our Lord and afterwards threw them back being in despair for having sold his Master They were taken up and laid out in purchasing this Field which was appointed to be a Burying-place for Strangers and the Armenian Strangers are buried there at present The Grott of the Apostles Afterwards we saw the Grott where the eight Apostles hid themselves when our Lord was taken there are some Pictures of the holy Apostles still to be seen there then the place where the Strangers Greeks are Interred The pit where the Fire was laid during the Captivity of Babylon and the pit where the Jews hid the Fire of the Altar by orders from the Prophet Jeremy when they were carried away Slaves to Babylon by Nebuchadnezer King of Babylon and many years after they were delivered the high priest Nehemiah causihg search to be made for the Fire in that place they found nothing but a fat Clay which being by the said Priest laid upon the Burnt-Offering it took Fire and was Consumed Close by this Pit there is a Mosque with a reservatory of Water We came afterwards to the Pool of Shiloah Pool of Shiloah whither our Lord sent the Blind man to wash The place where the Prophet Isaiah was Sawn in sunder a live The Fountain of the Virgin The Mount of Scandal The place where Judas hanged himself Bethany The Castle of St. Lazarus The Sepulchre of Lazarus after he had anointed his Eyes with Clay and Spittle which restored his sight to him Then we came to the place where the Prophet Isaiah was Sawn a live in two by the middle with a wooden Saw by command of King Manasses then the Fountain of the Virgin so called because there as it is said she washed our Saviours Clouts There are thirty steps to go down to it and they say that such as are sick of Feavers by bathing in that water and drinking of it it being very good to drink are presently Cured From this Well comes the water of the Pool of Shiloah Not far from thence we saw the Mount of Scandal so called because the Concubines of Salomon made him commit Idolatry in that place by Sacrificing to the Idol Moloch and the Idol of Chamos Not far from thence is the place where Judas Iscariot Hanged himself after he had betrayed our Saviour then we went to Bethany where we saw the ruines of the House of Simon the Leper where Mary Magdalen poured the precious Ointment upon the Feet of our Lord. Advancing sixty Paces further we saw the place of the Castle of St. Lazarus nothing remaining but the ruines upon a little Mount at the foot of which is the Sepulchre that our Saviour raised Lazarus out of when he had been four days Dead and the very stone that was rolled against the mouth of it there are twenty uneasie steps down to it cut in the Rock and at the bottom of them are six wooden steps that lead into a little Chappel out of which you go into the said Sepulchre that is on the left hand This Sepulchre is a little square Grott containing a Table on which all the Priests of the Nations that Inhabit Jerusalem say Mass and the Body of Lazarus was laid upon this Table Not far from thence is the stone on which our Saviour coming from Jericho sat down and bewailed the Death of Lazarus The Castle of Mary Magdalen The House of Martha when St. Martha told him Lord if thou hadst been here my Brother had not Died. Within a few paces of that stone stood the Castle of Mary Magdalen called Magdalon and close by it is the place where the house of Martha stood after that we came to the place of the Fig-Tree which our Saviour Cursed because it bore no Fruit whereupon it instantly withered Then we passed through Bethphage where we saw the place where the Ass was when our Saviour sent for it to make his entry into Jerusalem on Palm-Sunday riding on the Ass Next we went to the Grott where St. Peter wept bitterly for his Sin The Grott of St. Peter after that the Cock had Crow'd from thence we came to the place where the Jews would have taken the Body of the Virgin from the Apostles as they were carrying it to the Sepulchre for which they were immediately punished Then we went to Mount Sion about five or six hundred paces distant from the City Mount Sion The place of the Lords-Supper which is the place where our Lord celebrated his Holy Supper with his Apostles washed their Feet and instituted the most August Sacrament the eighth day after his Resurrection he entered into it when the Doors were shut and said to his Disciples Pax vobis Peace be unto you the Holy Ghost also descended there upon the Virgin and the Apostles on the day of Pentecost the Sepulchre of David and Salomon In this place are the Sepulchres of David and Salomon About an hundred years since that Mountain was within the Town possessed by the Religious of the Order of St. Francis but after that Sultan Solyman rebuilt the Walls of Jerusalem The place where the Virgin died it was excluded and the Friers dispossessed of it The Turks have built a Mosque there into which the Christians are not suffered to enter close by we saw the place where the holy Virgin died at present there being no building there a little lower is the Church-yard of the Roman Catholicks On the left hand towards the City is the place where St. John the Evangelist many times said Holy Mass About an hundred and fifty paces from that Mount as you go towards the City there is a Church held by the Armenians in the same place where the House of Caiaphas stood we went into it and saw upon the Altar The Stone that shut the Sepulchre of our Lord. the Stone which shut the door of our Saviours Monument which is near seven foot long three foot broad and a foot thick On the right hand is the Prison into which our Lord was put whil'st Caiaphas after he had examined him consulted with the rest what should be done with him As you go out of the Church on the left hand in a low Court there is an Orange-Tree which is the place where St. Peter warmed himself when he three times denied his Master seven or eight steps from thence is the place of the Pillar where the Cock Crew After that we entred the City by the Gate of Sion and went to see the House of the High Priest Annas which now is an Armenian Church The House of the High Priest Annas In the Court before the Church there is an Olive-Tree which they affirm for a certain to be the same to which our Lord was Bound till he received the Sentence of the High Priest Going from thence we went to another very fair Church called St. James still held by the Armenians which was built by St. Helen The
