had carried with her a great deal of Money Jewels and rich Stuffs to make Presents at Mecha Medina Grand Cheik and other places resolving to be very magnificent In fine Hugo having sufficiently tortured the Master Carpenter and the Carpenters Son whom he threatned to kill in his Fathers presence made them bring out what was in the Sea and seized it as he did the rest of the Cargoe This Action had made so much noise in the Indies that Hugo who was there taken for a French-man was abominated and by consequenee all French-men for his sake The Governour talked high of that Corsar to Father Ambrose who had much adoe to perswade him that he was not a French-man because he came with French Colours and for certain had a great many Frenchmen on Board However after much Discourse he believed him but for all that excused not the French from the Action wherein they had assisted him and still maintained that nothing but a design of Robbing had brought them into that Countrey The Father denied that it was their design but that they only came with Lambert Hugo to revenge an affront done to some French in Aden a Town of Arabia the Happy Aden lying in the eleventh Degree of Latitude and thereupon he told him what was done in that Town to the French some years before How that a Pinnace of Monsieur de la Meilleraye being obliged in a storm to separate from her Man of War and to put into Aden The Sunnis by force and unparalell'd impietie had caused all those that came ashore to be Circumcised though at first they received them well and promised to treat them as Friends That notwithstanding that the King of France as well as the Indians had disapproved the Action of the Corsar and French who were on Board of him because they had put his Subjects into bad Reputation by the Artifice of the Enemies of France but that he was resolved to dispell that bad Reputation by settling a Company to trade to the Indies with express Orders to exercise no Acts of Hostility there The French justified by Father Ambrose The Governour being satisfied with the Answer of Father Ambrose prayed him to write down in the Persian Language all that he had told him and so soon as he had done so he sent it to Court. The Great Mogul having had it read to him in the Divan was fully satisfied therewith as well as his Ministers of State and then all desired the coming of the French Ships The truth is that Governour shewed extrordinary kindness to the Sieurs de la Boullaye and Beber Envoys from the French Company the Companies Envoys and told them that on the Testimony of Father Ambrose he would do them all the service he could The English President an old Friend of that Fathers shewed them also all the Honour he could having sent his Coach and Servants to receive them and he assured the Father that they might command any thing he had Thus the Capucin by the Credit that he had acquired in the Indies dispersed the bad reports which the Enemies of France had raised against the French. CHAP. XII Of the Marriage of the Governour of the Town 's Daughter The marriage of a great Lord at Surrat WHil'st I was at Surrat the Governour of the Town married his Daughter to the Son of an Omra who came thither for that end That young Lord made his Trumpets Tymbals and Drums play publickly during the space of twelve or fourteen days to entertain the People and publish his Marriage upon a Wednesday which was appointed for the Ceremony of the Wedding The Ceremonies of the Wedding he made the usual Cavalcade about eight of the Clock at Night first marched his Standards which were followed by several hundreds of Men carrying Torches and these Torches were made of Bambous or Canes at the end whereof there was an Iron Candlestick containing Rolls of oyled Cloath made like Sausages Amongst these Torch-lights there were two hundred Men and Women little Boys and little Girls who had each of them upon their Head a little Hurdle of Ozier-Twigs The Cavalcade of the Wedding on which were five little Earthen Cruces that served for Candlesticks to so many Wax-Candles and all these People were accompanied with a great many others some carrying in Baskets Rolls of Cloath and Oyl to supply the Flamboys and others Candles The Trumpets came after the Flamboy-carriers and these were followed by publick Dancing-women sitting in two Machins made like Bedstids without Posts in the manner of Palanquins which several Men carried on their Shoulders They sung and play'd on their Cymbals intermingled with Plates and flat thin pieces of Copper which they struck one against another and made a very clear sound but unpleasant if compared with the sound of our Instruments Next came six pretty handsome led Horses with Cloath-Saddles wrought with Gold-thread The Bridegroom having his Face covered with a Gold-Fringe which hung down from a kind of Mitre that he wore on his Head followed on Horse-back and after came twelve Horse-men who had behind them two great Elephants and two Camels which carried each two Men playing on Tymbals and besides these Men each Elephant had his Guide sitting upon his Neck This Cavalcade having for the space of two hours marched through the Town passed at length before the Governours House where they continued as they had done all along the Streets where the Cavalcade went to throw Fire-works for some time and then the Bridegroom retired Sometime after Bonefires Bonefires prepared on the River-side before the Governours House were kindled and on the Water before the Castle there were six Barks full of Lamps burning in tires about half an hour after ten these Barks drew near the House the better to light the River And at the same time on the side of Renelle Renelle a Town there were Men that put Candles upon the Water which floating gently without going out were by an Ebbing-Tide carried towards the Sea. Renelle is an old Town about a quarter of a League distant from Surrat It stands on the other side of the Tapty and though it daily fall into ruin yet the Dutch have a very good Magazin there There were five little artificial Towers upon the Water-side full of Fire-lances and Squibs which were set on fire one after another but seeing the Indian Squibs make no noise no more than their Fire-lances all they did was to turn violently about and dart a great many streaks of Fire into the Air some streight up like Water-works and others obliquely representing the branches of a Tree of Fire They put fire next to a Machine which seemed to be a blew Tree when it was on fire because there was a great deal of Brimstone in the Fire-work After that upon a long Bar of Iron fixed in the ground they placed a great many artificial Wheels which play'd one after
Latin Church where Moses hid himself when having desired to see God's Face the Lord told him that he could not see his Face and live but that he should hide himself in that Rock and that when he was passed by he should see his back parts His Back and Arms are very well marked on the Rock under which he hid himself It was upon the top of this Mount that Moses received from God the Ten Commandments written upon two Tables From this place one may easily see down into the Convent which is at the foot of the Mount and as it were just under those who are on the top of it There you see a fair large Church covered with Lead where they say the Body of St. Catherine is in pieces Before the door of the said Church within the Precincts of the Monastery there is beautiful Mosque As we were coming down again we found by the way a great Stone and as the Greeks say this is the place to which the Prophet Elias came having fled from Mount Carmel because of the Persecution of Jezabel Queen of Syria being come to that place where the Stone is an Angel appeared unto him and with a Rod smiting that great Stone made it fall down in the way and forbid Elias to go any farther telling him that since Moses had not been in the Holy Land he should not go to the top of this Mount. A little lower is the Foot of a Camel so well imprinted on the Rock that it cannot be better stamped upon the Sand over which a Camel passes the Moors and Arabs say it is the print of the Foot of Mahomet's Camel which it left there as he passed that way upon it they kiss it with great devotion but it is credible that the Greeks have made it to captivate their friendship to the end they may reverence those places After that in several places of the Mount we saw little Chappels which have all little Houses near them and Gardens full of Fruit-Trees Heretofore these places were inhabited by Hermites in so great number that it is said that in the Mountain of Moses there were in ancient Times above fourteen thousand Hermites afterwards the Greeks kept Monks in all these Hermitages to celebrate Divine Office but at present there are none because the Arabs too much tormented them We dined upon this Mountain on Bread Onions and Dates that we had brought with us and then went to see the Hermitages and first we found three of these Chappels altogether with a passage from one to another Behind the Altar of the third which is dedicated to the Honour of St. Elias there is a Hole in the Rock where Elias lived all the while that he sojourned in that Mount because of the Persecution of Jezabel Then we came to another place where there are three Chappels more dedicated one to the Honour of the Blessed Virgin another to the Honour of St. Ann and a third to the Honour of St. John after that to a Chappel dedicated to St. Pantaleon then to another dedicated to the Holy Virgin another to David another to the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ another to St. Anthony the Hermite to another place where there are three little Cells in which the Greeks say that two Elder Sons