thirty Marble Pillars The Dome is full of Pictures in Mosaick work and the Church is kept in so good repair that it seems to be new built Behind the High Altar is that miraculous Image of the Virgin painted on wood and the place where the Tree that carried it was planted that place being taken into the Church They tell of many Miracles wrought in that Church and of these I shall only relate one which is represented on the Altar-piece of the Altar before which it was wrought They say that one day when they were celebrating the Festival of that Church and all the Altars were deck'd as well as possibly they could be some Moors came in and would have robb'd the Ornaments of one Altar who going to it at a time when there was no body there one of them dropt something of iron which striking against the pavement made so great a fire that it burnt them to ashes in the same place and in the floor they shew a little hole which they say was made by the same iron St. John Baptist's Thumb They shew'd me a Thumb of St. John Baptist which seems to be of the same Hand that is kept in Malta And then a piece of the true Cross These Reliques are richly enchased The Convent of Niamoni rich Having taken a full view of the Church I went into the Convent which is very spacious and built in form of a Castle no Women ever enter it There are commonly two hundred Calloyers in that Convent governed by an Abbat and they never exceed that number When there are any vacant Places such as would supply them and be Calloyers pay an hundred Piastres and carry with them what Estate they have which they enjoy during life but after their death it belongs to the Convent and they cannot dispose in favour of a Relation or any body else but of a third of their Estates and that too upon condition that the Heir make himself a Calloyer in the same Convent and so they lose nothing of the Stock The Convent gives to every Calloyer daily black Bread Wine that is none of the best and rotten Cheese for the rest they must provide themselves as well as they can Such of them as are rich make good chear and live well at their own charges nay there are some that have good Horses to ride about on and take the air when they have a mind and the rest must make a shift with their commons yet they eat all together in their Refectory on Sundays and great Festivals When they die they are carried in their habit to a Church dedicated to St. Luke which is without the Convent where they lay them on an Iron-Grate and if any of the dead Bodies do not corrupt the rest of the Calloyers say it is a sign that they are excomunicated This Convent pays to the Grand Signior Five hundred Piastres a Year but it has above Threescore thousand Piastres of yearly Revenue and they have a Treasury where they keep above a Million of Gold They confessed to me themselves that almost two Thirds of the Island belonged to them for most People that die leave them some Houses some Lands and some Money which shews that it is not only among Roman Catholicks that Monks enjoy the Estates of several Houses and Families Bells at Niamoni and in other places of the Isle They have two great Bells in this Convent which pleased me a little when I heard them Ring because for a long time I had not heard the sound of any the Turks allowing them to Christians no where else but in the Island of Chio where there are little ones in every Village Without the Convent there is an Aqueduct of very good Water for the use of the Caloyers After I had sufficiently Reposed my self in that Convent I took my way to the Town and a little wide of the way to the Right Hand I saw the Church called the Incoronata which belongs to the Dominicans Another day I went to see Homer's School which is by the Sea-side Homer's School about a Mile from Chio it is a Rock somewhat rising and thereon as it were a square Altar about three Foot every way cut out of the same Rock and round it there are some Beasts represented in relief I observed an Ox a Wolf and such others and that is it they call the School of Homer Not far from thence there is Village called Ananato where they make Charcole and Pitch it contains about an Hundred and fifty Inhabitants and those of Chio say that Homer was born there Near to it there is a Vineyard that produces very good Wine which is commonly called Homer's Vineyard though there are others who say that it is near a Village called Cardamila ten Miles distant from the other and two Miles from the Sea where there is a good Harbour CHAP. LXIII Of some Villages of the Isle of Chio. HEre I shall mention the chief Villages of the Isle of Chio which I did not see but according as a Manuscript Relation that came to my Hands Written by one who lived several Years in that Island has informed me The Village of Cardamila which we just now mentioned Cardamila contains about Five hundred Inhabitants the Country about it is beautified by many fair Water Springs and is very Fertile yielding Yearly about an Hundred and sixty or seventy Tuns of Wine Some years ago several pieces of Gold Silver and Copper Money of the Emperour Constantine were found there Five Miles from that Village there is a lovely Valley half a Mile long A lovely Valley in the Isle of Chio. and therein a Spring of Water to which one goes down by a Stair-case of thirty lovely Marble steps At the farther end of this Valley there was a Temple