hundred in Number all in good Order every one with a large Musquet on his Shoulder well Gilt nay some of them carried Blunderbusses as big as little Faulcons with their Shables by their side After them came six led Horses as if it had been before the Basha himself then many of the Chiaoux of Caire Agas and Janizaries all with their Caps of Ceremony then the two Pages of the said Bey of Girge and the eight of the Basha with their Gilt Silver-Cap and lovely Plumes of Feathers and at length came the Bey of Girge He was a Man of good presence about forty Years of Age after him came his Household to the number of three hundred Men all in good Order The ten first were cloathed in Green Velvet with a large Collar of the same Stuff covered over with Plates of Gold having neat Bows and Quivers full of pretty Arrows with Shables by their sides The ten that came next were Apparelled in Yellow Satin carrying each a Pike a Shield and a Shable The rest were all well Cloathed too every one carrying a Carbine and Shable and in the Rear of them ten played on Timbrels and as many on Trumpets and Flutes besides all these there were above sixty Men playing on Timbrels every one mounted on a Camel who being dispersed here and there through the Cavalcade made a great Noise They drew all up in the Cara Meidan but though it be a large place yet it could not contain both them and the Militia of Caire so that a good many of them were forced to March out into the Romeille to make room for the rest When the Bey came near the Kieusk he alighted from his Horse and went unto it where the Basha expected him and treated him with Coffee Sorbet and a Perfume presenting him and every one of his Officers with a Caftan a piece Whilst he was there I went to a narrow Avenue at the end of the Romeille through which he was to pass soon after we saw him and all his Men pass that way in File I reckoned all those of his Retinue who had Caftans and found them to be an hundred and eight and they marched in the same Order as they came The Kiaya of the Basha waited upon the Bey back to his House which was not far distant However that was a thing extraordinary for it is not the custome for the Kiaya of a Basha to wait upon a Bey he saluted all the People on both hands as he went who all shouted and wished him a thousand Blessings The Turks and People of the Country were much surprised to see so many Men saying That there was no King so powerful as he The truth is the Bey of Girge is a very mighty Prince when he is beloved of his Subjects who are all Warlike so that when he is at Girge he values not the Grand Signior himself And nevertheless a Year after this solemn entry the Basha of Caire having made War with him who seemed to be very well beloved of his Subjects he took him and caused him immediately to be Strangled His Arabs who were his greatest strength and in whom he put most Confidence having forsaken him but it was thought they were corrupted by the Basha This Bey kept in his House about him a Guard of Two thousand Men and the rest of his Forces returned to Bezeten and the Rode which is a Country-house belonging to him over against old Caire but they came daily to the City to know how the Affaires of their Master stood because he mistrusted some bad design against him and therefore when he went abroad in the Town he took always Three thousand Horse along with him This Bey presented the Basha in Money and Horses to the value of eighty Purses and it was judged that that Journey would cost him Three hundred Purses and indeed he had brought Two thousand Purses with him which amount to fifty Millions of Maidins or a Hundred and fifteen thousand an hundred and one Piastres seventeen Maidins When this Bey was at Girge they killed an hundred and fifty Sheep a day for his Family CHAP. LXVIII The arrival of an Ambassadour of Aethiopia at Caire With the Presents he brought for the Grand Signior IN the month of October an Ambassadour of Aethiopia came to Caire The arrival of an Ambassadour of Aethiopia at Caire An Ass of extraordinary Beauty with several Presents for the Grand Signior and among others an Ass that had a most delicate Skin if it was Natural for I will not vouch for that since I did not examine it This Ass had a black List down the Back and the rest of its Body was all begirt with White and Tawny streaks a finger broad a piece the Head of it was extraordinarily long striped and partly coloured as the rest of the Body its Ears like a Buffles were very wide at the end and black yellow and white its Legs streaked just like the Body not long ways but round the Leg in fashion of a Garter down to the Foot and all in so good proportion and Symmetry that no Lynx could be more exactly spotted nor any Skin of a Tygre so pretty The Ambassadour had two more such Asses which died by the way but he brought their Skins with him to be presented to the Grand Signior with the live one He