of the Greek Emperour shut themselves up each in his Cell causing the Doors to be walled up and leaving only a Window in each still to be seen by which they received Victuals from a Servant who lived in the third Cell that was not shut up and that both of them died in their several Cells All these Chappels are scattered up and down upon the Mount so that one must go a good way before he can visite them all Near to every one of them there is a little House a Garden and good Water From thence we went down to the great Monastery at the foot of the Mountain by steps whith heretofore reached from the said Monastery up to the top of the Mount and were in number fourteen thousand at present some of them are broken those that remain are well made and easie to go up or down The height of the Mountain of Moses One may judge of the height of St. Catherine's Mount by this which certainly is not so high by a third and yet hath fourteen thousand Steps up to it Upon the way as we came down we found two fair stone Porticos by which we passed and where the Greeks say that they who performed the Pilgrimage paid heretofore a certain small due After that we came to the great Monastery at the bottom which is welt built of good Free-stone with very high smooth Walls on the East-side there is a Window by which those that were within drew up the Pilgrims into the Monastery with a Basket which they let down by a Rope that runs in a Pully to be seen above at the Window and the Pilgrims went into it one after another and so were hoisted up by the same place they also let down Victuals to the Arabs with a Rope We entered not into that Monastery because it was shut To understand the reason of this you most know the History of this Monastery CHAP. XXIX Of the Monastery of St. Catherine The Monastery of St. Catherine FOR these thousand years the Greeks have been in Possession of this Monastery which was given them by a Greek Emperour called Justinian and they afterwards living there on a certain day Mahomet who as the Greeks say was their Camel Driver weary after the toyl of bringing in Provisions upon the Camels fell a sleep before the Gate of the Monastery while he was a sleep there came an Eagle and hovered for a long time over his Head An Eagle over Mahomet's Head. which the Porter of the Monastery observing ran in great amazement to acquaint the Abbot with it who immediately coming saw the same thing and reflecting thereupon as soon as Mahomet awoke asked him whether or not if being a Great and Mighty Lord he would be kind to them Mahomet made answer that he neither was nor ever like to be such but the other still insisting upon that Supposition Mahomet told him that he ought not at all to doubt of it but that if it were in his power he would do them all the good he could because he had his livelihood from them Mahomet's Promise the Abbot would needs have that Promise from him in writing but Mahomet affirming that he could not write the Abbot sent for an Ink-horn Mahomet could not write and Mahomet having wet his Hand in the Ink clapt it upon a leaf of clean Paper and made thereon the impression of his Hand which he gave them as a confirmation of what he said Having sometime after attained to that Grandeur which was presaged to him by the Eagle he called to mind his Promise and preserved to them their Monastery with all the Land belonging to it but upon
faced with lovely Marble in the middle whereof there is a Glory of Silver like the Sun with this Inscription about it Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est About half a Foot from this Glory there is naturally upon a Marble Stone The figure of the Virgin and of her Son naturally imprinted on Marble The place of the Manger of our Lord. a figure in red Colour of a Virgin on her Knees and a little Child lying before her which is taken for the Blessed Virgin and her Son Jesus on whose Heads they have put two little Crowns of Silver-Plate Nine and twenty Lamps are kept burning before that Chappel Then you go down by three Marble-steps into a little Chappel where was the Wooden Manger into which the Virgin laid our Lord so soon as She had brought Him into the World this Manger is now at Rome in Santa Maria Majora And in the same place St. Helen caused another of white Marble Tables to be put on one of which set against the Wall is the natural Figure of an Old Man with a Monks Hood and long Beard lying on his Back and they 'll have this to be the Figure of St. Jerome which God was pleased should be marked upon that Stone because of the great love he had for that place Ten Lamps are kept burning before that Chappel two steps from which and just over against it is the Altar of Adoration of the Three Kings where there is a little Stone for a mark of the place The place of the Kings Adoration on which sat the holy Virgin with Her dear Son in Her Arms when She saw the three Wise Men come in who having laid down their Presents upon a little Bench of Stone at the foot of the Altar on the side of the Epistle adored Jesus and then offered him their Presents The Vault in this place is very low and supported by three Pillars of Porphyrian Marble before this Altar three Lamps burn At the other end of this place there was heretofore a Door by which one came down from St. Catharine's Chappel into this Grott before the Latin Monks lost it but at present it is Walled up and close by that Door there is a hole into which the Oriental Christians say the Star sunk after it had guided the Magi into this holy place This Grott is all faced with Marble both the Walls and Floor and the Seeling or Vault is adorned with Mosaick Work blackened by the smoak of the Lamps It receives no light but by the two Doors that are upon the Stairs which affords but very little Now this place is held in very great Veneration even by the Turks who come often and say their prayers there The Church of Bethlehem serves for a lodging to the Turks that pass that way But it is a very incommodious and unseemly thing that all the Turks who pass through Bethlehem should Lodge in the great Church with their whole Families there being no convenient Lodging in Bethlehem which is a great Eye-sore to the Christians who see their Church made an Inn for the Infidels But it is above all troublesome to our Latin Monks whom they oblige to furnish them with all things necessary both for Diet and Lodging CHAP. XLVI Of the Way of making what Marks Men please upon their Arms. WE spent all Tuesday the Nine and twentieth of April The Pilgrims of Jerusalem marked in the Arm. in getting Marks put upon our Arms as commonly all Pilgrims do the Christians of Bethlehem who are of the Latin Church do that They have several Wooden Moulds of which you may chuse that which pleases you best then they fill it with Coal-dust and apply it to your Arm so that they leave upon the same the Mark of what is cut in the Mould after that with the left hand they take hold of your Arm and stretch the skin of it and in the right hand they have a little Cane with two Needles fastened in it which from time to time they dip into Ink mingled with Oxes Gall and prick your Arm all along the lines that are marked by the Wooden Mould This without doubt is painful and commonly causes a slight Fever which is soon over the Arm in the mean time for two or three days continues swelled three times as big as it ordinarily is After they have pricked all along the said lines they wash the Arm and observe if there be any thing wanting then they begin again and sometimes do it three times over When they have done they wrap up your Arm very streight and there grows a Crust upon it which falling off three or four days after the Marks remain Blew and never wear out because the Blood mingling with that Tincture of Ink and Oxes Gall retains the mark under the Skin CHAP. XLVII Of what is to be seen about Bethlehem and of the Grott of the Virgin in Bethlehem WEdnesday the Four and twentieth of April we parted from Bethlehem at five a Clock in the Morning and went to see the holy places that are about it In the first place we saw on a little Hill on our right hand Boticella Boticella which is a Town wherein none but Greeks live and the Turks cannot live there for they say that if a Turk offer to live in it he dies within eight days Then a League from Bethlehem we saw the Church of St. George where there is a great Iron-ring fastened to a Chain through which the People of the Country A Ring that eures the Sick. both Moors and Christians pass when they are troubled with any Infirmity and as they say are immediately cured of it We went not thither because the day before the Greeks having been there met with some Turks who made every one of them pay some Maidins though it was not the custom to pay any thing and our Trucheman would by no means have us go thither that we might not accustome them to a new Imposition We left St. George's on the right hand and went to see a Fountain called in holy Scripture Fons Signatus Fons Signatus the Sealed Well which is in a hole under Ground where being got down with some trouble and a lighted Candle we saw on the right hand three Springs one by another the Water whereof is by an Aqueduct that begins close by the Fountain Heads conveyed to Jerusalem Near to that place there is a pretty Castle built some fifty or sixty Years since for taking the Caffares of the Caravans of Hebron a little farther are the three Fish-Ponds of Salomon The three Fish-ponds of Salomon they are three great Reser-servatories cut in the Rock the one at the end of the other the second being a little lower than the first and the third than the second and so communicate the Water from one to another when they are full near to this place his Concubines lived Continuing our Journey we saw in
