perhaps as he said not in this world for 't was four years since he had heard any News of me he receiv'd me with extream kindness and gladness After we had given one another account of many things and I had been complemented by Sig Paolo his Nephew and others that were with him I told him that I had in the Galley Batoni Mariam Tinatin my spiritual Daughter and should be glad that before we departed as I thought to do with the same Gallies for Messina that she saw the Church and something of Syracuse The Bishop presently sent Signora Maria his Brother's Wife and Mother of Sig Paolo with two of her Daughters to fetch my Women from the Galley in a Coach and Sig Paolo the Receiver of Malta and my self went in another Coach to fetch them on Land After these Gentlewomen had receiv'd them with many Complements we all went together to the Nunns Church of S. Lucie where we stay'd till evening the Nunns being much delighted to behold the strange habits of my Women and to discourse with them by Interpreters In the mean time many people flock'd into the Church to see them and several Cavaliers came to complement me and make themselves known to me It being late we were accompani'd by many Gentry and people to the Palace where my Women were receiv'd by the Bishop with much Courtesie And being the Galleys were to depart for Messina this very night I desir'd leave of the Bishop to return aboard again but he would by no means grant it saying that since I was come to see him it was not fit that I should embitter his joy with so sudden a departure much less when S. Lucy's day was so near at hand for which those that are remote use to go to Syracuse and that I was the more oblig'd to stay because I had once promis'd him by a Letter as indeed I had to come to Syracuse and spend a S. Lucy's day with him so that since chance had brought it thus to pass I must needs make my word good I answer'd many things and did all I could to get away but to no purpose for the Bishop sen the Receiver to get all my goods out of the Galley for which end was necessary for the gate of the City to be kept open a good part of the night contrary to custom and besides having caus'd a very noble Apartment to be got ready for me in the new building of his Palace he would by all means have us all lodge there Wherefore seeing his pleasure was such I thought fit to obey him and accept the favour The Gentlemen and Gentlewomen after some discourse departed and we were conducted to our apartment where because the Bishop eats not at night he left us to sup and rest The two Galleys which brought us depart this night for Messina and with them F. Orisno my late Fellow-traveller who will deliver you this Letter which I conclude this Evening not omitting to acquaint you with my tarrying here for some days to the end you may understand my deliverance and the good issue of my health and so praying God for the like to you I very heartily kiss your hands LETTER XV. From Messina January 24. 1626. IN continuation of my last to you concerning the favours I receiv'd from my Lord the Bishop of Syracuse I must tell you in the first place that on the fifth of December we were conducted by a great company of Gentry of both Sexes out of the City to several reliques of ancient Syracuse We saw the Artificial Echo reported to have been made by Dionysius in a Prison where he kept many slaves to hear what they talkt within and if I mistake not Archimedes seems to have been the contriver of the Fabrick 'T is indeed one of the goodliest pieces of Art that I ever saw in the world and perhaps was ever invented imitating nature so exactly that the Echo returns words sentences sounds and songs most intire and perfect as was prov'd in our presence with sundry Instruments If a man strike a thick extended cloth with a wand it renders a sound like the shot of Artillery which to be done so well in a Grotto form'd not by Nature but by Art is indeed a strange thing and shews a prodigious wit in the Contriver I must not omit that the roof of this grotto is hollow'd in the form of a man's ear from which probably the Artificer borrow'd the Invention since just as the voice striking the ears which are so shap'd renders the sound audible so 't is seen by experience that this great artificial Ear cut by hand in hard stone being struck in like manner produces the same effect of augmenting a sound although we know not but other Natural Echoes in Caves are fram'd after the same manner Near the place of the Echo we saw the subterranean Cavities wherein the slaves were imprison'd and over them the place of Dionysius's Palace in a very goodly situation with a Prospect extending far both on Land and Sea And near the Palace we beheld many remainders of his great Theater which was not built up like other Structures but cut and hollow'd out of the hard stone all of a piece very large and of excellent Architecture As we return'd home we saw contiguous to the City on one side the Port which they call'd Marmoreo or the Marble Port from its being built all of Stone and differing from the other great one which lies under the City on the other side for at this day the City stands wholly in the Peninsula Ortygia which is almost surrounded by the Sea saving where it joyns to the Land by a narrow Euripus December 8th I accompani'd the B p to the Church of S. Francis whither because it was the Feast of the Conception he went to hear Mass being attended by the Senate and all the Nobility of the City After which I went with divers Gentlemen my Friends to see the Church of S. Lucy without the City in the place where she was martyr'd which Church though sometimes it belong'd to Priests yet is now possess'd by reform'd Franciscan Fryers Under the Church we saw certain grottoes extending to a great distance every way under ground and made I know not whether for Sepulchres of the Ancients or for places of Refuge in times of danger December 9th Two Galleys of Malta which came from Messina with Provisions for the Iland enter'd the Port in one of which was their present General Sig Don Francesco Caraffa Prior della Roccella and Son of the Prince della Roccella who had lately founded this Priorate della Roccella at his own charge always to remain in his own Family though after his death if I am rightly inform'd it shall be no longer a Priorate or Grand Cross but only a Commendum December the tenth Accompani'd by Sig. Paolo Faraone I visited the said Prior della Roccella in his own Galley having seen him several times
bore great reverence But after he was come to ripe age his Father chang'd his Name as here they sometimes do into Scià h Selim which in the Arabian Dialect the learned Language to all Mahometans signifies Rè Pacific a Peaceable or Peace-making King conceiving this Name to agree to his Nature The Father dying Scià h Selim being advanc'd to the Kingdom chang'd his Name once again as 't is the custom of many Oriental Princes on such an occasion with more Magnificent Titles for their proper Names are nothing but Titles and Epithets and would be call'd Nur eddin Muhammèd Gihòn ghir which partly in Arabick partly in Persick signifies The Light of the Law Mahomet Take the World in regard of the profession which he makes in publick of the Mahometan Sect though really in secret by what they report he little cares for Mahomet and his Law or any other Religion accounting according to the vain opinion of some in these parts that a man may be sav'd in every Law Nevertheless the Name Scià h Selim tenaciously inhering in the memory of people remains still to him and in common discourse he is more frequently call'd by this then any other Name He had two Brothers One who took a part of the Province Dacan was call'd by his proper Name Peharì and by sirname Sciah Murà d The other who dy'd in the City Berhampòr was nam'd Daniel and sirnam'd Sombòl Scià h but both dyed without Heirs whereupon their Dominion returned back to Scià h Selim. I know not whether by one or more Women this King had four Sons the first is call'd Sultà n Chosrou the second Sultà n Peruìz the third Sultà n Chorrom now in rebellion to whom when he return'd from a war which he had prosperously manag'd in Dacà n his Father gave the title of Sciahi Gihòn which is interpreted King of the World and the fourth Sultà n Scehriar is yet a youth of small age 'T is possible others besides these have been born to him but being dead either in Child-hood or long ago there is no mention made of them at present He hath one Wife or Queen whom he esteems and favours above all other Women and his whole Empire is govern'd at this day by her counsel She was born in India but of Persian Race that is the Daughter of a Persian who coming as many do into India to the service of the Moghòl hapned in time to prove a very great man in this Court and if I mistake not Chan or Vice-roy of a Province She was formerly Wife in India to an other Persian Captain who serv'd the Moghòl too but after her Husbands death a fair opportunity being offer'd as it falls out many times to some handsome young Widows I know not how Scià h Selim had notice of her and became in love with her He would have carried her into his Harà m or Gynaeceo and kept her there like one of his other Concubines but the very cunning and ambitious Woman counterfeited great honesty to the King and refus'd to go into his Palace and as I believe also to comply with his desires saying that she had been the Wife of an Honourable Captain and Daughter of an Honourable Father and should never wrong her own Honour nor that of her Father and Husband and that to go to the King 's Haram and live like one of the other Female-slaves there was as unsuitable to her noble condition Wherefore if his Majesty had a fancy to her he might take her for his lawful Wife whereby his Honour would be not onely not injur'd but highly enlarg'd and on this condition she was at his service Scià h Selim so disdaign'd this haughty motion at first that he had almost resolv'd in despight to give her in Marriage to one of the Race which they call Halà lchor as much as to say Eater-at-large that is to whom it is lawful to eat every thing and for this cause they are accounted the most despicable people in India However the Woman persisting in her first resolution intending rather to dye then alter it and Love returning to make impetuous assaults on the King's Heart with the help too as some say of Sorceries practis'd by her upon him if there were any other charms as I believe there were not besides the conditions of the Woman which became lovely to the King by sympathy at length he determin'd to receive her for his lawful Wife and Queen above all the rest And as such she commands and governs at this day in the King 's Haram with supream authority having cunningly remov'd out of the Haram either by Marriage or other handsome wayes all the other Women who might give her any jealousie and having also in the Court made many alterations by deposing and displacing almost all the old Captains and Officers and by advancing to dignities other new ones of her own creatures and particularly those of her blood and alliance This Queen is call'd at this day Nurmahà l which signifies Light of the Palace A Name I believe conferr'd on her by the King when he made her Queen She hath a Brother who is still in great favour with the King and of great power and is the Asà f Chan whom I mention'd above and one of whose Daughters is one of the Wives of Sultan Chorròm now in rebellion whence some not without ground suspect that the present rebellion of Sultan Chorròm is with some participation of Asà f Chan and of Numrahà l her self perhaps upon design that the Kingdom may fall to him after the death of the Father Sultan Scehrià r hath also to Wife a Daughter of Nurmahà l by her first Husband for by the King she hath hitherto no Children Wherin appears the prudence of this Woman who hath so well establish'd her self with alliances in the Royal Family But to return to the King's Children Sultà n Chosrou the eldest who was a Prince of much expectation well belov'd and as they say a friend in particular of the Christians being at the government of I know not what Country rebell'd against his Father under pretext that the Kingdom by right belonged unto him because indeed King Ekbar his Grand-father at his death left it to him his Nephew being then born and not to Selim the Father who was his Son being displeas'd with his Son Selim for that one time in his life he attempted to rebel against him So easie are Insurrections amongst these Infidels and so little faith can Fathers have in Sons and they in their own Fathers With this pretence Sultà n Chosrou once rais'd a great Army against his Father but coming to a battel he was routed and forc'd to surrender himself freely to his Father Who chiding him with words rather gentle then otherwise ask'd him to what end he made these tumults knowing well that he held and kept the whole Kingdom for him Yet his deeds were sharper then his words for in the first place he caus'd all the chief Captains who had follow'd him in the war to be cruelly slain
