afterwards to the Town of Lenkeran upon the River Warsasaruth This Town as also all the adjacent Country derives its name from the easy anchorage of shipping thereabouts though to speak rigorously there is no haven in those parts but only a kind of Bay between two Capes or Promontories which reach a great way into the Sea one on Lenkeran-side which is cover'd with trees on the other on Kisilagats-side on which there is nothing but canes But the Sea thereabout is so shallow that little Vessels can hardly get in there and when they are in they ly exposs'd to the violence of the East-wind Georâ—e Dictander saies in the Relation of his Travels that in the year 1603. there came to that place by Sea an Ambassador from Rudolph II. Emperour of Germany and that he died there with most of his retinue but the Inhabitants thereabouts from whom I would have inform'd my self of that particular knew nothing of it The Kurtzibaschi hath the revenue of the Countrey allow'd him as part of his pay though our Mehemandar and the Persians for what reasons I know not would have perswaded us that it belong'd to the Chan of Ardebil and depended on his Government We were receiv'd there by a Visir or Secretary who had the over-sight of the Demesn in those parts We continu'd there the 8. 9. and 10. as well to refresh the Camels which the ill and slippery waies had almost wearied off their legs as in expectation of the rest of our retinue who were not yet come up with the baggage and with them fresh horses for the better prosecution of our Journey The 11. we left Lenkeran and travell'd five leagues on to Kisilagats crossing that day four great Rivers to wit those of Kasiende Noabine Tzili and Buladi the three former over Bridges and the last which was very broad in little Boats swimming over the horses At our coming out of the River we were forc'd to travel with much inconvenience for half a league or better through the water which the adjacent Sea had forc'd up there and to send the Baggage by Sea in six great Fisher-boats The Sea-side in those parts is cover'd all over with Canes as are also the Islands along the Coast where the Cosaques some times lye in ambush to surprize and set upon the ships which pass that way as also in expectation of an opportunity to cross over to the Continent At our coming out of the said water we found the Lord of that place who was come to meet us accompany'd by a hundred persons on hors-back The little City of Kisilagats that is red or gilt wood hath no walls no more than any of the other Cities of those parts and lies in a plain half a league or better from the Sea towards the North-west upon a little River called Willeschi Sulfahar-Chan sold it heretofore to the Chan of Ardebil by whom it was left to his Son Hossein Sultan who still enjoyes it The mountain of Kilan presented it self to our sight towards the West-north-west sinking by degrees into little hills towards the Countrey of Mokan At the foot of the mountain there were â—eral Villages among others those of Buladi Matzula Buster and Thaliskeran and abundance of trees planted in a streight line along a vast piece of Meadow-ground where there was excellent Pasture for Cattel I conceive this to be the place which Strabo speaks of when he says that towards the Portae Caspiae there is a fertile plain very fit for the breeding of Horses He adds that it is able to keep fifty thousand breeding Mares which number the Kings of Persia were wont to have kept there But this is not true at least there is no such thing now though a Military Officer of the Duke of Holstein's who made it his bragg that he had travell'd into Tartary though he had not been beyond Astrachan being question'd concerning the truth of this breeding-place had the confidence to affirm that what Strabo had said of it was very certain About these parts and in the neighbouring Mountains are the Countries of Kuawer Maranku and Deschiewend and the Village of Dubil otherwise called Chatifekeka the Inhabitants whereof were extirpated by the express command of Schach Abas for the abominable lives they led They had their meeting in the night time at some private houses where after they had made good cheer they blew out the Candles put off their Cloaths and went promiscuously to the work of Generation without any respect of age or kindred the Father many time having to do with his own Daughter the Son with the Mother and the Brother with the Sister Schach Abas coming to hear of it ordered all the Inhabitants of the Village to be cut to pieces without any regard or distinction of age or sex and peopled it with others I conceive it is of the Inhabitants of these parts that we are to understand what Herodotus affirms of their going together without any shame and publickly after the manner of Beasts Over against Kisilagats and about three leagues from the Continent there are two Islands named Kelechol and Aalybaluck The latter which is three leagues or Farsangs in length hath its name upon this accompt that Aly being there one day extremely put to it for fresh water to quench his thirst God immediately caus'd to break forth out of the ground a Spring of fresh water which is to be seen there to this day Febr. 12. we travell'd on through a plain Country but cross'd by several small Rivers the chiefest whereof were the Vskeru and the Butaru and we lodg'd at night at Elliesdu a Village seated at the entrance of the Heath of Mokan at the foot of a hill which is very fruitful as is also the rest of the Country on the mountain-side It belong'd to a Military Officer named Beter Sulthan who had his ordinary residence at a place six leagues thence The houses of this Village were very wretched ones as being built only with laths nail'd across and plaister'd over with clay They were inhabited by Souldiers on whom the King bestows the revenue of his Demesin in these parts with certain Lands which they are oblig'd to cultivate In this Village the Ambassador Brugman caus'd a Persian to be kill'd with cudgelling His Groom would have gone into the first house he came to with one of the led-horses the Kisilbach or soldier who was the Master of it told him that his house was free from quartering and that besides he had no convenience for the entertainment of horses whereupon having a stick in his hand he therewith struck the horse over the head but very slightly The Ambassador Brugman who saw this contestation was so enrag'd at the resistance of the Kisilbach that he immediately alighted and ran in to him The Kisilbach who said afterwards that he knew him not and was far from imagining that an Ambassador would engage himself in such a business and as a
the Children of Abdalla singing and crying out as loud as they were able their ja Hossein and that with such violence that it chang'd the colour of their countenances Having 〈◊〉 thus about an hour they return'd to the City and went in Procession with their Banners and Torches through the principal streets The tenth day concluded the Devotions of the Festival In the morning there was an Oration made in honour of Hossein with the same Ceremonies in a manner as we had seen at the Festival of Aly at Scamachie These Ceremonies were performed in the Court of the Mesar of Schich-Sefi where near the Chancery they had planted a Banner which as it is reported was made by the daughter of Fatima the daughter of Mahomet who caus'd the Iron-work of it to be made of a hors-shooe which had belong'd to one of the horses of Abas Uncle to Mahomet by the Father side which Schich Sedredin the son of Schich-Sefi had brought from Medina to Ardebil They say that this Banner shakes of it self as often as they pronounce the name of Hossein during the Sermon which is made in honour of him and that when the Priest makes a recital of the particulars of his death how he was wounded with seventy two Arrows and how he fell down from his horse it may be seen shaken by a secret agitation but withall so violent that the staff breaking it falls to the ground I must confess I saw no such thing but the Persians affirm it so positively that they think it should not be any way doubted May 24. about noon the Governour sent the Ambassadors notice that they concluded the Festival that night and that if they would be present at the Ceremonies which were to be performed they should be very welcome and he would take it for a great honour done him but it must be with this condition that complying with the Law of the Mussulmans they were not to expect any Wine at the Collation he intended to treat them withall In the cloze of the evening the Ambassadors went to the Governour 's Palace who met them at the street door And whereas the Ceremony was to be done in the Court they were intreated to take their places on the left hand where they had prepared Seats cover'd with Tapistry for them and their Retinue who would have been much troubled to sit as the Persians do There were set before them upon a Cloath wherewith they had cover'd the ground several Vessels of Porcelain with Suger'd and Perfum'd waters and near the Table brass Candlesticks four foot high with great Wax Candles in them as also Lamps fill'd with rags dipt in Suet and Naphte The Governour took up his place at the entrance of the Court on the right side of the Gate and fate upon the ground Our people had standing before them great Wooden Candlesticks or Branches holding each of them twenty or thirty Wax-Candles There were fasten'd to the Walls thousands of Lamps of Plaister all fill'd with Suet and Naphte which cast so great a light that the house seem'd to be all on fire They had drawn cross the Court certain Cords whereat hung Paper-Lanthorns which gave not so full but without comparison a more pleasant light than that of the Lamps and Cresset-lights The Inhabitants of Ardebil are distinguish'd into five quarters or professions who meet each by it self and intreat some of their Poets whereof there are a very great number in Persia to write them some Verses in commendation of Aly and Hossein and making choice of those among them who sing best they go and give the Governour a Serenade who receives kindly and bestows a Present of water sweetned with Sugar on that band which is most excellent either as touts invention or Musick These Musicians being come into the Court drew up in five bands in so many several places and presented themselves one after another before the Governour but for the space of two hours they may be rather said to cry out and roar than to sing after which they all came by order from the Governour to make a Complement to the Ambassadors and wish'd them a happy journey and good success in their Negotiation at the Court In the mean time there were dancing at one place in the Court seven youths all naked excepting only those parts which modesty would not have seen by all They called that kind of people Tzatzaku and their bodies from head to foot were rubb'd over with Suet and Naphte insomuch that their black skins being more shining than jet they might very well be compar'd to so many little Devils They had in their hands little stones which they knock'd one against the other and sometimes they smote their breast with them to express their sorrow for the death of Hossein These Tzatzaku are poor boys who disguise themselves in that manner to get some small matter by it which is that they are permitted during the time of the Feast to beg Alms for Hossain's sake At night they do not lodge at their Homes but ly in the ashes which are brought out of Schich-Sefi's Kitchin Some instead of Suet rub themselves with Vermilion that they may make a more lively representation of the blood of Hossein but at this time there were not any such After these Ceremonies the Governout entertain'd the Ambassadors with noble fire-works which most of the Persians took very ill at his hands and thought it not over religiously done of him to give such Divertisements to the Christians during the time of their Aschur which ought to represent only things conducing to sadness and affliction These fire-works consisted of several very excellent and ingenious inventions as of little Castles Towers Squibs Crackers c. The Castle to which they first set fire was three foot square the Walls of Paper of all sorts of Colours They lighted first several small Wax-Candles about the moat of it which discover'd the figures painted on the Paper There came out of it Squibs and Crackers for an hour and a half or better before the Castle it self took fire Then they set fire to another invention which they call Derbende It was a kind of Saucidge about six Inches thick and three foot long casting at first at both ends a shower of fire and afterwards several Squibs and little Serpents which falling among the people set their Cotton Garments on fire while they fir'd several sorts of Crackers which in the air were turn'd to Stars and other figures They set fire also to several boxes but what we most admir'd was a great kind of fire-work which was fasten'd to the ground with great Iron Chains and cast out fire at the mouth with so dreadfull noise that we were afraid it would have burst at last and scatter its fiery entrails among the company This fire-work they call Kumbara There were some who carry'd Paper-Lanthorns upon long Poles which were also fill'd with squibs and
