Mâ—…avias a valiant Souldier advanced himself and to remove all future pretensions he slew Hali with his Son Ossan and eleven of Ossans Sons but Musa Ceresin the twelsth Son made his escape From this Musa one Guine Sophie derived his Pedigree in 1360. And considering that there had been no Caliphs for many Years past he began to contrive the reviving and establishing that Honourable Dignity in his own Family He dying in the midst of his Projects left the prosecution of them to his Son Aider Sophie who being a man of great industry sanctity and power and strenghtned with the love and real affection of his people Ussan Cassanes Prince of the Armenians gave him his Daughter to Wife But Iacup the Son and successor of Ussan after his fathers Death envying the glory of Aider Sophie and fearing his power caused him to be slain and delivered his 2 Sons which he had by Iacups Sister named Ishmael and Solyman to Amazor one of his Captains to secure them in prison Amazor being of a generous temper afforded them not only liberty but gave them ingenuous education Afterward Ismael the eldest a Gentleman of promising hopes undertook to revenge the Death of his Father which he likewise performed staying Iacup and his Son Elvan After this Victory Ismael being crowned King or Sophie or Shaa of Persia he altered the form of Religion there declaring Hali and himself to be the only true Successors of Mahomet the Prophet and condemning Abubezer Haumar and Osman with the Turks their Abettors and Followers as Usurpers Rebels and Schismaticks and ordered all Books to be Burnt and all Monuments to be defaced that mentioned any thing in honour of those 3 Caliphs This difference in Religion hath created so mortal an aversion in them to each other that the Turks hold it more meritorious to kill one Persian than 70 Christians The City of Medina where Mahomet lyes buried is in Arabia 3 days Journey from the Red Sea His Tomb is inclosed within an Iron Grate and covered with green Velvet which is every year made New and sent by the Grand Seignior the old one being by the Preists cut into small peices and sold at great Rates as Reliques to the Pilgrims In the Temple where this Tomb is placed there are say'd to be 3000 Lamps of Gold and Silver wherein is Balsome and other rich odours ointments and oils continually kept burning They would impose it for a Miracle that this Tomb should hang in the Air by means of Loadstones but besides that there is no such thing for it stands on the Floor were it true there were no such wonder in it For Democrates the Atheniah by order of Ptolomy K. of Egypt undertook to make the Statue of Arsinoe all of Iron and to hang in the Air. And in the Temple of Serapis in Alexandria there was an Iron Sun that hung in the Air by the force of a Loadstone being a rare peice of Workmanship The Turks make a Pilgrimage to this Tomb and all true Musselmen are obliged once in their Lives at least to go thither To this purpose I will relate the following Story from a late Traveller into Turkey A Mahumitan having in obedience to a Religious Vow undertaken this Journey and being of the Opinion of the rest of his fellow Travellers or the Caravan as it is called that they should meet with Water at a certain Well or Cistern upon the Road had made use of the best part of their Provision as the rest had done upon the Ceremony of the Abdest or Ablution which is their washing themseives before their Devotious for they wash the best part of the Head and Neck their Arms up to the Elbows their Feet the end of the Priapus and the Posterior Orifice And for this Reason they never erect any Mosquee or Church without planting Fountains round about it for they firmly believe that their Prayers put up without these Washings and in a state of Impurity would rather draw down the Wrath of Heaven upon them than procure the blessings of God And indeed these severe Commands of washing so often are very troublesome as well to those that live in dry places far from Water as others in the Northern cold Climates so that several Turks could wish heartily that they might be permitted to change their Religion which ties them to so many inconvenient slabberings When these Pilgrims came to the Cistern where they hoped to be supplyed they found the Water dryed up by the heat of the Sun They were extreamly concerned thereat finding themselves in the midst of the Sands Deserts and heats of Arabia They knew not what course to take in that extremity of drowth which tormented them with Impatience nor had many of them Money to buy Water of those who had been more provident and indeed had not much to spare Our poor Mahumetan found himself reduced to endure a scorching drouth and ready to be buried alive in the stifling Clouds of Sand which the Wind raises in that