beasts which water they bring thither in great skins hanging upon the back of their Buttelos which as it is freely given so it must be freely taken by all those who desire to refresh themselves by it There are some which build rich Monuments to preserve the memories of those whom they have esteemed eminent for their austerity and holiness these they call Paeres or Saints amongst whom some of those before-mentioned help to fill their Number who sequester themselves from the world as they think and spend their life alone upon the tops of Hills or in other obscure corners SECTION XVII Of the Marriages of the Mahometans and of their Polygamy c. AMongst many other things that confirm the Mahometans in their irreligion this certainly is not the least the indulgence which Mahomet gives them to take more wives than one for they make take four if they please and that further promise which that monstrous Seducer hath made unto his followers of a fleshly Paradise hereafter wherein he will provide for them all wives which shall have large rowling eyes which they look upon in that sex as a great beauty And it is a very sutable comfort for such as walk so much after the flesh For Polygamy or the having of more wives than one Lamech a great Grand-child of Cain was the first that brought it into the World Gen 4.19 And it was first brought into the Church by Abraham which act of his as of others after him good men in their generation though it found permission never had approbation from Almighty God And further though under the times of the Law it found some connivence yet since the Gospel there hath been no such custom in any of the Churches of Christ. I remember that my Lord Ambassadour had a Servant of that Nation who desired leave to be absent one day and being asked why he told us that he was then to marry a Wife though he had three living then a Man would think enough for his means but five shillings a Moon the usual pay of Servants there as before I observed to maintain himself and all the rest of his family Often have I heard this Question put How these Mahometans can do with so many Wives some of which they keep pent up in little Cottages or Tents And in other places and parts of the World where mens dwellings are very large and spacious there is scarce room enough to be found for one Wife in a great House The Mahometans who have most Wives and Women are most jealous and their jealousie such as that they will not suffer the Brothers or Fathers of their Wives to come to them or to have any speech with them except it be in their presence And a continued custom by this restraint hath made it odious for such Women as have the reputation of honesty to be seen at any time by any Man besides their own Husbands or by those before named and by them but very seldom But if they dishonour their Husbands beds or being unmarryed are found incontinent and filthy professing Chastity rather than they shall want the severest punishment their own Brothers hands will be first against them to take away their lives and for so doing shall be commended but not questioned The Women there of the greater quality have Eunuchs instead of men to wait upon them who in their minority are deprived of all that might provoke jealousie Here is a free toleration for Harlots who are listed and enrolled as they say before they can have liberty to keep such an open house Which Creatures in general there and so all the World over whosoever they be imbrace those they pretend to love as Monkies and Apes do their little ones for they kill them with kindness Those base Prostitutes are as little asham'd to entertain as others are openly to frequent their houses Other Creatures as they say are there kept for base and abominable ends many of those Nations being deeply engaged in those sins of the Gentiles Rom. 1. in doing things which should not be named and make no scruple at all for their so doing ut honeste peccare videantur as Lactantius speaks as if they might sin honestly Some of the finer sort of those base Strumpets before named at certain Times appear in the presence of the Mogol before whom they sing their wanton Songs playing on their Timbrels The Marriages of all the Mahometans are solemnized with some Pomp for after the Moolaa hath joyned their Hands and performed other Ceremonies and bestowed on the parties some words of Benediction which is done in the Evening immediately after the night coming on they begin their jollity The man on horse-back be he poor or rich with his kindred and friends about him many Lights before him with Drums and Wind-instruments and some mixt pastimes to increase the merriments The Bride she follows with her Women-friends in Coaches covered and after they have thus passed the most eminent places of the City or Town they live in return to the place of the married couples abode where they say if the parties be able they make some slight entertainment for them immediately after which they all disperse and the show is over Women there have a very great happiness above all I have heard of in their easie bringing forth of Children into the world for there it is a thing very common for Women great with Child one day to ride carrying their Infants in their Bodies and the next day to ride again carrying them in their Arms. How those of the greater quality order their little Children when they are very young I could not observe but those of the meaner sort keep them naked for some years after they are born covering them onely and that but sometimes with slight Callico-Mantles The Mohometans as I have before observed who please so to do may take to themselves each four Wives and that filthy liberty given unto them by their fleshly Mahomet allows them in it I have heard of some in this Nation of late times who have been married here to more than so many at once but that wickedness here is not as amongst them committed by a Law but by Law made Capital and so punished The eldest Son they have by any of their married Wives hath a prerogative above all the rest whom their other Children call Budda by their great Brother And so much of their Marriages of their Children and of their Births In the next place I shall speak SECTION XVIII Of their Burials of their mourning for their Dead and of their stately Sepulchres and Monuments FOr the Mahometans it is their manner to wash the Bodies of their Dead before they interr them An ancient custom as it should seem among the Jews for it is said of Dorcas that after she was dead they washed her Body as a preparative to her Burial They lay up none of the Bodies of their Dead in their Misquits or Churches as
is upon the greatest penalties they can be threatned withall Sixthly Not to entertain or believe any other Law besides that which was delivered unto them by their Law-giver This people take but one Wife which hath liberty as the Wives of the Hindoos to go abroad They never resolve to take Wives or Husbands without the advice of their Church-men and when they come to be married they stand some distance one from the other there being two Church-men present one in the behalf of the Man and in behalf of the Woman the other The first of these asks the Woman whether or no she will have that Man to be her Husband and the other asks the Man whether or no he will have that Woman to be his Wife and they both consenting the Priests bring them together and joyn their Hands praying that they may live in Unity and Love together and then both those Church-men scatter Rice upon the Married Couple intreating God to make them fruitful in sending them many Sons and Daughters that they may multiply as much as that seed doth in the ears that bear it And so the Ceremony being thus performed which is about the time of mid-night the whole Company depart leaving the Marryed Couple together At the Birth of every Child they immediately send for the Daroo or Church-man who comes to the parties House and there being certainly enform'd of the exact time of the Childs birth first undertakes to calculate its Nativity and to speak something of it by way of prediction after which he conferrs with the Parents about a Name whereby it shall be called which when they have agreed upon the Mother in the presence of the Company there assembled gives it that Name And now lastly touching the Burials of that People they incircle pieces of ground with a round Wall that is of a good height set a part for that purpose These burying places stand remote from Houses and Road-wayes the ground within them is made smooth or else paved on the bottom in the midst whereof they have a round pit made deep like a draw-Well The Bodies of their Dead both Men Women and Children are carryed to those places upon a Beer made of sleight round Iron Bars for they will not have dead bodies touch any wood lest they should defile it because that is fewel for their adored Fire and thus brought thither are laid round about near the inside of that Wall upon the ground or pavements covered with a thin white Cloth the Daroo or Harboode accompanies the dead body near unto the door which enters that place alwayes kept fast shut but when it is opened upon this occasion to let in their dead and comn thither speaks these words in the audience of all those which are thither assembled That whereas the party deceased consisted of all the Four Elements he desires that every one of them may now take his part And this is the form they use when they there thus dispose of the bodies of their dead Which being there so left in that open place are presently laid bare by the Fowls of the Air who in short time after pick all their flesh clear from their bones by consequence their fleshly part having no other Sepulchres Graves or Tombs but the Craws and Gorges of those ravenous Fowls And when upon this occasion they enter that round stage of Mortality the bare Skeletons they there find which have parted with all their flesh are by those bearers of the dead cast into that deep round pit where they mix promiscuouslly together and so make room for other dead bodies But now that my Reader may not conceive that I have endeavoured in some of these strange Relations to write a new Romance I would have him to think that for my part I do believe that there is very much of truth in the particulars I have inserted if there be any credit to be given to some men of much integrity that lived amongst them who made it a great part of their business to be satisfied in many of the particulars here spoken of or if I might trust mine own Eyes and Ears that saw and heard much of it which could have enabled me to have written a great deal more concerning the Rites Ceremonies Customs wild conceivings and mad Idolatries of this people as of the Hindoos spoken of before if I durst have thrown away more time upon them all which would have made my Judicious Reader thus to have concluded with me that those Mahometans and Heathens ground very many of their Opinions upon Custom Tradition and Phantsie not Reason much less upon safe Rules that might lead them into and after keep them in the way of Truth They esteeming it a very great boldness a very high Presumption to be wiser in their Religion then their Fore-fathers were as many of the more ignorant sort of Papists will often say though it be directly against themselves and therefore are desirous to do and to believe as their Ancestors have before them to fare as they have fared and as they have sped to speed though they perish everlastingly with them never considering of or ruminating on those things which they hold and maintain for truths being like unto unclean Beasts which chew not the Cudd. So much of that people in general I come now more particularly to speak SECTION XXII Of their King the great Mogol his discent c. NOw those Mahometans and Gentiles I have named live under the subjection of the Great Mogol which Name or rather Title if my Information abuse me not signifies Circumcised as himself and the Mahometans are and therefore for his most general Title he is called the Great Mogol as the chief of the circumcised or chief of the circumcision He is lineally descended from that most famous Conquerour called in our Stories Tamberlain concerning whose Birth and original Histories much differ and therefore I cannot determine it but in this all that write of him agree that he having got together very many huge multitudes of Men made very great Conquests in the South-East parts of the World not onely on Bajazet the Emperour of the Turks but also in East-India and else-where for What cannot force by multitudes do This Tamberlain in their Stories is called Amir Timur or the great Prince and Emperour Timur who as they say towards his end either by an hurt received in his Thigh or else by an unhappy fall from his Horse which made him halt to his Grave was ever after that called Timur lang or Timur the lame from whence he is corruptly in our Stories named Tamberlane The late Mogol at whose Court we lived was the ninth in a direct line from that his great Ancestor And now that my Reader may see the Great Mogol in a Portraiture which was taken from a Picture of his drawn to the life I have caused that to be here inserted which presents him in his daily unvaried Habit as he is