It is a Town at present almost desolate We lodged in the Convent which is commodious and neat enough being new built for it is but about forty Years since that place came into the hands of the Monks of the Holy Land being given them by the Emir Farir Eddin Thursday the ninth of May we went into the Church where we heard Mass and said our Prayers The place of the Annunciation this Church is on the same place where the Angel Gabriel Annunciated the Mystery of the Incarnation to the Virgin Mary when she was at Prayers so that that Grott was her Oratory you go down to it by seven or eight steps in the Court and by more in the Convent There are two lovely Pillars of greyish Stone in it which were put there by St. Helen one at the very place as they say where the Virgin was when she received that Heavenly Message and the other at the place where the Angel appeared from the lower part of that where the Virgin was there is about two Foot broken off by the Turks so that the rest hangs as it were in the Air sticking to the Vault to which the Capital of it is fastned The Chamber of the Virgin. Even with this Grott is the place of the Virgins Chamber which was by Angels Transported to Loretto so that there are two Nefs one of the Grott and another of the Chamber in the space whereof there is another Rebuilt exactly like that of Loretto It is thirteen paces long and four broad the Chamber and Grott together being also thirteen paces in length We went out of Nazareth the same day May the ninth about three in the Afternoon to go visit the holy places about it And in the first place about three quarters of a League South from Nazareth we saw a great Hill called the Precipice The Precipice which is the place where the Jews would have thrown our Saviour down headlong but He rendering himself invisible to them retreated as they say into a little Cell that looks like a large and deep Nich this Nich is about the middle of the Precipice and heretofore the prints of his Body were to be seen in it In this Nich there is an Altar on which sometimes they say Mass and the ruines of a Chappel still to be seen by it From the top of that Precipice you may see the Town of Naim where our Lord raised the Widows Son from the Dead it lies at the foot of the Hill called Hermon Hermon mentioned in the Psalms Betwixt the Precipice and Nazareth there are some ruines of a Nunnery Our Lady of fear where there was a Church dedicated to our Lady of Fear because they say the holy Virgin following our Lord whom the Jews led to precipitate him and being afraid they might put him to death as she was going fell down in this place and her Knee is very well marked in the Rock The Monks say that they caused a piece of the Rock to be cut off that they might have carried away that Impression but that after they had gone a few steps they could not carry it away Then upon a little Mount about six hundred paces from the Convent they shewed us a great Stone Our Saviour's Table St. Peter's Well called our Lord's Table because they have it by Tradition that our Saviour eat many times upon it with his Apostles Close by it is the Fountain called St. Peter's Well because our Lord returning back to the Town with his Apostles and St. Peter being dry our Saviour made that Well to spring out and the Water is very good After that we entered into the Town which is close by and about five a Clock at Night came to the Convent CHAP. LV. Of the House of the Cananean the Mount of Beatitudes the Mount of the two Fishes and five Loaves the Sea of Tiberias of Mount Tabor and other holy Places NEXT day being Friday the Tenth of May we parted from Nazareth about five a Clock in the Morning and a little after found the Fountain where the Blessed Virgin used to draw Water The Tomb of Jonas and there are some steps to go down to it Then on the left hand we saw the Tomb of Jonas to whom the Turks bear great respect as they do to all the Prophets We saw a print of his Foot on the Rock the same Foot being marked on four places of the Rock at some paces distance from one another We came next to the Well where the Water was drawn which our Lord turned into Wine at the Marriage of Cana. In the Sacristie of the Church of the Eleven Thousand Virgins at Cologne I saw one of the Pots wherein our Saviour wrought that Miracle changing the Water that was in it into so good Wine that the Guests who had not seen the Miracle wrought complained to the Master of the Feast that he brought forth the good Wine last seeing it was the custom to give the good Wine first and the bad last then we went into the House where our Lord wrought this Miracle St. Helen built there a Church with a little Convent where some Monks lived it is still standing but the Moors have changed it into a Mosque however we entred into it Having seen that place we Travelled a pretty while in the Plain where the Apostles pluck'd the Ears of Corn and rubbed them in their hands on the Sabbath-Day The Sea of Galilee Bethulia then from a little height we discovered the Sea of Galilee from whence we also saw Bethulia where Judith killed Holofernes We saw also from that place pretty near the said Sea the top of Mount Libanus all white with Snow and about Ten in the morning we came to the Mount of Beatitudes so called The Mount of Beatitudes because it is the place where our Saviour made to his Apostles the Sermon of Beatitudes we went up to it and after we had heard the Gospel on that subject read by one of our Monks we came down again and continued our Journey The place and stone upon which our Lord blessed the two fishes and five loaves Tiberias and half an Hour after we came to the place where our Lord fed Five thousand men with two Fishes and five Loaves and twelve Baskets full of Fragments remained Having the Gospel read to us we eat in that place upon a Stone upon which they say he blessed the said Fishes and Loaves from thence we went to the Town of Tiberias which is upon the side of the Sea of Tiberias having been restored by Herod and named Tiberias from the name of the Emperour Tiberius We got there about Noon its Ruines and old Demolished Walls demonstrate it to have been a very large place The Walls of it having been ruined a Jewish Widow afterwards built new ones in form of a Fort with its Courtines and Jews lived there until about fifteen Years ago that the
Tyrannie of the Turks made them abandon it Among the ruines of the Town and even within the Precincts of it a great many Palm-Trees grow within this last Precinct there is a Castle upon the Sea-side which seems to have been a strong place A hundred paces from thence within the said Precinct we saw a Church five and twenty paces in length and fifteen broad dedicated to St. Peter which is still entire They say that St. Helen caused it to be built in the place where our Lord said to St. Peter Mat. c. 16. Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church c. There we had that Gospel read to us Others say it is the place where our Lord eat Fish with his Apostles after his Resurrection when He appeared unto them upon the side of this Sea. We Dined in that place and then washed our selves in the Lake the Water whereof is fresh very good to Drink and full of Fish It is about twelve or fifteen Miles long and five or six over It was heretofore called the Sea of Galilee Lake of Genezareth Capernaum Mat. 9. Mat. 8. John 4. or Lake of Genezareth From thence on the left hand upon the side of that Sea we saw the ruines of the Town of Capernaum where St. Matthew left the Custom-House to follow our Lord and where our Saviour Cured the Centurion's Servant and the Son of the Nobleman and raised a Maid from the Dead About an hundred paces from the Precinct of the Town of Tiberias close by the Sea-side there is a natural Bath of hot Waters to which they go down by some steps The ancient Walls of Tiberias reached as far as this Bath We parted from Tiberias about two in the Afternoon and about seven a Clock at Night arrived at a Village called Sabbato near to which we lay abroad in the open Fields Aain Ettudgiar for our Monks would by no means have us to Lodge at the usual place which is at the Castle called Aain Ettudgiar that is to say the Merchants Well as being afraid of some Avanie Next day Saturday the eleventh of May we left that bad Inn about five a Clock in the Morning and half an hour after came to a Castle called Eunegiar which is square having a Tower at each Corner close by it there is a Han which appears to be pretty enough The place where Joseph was sold and is also square It was at this Castle as they say that Joseph was by his Brethren sold to an Ishmaelite Merchant the Pit or Well whereunto they had put him first is still to be seen but we went not to it because it was quite out of our Road. This Castle is commanded by a Sous-Basha and there we payed a Piastre of Caffare a piece of which one half goes to the Sous-Basha and the other to the Arabs From thence we went towards Mount Tabor Mount Tabor or Gabeltour by the Arabs called Gebeltour and came an hour after to the foot of it where alighting from our Horses though one may ride up on Horse-back as some of our Company did we got up to the top about nine a Clock It is easie to be mounted seeing one may go up on Horse-back but it is also very high being almost half a League from the bottom to the top Having taken a little breath we entred by a low Door into a little Grott where we found on the left hand a Chappel built in memory of the place where our Lord was Transfigured and of what St. Peter said It is good for us to be here let us make three Tabernacles c. This Chappel is made up of four Arches cross-ways one of them is the entry of the Chappel