had also several little black Slaves of Nubia and other Countreys confining on Aethiopia Civet and other costly things for his Present These little Blacks as I said before serve to look after the Women in the Serraglio after that they are Gelded The Ambassadour was an Old Man and had the end of his Nose part of the upper and under Lip cut off but was otherwise a shapely Man and of a very good Presence He was Cloathed after the Cophtish fashion wearing a Turban like them and spoke very good Italian which gave me the opportunity of conversing with him He told me his name was Michael that he was a Native of Tripoly in Syria and that he had made three or four Voyages into Christendom he even confessed to me that he was a Roman Catholick but that he durst not make profession of it in Aethiopia but only of the Abyssin that is to say the Religion of the Cophtes That eighteen months before he had parted from Gontar the Capital City of Aethiopia and was so long retarded by the way because of the contrary Winds he met with on the Red Sea by which he came That of an hundred Persons whom he had brought with him of his own Servants and the Slaves he was to present to the Grand Signior thirty or forty were Dead If he had come by Land he had not been so long by the way for from Gontar to Schouaquen it is about six weeks Journey Gontar and from Schouaquen to Caire forty or fifty days by Camels but he could not take that way because of his Train He told me many things
the Boats being sunk all the Men were drowned They made afterwards many vain attempts but finding succours come from Christendom and despairing of the Enterprise they drew off They parted from the Island about the end of September 1565. having for the space of three Months in vain employed a vast Army against a handful of men The Knights of Malta terrible to the Turks but very valiant as those at present are who so molest the Turks with seven Galleys only that they look upon no Enemy to be so formidable and commonly how many soever these Infidels be when they percieve any of the Galleys of Malta they fail not to run for it and asmuch as they can avoid any Engagement Since that time the breaches of the Castle St. Angelo have never been repaired Nature of it self making it strong enough CHAP. VII Of the City Valetta Valetta AFter the Turks were gone the Religion resolved to build a new Town where the Great Master with all the Religion might commodiously dwell and for that end they pitched upon the tongue of Land on the end whereof the Castle St. Erme stands from whence the Turks had so furiously driven them The great Master La Valette layed the first Stone of it on the Twenty eighth of March 1566. and from his own Name called it the City Valetta whereupon this Punn was made Plus valet valor Valettae quam fortitudo Valettae The valour of the Great Master Valetta playing upon the Names of the Great Master and Town It hath been ever since so fortified that I am very apt to believe few Fortifications in the world can match it The Entry into the Port of it is defended by the Castle St. Erme which at present is impregnable there being no way to batter it but from the New Town which encompasses it by Land and on the other side towards the Sea it is inaccessible as being built upon a very high Rock Baraque Next to this Castle is the Baraque where nine Pieces of Cannon are Planted under cover which hinder any approaching to the Port The entry of the Port is besides defended by the Baston of Italy The Bastion of Italy in Malta A fair Canon-Royal of the Turks at Malta which is very high and Planted with six Pieces of Cannon that lye open Upon this Bastion there is a fair Basilick or Canon-Royal which with another of the same size the Turks left on Malta when they raised the Siege for being in haste to be gone and unable to put on board these pieces because of their prodigious weight they threw one of them into the Sea near the Land where still it is and cannot be weighed and the other remained on shoar On the other side of the Port is the Castle St. Angelo which still defends it and on the same side without the Port but near the entry of it upon a point of Land there is a Tower with two or three Pieces of Canon which serves also for security of the Port. The Governour of the Bourg takes care to send Men thither to guard it This Town is no less strong by Land than towards the Sea being begirt with good Walls built upon very high Rocks with several Bastions and other Pieces of Fortification It is besides always well stored with Provisions from Sicily which supplies it with all it needs so that considering the excellent Fortifications that cover it and the danger of the Channel that makes that the best appointed Fleet cannot lye above two months before Malta I may be bold to say it is impregnable Malta impregnable The Fortifications of it are no less goodly than good and yield a most pleasant Prospect Those that arrive at Malta take great delight to see the Baraque covered with lovely Trees planted in rows There is a very pretty and high Garden which looks into the Port below the Bastion of Italy it is full of Orange an Lemon-Trees planted in rows and a great many Fountains where the Water-works playing very high render the place altogether delighful and this Garden was made by the Great Master Lascaris The Great Master Lascaris A lovely and commodious Fountain in Malta There is a Fountain upon the Port which is very ornamental it is just by the Sea-side and there a Dolphin under the feet of a Neptune throws water up to a great height This Fountain is so commodiously placed that Vessels may Water there without carrying their Casks a shore Near to this