built all of pieces of Ash-coloured Marble eight Hands breadth long and six broad which were well fastned together with Iron and Lead but the Country People have broken these fine Stones to get out the Mettal That place is called Naos that is to say Temple Naos Vichi the Gentlemen of Chio go commonly there for their Diversion Beyond that there is a Village called Vichi inhabited by Three hundred Souls and hath a Church dedicated to the Virgin. Farther on is Cambia containing an hundred Inhabitants Cambia this place lies amongst Rocks Hills and Woods of wild Pine-trees and there it is that they Fell the Timber for Building of Galleys there are several Churches here and there among the Mountains Below this Village is a Valley where there is a little Castle built upon a Rock that is almost Inaccessible The Inhabitants of the place say that formerly there was a Dragon found under that Castle The Mount of St. Elias Over against that place is the Mount of St. Elias which is the highest place of all the Island and may even be seen from Tenedo which is many Miles more than an
to resolve upon made us give a Certificate under our Hands attesting that the Goods belonged to Frenchmen When we had signed this he let us go in our Bark giving us three Greeks whom he had taken before he met with us We left him about Noon and came to Acre about an hour after being every way in bad Equipage and much out of Order not having so much as a Caique to come ashoar in Monsieur de Bricard the French Consul sent us one and did me the favour to offer me both Money and Cloaths for I had lost both Cloaths Money and all except a Bill of Exchange for Acre which by good luck they left me in an old Cloak-bag having torn and thrown overboard some Papers wherein I had written my Observations of Jerusalem All our Relicks were broken mislaid or thrown into the Sea and the Gourd that I had filled with the Water of Jordan was emptied and then filled with Wine for when I asked them news of it they shewed it me full of the Wine which they had taken from us So soon as we came ashoar the Basha fitted out four French-Merchants Ships that were in the Harbour to fall upon that Corseir for they had seen us taken from thence and all the French Merchants knew their own Bark having a Sail striped with Blew He put an hundred Turks on board every one of these Ships but the Consul whom it would have troubled to have seen so many Frenchmen made Slaves having recommended the matter to the Prayers of the Monks ordered the Captains of these Ships to use all means they could not to take him and prayed me to dishearten the Turks that went on board which I did the best way I could For the Turks having asked me before they went what number of Men they were I told them they were betwixt three and four hundred though they were not sixscore and that they were well Armed and resolved to defend themselves to the last In short the Basha himself went on board one of the four Ships and made towards the Corseir who was lying at Anchor much about the place where he had taken us He had a design as we were since informed thinking them to have been French Merchantmen to have met them and got Provisions from them for they were all ready to starve and if the Basha had had the skill to have put out French Colours he might have taken them without striking a blow but the Captains not steering right upon them and firing purposely at them at a distance made them know that they were coming to take them wherefore they quickly cut their Cable and getting under Sail stood presently away and the Basha being very well satisfied that he had made them leave his Coast returned to Acre CHAP. LIII Of Acre ACRE is a Town of Palestine lying on the Sea Acre Ptolemais it was anciently called Acco afterwards Ptolemais long held by the Knights of Malta and hath been a very large and strong place as appears by the marks that remain but at present it is almost wholly Ruined and the Harbour of it which is very great now filled up with Rubbish This Town depends on the Basha of Sephet History mentions that heretofore there were as many Churches in this Town as there are days in the Year at present there are only the Ruines of about thirty to be seen among others there are some stately remains of one where as they say the Knights of Malta heretofore had a Treasure which they marked with a piece of Marble and which not many Years since they brought away in a Ship that came purposely to Acre under pretext of buying Goods The Palace of the Great Master is to be seen there still but very Ruinous there is in this Palace a back Gate towards the Sea by which the Knights abandoned the Town and went on Shipboard when they could no longer defend the place There remain still a fair Stair-case and some Buildings made there by the Emir Farr Eddin with several other very lovely Ruines There is also a square Tower in Acre which serves for a Castle with a House close by it that serves for a Serraglio to the Basha when he is in that Town which is not much Inhabited for there are not fifty Houses in it and these too rather Huts than Houses Nevertheless there is a little Han there where the French Company of Sayde lodged at that time but they were so streightned in it that there were no fewer than four of them in one Room The cause of the French Companies removing from Sayde to Acre was that he who Commands