that which is opposite to it is the place where our Lord was when he was Transfigured that which is on the right hand of it but on the left hand of those that enter into the Chappel is the place where Moses was because in holy Scripture Moses is mentioned before Elias The fourth which is over against that of Moses is the place where Elias was and a Monk read to us there the Gospel of the Transfiguration Near to this place there is a little Plain and a Cistern of excellent Water This Mount is shaped like a Sugar-Loaf and is covered all over with Trees for most part hard Oaks After we had eaten in that place we came down about ten a Clock in the Morning and took our way towards the Convent of Nazareth where we arrived about one of the Clock In the Evening we went to see the House and Shop of St. Joseph very near to the Convent there is an old ruinous building there which appears to have been a Church wherein were three Altars The House and Shop of St. Joseph built by St. Helen and a few steps farther we saw the Synagogue where our Lord taught the Jews when they had a mind to precipitate him CHAP. LVI The way by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth ONE may Travel by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth The way by Land from Jerusalem to Nazareth and besides avoiding the dangers that offer by Sea see a great many other curious places but as I have already said the Arabs exact such unreasonable Caffares upon the Road that few go that way at present however I shall set it down in this Place Parting from Jerusalem after Dinner you come to Lodge at Elbir Elbir there there is a very curious Village standing upon a height and Inhabited by a few People There is also a Church half ruined which was heretofore a fair Fabrick The Walls that yet stand are of great Flints They say that this was the place where the blessed Virgin lost her dear Son Jesus and therefore returned to Jerusalem where she found him in the Temple Disputing with the Doctors Next day you Lodge at Naplouse Travelling all the way over Hills and Dales Naplouse which are nevertheless Fruitful and in many places bear plenty of Olive-Trees Naplouse is the Town which in holy Scripture is called Sichim Sichem near to which Jacob and his Family most frequently Lived it stands partly on the side and partly at the foot of a Hill. The Soil about it is fertile and yields Olives in abundance The Gardens are full of Orange and Citron-Trees watered by a River and sundry Brooks About one hundred paces from the Town towards the East there is a spring under a Vault which discharges its water into a reservatory of one entire piece of Marble ten spans long five broad and as much in height in the front there are some Foliages and Roses cut in Relief upon the Marble About half a quarter of a League from thence upon the Road from Jerusalem is the Well of the Samaritan The Well of the Samaritane as the Christians of the Country say who keep it covered with great Stones least the Turks should fill it up
have a Patriarch there who aswel as the Primate of the Cophtes carries the Title of Patriarch of Alexandria but he resides commonly at Caire I saw him Celebrate Mass at Caire on a Holy-Thursday and shall here relate in few words what I observed of that Ceremony This Patriarch when he Celebrates is cloathed in the same Vestments as the other Patriarchs are Ceremonies at the Greeks Mass on Holy-Thursday except that he has a Stole over these Vestments which the others have not and which was given to a Patriarch of Alexandria by a Pope Over that Stole he wears the Pallium which is bigger and longer than that of the Latin Arch-Bishops then he puts upon his head a lovely Tiara or Cap of Silver gilt set thick with fine Pearls some of which are pretty big with many large Rubies Emeralds and other such Precious stones but it hath not three Crowns as the Tiara of the Popes has This Cap was presented to him by the Duke of Muscovy who is never omitted in all the Prayers of the Greeks It is certainly a very rich Cap though it come far short of the riches of the Crown of the Popes which is kept in the Castle of St. Angelo The Patriarch Celebrates Mass as all other Greek Priests do only after the Epistle hath been read in Greek it is also read in Arabick it is the same with the Gospel and some other Prayers which the Patriarch says aloud in Greek and then repeats in Arabick As to the Communion when the Patriarch hath consecrated some pieces of Bread then the Wine in a very great Chalice because of the great number of Communicants he crumbs some pieces of that Consecrated Bread into the Chalice then having publickly asked Forgiveness of all that are present he Communicates of the Lord's Body afterwards taking the Cup and having said some Prayers he says In Name of the Father and takes a little of the hallowed Cup then having said and of the Son he takes a little more and lastly and of the Holy Ghost he takes a third sip When that is done he Communicates the Priests giving each of them the Bread which they receeive in one hand and holding the other under to receive any thing that might fall they go to the side of the Altar where after some Prayers they ask Forgiveness of the rest and then Communicate after that they go to the Altar where the Patriarch gives them the Cup at three times as he took it himself saying In Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost The People Communicate without the Chancel from the hand of a Priest who taking the Chalice goes to one of the side Doors of the Chancel where in a gilt Silver-Spoon he gives of the Consecrated Bread crumbled into the Wine as I said before to all who come to receive but the truth is they go to the Communion with far less reverence than the Latins do Mass being over the Patriarch went in the body of the Church to a place Rail'd in raised about three foot from the ground at the end whereof there was a Chair for him and on each side six Chairs for twelve Priests that followed him and there being all in Copes they sate down These twelve Priests represented the twelve Apostles then a Priest went to the Chancel-door and turning his back to the Altar read the Gospel for Holy-Thursday in Greek In the mean time the Patriarch put off his Patriarchal Ornaments without the assistance of any and putting on again his Tiara he tied one Napkin about him and put another by his side then setting a great Bason and Ewer upon the ground he poured a little Water into the Bason making the sign of the Cross giving the Ewer to a Clerk who poured water upon the foot of the first of the twelve Apostles whilst the Patriarch washed and rubbed it well with his hands then wiped it with his napkin and offered to kiss it which the Priest would not suffer He did so to the rest pouring always out water for every one of them with the sign of the Cross but when he came to the twelfth that Priest who represented St. Peter rose and made as if he would not suffer the Patriarch to wash his Feet in imitation of St. Peter who was unwilling that his Master should render him that service but at length after he had spoken a little and that the Patriarch had made answer he sate down as St. Peter did who being told by Jesus Christ That he could have no part in the Kingdom of Heaven if he suffered him not to wash his Feet said Not my Feet only but my also Head and Hands During this Ceremony nothing was to be heard in the Church but the groans and lamentations of Men and Women which were so loud that they moved even the most obdurate almost to shed tears also and yet the subject of all this weeping was only to see the Patriarch wash the Feet of these Priests After this the Patriarch put on his Patriarchal Habits again and the Ewer and Bason were carried away then came such a Croud about him that carried them away that I thought they would have stifled him every one strove to dip a Handkerchief into that Foot-laver and came on so fast that before the Clerk had made six steps the Bason was as dry as ever it was Then the Gospel was read the Heads whereof the Patriarch explained in a Greek Sermon and so the Ceremony ended CHAP. LXXVIII Of the Jews and Turks that are in Aegypt IT remains now that I speak of the Jews and Turks who are in Aegypt Jews in Caire As for the Jews I have spoken of them before and shall only add here that there a great many Jews at Caire who have a Quarter where they all live by themselves this is a large Quarter and contains a great many Streets but all short narrow nasty and stinking The Jews manage all the Customs in Aegypt and all the Serafs are Jews Aegypt is Governed by a Basha Aegypt the second Bashaship of the Turkish Empire and Buda the first The Profits of the Governour sent thither by the Grand Signior and it is the second Bashaship of all the Turkish Empire that of Buda is the chief but it is only in Honour for it yields no Profit on the contrary the Grand Signior is obliged to send Money thither for maintaining the Garison But this is a profitable Government for the first day the Basha of Aegypt arrives at Caire he hath an Hundred thousand Piastres and every Month after seven Purses not reckoning the many casual Profits which he has on all occasions And indeed he buys this Government paying for it sometimes two or three hundred thousand Piastres and besides that he must furnish vast Sums from the Revenue of Aegypt before he put a Penny into his own Coffers paying yearly five Hazna Now a Hazna or Treasure Hazna in