miserable Road. inspired him with more Execrations against Mahomet and his accursed Errors tren the most zealous of the Eastern Christians could have invented for him He said He did not wish the Devil had taken Mahomet for he did not believe him so unjust as to let that Impostor escape his Claws who being the only cause of the death of so many Millions of people as perished in going to his Tomb justly deserved as many deaths in Hell as he had caused poor Creatures to suffer torments in this infamous cruel Pilgrimage But he wisht with all his heart That Heaven had Thunderstruck from above and that Hell had then swallowed in Flames the first contrive s of that accursed Alcoran and the unfortunate Propogators of the Law of Mahomet or that he himself had been born a Christian. Some Christians in the Company were much surprized to hear a Mahometan thus blaspheme his own Religion but they were told That this Person was of a Sect who were neither Turks nor Christians but a sort of Mahumetan Heretics When a Mahumetan has purified himself he goes into the Church with his Eyes fixt upon the Ground and barefoot To which end the Eastern People have Shoes or Slippers of Goats Skins dyed Yellow Red Violet or Black but none of them may wear them Green in the Turkish Dominions this being the sacred colour which Mahomet so much affected only their Emirs wear a Green Bonnet which they put on with great reverence on their Heads and is a mark of their being allied to their Great Prophet and Legislator But this is not regarded in Persia. as we may find by the following Story Sha Abbas the renowned K. of Persia was the most accomplished Prince in all the East It happened that a Turkish Ambassador one time at his Court being much concerned to see Christians as well as Mahometans wearing green Shoes and Trowses over all Persia He in the name of his Master required the King to
secretly bribed those Factors to carry their Passengers and Merchants aboard their own Ships and not the English obliging them to Trade only with the Dutch Which Craft the English perceiving used the same Arts to ingage the Factors to themselves so that out-vying each other these Brokers commonly gained to themselves six or seven per Cent. to the vast prejudice of all Trade upon these Coasts since this ill Custom must be kept up by all Succeeding European Merchants It was observed that many Negro Merchants who dwelt up in the Countrey coming to buy Wares of the Dutch with great quantities of Gold and divers Slaves thirty or more according to their Quality to carry back the Goods they should purchase and taking their Lodgings in the Houses of these Brokers whom they acquainted with their full Commissions and Intentions and to whom they delivered their Gold these Factors would go aboard the Flemish Ships with them to Trade and Barter and if the Negro Merchants were not skilled in the Portugal Tongue these Brokers would bid the Hollanders not to speak the Morisco Language to them because they Inhabited far within the Land thereby giving the Dutch the watch-word that they meant to deceive their Countreymen and afterward divide the Spoil so that the knaviâ—…h Factor connived at the extravagant prizes of the Hollanders to draw the more Gold from the Merchant whom he likewise cheated sometimes by putting some of his Gold into his Mouth Ears or otherwise which the Merchant Negro finding wanting in the Scale adds to the Cheat himself by blowing into the Christians Ballance to make it weight The bargain being finished and the Negro again landed the Factor returns back to the Ship to share his ill got gains with the Flemings This way of proceeding was very detrimental to the English and other Christians Trading on these Coasts so that unless they connive with these Factors their Voyage will be lost and their Goods unsold In 1553. Thomas Windam and Anthony Pintado a Portugal in two English Ships Traded along these Coasts as far as Benin where they presented themselves to the King who sate in a great Hall the Walls whereof were made of Earth without Windows the Roof of thin Boards open in divers places his Nobles never look him in the Face but sit with their Buttocks on the ground and their hands before their Faces not looking up till the King commands them when they depart they go backward turning their Faces still toward him The next year Captain Iohn Lock Sailed into these Parts to Trade for Gold and Elephants Teeth And after him Captain Towerson made several Voyages thither who at the River of St. Vincent observed a kind of Pease growing on the Shore like Trees with stalks twenty seven paces long At Cape Tres Puntas they made him Swear by the Water of the Sea that he would not hurt them before they would Trade with him Aban a Negro King treated them kindly