very welcome by these Captains who divided us betwixt them Our Monks went on board of Captain Santi and we who were Seculars were taken into the Ship of Captain Nicolo These two Ships were Consorts and had on board each an hundred and forty Men with fourteen Oars aside which they could use in case of necessity setting two Men to each Oar. The Ship we were in had four and twenty Petreras and two great Guns all of Brass besides a great number of Muskets and Blunderbusses and the other was as well armed They had besides a Galliot which they had made of a Sanbiquer they had taken near to Scandaroon and armed with six brazen Petreras and a fair brass chase-Gun having manned her with eighty of their Men forty a piece and that was the same Galliot which had given us the chase the day before One of these Corsairs had been six and thirty and the other forty Months out at Sea. I wondred to see on board the Ship where we were several Slaves Men Women and Children and they told me that they had taken most of them at Castel Peregrino some days before having surprised the Castle in this manner When they had took this Sanbiquer which as I said they turned into a Galliot a Turk about Scandaroon who was taken in her made a Proposal to them that if they would give him his liberty he would put them in a way of taking many Slaves They presently made him a Promise but he not trusting to their Word for all he was a Turk made them Swear it before an Image of our Blessed Lady and another of St. Francis. When they had given their Oath he made them steer their course toward Castel Peregrino which is a pitiful little open Castle betwixt Acre and Jaffa ten miles below Mount Carmel on the way to Jaffa They took their measures so well that they were not at all perceived and having immediately landed they went without any noise to the Habitation where being come they began to appear in their Colours The Surprisal of an Habitation by Italian Corsairs carrying away all living Creatures Men Women and Children and killing all without regard to Age or Sex that would not willingly go along with them insomuch that some Soldiers told me that they had killed young Maids who notwithstanding they had seen others that would not follow killed before their faces chose rather to be put to Death than to be made Slaves They shewed me one of their Officers to whom a Soldier brought a Child four months old telling him Here is a Slave for you who in a barbarous manner taking the innocent Infant by one foot and saying What would you have me to do with this threw it from him as if it had been a stone as far as he could on the ground They made on this occasion above fifty Slaves Men Women and Children The Turk who was their Guide having brought them on board they took off his Chain and he went to look for more never thinking of making his escape either because he trusted to their Oath or else perhaps because he was afraid to have met in that Countrey with the reward of his Treachery They killed more than they took and left not so much as a living Soul in the place and that was the cause of the great allarm they were put into on that Coast when we sailed along it from Acre to Jaffa It was a sad spectacle to see on board this Ship so many poor Women with their Children at their breasts having no greater allowance than a little mouldy Bisket and two glasses of stinking Water a day which was all the Men had also but among others there was one Woman Slave on board with her Husband Brother seven Children and one in her Womb All this together caused a great clutter and nastiness in the Ship nay there was one little Child ill of the Small-pox which made me afraid of catching the same Disease We were no better treated than the Slaves Entertainment on board the Corsairs for they were in great want of Provisions and had so little Water that they were obliged to distribute it by measure giving every one two glasses a day Our Diet then consisted of two meals a day both alike one at noon and the other at night and these were a little mouldy Bisket of all colours which to season and soften it was steep'd in Water that stunck so horridly that it smelt all over the Cabin and getting into our throat as we broke the Bisket with our teeth was like to have turned our stomacks A little Cheese we had also that might have kept along time for it needed a Hatchet to cut it Our Drink was the same stinking Water with a very little coat of Wine upon it and in the night-time we lay upon the deck amidst the Vermine and filth of the poor Wretches our Monks were better accommodated as they told us afterwards However I was not altogether disheartned by this adversity on the contrary was fain to encourage the rest who thought themselves half dead already and apply'd my self to consider what way we might be delivered out of this misery With their two Ships they had a great Saique which they had taken a few days before and some Greeks coming to redeem her had offered a thousand Piastres for her but these Gentlemen demanding fifteen hundred the Greeks went away promising however to come back again which I having understood from the Captain who was as willing to be rid of us as we were to be gone because we lessened his stinking Provisions we prepared to go to Damiette with them The Corsairs would willingly have set us ashoar if we had pleased but we would by no means accept of that offer for fear of having been taken for Corsairs and so immediately burnt alive and it was too fresh in my memory what I had been told of other Franks who having escaped from Shipwreck and coming a-shore thought they came very well off when they were only made Slaves In the mean time the Galliot came up with the Ships Tuesday morning the eight and twentieth of May she had taken a Saycot which was the sail we had seen with her but she let it go as not worth their while to stay for it On Wednesday the nine and twentieth of May about an hour before day a Polaque fell in among us and running foul of our Sanbiquer that was towed at the stern of one of the Ships made a hole in her side The Corsairs were immiediately allarmed and firing some small Shot into the Polaque manned their Boats to take her On the other hand those on board the Polaque who were either drunk or asleep awaking at the knock which their Polaque gave in striking against the Sanbiquer and being sensible of their fault betook themselves in all haste to their Caique and endeavoured to make their escape by rowing but being closely pursued they were soon
other side she scratches the other Ear out of which the like Worms drop also and in all there may come out ten or twelve which she wraps up in a Linnen-Rag and gives them to those that brought the Child to her who keep them in that Rag at home in their House and when she has done so she gives them back the Child which in reality cries no more She once told me that she performed this by means of some words that she spake There was a French Physician and a great Naturalist there who attentively beheld this and told me that he could not conceive how it could be done but that he knew very well that if a child had any of these Worms in its head it would quickly die In so much that the Moors and other Inhabitants of Caire look upon this as a great Vertue and give her every time a great many Maidins They say that it is a secret which hath been long in the Family There are children every day carried to her roaring and crying and such as would see the thing done need only to follow them provided they be not Musulman Women who carry them for then it would cost an Avanie but when they are Christian or Jewish Women one may easily enter and give a few Maidins to that Worm-drawer The Language that is spoken in Aegypt is the Arabick which is a dialect of the Hebrew but very copious The Arabick Language and the most ample Language that ever I heard spoken and is indeed used in a great many Countreys it is very difficult to be pronounced because it has many guttural words and therefore when the Turks at Constantinople would make themselves merry they make Arabs speak that