Provinces of Judostan to those which his Father left him died in the Year 1604. Gehanguir Selim his Eldest Son was immediately Crowned by the Name of Gehan-guir and having Reigned Three and twenty Years and enlarged the Conquest he died in the Year 1627. After his death his Grandson Boulloquoy Reigned about Three Months Bulloquoy but he was strangled by Order of Sultan Corom a Rebel Son of Gehanguir Corom who having made sure of the Empire Chagehan took to himself the Name of Chagehan in the Year 1628. Seeing Blood and Rebellion raised him to the Throne he had experience of the same disorders amongst his Children which he had caused to his Father for through their jealousie his Empire was almost always in confusion Auranzeb and at length fell into the hands of Auranzeb the Third of his Four Sons who Reigns at present In mounting to the Throne this Prince imitated the crimes of his Father for he put to death Dara his Eldest Brother imprisoned Mourad his other Brother who confided in him and clapt up his own Father in Prison The death of Chagehan who died Five or Six Years after about the end of the Year 1666. The Great Mogul is certainly a most Powerful Prince The Power of the Mogul as we may Judge by his Riches Armies and the number of People that are within the extent of his Empire His yearly Revenues they say mount to above Three hundred and thirty French Millions The Canon Name The Registred Forces of the Mogul which is a Register containing a List of his Forces makes it appear that that Prince entertains Three hundred thousand Horse of which betwixt Thirty and Thirty five thousand with ten thousand Foot are for a Guard to his Person both in time of Peace and War and are commonly quartered in those places where he keeps his Court. This Empire extends from East to West above Four hundred Leagues and from North to South above Five hundred and that vast space excepting some Mountains and Deserts is so full of Towns Castles Burroughs and Villages and by consequence of Inhabitants who till the Land or emprove it by manufactures and the commerce which that Country affords that it is easie to judge of the Power of the King who is Master thereof The true bounds of his Empire are to the West The bounds of Mogulistan Macran or Sinde and Candahar to the East it reaches beyond the Ganges to the South it is limited by Decan the great Sea and the Gulf of Bengale and to the North by the Tartars The exageration of many Travellers concerning the extent of the Countries of this great King of the Indies was the cause that I made it my business to consult the most knowing Men that I might learn what they thought of the greatness of it and what now I write is their Opinion They affirm not as some do that when the Mogul makes War The true Forces of the Mogul he sends Three hundred thousand Horse into the field They say indeed that he pays so many but seeing the chief Revenues or to say better the rewards of the Great Men consist particularly in the pay which they have for more or fewer Troopers it is certain that they hardly keep on Foot one half of the Men they are appointed to have so that when the Great Mogul marches upon any expedition of War his Army exceeds not an Hundred and fifty thousand Horse with very few Foot though he have betwixt Three and four hundred thousand Mouths in the Army Besides I was informed by any Indian who pretends to know the Map of his Country that they reckon no more but twenty Provinces within the extent of Mogulistan in the Indies and that they who have reckoned more have not been well informed of their number since of one Province they have made two or three This Indian had a list of the Princes Revenues calculated for the twenty Provinces and I made no doubt of the truth of his System Twenty Provinces or Governments in Mogulistan but I had rather call them Governments and say that every Government contains several Provinces I shall observe the Revenues of the Governments in the discription I give of them and shall call each Government a Province that I may not vary from the memoires which I have and as I entered the Indies by the Province of Guzerat so I shall describe it before the others CHAP. IV. The Province of Guzerat Guzerat THe Province of Guzerat which was heretofore a Kingdom fell into the Possession of the Great Mogul Ecbar about the year 1565. He was called into it by a great Lord to whom the King of Guzerat Sultan Mamoet gave the general Government thereof when being near his death he trusted him with the tuition and regency of his only Son in the Year 1545 or 1546. during the Reign of Humayon the Father of Ecbar Government The ambition of that Governour who was envied by all the great Men of the Kingdom of Guzerat that were his declared Enemies and against whom he resolved to maintain himself at the cost of his own lawful Prince made him betake himself to the King Mogul under pretext of soliciting his protection for his Pupil named Mudafer who was already of Age but not yet of sufficient Authority to maintain his Guardian against the faction of the great Men whom he had provoked Mudafer King of Guzerat Ecbar seizes Guzerat Ecbar entered Guzerat with an Army and subdued all those who offered to make head against him and whom the Governour accused of being Enemies to his King But instead of being satisfied with one Town which with its Territories had been promised him he seized the whole Kingdom and made the King and Governour Prisoners That unfortunate Prince being never after able to recover it again not but that having made his escape he attempted once again to have reestablished himself but his efforts were in vain Mudafer kills himself for he was overcome and made Prisoner a second time so that despair at length made him destroy himself Guzerat a pleasant Province This is the pleasantest Province of Judostan though it be not the largest The Nardaba Tapty and many other Rivers that water it render it very fertile and the Fields of Guzerat look green in all the seasons of the Year because of the Corn and Rice that cover them and the various kinds of Trees which continually bear Fruit. The most considerable part of Guzerat is towards the Sea on which the Towns of Surrat and Cambaye stand The Ports of Surrat and Cambaye whose Ports are the best of all Mogulistan But seeing Amedabad is the Capital Town of the Province it is but reasonable we should treat of it before we speak of the rest Departure from Surrat to Amedabad The Boats on the Tapty incommodious February the First I parted from Surrat to go
read the Alcoran King Ecbar had a mind to try as well as the rest Ecbars Vow for obtaining of Male-Children the Vertue of this same Cogea-Mondy and because he had no Male-Children he had recourse to his Intercession to obtain them He made a Vow to go and visit his Tomb and resolved upon the Journey in the bourg of Agra Though it be a walk of threescore and two Leagues from Agra to Azmer yet he performed the Pilgrimage on foot King Ecbar made a Pilgrimage of 60 Leag on foot having ordered Stone-seats to be made at certain distances for him to rest on Nevertheless he was quite tired out for being of a hot and stirring Nature he could hardly lay a constraint upon himself to walk softly so that he fell sick upon it He entered bare-footed as the rest did into the Chappel of the Mock-Saint There he made his Prayers gave great Charity and having performed his Devotion and read the Epitaph of Cogea Mondy which is written there in the Persian Language he returned back to the place from whence he came As he passed by Fetipour he consulted a certain Dervish named Selim Selim a Dervish who was esteemed very devout and the Mahometans say that this Man told him that God had heard his Prayers and that he should have three Sons at that The Prophecy of Selim the Dervish Ecbar was so well pleased with this Prophecy especially when it began to be fulfilled that he gave his Eldest Son the name of the Dervish Selim that Town which was called Sycary the name of Fetipour Sicary which signifies a place of Joy and Pleasure and that he built a very stately Palace there with a Design to make it the Capital of his Empire Azmer is a Town of an indifferent bigness but when the Great Mogol comes there there is no room to stir in it especially when there is any Festival because besides the Court and Army all the People of the Country about flock thither and some disorder always happens Let us speak a little of the Feast of Neurous which King Gehanguir Celebrated at Azmer where he happened to be one New Years day Neurous for Neurous signifies New Day and by that is meant the First day of the Year which begins in March when the Sun enters into Aries CHAP. XXVIII Of the Feast of the New Year THe Memoires that were given me observe The Feast of the New Year that some days before the Festival all the Palace was adorned and especially the Places and Halls into which People were suffered to enter There was nothing all over but Sattin Velvet Cloath and Plates of Gold The Halls were hung with rich Stuffs Flower'd with Gold and Silver And that where the Great Mogul appear'd in his Throne was the most magnificent of all The Ornaments of Neurous The Cloath of State that covered it was all set with Pretious Stones and the Floor was covered with a Persian Carpet of Gold and Silver Tissue The other Halls had in like manner their Cloaths of State Their Foot-Carpets and other Ornaments and the Courts were also decked the most considerable of them with lovely Tents pitched there though they were not so Pompous as those which are pitched in the Capital Cities of the Empire upon a like Solemnity The first day of the Feast the Throne was placed in the Royal Hall and was covered all over with the Jewels of the Crown the number of them was the greater that there was but one of the Kings Thrones brought and that as it is usual the Jewels of the other little Thrones had been taken off for the adorning of this A Fair of the Ladies of the Serraglio The Festival