with a Pot of Palm or Coco-Wine which they draw out of Trees The People are handsom and well proportioned having nothing disagreeable in their Countenances but the blackness of their Complexion some of them have flattish Noses all little Ears the People go all Naked till they are married and then are clothed from the middle to the knees At the Marriage of their Daughters they give half an Ounce of Gold to buy Wine for the Wedding the Bride in the presence of her Friends swears to be true to her Husband which the man doth not who have as many Wives as they can maintain yet the first has this preheminence so that he can never take another but by her permission but because the multitude of Wives and Children are counted the greatest honour and riches in that Countrey they often perswade their Husbands to take more and glory therein the first Wife likewise has the priviledge to lye with her Husband three Nights successively whilst the rest must be content only with one so that they live very quietly together A Merchant or Captain will have thirty or forty the King of Benin had six hundred wherewith he went in Solemn Procession every year The King of Fetu's Son had fourteen Sons and twelve Daughters and kept an hundred Slaves to wait upon them At Cape Gonsalvo they pink and colour their bodies and offer their Wives to Strangers The King uses his own Daughters when grown up as Wives and the Queens with the like incestuous abomination make use of their own Sons Their Women are unfaithful Discoverers of Natures hidden secrets not being ashamed to be delivered publickly in the sight of Men Boys and Girls They circumcise both Sexes after Travel they accompany not their Husbands in three months As soon as she is delivered they give her a drink made of Rice Mays Water Wine and Mallaguett like our Pepper after which she lyes warm three or four hours and then rises washes her self and Child and so falls to her work as before Next they give it a name usually of some Christian they are obliged to then wrapping it in a kind of Blanket or Skin they lay it upon Rushes where it continues above five weeks then the Mother tyes it to a board and carries it on her back with the Legs under her arm-pits and the hands tyed about her neck where it hangs all day and never comes off till it goes to bed and yet few or none prove lame or deformed notwithstanding the shaking of their bodies they give them the breast over their shoulders and this may be the reason of the flatness of their Noses by their knocking them continually against the Back and Shoulders of the Mother while she is walking or at work for it is observed that the Children of their Gentry whose Mothers do not labour nor carry their Infants about them have very comely Noses they wash and rub their Children every Morning with Oil of Palms When they are seven or eight years old they hang a Net about their Necks made of the Bark of a Tree full of Fetiches or little Gods to secure them from the Devil who they believe would else carry them away They hang their Hair full of Shells and Coral about the Arms and Legs with several Feticho's of different qualities one being an Antidote against Vomiting a second against dangerous Falls a third prevents Bleeding a fourth causes Sleep a fifth secures them against Wild Beasts and the like giving to each Fetisso a different name They soon learn to speak go and swim When they are born they are not black but red About seven year old they learn to spin Thred make Nets and go a Fishing with their Fathers and feed as they do picking up any nasty thing in the Streets which they eat with good Appetites The Boys and Girls are all naked which makes them have no sense of shame or modesty they being neither reproved nor corrected by their Parents They are excellent at Swimming even at this Age
shall a time come when all ill men shall receive their deserts They imagin that their Friends after death become Spirits whom they call Iannanen and know all Transactions here below with whom therefore they hold familiar Colloquies acquainting them with all their troubles and adversities When they go into the Woods to hunt Elephants Buffles or upon any other dangerous Enterprize they go first and offer to the Spirit of their deceased Parents either a Cow Wine or Rice which they leave on the Grave They suppose them to reside in the Woods to whom they address themselves with great complaints and lamentations when in affliction where likewise their most Solemn Acts of Devotion are performed where no Women nor Children are permitted to come The King calls upon the Souls of his Father and Mother in every difficulty If a Woman be suspected of Adultery the complaining Husband desires she may be delivered up to Iannanen or the Spirits of his Ancestors and brings