being still observed in the pitching of them as we did when they were set up in the Plains But that which here seemed unto me to be most strange was that notwithstanding our marvellous great company of men women and children there together that must all be fed and the very great number of other creatures which did eat Corn as we never there wanted water so we had so many Victuallers with us and so much Provision continually brought in unto us that we never felt there the want of any thing beside but had it at as low rates as in other places The Mogols Wives and Women when as they are removed from place to place are carried in Coaches such as were before described made up close or in Palankees on mens shoulders or else on Elephants in pretty Receptacles surrounded with curtains which stand up like low and little Turrets on their backs and some of the meaner sort ride in Cradles hanging on the sides of Dromedaries all covered close and attended by Eunuchs who have many Souldiers which go before them to clear the way as they pass they taking it very ill if any though they cannot see them presume so much as to look towards them and therefore though I could never see any of them I shall here take the liberty to speak somewhat I have heard and do believe SECTION XXVIII Of the Mogols Wives and Women where somthing of his Children c. WHom I conceive to be Women of good feature though for their colour very swart which that people may call Beauty it being the complexion of them all as the Crow thinks his bird fairest but as before I never observed any crooked or deform'd person of either sex amongst them For the honesty of those great Mens Wives and Women there is such a quick eye of jealousie continually over them that they are made so by force though as they say they are never much regarded by those great ones after the very first and prime of their youth is past For that great Monarch the Mogol in the choice of his Wives and Women he was guided more by his eye and phansie than by any respect had to his Honour for he took not the Daughters of neighbouring Princes but of his own Subjects and there preferr'd that which he looked upon as beauty before any thing else He was married to four Wives and had Concubines and Women beside all which were at his command enough to make up their number a full thousand as they there confidently affirm'd And that he might raise up his beastly and unnatural lusts even to the very height he kept boyes as before c. His most beloved Wife when I lived at his Court he called Noor-Mahal which signified The Light of the Court and to the other of his Wives and Women which he most loved he gave new Names unto them and such Names as he most fancied For his Wife I first named he took her out of the dust from a very mean Family but however she made such a through Conquest on his Affections that she engrossed almost all his Love did what she pleased in the Government of that Empire where she advanced her Brother Asaph-Chan and other her nearest Relations to the greatest places of Command and Honour and Profit in that vast Monarchy Her Brother Asaph-Chan was presently made one of the Stars of the first Magnitude that shined in that Indian Court and when he had once gotten so kept the Mogol's Favour by the assistance of his Sister Noor-Mahal that by the Pensions given and many Offices bestowed on him he heaped up a mass of Treasure above all belief as before and married his Daughter unto Sultan Caroom who is now King The Mogol of all his so many Wives and Concubines had but six Children five Sons and one Daughter The Names he gave his Children and others were Names that proceeded from Counsel as he imagined rather than Chance His eldest Son was called Sultan Coobsurroo which signified the Prince with the good Face his Person and Beauty answered his Name for he was a Prince of a very lovely presence His second Son he called Sultan Perum Prince of the Pleiades or of the sweet influences of the Pleiades His third Son now King though that great dignity was never intended to him by his Father was called Sultan Caroom or The Prince of Bounty His fourth Sultan Shahar or The Prince of Fame His fifth and last Son was called by him Sultan Tanct Tanct in the Persian Tongue signifies a Throne and he was named so by the King his Father because the first hour he sat peaceably on his Throne there was News brought him of that Sons Birth Yet the first Son of that King which he hath by any of his married Wives by Prerogative of Birth inherits that Empire the eldest Son of every Man as before is called there the great Brother And he that inherits that Monarchy doth not openly slaughter his younger Brothers as the Turks do yet it is observed that few younger Brothers of those Indostan Kings have long survived their Fathers Yet notwithstanding that long continued custom there for the eldest Son to succeed the Father in that great Empire Achabar Sha Father of that late King upon high and just displeasure taken against his Son for climbing up unto the bed of Anarkelee his Fathers most beloved Wife whose name signified the Kernel of a Pomegranate and for other base actions of his which stirred up his Fathers high displeasure against him resolved to break that ancient custom and therefore often in his life time protested that not he but his Grand-child Sultan Coobsurroo whom he alwayes kept in his Court should succeed him in that Empire And now by the way the manner of that Achabar Sha his death as they report it in India is worthy observation That wicked King was wont often to give unto some of his Nobles whom upon secret displeasure he meant to destroy Pills prepared with Poyson that should presently put them into incurable diseases But the last time he went about to practise that bloody Treachery he dyed himself by his own instrument of death for then having two Pills in his Hand the one very like the other the one Cordial for himself the other Corrosive for one of his Grandees he meant to purge and flattering him with many proffers of Courtesie before he gave him the Pill that he might swallow it down the better at last having held them both in the palm of his Hand long by a mistake took the poysoned Pill himself and gave him the other which Pill put the King immediately into a mortal flux of blood which in few dayes put an end to his life in his City Lahore Neque enim lex justior ulla est Quam necis artifices arte perire sua Achabar Sha thus dead Sultan Coobsurroo his Grand-Child then aged about twenty years took his opportunity at the first bound and
falling into the hands of the Hollanders and being carry'd to Surà t which is the principal seat of all their traffick the most eminent Merchants amongst them strove who should marry them being all passably handsome Two of them were gone from Surà t whether to the abovesaid Colony or elsewhere I know not She that remain'd behind was call'd Donna Lucia a young Woman fair enough and Wife to one of the wealthiest and eminentest Hollanders The President of the Hollanders call'd by them the Commendator who resides in Surà t and has the general superintendency of their affairs in all these parts of the East is at this time Sig Pietro Vandenbroecke a Gentleman of good breeding and very courteous he speaks no Italian but Spanish very well as being born at Antwerp He lives in a goodly Palace which hath many distinct apartments with several entrances into a Court like so many different houses onely included within the same wall which is entred into by one great Gate Here the Commendator holds the best and largest apartment to himself in the rest lodge some of their gravest Merchants which are of the Council for management of affairs in order to their better conveniency and union besides many others of inferior condition which live out of this great inclosure dispers'd elsewhere in the City and when occasion requires they all repair to the Palace of the Commendator Amongst those whose habitation was in the Palace of the Commendator Lucia's Husband has one of the principal where he lives with his family and and Wife whom according to the custom of India he maintains with much splendor and gallantry Now upon their knowledge of our arrival Donna Lucia presently sent her coach to bring Sig Mariuccia to her house for her better accommodation with her till we had setled out business and provided lodgings I was well pleas'd with the motion because till I had well accommodated my self with a place of residence the Sig Mariuccia could not be better dispos'd of then with this Portugal Gentlewoman who is a Christian and withal secretly a Catholick with the privity and connivance of her Husband although in publick she makes a virtue of necessity and in appearance conformes to the unhappy mode of that Nation into whose power the fortune of war and the disaster of her Country-men hath brought her Sig Alberto Scilling had before we came from the Sea-side importun'd me in the name of the Commendator to lodge at his house which favour I much thank'd him for and handsomely declin'd not thinking fit to accept it because I had receiv'd and wav'd the like invitation made to me before by the English President who thought me the more oblig'd to comply with his offer because I came in their Ships But I excus'd my self both to the Commendator and the President partly because I was desirous to be at liberty by my self and partly for that it was requisite for Sig Mariuccia to be amongst Women of which there was none in the English House Being got quit of the Custom-house I went to see for a House and because I was a new comer and and had no servant that knew the City I referr'd my self to the direction of Sig Alberto who took this care upon himself and soon after told me he had sent to get one prepar'd and put in good order But by what I found afterwards he had contriv'd with the Dutch Commendator onely to delude me for as he was carrying me to the place where he pretended to have taken a House for me he made me pass by the Palace of the Hollanders out of the Gate whereof a Gentleman belonging to the Commendator step'd forth and invited me in his name to alight from my Horse and at least stay and dine with him that day the rather because Sig ra Mariuccia was there telling me that it was not convenient for me wait in the streets undecently and tediously whilst a House was preparing for me elsewhere which could not be done so speedily Notwithstanding which reasons I endeavour'd all that possibly I could to decline this invitation out of respect to the English President and with affectionate thanks desir'd the Gentleman to excuse me to the Sig r Commendator straining my self to correspond to his courtesie with the best Complements I had But this avail'd me little for as I was hastening to break off the discourse and be gone the Commendator himself came forth into the street half undress'd as he was in the house and taking hold of my Horse's bridle told me that he would by no means suffer me to go any where else now it was late without certain quarters at least I must needs stay and dine with him that day Beholding him thus on foot before me I alighted in civility from my Horse and with the best words I could endeavour'd to get quit from the courteous violence which he us'd to me But there was no remedy he held me prisoner as I may say and I was fain to stay dinner with him as he desir'd Moreover when night came being I was resolv'd to lodge in another House of mine own under pretext that none could be got though sought for all day wherein I know not whether Sig r Alberto deluded me too I was forc'd to accept of a large House from the Commendator which he had taken for himself before his late removal to that great Palace wherein he liv'd with the rest of his Country-men which former House remaining empty at his charge and disposal I was by his great importunity oblig'd to accept Wherefore I went to lodge there this night and for the conveniency of Sig ra Mariuccia they sent thither one of their Wives a young Christian Woman of Armenian race though born in India with some other women-servants Now lest the English President should take this ill I purpos'd to prevent him with terms of courtesie and the next Morning after a short and the last fit of my Tertian I went to give him a visit and make my excuses to him by representing to him the reasons of what had pass'd with the Hollanders without any voluntary fault of mine But upon my enquiry at his House and sending my message to him I was answer'd that he was not at home although we perceiv'd by certain signes that he was but fairly declin'd to receive my visit Wherefore understanding afterwards that he was much incens'd not onely against me but also against the Holland Commendator conceiving that he had unhandsomely stolne and usurp'd me from him as he said in regard of the interest he had in us upon the account of our being brought thither in their ships and that he had a more particular displeasure against Sig r Alberto knowing him to have been the principal occasion of all I thought it expedient to appease him by all means and upon what ever terms of satisfaction Nevertheless I did not judge it meet to venture another repulse by going to visit him but sent him a