and Kermeru They have a particular inclination for Arithmetick Geometry Eloquence Poetry Natural and Moral Philosophy Astronomy Astrology Law and Medicine in regard they make some advantage of the Profession of these Sciences They have all Aristotles Philosophy in the Arabian Language and call it Dunja piala that is to say the Goblet of the World with this remark upon it that as a man Drinking out of a great Bowl moderately finds himself the better for it and taking so much of it that he is Drunk therewith he both injures his Body and disturbs the Mind so is a man to make a temperate use of the Philosophy of Aristotle and not deboysting himself observe a Mediocrity in the Study thereof Children are taught Arithmetick in the Schools with their VVriting and Reading In their accompts they commonly make use of the Indian figures but the more Learned use the Arabian Characters They joyn Eloquence and Poesy together and comprehend these two Sciences under a very few precepts which bring a man in a short time to the practick part thereof And indeed most of their Eloquent pieces which they embellish with abundance of Histories and Moral Sentences are in Verse For the excellency of their Language Pregnancy of conceit and Elegance of expressions they read the Kulusthan of Schich Saadi whom they prefer before all their other Authors It is a very Eloquent piece though in Verse full of figures and enrich'd with History and Maxims of Policy and Morality Accordingly there is not any one almost but hath this Book nay some have perus'd and studied it so much that they have it by Heart and apply the Passages Sentences and Comparisons thereof in their ordinary Discourse so pertinently that it is no small pleasure to hear them talk They are also great Lovers of History and delight much in reading the Lives and Deaths of their Prophet Aly and his Son Hossein who was kill'd in the VVar against Iesied which pieces are written in a style truly Historical and of a noble height They have also several other Histories and Chronicles Ecclesiastical and Prophane of the Lives and VVars of their Kings and some of the affairs of other forein Nations the best whereof are those of Mirchond Enweri Zami Walchi Nussegri and others The best of all their Historians is Mirchond who hath written the History of Persia in excellent good Language in several great Volumes and it is a piece so highly esteem'd that it is worth in the Country above two hundred Crowns and therefore I cannot think it can be had perfect in Europe though I know that Golius Professor of the Oriental Languages and the Mathematicks in the University of Leyden hath most of it with several other excellent Books of that Nature But there is not any man I know of that hath so much of it and makes so great advantages thereof as the incomparable Monsieur Gaulmin Counsellor of State and the Senior of the Masters of Requests who though he hath the best Library in Europe for Books of this Nature yet must it be acknowledg'd that he is so perfect a Master of all the Oriental Languages that he needs not be oblig'd for ought he can learn out of any of these Authors I do not give this accompt of their Histories that a man should give any great credit thereto especially when they speak of their Religion and Saints For in Persia as well as elsewhere they have their pious frauds and think it a kind of Piety to establish and improve the errors of their Religion by Fables and Impostures since that even in their profane Histories they take that freedom which is only allow'd Poets and Painters as may be seen particularly in the History of Alexander the Great which they have so disguis'd that it hath no Consonancy to what is written of him by Q. Curtius Plutarch and Arrianus But though it be not true yet it is Divertive enough at least to excuse if not deserve this little Digression They say then that Iscander so they call Alexander the Great was Born in Iunahn that is to say Greece that his Father's name was Betlimus and that his Mother was the Daughter of King Tzimschid who was the Son of Keikobath They say Tzimschid liv'd seven hundred years That he was the wisest of all the Kings that ever Reign'd and that he is to be acknowledg'd the Inventor of Saddles Horse-shooes Bows Painting Tents and Wine That the education of Alexander was committed to Aristotle who knew so well how to ingratiate himself with his Disciple that being extreme unwilling to be without him he oblig'd him to go along with him in his first Wars wherein he made great advantages of his advice For Alexander being as yet but fifteen years of age bethought him one day to ask Aristotle to whom all Greece belong'd whereto being answer'd by him that his Grand-father by the Mother-side had heretofore been Master of it he extremely troubled to find himself depriv'd of so great a Kingdom resolv'd upon the Reduction and Conquest of it and afterwards to wage a War against all the World To that end he went with his Tutor to Stampul or Constantinople and made proffer of his service to the King there Aristotle who was one of the most Eloquent men of his time knew so well how to recommend the excellent endowments of Alexander that the King trusted him with the conduct of an Army wherewith he Conquer'd Egypt and all the neighbouring Provinces Afterwards he conducted that Army against those of the Hebbes who still made opposition and making their advantage of their Elephants rendred all Alexander's attempts fruitless till Aristotle advis'd him to rub over with Nefte a heap of Reeds to set them a-fire and to cast them among the Elephants which were so startled at the fire that they were put into disorder whereupon the Hebbes were defeated and forc'd to submit Thence he went to Sengebat the Inhabitants whereof have great Lips and very long Teeth Their King with some of his people got into a Tower where Alexander would have besieg'd him But Aristotle told him that being Master of the City he had cut off the Root of that Tree and that it would not be long ere he saw him fall without any further trouble He took his advice and went thence to Iemen and Conquer'd all Arabia He went afterwards to Aleppo Erserum Diabek going on still along the River Tigris as far as Mosel and thence fell down into Georgia reduc'd all to his Subjection and came at last to Berde in the Province of Iran In this City there lived at that time the Widdow of a certain King named Melkchatun who hearing daily of the great wonders done by Alexander employ'd several Painters to take his Picture as also those of all the great Men of her time insomuch that Alexander going disguiz'd and in the quality of an Ambassador from Alexander to give her a Visit the made a shift
folded like Mens Boots into many folds in regard there is a String of Silver and Silk runs through them wherewith they are ty'd and fastned above the Navil the ends of which String hang down to their Feet These Drawers or Breeches they wear under their Smocks which are so short that they reach not much below their Waste and upon the Breeches they wear a Petticoat of Taffata or Cotton but so thin that its easie to see all under it Their Shooes are commonly of red Cordovant or Spanish Leather flat-sold and narrow towards the Toe They go bare-breasted and bare-arm'd up to the Elbows save that much of those parts is hid by the many Bracelets which they wear about them Those Women who stand upon their Honour appear not in publick with their Faces uncovered nay those of any quality are very seldome permitted to come abroad But the Benjan Women are clad quite after another manner There is no Province in the India where there are not some Benjans but in Guzuratta they are more numerous then in any other place and they are distinguish'd from the Mahumetans by their habit They do not shave their Heads yet do they not wear their Hair very long They have every day a yellow Mark made in their Foreheads of about a fingers breadth which is made with Water and Sandal-wood in which they beat four or five grains of Rice They are their Bramans who give them that Mark after they have done their Devotions before the Pagodes The Women do not cover their Faces as those of the Mahumetans do yet do they not make any difficulty to adorn themselves with Pendants and Neck-laces especially their Ears which they in a manner cover with Pearls The blacker their Teeth are the greater beauty they think it During my stay at Amadabath some of the Women there told me that it was an ugly thing to have white Teeth as Dogs and Monkeys have and thence it came that they called us Bondra that is Apes They wear no Breeches but only a piece of thin Silk-stuff which they call Cabay and reaches down to their Hams and upon that they put their Smocks and on them their upper Garment which they tye with a String at the Waste Some among them wear a kind of narrow Wastcoats the Sleeves whereof reach but to the Elbow being naked down from the Breasts to the Navil In Summer they wear wooden Shooes which they fasten to their Feet with Straps but in Winter their Shooes are of Velvet of several colours or of Brocadoe cover'd with gilt Leather The quarters of their Shooes are very low for this reason that as well Men as Women put them off when they go into any Room the Floor thereof being covered with Tapistry Children go naked till they come to about four or five years of Age the Girles as well as the Boyes The Men are very civilly apparell'd and live without any scandal among the Mahumetans who being imperious and insolent treat the Benjans as if they were their slaves with great contempt much after the manner the Iews are treated in Europe in those places where they are permitted to live Which yet hinders not but that the Benjans are as ingenious as the Mahumetans and without comparison more subtle and more civil then any of the other Indians There are not any of them can write and cast account better then they nor any whose conversation is more delightful then theirs but they come short of that sincerity which the others have so that a Man must be very cautious how he hath to do with them in as much as there is no Commodity which they do not adulterate and they never drive any bargain but they endeavour to surprize and circumvent those they are to deal with The Dutch and English know this by experience whence it comes that they make use of these people as their Brokers and Interpreters that they may discover the Impostures and cheats of others There is no Trade which they apply not themselves to and there is no Commodity but they sell it unless it be Flesh Fish or any other thing that hath had life Their children are oblig'd to match among those of the same Trade or Profession as the Father had been of and they suffer not those who do otherwise to be of the same Caste or Family but they may be the beginners of a new Trade and yet continue in the same Religion They marry their Children at seven eight nine or ten years of Age and it very seldome happens that they stay till twelve especially if they be Daughters for if they stay till that time they are look'd on as stale Maids it being their perswasion that there must be some imperfection either in the Maids person or those of her Parents if there be not some Addresses made to her before that time in which particular they think themselves so much concern'd that they make it a punctilio of Honour and Conscience The Wedding-day being come the Parents of the betrothed parties sit down in a Hall about a good Fire and cause the Bridegroom and the Bride to take three turns about it during which the Braman pronounces certain words which serve for a Benediction of the Marriage This Custom they the more punctually observe in regard that if the Bridegroom should chance to dye before he had taken his three turns about the Fire the Bride might take a second Husband which the Benjan Widows are not permitted to do even though the Bridegroom died before the consummation of the Marriage but she is obliged to suffer all her Ornaments to be taken away from her and her Hair to be cut off They are not forc'd to burn themselves with the dead bodies of their Husbands as the Wives of the Bramans or Rasboâ—tes are neither are they hindred to do it if they have an inclination thereto Those Widows who cannot brook a single life get in among the publick Dancers of that Sex which must needs happen very frequently in a Climate which derives to the Bodies living in it no great disposition to Chastity The Benjan Law permits men not only to marry a second or third time in case of death but also to wed a second or third Wife if the first and second proves barren the first retaining nevertheless a certain preheminence as being Mother of the Family The Sons are Heirs of all their Fathers Estate but with this provision that they are to maintain the Mother and marry the Sisters The Benjans are Pagans as having among them neither Baptisme nor Circumcision They are indeed of a belief That there is but one God Creator and Preserver of the Universe yet does not this perswasion hinder but that they worship the Devil and give for their reason that God created him to govern the World and to do mischief to Mankind Whence it comes that all their Mosqueys are fill'd with representations of him in