began in the Serraglio by a Fair that was kept there The Ladies and Daughters of the great Lords were permitted to come to it and the Court-Ladies of less Quality who thought themselves witty enough to make their Court The great Ladies Shop-keepers by putting off the curious Things that they had brought thither were the Shop-keepers But these had not all the Trade to themselves for the Wives of the Omras and Rajas who were allowed to come in opened Shop also and brought with them the richest Goods they could find and which they thought suited best with the King and the Princesses of his Serraglio Many had occasion by selling and disputing pleasantly and wittily about the Price of the things which the King and his Wives came to cheapen to make their Husbands Court and to slip in Presents to those that could serve them in bettering their Fortune or keeping them as they were Begum The King and his Begum pay'd often double value for a thing when the Shop-keeper pleas'd them but that was when they rallied wittily and gentilely as People of Quality commonly do in buying and selling And so it happened that the wittiest and fairest were always most favoured All these stranger Ladies were entertained in the Serraglio with Feasting and Dancings of Quenchenies Quenchenies who are Women and Maids of a Caste of that name having no other Profession but that of Dancing And this Fair lasted five days It is true The Commodities sold there were not so fine nor rich as they would have been had the Festival been kept in Dehly or Agra but the best and most pretious Things that were to be found in Azmer and in the nearest Towns were exposed to Sale there wherewith the King was very well satisfied During these rejoycings of the Serraglio The great Men who kept Guard entertained themselves at their Posts or elsewhere And there were a great many Tables served at the Kings charges which gave them occasion to Celebrate the Neurous or New Years Feast merrily The King appeared daily in the Amcas at his usual hour but not in extraordinary Magnificence before the seventh day and then the Lords who had every day changed Cloaths appeared in their richest Apparel They all went to salute the King The Kings Presents at Neurous and His Majesty made them Presents which were only some Galantries of small value that did not cost him Four hundred thousand French Livres The eighth and ninth days The King also sat on his Throne when he was not Feasting with his Princess and Omras in one of the Out-Halls where he made himself several times familiar with them but that familiarity excused them not from making him Presents The Presents of the Great Lords to the King. There was neither Omra nor Mansepdar but made him very rich Presents and that of the Governour or Tributary of Azmer was the most considerable of all These Presents were reckoned in all to amount to fourteen or fifteen Millions The Festival concluded at Court by a review of the Kings Elephants and Horses pompously equipped and in the Town by a great many Fire-works that came after their Feasting Gehanguir indeed gave not the Princes and great Lords the equivalent of
asleep upon the place which he suffered with so much goodness that seeing one of them one time lying in an incommodious posture he raised him calling him by his name that he might lay him more at his ease Not but that familiarity is many times dangerous for it is with him as with the Lion in the Fable with whom it is not good to be too familiar many Examples happen which teach the Persians what is made a proverb of with us that it is not good to play with ones Master the French there have been witnesses of it and had their share of the fear The Prince in a Debauch For upon a time when they were making merry with this Prince the Nazer who was almost drunk speaking to him about the Army that was to be sent against the Tartars and telling the King that if his Majesty pleased he would go and command that Army and do wonders with four thousand men a French Harquebuser being drunk boldly told the King that the best man he could send was a Georgian of the Moorish Law who was present and drank with them for that he was a brave General The King was so incensed at the freedom of that impertinent Counseller that he commanded his belly to be ript up which was about to be put into execution and they were already dragging him out by the heels when the King reflecting perhaps that the man was not in a condition to be taken notice of commanded him to be let alone and set in his place again Perhaps also he considered that he was a Franck They put no Francks to death in Persia For they are very cautious at the Court of Persia in putting of a Franck to death since the time that one day when the Ambassadours of the Duke of Holstein were there a German Watch-maker that wrought for the King being put to death who having well deserved it chose rather to lose his life than to turn Masulman as it was proposed to him and the King wanting a Watch-maker desired to have him that belonged to the Holstein Ambassadours but the Example of that Execution being fresh in memory that Watch-maker refused to serve the King which made the Eatmad Doulet to say that he perceived well enough that that Execution was the cause of it but that for the future no Franck should be put to death Let us now return to our Wine What is done at Audiences In the Audiences which this King gives to Christian Ambassadours or others there is always high drinking and there is nothing else done in these Audiences for affairs are managed with the Ministers of State. Shortly after I departed from Ispahan there came an Ambassadour from the great Mogol I have been informed since that assoon as he entered to his Audience the King caused Wine to be presented unto him which he very humbly refused saying that he had never drank any the King having asked him if he smoaked Tobacco he made answer yes and immediately he caused a Pipe of Tobacco to be brought to him and so dismissed him After all this Prince is not well pleased when any refuses the Wine which he presents to them For his own part he hath so strong a head that after a whole days debauch Chah Abbas a great Drinker having sent for the French they found him as sober and in as good a frame of mind as if he had not drank one drop so that he continued it one day more without intermission Nevertheless sometimes he gets drunk and next day his Courtiers tell him all that he hath said or done for so he will have them do chiefly that he may know if in his Cups he hath given away any thing of consequence as he did one day when drinking with some Francks and Moors he pluckt two Rings off of his Fingers in which were stones of great value and gave them to a Moor of the Company However being one day drunk he gave a woman that danced much to his satisfaction The King keeps his word One of his Presents the fairest Hhan in all Ispahan which was not as yet finished but wanted little this Hhan yielded a great revenue to the King to whom it belonged in Chamber-rents The Nazer having put him in mind of it next Morning took the freedom to tell him that it was unjustifiable prodigality so that the King gave consent that she should onely have a present of an hundred Tomans The woman refused them at first saying she would have nothing but what the King had promised her but being told that if she took not that present she should have nothing she accepted it Much Gold Plate and many precious Stones The riches of the King of Persia The Kings of Persia are very rich in Gold Plate and precious Stones of which they have great plenty as also of all sorts of Arms set and enriched with them for they entertain Workmen constantly in pay who make new pieces and never sell any of them Besides all the Chans and other Lords make them often presents and amongst others regularly once a year in the Neurouz or Spring nay more they still encrease their Treasures with the wealth of those whom they put to death which as I have said is wholly confiscated to the Crown The silks belonging to the King. All the Silks of Persia belong to them they raise a certain Summ of Money from all the Companies of Tradesmen and they have many Lands which they farm out to Countrey-men who take care to plow and sow them and pay the King the fifth part of the revenue and in some places the half A Moula told me one day that they never said prayers upon the Lands that belong to the King because they are Hheram that 's to say excommunicated the King having taken them by force from the poor People for said he he hath not bought them but they onely belong to him by Usurpation The forces of the King of Persia The Corschi The chief Forces of Persia consist in three Bodies of Men or Armies to wit the Corschi the Goulams and the Teufenogi The Corschi are Inhabitants of the Countrey but who are descended of Turks and live in Tents as the Turcomans do They are very powerfull for they can send fifty thousand men into the Field and therefore Scah Abbas Grand-father to the present King did what he could to bring them low raising the Goulams and preferring them to all dignities There are about five and twenty thousand of them in the King's service and their pay is from ten or twelve to fifteen Tomans a year but for the first two or three years they receive nothing Their General is a Corschi and the King cannot put one over them who is not of their Body he is called the Corschi Bassa and they have a great many great Lords among them When the King would put any great man to death he commits the Execution commonly to