at Sayde having done them an Injury and refusing to make Reparation Monsieur de Bricard the Consul resolved to have Justice of him and having given Orders for all things necessary he pretended one day to go a Hunting but being abroad in the Fields with all his Merchants he made all haste to Acre where he was kindly Welcomed by the Basha of Sephet The other finding this sent to entreat the Consul to return promising him all Satisfaction but the Consul was so far from condescending to it that he sent Deputies to Constantinople to make his Complaints against this Turk of Sayde who seeing that he could not prevail with the French by fair mains gained an Arab Scheik who promised to bring the Consul and all the Merchants back by force But the French being informed of this stood upon their Guard so that the Arab finding his design blow'd upon durst not undertake it In short this Man of Sayde being now at his Witsend threatned to Plunder their Ware-houses which were full of Goods at Sayde if they did not return but that did not at all move them as knowing he would have a care how he did that for he would have been forced to restore all back again one day and if they had thought fit more than he had taken by pretending that there was ten times as much in them as indeed there was But at length some Months after the Consul and Nation having received all Satisfaction from Constantinople returned in Triumph to Sayde CHAP. LIV. Of Nazareth and the Places about From Acre to Nazareth WE set out from Acre on Wednesday the eighth of May about four in the Afternoon to go to Nazareth eight Leagues distant from Acre we took four Turks with us each armed with a Musquet to defend us from the Arabs if we should meet any and we our selves had each of us a Fowling-Piece and a Case of Pistols that they had lent us at Acre We stopt a little to eat about six a Clock at Night and then taking Horse again continued our Journey through places where there was no Road but Grass up to our Horses Bellies Nazareth and at ten a Clock at Night arrived at Nazareth Nazareth is an ancient Town standing upon a little height at the end of a large Plain called Ezdrelon Ezdrelon
Fish Crocodiles are Amphibious Animals for they live both in the Water and upon Land They have a Head flat above and below the Eyes indifferently big and very darkish which has made many say that they always weep after once they are taken but it is a fable They have a long sharp Snout full of long and sharp Teeth but no Tongue The Body is large and all of a bigness the Back covered with high Scales like the heads of the Nails in a Court-Gate of a greenish Colour and so hard that they are proof against a Halbard they have a long Tail covered over with Scales like the Body their Belly below is white and pretty tender They have four short thick Legs there being five Claws in each of the Fore-feet and only four in the Hind-feet In a word a Crocodile resembles very much a Lizard and grows as long as it lives some of them are above twenty Foot in length but I have seen little ones half a Foot long This and the Hippopotamus are the only Animals who in eating move the upper Jaw and move not at all the under The Crocodile is very strong and one day as I caused one of them which was eight Foot long to be skinned four Men stood upon it whilst they were slitting up his Belly but it stirred and strugled with so much force that it threw them all four off it is also very strong liv'd for when they skin it after they have cut the Throat and opened the Belly of it if it catch hold of any thing in its mouth it will never part from it As it happened once to a Moor whom I knew who having skinned one for a French-man who had a mind to keep the Skin and cutting the Throat had separated the Head from the Body so that there remained no more but the Head sticking to the Skin all the flesh being taken out he untied the Snout but immediately thereupon the Jaws opening caught hold of one of his Fingers which with its Teeth it cut clear off The flesh of a Crocodile is not bad but it is somewhat insipid and not at all poysonous as many believe for I have tasted of it and found it to be good the Barbarians eat heartily and make a great Feast of it These Creatures are great lovers of Mens flesh and therefore they are very terrible all along the Nile not only to little Boys whom they frequently devour when they come to the River-side to do their Needs for these cunning creatures hide themselves but also to Men whom they surprise sometimes in their Boats. For in the Night-time they rise upright and thrusting their Snout into the Boat endeavour to catch hold of a Man and if they can but pull him into the Water they quickly master him and that is the reason that no Body will willingly venture to Swim in the Nile It is another most erroneous fable also that a Crocodile will weep like a young Child to draw People about it whom it may devour How Crocodiles are taken it is a thing altogether unknown in that Country To catch these Creatures they make a great many Pits by the River-side which they cover over with Sticks and such other things and so when they come to pass over these Ditches especially when the Water encreases which is the time when most of them are taken because then they venture farthest out they fall into them and cannot get out again They let them fast there for several days