they have no knowledge of the Worlds Creation so are they ignorant that there is a time appointed for its dissolution The most zealous among them make no scruple to convert their Pagodes into Drinking-houses for as they make choice of the most delightful places of the Country for the Pagodes so they walk in them and divert themselves in the presence of their Gods and have the company of their Priests drinking and debauching themselves to that height that it proves the occasion of many consequent disorders A man shall never in this Country meet with any Controversies about Religion nor ever find that a Iapponese conceives himself any way obliged to instruct his Neighbour or shew him his Errour but on the contrary their indifference for these concernments is generally so great that some among them will not stick to change their Religion for a hundred Crowns They have so irreconcilable an aversion for the Christians that perceiving they went chearfully to their deaths when they only cut off their Heads and crucified them after their death they have since found out such exquisite torments to procure their more painful departure that though they had resolution and constancy enough to endure them yet could they not express that insolence and insensibility as to receive so greivous a death with the same alacrity they had discover'd at the ordinary Executions There were indeed some who sung amidst the Flames but it would have been somewhat above humanity if they should not have groan'd in the torments they endured when they were broild with a gentle Fire upon Gridirons or suffer'd to languish â—or several dayes together Yet did not all these courses much diminish the number of those Wretches in so much that these Monsters of barbarisme perceiving that Death little frighten'd those who look'd on it but as a passage to a better life bethought themselves of other courses to be taken with them Young Maids of any Quality they caused to be stripp'd stark naked to be publickly violated made them go on all four through the Streets and dragg'd them through rugged and uneven places till their hands and knees were cut and their bodies torn in several places and after all put them into Vats full of Serpents which enter'd into their bodies at all the open places and so put them to a very painful death yet was this done with less horrour then when they fill'd the privy parts of a Mother or a Daughter with Match done over with Gun-powder and bound about those of a Son or a Father with the same and forced the Son to set fire to that of the Mother and the Father to that of his Daughter 'T was a kind of favour shewn them when they cover'd their bodies all over with Turfs and incessantly pour'd â—eething Water into their privy parts till they expiâ—'d amidst those torments which commonly dispatch'd them not in less then three or four dayes They drove great companies of them up and down the Country and into Forrests stigmatiz'd in the foreheads with prohibitions upon pain of death that any should give them any sustenance or entertainment Some were put into Cages upon the Sea-side that the Tide might come up to their chins and at the return of the water they might recover their spirits a little to endure the greater torment at the next Floud They bound the Fathers and Mothers to a Post and hood-winked them while they put the Children to inconceivable torments which they being not able to endure intreated their Parents with the most importunate expressions they could imagine at that age to deliver them out of their pains by renouncing This was one of the most insupportable punishments of any they invented and which brought many to death and abjuration Another torment they had for those poor Children was to pluck off their Nails and to prick them with Bodkins in the tenderest parts of their bodies To make a discovery of Christians they ordered that all the Inhabitants should once a year protest before their Pagodes and sign a certain Instrument whereby they renounced Christian Religion and by this means there passed not a year but a great number was discover'd Such as were hung up by the feet and were continued in that posture for ten or twelve dayes endured the greatest torment of any in regard the anguish of this punishment still increasing there is no pain not even that of fire it self comes near it These persecutions must needs have much diminish'd the number of Christians in Iapan but what most contributes to the destruction of Christian Religion is a course they have taken to put the Christians to death even though they proffer to renounce so that there is no way for any to avoid death but by discovering another Christian who may endure it in their stead and by that discovery they escape However there is an exact Register kept of these Renegadoes out of a design as it is conceiv'd one time or other to rid the Country of them when the Executions must cease for want of Christians About the same time there was a search made for Christians in all the Hospitals for Lepers where they found three hundred and eighty Christians whom they sent away in two Ships to the Philippine Islands as a Present to the Portuguez The Leprosie is so common a Disease in Iapan that a man shall meet there with many whose fingers and toes are so rotted that they fall off The Christians who are conducted to punishment are tied but the Priests whether Castilians Portuguez or Iaponneses are otherwise treated They shave off one half of their Heads and Beards which they paint over with a red colour put a Gag into their Mouths and a Halter about their Necks which is tied to the Horse-tail on which they are brought to the place appointed for their execution Most of their Houses are built of Wood sleightly enough in regard the Country is very much subject to Earthquakes They are all raised three or four foot from the ground boarded and matted and very handsom within especially those Rooms where they reveive their Visits They are for the most part but one story high in which they live and the rest serve for Corn-lofts They have places distinct from their Houses where they keep their Merchandises and what else they most esteem in regard their Houses are so apt to take fire that they are forc'd to have Fat 's full of Water alwayes ready against such Accidents which are very frequent among them The Houses of Gentlemen and Souldiers are divided into two partitions whereof one is taken up by the Wife who is never seen and the other by the Husband who hath his Chambers and Halls for the reception of his friends and his business The Wives of Citizens and Merchants appear in the Shops and have a care of the House but they are treated with so much respect that none durst let fall a free or equivocal expression in
away our baggage The Ambassadors follow'd the next day and three days after viz. the 10. we came to Reuel vvhence we stirr'd not for the space of three weeks But considering at last that the Baltick Sea was not Navigable that time of the year and being withal unwilling to stay there the rest of the Winter vve conceiv'd it vvould be our best course to be gone thence with the soonest and to prosecute our journey by Land through Prussia Pomerania and Mecklenbourg The Ambassadors left Reuel Ian. 30. having tabled most of their retinue with Mr. Henry Kosen and vvith a retinue of ten persons took their way to Riga The two first nights vve pass'd over at Kegel a house belonging to Iohn Muller Counsellor of the City of Reuel my Father-in-law vvhere vve vvere very vvell entertain'd Feb. 2. vve came to Parnau at vvhich place God was pleased to favour me with a great deliverance vvhich vvas thus discharging their Canon at our entrance the Tampion which they had forgotten to take out of one of the pieces pass'd very near me and struck against the vvall of the City Gate where it broke the splinters of it flying about my head with such violence that being stunn'd thereby it was half an hour ere I recover'd my self The City of Parnau is but a small one but hath a good Castle built of wood and after the Muscovian fortification to which the Houses the Gates and the Churches are suitable It is seated upon the little River of Parnau of Parnou which gives it the name and which rising out of the great Forrest near the little River Beca and the Castle of Weissenstein and receiving in its passage the waters of the Rivers Fela and Pernkeia disembougues it self into the Baltick Sea near this City which is divided into two parts the Old and the New 'T is numbred among the Hanseatick Towns though it hath not in a manner any other Commerce than that of Wheat Eric K. of Sueden took it from the Poles in the year 1562. but they recovered it again by stratagem in the year 1565. The Muscovites became Masters of it Iuly 9. 1575. but it was re-united to the Crown of Poland with the rest of Livonia by the Treaty of Peace made between that Crown and the Great Duke In the year 1617. the Suedes took it and have kept it ever since We met there with the Countess Dowager La Tour named Magdalene of the house of Hardek in Austria The Ambassadors sent me with tvvo more of our retinue to complement her and to make proffers of service to her in their names She took it so kindly that not content to make us drink his Highnesse's health three times over she forc'd us to take the bovvls out of her ovvn hands and in the mean time entertain'd us vvith much excellent discourse in commendation of his Highness and that Embassy as also concerning the manners and Religion of the Muscovites vvith a svveetness and gravity vvhich cannot vvell be express'd She vvould needs have the young Counts Christian and Henry her sons go to the Inn vvhere the Ambassadors vvere Lodg'd to complement them vvhich the young Lords perform'd handsomly and to heighten their civility they also stay'd Supper vvith them The next day the Countess sent us all manner of Provisions and Letters for Count Mathew Henry de la Tour her father-in-lavv She sent also to desire the Ambassadors to recommend her sons to his Highness and to assure him of their services when they should be of an age and in a capacity to do him any As we were getting on hors-back our Host shew'd himself an honest man and refus'd to take our money telling us the Countess had sent in most of the Provisions for the Ambassadors Supper and that the rest was not worth the reckoning so that to require his sincerity we gave him twenty Crowns But we were not got a League off the City ere we were overtaken by a man he had sent to return us our money and to tell us the Present was too small in requital of the trouble we had given him We sent back our Harbinger with the Messenger who gave the Host twelve Crowns more wherewith he seem'd to be satisfy'd The 6. We enter'd Riga The next day the Governour visited the Ambassadors and the 10. he made a great Feast for them to which he invited the chiefest of the City Some days following were also spent in Feasting among some or other of our friends Febr. 13. The Ambassadors left Riga having in their Company a certain Ambassador of France who was called Charles de Tallerand and assum'd the quality of Marquess of Exidueil Prince of Chalais Count of Grignol Baron of Marueil and Boswille Lewis xiii King of France and Navarre had sent him with Iames Roussel upon an Embassy into Turky and Muscovy But Roussel his Collegue had done him such ill Offices with the Patriarch that the Great Duke sent him to Siberia where he continu'd three years a prisoner till such time as the malice and artifices of Roussel who endeavour'd nothing so much as to inflame the differences between the Princes being discover'd he was set at liberty after the Partiarch's death During his restraint his diversion had been to learn by heart the four first books of Vergil's Aeneids which he had as they say ad unguen He was a person of an excellent good humour aged about 36. years We took our way through Courland and came the 4. about noon to Mittau This little City is situated in that part of Courland which is called Semgalles six Leagues from Riga and it is the place where the Duke ordinarily resides The Dutchy of Courland was some time part of Livonia from which it is divided by the River Dune but all this Province having been miserably ruin'd by the Suedes and Muscovites and the Archbishop of Riga and the Master of the Teutonick Order having submitted to the Crown of Poland with all they were still possess'd of there Sigismond Augustus King of Poland rais'd Courland to a Dutchy and gave it to Godard Ketler of Nesselrot last Master of the Teutonick Order in Livonia to be held immediately from the Crown of Poland Godard dies May 17. 1587. leaving by Anne the Daughter of Albert Duke of Meklenbourg two sons Frederick who died without issue and William who succeeded his brother in the Dutchy of Courland This William having been dispossess'd by Sigismond III. and the States of Poland was forc'd to live in Exile till that upon the mediation of several Foreign Princes he was re-establish'd in the year 1619. During the first War between Poland and Sueden the City of Mittau was taken by the Suedes who fortifi'd it and restor'd it not to the Duke of Courland till oblig'd thereto by a Cessation agreed on between those two Crowns in the year 1629. William's son who now hath the Dutchy and assumes the quality