Language before them and yet it is their holy Language for their Alcoran and all their Prayers are in Arabick it is a common saying with them That the Turkish Language serves in this World the Arabick shall be spoken in Paradise and in Hell the Persian which nevertheless is a fine Tongue and makes the greatest part of the Turkish Poems and Songs but seeing they extreamly hate the Persians they revile every thing that concerns them CHAP. LXXVI Of the Circumcision of the Moorish Females and of the Santo 's of Aegypt THE Moors are Mahometans but they have some Superstitions Circumcision of Moorish Girls which the Turks have not for the Moors Circumcise their Daughters cutting off a little bit of that which is called the Nymphe and that Circumcision is performed by Women The Turks do not do so they only Circumcise their Boys As the Moors are great Hypocrites so have they many sorts of Santo's among them They have dancing Dervishes of whom I wrote when I was at Constantinople but they have a great many others besides these whom they much honour among the rest there are some as horrible as the Dancers are pleasant I saw none of them at Constantinople because they perform their Ceremonies too late though there be some of them towards Tophana but at Caire I have often seen them very easily because they have a little Mosque in the quarter of France They are cloathed much in the same manner as the Dancers and have felt-caps after the same fashion These men say their prayers much oftener than the other Musulmans do but chiefly on Tuesdays and Thursdays about ten or eleven a clock at night They all meet at the Mosque at the call of him who goes up to the top of the Tower then they fall a singing some verses of the Alcoran which they often repeat so that they have enough to last them till day clapping their hands now and then against one anothers playing on certain Drums and such like Instruments but about the middle after they have long sung the Alcoran they all rise upright and put themselves into a Ring one behind another then he who is the chief sings some prayers very loud and in the mean time the rest instantly say over and over almost without fetching breath Allah which is to say God making at every time a very low bow so that their straining to pronounce that word which they draw out from the depth of their Breast without intermission or taking breath with the frequent bending of their Body in these inclinations make them look like men possessed and especially towards the end when being quite out of Breath one of them beats his Drum as fast as he can and the rest pronounce the word Allah as fast and almost as often as he strikes upon his Drum so that they foam like mad Dogs and some with the violence of straining void Blood at the Mouth This lasts about half an hour but towards the end they say no more but Hou that is to say he which is as good as if they had said God because they want strength to pronounce Allah insomuch that to hear them about the end one would think he heard so many Hogs grunting when that is done they sit down as before and take a little rest singing other Prayers then towards the end they start up and begin their sweet Musick again which they do three times and then continue on singing as before I have often been stun'd with this at Rossetto where I fancy they do it more than in any other place for my Chamber-Window looked into their Mosque I lodged in a Han because I would not part from the Chiot Gentleman with whom I came from Chio. But at Caire they have a little Mosque in the quarter of the French in which every Tuesday and Thursday they fall to that Catterwouling about ten a Clock at Night there they may easily be seen from the street standing over against the door of their Mosque for one must have a special care not to enter into it nor indeed to set foot upon the threshold of the door These are a sort of men that take a great deal of pains to damn themselves In their Processions you always see some of these fools who foam at the mouth like mad Men and with shut eyes pronounce the word Hou having a man on each side to support them for fear of falling and they who can keep longest in that Extasie for they think they are in an Extasie are the greatest Saints There are Santo's also in Aegypt who go stark naked many of whom I have seen without the least rag to cover their Nakedness either in Winter or Summer but it is not very cold there and they suffer all their Hair to grow as long as it can for greater Mortification These men are highly honoured and going to the Houses of the chief Persons of the City at dinner-time they sit down at Table dine and so go their way and that is look'd upon as a blessing to the House they are very lascivious Rogues and that for both Sexes and it is no fiction that many Women who cannot be got with Child kiss their Priapus with great veneration nay sometimes
false step no more than if they had not at all moved The Authour of this Dance was one Hazreti Mewlana a Dervish who is reckoned a Saint among them All the Dervishes and Santos are generally great Hypocrites for they pass for Men wholly given to the Contemplation of God and nevertheless are consummated in all sorts of vice CHAP. XLI Of the Marriage of the Turks THE Turks may have three sorts of Wives Marriage of the Turks The Turks may have several Wives Different sorts of Marriages for they may Marry lawful Wives have Wives of Kebin and their Slaves for Wives But the first they never see till they be married When any one would marry after this first manner he agrees with the Parents of the Maid whom he would have what Dowry he is to give her that she may be his Wife and this agreement is made in presence of the Cady and two Witnesses which Cady writes down the conditions of the Marriage and what Dowry he is to give his Wife As for the Woman she brings nothing with her but her Bundle which on the Wedding-day she displays in her Chamber for a Shew but before the Celebration the Bridegroom gets an Imam to bless his Marriage The day being come the Bride well mufled up is led to the Bridegroom's house her bagage going before upon Horses or Camels and there they feast and make merry the Men with the Men and the Women with the Women in an Appartment by themselves he rest of the day is commonly spent in Musick and Puppet-Shows the Women sometimes whom they call Tehinghene mentioned by me before dancing and playing tricks before them When they are thus married if the Husband happen to die the Wife takes her Dowry and no more and if the Wife die leaving Children behind her these Children may constrain the Father to give them the Mothers Dowry Now Turks may marry four Wives in this manner and divorce them when they please The way of divorcing Wives among the Turks which they do by going before a Cady and saying Alei talac be talati which is to say I part with her for three times And if a Man divorce his Wife wrongfully he ought to give her her Dowry but if he do it upon just grounds he is not obliged to give her any thing When a Woman hath been Divorced she cannot Marry another Man till her months be four times over that is to say until the fourth month after her divorce that she may know whether she be with Child or not and by whom that so there may be no confusion in Lineages and if she be with Child he that would Divorce her must stay till she be brought to bed before he can do it and is obliged to keep the Children When a Man hath divorced his Wife or if the Divorce hath even proceeded from her he cannot if he would take her again till first she hath been Married to another Man and then he may take her back For the Wives of Kebin less Ceremony serves a Man goes to the Cady tells him that he takes such an one to Wife to whom he promises to pay so much if he divorce her all this the Cady writes down and gives the writing to the Man who after that may keep the Wife as long as he pleases or send her going when he thinks fit paying her what he promised and maintaining the Children he hath had by her They have as many of these Wives as they please for their