there is a very thick Rock through which the Great Master Lascaris caused a Passage to be cut so that one can very easily walk from one end of the Port to the other which before could not be done because that Rock reaches to the Sea. You must mount up hill from the Port to the Town which is small for one may go round it in half an hours time but it is very pretty it hath two Gates one that leads to the Port and the other to the Countrey There are several Churches in it of which that of St. John is the chief it hath no Piazza indeed The Church of St. John in Malta before the Porch but a very lovely one before one of the Gates at the side of it and at each angle there is a Fountain on the out-side This is a great and wide Church pretty high and well built it is all paved with lovely Marble and adorned on high with a great many Colours taken from the Infidels There are eight Chapels for the Inns and the several Knights place themselves in the distinct Chapels of their Inns. Near to the great Portal there is another Chapel where all the Great Masters are buried In that Church many fine Reliques are kept amongst others the Right-hand of St. John Baptist The Right-hand of St. John Baptist Zizim the Brother of Bajazet at Rhodes The Great Master D' Aubusson which only wants the two last and least Fingers This Hand was given to the Knights by Bajazet Second Emperour of the Turks who fearing that his Brother Zizim who fled to Rhodes in the Year 1482 to avoid the cruelty of his Brother who would have put him to death might rise against him stipulated the same year with the Great Master D' Aubusson to pay him yearly 40000. Duckets to the end he should not suffer him to make his Escape to wit 30000. for the Entertainment of Zizim and 10000. for the repairing the Damages that Mahomet his Father had done at the Siege of Rhodes that summ was punctually payed so long as Zizim lived The same Bajazet knowing that the Knights of Rhodes had a great veneration for the Reliques of St. John their Patron made them a present of this Hand which he found in the Treasury of Mahomet his Father having been brought from Antioch to Constantinople as it is marked in Gothick Characters upon the foot of the Reliquary of Massive Gold where that Relique is kept
was and he made answer Eat it it is good for you it is Opium Then I told him that he had Poysoned me and straining a little I Vomited again Since I was not the only sick person aboard and that all had trouble enough the Wind blowing very hard and Raining whole Nights we several times weighed Anchor and did what we could to get to Bodrou but all in vain for the South-east Wind still hindred us At length on Saturday the ninth of December the Wind changed and after Noon we had a breeze from North but we did not offer to set Sail before next day that we might see if it was like to continue Next day being Sunday the tenth of December it blowing fresher from North we set Sail about Eleven a Clock in the Forenoon but that Wind lasted not long for about Two in the Afternoon it began to calm and at Night chopt about to the South but it did not blow hard and therefore we still kept under Sail. About Ten a Clock at Night we run a Risque which we had not foreseen For we being above thirty Saiques in company and the Night very dark about ten of the Clock a Saique ran foul of us and entangled his Fore-mast with our Main-mast the Bounce made so great a noise that we all thought our selves lost and every one running out to see what the matter was some of our Men took a good Rope and lashed the Fore-mast of that Saique to ours whilst four or five went down with a Lanthorn to the Pomp to see if our Saique had sprung a Leak or suffered damage in the Hold the rest staying above-decks to take heed that the Sea-men of the other Saique did not cast loose the Rope and get clear of us but the poor Creatures who were all Greeks were so stunned at the fault they had committed that not one of them appeared At first when this happened our Captain was so enraged that he was about to Leap into the other Saique with Sword in Hand and kill all he met but being quickly better advised he and all the rest resolved that if our Saique was in danger of Sinking to Leap into theirs and throwing them all into the Sea to make themselves Masters of her therefore it was that they held her Lashed to ours At length God be praised we found that our Saique had received no damage but only a little of her Side broken Had it blown a little fresher or had they struck but a hands breadth lower our Saique had gone to the bottom We let them go then without doing them any hurt though there were some on board of us who gave advice to fire a Broad-side into her and sink her In the mean time the same South-Wind still continuing we kept beating to and again till Monday the elventh of December when two Hours before Night we manned our Boat to tow us into a narrow passage which is betwixt the Isle of Sanbiki by the Turks called Sunbiki and another inhabited Island we came to an Anchor there about Sun-setting This is a very narrow place and pretty secure from Winds when you are passed the streight there is a Village upon the Sea-side where none but Greeks live who Trade up and down in Sanbikis by the Turks called Sunbikis Sunbikis which were first invented and made in this Island These Vessels are a kind of Galiotts which we shall Treat of in another place We stayed there all that Night and next day being Tuesday the twelfth of December Wednesday the thirteenth of December at break of day a gentle Gale blowing still from the South our Caique towed us out of the Streight and then we spread Sail. Betwixt Nine and Ten a Clock the