be done amounts but to fornication and when a married man is taken in it his punishment is whipping and some days imprisonment or haply he is sentenc'd to live some time on bread and water Then he is set at liberty and may resent the complaints made by his wife against him upon that occasion A husband who can convince his wife of a miscarriage of this nature may have her shav'd and put into a Monastery Those who are weary of their wives often make use of this pretence accuse their wives of Adultery and suborn false witnesses upon whose depositions they are condemn'd without being heard Religious Women are sent to her lodgings who put her into their habit shave her and carry her away by force into the Monastery whence she never comes out having once suffer'd the Razour to come upon her head The most ordinary cause of divorce at least the most plausible pretence is devotion They say they love God better than their wives when an humour takes them to go into a Monastery which they do without their consent or making any provision for the children they have had between them And yet this kind of retiring out of the World is so much approv'd among them though St. Paul says that such are worse than Heathens and Infidels that if the woman marry again they make no difficulty to conferr Priesthood on this new Proselite though before he had been but a Tayler or Shoemaker Barrenness is also another cause of divorce in Muscovy for he who hath no children by his wife may put her into a Monastery and marry again within six weeks The Great Dukes themselves make use of this freedom when they have only Daughters 'T is true the Great Duke Basili did not put his Wife Salome into a Monastery and marry Helene daughter to Michael Linski a Polander but upon his having no Children one and twenty years after marriage but it is also true that some few days after she was brought to bed of a Son and yet she was forc'd to continue there because she had been shaved We saw an example of it in a Polander who having embrac'd the Greek Religion purposely to marry a Muscovian beauty was forc'd to take a journey into Poland where he stay'd above a year The young Lady in her husband's absence made a shift to be otherwise supply'd so effectually that she augmented her family by a child but fearing her husband's displeasure she retir'd into a Monastery and was shaved The husband did all he could to get her out again promising to pardon her offence and never to reproach her with it The woman was willing to come out but would not be permitted it being according to their Theology a sinne against the Holy Ghost not to be forgiven either in this World or the next This artifice Boris Federouits Gudenou made use of who having acquired much repute in the management of the publick affairs during the minority of Foedor Iuanouits and perceiving the Muscovites were not fully resolv'd to make him Great Duke to make them the more earnest to do it pretended he would turn Monk and went into a Monastery where his Sister was a Nun. As soon as the Muscovites heard of it they came in multitudes to the Monastery cast themselves upon the ground tore their hair as being in a desperate condition intreated him not to be shaven and that he would be pleas'd to take the place of their deceased Prince He at first would not hearken to them but at last pretended himself overcome by their intreaties and his Sister's intercession by which means he came to be courted to what he had not haply got otherwise with all the subtlety he could have used The Muscovites are extremely venereous yet will not have to do with a Woman but they must first take off the little Cross which is hang'd about her neck when she is Christened nor would they do it in a place where there are any Images of their Saints till they had covered them They go not to Church the day they have dealt with a Woman till they have wash'd themselves and chang'd their shirts Those that are more devout go not into it at all but say their prayers at the door Priests are permitted to come into the Church the same day provided they have wash'd themselves above and below the navil but dare not approach the Altar The women are accompted more impure than the men and therefore they ordinarily stay at the Church-door all service time He who lies with his wife in Lent may not Communicate that year and if a Priest commit that offence he is suspended for a year but if one that pretends to Priesthood be so unhappy as to fall into it he can never recover himself but must quit his pretension Their remedy against this kind of uncleanness is rather bathing than repentance which is the reason they use the former upon all occasions Demetrius who personated the son of the Great Duke Iohn Basilouits who had been kill'd long before at Vglits never bath'd himself upon which the Muscovites suspected him to be a stranger For perceiving he would not make use of a bath made ready for him eight dayes after his marriage they conceiv'd a horror against him as a Heathen and profane person sought divers other pretences set upon him in the Castle and kill'd him the 19. day after his Wedding as we shall shew hereafter The politick Government of Muscovy is Monarchical and despotical The Great Duke is the hereditary Soveraign of it and so absolute that no Knez or Lord in all his Dominions but thinks it an honour to assume the quality of his Majesties Golop or slave No Master hath more power over his slaves than the Great Duke hath over his Subjects what condition or quality soever they be of So that Muscovy may be numbred among those States whereof Aristotle speaks when he sayes there is a kind of Monarchy among the Barbarians which comes near Tyranny For since there is no other difference between a legitimate Government and Tyranny than that in the one the welfare of the Subjects is of greatest consideration in the other the particular profit and advantage of the Prince we must allow that Muscovy inclines much to Tyranny We said before that the greatest Lords think it not below them to put their names in the diminutive nor is it long since that for a small matter they were whipt like slaves but now their lesser miscarriages are punish'd with two or three dayes imprisonment They give their Soveraign the quality of Welikoi Knez that is Great Lord as also that of Czaar and his Czaarick Majesty Since the Muscovites came to understand that we call him Kayser who is the most eminent among the Christian Princes of Europe and that that word comes from his proper name who turn'd the Popular state of Rome into a Monarchy they would have it believ'd that their word Czaar
all that it would not be fit for the Caspian Sea whereof the high and in a manner contiguous Waves would overwhelm it and there was a necessity of taking down the Masts They all affirm'd that the Culsum so they call the Caspian Sea had never born so great a ship which yet they only said in comparison of their own which are only little Barks made like our bathing-tubs in Europe so to take up but two or three foot water having neither Hatches nor Pump insomuch that they are forc'd to cast out the Water with shovels They have but one great sayl no more than the Muscovites and know not what it is to sayl with a side-wind so that when a Tempest overtakes them they are forc'd either to go with the wind or cast Anchor but commonly they go within Pistol-shot of the shore The Persians having left us the Ambassadors sent to the Chief Weywode whose name was Foedor Vasilouits a Present which was a large drinking Cup Vermilion-gilt intreating his advice for the continuation of their Voyage and to know whether we should prosecute it by Sea or by Land The Weywode desir'd a days time or two to consider of it and to take the advice of persons skill'd in Sea-affairs but we stay'd not for his answer and resolv'd for several reasons to continue our Voyage by Sea Sept. 19. The Tartar-Prince having sent us word that he would give us a Visit aboard our Ship we sent our shallop to Land to bring him aboard he brought with him another Tartar-Prince and a retinue of about 40 persons besides those who belong'd to Alexei Sauonouits the Great Duke's Poslanick He was habited after the Muscovian fashion his Vestment embroider'd with Gold and Pearls and his person and deportment was suitable to the greatness of his birth for he had a very good countenance a very clear complexion and black hair being about 28 years of age of an excellent good humour and eloquent He was receiv'd into the ship with the noise of our Trumpets and the fiering of three great Pieces and conducted to the Ambassadors Chamber through the Guards and Soldiers in their Arms. After some two hours discourse during which he was entertain'd with Musick he desir'd to see the ship He was shew'd it all and at last brought into the Hall where he found a Collation ready but he would not sit down and took leave of the Ambassadors to return to the City At his departure he had the same honour done him as at his entrance Sept. 20. The Ambassadors sent to the Lord Naurus the King of Persia's Cuptzi to entreat him to honour them with a Visit in their ship which he promis'd to do The next day he came accompany'd by another rich Merchant named Noureddin Mahomet and the Pristaf which the Weywode had sent to conduct him His reception was like that of the Tartar-Prince After the Collation at which pass'd several good discourses our Musick playing all the time they entreated us to give theirs leave to come in which consisted of Hawboyes and Timbrels Their Timbrels were made of earth and were not much unlike our Butter-pots making a very strange noise though their playing on them was very regular and well carried on The Collation had put them into so good an humour that in their return we could hear their Musick nay a good while after they were got into the City The 22. The Weywode sent his Presents to the Ambassadors which consisted in twenty Flitches of Bacon twelve large Fishes that had been hung up in the smoak a Barrel of Cavayar a Tun of Beer and another of Hydromel About noon there came aboard us two of the Polish Ambassadors Servants whom the Cuptzi had spoken of to complement the Ambassadors in their Master's name and on the behalf of the Ambassador sent from the King of Persia to the King of Poland bringing along with them a bottle of Scherab or Persian Wine The Polish Ambassador was a Iacobin Frier named Iohn de Lucca and the Persian an Armenian Archbishop named Augustinus Basecius The persons sent to us were two Capuchins one an Italian the other a French-man They told us they had been five moneths at Astrachan and complain'd much of the ill treatment they had receiv'd there in that they were detain'd as Prisoners and not permitted to go any farther The same day the Ambassadors acquainted the Weywode with their desire to Visit the Tartar-Prince entreating him to that end to accommodate them with horses for themselves and some of their retinue which he very civilly did sending the next day by his Gentleman of the horse to the River-side the number of horses we desired Being come to a Lodging prepar'd for us without the City and having acquainted the Tartar-Prince with our arrival we walk'd towards his Lodging where he expected us The Prince having notice of it met them in the Court where he receiv'd the Ambassadors very civilly and conducted them to a Chamber richly hung There were with them the Poslanick Alexei and a Tartar Ambassador of Chrim The Collation was Magnificent and of the noblest fruits in the Countrey in great plenty Our drink was Wine Beer Hydromel and Aquavitae of all enough the Trumpets which the Weywode had lent him sounding in the mean time and other Musick playing When he drunk the Great Duke's and his Highness our Master's health he stood and presented the Cup with his own hand to all the retinue even to the Pages Alexei in the mean time told us Miracles of the birth and noble endowments of Mussal endeavouring to perswade us that he was not to be ranked among the other Myrses or Princes of Tartary but that he was to be consider'd as a very great Prince and Nephew to Knez Iuan Borissouits Circaski being his brother's son one of the greatest Lords of the great Duke's Court He told us that when he did homage the Czaar had done him very particular favours and made him considerable Presents that he had a Brother at Court a great Favorite that his Sister was to marry the King of Persia and that he might serve us in both Kingdoms â— This Entertainment took us up several hours after which the Ambassadors would have gone to see the Habitations of the Tartars without the City but the Muscovites very barbarously shut the Gates against them which oblig'd us to return to the ship The 24. The Poslanick Alexei gave the Ambassadors a Visit upon his own accompt He was kindly receiv'd and after he had been Magnificently treated at Dinner we sent him back to his Lodging attended by twelve persons of our retinue who had each of them a Sable skin This Muscovite who might be about 50. years of age was an ingenious man and had a great inclination to Learning contrary to the ordinary humour of those of his Nation He had learnt some few Latine words and was a Lover of the Mathematicks whence