a Corschi These men have vast numbers of Cattle The Goulams are Slaves or the Sons of Slaves of all Nations The Goulams and chiefly of Renegado Georgians all their male issue to the hundredth Generation are of this body And there are about fourteen thousand of them in service who have from five or six to eight Tomans of pay they have also many great Lords of their Body and their chief is called Kouller Agasi The Tufenkgi are men raised the Villages The Tufenkgi and chiefly Renegado Armenians they are about eight thousand and have the same pay as the Goulams have but are looked upon onely as Peasants without reputation They were the last that have been instituted for the use of the Musket they march on horse-back but when they are to fight alight The Corschi and Goulams carry bows and arrows and fight on horse-back yet some of them carry the Harquebuse The Souldier's Sons have pay The Sons of Soldiers receive pay so soon as they are seven years old and it is augmented proportionably as they grow in Age. Besides these the King of Persia has Guards who carry the Musket A new Militia of guards but it is not long since they were instituted by an Eatmad Doulet who made use of that invention to undo the Divan Beghi then in being The Story is that a certain Person having one day found the Sister of that Eatmad Doulet in a debauched place before he was as yet raised to that dignity carried carried away her drawers and then talked of it in several places which extremely netled the Brother who at that time dissembled his displeasure Not long after being made Eatmad Doulet he resolved to undo that man who had defamed his Sister and to compass his designs cunningly he brought things so about that the King bestowed the Office of Deroga upon this man At this he was much surprised and thought that the Eatmad Doulet had forgot the trick he had put upon his Sister so that he fell to rob and cheat briskly and the rather that he was supported by the Divan Beghi When the Eatmad Doulet found that he had robbed enough he accused him before the King of abuses committed in his Office and much oppression who not being able to justifie himself was condemned to have Peggs driven through his feet to be hanged up with his head downwards and in that posture to receive a great many Bastonadoes all which was publickly put into Execution in the Meidan in spight of the Divan Beghi who did all he could to hinder it That offended the Eatmad Doulet so that he resolved to undoe him also and for that end made a Renegado Armenian Deroga who put into purses by it self all the money he got in his Office by fines and sealed these purses by order from the Eatmad Doulet who by these purses made the King sensible that if a Deroga got so much a Divan Beghi must needs get much more On the other hand the Divan Beghi who was not asleep brought complaints from all hands against the Deroga that that might reflect upon the Eatmad Doulet but these People passing no higher than the Aali Capi the complaints reached not the Princes Ear. In fine one day when the King was to go abroad the Eatmad Doulet armed several men with Muskets and placed them in guard at the Gate of the King's Palace The King as he was going out observing this new guard failed not to ask what the meaning of it was the Eatmad Doulet being there on purpose answered that it was he who had placed those guards there for his Majesties security because the Divan Beghi stirred up the People to sedition against him presently the King who was a little credulous which is a thing too common to all Princes who are not acquainted with matters but as it pleases those who are about them to inform them returned back in a great fright and sent presently to apprehend the Divan Beghi with orders to pluck out his Eyes which was instantly put into Execution publickly in the Meidan and from that time forward this guard hath been entertained in the service of the Kings of Persia Chief Officers Eatmad Doulet Sedre Sepeh Salar Kouroukgi Bassa Koular Agasi The chief Officers of the Crown are the Eatmad Doulet who is the first of the Kingdom next to the King the Sedre the Sepeh Salar who is a Generalissimo the Kouroukgi Bassa the Koular Agasi or General of the Goulams In my time there was no Sepeh Salar and they make none now but in time of War which being ended the Office also expires The Sedre is the chief in spiritual Affairs he is the high Priest of the Law as in temporals the Eatmad Doulet is the chief Minister however this man is more considerable and takes place of the Sedre Wherein it is observable that the dignities of the Church are not annexed to the Doctors of the Law as in Turkey but many times from being Sedre one is promoted to the Dignity of Eatmad Doulet Officers of Religion The Sedre The Scheick-el-Selom and the Cadi Next to the Sedre in Spirituals there are two under him who decide all points of Religion and make all contracts testaments and other publick deeds they judge also of Divorces and of all civil Debates and Processes The one is called Scheick-el-Selom that 's to say Scheick of the Law and the other Cadi Their Authority as well as Office is almost equal nevertheless the Scheick-el-Selom has some preference They are established in all the principal Towns of Persia and even in Ispahan and the King nominates them on whom they onely depend Pichnamaz In every Mosque as well as in the King's Houshold there is a Pichnamaz this is the director of the Prayers who says the Prayers and makes the rest say them and therefore he stands always foremost that the rest behind may see him Imam and do as he does in Turkey he is called the Imam They who pronounce the Prayer aloud are inconsiderable fellows that have good Voices who are hired for that and commonly they are young Boys There are Mulas who have great Salaries out of Ecclesiastical Revenues for teaching all comers Mulas Sciences and the Law and they are properly the Doctors Hodgia whom the Turks call Hodgia In Persia they all wear white turbans These Mulas are also in Persia like Clerks or Notaries they make the deeds of conveyances of purchases contracts and other deeds to make these Writings Authentick they must have the Bull of the Scheick-el-Selom or of the Cady but many neglect that Circumstance besides they are not very willing that the Scheick-el-Selom or Cadi should know their Affairs and therefore they think it enough to have the Writings drawn by a Mula with the seals onely of the Mula and party concerned These Bulls or Seals are stones with their names cut on them upon which they put a
diligence that they were at the Gates of Bagnagar before the King had any News that they were marched from Aurangeabad so that he easily made himself Master of the Town Nevertheless the King in disguise escaped by a private door and retreated to the Fort of Golconda The Mogul plundered the Town and Palace carrying away all the Riches even to the Plates of Gold wherewith the Fleors of the Kings appartment were covered The Queen Mother at length had the Art to appease the Conquerour she treated with him in name of the King and granted him one of his Daughters in Marriage for his Son with promise that he should leave the Kingdom to him if he had no Male issue and he hath none Had it not been for that Accommodation he was upon the point of losing his Kingdom and perhaps his life too Since that time he is apprehensive of every thing and next to the Queen mother he trusts no body but Sidy Mezafer his favourite and the Bramens because that Queen is of the Bramen Castle and continually surrounded by them The King knows of nothing but by them and there are some appointed to hearken to what the Vizier himself and other Officers have to say to the King but his fear is much encreased since the Great Mogul hath been in War with the King of Viziapour whom in the beginning he assisted with Two hundred thousand Men commanded by an Eunuch who was almost as soon recalled as sent upon the complaints made by the Moguls Embassadour at Golconda The King to excuse himself said that that Army was sent without his knowledge and he is still in great apprehension of having the Moguls upon his back if they succeed against the King of Viziapour who hath hitherto defended himself very bravely This shews the weakness of that King he dares not put to death his Omras even when they deserve it and if he find them guilty of any Crime he condemns them only to pay a Fine and takes the Money Nay the Dutch begin to insult over him and it is not long since they obliged him to abandon to them an English Ship which they had seized in the Road of Masulipatan though he had undertaken to protect her There is a Prince also at his Court who begins to create him a great deal of trouble and it is he whom they call the Kings little Son-in-law who hath married the third of the Princesses his Daughters because he is of the Blood Royal He pretends to the Crown what promise soever hath been made to the Great Mogul he makes himself to be served as the King himself is who hitherto loved him very tenderly but at present he is jealous of that Son-in-law as well as of the rest and fancies that he intends to destroy him that he himself may Reign tho' he be reckoned a Man of great integrity There was in Bagnagar a Moorish Santo that lived near the Carvansery of Nimet-Ulla who was held in great veneration by the Mahometans A Moorish Santo the House he lived in was built for him by a great Omra but he kept his Windows shut all day and never opened them till towards the Evening to give his Benedictions to a great many people who asked them with cries prostating themselves and kissing the ground in his presence Most part of the Omras visited that cheat every evening and when he went abroad which happened seldom he went in a Palanquin where he shewed himself stark naked after the Indian fashion and the People reverenced him as a Saint The great Lords