Slaves seeing they are absolute Masters they do with them what they please and have as many of them as they think fit and the Children of all these Wives are all alike lawful After all the Turks never Marry their Kinswomen if they be nearer than eight Generations inclusively CHAP. XLII Of the Beauty Manners and Apparrel of the Turkish Women IT will not be amiss I think having spoken of Marriage to say somewhat of the Women of Turky of whom I have as yet said nothing In Turky the Women are commonly Beautiful streight and well shaped they are very fair for they stir but little abroad and when they do they are Veiled They add art to their natural Beauty for they paint their Eye-brows and Eye-lids with a blackish colour Surmee which they call Surmee that being graceful with them They also paint their Nails with a redish Brown El hanna colour call'd El hanna They are very cleanly and neat The Apparrel of the Turkish Women for seeing they go at least twice a week to the Bath they have neither hair nor diot upon their Bodies they are cloathed almost like the Men and in the first place all of them as well as the Men wear Drawers next their Skin which come down to their heels and are according to the Season of Velvet Cloath Cloath of Gold Sattin or Stuff Next they have their Smock and over that a little quilted Waistcoat Giupon which they call Giupon then they put on their Doliman which they gird with a Girdle adorned with plates of Silver gilt or Gold set with precious Stones and to that they hang a little Cangiar When they go abroad they have a Feredge as well as the Men the Sleeves whereof are so long that nothing is to be seen but the ends of their Fingers for they put their Arms into the Sleeves and in the street hold one side of the Feredge lapped over the other before The head attire of the Women Their Hose and Shoes are like the Mens but their head attire is different for they make a very long tress of their Hair which hangs down behind to the small of their Back and they whose Hair is too short put it up in a Case that reaches down to the small of their Back which is commonly of Sattin or else they use an artificial Tress Within doors they cover their head with a Cap of red cloth much like our Night-caps but much longer with four Horns or points on the top to the middle whereof they stitch a round of Pearles They wear this Cap hanging all over one Ear and they tye it below with a Handkerchief of fine stuff wrought with flowers of Gold and Silk which makes them look Great When they go abroad they pull of that Cap and take one made of Guilt Paste-board this Cap is pretty high and broader above than below Besides that when they are abroad in the streets their head is muffled up in a Linnen Cloth which covers their Fore-head down to the Eyes and another going athwart their Face just under the Eyes covers their Nose and Mouth and is tied behind the head nothing of all their Countenance but the Eyes being uncovered and if they did but shew their naked Hands they would be look'd upon as Women of no Reputation and therefore they let the sleeves of their Smocks and Vests hang down and cover their hands not but sometimes when they are in
my pocket which are five thousand one hundred of my paces about two foot and a half each pace It is to be minded also that within the Precincts of it there are several places not inhabited as several Birques about which there are goodly Houses but to say the truth likewise the places that are inhabited are very full Those who would have Caire to be bigger than Paris when they speak of Caire comprehend therein Old Caire and Boulac but that cannot rationally be done else I may comprehend within Paris all the Villages that are about it for Old Caire is separated from the New by Fields and Boulac is another Town divided from Caire by several ploughed Grounds There is also near Caire on the way to Boulac a very large place called Lesbike which contains many Acres of Land. When the Khalis runs this place is under water and continues so four or five months after which they fow several things there that grow a pace the ground being very fat This spacicus place is surrounded with many very lovely Palaces of Beys and other Great Men of the Countrey who go thither now and then to divert themselves for some days But to my purpose again I think I may confidently say that Caire is not so big as Paris but I believe it is more populous for there are in it ugly Sties or Holes rather than Houses full of Women and Children who never stir out of doors because in the Turkish Empire the Women go neither to Market nor any other place out of doors but only to the Bath and yet the streets are always full of people and when a Plague sweeps away two hundred thousand Souls in Caire it is not perceived Several have written that Caire has no Walls and that perhaps has made them confound Caire with Boulac and Old Caire but they have not look'd well about them for Caire is encompassed round with very fair and thick Walls they are built of good Stone which is still so white that one would say they were newly built if it were not to be known by the great cracks which are in many places that they are very ancient These Walls have very handsome Battlements and at less than an hundred paces interval lovely Towers able to contain many People they have been built very high but are at present all covered with Ruines which are so high that I have pass'd over some places where they wholly hide the Walls and are much above them and in those places one would think there were no Wall if where the Ruines are lower it were not to be seen carried on as the rest is And though it would be very easie to clear the Rubbish and by repairing what is wanting make the Walls appear beautiful and high yet the Turks make no Reparations but suffer all to run to decay And so have they suffered a large and the loveliest part of the Castle to fall to ruine through their neglect in repairing it near to the said Walls In many places there are great Church-yards full of Sepulchres adorned with fair Stones that yield a pleasant Prospect and would suffice for building of a Town All agree 23000 Precincts and as many Mosques in Caire Two Men chained together watch every Quarter of Caire that there are three and twenty thousand Precincts in Caire and as many Mosques in every Precinct there being one Mosque at least and some having more A Precinct is a Quarter and in some of them there are several Streets Each Precinct is watched by two Men who are chained together by one Chain that they may not separate These Men voluntarily undertake the office for the profit they make of certain Dues and the Officers of the Sous-Basha keep the Keys of the Padlocks that lock up their Chains there are more Mosques then than Precincts and indeed I could never perswade my self that there were three and twenty thousand Precincts in Caire it is true all the streets of Caire are very short and narrow except the street of the Bazar and the Khalis which is dry but three months of the year and few people go in it too there is not a fair street in all Caire but a great many little ones that go turning and winding which shews that all the Houses of Caire have been built without any design of making a City every one pitching upon the ground he lik'd best to build upon without considering if the Houses stopt a street or not As for the Mosques The number of Mosques in Caire I am apt to believe there are three and twenty thousand but of that number a good many are but Holes or liitle Chappels not ten paces square Not but that there are also several fair large Mosques most magnificent Buildings adorned with lovely Frontispieces and Gates with very high Minarets and the greatest of all is Dgemiel-Azem Dgemiel-azem The Houses of Caire are several stories high with flat and Terrrasse roofs as all over Turkie and there they take the fresh air when the Sun is down nay several lye upon them in the Summer-time They make no Shew at all on the outside but within you see nothing but Gold and Azure at least in the Houses of Persons of Quality