those places which are infamous and the common receptacles of a sort of people who divert themselves there with Musick and the Dancing of some of their common Drabbs who having by their obscene gestures excited the brutalities of the Spectators get them into some corner of the House or draw them along into some publick places where they permit the commission of these abhominations as freely as they do that of ordinary sins In the Tsal Chattai Chane they drink The or Tea which the Persians call Tzai though the Tzai 〈…〉 Cha are properly but a kind of The and Chattai in as much as it is bâ—ought them from Chattai we shall have occasion to speak more of it hereafter They are only persons of good repute who Drink of this and frequent these Houses where in the intervals of their drinking they spend the time at a certain Game somewhat like our Tick-Tack but they commonly play at Chesse at which they are excellent and go beyond the Muscovites whom I dare affirm to be the best Gamesters at Chesse of any in Europe The Persians call this Game Sedrentz that is Hundred-cares in regard those who play at it are to apple all their thoughts thereto and they are great Lovers of it in as much as from the word Schâ—ch whence it hath its name they would have it believ'd it is of their Invention Some years since there was publish'd in Germany a great Volume upon the Game of Chesse wherein the Author too easily crediting Olaus Magnus would have it believ'd that the antient Goths and Swedes put those to play at Chesse who were Suters to their Daughters that by their management of that Game which hath no dependence on Fortune they might discover the judgement and disposition of their pretended Sons in Law But these are only Fables as is also what is related of one Elmaradab King of Babylon The Government of this Prince was so Tyrannical as the story at least would have it that no Body thinking it safe to represent to him the dangers whereto his cruelties expos'd the State and his own Person one of the Lords of his Council named Philometer invented the Game of Chesse which instead of openly opposing the sentiments of the Tyrant discover'd to him the duty of a Prince towards his Family and Subjects by shewing him the removals of the several pieces by the representation of two Kings encamp'd one against the other with their Queens their Officers and Soldiers and that this wrought a greater impression on the King than all the other remonstrances that could have been made to him The Cahwa Chane are those places where they take Tobacco and drink of a certain black water which they call Cahwa but we shall treat of both hereafter in this very Book when we shall have occasion to speak of the Persians manner of Life Their Poeâ—s and Historians are great frequenters of these places and contribute much to the Divertisement of the Company These are seated in a high Chair in the midst of the Hall whence they entertain their Auditors with Speeches and tell them Satyrical stories playing in the mean time with a little stick with the same gestures and after the same manner as those do who shew tricks of Legerdemain among us Near these Taverns or Drinking-Houses are the shops of Surgeons and Barbers between which Trades there is a great difference in Persia as there is within these few years in France The former whom they call Tzerrach only dress Wounds and Hurts and the others named Dellak only Trim unless they sometimes are employ'd about Circumcision These Barbers are much taken up for there is not a man but is shav'd as soon as any Hair begins to appear but there is not on the other side any who carries not his Rasour about him for fear of getting the Pox which they are extremely afraid of because it is very common among them and very contagious As you go out of the Maidan on the same side and turning on the right hand you come to the Basar or true Market-place and in the midst of the Market-place the Kâ—â—serie or kind of open Cloister where are sold all the richest Stuffs and Commodities that the Kingdome affords Over the Gate of this Structure there is a striking-Clock made by an English-man named Festy in the time of Schacst-Abas and in regard that then there were few Lords that had Watches the Persians look'd on the Motions of that work as a thing Miraculous and Supernatural This English Clock-maker had met with the same fate as Rodolf Stadler and had been cut to pieces by the friends of a Persian whom he had kill'd and the Clock had been out of Order ever since his Death This Market-place consists of several Streets cover'd over head and is so full of Shops and those shops so full of all sorts of Merchandizes that there is nothing though ever so rare in World which is not to be had here and at a very reasonable rare For indeed there is nothing dear at Ispahan but Wood and Provision inasmuch as there is no Forrest near it nor Meadows for the feeding of Cattel Of all the shops I saw at Ispahan I was not pleas'd so much with any as that of a Druggist who liv'd in the Maidan on the left hand as you go to the Metzid by reason of the abundance of the rarest Herbs Seeds Roots and Minerals it was furnish'd with The Root Tzinae or Chinae which the Persians call Bich Tzini and Rhubarb which they call Rawentzini and is brought thither from China and great Tartary were not worth here above three Abas's or a Crown the pound There is not any Nation in all Asia nor indeed almost of Europe who sends not its Merchants to Ispahan whereof some sell by Whole-sale and others by Retail by the Pound and the Ell. There are ordinarily above twelve thousand Indians in the City who have most of them their shops near those of the Persians in the Maidan and their Merchandizes in the Caravanseras where they have their Habitations and their Store-Houses Their Stuffs are incomparably fairer and their Commodities of greater Value than those of Persia inasmuch as besides the Musk and Amber-grease they bring thither great quantities of Pearls and Diamonds I observ'd that most of these Indosthans had upon the Nose a mark of Saffron about the breadth of a Man's finger but I could never learn what that Mystery signify'd They are all Mahumetans or Pagans they burn the bodies of their Deceas'd friends and kinred and in that ceremony they use only the Wood of the Mesch-Mesch or Apricock-Tree But of these a particular account will be given in the Travels of Mandelslo into the Indies Besides these Indians there is at Ispahan a great number of Tartars from the Provinces of Chuaressem Chattai and Buchar Turks Iews Armenians Georgians English Dutch French Italians and Spaniards The City is supply'd with
in Media whereby men are enjoyn'd to Marry at least seven VVives nor yet what Niger says in his Geography that the Children kill their Father and Mother when they are come to seventy years of age These are idle stories which have no ground in the antient History and whereto we found nothing consonant in our time It is not our design to dilate much upon the inconveniences of Polygamy but certain it is that in Persia there is but little friendship among the VVomen Some love there may be between them but it is no doubt of that kind which comes near brutality It is impossible also that a Family where there are so many women can be free from jealousie which is inevitable among those who would all be lov'd and absolutely depend on him who should but cannot love them all equally The Persians themselves to express the inconveniences of Polygamy say in their Proverbs that as two Asses are more troublesome to be driven than a whole Caravan so a Judge finds not so much difficulty in deciding the differences of a Province as a man distracted by two VVomen who cannot live together without some jarring VVe were told several examples of the great mischiefs happening in Families through Polygamy and and among the rest one concerning Silfaher Chan of Scamachie He was a Person of very great Authority in the Country and well look'd upon at the Court where he had Married the Sister of Schach-Chodabende who was Father to Schach-Abas This VVoman conceiving a jealousie at the affection her Husband express'd towards another young Lady whom he had Married and imagining her quality would take away all Comparison between her and her Rival was so highly incens'd against him that she resolv'd to be reveng'd and to that purpose writ to the King her Nephew to bid him beware of her Husband as having some design upon his Person Schach-Abas who took the least suspicions for certain proofs immediately Commanded Kartschichai-Chan Chan of Mesched who was then about him at Ardebil to go and bring him Silfahar's Head Kartschichai being come to the foot of the Mountain of Elbours in the Province of Schiruan sent one to Silfahar to desire him to come to him Silfahar not fearing any mischief from the other who was his intimate Friend departed upon the first summons and coming late at Night to the place appointed him by the other he set up his Tent near that of Kartschichai The next day Kartschicai getting up betimes in the Morning went to Silfahar who was in Bed and having awak'd and kindly saluted him he desir'd him to rise and take a VValk with him for he had some affairs of great consequence to communicate to him But while Silfahar was putting on his Cloaths Kartschichai perceiving his soul was in a quiet posture in regard he was going to his Prayers made a sign to his Servants who knew what they had to do to dispatch him and having caus'd his Head to be cut off he brought it to Court It happened also not long before our Travels into Persia that one who kept a Tipling-house at Ardebil whose name was Schiritzi Aly being Drinking very late with one of his Friends upon that Bridge of the City which is called Heider Aly saw coming towards him a loaden Mule which seem'd to look after a Master while the true owner who was a Merchant was gone to ease himself on the River side Schiritzi had the good nature and charity to drive the Mule to his own House to unload it and to turn him out again to look for his Mastet who coming immediarely into the City met with his Mule in the streets but discharg'd of his burthen He went and made his complaints to the Governour who bid him name the person that had robb'd him and he would do him Justice But the Merchant not satisfy'd with this answer made his Case known to the King who presently recommended him to Aliculi-Chan with express order to see the Merchants loss made good to him to the full value he should set upon his Commodities inasmuch as the Chan had not been careful to secure the High-way and neglected to make an exact enquiry after the Thief which order the Chan was forc'd to obey Schiritzi on the other side finding his Fortune much better'd by this unexpected Wind-fall and not thinking one Wife enough Marries a second which he took up out of the Brothel-house but had no Children by her By the former he had a Son who one day coming from School and finding in the Chamber a Melon whereof some part had been cut presum'd to take a piece of it and by that means gave the young VVoman occasion to strike him The Child's Mother came into the Room and reveng'd him not only by fighting with her Rival but also by the complaints she made thereof to her Husband representing to him the insolence of that young VVoman with so much bitterness that being no longer able to endure her Language he gave her a good Cudgelling The VVoman exasperated at that went to the Chan and acquainted him with the Adventure of the Mule The Chan immediately sent for the Taverner and having found him guilty of the Fact order'd him to be hang'd And whereas the two Women had discover'd the Robbery out of pure animosity and private resentments rather than out of any affection they had for the Governour or regard of publick Justice he caus'd them to be publickly ravish'd and banish'd them out of the City The Taverners Son was sold and all his Fathers Estate confiscated to the use of the Governour who lost nothing by the bargain The Persians are not so scrupulous in their Contracts of Marriage but that many times it happens a Man Marries his Brother's VViddow yet could I not learn that Incests were so common there as some Authors would have it believ'd nor that the Son meddles with his Mother or the Brother with his Sister Nay it cannot be found that before the Reign of Cambyses who fell in love with his own Sister there was any talk of these incests in Persia no more than there was in Aegypt before Ptolomey's time There Marriages are celebrated as followeth When a young Man hath a mind to Marry and hath heard of some person he can fancy he employs others to make enquiry into the qualities and disposition of the young Maid inasmuch as neither he nor any of his Relations are permitted to see her and if upon the account he receives of her by them he finds his affections inclin'd to her he makes a demand of her by two of his Friends who had been his God-fathers at his Circumcision or for want of those by two others of his Kinred This first Embassy ordinarily finds no very kind reception lest they should imagine the Father to be over-forward to be rid of his Daughter But if on the other side the young mans Friends find that his addresses are not taken amiss they