then let down some Gins with running Nooses wherewith they muzzle their Snout and so pull them up and carry them to the Quarters of the Franks The Moors say That at old Caire there is a Talisman against the Crocodiles which makes that they never pass beyond old Caire but that is false for there are of them at Rossetto and Damiette and they are to be seen upon the way to Caire not indeed in any great number because commonly they keep off from the Sea but there some at least to be found there They never come into the Khalis because as I think it is narrow but if they did they might do a great deal of mischief for when the Water runs in it it is full of Swimmers Hippopotamus There are Hippopotamuses or Sea-Horses also in this River and there was one taken at Girge in the Year 1658. which was immediately brought to Caire where I saw it in the Month of February the same Year This Creature was of a kind of Tawny Colour the hinder part of it was much like to a Buffler however its Legs were shorter and bigger it was about the bigness of a Camel and had a Muzzle like an Ox. The Head of it is like to a Horses and very great but its Eyes small It had a very thick Neck a little Ear wide and open Nostrils thick large Feet and almost round with four Toes in each like a Crocodile a little Tail like an Elephant and little or no Hair upon the Skin no more than an Elephant In the lower Jaw it had four great Teeth half a Foot long two whereof were crooked and as big as the Horns of an Ox and one on each side of the Jaw the other two were streight and of the same bigness as the crooked but standing out in length Many said at first that it was a Sea-Buffler but some others and I knew it to be a Sea-Horse because of the description that is given of it by Writers It was brought Dead to Caire by some Janizaries who shot it on Land where it was come to feed they fired several shot at it before it fell for the Bullets hardly pierced through its Skin as I observed but they fired one shot which hit it on the Jaw and made it fall For many years before such an Animal had not been seen at Caire But to return to the Nile this River causes all the fruitfulness of Aegypt and if it failed to overflow one year there would be a Famine in the Land nay if it did not rise sixteen foot there would be great Scarcity as also if it grew four and twenty foot it would likewise occasion a Dear 〈◊〉 because the water covering all the Land too long Seed-time would be lost when it ebbs off it leaves a fat nitrous slime upon the ground which so fattens the Land that it would produce nothing through too much Fatness if they did not sow Sand upon it before they plant or sow any thing therein so that they are at the same pains to put Sand on their Land to unfatten it as we are to Dung ours Not that it never rains there as many Dreamers would have us believe in Christendom squeezing their Brains to give a reason for that which is not in Nature for it rains much at Alexandria and Rossetto also but at Caire which stands higher it rains less and yet I have seen it rain very hard every year for two days together in the
Celebrate it the day of the Epiphany according to the Old Calendar which they follow plunging after several Prayers a Cross into water whereof all strive to take their shares in Pots They Communicate all Children in both kinds The Armenians Communicate Young Children They Marry their Children very Young. Extreme Unction with the Armenians Command for Mass Superstition of the Armenians The end of Lent with the Armenians even those that are but a year or two Old. They Marry them very Young sometimes the Parents promise them as soon as they are born and often Marry them at the Age of Seven or Eight Years but though the Priest perform the Ceremonies at that time yet they defer the Consummation of the Marriage till the usual time They say that Extreme Unction is not to be Administred till after death though some amongst them have denied me that Article but commonly they give it only to Priests They have no command obliging them to hear Mass on Sundays and Holy-days They have many of the Mahometan Superstitions and amongst others some of them hold Dogs to be Unclean as well as they and will not willingly touch them On Holy Saturday they end their Lent by Eating at night Butter Cheese Eggs and other things which are prohibited during the Lent but they Eat no Flesh till Easter-day and it must be killed too the same day for they say that it is not lawful for them to Eat of that which was killed in time of Lent. They admit of no Purgatory and yet Pray for the Dead Purgatory with the Armenians saying that those who are Damned goe streight to Hell but that the others goe not into Paradise where no body shall be received before the last Judgment but that they are in a place where they suffer a little and that the Prayers that are made for them comfort them whence it seems that they only contend about the name and that it is only to difference themselves from Roman Catholicks that they say they admit not of Purgatory Fables of the Armenians concerning our Lord. They have a hundred Stories or rather ridiculous Tales concerning the Infancy of our Lord and that is it they call the little Gospel as for instance that the Virgin being with Child her Sister Salome accused her of having been deflowred by some man and that the Holy Virgin for her own