and most of their Halls have an open round hole in the roof or feeling to let in plenty of fresh air which is a very precious thing in that Countrey and commonly there is a Cupulo or Lanthorn over that hole with many windows round it to let in or keep out the wind CHAP. V. Of the Pyramides HEretofore there have been such powerful Kings in Aegypt who have undertaken so great Works that it is not to be thought strange if in spight of Time it self which devours all things some pieces of them have remained till our days or rather it is to be wondred that so little remains of so many Magnificences which heretofore made Aegypt so Renowned all over the World The Pyramides of Aegypt but nothing has braved Time so much as the Pyramides that are to be seen near to Caire doubtless they deserve very well to be seen since they have merited a place among the Wonders of the World. But there are some things to be taken notice of in this little Progress from Caire to the Pyramides and if I mistake not I have observed them here exactly enough Having designed to go see the Pyramides the Evening before I hired Asses and Moors that I might set out next Morning be-times these Beasts are much used in Aegypt and carry one conveniently enough at an easie Trot and sometimes a good Gallop too There are of them to be hired in the Corners of most of the Quarters of Caire and are ready Sadled so that there needs no more but to get up The Franks put little Carpets over the Sadles made for the purpose and Stirrups for greater Convenience If you will the Moor that letts the Ass will follow to drive him on
Month of December and at the same time it Thundered so much that the eleventh or twelfth night of the said month a man in the Castle was killed by Thunder though it had never been heard before that Thunder had killed any body at Caire It is cold weather also in December which I found by experience but it is never so cold that one stands in need of a Fire In the other Seasons it is extream hot but especially in Summer From January till March they catch Snipes in Aegypt in May yellow Birds or Nitrials Fowling in Aegypt which are nothing but a lump of Fat and wild-Turtles which are very good but for the house-Pigeons they are good for nothing In September also yellow Birds and Turtles which come again and at the same time Larks that last till the years end This Countrey indeed is not only most fertile but also very pleasant and it is not without reason that I said elsewhere that Aegypt is an Earthly Paradise inhabited by Devils but certainly the oppression the people lye under from their Governours abates much of their Pleasure as I shall say hereafter This Countrey produces a great deal of Corn and Herbs of all sorts but no Fruits nor Wine for it yields but very few Grapes which are of those great red Grapes that have a very thick Skin and little Juice in them Trees of Aegypt Many fair Trees grow there which we have not in this Countrey and especially Palm-Trees and the Sycamores or Fig-Trees of Pharaoh which differ from those Trees we call Sycamores for those of Aegypt are the true Sycamores they bear Figgs that stick to the stock which are not good and yet the Moors for all that eat them there are also Cassia-Trees there which are very lovely they bear always both Blossoms and Fruit the Blossoms of them being yellow and having a very pleasant Scent which may be smell'd at a great distance I wave many other plants as the Colocasse and Papyrus c. which are described in Prosper Alpinus CHAP. LXXIII Of the Manners of the Aegyptians the Woman who pulls Worms out of Childrens Ears and of the Arabick Language Caire Masr or Misr CAire the chief City of Aegypt called in Arabick Masr and in Turkish Misr as the whole Province of Aegypt is whereof it is the Capital is peopled by several different Nations The Nations that Inhabit Caire who may be reduced into some kinds for there are the people of the Countrey who are either Musulmans or Christians the Musulmans of the Countrey are the Moors the Christians and the Cophtes Besides these there are the Stranger Christians Turks and Jews the stranger Christians are either Franks or Greeks I shall here speak first of the Moors after I have said a word or two of the Aegyptians in general The People of the Countrey The manners of the Aegyptians generally speaking both Musulmans and Christians are all swarthy they are exceeding wicked great Rogues Cowardly lazy Hypocrites Buggerers Robbers treacherous very greedy of Money and will kill a man for a Maidin in short no vice comes a miss to them they are Cowards to the highest degree and are very loath to fight but when they fall out they huff scold and make a terrible noise as if they would cut one anothers Throats and nevertheless they refer their controversie to the next man they meet who makes them good Friends again then Spectators and all together for they soon gather to a croud lifting up their Hands say the prayer which they call Fatha I mean when they are Moors and then they are better Friends than ever they were before These wretches are used by the Turks like slaves or rather like Dogs for they govern them with a Cudgel and a Turk will knock a Moor on the head and he not dare to resist and indeed when they speak to a Turk they do it with great respect They labour and cultivate all the Land and yet the Bread they eat is very bad and have not their Bellies full of that neither though it be a most plentiful Countrey and indead they are of so bad a nature that they want to be well beaten and love those the better for it who beat them like Dogs serving very well when they are soundly drubbed whereas they are insupportable and will do nothing when they are gently used Dgibn Halum They live a wretched life their most ordinary Diet being salt Cheese which they call Dgibn Halum with very course Bread their Bread is as broad as our Plates made like thin Buns and consists only of two round pieces of paste and as thin as Parchment clap'd together and shewed to the Fire so that one of them may very well be eaten at three mouthfuls but it is so bad not only for the blackness of it but as being ill kned worse bak'd and full of Coals and Ashes that I could never accustome my self to it It is cheap enough indeed for you may have eight of these Cakes for a Maidin which is worth about three half pence For their Desert or after-course they suck Sugar-Canes they are also great eaters of ordinary Melons water-Melons and the like whereof they have great plenty and many sorts which we have not yet all cannot attain to them though they be extraordinarily cheap They are Apparrelled like the Turks when they are able I mean the Moors for the Christians wear neither any green nor the white Turban but most part of them are half naked and many have no more but a blew shirt upon their body They are a very ignorant sort of people and yet have Secrets which surprize the most knowing many thinking them to be knacks of Magick for to see a man take up a Viper in the Fields handle and stroak it open the mouth of it and put his Finger therein without the least hurt seems very strange to me They bring whole Sacks full of them into the City and sell them to the Apothecaries They come often to the Quarter of the French and boldly thrusting their hand into their Sacks pull out a whole handful of them One day one of these blades handling his Vipers in this manner in the quarter of the French they brought a Pullet and made one of the Vipers bite it which immediately thereupon died so that it evidently appeared that the Moor had something about him which preserved him against their Poyson But I cannot tell what to say of a Moorish Woman who lives in a corner close by the quarter of France A Moorish Woman that pulls Worms out of Childrens Ears and pulls worms out of Childrens Ears When a Child does nothing but cry and that they know it is ill they carry it to that Woman who laying the Child on its side upon her knee scratches the Ear of it and then Worms like those which breed in musty weevely Flower seem to fall out of the Childs Ear then turning it on the