Embassy his reign had been so cruel and bloody that Persia had not for many ages before seen so many executions For immediately upon his coming to the Crown he follow'd the counsel of the Chancellor Predecessor to him whom we knew and made away Rustan-Chan whom he had made Generalissimo of the Armies of Persia and Governour of Tiflis and several other Lords and caus'd to be cut in pieces or kill'd with his own hands all his own relations and what other persons soever he was any way distrustfull of by that means so accustoming himself to blood that when he was incens'd he spar'd none and kill'd or order'd to be kill'd upon trivial occasions such as he was any way displeas'd with I shall here produce a few examples thereof that the Reader may by them as a Pattern judge of the rest of his life He began his cruelties by an onely Brother though born of a Concubine whose eyes he caus'd to be put out Chodabende and Imanculi Myrsa his Uncles younger brethren to Sefi Myrsa whom Schach-Abas their Father had confin'd in the Castle of Alamuth thirty Leagues from Caswin after he had put out their eyes as we said before were cast down headlong from a high Rock for this reason as Sefi said that having lost the benefit of their sight they were useless in the World Afterwards he dispatch'd Isa-Chan his Uncle after he had cut off the heads of his three Sons upon the following occasion Isa-Chan was so much in favour with Schach-Abas that the King willing to make it appear what extraordinary respect he had for him bestow'd on him his Daughter by whom he had the three Sons whom Sefi put to death She was a very handsom Woman and of a pleasant conversation insomuch that Schach-Sefi her Nephew was extremely taken with her company This Princess being one day with the king took the freedom to jeast with him and to tell him she much wondred that he who was so young and vigorous and had so many great beauties to command could get no Children whereas she had had three by her Husband The king made answer that he was young and having as he hoped many years to reign there would be time enough to get Heirs to inherit the Crown after him But the Princess desirous to keep on the jeast reply'd that ground not well cultivated would hardly bring forth any thing imprudently adding You speak very well my Liege but I fear me that after your death the Persians will be glad to pitch upon one of my Sons to succeed you The king was extremely troubled at the boldness and bitterness of the jeast but made a shift to dissemble it and to get out of the Room without the Princesse's perceiving that he was incens'd against her The next day the King commanded the three Sons of Isa-Chan to be brought to him the eldest was 22. years of age the second 15. and the third 9. and having convey'd them into a a Garden he caus'd their heads to be cut off and at Dinner time having dispos'd the three heads into one of those cover'd Pots in which the Persians bring the Rice and Meat to be set on the Table and sending for the Mother he order'd them to be taken out one after another by the Nose and said to the Princess See the children of a Woman who bragg'd so much of her fertility go thou art young enough to bear more of them The Princess was so astonish'd at that horrid Spectacle that she was not able to speak a word but perceiving in the Kings eyes and countenance the eruptions of his indignation which she imagin'd might break forth to her unavoidable death she cast her self at his feet kiss'd them and said to him All is well all is well God grant the King a long and happy life This forc'd complyance sav'd her life But as soon as she had left the Room Sefi sent for Isa-Chan and pointing with his finger to the heads of his Children ask'd him what he thought of that pleasant Spectacle Isa-Chan who knew what humour the Prince was of and whom he had to do withall smother'd the tenderness of a paternal affection and made answer that he was so far from being displeas'd thereat that if the King had commanded him to bring the heads of his Sons he would have been the Executioner himself and that he would have no Children if the Kings pleasure were it should be otherwise This base and bruitish flattery sav'd Isa-Chan's life at that time but the King reflecting that he could not be faithfull to him at lest that it was impossible he should love him after he had been so treated by him gave order his head should be also cut off We said before that Isa-Chan was one of those who had most contributed to the advancement of Schach-Sefi to the Throne of his Predecessors Seinel-Chan had also done much in that business whence it came he was not to expect any better treatment than the other from him whom he had rais'd to a condition to commit so many inhumane actions Schach-Sefi having forc'd the Turks to raise the siege they had lay'd before Bagdat in the year 1632. encamp'd with his Army near Hemedan at which place several Lords reflecting on the executions wherewith the King had signaliz'd the beginning of his reign said among themselves that since in his tender age he could commit so many cruelties it was likely he would in time extirpate all the Grandees of Persia. Seinel-Chan who was present at this discourse went immediately to the King and gave him an account of what had past in that conference advising him to rid himself of those who had most credit among them and so secure his own life The King made him answer Thy advice Seinel-Chan is so good that I will immediately follow it and I will begin with thee for thou art the person of greatest age and most authority among them and must needs be of the conspiracy And I shall in that follow the example of the King my Grand-Father whose reign was neither safe nor happy till he had executed him who had the same charge of Kurtzibachi which thou now enjoyest Seinel-Chan reply'd that that would be no hard matter for him to do that for his part he was arriv'd to the greatest age man could attain and that it would not trouble him much his life should be shortned some few dayes but that his Majesty would haply one day be troubled that he had put to death one of his most faithfull servants and that he should rather consider the importance of the discovery he had made to him and the earnestness he had therein express'd to serve him This answer delay'd the execution of what the king had resolv'd to do so that he thereupon went to his Mother who had follow'd him in his expedition with the other Ladies of the Seraglio according to the antient custom of Persia to acquaint her with what he had
were Ladies of the Seraglio others their servants and such as attended on them It was also much about the same time that a rumour was spread abroad that his Mother dy'd of the Plague but it is more likely the accompany'd the forty Ladies who had been buried alive as we said before He express'd when occasion requir'd courage enough and it is certain the beginning of his reign was remarkable for the great Victories he gain'd over his Enemies He defeated Karib-Schach in the Province of Kilan He forc'd the Turks to raise the siege of Bagdat and took by asâ—ault the Fortress of Eruan though to speak impartially the glory of these good successes be due to the Valour and Conduct of his Generals and to fortune rather than his prudence for he discover'd not much in any of his actions which were for the most part temerarious and without any dependence one of another To prove this we need onely instance the reduction of Eruan The King finding that after a siege of four moneths his affairs were little advanc'd fell into that impatience and despair that he would go in person upon the assault of the place saying he would rather dye in the in the attempt than with infamy rise from a place which the Turks had heretofore taken in three dayes He had already put on the Cloaths of one of his Foot-men that he might not be distinguish'd from others and had given order for the storming of the Place when the Lords who durst not contradict him intreated the Princess his Mother to represent to him how impossible it was to take a place before there was a breach made and that the danger whereto he would expose himself would have no other effect than his own death and ignominy with the destruction of the whole Army All the answer she could get to these representations was a good box o'th'ear the King being still bent upon his former resolution of assaulting the Place and to that purpose he had taken a Pole-Ax in his hand to lead them on But the principal Lords cast themselves at his feet and intreated him to grant them but one day more wherein they promis'd to do all that lay in the power of men against the Place They obtain'd their desire order'd the Whole Army to fall on even to the boys and carried the Place by storm but they lost in the action above fifty thousand men The good success which till that time had attended his designs soon chang'd after the executions of so many great persons as he had put to death and of this there was a remarkable instance in the loss of Bagdat which the Persians were not able to maintâ—ain against the Turks who recover'd it out of their hands twenty six years after they had taken it from them The onely good action he did during his whole reign is that he sent back to their several Habitations those poor people whom Schach-Abas had taken out of Eruan Nachtzuan Chaletz and Georgia to the number of seven thousand and had brought to Ferabath where they were employ'd in great buildings and liv'd in a miserable slavery yet were there not above three hundred that made their advantage of this good deed of his all the rest having perish'd through misery and been starv'd He took great pleasure in drinking and had a great kindness for such as bore him Company in that exercise but his ordinary divertisements were Women and Hunting not much minding matters of Government or the administration of Justice to his Subjects He had three lawfull Wives one whereof was the Daughter of a Colonel whose employment it had sometime been to drive the Mules which brought water to the King's Kitchin and came to be known to Schach-Abas by a service he did him one day while he was Hunting in helping him to some fair water the weather being extremely hot when no other could meet with any This service was requited by the Present the King made him of the Village of Bilou neer Nachtzuan where this Mule-driver had been born This was the first step or his advancement and what made him noted at Court where he found means to get an Office which is no hard matter in Persia for such as have money and having some time after taken an employment in the Wars he prov'd so fortunate therein that he got the command of a Regiment of a thousand men Schach-Abas thought his Daughter so handsom that he made a Present of her to his Daughter-law Sefi-Myrsa's Widdow and appointed her to be brought up in order to a Marriage between her and his Son Sain-Myrsa since named Schach-Sefi who at his coming to the Crown accordingly Married her The second Wife was a Christian the Daughter of Tameras-Chan a Prince of Georgia and this Marriage confirm'd the Peace which Schach-Abas made with that Prince The third was a Tartar of Circassia the Daughter of Bika and Sister to Prince Mussal of whom we have often spoken heretofore The Mother brought her as far as the River Bustrou at the time of our Travels and writ to Schach-Sefi that she sent him her Daughter not as a Concubine or Slave but as his lawfull Wife That is was her hope he would look on her as such and that she should find from him a kindness and affection equal to that she her self had express'd towards the Princess his Mother who though she had been her Slave and had often undress'd her even to her Stockins had been treated and look'd on by her as if she had been her own Daughter That on the contrary rather than her Daughter should be ill treated she wish'd her drown'd with all the misfortune that might happen to her in the River Bustrou Besides these lawfull Wives he had above three hundred Concubines for all the handsomest Maids all over Persia were brought to him The greatest Lords themselves Present him with the Maids they either have brought up in their own houses or are found among their relations Of this we had an instance in our time in the Calenter of Scamachie who having had some ill Offices done him at the Court recover'd the King's favour by presenting him with his own Neece one of the greatest beauties of the Countrey and a sum of money sent to the Chancellor The Armenians to prevent the searches which are often made amongst them for Maids of twelve years of age dispose of them in Marriage if they are handsom before they come to that age By reason of this great number of Concubines it happens that the King lies with some of them but once and then bestows them on those Lords of the Court who are most in his favour Schach-Sefi dy'd in the year MDCXLII in the twelfth year of his reign or to speak more truely his Tyranny 'T is conceiv'd his life was shortned by poyson as the onely remedy they could make use of against his cruelties which they must needs be afraid of who