justification bid her lay her Hand upon her Belly and that she should know what Fruit she bore which Salome having done a fire issued out of it and consumed one half of her Arm and then being sensible of her fault she laid the stump upon it again by the Holy Virgins order and so recovered her whole Arm. They also say that our Lord being grown pretty big his Holy Mother put him to School to learn to Read Armenian and that his Master making him pronounce the Armenian Alphabet he would not pronounce the first Letter which is thus made III unless his Master gave him a reason why it was shaped in that manner which made his Master give him correction Our Lord having suffered it told him mildly that since he knew it not he would teach him and made him comprehend that it denoted the Mystery of the Holy Trinity whereat the Master much surprised returned him back to the Virgin telling her that he knew more than himself This Tale is the more ridiculous that it is not above four hundred years since their Letters were invented The invention of the Armenian Characters and that before they made use of the Greek Letters and the truth is there is in the Library of the French King a large thick Armenian Book which gives the History of their Letters and by whom they were invented A Ridiculous Story of Judas They say that Judas having sold our Lord and despairing of Pardon resolved to hang himself because he knew that our Lord was to goe to the Limbus to deliver all the souls which he found there and that he made account to be one of that number for with them Hell and the Limbus is one and the same thing but the Devil cunninger than he foreseeing that held him up by the Feet till our Lord had passed the Limbus and then let him fall plum into Hell. An Errour of the Armenians concerning the two Natures in JESUS CHRIST The Armenians as well as the Euticheans believe but one Nature in JESUS CHRIST though they condemn Eutiches of Heresie they doe not indeed say that the Humane Nature was swallowed up in the Divine as the first Euticheans did nor doe they believe the confusion of Natures in JESUS CHRIST as Eutiches did but they will have the Divine and Humane Nature to be united in his Sacred Person as the Soul and Body are in a man and that so they make but one and that makes them condemn the Council of Chalcedon A false belief in the Armenians The Opinion of the Armenians concerning the Pope They say that JESUS CHRIST neither Ate nor Drank and when I alledged to one of them some passages of the Gospel where it is said that he did Eat and Drink he made answer that he only seemed to do so but that in reality he neither Ate nor Drank They acknowledge not the Pope to be Superiour to their Patriarch but only to be Patriarch of Rome Yet I found some of them that were not of that Opinion and who confessed that he was Head of the Church Nevertheless they are generally great Enemies to the Franks and to all that profess the Roman Catholick Faith so far that there are some of them who stick not to say that it is better to be a Turk than a Roman Catholick Notwithstanding all this they agree with us as to the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist The belief of the Armenians concerning the Holy Sacrament of the Altar and it is a strong Argument against the European Hereticks to object to them the Levantine Christians who for a long time have been the declared Enemies of the Roman Catholicks and nevertheless are all Uniform with them as to the Holy Sacrament and Mass Jacobites Nestorians and all which makes it appear that the Mass is no new invented thing CHAP. XV. The Continuation of the Observations of Ispahan Of Horses Mules and Camels and some Insects THE Persians use commonly to ride on Persian Horses which are but small Animals of Persia Persian Horses but good and strong and Travel great Journeys without tyring they have a trick of casting up the Head and endanger the Riders Nose if he have not a care but some mend that fault by a kind of Cavasson which is a strap of Leather in form of a Halter that they put over their Nose and bringing it betwixt the fore Legs tie it to the Girts like a Petrel Not only in Persia but all over the Levant they have a better Hoof than in our Countries whether it be because of the
is the same all over the Indies A Cow of Paste There is another day of rejoycing whereon they make a Cow of Paste which they fill full of Honey and then make a fashion of killing it and break it to pieces the Honey which distills on all sides represents the Blood of the Cow and they eat the Paste instead of the Flesh I could not learn the Original of that Ceremony as for the Catris or Raspoutes except that they eat no Pullets they as the rest of the inferiour Castes do make use of all kinds of Fish and Flesh unless it be the Cow which they all have in veneration The Gentiles Fasting The Gentiles generally are great Fasters and none of them let a fortnight pass over without mortifying themselves by Abstinence and then they Fast four and twenty hours but that is but the ordinary Fast for there are a great many Gentiles and especially Women who will Fast six or seven days and they say there are some that will Fast a whole month without eating any more than a handful of Rice a day and others that will eat nothing at all Criata a Root only drink Water in which they boyl a Root called Criata which