is not fit to make Habits for that people that of it which is sold there is most of it for colour Red and this they imploy for the most part to make coverings for their Elephants and Horses and to cover their Coaches the King himself taking a very great part thereof whose payments are very good only the Merchant must get the hands of some of his chief Officers to his Bill appointed for such dispatches which are obtained as soon as desired And this the King doth to prevent the abuses of particular and single persons And now that I may present my Reader with the further glory of this great King I shall lead him where he may take a view SECTION XXVII Of the Mogols Leskar or Camp Royal c. WHich indeed is very glorious as all must confess who have seen the infinite number of Tents or Pavilions there pitched together which in a Plain make a shew equal to a most spacious and glorious City These Tents I say when they are altogether cover such a great quantity of ground that
from that Fall and therefore it was necessary that there should be one more than a Man to do it for him and that that One could not be Mahomet That this One was Christ God as well as Man God to satisfie the Mahometans themselves confessing that Christ was the breath of God and Man to suffer death as he did That Christ the Son of God coming into the World about that great Work of satisfying Gods anger against Man for sin it was necessary that he should live a poor and laborious life here on Earth at which the Mahometans much stumble and not a life that was full of pomp and pleasure and delicacy That the Gospel of Christ and other holy books of Scripture which the Christians retain and walk by contain nothing in them that is corrupt and depraved But there is very much to be found in their Alcaron which is so That the great worth and worthiness shining in the Person of Christ was by far more excellent than any thing observable in Mahomet for they themselves confess that Christ lived without sin when Mahomet himself acknowledgeth that he had been a filthy person That the feigned foolish and ridiculous miracles which they say were done by Mahomet were nothing comparable to the Miracles done by Christ who as the Mahometans confess did greater Miracles than ever were done before or since him That there was a great deal of difference in the manner of promulgating the Gospel of Christ into the world and the introducing of the Laws of Mahomet That Christ hath purchased Heaven for all that believe in him and that Hell is prepared for all others that do not rely on him and on him alone for Salvation There were many more particulars besides these which that Jeronymo Xaveere laid down before the Mogol to ground his arguments on which that King heard patiently at several times during the space of one year and a half but at last he sent him away back again to Goa honourably with some good gifts bestowed on him telling him as Felix did after he had reasoned before him that he would call for him again when he had a convenient time Acts 24.25 Which time or season neither of them both ever found afterward These Particulars which I have here inserted with many more I might have added to them upon all which that Jeronymo Xaveere enlarged himself before the Mogol in his arguings before him were given unto me in Latine by Francisco Corsi another Jesuit resident at that Court while I was there and long before that time And further I have been there told by other people professing Christianity in that Empire that there was such a Dispute there held and for my part I do believe it For that Francisco Corsi he was a Florentine by birth aged about fifty years who if he were indeed what he seemed to be was a man of a severe life yet of a fair and an affable disposition He lived at that Court as an Agent for the Portugals and had not only free access unto that King but also encouragement and help by hifts which he sometimes bestowed on him When this Jesuit came first to be acquainted with my Lord Ambassadour he told him that they were both by profession Christians though there was a vast difference betwixt them in their professing of it And as he should not go about to reconcile the Embassadour to them So he told him that it would be labour in vain if he should attempt to reconcile him to us Only he desired that there might be a fair correspondency betwixt them but no disputes And further his desire was that those wide differences 'twixt the Church of Rome and us might not be made there to appear that Christ might not seem by those differences to be divided amongst men professing Christianity which might have been a very main Obstacle and hinderance unto his great Design and endeavour for which he was sent thither to convert people unto Christianity there Telling my Lord Embassadour further that he should be ready to do for him all good offices of love and service there and so he was After his first acquaintance he visited us often usually once a week And as those of that society in other parts of the world are very great intelligencers so was he there knowing all news which was stirring and might be had which he communicated unto us And he would tell us many stories besides one of which if true is very remarkable And it was thus There are a race of people in East India the men of which race have if he told us true their right legs extraordinary great and mishapen their left legs are like other mens Now he told us that they were the posterity of those who stamped St Thomas the Apostle to death come thither to preach the Gospel and that ever since the men of that race have and only they of that Nation that great deformity upon them Some few people I have there seen of whom this story is told but whether that deformity be like Geheza's leprosie hereditary and if so whether it fell upon that people upon the occasion before-named I am yet to learn The Jesuits in East India for he was not alone there have liberty to convert any they can work upon unto Christianity c. The Mogol hath thus far declared that it shall be lawful for any one perswaded so in conscience to become a Christian and that he should not by so doing lose his favour Upon which I have one thing here to insert which I had there by report yet I was bid to believe it and report it for a truth concerning a Gentleman of quality and a servant of the great Mogol who upon some conviction wrought upon him as they say would needs be Baptized and become a Christian. The King hearing of this Convert sent for him and at first with many cruel threats commanded him to renounce that his new profession the man replied that he was most willing to suffer any thing in that cause which the King could inflict The Mogol then began to deal with him another way askking why he thought himself wiser then his Fore-fathers who lived and died Mahometans and further added many promises of riches and honour if he would return to his Mahometism he replied again as they say for I have all this by Tradition that he would not accept of any thing in the world so to do The Mogol wondring at his constancy told him that if he could have frighted or bought him out of his new profession he would have made him an example for all waverers but now he perceived that his resolution indeed was to be a Christian and he bid him so continue and with a reward discharged him The late Mogol about the beginning of his reign caused a Temple to be built in Agra his chief City for the Jesuits wherein two of his younger Brothers Sons were solemnly Baptized and delivered into their