nature cowardly and that it avoids those who stand to it and hath courage only when it hath to do with those that have not any and run away from it Another quality which this Country hath not common with all places is that it produces abundance of Snakes and Serpents which are here very dangerous and among the rest those which from a Greek word are called Amphisbenes and have two heads I must confess I never saw any of them and expect not that upon my testimony any should condemn the opinion of those who with much probability affirm that Nature produces no Creature with two heads unless she intend to make sport and frame a Monster and that their errour who speak of the Amphisbene proceeds only hence that they have seen Serpents which contrary to the ordinary form of all Reptiles are as big towards the tail as towards the head We might also very well esteem those somewhat ridiculously conceited who would have people believe that these heads command ' and obey alternately by years if those of the Country did not affirm as much and if Nirembergius in his Natural History write that an Inhabitant of Madrid named Cortavilla had assur'd him that he had seen it but he doth not himself believe what he adds to that Story to wit that this Creature hath under one of its Tongues the Remedy against the Poyson which the other had cast The Woods are full of Lyons Leopards Tigers and Elephants whereof we shall have occasion to speak elsewhere But there is no Creature more common in these parts as also all over the Indies then the Batts which are as big as Crows with us nay there are some about the bigness of our Hens They are so great an annoyance to Gardens that people are oblig'd to watch them for the preservation of the Fruits The City of Amadabat maintains for the Mogul's service out of its own Revenue twelve thousand Horse and fifty Elephants under the command of a Chan or Governour who hath the quality of Radia Raja or Rasgi that is to say Prince He who commanded there in my time was called Areb-chan and about sixty years of age I was credibly inform'd that he was worth in Money and Houshold-stuffe ten Crou or Carroas Ropias which amount to fifty millions of Crowns the Crou being accounted at a hundred Lake Ropias each whereof is worth fifty thousand Crowns It was not long before that his Daughter one of the greatst Beauties in the Country had been married to the Mâ—gul's second Son and the Chan when she went to the Court had sent her attended by twenty Elephants a thousand Horse and six thousand Waggons loaden with the richest Stuffs and whatever else was rare in the Country His Court consisted of above 500. persons 400. whereof were his slaves who serv'd him in his affairs and were all dieted in the house 〈◊〉 have it from good hands that his expence in house-keeping amounted to above five thousand Crowns a moneth not comprehending in that account that of his Stables where he kept five hundred Horse and fifty Elephants The most eminent Persons of his retinue were very magnificently clad though as to his own person he was nothing curious and was content commonly with a Garment of Cotton as are the other Indosthans unless it were when he went abroad into the City or took a journey into the Country for then he went in great state sitting ordinarily in a rich Chair set upon an Elephant cover'd with the richest Tapistry or Alcatifs of Persia being attended by the Guard of 200. men having many excellent Persian Horses led and causing several Standards and Banners to be carried before him October 18. I went along with the English Merchant to visit the Governour whom we found sitting in a Pavilion or Tent which look'd into his Garden Having caused us to sit down by him he asked the Merchant who I was He told him in the Indosthan Language that I was a Gentleman of Germany whom a desire to see forreign Countries and to improve himself by Travel had oblig'd to leave his own That coming into Persia upon occasion of an Embassie sent thither by the Prince my Master I took a resolution to see the Indies as being the noblest Country in the world and being come to that City that I hoped he would not take it ill if I aspir'd to the honour of waiting upon him The Governour made answer I was very welcome that my resolution was noble and generous and that he pray'd God to bless and prosper it He thereupon asked me whether during my aboad in Persia I had learnt ought of the Language I reply'd that I had a greater inclination to the Turkish Language and that I understood it so far as to make a shift to express my self in it The Governour who was a Persian born made answer that it was true indeed the Turkish Language was much more commonly spoken in the Scach's Court then that of the Country and thereupon asked me my age and how long it was since I left Germany I told him I was 24. years of age and that I had travelled three years He reply'd that he wondred very much my friends would suffer me to travel so young and and asked me whether I had not chang'd my habit by the way whereto having made answer that I had not he told me that it was an extraordinary good fortune that I had travell'd in that equipage through so many Countries without meeting with some unhappy accident and that the Dutch and English to prevent any such misfortune clad themselves according to the fashion of the Country After about an hours discourse we would have risen and taken our leaves of him but the Governour intreated us to stay and dine with him He caused some Fruit to be brought while his people were laying the cloath which was of Cotton laid upon a large Carpet of red Turkie-leather The dinner was very noble and serv'd up and dreâ—t according to the Persian way the Meat being laid in dishes all Porcelane upon Rice of several colours in the same manner as we had seen at the Court at Ispahan Presently after dinner we came away but as I was taking my leave of the Governour he told me in the Turkish Language Senni dahe kurim that is to say we shall see you again giving me thereby to understand that he would be glad of some further discourse with me Accordingly we went thither again the 20. but I had clad my self according to the mode of the Country upon the design I had to travel into Cambaya which I could hardly do without changing habit We found him in the same appartment where we had seen him the time before He was clad in a White Vestment according to the Indian mode over which he had another that was longer of Brocadoe the ground Carnation lined with white Satin and above a Collar of
should make way for them As soon as they perceive them coming they close on both sides look down to the ground and do them reverence Some affirm that this punctilio of Honour whereby they pretend to a respect due to them from all that are not of their race was one of the things that most obstructed the Treaty which the Portuguez were ready to conclude with the King of Cochim at their first establishment in regard they would have the Portuguez do them the same submissions as the Polyas did The Portuguez on the other side who are as highly conceited of themselves as any Nation in the World refused to do it so that to decide the difference it was agreed that a Portuguez and a Nayre should fight for the honour of the two Nations upon condition that the Conquerour should give the Law to the conquered The Portuguez Champion had the advantage and by that means obtain'd the precedence for his Nation and ever since that time the Portuguez have the same honour done them by the Nayres as they have done them by the Polyas Many of these Nayres never marry in regard they have a certain priviledge to see the Wives and Daughters of their Camerades and to that end to go into their Houses at any time of the day When they go into any House upon that score they leave their Sword and Target at the Street-door which mark prohibits entrance to all others whatsoever nay the very Master of the House himself finding those Armes at his Door passes by and gives his Camerade full liberty to do what he please The Polyas are not so much honourâ—d as to have the Nayres visit their Wives who must be content with their own Husbands for it were a great crime in a Nayre to defile himself by conversing with the Wife of a common person The Nayres are all Souldiers made use of by the King both for his Guard and in his Wâ—rs On the contrary the Polyas are forbidden the bearing of Armes and so are either Tradesmen Husbandmen or Fishermen The Malabars write with a Bodkin upon the bark of the Cocos-tree which they cut very thin and in an oblong form like a Table-book drawing a String through the middle which hold the leaves together and comes twice or thrice about the box or case which is as it were a covering to it Their Characters have nothing common with those of the other Indians and are understood only by their Bramans for most of the common people can neither write nor read The King of Calicuth doth not eat any thing which had not been presented before to his Pagode and it is to be particularly observed that in this Kingdom it is not the Kings Son but the Kings Sisters Son who inherits the Crown it being the common perswasion that the Children born of the Queen are begotten rather by their Bramans then by the King himself As concerning the City of Cochim it is to be observed that there are two Cities of the same name in the Kingdom of Cochim one whereof lies upon a great River and belongs to the King of Cochim the other to the Portuguez This last whereof we now speak is seated upon the same Coast at ten degrees on this side the Line having on the West-side of it the Sea and on the Land-side a Forrest of black Trees whereof the Inhabitants of the Country make their Boats called Almadies These Trees they make hollow and so their Boat is all of one piece yet with these they make a shift to go along the Coast as far as Goa The Port is very dangerous by reason of the Rocks which make the entrance into it very difficult At the beginning of Winter there falls such abundance of Rain in the neighbouring Mountains that several Brooks are of a sudden by that means overflown and run with such violence that the Earth which they carry along and which is stopped by the Waves that are forc'd by the Wind against the Earth makes in that place a kind of Bank which so stops up the mouth of the Haven that 't is impossible to get into it or out of it during that time nor indeed till the Wind which changes with the season forces the Sea back again which carries along with it the filth which the Rain had left in that place The Portuguez carry on a great Trade in this place in Pepper which the King of Cochim sells them at a certain rate agreed upon with the Viceroy at his first coming to Goa but the Inhabitants of the Country and other Forreigners pay dearer for it The King of Cochim is one of the most powerful Princes of those parts it being certain that he is able to raise above a hundred thousand men the most part Nayres who are obliged to serve at their own charge either with Horse or Elephants As to their manner of life it is not fully so brutish as that of the Malabars but they observe the same Custom for the succession of their Kings and the Consummation of their Marriages which work is performed by their Bramans This sort of people is so highly respected amongst them that the Master of the House seeing a Braman coming into it makes him way retires and leaves him alone to do what he please with his Wife They make holes in their Ears and hang little weights of Lead at them which stretch them so much that in time they reach down to their Shoulders The principal Commerce of this place consists in Pepper Ginger and Cinnamon It is not long since all the Malabars had but one King but Sarama Perymal Monarch of all that Coast from Goa as far as the Cape of Comeri having imbrac'd the Mahumetan Religion and desirous to end his life in solitude near the Sepulchre of his great Prophet distributed his Territories amongst his Friends upon condition that the Kings of Cananor Cochim and Chaule should acknowledge the Soveraignty of the King of Calicuth on whom he bestowed the Dignity of Zamourin or Emperour but since the establishment of the Portuguez in those parts the power of Zamourin is grown so low that at the present the King of Cochim is more powerful then he Ianuary the 26. We left Cananor and saw going thence Captain Weddell who would gladly have come along with us into England had he not been obliged to go and dispatch some business he had to do at Cochim and Calicuth Captain Weddell cast Anchor there but we only fired some Guns and pursued our Voyage The next day we discover'd at a great distance eighteen Sail of Ships which coming directly towards us easily discover'd what their design was We had much ado to clear our Guns for the Ship was so loaden that every hole was full However we had the time to put our selves into a posture of receiving those Pyrats who had not the confidence to come within Cannon-shot of us while day-light might discover