they procure a Great-Belly by them There was one of these blades hretofore carried a great Stone hanging at his Glans and the Women heartily kissed it for a Big Belly Others eat Serpents and in my time there was one of them at Caire whom they called the Scheik of the Serpents this Man had always a great train of Scheiks and other people after him when he went out or returned home to his House I did not see him eat Serpents but several who have seen him assured me of it and it is a thing no body doubts of I saw also at Caire a Santo who had a Turban as broad as a Mill-stone and weighed above half a hundred weight it was all patched up of several little pieces of different colours Every one came and kiss'd his hand with great respect the weight of his Turban making him walk very softly and with a great deal of Gravity There are many other sorts of Santo's and in a word enough in Aegypt to man out several Galleys The Turks who are nothing near so superstitious as the Arabs have no such esteem for them and formerly there was a Basha who sent as many of these lazy Lubbards as he could find to the Galleys They have also dead Santo's to whose memory they bear a singular Reverence some of them are Interr'd upon the High-ways and upon Bridges and when the Moors find any of these Sepulchres they ask leave of the Santo who is within to go that way or cross over that Bridge But I think the chief of the dead Santo's whom they reverence in Aegypt is Sidi Ahmet el bedoui for being at Caire on the ninth of July I saw a great many people go to a certain Fair that is kept at a Village called Menitegamr in the Isle or Delta of Aegypt on the side of the Channel of Rossetto Sidi Ahmet el bedoui Menitegamr That Fair is held there because the said Scheik is Interr'd in that place where they pray at his Grave and from all parts of Aegypt People come to this Fair and Devotion They say that at that time this Sidi Ahmet el Bedoui yearly delivers three Slaves out of Malta and three Moors fail not to be there and affirm that the night before they were brought from Malta where they had been Slaves One day a Turk of Quality who had been a Slave in Malta went thither and finding these Rogues to assert a Lie with so much boldness put so many questions to them that he convicted them of the Cheat. They relate a great many vertues of this Hellish Saint of which it was none of the least that he never knew Woman only lay with his own she Ass They also tell how this Santo having some priviledge granted him by a Basha and that another Basha offering to take it from him he went on a time to the appartment of that Basha and being brought in before him told him that he had had that priviledge a long time and prayed him to let him enjoy it but finding after much entreaty that the Basha was inexorable he turned up his cap a little that the point of it might encline to one side and said to the Basha thou wilt not then suffer me to enjoy my priviledge and the Basha answered him no then turning his Cap a little more to one side thou wilt not then said he to the Basha let me enjoy my priviledge who replied no then turning his Cap a great deal to one side the Basha perceived that the Castle leaned all to one side and was ready to fall for the Castle turned side-ways proportionally as he had turned his Cap whereupon the Basha in a great fright assured him that he would preserve his Priviledge unto him and prayed him to set the Castle upright as it was before which he did by setting his Cap by little and little to rights again They have so much Devotion for that Saint that when the Caravan of Mecha sets out in time of that Fair many leave the Caravan and Pilgrimage of Mecha and pay their Visits to that Saint This devotion lasts a fortnight and all Persons Moors Christians and Jews are suffered to go to that Fair. When they have visited that Saint they go to another not far distant then to another and so to four or five in short they spend a Month in these Devotions CHAP. LXXV Of the Cophtes Cophtes THE Cophtes are Christians but Jacobites that is to say who follow the Heresie of Eutyches and Dioscorus though some however among them be Orthodox and are called Melchites They have a Patriarch in Alexandria whose Authority reaches very far for he chuses one of his Clergy and sends him to be Patriarch to the Abyssins in Aethiopia as I said before The Cophtes are so very ignorant and unpolished that they have much ado to find a man among them fit to be their Patriarch and so in my time the Patriarchate had been vacant for some years the truth is there was another reason for it also for they could not raise a sum of Money that must be given to the Basha for the admission of every new Patriarch They retain a great many Fabulous stories taken out of Apocryphal Books which they have still among them We have no History of our Saviours life during his Minority but they have a great many relations of it for they say that every day an Angel brought him Victuals down from Heaven and that he spent his time in making little Birds of Clay which afterwards he breathed upon and so throwing them up into the Air they flew away They say that at our Lords Supper a roasted Cock was served up and that then Judas being gone out to sell and betray our Lord he commanded the Roasted Cock to rise and go after Judas which the Cock did and afterwards brought back word to our Lord that Judas had sold him and that therefore that Cock was admitted into Paradise They say Mass in the Cophtick and Arabick Tongues and when they sing the Passion and come to the place where it is said that Judas betrayed our Lord all the people cry Arsat that is to say Horned Beast Cuckold in this manner avenging our Lord by reviling of Judas And when they read that St. Peter cut off the ear of the High-Priest's Servant all the People cry Asia Boutros that is to say well fair you for that Peter as if they would encourage St. Peter by their Applause The Cophtes serve for Clerks to the Divan of the Beys and Villages CHAP. LXXVI Of the Franks that live in Aegypt and the Avanies which are put upon them Of the Franks in Caire THere are Franks who live in several places of Aegypt to wit in Caire Rossetto and Alexandria but the Consuls live at Caire because the Basha resides in that City they have Vice-Consuls in Rossetto and Alexandria and sometimes in Damiette Consuls of Franks at Caire There is in
of Sivagy who made inrodes to the very Town We Encamped beyond Indelvai and next day being the six and twentieth of March having after four hours March passed over the pleasantest Hills in the World by reason of the different kinds of Trees that cover them we arrived at Calvar which is the last Village of the Moguls Countrey It is distant from Aurangeabad about fourscore and three Leagues which we Travelled in a fortnights time The rest of the Road to Golconda I shall describe when I treat of that Kingdom The way from Aurangeabad that I have been now speaking of is diversified by Hills and Plains All the Plains are good Ground some sow'd with Rice and the rest planted with Cotton-trees Tamarins Wars Cadjours Manguiers Quesous and others and all Watered with several Rivers which turn and wind every way and with Tanquies also out of which they draw the Water by Oxen And I saw one of these Reservatories at Dentapour which is a Musquet-shot over and seven or eight hundred Geometrical paces long We were incommoded during our whole Journey almost with Lightenings Whirle-winds Rains and Hail-stones some as big as a Pullets Egg Very large Hail-stones The Moguls Horse against Viziapour and when we were troubled with none of these we heard dull Thunderings that lasted whole Days and Nights We met every where Troops of Horse designed against Viziapour the King whereof refused to send the Great Mogul the Tribute which he used to pay to him To conclude with this Province it is to be observed that all the Rocks and Mountains I have mentioned are only dependances of that Mountain which is called Balagate The Mountain of Balagate which according to the Indian Geographers