a little water but because every one hath not a drinking-vessel of his own ready to avoid defiling or being defil'd by his companion 's cup there 's a way found out whereby any person may drink in that or any other whatever without scruple or danger of any either active or passive contamination This is done by drinking in such manner that the vessel touches not the lips or mouth of him who drinks for it is held up on high with the hand over the mouth and he that lifts it up highest and holds it farthest from his mouth shews himself most mannerly and thus powring the liquor out of the cup into the mouth they drink round while there is any left or so long as they please So accustom'd are the Indians to drink in this manner that they practise it almost continually with their own vessels for delight without the necessity of shunning communication with others and they are so dextrous at it that I remember to have seen one of them take with both hands a vessel as big as a basin and lifting it up above a span higher then his mouth powre a great torrent of water into his throat and drink it all off Having been frequently present at such occasions that where ever I came the Indians might not be shie of reaching me a cup of water I purposely set my self to learn this manner of drinking which I call drinking in the Air and at length have learn'd it not with cups as big as basins like his abovesaid but with a handsome cruze like those we use or with a little bottle or drinking glass made on purpose I do it very well Sometimes in conversation we drink healths all' Indiana after this fashion with consent that all do reason in the same manner and he that cannot do it right either wets himself well or falls a coughing and yexing which gives occasion of laughter But to return to the opinions of the Indians As for good works and sins they all agree with the Doctrine of Morality and the universal consent of Mankind that there are differences of Virtue and Vice in all the world They hold not onely Adultery but even simple Fornication a great sin nor do they account it lawful as the Mahometans do to have commerce with femal slaves or with others besides their own Wives Yea slaves of either Sex they no-wise admit but hold it a sin making use of free persons for their service and paying them wages as we do in Europe Which likewise was their ancient custom as appears by Strabo who cites Megasthenes and other Authors of those times for it They detest Sodomy above measure and abhor the Mahometans whom they observe addicted to it They take but one Wife and never divorce her till death unless for the cause of Adultery Indeed some either by reason of the remoteness of their Wives or out of a desire to have Children in case the first Wife be barren or because they are rich and potent and are minded to do what none can forbid them sometimes take more Wives but 't is not counted well done unless they be Princes who always in all Nations are priviledged in many things When the Wife dyes they marry another if they please but if the Husband dye the Woman never marries more were she so minded nor could she find any of her own Race who would take her because she would be accounted as bad as infamous in desiring a second Marriage A very hard Law indeed and from which infinite inconveniences arise for not a few young Widows who in regard of their Reputation cannot marry again and have not patience to live chastly commit disorders in private especially with men of other Nations and Religions and with any they find provided it be secret Some Widows are burnt alive together with the bodies of their dead Husbands a thing which anciently not onely the Indian Women did according to what Strabo writes from the Relation of Onesicritus but also the chaste Wives of the Thracians as appears by Julius Solinus But this burning of Women upon the death of their Husbands is at their own choice to do it or not and indeed few practise it but she who doth it acquires in the Nation a glorious name of Honour and Holiness 'T is most usual among great persons who prize Reputation at a higher rate then others do and in the death of Personages of great quality to whom their Wives desire to do Honour by burning themselves quick I heard related at my first coming that a Ragià that is an Indian Prince one of the many which are subject to the Moghol being slain in a battel seventeen of his Wives were burnt alive together with his body which in India was held for great Honour and Magnificence I have heard say for I have not seen any Women burnt alive that when this is to be done the Wife or Wives who are to be burnt inclose themselves in a pile of wood which is lay'd hollow like the rafters of a house and the entrance stop'd with great logs that they may not get out in case they should repent them when the kindled fire begins to offend them Yea divers men stand about the pile with staves in their hands to stir the fire and to powre liquors upon it to make it burn faster and that if they should see the Woman offer to come out or avoid the flames they would knock her on the head with their staves and kill her or else beat her back into the fire because 't would be a great shame to the Woman and all her kindred if she should go to be burnt and then through fear of the fire and death repent and come out of it I have likewise heard it said that some Women are burnt against their own Will their Relations resolving to have it so for Honour of the Husband and that they have been brought to the fire in a manner by force and made besides themselves with things given them to eat and drink for this purpose that they might more easily suffer themselves to be cast into the fire but this the Indians directly deny saying that force is not us'd to any and it may be true at least in Countries where Mahometans command for there no Woman is suffer'd to be burnt without leave of the Governour of the place to whom it belongs first to examine whether the Women be willing besides and for a Licence there is also paid a good sum of money Nevertheless 't is possible too that many Widows being in the height of their passion taken at their word by their kindred who desire it go to it afterwards with an ill will not daring to deny those that exhort them thereunto especially if oblig'd by their word nor to discover their own mind freely to the Governour Things which amongst Women through their natural fearfulness and modesty easily happen And I would to God that in our Countries in
they were contented with a very small gratuity which we gave them The first of March being Ash-Wednesday we set forth by break of day and having travell'd fifteen Cos an hour or little more before night we came to lodge in a competently large Town call'd Soznitrà where I saw Batts as big as Crows The next day March the second beginning our journey early we travell'd twelve Cos and a little after noon arriv'd at Cambaia The Dutch Merchants there understanding by others that we were coming with this Cafila came to meet us a little without the Gate and with their accustomed courtesies conducted us to lodge in their House March the third we went out of the walls to the top of the Tower of that Sepulchre which I said we saw near the Garden of the King of Guzarat to behold from thence being a great prospect upon the Sea the coming in of the Tide which indeed was a pleasant spectacle 'T was New-Moon this day and so a greater Tide then usual and we went to observe it at the punctual time of its being at the height which those people know very well because at that time it increases in less then a quarter of an hour to almost the greatest height it is to have and flows with greatest fury contrary to what happens in other Seas Now at the due time we saw the Sea come roaring a far off like a most rapid River and in a moment overflow a great space of Land rushing with such fury that nothing could have with-stood its force and I think it would have overtaken the swiftest Race-horse in the world A thing verily strange since in other places both the rising and the falling of the Sea in the flux and reflux is done gently in full six hours and with so little motion that 't is scarce perceiv'd After this we went to see another goodly Cistern or Lake without the City formerly not seen of a square form and of a sumptuous marble structure with stairs about it like the others which I had seen elsewhere Afterwards we saw in one of the Suburbs or Hamlets near the City call'd Cansari a Temple of the Gentiles peradventure the goodliest that I have seen with certain Cupola's and high Balconies of tolerable Architecture but no great model This Temple belongs to that Race of Indians who shave their heads a thing unusual to all others who wear long hair like Women and such are call'd Vertià The Idol in it sate on high over an Altar at the upper end in a place somewhat dark ascended by stairs with lamps always burning before it When I went in there was a Man at his Devotions and burning Perfumes before the Idol At some distance from this stands another Temple of like structure but more plain and of a square form within it were seen abundance of Idols of several shapes whose Names and Histories the shortness of time and my unskilfulness in their Language allow'd me not to learn Without the Gate of these Temples I beheld sitting upon the ground in a circle another Troop of those naked Gioghi having their bodies smear'd with Ashes Earth and Colours like those I had seen upon the River of Ahmedabà d they made a ring about their Archimaudrita or Leader who was held in such Veneration not onely by the Religious of their Sect but also by the other secular Indians for Reputation of Holiness that I saw many grave persons go and make low Reverences to him kiss his Hands and stand in an humble posture before him to hear some sentence and He with great gravity or rather with a strange scorn of all worldly things hypocritically made as if he scarce deign'd to speak and answer those that came to honour him These Gioghi are not such by Descent but by Choice as our Religious Orders are They go naked most of them with their bodies painted and smear'd as is above mention'd yet some of them are onely naked with the rest of their bodies smooth and onely their Fore-heads dy'd with Sanders and some red yellow or white colour which is also imitated by many secular persons out of superstition and gallantry They live upon Almes despising clothes and all other worldly things They marry not but make severe profession of Chastity at least in appearance for in secret 't is known many of them commit as many debaucheries as they can They live in society under the obedience of their Superiors and wander about the world without having any setled abode Their Habitations are the Fields the Streets the Porches the Courts of Temples and Trees especially under those where any Idol is worshipt by them and they undergo with incredible patience day and night no less the rigor of the Air then the excessive heat of the Sun which in these sultry Countries is a thing sufficiently to be admir'd They have spiritual exercises after their way and also some exercise of Learning but by what I gather from a Book of theirs translated into Persian and intitl'd Damerdbigiaska and as the Translator saith a rare piece both their exercises of wit and their Learning consist onely in Arts of Divination Secrets of Herbs and other natural things and also in Magick and Inchantments whereunto they are much addicted and boast of doing great wonders I include their spiritual exercises herein because according to the aforesaid Book they think that by the means of those exercises Prayers Fastings and the like superstitious things they come to Revelations which indeed are nothing else but correspondences with the Devil who appears to and deludes them in sundry shapes forewarning them sometimes of things to come Yea sometimes they have carnal commerce with him not believing or at least not professing that 't is the Devil but that there are certain Immortal Spiritual Invisible Women to the number of forty known to them and distinguisht by various forms names and operations whom they reverence as Deities and adore in many places with strange worship so that some Moorisco Princes in India as one of these three pety Kings who reign'd in Decà n Telengane and Meslepaton Cutbsciach as I remember though a Moor yet retaining some reliques of ancient Gentilism makes great Feasts and Sacrifices to one of these Women in certain Grottoes under high Mountains which are in his Country where 't is reported that this Woman hath a particular and beloved habitation and He of the Gioghi that by long spiritual exercises can come to have an apparition of any of these Women who foretells him future things and favours him with the power of doing other wonders is accounted in the degree of perfection and far more if he happen to be adopted by the Immortal Woman for her Son Brother or other Kinsman but above all if he be receiv'd for a Husband and the Woman have carnal commerce with him the Giogho thenceforward remaining excluded from the commerce of all other Women in the world which is the highest degree that can be