they put two other Canes much after the manner of a Lorrain-Cross whereto they fasten the Feet and the Hands and then the Executioner runs him through with a Pike from the right Side up to the left Shoulder and from the left Side to the right Shoulder so that being twice run through the heart he is soon dispatch'd Sometimes they only fasten the Malefactor with his Back to a Post and they make him stretch forth his Hands which are held out by two Men and then the Executioner standing behind him runs him in at the Neck and so into the Heart and dispatches him in a moment The Lords have such an absolute power over their menial Servants that there needs but a pretence to put them to death An example of this happened not long since a Servant had the insolence to address himself to a Gentleman to proffer his service to him but ask'd greater Wages then he knew the other was able to give purposely to abuse him The Gentleman perceiving the impudence of the Raskal was a little troubled at it but smother'd his indignation and only told him that his demands were very great but that he had so good an opinion of him that he must needs be a good Servant Accordingly he kept him a while but one day charging him with some neglect and reproaching him that when he should have been about his business he had been idling about the City he put him to death The Gentlemen and Souldiâ—rs are for the most part very poor and live miserably by being highly conceited of themselves most of them keep Servants though only to carry their Shoes after them which are indeed but as it were a pair of Soles made of Straw or Rushes having a hole towards the toe which keeps them on their feet The Crimes for which all of the Family or kindred are put to death are Extortion Coyning setting of Houses on fire ravithing of Women premeditated murther c. If a Mans Wife be guilty of any Crime her Husband is convicted of she dies with him but if she be innocent she is made a Slave Their punishments bear no proportion to the Crimes committed but are so cruel that it were not easie to express the barbarism thereof To consume with a gentle Fire or only with a Candle to crucifie with the Head downwards to boyl Men in seething Oyl or Water to quarter and draw with four Horses are very ordinary punishments among them One who had undertaken to find Timber and Stones for the building of a Palace for the King and had corrupted the Officers appointed by his Majesty to receive and register what he should send in was crucified with his head downwards The officers were condemn'd to rip up their bellies but the Merchant was put to the foresaid death He had the repute of an honest man and was one that had had occasion to obliege several Persons of Quality in so much that some resolved to petition the Emperour for his pardon though these intercessions for condemn'd persons be in some sort criminal and indeed the Emperour took it so ill that the Lords who had presented their Petition for him had no other answer thereto but the reproaches he made to them of their imprudence It happened in the year 1638. That a Gentleman on whom the King had bestowed the Government of a little Province near Iedo so oppressed the Country people that they were forc'd to make their complaints thereof to the Court where it was ordered that the said Gentleman and all his Relations should all have their bellies ripp'd up on the same day and as near as might be at the same hour He had a Brother who lived two hundred fourty and seven Leagues from Iedo in the service of the King of Fingo an Uncle who lived in Satsuma twenty Leagues further a Son who serv'd the King of Kinocuni a Grand-son who serv'd the King of Massamme a hundred and ten Leagues from Iedo and at three hundred and eighty Leagues from Satsuma another Son who serv'd the Governour of the Castle of Quanto two Brothers who were of the Regiment of the Emperours Guard and another Son who had married the only Daughter of a rich Merchant near Iedo yet were all these persons to be executed precisely at the same hour To do that they cast up what time were requisite to send the Order to the farthest place and having appointed the day for the execution there Orders were sent to the Princes of all the forementioned places that they should put to death all those persons upon the same day just at noon which was punctually done The Merchant who had bestowed his Daughter on that Gentlemans Son died of grief and the Widow starv'd her self Lying is also punished among them with death especially that which is said in the presence of the Judge The forementioned punishments are only for Gentlemen Souldiers Merchants and some other persons of mean quality but Kings Princes and great Lords are ordinarily punished more cruelly then if they were put to death For they are banished into a little Island named Faitsensima which lies fourteen Leagues from the Province of Iedo and is but a League about It hath neither Road nor Haven and it is so steepy all about that no doubt it was with the greatest danger imaginable that the first who got up to it made a shift to do it Those who first attempted to climb it up found means to fasten great Poles in certain places whereto they have tyed ropes with which they draw up those that are sent thither and make fast the boats which otherwise would split against the Rocks with the first Wind. There grows nothing in all the Island but a few Mulberry-trees so that they are obliged to send in provisions for the subsistance of the Prisoners They are relieved every moneth as is also the Garrison kept there but they are dieted very sparingly as being allow'd only a little Rice some roots and other wretched fare They hardly afford them a lodging over their heads and with all these miseries they oblige them to keep a certain number of Silk-worms and to make a certain quantity of Stuffs every year The expence which the Emperour of Iapan is at every year in his Court and what relates thereto to wit the sallaries and allowances of the Officers and Counsellours amounts yearly to four millions of Kockiens and the sallaries of Governours of places and Military persons together with the Pensions he gives amount to five millions of Kockiens They who speak of the Soveraign Prince of all Iapan give him the quality of Emperour in as much as all the other Lords of the Country on whom they bestow that of King depend on him and obey him not only as Vassals but as Subjects since it is in his power to condemn them to death to deprive them of their Dignities to dispossess them of their Territories to banish or send them
grey Every Order hath its General whom they call Tricon who lives in the City of Xuntien He hath under him Provincials who make Visitations within their several Jurisdictions to see that there be an observance of Discipline and that there be no remission of the rigour required by the Rules of the Order These have also the nomination of Superiours and Guardians in the several Monasteries The General continues in that dignity as long as he lives and when he dies the King names his successour making choice of him among those who are most deserving He is cloth'd in Silk but of the same colour as is worn by the Religious men of the Order and never goes out of his own house without a retinue of four Religious men who carry him in an Ivory Chair upon their shoulders He hath a particular Seal for such affairs as concern his Order and his Religious men never speak to him but on their knees The King allows him what may keep a plentiful house and contributes also to the subsistance of the Monks in the Monasteries and if they want any thing it is supplied by the liberality of private persons The Religious men are all clad in serge and all after the same fashion save that they are distinguished by the colour They all shave their heads and beards They use beads and say their Mattens and other Offices much after the same manner as our Monks in Europe do Those who enter into the Monastery make a feast for all the Monks but the eldest Son of a Family is not permitted to take the habit in regard the Laws of the Kingdom forbid it and would have him to be the comfort and support of the weak and decrepit age of his Father Their vows are not indispensable but they may quit the Monastery and marry The Chineses observe at their Funerals the following Ceremonies Assoon as any person is deceased they wash the body put about him his best cloathes well perfum'd and set him in the biggest Chair they can find in the house That done the Wife Children Brothers Sisters and afterwards all the Relations kneel down before him and take their leave of him That Ceremony over they put him into a Coffin of sweet-wood well closed and set him upon a Table or two tressels and they cover him with a Hearse-cloath reaching down to the ground upon which they draw the Picture of the deceased They leave him in that posture fifteen days during which time in some other Chamber or Hall there stand constantly set on a Table Wine Fruit and two wax Torches lighted for the Priests who spend the night there in singing and praying according to their way but especially in making divers inchantmeâ—ts against the evill Spirits and in burning several Images and fastning others to the Hearse-cloath which covers the Coffin which Images they ever and anon move with their hands thinking they by that means force the Soul to Heaven The fifteen days being over the body is carryed into the Country where the Priests interr it and commonly plant a Pine-tree neer the Sepulchre whence it comes that they have a particular venâ—ration for that Tree Their mourning is austere enough Sons continue it for a whole year and sometimes two during which time they are clad in a course cloth cover their heads with a Hat of the same and tie about their upper Garment with a cord Nay some quit the publick employments they have with the Kings consent and ever after live privately Remote kindred go in mourning for some months and friends put it not off till the body be laid in the ground From what we said before concerning the Wall which divides China from Tartary it may well be inferr'd that the Chineses have a dreadful enemy beyond it It must indeed be acknowledged that though we have not any Author that hath given a pertinent account of the Eastern part of Tartary which reaches from little Tartary and the Kingdom of Cascar to the Eastern Sea and the Streights of Anian above Iapan yet have we it for certain that out of those parts and the Kingdoms of Samahania Taniulth Niuche Niulhan c. came those Nations who over-ran several Provinces of Euâ—ope and in a manner all Asia under Tamerlaine and under other Chiefs possessed themselves of the Kingdom of China For in the year 1206 the Tartars whom the Chineses called Tata because they do not pronounce the Letter R. entred China with a powerful Army and after a War of seventy two years became Masters of it forc'd thence the Princes of the house of Sunga which then Reign'd and were peaceably possest of the whole Countrey for the space of near seventy years till a certain Priest's servant named Chu considering that the savageness of the Tartars was much abated by the delights of China undertook a War against them and forc'd them out of China in the year 1368. The aversion the Chineses had to be governed by a forreign power soon prevail'd with them to become subject to Chu who assumed the quality of Hugnus that is Great Warriour and was the first of the Royal Family of Teiming which reign'd in China even to our days Chu not thinking it enough to have forced the Tartars out of the Kingdom of Chiâ—a entred with an Army into that of Niuche whither the Tartars were retreated and forc'd them to acknowledge the Soveraignty of the Emperour of China and to pay him Tribute The Tartars divided themselves into seven Colonies which warred one against the other till they were reduced into one State under the name of the Kingdom of Niuche about the year 1600. About that time Raigned in China Vanlie who had succeeded his Father in the Empire in the year 1573. and lived in an absolute peace when the Governours of the Frontiers conceiving some jealousie at the great powerfulness of the Tartars would needs hinder their Merchants from trading into China opposed the match which the King of Nâ—uche would have made between his Daughter and the King of Tanyu took him and killed him The King of Nyuche's son desirous to revenge his Fathers Death raised an Army passed over the great wall entred China in the year 1616. and took the City of Gayven whence he writ in very respectful terms to Vanlie who was then living and represented to him the injury had been done him by the Governours of the Frontiers proffering to deliver up the City and go out of the Kingdom upon condition his complaints might be heard and Justice done him Vanlie instead of reflecting on the Justice of this demand returned the business to the Councel of State where it was not thought fit so much as to answer his Letters The Tartar on the other side was so incensed at this slighting of his Proposals that he vowed to sacrâ—fice two hundred Thousand Chineses to the Manes of his Father Accordingly having taken the City of Leaoyang by