divides India into the two parts of North and South as that of Guate according to the same Geographers environs it almost on all hands CHAP. XLVII Of the Province of Telenga The Province of Telenga TElenga was heretofore the principal Province of Decan and reached as far as the Portuguese Lands towards Goa Viziapour being the Capital City thereof But since the Mogul became Master of the Northern places of this Countrey Calion and of the Towns of Beder and Calion it hath been divided betwixt him and the King of Decan who is only called King of Viziapour and it is reckoned amongst the Provinces of Indostan which obey the Great Mogul The borders of Telenga It is bordered on the East by the Kingdom of Golconda on Maslipatan side on the West by the Province of Baglana and Viziapour on the North by Balagate and on the South by Bisnagar The Capital City of this Province is at present Beder which belonged to Balagate when it had Kings and it hath sometime belonged to Decan Beder is a great Town Beder it is encompassed with Brick-Walls which have Battlements and at certain distances Towers they are mounted with great Cannon some whereof have the mouth three Foot wide Great Guns The Garison of Beder There is commonly in this place a Garison of Three thousand Men half Horse and half Foot with Seven hundred Gunners the Garison is kept in good order because of the importance of the place against Decam and that they are always afraid of a surprize The Governour lodges in a Castle without the Town it is a rich Government and he who commanded in it when I was there was Brother-in-law to King Chagean Auran Zebs Father but having since desired the Government of Brampour which is worth more he had it because in the last War that Governour had made an Army of the King of Viziapours raise the Siege from before Beder Some time after I met the new Governour upon the Road to Beder The Train of the Governour of Beder who was a Persian of a good aspect and pretty well stricken in years he was carried in a Palanquin amidst Five hundred Horse-men well mounted and cloathed before whom marched several Men on foot carrying blew Banners charged with flames of Gold and after them came seven Elephants The Governours Palanquin was followed with several others full of Women and covered with red Searge and there were two little Children in one that was open The Bambous of all these Palanquins were covered with Plates of Silver chamfered after them came many Chariots full of Women two of which were drawn by white Oxen almost six Foot high and last of all came the Waggons with the Baggage The Great Moguls Revenue in Telenga and several Camels guarded by Troopers This Province of Telenga is worth above Ten millions a Year to the Great Mogul No where are the Gentiles more Superstitious than here they have a a great many Pagods with Figures of Monsters that can excite nothing but Horror instead of Devotion unless in those who are deluded with the Religion These Idolaters use frequent Washings Men The washings of the Gentiles Women and Children go to the River as soon as they are out of Bed and the rich have Water brought them to wash in When Women lose their Husbands they are conducted thither by their Friends who comfort them and they who are brought to Bed use the same custom almost as soon as they are delivered of their Children and indeed there is no Countrey where Women are so easily brought to Bed when they come out of the Water a Bramen dawbs their Forehead with a Composition made of Saffron and the Powder of white Sawnders dissolved in Water then they return home where they eat a slight Breakfast and seeing they must never eat unless they be washed some return to the Tanquie or River about noon and others perform their Ablutions at home before they go to Dinner As they have a special care not to eat any thing but what is dressed by a Gentile of their Caste so they seldom eat any where but at home The feeding of the Gentiles and commonly they dress their Victuals themselves buying their Flower Rice and such other Provisions in the Shops of the Banians for they 'll not buy any where else These Banians as well as the Bramens and Courmis feed on Butter Pulse The Diet of some Castes Herbs Sugar and Fruit they eat neither Fish nor Flesh and drink nothing but Water wherein they put Coffee and Tea they use no Dishes for fear some body of another Religion or Tribe may have made use of the Dish out of which they might eat and to supply that they put their Victuals into large Leaves of Trees which they throw away when they are empty nay there are some of them who eat alone and will not suffer neither their Wives nor Children at Table with them Nevertheless I was informed The Bramens sometimes eat Hogs Flesh that in that Countrey one certain day of the year the Bramens eat Hogs Flesh but they do it privately for fear of Scandal because the Rules of their Sect enjoyn them so to do and I believe it
is the same all over the Indies A Cow of Paste There is another day of rejoycing whereon they make a Cow of Paste which they fill full of Honey and then make a fashion of killing it and break it to pieces the Honey which distills on all sides represents the Blood of the Cow and they eat the Paste instead of the Flesh I could not learn the Original of that Ceremony as for the Catris or Raspoutes except that they eat no Pullets they as the rest of the inferiour Castes do make use of all kinds of Fish and Flesh unless it be the Cow which they all have in veneration The Gentiles Fasting The Gentiles generally are great Fasters and none of them let a fortnight pass over without mortifying themselves by Abstinence and then they Fast four and twenty hours but that is but the ordinary Fast for there are a great many Gentiles and especially Women who will Fast six or seven days and they say there are some that will Fast a whole month without eating any more than a handful of Rice a day and others that will eat nothing at all Criata a Root only drink Water in which they boyl a Root called Criata which grows towards Cambaye and is good against many distempers it makes the Water bitter and strengthens the Stomach When a Woman is at the end of one of these long Fasts the Bramen her director goes with his companions to the House of the penitent beats a Drum there and having permitted her to eat returns home again There are such Fasts many times among the Vartias the Sogues and other religious Gentiles of that Province and they accompany them with several other mortifications Religious Communities Now I have mentioned these Religious Gentiles I would have it observed that in all the Indies there is no religious Community amongst the Gentiles belonging particularly to one Caste or Tribe For Example There is not any whereinto none are admitted but Bramens or Raspoutes if there be a convent of Sogues any where the Community will consist of Bramens Raspoutes Comris Banians and other Gentiles and it is the same in a convent of Vartias or a company of Faquirs I have already treated of both these as occasion offered CHAP. XLVIII Of the Province of Baglana and of the Marriages of the Gentiles The yearly Revenue of Baglana THe Province of Baglana is neither so large nor do's it yield so great a Revenue as the other nineteen for it pays the Great Mogul a year but Seven hundred and fifty thousand French Livres it is bordered by the Countrey of Telenga Guzerat Balagate and the Mountains of Sivagi the Capital Town of it is called Mouler Mouler The Portuguese border on the Moguls Countrey Daman Before the Moguls this Province was also of Decan and at present it belongs to Mogolistan by it the Portuguese border upon the Moguls Countrey and their Territories begin in the Countrey of Daman The Town of Daman that belongs to them is one and twenty Leagues from Surrat which is commonly Travelled in three days It is indifferently big fortified with good Walls and an excellent Citadel the Streets of it are fair and large and the Churches and Houses built of a white Stone which makes it a pleasant Town There are several Convents of Religious