her in the Evening before the Council where calling the Spirits to her she is blindfolded admonished to forsake her evil Life and not to go to any but her own Husband and presently a great noise or murmur is raised as if Spirits did appear with some unintelligible though articulate sounds which are interpreted aloud to the whole Congregation with threatnings that if ever she commit the like offence again she shall be punished according to her demerits and with her Paramour be carried away by Iannanen to whom yet none are delivered up but upon clear evidence of their Guilt to which end they have a Water of Cursing or Divination wherewith they extort the Truth in all doubtful matters compounded of Barks and Herbs boiled together which when it is enough the Priest repeats secretly the names of the suspected persons or other matters to which the Witchcraft must be applied and then washes the Legs and Arms of those accused with fair Water after this he puts his Divining Staff which is bruised and tusted at the end into the Pot and drops or presseth the Water out of it upon the Arm or Leg of the suspected Person muttering these words over it If he be guilty of this or that then let this Water scâ—…ld or burn him till the very Skin come off If the Party remain unhurt they judge him innocent and proceed to the Trial of another till they have discovered the Criminal who being found the Executioner instantly leads him bound and blindfold into a Field or Wood and placing him on his Knees with his Head bowed down he first runs him through the Body with a Scimetar and then câ—…ops off his Head with an Ax for they do not believe he is dead till his Head is off The Carcase cut into four quarters after great lamentations they leave in the Field as a Prey to the Beasts and Fowls but the Friends take away the Head as a great Present and boiling it in a Kettle drink up the Broth hanging the Scull by their Fetisso or Idol The like Trial is made of other offences among the Blacks so that every one had need be very careful to prevent suspicion V. Commenda THis Fort is Four Square strongly built of Stone It hath Twenty Guns and Fourscore Europeans to defend it with many Negro's and Mulatto's Some time since Mendino the King of Manou died whose Subjects and Favourites made strict inquiry according to Custom how he came by his end but the narrowest of their scrutinies not being able to make any discovery they were forced to acquiesce yet had such an inveterate hatred against Manimassah his Brother that they forced him to the Trial which seeing no other Remedy he underwent without any hurt as a remarkable sign of his Innocence whereupon he demanded to be restored to his former Honour and Credit but instead thereof the Tryers told him The King in his Life time was our Common Father and should not we after his death endeavour to find out what caused him to dye it were a great shame for us we have examined and tryed you but it shall not remain so we will look farther into the business and make the Southsayers acquainted with it Manimassah mad at these inhumane usages burst forth at last into these words This shame is not to be suffered from my own Subjects in my own Countrey I will go under the Conduct of the Spirits of my deceased Friends and seek a dwelling place In this manner leaving his Native Countrey he travelled Northward into Gala inhabited by a mean and simple People and won so upon them by his endearing behaviour that they unanimously besought him to be their Prince to which he consented upon condition That they should give him some of their Plants and Venison for an acknowledgement of their subjection This they yielded to but such was their brutish Barbarism that though they owned him their Lord they used him as there Companion for being wholly unacquainted with Civility when any of them brought him Wine Rice or Flesh they came again to him to require their Callibashes or Basquets which unmannerly clownish behaviour Manimassah so resented that he withdrew from them to require assistance from Flansire King of Folgia whose Daughter he had Married to reduce the Gala's to his Authority The King hearing the request of his Son in Law lent him many Souldiers under the Conduct of Flonikerry his General who unexpectedly fell into Gala and subdued the People setling Manimassah in an absolute Dominion who hath ever since continued their Prince and taught them with sorrow more respective qualities after this Flonikerry returned to Folgia where he was received and welcomed with great applause and the King willing to gratifie him for his honest performances he according to Flonikerrys Petition gave him leave to go and Conquer and settle himself and his People in Cabo Monte an adjacent Countrey expressing his kindness in saying I shall