know not whether through the Artificers fault who seems to have been little skilful or else because the Indians as I have also heard of the people of Sumatra account it a great Beauty and perfection to have a great Belly This figure of Brahma stands upright and at his Feet two other less carv'd figures which as they say are his two Sons Sunnet and Sunnatan On each side of Brahma stand likewise two Statues of Women somewhat less then Brahma himself and they call them his Wives Savetrì and Gavetrì On the left side of this narrow Temple stand two other figures of the same bigness being two naked Men with long Beards whom they pretend to have been two religious persons I know not whether Doctors or Disciples of Brahma or Pythagoras one is call'd Chescuèr the other Ciavan de Chescuèr On the same side downwards are many other Idolets as one with an Elephants Head and divers others formerly by me mention'd All which Idols are serv'd ador'd perfum'd offer'd to and wash'd every day as for delight for the Indians account it delight to wash often by the Brachmans who assist at their service with much diligence I must not forget that the Banians say this Town Naghera was the King's Seat and principal City anciently the Head of the whole Kingdom of Cambaia and that the City now properly call'd Cambaia and rais'd to greatness by the ruine of this old is a modern thing whence I have sometimes suspected that the Indian Character call'd Naghra us'd by the learned was denominated from this City wherein it was anciently us'd but 't is onely a Conjecture and I have learnt by long and much experience that in the derivation and interpretation of Names especially of Places there is no trusting to the resemblance of Words because by reason of the diversity of Languages and the casual Conformity of Words which signifie things sufficiently different according to the variety of Places gross errors are easily admitted Nagher in the Indian Language signifies a Great City Coming from Naghra I saw some naked and besmeared Men of deportment almost like the incinerated Gioghi who were of a Race of Indians accounted by themselves the most sordid and vile Race of all in India because they eat every thing even the uncleannest Animals as Rats and the like whence â—â—ey are call'd in Persian Hhalal-chor which signifies a Man that accounts it lawful to eat any thing the Indians call them Der and all people in general abhor not onely to converse with but even to touch them Concerning Religion I have heard nothing particular of them but believe them Gentiles as the rest or perhaps Atheists who may possibly hold every thing for lawful as well in believing as in eating They are all sufficiently poor and live for the most part by begging or exercising the most sordid Trades in the Common-wealth which others disdain to meddle with but they either because their Rite teaches them so or necessity inforces them are not at all shie of March the fifth We visited the King's Garden again and many other Gardens where we tasted divers fruits and beheld several Flowers of India unknown in Europe amongst the rest one very odoriferous which I kept in a Paper which they call Ciompa Without the City we saw the Saltpits and also the Field by the Sea-side where the Indians are wont to burn the bodies of their dead which may be known by the reliques of many fires and pieces of bones not wholly burnt which are seen scatter'd about the same The next Morning early we return'd to this Field and saw several Bodies burnt and particularly observ'd the Funeral of one Woman from the beginning to the end They carry the Corps wrapt in a cloth of Cit of a red colour for the most part and much in use among the Indians for other purposes They carry it not upon a Biere as we do but ty'd to and hanging down like a sack from a staff lay'd cross two Men's shoulders They make the funeral pile of wood lay'd together in form of a bed of equal length and breadth and sufficient to receive the Body upon which beginning then to lament with a loud voice they lay the carkass naked and supine with the Face and Feet towards the Sea which I believe is likewise observ'd where the Sea is not towards Rivers Lakes and Cisterns the Indians having a particular devotion to the Water nor do I know that herein they have respect to any Region of Heaven They cover the privities with a piece of wood anoint the Hands and Feet put a coal of fire in the Mouth and then all things being prepar'd they set fire first at the Throat and afterwards to the whole pile round about beginning first at the Head but with their Faces turn'd another way as Virgil saith our Ancestors did Then sprinkle Water on the ground round about the pile which they continually stir up with staves in their Hands and blow with the motion of a cloth to the end the flame may not spread but burn more speedily The body being consum'd by degrees they reduce the fire into a round form and when all is burnt they leave the ashes and sometimes a piece of a bone not wholly consum'd there in the same place The cloth wherein the body was wrapt before it was committed to the pile they give in Charity to some poor person present Such as have where withall are burnt with odoriferous and precious wood in which the rich spâ—â—d much but they that cannot reach so high use ordinary wood Children under two years of age are not burnt but buried as we saw some in the same Field Nor let the Reader wonder that in the same day and hour we hapned to see so many dead persons for besides that Cambaia is a large City and very populous as all the Cities and Lands of India are the Gentiles are wont to perform this Ceremony of the dead onely in the Morning at a set hour and in that place so that all that dye in the whole City during the twenty four hours of the day are brought to that place at the same hour The same day we had News of a Jesuit's coming to Cambaia from Goa with a Cafila of Portugal Frigats which was going for Agrà Whereupon in the Evening Sig Alberto Scilling and I in company of a Venetian Merchant went to visit him at the house where he lodged and having told him that we were to go the next day for Surà t I desir'd him to give a letter to the Jesuits of Daman and Bassaim where I hop'd to touch upon the way to Goa which he very courteously condescending to do we went again the next Morning to see him before we departed March the seventh In the Morning we visited the Father Jesuit who was not a Priest but one of those whom they call Fratelli Brothers or young Fryars He gave me Letters to F. Antonio Albertino an Italian and Rector of their
done other like barbarities whereby he render'd himself very odious to the people Concerning Asaf Chan it was said that he was held in custody by the King as suspected of Rebellion although his affairs were spoken of with much uncertainty and that the King was hastning to come against his Son but was not yet far off and mov'd slowly March the one and twentieth Conceiving the return of the Portugal Cafila from Cambaia to Goa to be near hand and desiring to make a Voyage with the same since in regard of the greatness of my luggage and the length of the way I could not go by Land and 't was not safe going by Sea by reason of the continual incursions of the Mahabar Pirates I dispatch'd a Messenger to Daman a City of the Portugals a little way from Surà t to F. Antonio Albertino Rector of the Colledge of Jesuits with the Letter which their above-mention'd Father had given me in Cambaia and giving him account of my self and my intention I desir'd him to send me from Daman one of those Light Vessels which they call Almadiae and are of that swiftness that they are not at all afraid of Pirates to carry me from Surà t to Daman where I desir'd to meet the Cafila For I could not go by a Boat of Surà t since the Mariners of Surà t would not have taken my Goods aboard which were in the English Ships without first carrying them into the City to make them pay Custom whereby I might have been put to a great deal of trouble of going backward and forward as also upon the account of the Moorish Books which I had with me and reliques of Sig Maani Wherefore to prevent these intricacies I pray'd the Father to send me a Boat from Daman to take me in not at the City but at the Port where the Ships ride and where I intended to be with my Goods ready upon the shore of Sohali And to the end this Portugal Boat might come securely and not fear I sent him two safe Conducts one from the English and the other from the Dutch although there was no necessity of them because Boats come many times secretly from Daman without such safe Conduct to sell Commodities to the English Ships March the fifteenth Was the first day of the Feast of the Indian-Gentiles which they celebrate very solemnly at the entrance of the Spring with dancings through the street and casting Orange Water and red Colours in jest one upon another with other festivities of Songs and Mummeries as I have formerly seen the same in Sphahan where also reside constantly a great number of Banians and Indian-Gentiles Yet the solemnity and concourse of people was greater then in Persia as being in their own Country and a City inhabited in a great part by Gentiles and wealthier persons Otherwise I saw nothing at Surat during these three Festival Days but what I had seen already at Sphahan and have mention'd in my Writings from that place March the eighteenth Being invited to the Dutch House we there saw the Contract of Sig ra Mariam the Daughter of the abovesaid Armenian or Syrian Merchant Resident Ahmedabad with Sig r Guiglielmo a Dutch-man which was follow'd by a sumptuous Dinner at which were all the Christian Dames of Europe that liv'd at Surat to attend upon the Bride namely one Portugal Woman taken in the last Ships which were surpriz'd by the Dutch and married likewise to a Dutch man Mary Bagdadina Wife to another Hollander and with them also my young Mariam Tinatìn and another born in India and contracted to a Dutch-man of which Nation many upon the encouragement of certain priviledges granted them by the State marry Wives in India of any kind either white Women or black and go to people New Batavia which they have built in Java Major near a place which they call Giacatora and they that cannot light upon free-Free-women for Marriage buy slaves and make them their lawful Wives to transport thither At this entertainment were present also the President of the English with all those of his Nation all the Dutch Merchants the Brides Brother Sig Alberto Scilling my self and in short all the Europaean Christians that were in Surat March the one and twentieth A Post came to the Dutch Merchants from Agra with fresh News that Sultan Chorròm had besides the former given a new sack to the said City and the Souldiers committing the like and greater Cruelties exasperated perhaps at their being valorously repuls'd in assaulting the Castle with loss of many of their Companions March the two and twentieth This Morning the Messenger whom I had sent to Daman return'd to Surat with the answer which I expected F. Antonio writ me word that there was but one of those Light Vessels belonging to Daman and it was now at Surat being lately come thither the Master of which was one Sebastian Luis wherefore he advis'd me to agree with him for my transportation and in case he were already gone then I should advertise him thereof at Daman and they would speedily send him back for which purpose they kept the safe Conducts which I had sent for security of the Vessel But having presently found the abovesaid Sebastian Luis I have agreed with him to bring his Boat out of the River to the Sea-side and take me in at the Port which is some distance from the mouth of the River where I have appointed to meet him to morrow morning It remains onely that I take leave of the Dutch Commendator and the English President from whom I have receiv'd infinite Obligations during all my residence here particularly to the Sig r Commendator the remembrance whereof shall continue with me during Life I hope God willing to write to you speedily from Goa and in the mean time humbly kiss your Hands LETTER II. From Goa April 27. 1623. I Now salute you my dear Sig Mario from Goa in India indeed I am but no Indian Having pass'd through the Syrian and afterwards the Persian Garb I am again transvested into our Europaean In Turkie and Persia you would not have known me but could not mistake me in India where I have almost resum'd my first shape This is the third transformation which my Beard hath undergone having here met with an odd Barber who hath advanc'd my mustachios according to the Portugal Mode and in the middle of my chin shaven after the Persian Mode he hath left the Europaean tuft But to continue my Diary where I left off in my last Letter which was about my departure from Surà t March the three and twentieth Having taken leave of all Friends a little after Dinner I set forth to depart but met with so many obstacles in the Dogana or Custom-house that they detain'd me till almost night before I could get away The occasion was this In the Pass given me without which none can depart the Governour three times expresly prohibited my Persian Servant Cacciatùr to go with me and this