Christians in it it depends on Goa as the other Portuguese Towns do especially as to Spirituals and the Bishop keeps a Vicar General there It lies at the entry of the Gulf of Cambaye and the Portuguese have Slave there of both Sexes Portuguese Slaves which work and procreate only for their Masters to whom the Children belong to be disposed of at their pleasure from Daman to Bassaim it is eighteen Leagues Bassaim This last Town lies in the height of about nineteen Degrees and a half upon the Sea being Walled round and almost as big as Daman it hath Churches and a College of Jesuits as Daman hath From Bassaim to Bombaim it is six Leagues Bombaim made over to the English this last Town hath a good Port and was by the Portuguese made over to the English upon the Marriage of the Infanta of Portugal with the King of England in the year 1662 it is six Leagues more from Bombaim to Chaoul Chaoul The Port of Chaoul is difficult to enter but very safe and secure from all foul weather it is a good Town and defended by a strong Citadel upon the top of a Hill called by the Europeans Il Morro di Ciaul it was taken by the Portuguese Il Morro di Ciaul in the year One thousand five hundred and seven From Chaoul to Dabul it is eighteen good Leagues Dabul Dabul is an ancient Town in the Latitude of seventeen degrees and a half it has its Water from a Hill hard by and the Houses of it are low it being but weakly fortified I am told Sivagi hath seized it notwithstanding its Castle as also Rajapour Vingourla Rasigar Rajapour Vingourlâ— Rasigar Towns. and some other places upon that coast of Decan It is almost fifty Leagues from Dabul to Goa which is in Viziapour As all the People of that coast are much given to Sea-faring so the Gentiles offer many times Sacrifices to the Sea Sacrifice to the Sea. especially when any of their Kindred or Friends are abroad upon a Voyage Once I saw that kind of Sacricrifice a Woman carried in her hands a Vessel made of Straw about three Foot long it was covered with a Vail three Men playing upon the Pipe and Drum accompanied her and two others had each on their head a Basket full of Meat and Fruits being come to the Sea-side they threw into the Sea the Vessel of Straw after they had made some Prayers and left the Meat they brought with them upon the Shoar that the poor and others might come and eat it I have seen the same Sacrifice performed by Mahometans The Gentiles offer another at the end of September Opening of the Sea. and that they call to open the Sea because no body can Sail upon their Seas from May till that time but that Sacrifice is performed with no great Ceremonies they only throw Coco's into the Sea and every one throws one The only thing in that Action that is pleasant is to see all the young Boys leap into the Water to catch the Coco's and whilst they strive to have and keep them shew a hundred tricks and feats of Agility In this Province as in the rest of Decan the Indians Marry their Children very young The Marriage of Children and make them Cohabit much sooner than they do in many places of the Indies they Celebrate Matrimony at the Age of four five or six Years and suffer them to Bed together when the Husband is ten Years old and the Wife eight but the Women who have Children so young soon leave off Child-bearing and commonly do not conceive
and for Successions the Child of the Sister is preferred Succession in Malabar because there is no doubt of the Line by the Female The Sisters even of the Kings themselves have liberty to chuse such Nairs or Gentlemen as they please to lye with The Women have liberty to chuse their Galants and when a Nair is in a Ladies Chamber he leaves his Stick or Sword at the Door that others who have a mind to come should know that the place is taken up no body offers to come in then And this custom is Establish'd all over Malabar The Coronation of the King of Cochin Heretofore the King of Cochin was Crowned upon the Coast though it was possest by the Portuguese but he who ought now to be King would not be Crowned there because it is in the power of the Dutch And he made them answer when they invited him to follow the Custom that he would have nothing to do with them and that when the Portuguese were restored to the possession of that coast he would be Crowned there In the meane time the Dutch have Crowned another Prince who is the Kings Kinsman and have given him the Title of Samorin or Emperour which the King of Calecut pretends to Tanor The true King of Cochin is retired to Tanor which is the first Principality of his House to the Prince of Tanor his Uncle eight Leagues from Cochin They Sail from one Town to the other in little Barks upon a pretty pleasant River The Naires These Naires or Gentlemen we have been speaking of have a great conceit of their Nobility because they fancy themselves descended from the Sun they give place to none but the Portuguese and that precedency cost Blood. A duel betwixt a Portuguese and a Naire for the place The Portuguese General to compose the Debates that happened often betwixt them agreed with the King of Cochin that the Matter should be decided by a duel of two Men and that if the Naire had the better on 't the Portuguese should give place to the Naires or if the contrary happened the Naires should allow the Portuguese the advantage for which they fought and the Naire being overcome the Portuguese take place of the Naires they go stark naked from the girdle upwards The Apparel of the Naires and have no other Cloathing from the girdle to the knee but a piece of Cloath their head is covered with a Turban and they carry always a naked Sword and a Buckler The Naire Women are cloathed like the Men and the Queen her self is in no other dress The Naires have several degrees of Nobility amongst them and the inferiour make no difficulty to give place to those that are above them They have a great aversion to a Caste of Gentiles who are called Poleas Poleas If a Naire come so near a Poleas as to have felt his breath he thinks himself polluted and is obliged to kill him because if he killed him not and it came to the Kings knowledge he would cause the Naire to be put to death or if he pardoned him as to life he would order him to be sold for a Slave but besides that he must make publick Ablutions with great Ceremonies For avoiding any mischance that may happen upon that account The Poleas cry incessantly when they are abroad in the Fields Popo Popo to give notice to the Naires who may be there not to come near If a Naire hear the word Popo he answers crying Coucouya Coucouya and then the Poleas knowing that there is a Naire not far from him turns aside out of the way that he may not meet him Seeing these Poleas cannot enter into Towns The Poleas cannot enter into Towns. if any of them need any thing they are obliged to ask for it without the Town crying as loud as they can and leaving Money for it in a place appointed for that Traffick when they have left it and told so they are to withdraw and a Merchant fails not to bring what they demand he takes the true value of his Commodity and so soon as he is gone the Poleas comes and takes it and so departs Cavalrie are not used in the Wars neither in Cochin No Cavalrie in Cochin nor the rest of Malabar they that are to fight otherwise than on Foot are mounted upon Elephants of which there are many in the Mountains Mountain Elephants and these Mountain-Elephants are the biggest of the Indies The Idolaters tell a false story at Cochin which they would have no body to doubt of because of the extraordinary respect they have for a certain Reservatory which is in the middle of one of their Pagods This great Pagod stands upon the side of a River called by the Portuguese Rio Largo which runs from Cochin to Cranganor Rio Largo The Pagod of Swearing it goes by the name of the Pagod of Swearing and they say that the Reservatory or Tanquie which is in that Temple has Communication under ground with the River and that when any one was to make Oath judicially about a matter of importance he that was to Swear was brought to the Tanquie where