grows towards Cambaye and is good against many distempers it makes the Water bitter and strengthens the Stomach When a Woman is at the end of one of these long Fasts the Bramen her director goes with his companions to the House of the penitent beats a Drum there and having permitted her to eat returns home again There are such Fasts many times among the Vartias the Sogues and other religious Gentiles of that Province and they accompany them with several other mortifications Religious Communities Now I have mentioned these Religious Gentiles I would have it observed that in all the Indies there is no religious Community amongst the Gentiles belonging particularly to one Caste or Tribe For Example There is not any whereinto none are admitted but Bramens or Raspoutes if there be a convent of Sogues any where the Community will consist of Bramens Raspoutes Comris Banians and other Gentiles and it is the same in a convent of Vartias or a company of Faquirs I have already treated of both these as occasion offered CHAP. XLVIII Of the Province of Baglana and of the Marriages of the Gentiles The yearly Revenue of Baglana THe Province of Baglana is neither so large nor do's it yield so great a Revenue as the other nineteen for it pays the Great Mogul a year but Seven hundred and fifty thousand French Livres it is bordered by the Countrey of Telenga Guzerat Balagate and the Mountains of Sivagi the Capital Town of it is called Mouler Mouler The Portuguese border on the Moguls Countrey Daman Before the Moguls this Province was also of Decan and at present it belongs to Mogolistan by it the Portuguese border upon the Moguls Countrey and their Territories begin in the Countrey of Daman The Town of Daman that belongs to them is one and twenty Leagues from Surrat which is commonly Travelled in three days It is indifferently big fortified with good Walls and an excellent Citadel the Streets of it are fair and large and the Churches and Houses built of a white Stone which makes it a pleasant Town There are several Convents of Religious Christians in it it depends on Goa as the other Portuguese Towns do especially as to Spirituals and the Bishop keeps a Vicar General there It lies at the entry of the Gulf of Cambaye and the Portuguese have Slave there of both Sexes Portuguese Slaves which work and procreate only for their Masters to whom the Children belong to be disposed of at their pleasure from Daman to Bassaim it is eighteen Leagues Bassaim This last Town lies in the height of about nineteen Degrees and a half upon the Sea being Walled round and almost as big as Daman it hath Churches and a College of Jesuits as Daman hath From Bassaim to Bombaim it is six Leagues Bombaim made over to the English this last Town hath a good Port and was by the Portuguese made over to the English upon the Marriage of the Infanta of Portugal with the King of England in the year 1662 it is six Leagues more from Bombaim to Chaoul Chaoul The Port of Chaoul is difficult to enter but very safe and secure from all foul weather it is a good Town and defended by a strong Citadel upon the top of a Hill called by the Europeans Il Morro di Ciaul it was taken by the Portuguese Il Morro di Ciaul in the year One thousand five hundred and seven From Chaoul to Dabul it is eighteen good Leagues Dabul Dabul is an ancient Town in the Latitude of seventeen degrees and a half it has its Water from a Hill hard by and the Houses of it are low it being but weakly fortified I am told Sivagi hath seized it notwithstanding its Castle as also Rajapour Vingourla Rasigar Rajapour Vingourlâ— Rasigar Towns. and some other places upon that coast of Decan It is almost fifty Leagues from Dabul to Goa which is in Viziapour As all the People of that coast are much given to Sea-faring so the Gentiles offer many times Sacrifices to the Sea Sacrifice to the Sea. especially when any of their Kindred or Friends are abroad upon a Voyage Once I saw that kind of Sacricrifice a Woman carried in her hands a Vessel made of Straw about three Foot long it was covered with a Vail three Men playing upon the Pipe and Drum accompanied her and two others had each on their head a Basket full of Meat and Fruits being come to the Sea-side they threw into the Sea the Vessel of Straw after they had made some Prayers and left the Meat they brought with them upon the Shoar that the poor and others might come and eat it I have seen the same Sacrifice performed by Mahometans The Gentiles offer another at the end of September Opening of the Sea. and that they call to open the Sea because no body can Sail upon their Seas from May till that time but that Sacrifice is performed with no great Ceremonies they only throw Coco's into the Sea and every one throws one The only thing in that Action that is pleasant is to see all the young Boys leap into the Water to catch the Coco's and whilst they strive to have and keep them shew a hundred tricks and feats of Agility In this Province as in the rest of Decan the Indians Marry their Children very young The Marriage of Children and make them Cohabit much sooner than they do in many places of the Indies they Celebrate Matrimony at the Age of four five or six Years and suffer them to Bed together when the Husband is ten Years old and the Wife eight but the Women who have Children so young soon leave off Child-bearing and commonly do not conceive