themselves into circles here and there danc'd and sung yet their dancing was nothing else but an easie walking round their snappers alwayes sounding onely sometimes they would stretch forth their legs and now and then cowre down as if they were going to sit one constantly singing and the rest repeating the word Colè Colè There wanted not other Donne ballatrici dancing-Dancing-women who exceeded the former in skill and dexterity But in conclusion they gather'd into several companies to supper with the other Women that accompany'd them so did the Men also some with their Wives and some alone of which there wanted not who invited us not to eat with them for they communicate not with strangers at the Table but to take some of their fare which we thank'd them for but accepted not being delighted onely to see them feast so together dispers'd in several places of the Garden this being the night that the Fast ended The same night a Post from Goa brought the Ambassador a Letter from the Vice-Roy with another for Vitulà Sinay and a third from the Captain of Onòr The Ambassador imparted his intelligence to none but forbad the Post to let it be known that he had brought Letters whence I conceiv'd that the News was not good otherwise it would have been presently publish'd onely I heard some obscure talk of the Malabarians but I would not inquire further into the matter as that which did not belong to me especially amongst the Portugals who are very close and reserv'd towards strangers November the tenth I saw passing along the street a Nephew of Venk-tapà Naieka his Sisters Son a handsome youth and fair for that Country he was one of those that aspire to the succession of this State and was now returning from the fields without the Town whither he uses to go every Morning He is call'd Sedà -Siva Naieka and was attended with a great number of Souldiers both Horse and Foot marching before him and behind with many Cavaliers and Captains of quality himself riding alone with great gravity He had before him Drums Cornets and every sort of their barbarous instruments Moreover both in the Front and in the Rear of the Cavalcade were I know not whether for magnificence or for guard several Elephants carrying their guides upon their backs and amongst them was also carried his Palanchino or Litter November the eleventh The Ambassador went again to Audience to present to Venk-tapà Naieka the Letter writ to him in the King of Spain's Name and declare what that King requir'd of him He went alone without any of us or of the Portugals his Companions either not willing that we should be present at the debating of business or because he went in a Palanchino and had his two Horses led before him but there were neither Palanchino's nor Horses enow in the House for the rest of us With those that came to fetch him came also a publick Dancing-woman who perform'd a prety piece of Agility in his presence for standing upon one foot when the Drums and other instruments sounded with the other she swiftly turn'd round in the Air a large Iron Ring about a span in Diametre without letting it fall off her great Toe and at the same time with one hand toss'd two Cymbals or brass balls catching one in her Hand whilst the other was aloft and so alternately and very nimbly without ever letting them fall which indeed was great dexterity to be imploy'd at the same time with the foot and the hand standing firm all the while on the other foot without support and yet attending to the Musick and this for a good space together during which an old Man with a white beard and bald head who brought her stood behind her crying all the while Ahùd Ahùd Ahùd which in their Language signifies as much as Good Good Good The Ambassador return'd quickly from Audience but made not a word of any thing The King frequently sent him things to eat particularly fruits out of season to wit brought to him from far distant places amongst which we had Ziacche which I take to be the same with Zátte which is a kind of Gourd a fruit very rare at this time and also Indian Melons which how good soever are worth nothing at any time the Climate not being for such fruits November the twelfth I took the height of the Sun at Ikkerì and found the Meridian Altitude 31. degrees He was now in the 19th degree of Scorpio and consequently declin'd from the Aequinoctial towards the South 17. gr 29′ 23″ which substracted from the 31. degrees in which I found the Sun there remain 13. gr 30′ 37″ and such is the Elevation of the Pole at Ikkerì which must be also as many degrees to wit 13. gr 30′ 37″ distant from the Aequinoctial towards the North. At dinner the Ambassador told us that the King of Spain's Letter which he had presented the day before to Venk-tapà Naieka concern'd not any business but was onely of complement and particularly to give him much thanks for having of late years refus'd to sell Pepper to the English and Dutch who had been at his Court to buy it and also for the good Amity he held with the Portugals which he desir'd might encrease every day That of the affairs of Banghel or any others he said nothing referring all to the Vice-Roy and the Embassador whom the Vice-Roy had sent to him Wherewith Venk-tapà Naieka was very well pleas'd and he had reason for during the present State of the Portugals affairs I certainly think they will not speak a word to him of Banghel nor of any thing else that may be disgustful to him The same day the Ambassador had been at Court being invited to see solemn Wrastling at the Palace We did not accompany him for want of Horses and Palanchinoes but at night he told us Vitulà Sinay ask'd much for me wishing I had been present at this Wrastling which was exercis'd by Persons very stout and expert therein because he had heard that I writ down what I saw remarkable However Caravaglio Montegro and my self not going thither went out of Ikkerì half a League Northwards to see another new City which Venk-tapà hath begun to build there 'T is call'd Saghèr and is already prety well inhabited with Houses all made of Earth after their manner The Palace is finish'd and Venk-tapà frequently goes to it as also a Temple built upon a great Artificial Lake a House for his Nephews and other Grandees with all conveniencies thereunto particularly great Stalls for Elephants of which he keeps here above eighty we saw many of them here some for War large and handsome A Market was kept this day in Saghèr as 't is the custom every Sunday and at Ikkerì every Fryday There was a great concourse of people but nothing to sell besides necessaries for food and clothing after their manner The way between Ikkerì and Saghèr is very handsome plain broad almost
the General in his Name carry him new refreshments of Fruits and desire him not to depart so soon But before I proceed further for the better understanding of what I have already written I will here present to your view a rough and unmeasur'd Plat-form of the Samorì's Palace and the place where he gave us Audience 1. The little Piazza without the first Gate of the Palace 2. The first Gate guarded with Balisters 3. A great Court within the first Gate which should be longer in proportion to the bredth but is drawn thus in regard of the scantness of the paper it hath lodgings about it in several places 4. The King's House and the Apartment of his Women 5. The Porch of the said House 6. The second Gate 7 A dark Room lock'd up 8. A Door leading into the little Court 9. Several Lodgings 10. The little Court 11. The place whence the wild Swine was brought 12. The King denoted in several places according as he mov'd whilst he was speaking 13. The King 's two Neeces 14. A great Man of the King 's who serv'd for Interpreter 15. The Queen in the higher Cloyster 16. Our Company with a greater number of Courtiers on each side of us than the place allows to be here denoted 17. Our Captain in the close of the Audience and when he receiv'd the Lagne Being dismiss'd by the Samorì as is above-said we return'd to the Sea-side to go aboard it being now night but because there were but two or three very small boats in each of which not above two or three could go at a time in regard the Sea was some-what rough and we were many it came to be above one a clock in the night before we all got aboard Our Captain was one of the first and he went presently to give an account of what had pass'd this day between us and the Samorì to the General who was minded to depart forth-with but understanding that the Souldiers were not yet all embarqued and particularly the Captain telling him that I was still on shore he gave order to move but slowly in expectation of me In the mean time the Samorì's Messenger went to him to desire him to stay a little longer whereupon the General though he knew it would be of little importance in reference to the Treaty of Peace yet not to appear discourteous and perhaps also upon account of some expediency in order to our Navigation he determined to stay all this night in the Port of Calecut The Messenger returning ashoar with this answer found me alone of all the Fleer still there where some of the principal Nairì kept me company all the while and left me not till they saw me in the Boat using much diligence to dispatch all others as soon as possible and in the mean time that we waited which was above an hour holding me by the hand and expressing many other caresses and demonstrations of kindness to me Before I leave Calecut I shall here observe one strange custom of the people of these parts The Gentil Nairi have no peculiar Wives but all Women are common amongst them and when any man repairs to visit one of them he leaves his weapons at the door which sign sufficiently debars all others from entring in to disturb him nor does this course beget any disgust or jealousie The Women are maintained by those men that have to do with them The children neither seek nor many times know who their Father is but that descent by the Mother's side is alone considered and according to that all inheritances are transferred The same is observed among Princes and their Wives the Queens who are the King's Sisters use to marry other neighbouring Kings and go into their States to have children who are to succeed in the Kingdoms of their Uncles and by this means are of Royal blood both by Father and Mother These Princesses are held in great esteem by the Kings their Husbands yet if they are minded to try other men they are not prohibited but may and oftentimes do so making use of whom they fancy for their pleasure but especially of some Brachmans or other of their Husband 's principal Courtiers who with their privity and consent are wont to converse and practise with them most intrinsecally in the Palace The King and all others as I have said commonly go naked only they have a cloth wherewith they are girded reaching to the mid-leg Yet when upon any occasion the King is minded to appear much in Majesty he puts on only a white Vestment of very fine Cotton never using either Cloth of Gold or Silk Others also when they please may wear the like garment but not in the King's presence in which 't is not lawful for any to appear otherwise then naked saving the Cloth above-mentioned The Arms which every one wears must not be laid aside at any time especially not before the King and as I have elsewhere noted every one keeps to one sort of Arms which he first takes to without ever changing When two Kings happen to war together each Army takes great heed not to kill the contrary King nor so much as to strike his Umbrella wherever it goes which is amongst them the Ensign of Royalty because besides that it would be a great sin to have a hand in Royal blood the party or side which should kill or wound him would expose themselves to great and irreparable mischiefs in regard of the Obligation the whole Kingdom of the wounded or slain King hath to revenge him with the greatest destruction of their enemies even with the certain loss of their own lives if it be needful By how much such Kings are of greater dignity among them so much longer this obligation of furious revenge endureth So that if the Samorì should be killed or wounded by the Army of the King of Cocin who is his enemy but of greater dignity the people of the Samorì stand obliged to one day of revenge others say three days during which every one is obliged to act their utmost to the utter destruction of those of Cocin even with the manifest hazard of their own But if the King of Cocin who hath a greater repute for honour at least if not for power should happen to be slain or wounded by the people of the Samorì the fury of revenge is to last in those of Cocin all the time of their lives others say once a year which would cause a great destruction of both sides They call this term of time or manner of revenge Amocò so that they say the Amocò of the Samorì lasts one day the Amocò of the King of Cocin lasts all the life and so of others Of the Malabars who live mixt with the Nairi in the Maritime Parts and are Moors in Religion and all other Customs I heard onely this Remarkable That by a receiv'd and universal practise amongst the Women they will never lie under the Men in the Act