a Crocodile was called upon which commonly kept there that the Man put himself upon the back of this Creature when he Swore that if he said truth the Crocodile carried him from one end of the Reservatory to the other and brought him back again sound and safe to the place where it took him up and if he told a lie that the Beast having carried him to one side of the Tanquie carried him again into the middle where it dived under water with the Man and though at present there be no Crocodile in that Reservatory yet they confidently affirm that the Story is true Coulam which is the Capital Town of the little Kingdom of that name is four and twenty Leagues to the South of Cochin Coulam but the King keeps not commonly his Court there Before Calicut was in reputation all the Traffick of that Countrey was at Coulam and then it was a flourishing Town but it is much diminished now both in Wealth and Inhabitants The Haven of it is safe and the Tide runs a great way up in the River There are a great many Christians of St. Thomas at Coulam as well as at Cochin Christians of St. Thomas they pretend that they have preserved the Purity of the Faith which that Apostle taught their Ancestors and there are a great many also in the Mountains that run from Cochin to St. Thomas by Madura Syriack Language In the divine Office they make use of the Sariack Language and most of them are Subjects of the King of Cochin as well as many Families of the Jews who live in that Countrey I have been also told of a little Kingdom called Carghelan that is in those parts where there is also another little Prince Carghelan and so
Friends pour odoriferous Oyles into it and in a short time both the Bodies are consumed In other places the Bodies are carried to the River-side in a covered Liter and being washed they are put into a hutt full of odoriferous Wood if they who are dead have left enough to defray the Charges When the Wife who is to be burnt hath taken leave of her kindred and by such Galantries as may convince the Assembly which many times consists of the whole Caste that she is not at all afraid of dying A Woman that endeavours to shew a fearlesness before she is burnt Pits wherein the Bodies of the Husband and Wife are burnt she takes her place in the Hutt under the head of her Husband which she holds upon her knees and at the same time recommending her self to the Prayers of the Bramen she presses him to set fire to the Pile which he fails not to do Elsewhere they make wide and deep Pits which they fill with all sorts of combustible Matter they throw the Body of the deceased into it and then the Bramens push in the Wife after she hath Sung and Danced to shew the firmness of her resolution and sometimes it happens that Maid-Slaves throw themselves into the same Pit after their Mistresses to shew the love they bore to them and the Ashes of the burnt Bodies are afterwards scattered in the River In the other places Interment of Bodies the Bodies of the dead are interred with their Legs a cross their Wives are put into the same Grave alive and when the Earth is filled up to their neck they are strangled by the Bramens There are several other kinds of Funerals among the Gentiles of the Indies but the madness of the Women in being burnt with their Husbands is so horrid that I desire to be excused that I write no more of it To conclude Mahometanisme in the Indies is a happiness for the Women The Women are happy that the Mahometans are become the Masters in the Indies to deliver them from the tyranny of the Bramens who always desire their death because these Ladies being never burnt without all their Ornaments of Gold and Silver about them and none but they having power to touch their Ashes they fail not to pick up all that is pretious from amongst them However the Great Mogul and other Mahometan Princes having ordered their Governours to employ all their care in suppressing that abuse as much as lies in their power The Mahometan Governors endeavour to hinder the burning of the Indian Women it requires at present great Solicitations and considerable Presents for obtaining the permission of being burnt so that the difficulty they meet with in this secures a great many Women from the infamy they would incur in their Caste if they were not forced to live by a Superiour Power The end of Mogolistan THE THIRD PART OF THE TRAVELS OF Mr. de Thevenot BOOK II. Of the INDIES CHAP. I. Of Decan and Malabar DEcan was heretofore a most powerful Kingdom Decan hath been a great Kingdom if one may believe the Indians it consisted of all the Countries that are in that great Tongue of Land which is betwixt the Gulfs of Cambaye and Bengala all obeyed the same King nay and the Provinces of Balagate Telenga and Baglana which are towards the North were comprehended within it so that it may be said that at that time there was no King in the Indies more powerful than the King of Decan but that Kingdom in process of time hath been often dismembred The Arrival of the Portuguese in the Indies and in the beginning of the last Age when the Portuguese made Conquests therein it was divided into many Provinces for they found there the Kings of Calecut Cochin Cananor and Coulam upon the Coast of Malabar Another King Reigned at Narsingue there were some Common-wealths in it also and the Dominions of him who was called King of Decan reached no further than from the limits of the Kingdom of Cambaye or Guzerat to the borders of the principality of Goa which did not belong to him neither Calecut was the first place of the Indies Calecut which the Portuguese discovered in the year One thousand four hundred and ninety eight under the conduct of Vasco de Gama The King of Calecut who at first received them friendly would at length have destroyed them at the instigation of Arabian Merchants and the greatest Wars they had in the Indies was against that King. The King of Cochin made Alliance with them and the Kings of Cananor and Coulam invited them to come and Trade with them Malabar Malabar which is the Countrey of all these Kings begins at Cananor and ends at Cape Comory the most powerful of all these Princes was the King of Calecut Samorin or Emperour who took the Quality of Samorin or Emperour The Port of Calecut lying in the Latitude of eleven degrees twenty two minutes is at some distance from the Town before the coming of the Portuguese it was the most considerable Port of the Indies for Commerce and Ships came thither from all parts The Town has no VValls because there is no ground for laying a Foundation upon for water appears as soon as they begin to digg There are no good Buildings in Calecut The Town of Calecut but the Kings Palace and some Pagods the Houses joyn not they have lovely Gardens and of all things necessary for life there is plenty in that Town Cochin King of Cochin The King of Cochin was a most faithful Friend to the Portuguese for for their sake he was deprived of his Kingdom by the King of Calecut but they restored him and gained so much upon him that he gave them leave to build a Fort in that part of the Town which is called Lower-Cochin upon the Sea side The Fort of Cochin taken from the Portuguese by the Dutch. to distinguish it from the Higher-Cochin where the King resides and from which it is distant a quarter of a League The Portuguese have held that Fort a long time but three or four years since it was taken from them by the Dutch. The Port of Cochin The Port of Cochin is very good there is six Fathom water close by the Shoar and upon a Planc one may easily come from on Board the Vessels The Town of Cochin is about thirty six Leagues from Calecut it is watered by a River Abundance of Pepper at Cochin A Man with a leg like an Elephant and there is plenty of Pepper in the Countrey about it which is fruitful in nothing else There are People in that Countrey who have Legs like an Elephant and I saw a Man at Cochin with such a Leg the Son Inherits not after his Father because a Woman is allowed by the custom to lye with several Men so that it cannot be known who is the Father of the Child she brings forth