made him Presents and in the Court of his House he had an Elephant chained which was given him by a great Omra Whil'st I was on my Journey to Carnates the Kings little Son-in-law gave to this Santo a great many Jewels belonging to the Princess his Wife Daughter to the King and since no Man knew the motive of so great a Present which perhaps was only some Superstitious Devotion it was presently given out that it was to raise Forces against the King that with the concurrence of the Santo he might invade the Crown Whether that report was true or false it is certain that the King sent to the Santo's House to fetch from thence his Daughters Jewels and the Elephant and ordered him to depart out of the Kingdom The Kings eldest Daughter was married to the Kinsman of a Cheik of Mecha the second married Mahmoud eldest Son to Auran-Zeb for the Reasons I mentioned already and the third is Wife to the little Son-in-law Mirza Abdul-Cossin who has Male-Children by her and they say the fourth is designed for the King of Viziapour The King of Golconda has vast Revenues he is proprietory of all the Lands in his Kingdom which he Rents out to those who offer most except such as he gratifies his particular Friends with to whom he gives the use of them for a certain time Customs The Customs of Merchants Goods that pass through his Countrey and of the Ports of Masulipatan and Madrespatan yield him much and there is hardly any sort of Provisions in his Kingdom from which he hath not considerable dues Diamond Mines The Diamond-Mines pay him likewise a great Revenue and all they whom he allows to digg in those that are towards Masulipatan pay him a Pagod every hour they work there whether they find any Diamonds or not His chief Mines are in Carnates in divers places towards Viziapour and he hath Six thousand Men continually at work there who daily find near three Pound weight and no body diggs there but for the King. A rich Jewel of the King of Golconde This Prince wears on the Crown of his head a Jewel almost a Foot long which is said to be of an inestimable value it is a Rose of great Diamonds three or four Inches diameter in the top of that Rose there is a little Crown out of which issues a Branch fashioned like a Palm-Tree Branch but is round and that Palm-Branch which is crooked at the top is a good Inch in Diameter and about half a Foot long it is made up of several Sprigs which are as it were the leaves of it and each of which have at their end a lovely long Pearl shaped like a Pear at the Foot of this Posie there are two Bands of Gold in fashion of Table-bracelets in which are enchased large Diamonds set round with Rubies which with great Pearls that hang dangling on all sides make an exceeding rare shew and these Bands have Clasps of Diamonds to fasten the Jewels to the head In short That King hath many other considerable pieces of great value in his Treasury and it is not to be doubted but that he surpasses all the Kings of the Indies in pretious Stones and that if there were Merchants who would give him their worth he would have prodigious Sums of Money CHAP. VIII Of the Omras or Omros of Golconda THe Omras are the great Lords of
the Kingdom who are for the most part Persians or the Sons of Persians they are all rich for they not only have great Pay yearly of the King for their Offices but they make extream advantage also by the Soldiers scarcely paying one half of the number they are obliged to entertain besides that they have gratifications from the King of Lands and Villages whereof he allows them the Use where they commit extraordinary exactions by the Bramens who are their Farmers These Omras generally make a very handsome Figure when they go through the Town an Elephant or two goes before them on which three Men carrying Banners are mounted fifty or sixty Troopers well cloathed and riding on Persian or Tartarian Horses with Bows and Arrows Swords by their sides and Bucklers on their backs follow them at some distance and after these come other Men on Horse-back sounding Trumpets and playing on Fifes After them comes the Omra on Horse-back with thirty or forty Foot-men about him some making way others carrying Lances and some with fine Napkins driving away the Flies One of them holds an Umbrello over his Masters head another carries the Tobacco-Pipe and others Pots full of water in hanging Cages of Canes The Palanquin carried by four Men comes next with two other Porters for change and all this pomp is brought up by a Camel or two with Men beating of Timbals on their backs When the Omra pleases he takes his Palanquin and then his Horse is led by him The Palanquin is sometimes covered with Silver and its Canes or Bambous tipt with Silver at both ends the Lord is to be seen lying in it holding Flowers in his hand smoaking Tobacco or else chewing Betle and Areca shewing by that soft and effeminate Posture a most supine dissoluteness All who have any considerable Pay whether Moors or Gentiles imitate the Gentiles and are carried through the Town in Palanquins well attended and the Dutch Interpreter at Bagnagar who is a Gentile goes at present with such an equipage save only that instead of Camels he hath a Chariot but at least there is not a Cavalier but hath his Umbrello bearer his two Flie-drivers and his Cup-bearer The Betle which these Gentlemen chew in their Palanquin is a Leaf not unlike to an Orange-Tree Leaf though it be not so broad the Stalk of it being weak it is commonly planted near the Areca-Tree to which it clings and indeed the Indians never take Betle without an Areca-Nut and they are sold together The Areca is very high and much like to an ordinary Palm-Tree it carries its Nuts in clusters and they are as big as Dates and insipid This Betle and Areca keep all the Indians in countenance and they use it in the Streets and every where They pretend that it is an excellent thing for the Stomach and for the sweetness of Breath All that are called Omras at Golconda have not the ability of those whose Train and Equipage I have now observed there are those who being not so rich proportion their Train to their Revenue besides the quality of Omra is become so common and so much liberty allowed to take that Title that the Indians who guard the Castle and the outside of the Kings Palace to the number of a Thousand must needs be called Omras also though their Pay be no more than about a Crown a month But in short some of the great Omras are exceeding rich There was the Omra or rather the Emir Gemla Emir-Gemla or Mir-Gemla the Son of an Oyl-man of Ispahan who had the wealth of a Prince He left the Service of the King of Golconda went over to the Mogul and died Governour of Bengala It is well known that he had a design to make himself King of Bengala where he was very powerful and that he only waited for a favourable occasion to get his Son from the Court of the Great Mogul where he was detained as an hostage He had twenty Mans weight of Diamonds which make Four hundred and eight Pounds of Hollands weight and all this Wealth he got by the Plunder he formerly made in Carnates when he was at the head of the Army of the King of Golconda at the time when that King in conjunction with the King of Viziapour made War against the King of Bisnagar This General took a great many places there in a short time Guendicot but the Fort of Guendicot standing upon the top of an inaccessible Rock put a full stop to his Conquests The Town is upon the side of the Hill one must in a manner crawl up to come to it and there is no way to enter it but by one narrow Path. Mir-Gemla being unable to force it made use of his cunning and Money and so managed those whom the Naique sent to him to negotiate a Peace that he wheedled out the Governour under pretext of entring into a League with him for great Designs but no sooner was he come to the place of meeting but the Omra made sure of his Person contrary to the Promise he had given and kept him constantly with him till he put him in possession of Guendicot This place is within ten days Journey of St. Thomas upon the main Land. I had been two months in the Countrey when Winter came on Winter in Golconda it began in June by Rain and Thunder but the Thunder lasted not above four days and the Rain poured down with great storms of Wind till the middle of July though now and then we had some fair weather The rest of that month was pretty fair in August September and October there fell great Rains but without any Thunder the Rivers overflowed so prodigiously that there was no passing over the Bridges no not with the help of Elephants The River of Bagnagar beat down almost Two thousand Houses in which many People perished The Air was a little cold in the night-time and morning there was some heat during the day but it was as moderate as it is in France in the month of May and the Air continued in this temper until February the year following when the great heats began again These Rains render the Land of this Kingdom exceeding fertile which yields all things in abundance and especially Fruits Vines are plentiful there and the Grapes are ripe in January though there be some that are not gathered but in February March or April according as the Vines are exposed to the heat they make White-wine of them When the Grapes are gathered they Prune the Vines and about Midsummer they yield Verjuice In this Countrey also they have two Crops a year of Rice and many other Grains CHAP. IX The Authors departure from Bagnagar for Masulipatan HAving stayed long enough at Bagnagar I had a design to see some Countries of the coast of Coromandel and notwithstanding it was Winter I resolved to set out for Masulipatan Seeing there was no Travelling neither in Coach nor Chariot because of the