interrupt his devotion for a Mahometan to pray five times a day and for one that is called a Christian not to pray some believing themselves above this and other Ordinances five times in a week a moneth a year But this will admit less cause of wonder if we consider how that many bearing the Names of Christians cannot pray at all those I mean which are prophane and filthy and who live as if there were no God to hear or to judg and no Hell to punish Such as these can but babble they cannot pray for they blaspheme the Name of God while they may think they adore it I shall add here a short story It happened that I once having some discourse with a Mahometan of good quality and speaking with him about his frequent praying I told him that if himself and others of his profession who did believe it as a duty to pray so often could conclude their Petitions in the Name of Jesus Christ they might find much comfort in those their frequent performances in that great duty He answered that I needed not to trouble my self with that for they found as great comfort as they could desire in what they did And presently he would needs infer this Relation There was said he a most devout Mussleman who had his habitation in a great City where Mahomet was zealously professed that man for many years together spent his whole day in the Mosquit or Church in the mean time he minding not the world at all became so poor that he had nothing left to buy bread for his family yet notwithstanding his poor condition he was resolved still to ply his devotions and in a morning when he perceived that there was nothing at all left for the further subsistence of himself and houshold took a solemn leave of his wife and children resolving for his part to go and pray and dye in the Mosquit leaving his family if no relief came to famish at home But that very day he put on this resolution there came to his house in his absence a very beautiful young man as he appeared to be who brought and gave unto his wife a very good quantity of Gold bound up in a white Napkin telling her that God had now remembred her husband and sent him his pay for his constant pains taken in his devotion withall charging her not to send for her husband for though he had taken such a solemn leave of her that morning yet he would come home to her again that night and so he departed from her The woman presently bought in some necessaries for her house for they had eaten up all before and further made some good provision for her husband against his coming home in the evening for so he did and finding all his family very cheerful and merry his wife presently told him that there had been such a one there as before described and left so much gold behind him with that fore-mentioned message delivered with it Her husband presently replied that it was the Angel Gabriel sent from God for the Mahometans speak much of that Angel and he further added that himself had nothing to bring home unto her but a little grett or sand which he took up in his way homeward and bound it in his girdle which he presently opening to shew her it was all turn'd into precious stones which amounted unto a very great value in money The seventh part of which as of his gold likewise he presently gave to the poor for said he a Mussleman is very charitable and then inferr'd that if we do not neglect God God will not forget us but when we stand most in need of help will supply us Unto which conclusion we may all subscribe leaving the premises which are laid down in that story unto those that dare believe them The Mahometans say that they have the Books of Moses but they have very much corrupted that story in ascribing that to Ishmael which is said of Isaac Gen. 22. as if Ishmael should have been sacrificed not Isaac of which more afterward They say that they have the Book of Davids Psalms and some Writings of Solomon with other parcels of the Old Testament which if so I believe are made much to vary from their Original They speak very much in the honour of Moses whom they call Moosa Calim-Alla Moses the publisher of the mind of God So of Abraham whom they call Ibrahim Carim-Alla Abraham the honoured or friend of God So of Ishmael whom they call Ismal The Sacrifice of God So of Jacob whom they call Acob The blessing of God So of Joseph whom they call Eesoff The betrayed for God So of David whom they call Dahood The lover and praiser of God So of Solomon whom they call Selymon The wisdom of God all expressed as the former in short Arabian words which they sing in Ditties unto their particular remembrances And by the way many of the Mahometans there are called by the names of Moosa or Ibrahim or Ismal or Acob or Eesoff or Dahood or Selymon so others are called Mahmud or Chaan which signifies the Moon or Frista which signifies a Star c. And they call their women by the names of Flowers or Fruits of their Country or by the names of Spices or Odours or of Pearls or precious Stones or else by other names of pretty or pleasing signification As Job named one of his daughters Jemimah which signifies Clear as the day the second Keziah which signifies pleasant as Cassia or sweet Spice And the name of the third Keren-happuch signifying The Horn or strength of beauty Job 42.14 But I 'll return again to that people that I may acquaint my Reader with one thing of special observation and 't is this That there is not one among the Mahometans of any understanding which at any time mentions the name of our blessed Saviour called there Hazaret Eesa the Lord Christ but he makes mention of it with high reverence and respect For they say of Christ that he was a good man and a just that he lived without sin that he did greater miracles then ever any before or since him nay further they call him Rha-how-Alla the breath of God but how he should be the Son of God they cannot conceive and therefore cannot believe Perhaps the Socinians first took that their opinion from these which bids them to have every thing they receive as truth to be cleared up unto them by the strength of Reason as if there were no need of the exercise of Faith And truly I must needs confess that to believe the Incarnation of the Son of God is one of the hardest and greatest tasks for Faith to encounter withall that God should be made a Man that this Man Christ should be born of a Virgin that Life should spring from Death and that from Contempt and Scorn Triumph and Victory should come c. But Christians must bind up all their thoughts as to
before but in some open place in a Grave which they dig very deep and wide a Jewish custom likewise to carry the Bodies of their Dead to bury them out of their Cities and Towns Their mourning over their Dead is most immoderate for be-besides that day of general lamentation at the end of their Ram-jan or Lent before-mentioned they houl and cry many whole days for their friends departed immediately after they have left the world and after that time is passed over many foolish women so long as they survive very often in the year observe set days to renew their mourning for their deceased friends and as a people without hope bedew the graves of their husbands as of other their near relations with abundance of seemingly affectionate tears as if they were like those mourning women mentioned Jer. 9.17 who seemed to have tears at command and therefore were hired to mourn and weep in their solemn lamentations And when they thus lament over their dead they will often put this question to their deaf and dead Carkasses Why they would die they having such loving wives such loving friends and many other comforts as if it had been in their power to have rescued themselves from that most impartial wounding hand of death Which carriage of theirs deserves nothing but censure and pity though if it be not Theatrical we may much wonder at it and say of it as it was said of the mourning in the floor of Atad Gen. 50.11 That it is a grievous mourning or as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon Zech. 12.11 if we take those lamentations only in a literal sence But now further concerning their places of Burial many Mahometans of the greatest quality in their life-time provide fair Sepulchres for themselves and nearests friends compassing with a firm wall a good circuit of ground near some Tank before spoken of about which they delight to bury their dead or else they close in a place for this use near springs of water that may make pleasant fountains near which they erect little Mosquits or Churches and near them Tombs built round or four-square or in six or eight squares with round Vaults or Canopies of stone over-head all which are excellently well wrought and erected upon Pillars or else made close to be entered by doors every way under which the bodies of their dead lye interred The rest of that ground thus circled in they plant with Fruit-trees and further set therein all their choicest flowers as if they would make Elysian fields such as the Poets dream'd of wherein their souls might take repose There are many goodly Monuments which are richly adorned built as before was observed to the memory of such as they have esteemed Paeres or Saints of whom they have a large Kalender in which are Lamps continually burning attended by votaries unto whom they allow Pensions for the maintaining of those lights and many transported there with wild devotion daily resort to those Monuments there to contemplate the happiness those Paeres as they imagine now enjoy And certainly of all the places that Empire affords there are none that minister more delight than some of their Burying places do neither do they bestow so much cost nor shew so much skill in Architecture in any other Structures as in these Now amongst many very fair Piles there dedicated to the remembrance of their dead the most famous one is at Secandra a Village three miles from Agra it was begun by Achabar-sha the late Mogols Father who there lies buried and finished by his Son who since was laid up beside him The materials of that most stately Sepulchre are Marble of divers colours the stones so closely cemented together that it appears to be but one continued stone built high like a Pyramis with many curiosities about it and a fair Mosquit by it the Garden wherein it stands very large planted as before and compassed about with a wall of Marble this most sumptuous Pile of all the Structures that vast Monarchy affords is most admired by strangers Tom Coryat had a most exact view thereof and so have many other English-men had all which have spoken very great things of it And now Reader I have done with this and shall proceed to speak more particularly SECTION XIX Of the Hindoo's or Heathens which inhabite that Empire c. AND for these the first thing I shall take notice of is that they agree with others in the world about the first Roots of Mankind Adam and Eve and the first of them they call Babba Adam or Adamah Father Adam and the second Mamma Havah Mother Eve And from Adam they call a man Adami For Adam they further say that when his wife was tempted to eat the forbidden fruit she took it and chaw'd it and then swallowed it down but when her husband was swallowing it the hand of God stop'd it in his Throat and from hence they say that every man hath there an hollow bunch which women have not The names they give to distinguish one man from another are many and amongst them these following are very common As Juddo or Midas or Cooregee or Hergee and the like Casturia and Prescotta are Womens names amongst them but whether these as those names they call their men or women by are names of signification or only of sound I know not Those Hindoo's are a very laborious and an industrious people these are they which Till and Plant the Ground and breed the Cattle these are they which make and sell those curious Manufactures or the Cloath and Stuff which this Empire affords This people marry into and consequently still keep in their own Tribes Sects Occupations and Professions For instance all Bramins which are their Priests the Sons of all which are Priests likewise are married to Bramins daughters so a Merchants son marries a Merchants daughter and so men of several Trades marry to the same Trade Thus a Coolee who is a Tiller of the Ground marries his son to a Coolees daughter and so in all other professions they keep themselves to their own Tribes and Trades not mixing with any other by which means they never advance themselves higher than they were at first They take but one wife and of her they are not so fearful and jealous as the Mahometans are of their several wives and women for they suffer their wives to go abroad whither they please They are married very young about six or seven years old their Parents making Matches for them who lay hold of every opportunity to bestow their Children Because confin'd to their own Tribes they have not such variety of choice as otherwise they might have and when they attain to the age of thirteen or fourteen or fifteen years at the most they bed together Their Marriages are solemnized as those of the Mahometans with much company and noise but with this difference that both the young couple ride openly on horse-back and for the