Wind turned about to North-north-West with which we made so good way that about Three a Clock in the Afternoon we arrived at Rhodes an hundred Miles from Stanchio We lay thirteen days in the Harbour of Rhodes during which time I considered that place as much as I could not daring however to eye any thing too attentively for so soon as I stopt the Turks observed me and a Chiot Gentleman with whom I was jogged me at the same time to divert me from my Curiosity which might prove hurtful especially at that time when in all the Isles of Turkie they apprehended a descent from the Venetians CHAP. LXXIII Of Isle and City of Rhodes THE Isle of Rhodes hath Lycia to the North the Sea betwixt them being about twenty Miles broad the Isle of Cyprus to the East Candie to the West and Aegypt to the South it is an hundred Miles in Circuit lying in so temperate a Climate that as they say there is no day but the Sun shines upon it however I have been some days there when no Sun appeared at least at the Town This is a very fruitful Island and hath several Villages well Inhabited besides a small City which is very strong The Island hath had several Masters for the Saracenes took it from the Gresks under the Conduct of Mahuvias then it returned to the Christians and afterwards to the Saracenes from whom it was taken on the day of the Assumption of our Lady in the Year 1309. by the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem who Fortified it The History of the Religion of Malta Treats at large of the City of Rhodes the Foundation of it and how the Hospitallers or Knights of St. John became Masters of the same The Siege of Rhodes by the Califf of Aegypt The Siege of Rhodes by Mahomet II. The Califf of Aegypt Besieged it in the Year 1444. and after some time raised the Siege for they did him a great deal of Mischief which made him several times desire their Friendship Afterwards Mahomet the Second laid Siege to it the twelfth of May 1480. Monsieur d' Ambusse a French-man being then great Master He raised the Siege three Months after and only lost his time for his pains At length Solyman the Second being Emperour and not enduring that after the Conquest of Aegypt a small place in the heart of his Dominions held by a handful of Men should give him so much trouble made Application to them by all the ways of Mildness desiring no more of them but the least acknowledgment But finding that by no means they would submit he resolved to take the place by force and having made great preparations went with his Army in Person to that Island resolving to be present at an Expedition wherein he took so great a concern The Siege of Rhodes by Solyman II. On St. John's day 1522. the Van of the Turkish Fleet appeared before Rhodes At that time there were but Five thousand fighting Men in Rhodes of whom Six hundred wore the Habit but they were all Men of Courage Villiers Great Master under the Command of a valiant Master who was Philip de Villiers l'Isle Adam a French-man The Turks Fleet consisted of about Four
place where St. James was Beheaded The House of St. Thomas The House of St. Mark. in this Church there is a little Chappel on the left hand as you enter which is the place where St. James the Minor first Patriarch of Jerusalem was Beheaded by command of Herod Agrippa This Church has no light but by the opening in the Dome above where there is an Iron-Grate very well wrought Over against this Church is the House of St. Thomas the Apostle into which the Turks dare not enter because they say that in times past such as entered it died there Afterwards we entered into the House of St. Mark where there is a Church held by the Syrians it is the first that was built by St. Helen in Jerusalem when Herod cast St. Peter into Prison the other Apostles with the Disciples were in that House praying for his deliverance near to that we saw the Iron-Gate through which the Angel brought St. Peter Iron-Gate when he delivered him out of the Prison from whence St. Peter went to the House of St. Mark and found the other Apostles there We then visited in order the House of Zebedee the Father of St. James the Major and St. John the Evangelist The House of Zebedee which is also the place of their Nativity at present there is a Church there held by the Greeks Then we came into the Court or open place of the Church of the holy Sepulchre and on the right hand where Mount Calvary is we entered a little Door and ascending nine and thirty steps of a winding stair-case we saw two Churches held by the Abyssins And then a Chappel near to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with a Dome and fifteen steps up to it under which St. Mary the Aegyptian did Penance The place where St. Mary the Aegyptian did Penance The Prison of St. Peter when she could not get into the Holy Sepulchre This Chappel is the place where the Holy Virgin and St. John the Evangelist were when the Jews Crucified our Lord. Then we went through a place where we saw the Ruines of a great Pile of Building where heretofore the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem lived we went into the Prison where Herod put St. Peter from whence he was delivered by an Angel as we have said After we had seen all these Places we came back to the Convent about eleven a clock in the Forenoon CHAP. L. Our third Entry into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Of the City of Jerusalem SAturday the seven and twentieth of April we entered into the Holy Sepulchre where we stayed till next day being Sunday the eight and twentieth of April that the Pilgrims went to Dinner in the Convent for my part I stayed still in the holy Sepulchre Knighthood of Jerusalem where