do the desire of his Heart He with a considerable force Marching toward this place the Inhabitants being numerous and couragious were not soon subdued but at length tired with the continual onsets of their Enemies who shot poysoned Arrows which made all wounds though never so slight prove Mortal a fatal Invention unknown to these People they went with their Hoods upon their Heads as usual to ask favour which Flonikerry naturally inclined to pity easily granted bidding them go lie down with their Faces upon the ground then coming out of his Fort he trod upon them with his feet He then made an Agreement with them some Hens being killed in the presence of them all of whose Blood the Conquered swallowed a little as a token of Friendship Afterward the Hens were boiled and the Flesh eaten among them only the Legs were kept for a perpetual Remembrance for if any Man after that time broke his promise to him were the Legs shown who upon sight thereof soon recaâ—…ted for fear of the punishment that would follow Flonikerry overjoyed
forbid his Subjects any longer to prophane a Colour which all true Mahometans ought to have a greater Veneration for That the King knew very well that it being the Prophets peculiar Colour it did not become the happy observers of his Law to cover any part of the Body therewith but only the Head or at least the more decent part of the Body above the Wast it being an insupportable Comtempt to trample under Foot a Colour so sacred as his Subjects not only did but also the Giaurs or Christians the Iews and all other Infidels and impure Nations in his Dominions Sha Abbas perceived the folly of this Discourse and so resolved to make a Jest of it He made shew of consenting to the Grand Seigniors desire and promised the Ambassador that he would take Order his Subjects should no longer prophane the Prophets Colour hoping the Grand Seignior would issue out the same Orders over his Dominions For said the King your Master beholds every day a greater prophanation of that Colour and yet lets it go unpunished My Subjects only wear the Colour dead upon their Shoes and Trowses but all the Beasts in Turkey dung without any Penalty upon the Grass which is the living Colour that Mahomet lov d. Therefore if he will prohibit all the Beasts in his Empire from defiling the green Grass with their Excrements which they do continually then will I take care that my Subjects shall wear green no longer The Ambassador finding the Emperor did but deride his Folly withdrew silently from the Presence and left the Persians to their own liberty This washing and cleanliness of the Mahometans has occasion'd the building of several necessary Houses which they call The Houses of Shame for publick conveniency which are kept very sweet having a Cock to turn and take away all ill smells so that you shall never see in all the East the Walls of their Churches stain'd with Urine or Excrements as in our parts of the World Nor is any one prejudiced in his Health by retaining his â—…rtural Evacuations for want of convemency I never heard so many Iâ—…vectives saith a French Gentleman as were uttered upon this account by a Turk at Constantinople who had travelled to Marseilles and thence to Paris He being in France used according to the custom of his Countrey to eat great plenty of Fruits Salads and among the rest Cucumbers half ripe Stalks and all a Diet enough to break a French Horses Belly yet much admired by the Eastern People whose Dâ—…gestion tames it well enough This Mahometan said He found it hotter in Paris during the heat of Summer than at Damasco in Syria tho' it lye 15 Degrees more to the South so to cool himself he resolv'd to eat a great Dish of Milk and Cucumbers and so to walk about half a Mile off where he had business Returning back the motion of his Body the coldness of the Cucumbers and the heat of the season caused great commotion in the Bowels of the Musselman and would by no means be appeased He searched about for an House of Easement yet could discover nothing but open shops and throngs of people He grew disconsolate not knowing what course to take He cursed all the streets of Paris and wisht himself at Damascus where is a great place walled in containing 40 of these Necessary Houses At last in the height of his trouble he thus lamented his Misfortunes Were I now at Grand Cario my pains would find redress by only bowing the head and crying according to custom to Passengers Pray Sir look another way but here in Paris where there are more people than stones in the street what shall a Man do in my forlorn condition But these sad Complaints little availed for before he could get to his Lodgings the Cucumbers forc'd their way open at his Back-door and made the disconsolate Syrian know that Milk and Cucumbers was