gay and gorgious apparel for the Country is so hot that they cannot endure any thing that is very warm or massie or rich about them The Mogol himself for the most part is covered with a garment as before described made of pure white and fine Callico-laune and so are his Nobles which garments are washed after one days wearing But for the Mogol though his cloathing be not rich and costly yet I believe that there is never a Monarch in the whole world that is daily adorned with so many Jewels as himself is Now they are Jewels which make mens covering most rich such as people in other parts sometimes wear about them that are otherwise most meanly habited To which purpose I was long since told by a Gentleman of honour sent as a Companion to the old Earl of Nottingham when he was imployed as an extraordinary Embassadour by King James to confirm the peace made 'twixt himself and the King of Spain which Embassadour had a very great many Gentlemen in his train in as rich clothing as Velvets and Silks could make but then there did appear many a great Don or Grandee in the Spanish Court in a long black bays Cloak and Cassack which had one Hatband of Diamonds which was of more worth by far than all the bravery of the Ambassadors many Followers But for the Mogol I wonder not at his many Jewels he being as I conceive the greatest and richest Master of precious stones that inhabits the whole earth For Diamonds which of all other are accounted most precious stones they are found in Decan where the Rocks are out of which they are digged the Princes whereof are the next Neighbours and Tributaries to the great Mogol and they pay him as Tribute many Diamonds yearly and further he hath the refusal of all those rich stones they sell he having Gold and Silver in the greatest abundance and that will purchase any thing but heaven he wil part with any mony for any Gems beside that are precious and great whether Rubies or any other stones of value as also for rich Pearls And his Grandees follow him in that fancy for one of his great Lords gave our Merchants there twelve hundred pounds sterling for one Pearl which was brought out of England The Pearl was shaped like a Pear very large beautiful and orient and so its price deserved it should be Now the Mogol having such an abundance of Jewels wears many of them daily enow to exceed those women which Rome was wont to shew in their Star-like dresses who in the height and prosperity of that Empire were said to wear The spoils of Nations in one ear Or Lollia Paulina who was hid with Jewels For the great Mogol the Diamonds and Rubies and Pearls which are very many and daily worn by him are all of an extraordinary greatness and consequently of an exceeding great value And besides those he wears about his Shash or head covering he hath a long Chain of Jewels hanging about his Neck as long as an ordinary Gold-Chain others about his wrists and the Hilts of his Sword and Dagger are most curiously enriched with those precious Stones beside others of very great value which he wears in Rings on his fingers The first of March the Mogol begins a royal Feast like that which Ahasuerus made in the third year of his Reign Esth. 1. wherein he shewed the riches of his glorious Kingdom This feast the Mogol makes is called the Nooroos that signifies Nine-days which time it continues to usher in the new year which begins with the Mahometans there the tenth day of March. Against which Feast the Nobles assemble themselves together at that Court in their greatest Pomp presenting their King with great gifts and he requiting them again with Princely rewards at which time I being in his presence beheld most immense and incredible riches to my amazement in Gold Pearls Precious stones Jewels and many other glittering vanities This Feast is usually kept by the Mogol while he is in his Progress and lodges in Tents Whether his Diet at this time be greater than ordinary I know not for he always eats in private amongst his Women where none but his own Family see him while he is eating which Family of his consists of his Wives and Children and Women and Eunuchs and his Boys and none but these abide and lodge in the Kings Houses or Tents and therefore how his Table is spread I could never know but doubtless he hath of all those varieties that Empire affords if he so please His food they say is served in unto him in Vessels of Gold which covered and brought unto him by his Eunuchs after it is proved by his Tasters he eats not at any set times of the day but he hath provision ready at all times and calls for it when he is hungry and never but then The first of September which was the late Mogol's birth-day he retaining an ancient yearly Custom was in the presence of his chief Grandees weighed in a Balance the Ceremony was performed within his House or Tent in a fair spacious Room whereinto none were admitted but by special leave The Scales in which he was thus weighed were plated with Gold and so the beam on which they hung by great Chains made likewise of that most precious Metal the King sitting in one of them was weighed first against silver Coin which immediately after was distributed among the poor then was he weighed against Gold after that against Jewels as they say but I observed being present there with my Lord Ambassador that he was weighed against three several things laid in silken Bags on the contrary Scale When I saw him in the Balance I thought on Belshazzar who was found too light Dan. 5.27 By his weight of which his Physicians yearly keep an exact account they presume to guess of the present estate of his body of which they speak flatteringly however they think it to be When the Mogol is thus weighed he casts about among the standers by thin pieces of silver and some of Gold made like flowers of that Countrey and some of them are made like Cloves and some like Nutmegs but very thin and hollow Then he drinks to his Nobles in his Royal wine as that of Ahasuerus is called Esth. 1.7 who pledge his health at which solemnity he drank to my Lord Ambassadour in a Cup of Gold most curiously enameled and set all over the outside with stones which were small Rubies Turkesses and Emeralds with a Cover or Plate to set in it in both of pure Gold the brims of which plate and the cover were enameled and set with stones as the other and all these together weighed twenty and four ounces of our English weights which he then gave unto my Lord Ambassadour whom he ever used with very much respect and would moreover often ask him why he did not desire some good and great gifts at his hands be being a
women to a miserable death one of his women he had formerly touched and kept Company withall but now she was superannuated for neither himself nor Nobles as they say come near their wives or women after they exceed the age of thirty years though they keep them and allow them some maintenance The fault of that woman this the Mogol upon a time found her one of his Eunuchs kissing one another and for this very thing the King presently gave command that a round hole should be made in the earth and that her body should be put into that hole where she should stand with her head only above ground and the earth to be put in again unto her close round about her that so she might stand in the parching Sun till the extream hot beams thereof did kill her in which torment she lived one whole day and the night following and almost till the next noon crying out most lamentably while she was able to speak in her language as the Shunamits Child did in his 2 King 4. Ah my head my head Which horrid execution or rather murder was acted near our house where the Eunuch by the command of the said King was brought very near the place where this poor Creature was thus buried alive and there in her sight cut all into pieces That great King would be often overcome by Wine yet as if he meant to appropriate that sin to himself would punish others with very much severity who were thus distempered Sometimes for little or no faults the Mogol would cause men to be most severely whipt till they were almost ready to die under the rod which after they must kiss in thankfulness He caused one of his servants of the higher rank to be very much whipt for breaking a China-Cup he was commanded to keep safe and then sent him into China which is a marvellous distance from thence to buy another Sometimes in other of his mad distempers he would condemn men to servitude or dismember or else put them to death as sacrifices to his will and passion not Justice So that it might be said of him quando male nemo pejus that when he did wickedly none could do worse as if it had been true of him which was spoken of that monster Nero observed before who was called Lutum sanguine maceratum Dirt soaked in blood For his good actions he did relieve continually many poor people and not seldom would shew many expressions of duty and strong affection to his Mother then living so that he who esteemed the whole world as his Vassals would help to carry her in a Palankee upon his shoulders The Mogol would often visit the Cells of those he esteemed religious men whose Persons he esteemed sacred as if they had been Demigods And he would speak most respectively of our blessed Saviour Christ but his Parentage his poverty and his cross did so confound his thoughts that he knew not what to think of them Lastly the Mogol is very free and noble unto all those which fall into and abide in his affection which brings me now to speak SECTION XXVI Of the exceeding great Pensions the Mogol gives unto his Subjects how they are raised and how long they are continued c. WHich great revenues that many of them do enjoy makes them to live like great Princes rather than other men Now for those Pensions which are so exceeding great the Mogol in his far extended Monarchy allows yearly pay for one Million of Horse and for every Horse and Man about eighteen pounds sterling per annum which is exactly paid every year raised from Land and other Commodities which that Empire affords and appointed for that purpose Now some of the Mogol's most beloved Nobles have the pay of six thousand horse and there are others at the least twenty in his Empire which have the pay of 5000 horse exceeding large Pensions above the revenue of any other Subjects in the whole World they amounting unto more than one hundred thousand pounds yearly unto a particular man Now others have the pay of four thousand horse others of three or two or one thousand horse and so downward and these by their proportions are appointed to have horses always in readiness well mann'd and otherwise appointed for the Kings service so that he who hath the pay of five or six thousand must always have one thousand in readiness or more according to the Kings need of them and so in proportion all the rest which enables them on a sudden to make up the number at the least of two hundred thousand horse of which number they have always at hand one hundred thousand to wait upon the King wheresoever he is There are very many private men in Cities and Towns who are Merchants or Trades-men that are very rich but it is not safe for them that are so so to appear lest that they should be used as fill'd Sponges But there is never a Subject in that Empire who hath Land of inheritance which he may call his own but they are all Tenants at the will of their King having no other title to that they enjoy besides the Kings favour which is by far more easily lost than gotten It is true that the King advanceth many there unto many great honours and allows them as before marvellous great revenues but no Son there enjoys either the Titles or Means of his Father that hath had Pensions from that King for the King takes possession of all when they are dead appointing their Children some competent means for their subsistence which they shall not exceed if they fall not into the Kings affection as their Fathers did wherefore many great men in this Empire live up to the height of their means and therefore have a very numerous train a very great retinue to attend upon them which makes them to appear like Princes rather than Subjects Yet this their necessary dependance on their King binds them unto such base subjection as that they will yield with readiness unto any of his unreasonable and willful commands As Plutarch writes of the Souldiers of Scipio Nullus est horum qui non conscensa turri semet in mare praecipaturus sit si jussero There was never a one in his Army by his own report that would not for a word of his mouth have gone up into a Tower and cast himself thence head-long into the Sea and thus the people here will do any thing the King commands them to do so that if he bid the Father to lay hands of violence upon his Son or the Son upon his Father they will do it rather than the will of the King should be disobeyed Thus forgetting Nature rather than Subjection And this tye of theirs I say upon the Kings favour makes all his Subjects most servile flatterers for they will commend any of his actions though they be nothing but cruelty so any of his speeches though nothing but folly And