I was honoured with the Order of a Knight of the holy Sepulchre with the customary Ceremonies This Knighthood costs an hundred Crowns and has many Privileges but not acknowledged in many places That which chiefly made me desire this Knighthood was that that they assured me in several places that the Spaniards did not detain the Knights of Jerusalem Prisoners though they were French men and seeing I was afraid I might meet them at Sea upon my return into Christendome I thought my self obliged to take shelter under that protection After I had dined in the Refectory which the Monks have in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre I went to the Convent and we prepared to leave that Holy City next day I shall say nothing of the Ancient Jerusalem only give the Reader an account of the present State of it Jerusalem The City of Jerusalem is the Capital of Judea It stands on a dry and mountanous ground that bears nothing so that for three or four leagues about the Land is very barren but good at a farther distance The Streets of this City are narrow and crooked The Gates of Jerusalem It hath six Gates to wit the Sheep-Gate at present called St. Stephens Gate the Gate of Ephraim that of Damascus that of Jaffa or Bethlehem that of Sion and the Dung-Gate It hath also besides these six Gates the Golden Gate by which our Lord entered upon the Ass in Triumph but it is walled up because the Turks have a Prophesie That the Christians are to take Jerusalem by that Gate A Prophecy of the Turks And every Friday all the other Gates of the City are shut at Noon and not opened till their Noon-Prayers be over because they have another Prophecy That the Christians are to become Masters of them on a Friday during Noon-Prayer The same thing they also do in many other Cities Not far from the Golden-Gate there is on high on the outside of the City-Wall towards the Valley of Jehosophat The Valley of Jehosophat A Pillar on which Mahomet will sit at the Day of Judgment The transformation of Mahomet a little Pillar peeping out of a nich in the Wall like a Cannon out of a Port-hole and the Turks say that at the day of Judgment Mahomet shall sit upon that Pillar and observe whether our Lord Judge the Christians well or not if he Judge righteously Mahomet will give him his Sister in Marriage with a great deal of Money that then the same Mahomet shall change himself into a Sheep and all the Turks shall nestle in his Wool being all like Flees and so he shall flie in the Air shaking himself very hard and that those who stick fast to him shall be happy and such as fall off be damned The Walls are fair and strong much like to the Walls of Avignon and look as if they were new CHAP. LI. Of Emaus and Jaffa MOnday morning the nine and twentieth of April the R. F. Commissary led us to the Church of St. Saviour where having sung the Benedictus and some Prayers he gave us his Blessing and so having taken leave of him and of all the Monks of the Convent after we had given some Piastres to the Truchemen for their pains and Money to the Procurator or Steward for our diet which is given by way of Charity every one according to his liberality for they ask nothing we parted from the said Convent extremely well satisfied with the Entertainment we had received from these good Fathers who certainly are at a loss how to Treat the Pilgrims for they say if they treat them well when they return into their own Countrey they give it out that there is no need of sending any thing to the Monks because they are too rich and if they treat them not well they hinder others from sending them any Charity saying that they do not so much as entertain Pilgrims with what is given them In the mean time they need support considering the great summs of Money they yearly pay the Turks without which they would not so willingly be tolerated though indeed the League betwixt the Grand Signior and the French
of Sivagy who made inrodes to the very Town We Encamped beyond Indelvai and next day being the six and twentieth of March having after four hours March passed over the pleasantest Hills in the World by reason of the different kinds of Trees that cover them we arrived at Calvar which is the last Village of the Moguls Countrey It is distant from Aurangeabad about fourscore and three Leagues which we Travelled in a fortnights time The rest of the Road to Golconda I shall describe when I treat of that Kingdom The way from Aurangeabad that I have been now speaking of is diversified by Hills and Plains All the Plains are good Ground some sow'd with Rice and the rest planted with Cotton-trees Tamarins Wars Cadjours Manguiers Quesous and others and all Watered with several Rivers which turn and wind every way and with Tanquies also out of which they draw the Water by Oxen And I saw one of these Reservatories at Dentapour which is a Musquet-shot over and seven or eight hundred Geometrical paces long We were incommoded during our whole Journey almost with Lightenings Whirle-winds Rains and Hail-stones some as big as a Pullets Egg Very large Hail-stones The Moguls Horse against Viziapour and when we were troubled with none of these we heard dull Thunderings that lasted whole Days and Nights We met every where Troops of Horse designed against Viziapour the King whereof refused to send the Great Mogul the Tribute which he used to pay to him To conclude with this Province it is to be observed that all the Rocks and Mountains I have mentioned are only dependances of that Mountain which is called Balagate The Mountain of Balagate which according to the Indian Geographers divides India into the two parts of North and South as that of Guate according to the same