not so sweet as Milk and Honey yet he must endure the smell as well as he made several others as he passed in that stinking pickle to his Lodgings to cleanse himself This cleanliness of the Mahometans makes them call Christians Filthy Unclean and Nasty Infidels or Unbelievers And thus much for this Grand Impastor Mahomet whom Heaven permitted to be a scourge for punishing the Christians who at that time had forsaken the Doctrines of the Gospel and had imbraced damnable Herisies Let this excite us to bless the goodness of God who enjoy the glorious Light of his Truth and to admire Gods Judgments who suffers so many large Kingdoms and Countries to be infatuated deluded and inslaved and so many Millions of people to be abused by that false Prophet and to believe his Lyes Nonsense and Blasphemy He belies God in making him the Author of his Alcoran boasting that his Name is written upon the Throne of God and that he is the greatest of the Prophets having more knowledge than all the Men and Angels in the World He belies Jesus Christ in saying he could not be Gods Son because God was never Married as if there were no other way of Generation but what is Carnal He saith the Virgin Mary conceived Christ by the smell of a Rose and that she was the sister of Moses confounding her with Miriam though there were so many hundred Years between He belieth the Holy Ghost in affirming that he inspired Mahomet to write his Alcoran He belieth the Scriptures in saying they are corrupted by Christians and that they Worship many Gods and give God a Companion by affirming the Divinity of Christ Jesus He belieth the Iews in saying they make Eleazer a God He belieth the Patriarchs in saying that Noah Abraham Isaac and Iacob believed his Alcoran tho' they lived so many thousand Years before he or his Alcoran had a being He belies the Apostles in making them his Scholars tho' they lived near 600 Years before he saw the Light By all which it appears that the Compiler of this Alcoran was not the God of Truth but the Father of Lies Especially if we consider the ridiculous stories found therein He tells us That he once divided the Noon one half whereof fell into his Lap the other half on the Ground which he after joined again together and perhaps in memory of this lying Miracle the Turks use yet the Half Moon for their Arms and on their Churches and Steeples He tells of a great Army of Men and Angels raised by Solomon which being much disturbed in their March by an Army of Flies Solnmon rebâ—…ked and routed them He tells that in Noah's Ark a Hog was generated of the Elephants Dung and a Rat of the Hogs Dung which knawing a hole in the Ark Noah was so affrighted that he toucht the Forehead of the Lyon out of whose Brains leaped a Cat that chased away the Rat. To conclude in the Paradise which he promises his Followers he allows Appartments therein to several Beasts such as Abraham's Ram Moses's Heifer Solomon's
Tamberlan the Scythian who overcame all Asia and took Bajazet the Ottoman Emperor Prisoner putting him into an Iron Cage against the Bars of which he beat out his brains When Tamberlain had taken him Prisoner he was brought before him who fixing his Eyes upon him fell a laughing Bâ—…jazet being highly offended feircely say'd to him Laugh not at my Fortune Sir but know it is God that disposes of Kingdoms and Empires and the same may happen to you to morrow that has befaln me to day To which â—…amerlain replyed I know this as well as you nor do I laugh at your misfortunes but am thinking that certainly these Kingdoms and Empires are very contemptible things in the eyes of God since he gives them to such inconsiderable Persons as we are you a deformed one eyed man and I pitiful lame Creature The Mogol is the General Heir to all those to whom he gives Pensions and his will is a Law in the decision of his subjects affairs and therefore they carry the Names of their Imployments and not of the Lands which they enjoy Now because of this Barbarous tho' Ancient Custom in the late Mogols Reign one of the Ancient Governours being very Rich and finding himself near Death thinking upon this unreasonable Law which oft renders the Wife of a Nobleman and her Children poor and miserable in an Instant He secretly distributed all his great Estate to indigent Gentlemen and poor Widdows filling his Trunks with Old Iron old Shoes Rags and bones Locking and Sealing them close saying they were Goods belonging to the Mogol before whom they were brought after his death and opened in his presence before his Lords that all saw this fine stuff which so discomposed the Mogol that he rose and went away in a great fury He is able to bring 100000 Horse into the Field but the Foot are inconsiderable Chah Iehan the Father of the present Emperor left behind him