Geographers environs it almost on all hands CHAP. XLVII Of the Province of Telenga The Province of Telenga TElenga was heretofore the principal Province of Decan and reached as far as the Portuguese Lands towards Goa Viziapour being the Capital City thereof But since the Mogul became Master of the Northern places of this Countrey Calion and of the Towns of Beder and Calion it hath been divided betwixt him and the King of Decan who is only called King of Viziapour and it is reckoned amongst the Provinces of Indostan which obey the Great Mogul The borders of Telenga It is bordered on the East by the Kingdom of Golconda on Maslipatan side on the West by the Province of Baglana and Viziapour on the North by Balagate and on the South by Bisnagar The Capital City of this Province is at present Beder which belonged to Balagate when it had Kings and it hath sometime belonged to Decan Beder is a great Town Beder it is encompassed with Brick-Walls which have Battlements and at certain distances Towers they are mounted with great Cannon some whereof have the mouth three Foot wide Great Guns The Garison of Beder There is commonly in this place a Garison of Three thousand Men half Horse and half Foot with Seven hundred Gunners the Garison is kept in good order because of the importance of the place against Decam and that they are always afraid of a surprize The Governour lodges in a Castle without the Town it is a rich Government and he who commanded in it when I was there was Brother-in-law to King Chagean Auran Zebs Father but having since desired the Government of Brampour which is worth more he had it because in the last War that Governour had made an Army of the King of Viziapours raise the Siege from before Beder Some time after I met the new Governour upon the Road to Beder The Train of the Governour of Beder who was a Persian of a good aspect and pretty well stricken in years he was carried in a Palanquin amidst Five hundred Horse-men well mounted and cloathed before whom marched several Men on foot carrying blew Banners charged with flames of Gold and after them came seven Elephants The Governours Palanquin was followed with several others full of Women and covered with red Searge and there were two little Children in one that was open The Bambous of all these Palanquins were covered with Plates of Silver chamfered after them came many Chariots full of Women two of which were drawn by white Oxen almost six Foot high and last of all came the Waggons with the Baggage The Great Moguls Revenue in Telenga and several Camels guarded by Troopers This Province of Telenga is worth above Ten millions a Year to the Great Mogul No where are the Gentiles more Superstitious than here they have a a great many Pagods with Figures of Monsters that can excite nothing but Horror instead of Devotion unless in those who are deluded with the Religion These Idolaters use frequent Washings Men The washings of the Gentiles Women and Children go to the River as soon as they are out of Bed and the rich have Water brought them to wash in When Women lose their Husbands they are conducted thither by their Friends who comfort them and they who are brought to Bed use the same custom almost as soon as they are delivered of their Children and indeed there is no Countrey where Women are so easily brought to Bed when they come out of the Water a Bramen dawbs their Forehead with a Composition made of Saffron and the Powder of white Sawnders dissolved in Water then they return home where they eat a slight Breakfast and seeing they must never eat unless they be washed some return to the Tanquie or River about noon and others perform their Ablutions at home before they go to Dinner As they have a special care not to eat any thing but what is dressed by a Gentile of their Caste so they seldom eat any where but at home The feeding of the Gentiles and commonly they dress their Victuals themselves buying their Flower Rice and such other Provisions in the Shops of the Banians for they 'll not buy any where else These Banians as well as the Bramens and Courmis feed on Butter Pulse The Diet of some Castes Herbs Sugar and Fruit they eat neither Fish nor Flesh and drink nothing but Water wherein they put Coffee and Tea they use no Dishes for fear some body of another Religion or Tribe may have made use of the Dish out of which they might eat and to supply that they put their Victuals into large Leaves of Trees which they throw away when they are empty nay there are some of them who eat alone and will not suffer neither their Wives nor Children at Table with them Nevertheless I was informed The Bramens sometimes eat Hogs Flesh that in that Countrey one certain day of the year the Bramens eat Hogs Flesh but they do it privately for fear of Scandal because the Rules of their Sect enjoyn them so to do and I believe it