about 500000 Livers besides the Rich Throne aforementioned The present Emperor or Mogol is called Aureng-zeb having usurpt the kingdom from his Father upon this occasion This great King having reigned 40 Years with much clemency and Justice in his declining Age fancied a Young Lady of extraordinary beauty not above 13 Years Old And because the strength of nature would not permit him to satisfy his Passion he took certain Provocatives which were so hot that he fell into a distemper which had almost killed him This obliged him to shut himself up in a strong Fortress together with his Women for 2 or 3 Months During this time he seldom appeared to his People and then at a great distance which made them believe he was dead He had 4 Sons and 2 Daughters whom he loved all alike making his Sons Governours or Vice Roys of four of the principal Provinces in his Kingdom During this false report of his Death Dara his eldest Son continued with him But soon after they raised Armys and fought against one another And after many Battels and much Bloodshed Aurengzeb the Third Son having destroyed his Three Brethren mounted the Throne keeping his Father Prisoner Some time after he sent to his Father for some of his Jewels that he might appear before his People with the same magnificence his Predecessors had done Chah-Iehan taking his request for an Affront fell into such a rage that he continued mad for some days and had like to have died upon it he called several times for a Mortar and Pestle to beat all his Jewels to Powder rather than his Son should have them but Begum Saheb his Eldest Daughter throwing her self at his feet by virtue of that Criminal power she had over him as being both his Daughter and his Wife kept him from it more out of design to preserve the Jewels for her self than her Brother to whom she was a Mortal Enemy For this reason when Aureng-zeb ascended the Throne he had only one Jewel on his Bonnet and as a Penance for so many Crimes he would not eat wheaten Bread Flesh nor Fish but fed upon Barley Bread Herbs and Sweat Meats But Chajehan his Father dying in 1666. finding himself rid of an object that reproached his Tyranny he began to enjoy himself with more delight receiving his Sister Begum into favour and calling her Cha Begum or Princess Queen a Woman of excellent accomplishments and able to govern an Empire and had her Father and Brothers taken her Counsel Auren-zeb had never been King He had another Sister called Râ—…uchenara Begum who always took his part and sent him all the Gold and Silver she could procure when she heard he had taken Arms in recompence whereof he promised when he came to be King to give her the Title of Cha Begum and that she should fit upon a Throne all which he performed and they lived lovingly together This Princess having secretly conveyed a handsom young man into her Apartment could not let him out so privately after she had quite tired him but the King had notice thereof The Princess to prevent the shame ran to the King and in a pretended fright told him there was a man got into the Haram even to her very Chamber who designed either to have kill or Rob her That such an accident was never before known and that it concerned the safety of his Royal Person and he would do well to punish the Eunuchs who kept the Guard that night The King ran instantly with a great number of Eunuchs so that the poor Young Man had no way to escape but by leaping out at a Window into the River that runs by the Pallace Walls a multitude of people ran out to seize him the King commanding they should do him no harm but carry him to the Officer of Justice yet he happily escaped and has not been since heard of It is an Ancient custom among the Heathen Indians that the Husband happening to dye the Wife can never marry again so when he is dead she retires to bewail him shaves her hair and lays aside all her ornaments taking off her Arms and Legs the Braccelets her Husband put on when he espoused her in token of her submission and being chained to him and all her life after she lives despised yea worse than a Slave in the House where she was formerly Mistress This causes them rather to dye with their Husbands than live in such Contempt the Bramins or Priests perswading them that after Death they shall meet him again in the other World with greater advantage Yet can no Woman burn her self without leave from the Governour of the Place who being a Mehometan and abhorring this execrable custom of self Murther does often deny it Some women are so offended thereat that they spend the rest of their lives in works of Charity Some sit on the Road Boyling Pulse in Water and giving the Liquor to Travellers to drink others hold Fire ready in their hands to light their Tobacco others make vows to eat nothing but