An Orphan adopted and made King of Viziapour The King who Reigns in Viziapour at present was an Orphan whom the late King and the Queen adopted for their Son and after the death of the King the Queen had so much interest as to settle him upon the Throne but he being as yet very young the Queen was declared Regent of the Kingdom Nevertheless there has been a great deal of weakness during her Government and Raja Sivagy hath made the best on 't for his own Elevation CHAP. III. Of Goa Goa THe Town of Goa with its Isle of the same name which is likewise called Tilsoar borders upon Viziapour directly Southward it lies in the Latitude of fifteen degrees and about forty minutes upon the River of Mandona which discharges it self into the Sea two Leagues from Goa and gives it one of the fairest Harbours in the World some would have this Countrey to be part of Viziapour but it is not and when the Portuguese came there it belonged to a Prince called Zabaim who gave them trouble enough nevertheless Zabaim Prince of Goa Albuquerque made himself Master of it in February One thousand five hundred and ten through the cowardize of the Inhabitants who put him into possession of the Town and Fort and took an Oath of Allegiance to the King of Portugal This Town hath good Walls with Towers and great Guns and the Isle it self is Walled round with Gates towards the Land to hinder the Slaves from running away which they do not fear towards the Sea because all the little Isles and Peninsules that are there belong to the Portuguese and are full of their Subjects This Isle is plentiful in Corn Beasts and Fruit and hath a great deal of good water The City of Goa is the Capital of all those which the Portuguese are Masters of in the Indies The Arch-Bishop Vice-Roy and Inquisitor General have their Residence there and all the Governours and Ecclesiastick and secular Officers of the other Countries subject to the Portuguese Nation in the Indies depend on it The death of Albuquerque The death of St. Francis of Xavier Albuquerque was buried there in the year One thousand five hundred and sixteen and St. Francis of Xavier in One thousand five hundred fifty two The River of Mendoua is held in no less veneration by the Bramens and other Idolaters than Ganges is elsewhere and at certain times and upon certain Festival days they flock thither from a far to perform their Purifications It is a great Town and full of fair Churches lovely Convents and Palaces well beautified there are several Orders of Religious both Men and Women there and the Jesuits alone have five publick Houses few Nations in the World were so rich in the Indies as the Portuguese were before their Commerce was ruined by the Dutch but their vanity is the cause of their loss and if they had feared the Dutch more than they did they might have been still in a condition to give them the Law there from which they are far enough at present There are a great many Gentiles about Goa some of them worship Apes and I observed elsewhere that in some places they have built Pagods to these Beasts Most part of the Gentiles Heads of Families in Viziapour The way of the Banians dressing their Victuals dress their own Victuals themselves he that do's it having swept the place where he is to dress any thing draws a Circle and confines himself within it with all that he is to make use of if he stand in need of any thing else it is given him at a distance because no body is to enter within that Circle and if any chanced to enter it all would be prophaned and the Cook would throw away what he had dressed and be obliged to begin again When the Victuals are ready they are divided into three parts The first part is for the Poor the second for the Cow of the House and the third Portion for the Familie and of this third they make as many Commons as there are Persons and seeing they think it not civil to give their leavings to the poor they give them likewise to the Cow. CHAP. IV. Of the Kingdom of Golconde Of Bagnagar THe most powerful of the Kings of Decan next to Viziapour is the King of Golconda His Kingdom borders on the East side Golconda upon the Sea of Bengala to the North upon the Mountains of the Countrey of Orixa to the South upon many Countries of Bisuagar or Ancient Narsingue which belongs to the King of Viziapour and to the West upon the Empire of the Great Mogul by the province of Balagate where the Village of Calvar is which is the last place of Mogolistan on that side There are very insolent collectors of Tolls at Calvar Calvar and when they have not what they demand Li li li. they cry with all their force their Li li li striking their Mouth with the palm of their Hand and at that kind of alarm-bell which is heard at a great distance naked Men come running from all parts carrying Staves Lances Swords Bows Arrows and some Musquets who make Travellers pay by force what they have demanded and when all is payed it is no easie matter still to get rid of them The bounds of Mogulistan Mahoua The boundaries of Mogulistan and Golconda are planted about a League and a half from Calvar They are Trees which the call Mahoua these mark the outmost Land of the Mogul and immediately after on this side of a Rivulet there are Cadjours or wild Palm-trees planted only in that place to denote the beginning of the Kingdom of Golconda wherein the insolence of collectors is far more insupportable than in the confines of Mogolistan for the duties not being exacted there in the Name of the King but in the Name of private Lords to whom the Villages have been given the Collectors make Travellers pay what they please We found some Officers where they made us give fifty Roupies in stead of twenty which was their due and to shew that it was an Extortion of the Exactors they refused to give us a note for what they had received 16 Officers in 23 Leagues and in the space of three and twenty Leagues betwixt Calvar and Bagnagar we were obliged with extream rigour to pay to sixteen Officers Bramens are the Collectors of these Tolls and are a much ruggeder sort of People to have to do with than the Banians The Road from Calvar to Bagnagar Malaredpet 3 or 4 Leag from Calvar Bouquenour a Town Mellinar 6 Leag from Malaredpet Dgelpeli 6 Leag from Mellinar Marcel 3 Leag from Degelpeli Bagnagar 4 Leag from Marcel In our way from Calvar to Bagnager we found no other Town but Buquenour but there are others to the right and left we passed by eighteen Villages The Nadab or Governour of the Province lives in the little Town of Marcel and we